
NEXT MEETING
THURSDAY-OCT. 16th This will be a business meeting lunch from 1200
-1400 at Locks Pointe Restaurant at 136 Battlefield Blvd in Great Bridge.
RSVP to Larry Leonardson no later than 13 October.
16 OCTOBER
BUSINESS LUNCH 1200-1400
Nominations for 1998 Officers
Lock's Point Restaurant Chesapeake
20 NOVEMBER
BUSINESS MEETING 1800-2100
Elections of 1998 Officers
Location To Be Announced
13 DECEMBER
CHRISTMAS PARTY
Location To Be Announced
17 JANUARY 1998
INSTALLATION DINNER
1800-2100 Location TBA
October Nautical History
Oct.2,1905 - The keel of HMS Dreadnought, the first modern superbattleship,
was laid in the Royal Naval dockyard, Portsmouth, England.
Oct.10, 1799 - HMS Lutine, was wrecked. Her bell, the Lutine Bell,
recovered and hung at Lloyd's, is rung nowadays to announce news of interest
to the insurance market.
Oct.12,1492 - Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman aboard the Pinta, one of
three vessels in Christopher Columbus's squadron, sighted land to the westward
at 2 a.m.
Oct.29,1933 - The Mariner's Museum of Newport News, VA, was opened
to visitors.
OWC ANGEL FUND
The OWC Angel Fund and Chaplain Holcomb will
be providing Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to needy Coasties
again this year. They will also have an Angel Tree for needy CG children.
Donations are needed now for the food baskets. Please give your donations
to Larry Leonardson so they can be passed along to Nellie, the Angel Fund
Chairman, or donations can be dropped off at Chaplain Holcomb's office.
Checks are to be made out to the OWC Angel Fund. Items needed include:
canned hams
canned or jar gravy
Stove Top stuffing
pie crust mixes
canned vegetables
canned cranberry sauce
package rice mixes
instant mashed potatoes
canned fruit
canned yams
pie mixes
large foil pans to cook turkey
Please remember donations should be non-perishable, unopened items.
RETIREE DENTAL PLAN
Retiree Dental Plan authorized by the 1997 Defense authorization Act
will not get off the ground until at least early 1998. The congress
directed DOD to establish a dental plan for retirees and have operating
by October 1, 1997. The program is being delayed because of Congressional
staffers' concerns over DOD's intent to have a single national premium.
The concern is that a single national premium would overcharge some retirees
and undercharge others, because dental costs are different in different
parts of the country. They want separate premiums for different geographic
regions, to protect retirees living in low-cost regions from subsidizing
those in higher-cost area.
This new guidance has delayed the award of the contract while DOD and
the potential bidders sort out how to construct a regional program.
(*Source: CWO News Sept.1997)
THE MAKING OF A SAILOR
It is not in books or at the library table that the art
of the seaman can be acquired. Quickness of eye, nerve, promptitude
of judgement, are the indispensable gifts, which must be gained by long
and varied experience at sea.
--Lord Brassey, 1894