News

Club Meeting

Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at Allied Waste Services, 1214 Montgomery St. SE, Albany, OR (corner of 13th and Montgomery) . Please feel free to join us!

                                               

                                                 

                                           2008 EVENTS

Challenge 2008 Canceled

  We regret to inform you that our annual competition hunt, Challenge 2008, has been canceled due to the high prices of gold, silver and gasoline. We are sorry for the inconvenience, and we hope to be back next year with Challenge 2009.



  2007 EVENTS   

   The Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup

   On March 24th, members of our club traveled to the Oregon coast to participate in the 22nd annual Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup, sponsored by Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism (SOLV). We chose the D River Wayside in Lincoln City as our destination. An interesting bit of trivia: the D River was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's shortest river, flowing just 120 feet from Devil's Lake to the Pacific Ocean. It was later replaced by the Roe River in Montana (either 58 feet or 201 feet, depending on which fork is measured. Considerable controversy still surrounds the issue, and the 2007 edition of Guinness recognizes neither river.

   While we didn't find much trash or treasure (Le Roy Rash was the big winner, with $1.30 in clad), this was truly a worthwhile event, and it gave our members the opportunity to detect someplace other than the usual parks and schools. Members participating included Dan Cantral, Dave Johnson, Le Roy Rash, and Jim Bicknell. Thanks to Dan for acquiring the necessary metal detecting permit for us. Over 5100 volunteers removed an estimated 54 tons of trash from the entire 362 mile length of the Oregon coastline. This event is the oldest organized beach cleanup in the nation. To learn more about this and other SOLV events, visit www.solv.org.


    The cleanup begins
                        


              The Mighty D River                                     Or is it?



           Dan hits the beach        Dave is dressed for "Oregon Sunshine"

    LeRoy (right) gives a demo                             The haul

                 



                                                 GPAA Gold Show

  In an effort to increase awareness of our club, we recently hosted a booth at the Gold Prospectors Association of America Gold Show, held March 31-April 1 at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. This year's show drew large crowds, and we passed out many membership applications, Challenge 2007 flyers, and business cards in hopes of increasing our membership. We also raffled off a 4.5 pennyweight gold nugget and a White's Bullseye pinpointer to raise funds for the Special Olympics hunt we will be hosting this summer. The nugget was won by Larry Ross and the pinpointer was won by Lee Shive. In addition to the club's booth, several of our members also had booths of their own, including Jon Alleman (Jon Alleman Detector Sales), Steve and Rita Houston (Oregon Prospecting), and Cliff Winston (Cliff's Metal Detectors). Thanks to Ken Giusto for his donation of the gold nugget, to Steve and Rita for their donation of the pinpointer, and to all of the Beaver State Coinshooters members who helped man the booth.

A photo of BSC Sergeant at Arms Hank Horvath (right) appeared in the April 1 edition of the Salem Statesman Journal newspaper.




                       Our booth                          Dave Johnson and Dan Cantral



           Rita Houston                  Cliff Winston                Jon Alleman (left)


                    

                President Roy Houtz (left) & nugget winner Larry Ross




                       Special Olympics

   Our annual Special Olympics hunt was held at the Oregon Summer Games in Hillsboro on June 30-July 1. The hunt is free to all Special Olympics participants. The field was seeded with clad coins and costume jewelry. The athletes were then escorted by club members to help them use the detectors. Members of Albany Boy Scout Troop 99 were also on hand to assist us. The athletes were allowed to hunt until they found 10 coins which were theirs to keep; afterwards, they each received a grab bag prize. The event continues to grow; a record 446 prizes were distributed this year, up from 275 in 2006. For those club members who have not yet participated in this event, it is highly recommended, as our members enjoy it as much as the Special Olympians. Special thanks to our sponsors, without whom the hunt wouldn't be possible.





                       Challenge 2007

  Our 8th annual competition treasure hunt, Challenge 2007, was held on the weekend of July 21-22 at Timber-Linn Park in Albany. This event is our major fund-raiser for the year; proceeds from the hunt are used to put on our annual Special Olympics hunt. The weather was much cooler than normal for July, but fortunately the rains held off and everything went smoothly. A total of five hunts were held over the two days, including the  popular Night Owl hunt, held at 10:00 Saturday evening. The field was seeded with silver, clad and foreign coins as well as tokens redeemable for prizes including gold and silver coins, proof sets, jewelry, prospecting and metal detecting equipment (including a White's DFX) and many others. Several raffles were also held during the event.  Members of BSA Venturing Crew 2270 (for which our club is a chartered organization) were on hand, selling lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday as a fund-raiser of their own. In between hunts, participants had the opportunity to attend the Linn County Fair, being held at the fairgrounds adjacent to the park. Overall, it was a great weekend, and Challenge 2008 is already in the planning stages. Hope to see you there!


                        One of  Saturday's hunts in progress

              Another hunt                          Carl Blasch recovers a target


                Relaxing between hunts               Silver bar winner Frank Serroni

         

                            Opal winners Mary Canaday and Jim Bicknell

         

                       Detector winners Clarence and Mary Sparks