DISTRICT 17 NEWSLETTER

July 28, 2009

The District monthly GSR meeting was held on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at the District 17 Central Office, located at 373 Woodward Ave. in Kingsford. The meeting opened with a moment of silence & The Serenity Prayer. In attendance were Cliff W., John R., Todd G., Bruce L., Kevin M., James B., Joanne B., Dennis S., Joe L., Ken W., Dave G., Kevin J., John L., Aaron H., Brittany F., & Jen J. Last months’ newsletter accepted. If you want to receive the monthly GSR district minutes, please send Jen your email address (jljezylo@uplogon.com)

Financial Chair Report: Attached July Financial Report provided by District 17 Treasurer, Bruce L. Thanks, Bruce!  Cards were cheaper for the 1,500 last year. (We paid more for 1,000).  Jen will check with the DIISD Tech Center Graphics department for next printing.  Kevin J.: Question … Why are we paying phone bill monthly rather than yearly? Cliff will check on this.  Financial chair report unanimously accepted.

Corrections Chair Report: Dennis wrote letter & personally delivered it to Lt. Price along with a can of coffee. Both Betty & Kevin have been approved & have been going in to meetings. Received email from Keith about Camp Ottawa closing so their "stuff" (Coffee, Big Books, etc) has been given to Dennis to do with what he will. Dennis needs people for jail meetings … Men/women & Wisconsin/Michigan - Especially Iron County as this meeting doesn’t exist & must be started from scratch. Respectfully submitted, yours in service, Dennis (906)-563-9003 (Leave message & number).

Corrections chair report unanimously accepted. Thanks Dennis

DCM report: On Friday, July 3rd the AA Hotline (906) 774-0900 was registered with DONOTCALL.gov that will cut off telemarketers from calling our Hotline #.

On Friday, July 17th and today, the District 17 website and the 0900 AA Hotline was updated.  The GSR Joe L from the Fri night Candlelight Group of Iron Mountain wants training as webmaster of District website.  Joe and I will get together on Saturday, August 1st at the District Central Office in Kingsford.

 On Tuesday, July 21st the Daily News was updated with changes to AA & Al-Anon meetings for their weekly publication. The lifestyle editor, Terri Castelaz was also informed about the District 17 new PI (Public Information) chair, James B. The Dickinson County courthouse probation department received a new batch of meeting cards and was informed about the District 17 new PI chair, James B.

On Tuesday, July 21st & 28th attended the AA meeting at 10 AM in Norway that has been struggling since the meeting founder and GSR John D passed away due to cancer, with 25 years as a friend of Bill W. Due to lack of support, District 17 is on the verge of losing this meeting. This meeting group has no GSR, and on a temporary basis, GSR Dave G of the Early Fri. Group of Iron Mountain is a treasurer and coffee maker. This Group needs more support to survive.

On Saturday, August 15th Area 74 semiannual committee meeting to be held in Merrill, WI with all District DCM’s from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to set the agenda for the upcoming Area 74 Fall Assembly to be held in October. As a member of the Area 74 Inventory committee, on Sunday, July 19th took part in a phone conference to set the agenda of five (5) questions to be discussed, hopefully at the 2010 Spring Conference. The questions in part have to do with the traditions of AA and the twelve concepts on the Area level.

0900 AA Hotline: (906-774-0900) 168 hits (possible 36 telemarketers) past month. Leslie still wants to assist with this, but she been having surgeries galore this summer. Please keep her in your thoughts & prayers. Ken: We only have two volunteer (12 step) numbers on the 0900 … Don’t we need more people? Cliff: We actually have five numbers under option #8 on our phone line. Ken: We should have more volunteers, especially women. We probably should address this. Should we have a list of numbers at the police departments & hospital? Dave: Many of these calls will probably go through 911 … Maybe they should have a list. This will be James’ job. Kevin:  Doesn’t like the idea of having too many people under option #8.  He suggests scheduling people (maybe three people at a time) as the monthly "Hot" contacts & alternating monthly. Todd: Still need designated areas (Iron River, Pembine, Iron Mountain, etc).  James: Has already spoken to the State police & they have his number.  Should be fine with them & he’ll speak to the other departments.  He needs a list (maybe the one with the three "Hot" numbers/month). Kevin: Men vs. Women … Good idea to have women’s & men’s names & make sure the departments know to call a woman for a woman … man for a man. Discussion about length of sobriety needed: Some people feel there should be clean time restrictions … others don’t. Please return to your home-group, ask for volunteers, & work on getting a list of people willing to be called in the middle of the night for 12 step work. The entire discussion was tabled for next meeting. Bring your group’s list to our district meeting next month on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at the District Central Office in Kingsford.                                                                                                     Page 2