President's Message
January-February 2023
MAJ Joseph
“Joe” Voge, USA, (Ret)
Another year has come and gone. It has been a good year for KOS. I enumerated our accomplishments at our
November meeting in my “State of the Chapter” address. You showed trust in our officers and board of
directors when you voted to continue our tenure for another year. We are fortunate to have added COL Bill and Lt Col Sharon Murry as directors to our board.
Even though his term as a director has expired, LTC Frank Rasbury has
agreed to provide counsel to the board as needed. For the last couple of years, his guidance on
the bylaws, standing rules, and the parliamentary procedure has been invaluable. Our needs in that area will continue as well
as his guidance. We thank you, sir. I am also thankful that COL Bob Schlegel has
volunteered to stay on for another year as a director.
At our December luncheon, CDR Tom Dann reiterated his
proposal to add a new section to Article IV of our bylaws. It had been tabled at the November meeting. His proposal would add the word Emeritus to
our membership category and would recognize current and past outstanding
distinguished service. It was brought to
a vote by the membership present, and it was agreed to. It is
now on the agenda for our board meeting on 13 December.
We welcomed Ron Oppliger and Todd Belknap from the “Friends
of Marion County Veterans Park Foundation” for our December meeting. They outlined the many plans for the park and
showed the opportunities for assisting in the park’s development. They described the many improvements that
have been made already and the ongoing developmental ideas. For those of you with deep pockets, he showed
several monuments that can be acquired for personal display.
In January, we will install officers, and COL Nick Navetta
has arranged for our Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Wesley Wilcox, to speak. He has
been in that position for 10 years and was the assistant supervisor for years
before that. He is highly competent in the
conduct of an election, as demonstrated in the November election along with the
other counties in Florida. I look
forward to hearing from him.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and remember the reason for
the season.