LAUGHLIN NEVADA 2003

Ruth and Dudley Cass hosted another successful Laughlin Mini-Reunion in Laughlin, March 9-10, 2003. We enjoyed the Vicki Lawrence show Sunday evening and the Four Lads on Monday evening. The following persons attended the Mini-Reunion:

Don and Joan Anderson, Woodbridge, V A
Dudley and Ruth Cass, Bonita, CA
Tom and Jutta Eagling, Tucson, AZ
Parky and Betty Parkhurst, Granada Hills, CA
Jerry and Leanne Pennington, Fallbrook, CA
John and Mary Reynolds, Redondo Beach, CA
Joe and Rose Ripley, Los Alamitos, CA
Jack and Jean Timmons, San Diego, CA
Jim and Judy Van Sant, Oakdale, CA
Tom Victory, Port Orchard, W A

And to the unknown good looking ex-sailor wearing a white Topeka shirt, standing in line for the Vicky Lawrence show and talked with John Reynolds. We are sorry you never made it to the Cass Hospitality room. You would have enjoyed it had we hooked up.

ANOTHER TOPEKA LOGO

The Topeka Logo, as we know it, appears in the masthead of this newsletter. It was approved during a contest around the first WESTP AC deployment in 1961. There was an earlier one, probably during pre commissioning, which featured a Conestoga wagon. Another, featuring the "bow on" black and white image, used in the return address, appeared in the mid 60' s. What is the background of this one? If you know, write to the editor, and it will be explained in the next newsletter.

WEB MASTER CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Ken Noble was receiving so much "spam" at his Webmaster email address, he had to change it. Should you want to contact him regarding something on the website, email him at:

<KWNoble@usstopekaclg8.org>

NEWSLETTER MAILING PROBLEMS

We have had mailing problems with the last two newsletters, starting with the one mailed prior to the Denver reunion. Up to that time, our printer handled the mailing, and all newsletters were mailed First Class.

Because the printer handled all of the work manually (labor intensive), charges for this went up significantly. We had to find another source. So, we contracted with a direct mail house. The fees were right, but the service was not. The first one was mailed

bulk mail, and half had not received it at the Denver reunion, two weeks after it was mailed.

Next came the November newsletter, which was a disaster. It was handled by the same mail house, but mailed First Class. It was late getting out, and got into the early part of the Christmas mail rush. About half of them were lost. With a few exceptions, it seemed that people west if the Mississippi did not get it. Neither the Post Office nor the mail house would accept responsibility. We reprinted half of them and re-mailed them in January. There were minor problems with that mailing.

So, with this issue, we are changing horses again. We have a new mail house and this issue will be mailed "First Class Pre-Sort." This will give us first class mail and a cheaper postage rate, and to a certain extent, it can be tracked. Here's hoping that our problems are solved.