1. The CO of the USS Frank Cable (AS-40), Captain Jeff Farah USN, will give the luncheon presentation on July 12th about the current submarine service.
2. Don’t forget about the last annual “BGO Recognition” BBQ hosted by Butch Bewick and Jack Kohl on Saturday July 29th.
3. As mentioned in last month’s meeting announcement, there will be no August luncheon meeting, but there will be a Council meeting on August 5th.
4. At the September meeting, Col Steve Easterday, USMCR (Ret), the president of the Portland Council of the Navy League and Gary Piercy of the Navy League’s USS Portland (LPD27) Commissioning Committee will provide an update on the plans for the commissioning of the USS Portland in April 2017.  They will also give us information about how our chapter can assist with that evolution.

Thank you Mark Cooksey, Ray Miller, & John Bickford our ALITC representatives from the Class of 1971 who welcomed the latest Oregon–SW Washington USNA appointees in conjunction with our local USNA Parents’ Club’s annual hosted event, “welcoming aboard” the latest plebe class and proud parents on June 4^th. In addition to Jake McMichael, Tim Myers, John Adams, Mike Carmichael, & me; Rick Colvin ’49 was in attendance as our oldest alumnus. Our Class of 2021 appointees include Connor Anglin of Longview WA, Evan Brucker of Portland, Jesse Carroll of Ashland, Simon Chuang of Portland, Cole Dittemore of Roseburg, Cameron Douglas of Salem, Hailey Harms of Portland, Jung Kim of Portland, Kevin McCarthy of St. Paul, Tobe Okafor of Gresham, Kory Parent of Cottage Grove, Pepe Tanuvasa of Tigard, Alexandria Vallancey-Martison of Corvallis, and Nicklaus Wiley of Portland.

1. Next Sunday June 4^th from 2:00 – 4:30pm at Rolling Hills Community Church, Tualatin Oregon, please join Mark Cooksey, Ray Miller, & John Bickford our ALITC representatives from the Class of 1971 as we welcome the latest appointees to USNA & NAPS. Our local Oregon-SW Washington Parents’ Club will host their annual event, “welcoming aboard” the latest plebe class from our area and proud parents. We have in the past, representatives from 1962 through 1970 also in attendance. Please join us and RSVP to: USNA PCORWA [mailto:usnapcorwa@gmail.com] .
2. Congratulations to our new Chapter/Council officers & members who were elected May 10^th, by both ballot affirmation & acclamation at our Chapter meeting, for the next two years – Doug Ballard President, Mike Carmichael VP, Ted Scypinski Treasurer, Pete  Crystal, Butch Bewick, Dave Lutes, and Susan Mead.
3. Thank you Butch Bewick for assisting in setting up our meeting room May 10^th and providing a most insightful Blue & Gold brief. Thanks Pete Crystal as our faithful scribe & roving photographer and Ted Scypinski as our official greeter, roster/door keeper & tab collector. Lastly, thank you Janette Sandberg in sending out invites via different media and in election ballot compilation.
4. For our June 14^th Chapter meeting Pete Young ’67 will provide us, a narrated PowerPoint program that features images from the Yard that were taken in the early years of the last century – sometime around 1908 or so. These photos were snapshots taken by a family from Washington DC, and have never been published. These snapshots were taken with an early Brownie camera and annotated by the wife of a Civil War veteran as they showed family members around the Yard.  They tie in on how he came to possess the USNA snapshots and others.
5. Additionally on June 14th Doug Ballard will provide us a short brief on this year’s USNAAA Chapter Presidents’ meeting and latest trustees’ meeting which he attended May 11^th & 12^th.
6. Again, please note that on Saturday July 29^th Butch Bewick and Jack Kohl will host our last “BGO Recognition” BBQ. We have stood up a committee chaired by Susan Mead to consider soonest sites & associated required services for future “Annual Chapter” picnics. This first event in 2018 is being tentatively planned as a general picnic outing for the local Naval Academy “family” (i.e., parents, Midshipmen, alums, etc.). Susan has reported that the same issues remain i.e. how are we to cover the expenses of a picnic including location rent, liquor license, licensed servers as well as food and beverages.  Options for locale such as wineries are being discussed as well as at parks and members’ locations including SW Washington. If you are in favor of continuing to have a summer picnic and are interested in assisting Susan, please contact one of our Council members.
7. If you have traveled up the Willamette River towards Swan Island, you may have seen a “grey hull” in dry dock. That’s the USS Frank Cable (AS-40) normally home-ported in Guam, but undergoing an overhaul here in Portland until September. We have invited her new Commanding Officer, Captain Jeff Farah USN, to brief us on our current “Silent Service” July 12^th.
8. Of a personal note, on behalf of my nine year-old granddaughter Chloe, thank you for contributing to this year’s “Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides Walk” at Oaks Bottom Park as a member of “Chloe’s Crusaders”. The team raised in excess of $94K. Again, thank you!
9. Lastly, Happy 50th Anniversary to the Class of 1967 and Congrats to the Class of 2017!

