Base meeting was held at the Sioux Falls DAV starting at 12 noon with Gwen making a homemade soup
that the members stated was delicious and topped it off with ice cream and lemon cake
The meeting started at 1 pm with the reading of the creed and pledge of allegiance.
Invocation was given and members were introduced. BJ did Tolling of the Bell for March/April submarine losses.
Capt Neutron dived the boat with the diving alarm.

Members attending:Mike Neuroth, Brian Schnurr, Kent Winter, Gerold Davey, Dan Anderson, Jim Farquhar, Dean Dueul,
Larry Little, Bernard Jung, Nate Krull, Roger Zarn and Larry Larson.

Secretary/Treasurers reports:January Base meeting minutes were approved.
Tim is in AZ but he gave a report, Base account at $5,903.33; Torpedo account at $3,050 included in total. We have 2
outstanding checks going out to USSVI and Holland Club; balance on hand is $5,728.33

Committee reports: Eagle Scout program: Dan and Jerry are working with Sioux Council on this year's Eagle Scout Award program.
Kaps4Kids program: Al and Kent will make contact with Avera and Sanford to continue K4K program. We can ask
Jeff Alvey to invite any visiting crew members to join us or try to plan one together.
Yankton Memorial Planning committee: Asked the Mayor of Yankton to be our featured speaker at the 2017 USS Scorpion 278
Memorial service next May. Want to get the City of Yankton more involved. Glenn has contacted Strategic HQ in Omaha
regarding an Admiral's visit during the service.
Storekeeper: Jerry has all the items we need for vests, caps, pins & patches through the Nation site. Contact Jerry
if you need anything!

Old/Unfinished business:
Jerry is emailing and calling Base members on updating their contact information. Don't be surprised if you get a call or
email and please help us keep up-to-date on your current situation and health.
Donations to the USS South Dakota Commissioning Committee for $500 have been designated to the Senior Chief Petty Officer
Donation level. Final status of that is still not complete as we have only $250 raised by individual donations.
MK-14 Torpedo: New info on finding our torpedo has been discussed with the closing of submarine memorial sites including
Hackensack NJ and South Carolina. We are making contact with their organization and see if there is any interest in selling
a torpedo.
Working on the State of SD to officially get memorial marked as State Historical. Brian found out it would cost $2332 to
have bronze marker made and that we will pursue getting this done. Roger told us about his experience with the State on a marker.
USS South Dakota SSN-790: Our own Jeff Alvey, who is now on the USS South Dakota Commissioning Committee, was especially invited
to update the base membership on what we could do in 2017? He was only able to stay with us a short time but hopefully got
in a few spoonfuls of the soup. Jeff gave a very detailed report on the last Commissioning Committee meeting.
To briefly review, upcoming potential visit dates, fundraising, media plans, firearm design (pistol & shotgun), website,
wine/beer contests and tentative schedule for Sturgis, State Fair, Buffalo Roundup and Hunters Point. Home Port program
will be skype or other virtual visits with crew. Check out the Website and FaceBook sites for info and photos. Concluded
with updated info on Christening (Dec 2017) and Commissioning (Dec 2018). Original Christening was August 2017.
Obviously, they feel December is a nice month to visit CT.

New Business:
Jeff brought the new USS South Dakota SSN 790 tee shirt for sale! Will post on our web site so you can order yours!
Come in dark blue or gray with pin on front and logo on back. Great looking shirt!
We discussed naming of Highways in honor of American Submariners as done by Bases in other states.
Roger Zarn and Lynn LaDassor are being submitted to the Holland Club! Congratulations!!
We discussed the NJ torpedo opportunity and a similar op in South Carolina. Then an op in Sloans Lake Park in Denver was
brought up but no one has made contact yet.
Dan Anderson will submit our parade float into the Turkey Days parade and Tim Madden will submit our float for Riverboat Days
parade in Yankton for 2017. Dan added we could also do Luverne and Windom.
"Murph" from the DAV gave us an update of their meeting with Representatives in DC. DAV was there to understand why they cut
funding for the "blue water vets" and to now vote on funding. These were Navy vets who patrolled the rivers and coastlines of
South Vietnam and were exposed to agent orange like the rest, but somehow back some time ago, lost that right.
Next meeting is Saturday, May 20th, 2017 at the USS Scorpion SS 278 memorial in Yankton at 12 noon.
Please start contacting me if you can make this, our most important event of the year!
Sioux Falls group will meet at the Sioux Falls VFW parking lot by Arby's to car pool down to Yankton.
Plan to leave @10am and be down there by 11:30am. Those driving directly please email me back with that info.
The 50/50 drawing was held and BJ had his named pulled for a $32/$32 split of the money.