Commander – Al Norton
At the April meeting the officers for 2017-2018 were elected. They are:

We still have 3 open positions, Service Officer, Historian & Judge Advocate. The officers will be sworn in at the June meeting and assume office July 1st.

The volunteer fire department is very important to our community. They are in dire need of our support monetarily and with volunteers. If anyone knows of someone who might be interested, please contact the fire chief. In April we had a member faint and fall on the floor. It took EMTs from T or C over 20 minutes to get here. When we had proper people available in Elephant Butte the response was around 5 minutes. In my opinion this is a very serious problem. We will be putting out donation cans, please help!

May 9th we hare hosting a fundraiser dinner for Pam Sallee’s granddaughter, who is representing New Mexico in volleyball in Australia.

Mother’s Day roast beef dinner on May 14th, member’s mothers eat free, from all others we are asking a donation of $8.

I thank everyone who helped with the Cemetery cleanup. This year was the best job ever. The Veterans area looks fantastic!

Our Volunteer of the month negotiated and supervised the parking lot repair project. Gene Barton: you rock.

The 1st week in May we will be preparing for the Fiesta Parade. Come on out and see our float. We will have a Gold Star Member aboard!

Participation in our Post is how we exist. Keep up the good work in making Post 44 the most fun Post in the state. We also have over 120% membership, the best in the District.

God Bless our Post, our Veterans, our Troops and our Nation.

Charity & Education:
Gaming revenues from March provided $2804.02 for April’s Charity & Education. Recipients were American Legion Department $224.34; Auxiliary Care Packages $150; SCCA Cancer Patient Transport $250; Auxiliary Veteran’s Meals $100; Auxiliary Department Assessments $150; EB Bass Anglers Kid’s Fishing Derby $200; Down Under Sports for Logan Green $250; Open Arms Pregnancy Center $100; Moose 2050 Fundraiser Car Show $100; Make a Wish Albuquerque $100; EB Volunteer Fire Department $200.

Finance Officer- Bob Nellis
The post finances remained in the black through the month of April. Although gaming revenues didn’t show any improvement we did receive additional revenue from the juke box, pool tables, and Buddy’s flea market. The revenue from these sources are not great but it helps put money in the bank.

Our application for the New Mexico Lottery has been submitted and approved by the state. We expect to have the vending machine in place and in operation this month. Look for the machine on the west wall next to the ATM.

As is typical for the summer months, our revenue for the Wednesday night dance and dinner are down. The Executive Committee is looking into alternative activities for these days. Any changes will be noted in the upcoming monthly schedules.

Activities Committee – Kathy Norton and Linda Amdal
Thursday, May 4th at 1:00, we could use your help decorating our Fiesta Parade Float at Tom Cleveland’s house. Anyone that wants to ride in the parade, let Ginny Lucero or Linda Nenno know. We will post where to meet and at what time later.

Friday, May 5th is “Cinco de Mayo” with drink and eat specials.

The Fiesta Parade starts at 10:00 on May 6, and our “Steph Ross,” representing SCCA, is this years’ Grand Marshall!! There will be lots of activities in town & when you are done, come to the Post for the “Run for the Roses” Kentucky Derby & Derby Hat Contest! Post time for the race is 4:34 (our time) so get there early!

Tuesday, May 9th from 5 to 7, our former cook, Pam Sallee, will be preparing her famous 1 and 1/2 inch pork chops, asparagus, baked potato, salad and roll dinner for a fundraiser dinner for her grand daughter, Logan Green. Logan, a sophomore at Hot Springs High School, has been asked to represent New Mexico and the United States in Australia & Hawaii with Down Under Sports playing volleyball!! What an opportunity of a life time!! Logan is a Junior Auxiliary member, so let’s all turn out & support Logan! Tickets, $10, are available at the bar.

Mother’s Day, Sunday May 14th from 2 to 3pm, the guys are preparing a pot roast dinner, complimentary to member Mom’s, $8 donation for all others. There will be a signup sheet at the bar to get an idea of head counts.

Congrats to Jennifer Lewis for being selected as our Volunteer of the Month!! Our quiet little Jennifer has been a valuable asset helping in the kitchen, whenever needed! She also made our dust cover for the patio tv. Thanks a million, Jennifer! You rock!!

A schedule for Memorial Day Weekend activities and ceremonies is posted on the bulletin board. Help is always welcome to set & pick up flags we decorate the cemeteries with.

We appreciate your support of our Post and look forward to seeing you here!

