. . . And A Little More . . . .

CORRECTION:  NEXT TRADITIONAL VM's IN SOUTH CENTRAL REGION; ADD ANOTHER:
August 20th - Oxley Nature Center/Mohawk Park in Tulsa, OK
                       See www.AVA.org  or contact the event coordin-
                       ator, Bob Pugh - (918) 446-7924.


GUESS WHO?    The rest of the story.  -  May 1970.  Phouc Vinh, South Viet Nam.  The picture was taken by an O-1E Light Observation Aircraft pilot named John Barth.  He had a wife and three children back home.  Johnny felt it important to teach the aerial observers who flew with him the essentials of flying that "Bird Dog," as the O-1E was affectionately called.  He trained the observer you see pictured, so that on two later occasions, Johnny and the observer survived wartime events like being shot down and being riddled by a huge secondary explosion.  Johnny did a good job, he did a great job, for the observer even learned how to and actualy landed the Bird Dog one day after the pilot with whom he was then flying was rendered unconscious by schrapnel wounds. For that he was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor.   John Barth was less fortunate; on Thanksgiving Day that year he was flying with a new observer, one who had not become thoroughly trained.  Johnny and the observer were shot down and each was found dead, executed by the enemy on the field of battle. 

      That Viet Nam tour of duty, and all of the many awards I won during that period, I humbly dedicate to Johnny Barth and to The Lord to Whom each of us look(ed) and pray(ed).

     In celebration of my birthday earlier this summer, my son, Justin, posted the picture, in my last Blog, of me standing beneath (almost beneath) the wing of an O-1E Bird Dog on his website.  Ironic how the lives of four of the most important people in my life intersected there.

     I hope that this non-AVA tale has actually provided you a little different look at me.  Know, however, that the feelings that it conveys are part of what I stand for and are there today as part of my motivation to assist each of you and to further the values that I hope you see in the AVA.


Ken

You Are Being Given A Little At A Time

NEXT TRADITIONAL VM IN SOUTH CENTRAL REGION:
August 20th - "The Gourmet Tour of South Grand" in St. Louis
                       See www.AVA.org  or contact the event coordin-
                       ators, Vic & Fran Shaff - (314) 741-0924.


GUESS WHO?    Story to follow  .  .  .  . 





Ken

Blue (NO, its a NEW) Monday

ESRs - Electronic Sanctioning Requests   Sanctioning of our Year Round and Seasonal Events occurs each year during the summer.  The AVA needs your help when you renew the information from last year in an ESR. Some clubs have excess or redundant information in the Directions area and the Event Info area.  You must also remember to update and re-enter Special Events information using the Special Classification Menu. The Start Point Book is too large, so please assist by cutting down the length (when possible) of repetitive or excess information so that we may have a more condensed book.  Remember that August 31st at exactly midnight is the deadline for all YRE and Seasonal Event ESRs!

Volkswalking: Off the Beaten Path    A You Tube AVA marketing video has been posted for your AVA marketing needs. The html address is: "http://www.youtube.com/embed/-hISCd4v-ng?rel=0" Please feel free to share it with anyone.  If you have questions, please email Linda@ava.org.

Wedding Bells Wishes for a Volkssporting Friend  Congratulations and Best Wishes to Jim Gant, former President of the Dogwood Trailblazers, and to his bride-to-be, Betty Hamilton.  They will be married on August 1st and will be "Honeymooning" on an extended volksmarching trip, seeking to complete walks in every state and/or state capital.  GOD BLESS YOU JIM AND BETTY!

HAVE A GREAT DAY, HAVE A GREAT WALK!

Ken

It's Friday, July 22nd - Are You Out There?

     As volkssporting information becomes available to me, I want as quickly as possible to make it available to you; I have access to e-mail to contact virtually every club in the Region, but in fact, this technique is both faster and avoids the risk that the information will not get beyond the club.  Consequently, I find it important that ALL volkssporters in our Region, and even those who with they were in our Region, are aware of, have access to, and are availing themselves of this Blog, this information location!

Ken

Kenneth G. ("Ken") Miles

AVA South Central RD

3613 East 55th Street

Tulsa, OK   74135-3811

Home:  918.745.0212

Mobile:  918.706.6063

AVA TRAIL/ROUTE RATING SYSTEM

     Clubs need the information on the new AVA Trail/Route Rating System as quickly as possible.  Although it is available on the AVA Website, I have not been successful at pasting it to this Blog and strongly urge clubs to review the one page of material; I will be sending it to club contacts via my e-mail.  If clubs have not received it shortly, contact me! 

2012 Starting Point

The Starting Point will be published soon, listing 1800+ year round / seasonal events from all over the United States.

