Hello WGA!

Will the snow ever stop?! As Wisconsin geocachers, we've been spoiled the last 2 winters, with the lack of the white stuff. This season is a good reminder to seekers, (and cache owners) on what that 'snowflake icon' means!

Our first 2 WGA Events have come and gone; the LCG Event at Horicon and Bonfire on the Bay in Green Bay. Our thanks to the member volunteers that helped plan and execute these well attended gatherings.

The WGA Board of Directors met on Sunday, February 25th for 7 1/2 hours of WGA business. This was our required organizational meeting according to the WGA By-laws. The Association has always been blessed by good leaders, and the 2013 Board promises to continue that tradition in the coming year.

If the snow ever melts, the trash from the last 6 months will start to rear it's ugly head! Watch the Events List for WGA sponsored and locally sponsored CITO Events across the state.
Why not consider hosting a CITO? The WGA offers limited financial support to assist any member in co-hosting a CITO. Contact any current Director for more information.

The anticipation is building toward the WGA Spring Campout, being held on May 17-19 at Interstate Park near St. Croix Falls. Could this lead to an eventual MegaEvent? You should probably attend, so you can say, "I remember the first one!"

Finally, it is once again my privilege to serve another year as the President of the WGA. Please feel free to contact me at any time in the coming months with your input or comments. Better yet; introduce yourself at a WGA Event! I'd love to hear your "tales from the trails"!

Jim Bliefnick, WGA President

The WGA BODs met in Appleton on Sunday, February 24th, 2013 from 9 AM until 4:30 PM to elect officers and organize the WGA activities for the coming year
(although the Minutes will be available after approved, we felt we should share some info with the membership on an informal basis).

New officers for 2013 are:

President - Jim Bliefnick of JimandLinda
Vice President - Pete Quella of Labrat_wr
Secretary - Barry Butrymowicz of Sweetlife
Treasurer - Renee Vanselow-Tapp of Auntie Nae

Our thanks to Webmaster Brian Kling of Team Black-Cat for his service as WGA Vice President last year.

The BOD reviewed the finances and structure of the WGA (with legal council present) and we are a sound and well-structured group.

Our Website continues to grow and develop to help keep the members informed.

We are hoping that more members will organize CITOs across the state this year. The WGA can provde limited financial support, if requested.

Planning is well underway for the Interste Campout on the WI/MN border.

The WGA Geocoin Comittee will be discussing offering a geocoin somtime during the next year. We still have a supply of 2011/2012 WGA coins in stock and discussed different outlets for marketing them.

The Fall GeoPicnic will be in mid September at Governor Thompson State Park in northeast Wisconsin, pending availability.

The WGA is looking to OWN a geocache in each State Park in Wisconsin. If successful, we will need trail bosses for maintenance. We will be seeking guidance (from the 'powers-that-be') for permission.

The WGA is hoping to e-mail 4 Newsletters this year, as another media source for members and friends.

The Squirrel was present at the meeting as an invited guest, but he did not comment on any items on the Agenda.

Our thanks to the Daniels family for allowing the use of a conference room for our meeting. They are very gracious hosts!

The results are in!

The 430 votes from 117 members that were cast in the 2013 WGA Board of Directors election, which ended Sunday February 10, 2013), have been counted and certified. The following individuals have been elected to the Board:

2 YEAR TERMS (Ends February 2015)
Renee Vanselow-Tapp
Barry Butrymowicz
Rebecca Lillo
Chris Walker

Congratulations!

Election Details

These individuals will join or re-join current Board members Jim Bliefnick, Brian Kling, Peter Quella, Rob England, and Lisa Daniels to form the 2012 WGA Board.

Note that per our bylaws, WGA officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) are not directly elected and instead are Board members that are selected and confirmed by the Board itself. Selection of officers should occur during the BOD meeting at the end of February.

The WGA would like to thank all the candidates who decided to run for the Board this year. All of the candidates were well qualified to serve on the Board and all would have done a great job and been an asset to the organization if elected. They all invested significant time and effort into running by explaining their viewpoints, describing their background, and answering questions in the Candidates Corner forum so that members could make an informed decision when it came time to vote.

Also, thanks to all the WGA members who spent time learning about the candidates, carefully considering the choices, and casting their votes. The involvement of members in this leadership selection process is crucial to the long-term success of the organization.