1. With the exception of receiving a brief report from Butch Bewick addressing the new Class of 2021 to be sworn in as midshipmen this June and conduct of Council elections, just plan on a afternoon of just swapping “sea stories” and “Salty Sam” anecdotes at our May meeting.

2. Speaking of Council elections, we have a great slate of candidates who have stepped forward to assist Doug Ballard the next two years. We do have an opening for the Secretary position and would welcome a “write-in” if you are interested. Additionally we have several committee openings (Annual Summer Picnic, Bereavement Cadre, Speakers Selection, National Trusteeship, USS Portland (LPD-27) Commissioning in Spring 2018, & Future Rose Festival Visiting Ship Transits). Please annotate your ballot if you are interested.

3. On Sunday June 4th from 2:00 – 4:30pm at Rolling Hills Community Church, Tualatin Oregon, please join Mark Cooksey our ALITC representative from the Class of 1971 as we welcome the latest appointees to USNA & NAPS. Our local Oregon-SW Washington Parents’ Club will host their annual event, “welcoming aboard” the latest plebe class from our area and proud parents. We have in the past, representative from 1962 through 1970 also in attendance.

4. Please note that 2017 will be the last time Butch Bewick and Jack Kohl will host the “BGO Recognition” BBQ. It is tentatively scheduled for Saturday July 29th. We have stood up a committee chaired by Susan Mead to consider soonest sites & associated required services for future “Annual Chapter” picnics. This first event in 2018 is being tentatively planned as a general picnic outing for the local Naval Academy “family” (i.e., parents, mids, alums, etc.). Susan has reported that the same issues remain i.e. how are we to cover the expenses of a picnic including location rent, liquor license, licensed servers as well as food and beverages. Options for locale such as wineries are being discussed as well as at parks and members’ locations including SW Washington. Accordingly, a question has also has been included on the ballot surveying members if you are in favor of continuing to have a summer picnic, particularly if there would be some assessed charges involved. Please be candid; and if you are interested , please contact me or other Council members.

5. We have scheduled for our June 14th Chapter meeting Pete Young ’67 (recently moved into our area) to provide a narrated PowerPoint program that features images from the Yard that were taken in the early years of the last century – sometime around 1908 or so. These photos were snapshots taken by a family from Washington DC, and have never been published. These snapshots were taken with an early Brownie camera and annotated by the wife of a Civil War veteran as they showed family members around the Yard. They tie in to the larger story of the veteran (seen standing next to the Tripoli Monument) and how he came to possess the USNA snapshots and others.

6. If you have traveled up the Willamette River towards Swan Island, you may have seen a “grey hull” in dry dock. That’s the USS Frank Cable (AS-40) normally home-ported in Guam, but undergoing an overhaul here in Portland. until September. We have tentatively invited its new Commanding Officer Captain Jeff Farah USN to brief us on our current ”Silent Service”.