A photo contest will be held this year to determine the photos that will be used on the front and back cover of the 2012 Starting Point book that best depicts Volkssporting by Volkssporters. There will be a front and back picture to be judged. You can enter one picture front or back, or two photos that will depict front and back. The photos will be judged by the National Executive Council at their August 24 Training Workshop Meeting. So, it is time to start snapping that one or two great photos.

A few rules to follow:

Mail at least a 5" x 7" printed Color photo.

The winner selected must be prepared to have a high resolution color document available to send by email (for the publishers use) to Candy@ava.org.

Identification on the back of the photo must include

:

The winner will have bragging rights and receive a free personal copy of the Starting Point 2012 edition. Credit for photos will be listed inside the cover of the 2012 Starting Point book.

                        Mail color photos postmarked no later than August 17 to:

AVA Headquarters

Attn: Candace Purcell

1001 Pat Booker Road, Suite 101

                                          Universal City, Texas 78148

Location of photo.

Brief description of photo.

Who submitted photo.

(name, phone number and email address)

Entries should be postmarked no later than August 17, 2012

Photo Contest 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND ENJOY A ONE OR MORE WALKS (YRE OR TRADITIONAL)!

AVA NEC

National Executive Council Meeting  The next NEC Training Meeting will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on August 24-26, 2011.

Members of AVA NEC XVII (2011 – 2013) officially elected at the 2011 Convention in Des Moines, Iowa, and seated on July 1st.
  

President                                 Heinz Johnson

Vice President                         Marvin Stokes

Treasurer                                Bob Morrison

Secretary                                Bonnie Johnson

Interim Executive Director        Candy Purcell

Atlantic Region Director         Sam Tollett  (2^nd term)

Mid-America Director          Kimberly Bradley   (2^nd term)

North Central Reg.Director     Phyllis Olson

Northeast Region Director      Doug Reynolds

Northwest Region Director    Sam Korff  (2^nd term)

Pacific Region Director           Holly Pelking

Rocky Mountain Reg.Director Mike Green

South Central Reg. Director   Ken Miles

Southeast Reg. Director      Dennis Michele  (2^nd term)

Southwest Region Director     Bill Hamilton

     The foregoing and additional address and contact information for these and additional “leaders” in the AVA appears at the AVA Leadership Page on the AVA Website at internet address http://www.ava.org/.  

Ken

Your Turn

South Central Volkssporters:

     OK, its been five full days of the AVA.SCRD Blog.  The objective hasn't been to put you through five days of blogging, but to provide information that can help Club operations, newsletters, and individual volkssporters.  With that in mind, I feel compelled to ask, "How did you enjoy the trip?"  Or did you?  Are you satisfied that the SCRD Blog is accomplishing what I initially expressed?  If you have a question or comment about that question or its subject, please take a moment to express and send it to me.  I'll try to clearly answer everyone.

     Here's to mid-July 2011 and to this activity that we love so dearly; VOLKSSPORTING!

     God Bless each of you and enjoy a wonderful weekend and summer! 

  Ken

SCRipits (Snipits)!

                                                                     

You will soon see the following post in the upcoming Checkpoint:

SOUTH CENTRAL REGION VOLKSSPORTERS (and those aspiring to that distinction):   Your maturing RD believes strongly in communicating!  Noting that the word connotes messages going in two directions, Ken has established a Blog, to the messages, pictures, and videos upon which you are at liberty to respond at your own length.  The internet address for that Blog is http://AVASCRD.blogspot.com/.   Ken can also be reached at e-mail address ava.scrd@hotmail.com. 

SEND ME YOUR IDEAS FOR IMPROVING THIS BLOG:   This is NOT MY Blog; it is OUR (the South Central Region's) Blog!  As such, it is available for information contributed by each of us!  Although I don't want to "overwork" this blogsite or you, I remain excited about having the opportunity to communicate fully with each of the volkssporters in the Region - YOU!  It remains, however, a two-way street, one on which you too are a traveler, so feel free to communicate any appropriate (volkssporting-related, mature, non-critical) message and our "Fun, Fitness and Friendship" can grow!

Ken

Wednesday the 13th!

Volkswalking: Off the Beaten Path (An AVA marketing video)A YouTube video has been posted for your AVA marketing needs to the What We Are About link/web page. The html address is: http://www.youtube.com/embed/-hISCd4v-ng?rel=0" Please feel free to share it with anyone. If you have questions please email Linda@ava.org.

ESRs - Electronic Sanctioning RequestsSanctioning of our Year Round and Seasonal Events occurs each year during the summer. The Start Point Book is too large and the AVA needs your help when you renew your information from last year. Some clubs have excess information in the Directions area and the Event Info area.  You must also remember to update and re-enter Special Events using the Special Classification Menu. Please assist us in eliminating and cutting down the length (when possible) of repetitive or excess information so that we may have a more condensed book. We strive to keep printing costs down. Help us with accurate information. August 31 at exactly midnight is the deadline for all entries.