Complete Election Results

The number of votes each candidate received is shown in the list below, along with the percentage of all the votes cast (in parenthesis) and the percentage of members voting who selected that candidate.

Renee Vanselow-Tapp WGA username: AuntieNae Geocaching.com username: AuntieNae Candidates Corner topic:	80 (19%)
Barry Butrymowicz WGA username: sweetlife Geocaching.com username: sweetlife Candidates Corner topic:	77 (18%)
Rebecca Lillo WGA username: beccaday Geocaching.com username: beccaday Candidates Corner topic:	64 (15%)
Chris Walker WGA username: Walkingadventure Geocaching.com username: Walkingadventure Candidates Corner topic:	64 (15%)
Tim Saavedra             WGA username: TJSAAVEDRA Geocaching.com username: TJSAAVEDRA Candidates Corner topic:	47 (11%)
Steve Biedermann WGA username: CommanderUSN Geocaching.com username: CommanderUSN Candidates Corner topic:	27 (6%)
David Cantrell WGA username: CacheNoTrace Geocaching.com username: CacheNoTrace Candidates Corner topic:	24 (6%)
Will Church WGA username: lone_gunman Geocaching.com username: Lone_Gunman Candidates Corner topic:	23 (5%)
Scott Dallesasse WGA username: sdallesasse Geocaching.com username: Scribble Scribe Candidates Corner topic:	15 (3%)
Kelso Gonzalez WGA username: Kelso Geocaching.com username: Gonzakel Candidates Corner topic:	9 (2%)

The WGA is accepting votes for the 2013 Board of Directors Election through February 10, 2013 at 12:00am CST. There are 4 open positions on the Board that will be filled in this election.

All WGA members can vote for up to 4 of the candidates that appear on the ballot. Click here to vote now. (These candidates received 2 nominations from fellow WGA members.)

A link is provided to each candidate's profile on the WGA website... click on the profile icon to the right of their username to view it.

We have also provided a link to the posts that the candidates have made in the Candidates Corner forum, and we encourage members to read these posts to learn more about the candidates before casting their votes.

At the conclusion of voting on February 10, 2013 at 12:00am CST, the votes will be tallied and the 4 candidates with the highest vote totals will be awarded the open positions on the Board. In the event of a tie, a run-off election will be held soon after voting ends.

As the nomination period for the Board of Directors election is in full swing and we already have a number of members who have accepted their nomination. Nominations will be open until January 27th.

Now is the time to get your questions in for the candidates!

Get to know who these folks are and see what their thoughts are for the goals and direction of the WGA. Post your questions to one or all the candidates. If for a single candidate, you may post on their Candidates Corner topic, for all candidates post a new topic in the Candidates Corner forum.

Please abide by the forum guidelines when posting.

Hello WGA!

As the calender year winds down, I find myself sitting at a hospital in Sheboygan, waiting for Linda to return from knee surgery. We are looking forward to her being able to get out and hunt caches again.

The end of the year means it's time for Board of Director nominations and elections. Watch for details in the WGA Forums for nomination/voting deadlines.

I've had many new cachers ask me over the years, "Can you geocache in winter?" ABSOLUTELY!! You can also do a bit of socializing at a few WGA sponsored Events, too.

The Lonely Cache Game Event will enjoy it's third year at the Horicon Marsh International Visitor Center near Horicon on February 2nd, 2013 (Ground Hogs Day). You don't need to play the LCG to come out and hear some of the wildest stories from the past year.

Mark Green Bay on your GPS and February 23rd on your calendar for the WGA Chili Feed/Bonfire Event, being held at the Bay Beach Nature Center. A great place to meet new cachers, wolf down some chili, and get some more winter caching in!

We are 3 months into the WGA TB Race! There are already 14 Travel Bugs with over 1000 miles on them, and 3 with over 7,000 miles! Some have been muggled, too. There's a lot of racing to be done yet, not to mention the fabulous prizes to be won!

A great group of attendees were seen at Pike Lake in September at the WGA GeoPicnic. If you think that was fun, wait until May 17-19 next year, when the WI/MN Joint Campout is held at Interstate Park near St. Croix Falls! An Event sure to create some new caching friends and lifetime memories.

Linda should be back to the hospital room soon. The doctor said everything went great. Here's hoping you have a great Holiday Season and good caching in the New Year.

Jim Bliefnick, President - WGA