I'm surprised no one refered to the Club Constitution to refute the statement that there were only 50 charter members. Article Five, Section 1, Clause A defines charter members as "the 140 persons who formed the club in 1999." It sounds like Ralph is pretty sure of the number 147, so the reference to 140 may have been a "round number" used for the document itself. I think it is a good idea to get the history documented for club records. I'm surprised it hasn't been done already. Maybe it is somewhere in the archives. Nonetheless, if the original members can continue to put their heads together, so-to-speak, hopefully the history can be written.

I'm puzzled by something you said, Ralph. If it was agreed to leave the sign-up period open until August 15th, why would it be closed two weeks early because of too much interest? Maybe I'm being dense but it seems to me that everyone would have been happy to have more members. Also, if I had been there and had been planning to "sign up" but just hadn't done it yet because I knew I had until the 15th, I'd have been a little upset. Can someone explain this to me?