7. We had a most successful Chapter meeting last month with 56 alumni & guests in attendance. Paul Tortora provided us a most comprehensive, applicable, and professional brief of cyber-security both in general as well as addressing the programs at USNA. It was worth the two hours spent. BRAVO ZULU Paul! Thank you Doug Ballad for your overall planning & orchestrating this event for close to five months. Thank you Butch Bewick for assisting in setting up our meeting room in particular with respect to flag setups and use of your projector. Thank you Pete Crystal as our roving photographer & minutes scribe. Thank you Ted Scypinski as our official greeter, roster/door keeper & tab collector. Lastly as always, thank you Tex Harkins (with the assistance of Janette Sandberg, Susan Mead, & Pete) in sending out invites via different media, assisting in the room revampment, setting up the projector & assisting Paul in his presentation, and just putting out ‘fires’. Also, thank you Tex & Cecily Harkins in hosting a farewell ‘potluck’ dinner for Paul with support of Pete Lehrfeld, Butch Bewick, Pete Crystal, Suzie & Mike Carmichael, and Doug & Jean Bomarito.

8. Second from the last, we had most productive Council meeting on Saturday April 15th. Thank you Doug Bomarito in hosting us at your law offices. Thanks to all current Council members (Doug Ballard, Pete Crystal, Ted Scypinski, Susan Mead, Butch Bewick, & Dave Lutes) for seeking re-election to serve for the next two years and Mike Carmichael for standing up as our next Chapter Vice President candidate. Thank you Past Presidents Tex Harkins, Ray Kutch, Mark Cooksey & Doug Bomarito for attending & actively participating in the meeting and for your corporate memory, candidness, & continued contributions to make our Chapter better & most proactive. Thank you Susan Mead for your research & detailed analytical efforts into next year’s summer activities. Thank you Janette Sandberg for developing a most professional & functional website for our membership to have as a “go to” for information, scheduling, and management tool. Thank you Ted Scypinski for continuing to keep an accurate & timely accounting ledger. Thank you Pete Crystal as our scribe in keeping great minutes. Thank you Butch Bewick for your continued selfless B&G efforts & updates and fervent teamwork. And thank you Doug Ballard in scheduling key events and coordinating our major effort in trusteeship application.

9. Lastly, Happy 50th Anniversary to the Class of 1967 and Congrats to the Class of 2017!

As ever,

Beat Army! Beat Air Force!

Frank

1. Our Chapter has the honor to have Captain Paul Tortora ’89 USN Ret as our guest speaker at our monthly luncheon next Wednesday April 12^th. As you may know, Paul is the Director of the Center for Cyber Security Studies and is the first Chair of the new Cyber Science Department at the Academy. We have asked him to provide us a brief on our Academy’s current Cyber education program, the Cyber Operations Major curriculum (which is the first for any service academy), and a progress report on the ongoing construction of USNA’s Cyber Education Center.
2. Recruiting and screening candidates for appointments to USNA is an important task and extremely rewarding. Within Oregon, we have been blessed with Butch Bewick ’62 heading the effort for a long while.  He can use some help to cover the Oregon high schools particularly in areas outside the Willamette Valley.  Please contact Butch (JSBewick@aol.com) about becoming a B&G Officer or suggesting someone?  This pitch also applies to John Adams, our SW Washington B&G Coordinator (johnadams1969@gmail.com).
3. May Council Elections are just around the corner, and we are still looking to interested alumni to join our ranks as members of our Council for the next two years or just as members of a committee. If interested, please see me or other current Council members (Doug Ballard, Pete Crystal, Ted Scypinski, Dave Lutes, Susan Mead, or Butch Bewick). Our Council next meets Saturday April 15^th at Doug Bomarito’s Law Offices (7157 SW Beveland St., Tigard) between 10:00 and 12:00 to finalize a slate of candidates as well as to complete planning Chapter events for the remainder of this year. Please join us.
4. In addition to the above, our Council will be reviewing our Bylaws. We welcome you to assist our effort. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, please contact me.
5. Please note that our annual August Chapter picnic hosted by the Kohls and the Bewicks is coming to an end.  August 2017 will be their last.  We are most grateful to them for their generous gifts of time, money, labor, and hospitality. Thus, we tackle “what’s next?”  Our Council members want to continue having an August event that would encourage the entire family to participate.  It is doubtful that it will be free anymore.  Finding a location that is not too expensive and would allow beverages veterans are accustom to is not easy.  Do we cater it?  And so forth.  Please email Susan Meade ’90 semead90@gmail.com with suggestions or other help; and again please join us at our April Council meeting.
6. Again, congratulations to USNA Class of 1967 as it celebrates its 50th birthday this year.

Beat Army!  Beat Air Force!

Frank