Rick is stand up guy and so is Ron! This could help us a good deal! Anybody who wants to can contact Rick directly!

Your local member here in Kansas City, Ron Clewell, is going to be writing a periodic column on chip collecting for my Kansas City Star gambling blog "Lucky Numbers." I hope to post his introductory column today or later this week.

In it Ron will be mentioning the club and its http://www.ccgtcc.com/ WEB site. He also suggests that other club members have agreed to also contribute occasional photos of their items and discussions on collecting topics. I would also warmly invite any of your members to consider contacting Ron or myself directly if they are interested in submitting a piece on collecting, photos from their collections, historical anecdotes, etc.etc. I have high hopes for the success of this collecting column. Every time I do a story about collecting or a rare chip I am inundated with reader reaction.

Regards,

Rick Alm

Gambling & Tourism Writer

The Kansas City Star

1729 Grand Blvd.

Kansas City, MO 64108

(816) 234-4785 voice

(816) 234-4346 fax

PART TWO

Please advise your members that there are some guidelines.

First, columns MUST be accompanied by at least one high-quality photo (.jpeg format only) of the subject item and ideally a mugshot photo of the author if one is readily available. I'll also need a brief bio sketch (hometown, how long collecting, specialties in collecting, etc) for each author. Each column should not be too long (no more than two screens of single-spaced text. The columns should focus on one subject, item, historical anecdote, etc around the collecting theme. Don't stray all over the collecting landscape. The columns will be edited, but well-written pieces will certainly get priority consideration over those that need radical surgery. I anticipate doing no more than one collecting column a month. But if the readership response is good, a stand alone collecting column could happen. Then I'd be looking for contributions on a weekly basis.

Lastly, sincere thanks to anyone who does contribute. We can't pay writers anything.

Rick

If anybody would like to make this kind of a contribution please do so! If anybody wants me to assit by editing or forwarding or anything, let me know!

Sheldon