Commander – Al Norton
Let’s start this month with Thank you Thank you Thank you. We asked our members to help us pay for the Parking lot repairs. $3900.00 was our goal. This goal was met and then some. We couldn’t have done it without members help. I really appreciate your efforts.

The suggestion box is an important tool for the club. I assure you that all suggestions or complaints are read to the Executive committee and acted upon if possible. This month we received a serious complaint about us disrespecting people in wheel chairs. We have one regular member in a wheel chair. I talked to him about the problem. He did not have a clue about what was said and he does not have a problem. The complaint was not signed, therefore, it is impossible for me to continue my investigation. If the person who wrote this complaint would come forward and talk to me or another officer we would do our best to resolve the problem. We have said in the past that unsigned complaints will be ignored but this issue is too serious to ignore. However we cannot do anything if we don’t know anything.

The elected officers of this Post are the people that make the important decisions on the operation of the Post. We have over 300 Legionnaire members I find it difficult to understand why we cannot get enough people to help run our Post. There should be 10 officers, 9 elected and 1 appointed. We have for this year 6. We must have 5 in attendance at the Executive committee before we can vote on anything. We must have 6 members at the General membership meeting to vote, to many times we don’t have enough at meetings to get anything done. This is shameful. Please come help us run this Post and find out what goes on in the operation of the best darn Post in the country.

God Bless the American Legion, our people, our country its veterans and our troops now serving!

Nominations for 2017-2018 officers:

Commander – Al Norton
1st Vice – David Thibeau
2nd Vice – Bob Acre
Financial Officer – Bob Nellis
Sgt. of Arms – Dan Lanquist
Chaplain – Vince Hadley
Judge Advocate – Vacant
Adjutant- Tom Cleveland-appointed position

Charity & Education:
A total of $3032.97 was paid out in March from Charity & Education Funds to the following recipients: American Legion Department $490.77; Auxiliary Care Packages $367.20; SCCA Cancer Patient Transportation $250; Auxiliary Veteran’s Meals $100; Auxiliary Department Assessments $25; AL Post 18 Golf Fundraiser $100; Hot Springs High School Grad Bash $500; The Boys & Girls Club of Sierra County fundraiser $100; Hot Springs High School JROTC Scholarship Fund $250; Hot Springs High School Cheer Team Equipment & Competition Fees $250; Sierra County Little League $200; Friends of Elephant Butte State Park Easter Egg Hunt $300; NM Friends of Foster Children Sporting Equipment $100.

Finance Officer- Bob Nellis
The end of March was also the end of our 3rd quarter for this fiscal year. The post continues to operate in the black. This was due to the generous donations of our members that offset the expense of repairing the parking lot and purchasing a new freezer. Gaming was also about double the revenue that we received in January. Revenue from the kitchen and canteen continue to be good.

The Executive Committee is pursuing the acquisition of Power Ball and scratch tickets from the New Mexico State Lottery. The scratch tickets will dispensed from a vending machine similar to the pull tab machine. This is not expected to be a big money maker but it may ease the withdrawal pains experienced by some with the loss of Pull Tabs.

Activities Committee – Kathy Norton and Linda Amdal
“Hoppy” Easter & Happy Spring to you!! Don’t forget to get your Easter Eggs full of candy & prizes! $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00. The drawing for the $50 Amazon Gift Card and the American Legion hat will be on Saturday, April 15th at the General Meetings.

The Guy’s & Gal’s pool tournament continues to be a huge success & is a lot of fun! Come on in on Sunday, April 2nd @ 3:00 & support your favorite gender! The Tuesday Jam’s have been awesome too!! You can’t beat $2.00 Tuesday and GREAT music!!

As far as we know, this will be the last month of our Thursday Blue Grass music with Bill & Roger. ☹ Waaaaaa… They have been very generous, providing us with great “Free” entertainment during their stay here. Please come in on Thursday’s at 5:00 & let them know how much we appreciate them!! We’d love to have them back next year!

Congrats to Gene Barton as our Volunteer of the Month! Gene was the ram rod on the parking lot project, which we sorely need to be taken care of! Thank you, Gene!

And, Linda Nenno was selected Volunteer of the Quarter! Thanks, Linda, for all you do for our Post, and enjoy your parking spot!

The last Sunday of the month, April 30th, at 5:00, Bob & Fran Acre are throwing a “Patio Karaoke Party” on the new patio as a kind of kick off to celebrate our new patio. Finger foods welcome.
Thanks to all of you for supporting our Post! We look forward to seeing you!