National Executive Council MeetingThe next official meeting for the NEC will be in San Antonio, Texas, on August 25-26, 2011 - Agenda and specifics to be announced.

Your Club's Website on the AVA ServerThe AVA IT provider has asked that you go to the following link for instructions on how to connect to the AVA's server: www.ava.org/clubs/support due to recent changes to the FTP server. If you have general concerns on an existing account, need to verify your username/password, or if you wish to set up a new account, email Linda@ava.org.  Each club that has space on the AVA server is billed $60.00 per year on May 1 (prorated for the first year).

Ken

July 12th, 2011

     No matter your source of information with which to access this site, please list it in your address book as the AVA South Central Region Blog at http://avascrd.blogspot.com/.  You can then return at your convenience.  The objective, of course, is to provide you information about the AVA, about the South Central Region, about your Club(s), and about YOU.  When an area is provided, you are welcome to make and transmit your questions and/or comments (about this Blog, or about volkssports, the AVA, etc.).

     Some information that previously went out to Clubs (and I hope that I'm spoiling no one's surprise by republishing this):

AVA RECOGNITION AWARDS

     The awards shown here were made to individuals from the South Central Region at the 2011 AVA Biennial Convention in Des Moines, Iowa:  

Distinguished Achievement Award (Given to an individual who has given at least eight years of exemplary service to the AVA at several stages of service, including the national level)

Ed Tod, St. Louis-Stuttgart Volksmarch Club

Meritorious Service Award (Given to an individual who has given at least five years of outstanding service to the AVA)

Teresa Arnold, Tulsa Walking Club

Dorris Bender, Clay-Platte Trackers

Harrison Billy, St Louis-Stuttgart Volksmarch Club

Barbara Buehrer, Clay-Platte Trackers

Tom Cabot, Hermann Volkssport Ass’n.

Doris Conyers, Dogwood Trailblazers

Doug Evett, Ozark Hill Hikers

Joe Fountain, Wandergruppe Walking Club

Phyllis Gall, Clay-Platte Trackers

Jim Gant, Dogwood Trailblazers

               Jules Hollingshead, Dogwood Trailblazers

Twila Hollingshead, Dogwood Trailblazers

June Holmes, Tulsa Walking Club

Lawrence Lehman, Global Adventurers

Andy Lucas, Florissant Valley Walkers

Kenneth G. Miles, Tulsa Walking Club

Rhonda Minson, Tulsa Walking Club

Janie Otto, Crescent City Volkssport Club

Barbara Porche, Baton Rouge Striders

Barbara Ramsay, Pace Setters Volkssport Club

Shirley Schelper, Tulsa Walking Club

George Snyder, Holy Family Walkers

Sharon Snyder, Holy Family Walkers

Ed Tod, St. Louis-Stuttgart Volksmarch Club

Terri Tyler, Topeka Sod Stompers

John Wickham, Wichita Skywalkers

Jan Wood, East Texas Trekkers

Lucy Yother, Kansas JayWalkers

Certificate of Service  (Given to an individual who has given at least three years of significant service to the AVA, appointed officials of the AVA, and members of AVA committees.

Ronda Chandler, Tulsa Walking Club

Taylor Chandler, Tulsa Walking Club

Lester Clutter, Tulsa Walking Club

Cheryl Hiatt, Tulsa Walking Club

Rhonda Minson, Tulsa Walking Club

Adelle Stutts, Tulsa Walking Club

     Checked your YRE Boxes?  I hope all YRE Boxes have been checked (on or since July 1st) to verify that + plugs have been cut from stamps and that the materials in the box are otherwise in good supply and in good shape!  What brings this to mind is that I visited a South Central Region YRE on Saturday, July 9th, and found a stamp with + plug unremoved, and a Box somewhat deplete of necessary materials.  NOT a good way to make an impression on me, a new walker, or any other person.  There are clubs that will accept whatever excuse for this condition, but ones short of catastrophe, death, and the like fail to meet the basic needs of our sport!  I suppose my response to anyone failing to meet that standard is "If I can do it, anyone can!"  WE ALL CAN and in so doing we all can make the AVA better!

Ken

AVA South Central Region Volkssporters, This is The Site

     After researching the information provided to me on the facility of communicating (often two-way) via websites versus blogspots and even bulletin boards, I made the decision that I could best fulfill my own desire to keep Volkssporters in the AVA's South Central Region informed, allow for direct responses to most of those communications, and provided what I hope is an appropriate degree of site security by employing the use of a blogspot (or what I like to call a "Blog").  

     I intend to continue to communicate with Clubs via the E-Mail site that I have established for that purpose, ava.scrd@hotmail.com, and fully intend to use the great example that Glen Conyers provided for me, to get out and see each Club at both Club Events and Meetings.  Hand-in-hand with that goal is one to meet and personally greet every Volkssporter!  I hope to see you and say THANKS! really soon!

Ken