7
PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Dear Members,
This being the last edition of the Bulletin for 2003
indicates the year is rapidly coming to a close. It is
hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly. It
has been an extremely interesting and challenging
year. Much of the Boards' time this year has been
taken up preparing the way to do business in the fu-
ture, that is, electronically transferring data via the
internet. This will broaden the membership base of
the Kansas Geological Society and should generate
additional activity in our state. This will benefit all
members of the Society because increased activity
translates into more opportunities for exploration,
consulting, and well site supervision.
By the time of this bulletin the Walters Digital
Library should be up and running. This promises to
be a very useful tool for geologists to access data
contained in the KGS Library via the internet. A
great deal of groundwork had to be done in order for
this project to become reality and a lot of people
have been involved in laying that groundwork. It has
been enjoyable working with Jon Callen and the
Kansas Geological Foundation Board. I feel very
lucky to have been involved in the process in a small
way and am grateful to all the members who have
volunteered their time and energy. This will be an
ongoing project, so much more work will need to be
done and I am sure the KGS and KGF members will
step forward to help.
I attended the AAPG Mid-Continent Meeting in
Tulsa in October and am pleased to recognize several
of our Kansas Geological Society members who
were presented awards. Alan DeGood, Bob Cow-
dery, and Lynn Watney all received distinguished
service awards and Ernie Morrison received a Cer-
tificate of Merit Award. Congratulations to these
gentlemen for their continued work and their efforts
to promote the geological sciences.
Election time for next years officers is near and
the Nominating committee chaired by Debra Fitz-
Gerald did an outstanding job of finding qualified
candidates to choose from. I encourage you to fill in
your ballot and send it back to the KGS Library by
Dec.1 so your vote can be counted. I would like to
thank all the Committee chairpersons who have vol-
unteered their time this year as well as members of
their respective committees. The social and profes-
sional events that we as a Society have organized
and taken a part in have been excellent and that is a
credit to the memberships' commitment to the Soc i-
ety and its traditions.
I also want to thank the KGS Library staff,
Rhonda and Sherry who take and process your or-
ders, they do this day in and day out while categoriz-
ing and filing new data into the library. It is their
dedication and attention to detail that makes it possi-
ble for members to access geologic and drilling in-
formation easily. Janice, in accounting, keeps track
of all the financial records of the Society as well as
for the Foundation. I would like to thank her for her
dedication to the Society as she will celebrate 20
years of employment in 2004.
Lastly, but not least I want to express my thanks
to Rebecca, our Business Manager. I have thor-
oughly enjoyed working with her this year. She has
shown a great deal of dedication to the Society, by
overseeing the Library operations, helping organize
the social events, attending conferences and conven-
tions, and too many other things to list here. It is this
kind of dedication from staff and the great volunteer-
ism of the membership that makes the Kansas Geo-
logical Society great and why we will continue to
prosper in the future. It has been a pleasure and a
privilege to serve as President of such a fine organi-
zation this year.
Best Regards for the coming year,
Timothy G. Pierce