of both the club and of the BoD. We have 1600 members, most of which don't participate by choice. You can't direct a hobby or determine which direction that a hobby such as ours will go. All that we can do is be aware of trends & try to plan for those trends. Back in the early 2000's, what would a five year plan have done to predict where the hobby (or the economy) was going? I firmly believe (and I've said this MANY times) that if & when the economy gets better and people have extra money to spend on hobbies instead of worrying about having enough to pay bills, our hooby (and subsequently, our club) will grow. Do I believe that it will ever get to 10,000 collectors? No...but it might return to 4,000 to 5,000 collectors in the hobby, which would bode well for the club & the hobby.

What we can do now is to continue to inform new people about our hobby and try to keep those that have recently become interested in the hobby, keep them interested & get them involved. Our magazine, this BB, chip dealers, research like you have done & the posts that Gene makes about various illegals -- these things will bring people to the hobby & will keep them interested in it.

What we really need to figure out is how to KEEP people interested in the club & in the hobby. We have 1350 "regular" members (including Life Members) & we are at member number R-8547. So we've "lost" 7200 members (although many have returned & several have three or four membership numbers due to lapses in their membership(s)). Sadly, many have passed away, others have priority changes in their lives, most just lose interest. If we can find a way to keep the interest levels up, that would help. Some time ago, people used to run "shotguns" & "round robins" on the BB. Maybe that's a way to generate interest...as long as those few people who ruined this because of being inconsiderate & greedy are excluded.

Westen -- I appreciate your ideas and suggestions & I hope that at some point, our hobby & club can get back to a point where some of your ideas can be implemented. I just don't think that it's necessary at this particular junction.

Steve B