COMMANDER'S COLUMN
Mark Davis, Detachment Commander
areacommandersal@aol.com

My Fellow SAL Members,

I wish to thank each and everyone of you for re-electing me as your Detachment Commander for the next year. I truly hope that it will be as good of a year, as the past one. You made me proud and made the Detachment stand out with your many accomplishments. As most of you already know, all it takes is a phone call. I am here to help and serve. 

I need to finish up some kudos from last year. Thank you to Richard and Kay Crooker for hauling me around the Central Area the night before the CMN Telethon. Thanks to Mike and Donna Dooley for your hospitality and taking me around the Southwestern Area. It’s kind of nice when you don’t have to drive!

Membership is the name of the game. You all did a great job last year. I know that together, we can take the Detachment to another All-Time High again this year. Let’s see if we cannot get those “Goose Eggs” to disappear a little quicker this year.

If you are planning on attending the Fall Conference, get your reservation now. It is a lot closer than you think. Hope to see you all there. Also do not forget to check with your Posts when cookouts at the VA Nursing homes are. This is a great opportunity for the SAL to shine, and also to say thanks to those who gave their all for us. You can check the Legion Web site under calendar of events for more information. That’s it until next month! For God and Country.

ADJUTANT'S CORNER
Ed Sheubrooks, Detachment Adjutant
fishermn9@aol.com

Gentlemen,

The Detachment Convention is now behind us. It was very productive and well attended from all Squadrons around the Detachment. We had 540 registered Delegates and Alternates, with attendance at the meetings of over 250 delegates. The Convention was a huge success and concluded with the re-election of Mark Davis as Detachment Commander for 2006-2007. A complete list of the new Detachment Officers is published in the issue of The Source.

We continue to be successful in our programs. It was very evident in Membership with an All Time High of 11,143 members.  We had a total of 79 year-end reports submitted. From the reports submitted, a total of $380,000.00 was donated to various programs and over 240,000 man hours were recorded. This was in addition to the following that was donated on the Convention floor. $15,650.00 for CMN, $5,600.00 for the Child Welfare Foundation, $4,500.00 for the Florida Children and Youth Fund, and $16,100.00 for Florida Special Olympics. A hearty JOB WELL DONE to all Squadrons!

The Detachment Roster is being compiled as we speak. Several Squadrons still have not submitted their Squadron Officer Report form. The District and Area Commanders received a list of these Squadrons at the Convention and will following up with the various Squadrons during installation of Officers. We have set a deadline of August 15^th for this information to be submitted. After this date we will be going to print with the Detachment Roster. Without this information on file at Department Headquarters, your Squadron will not receive any information from the Detachment. The lines of COMMUNICATION are OPEN. It is up to your Squadron to make sure that they stay this way. Let’s keep the information flowing!

By now all Squadrons should have received their membership cards for 2007. The cards were handed out at Convention. Some were mailed out prior to the Convention. Any cards not picked up at the Convention have been mailed. If you still have not yet received them, please contact Irene at Department Headquarters.

In closing, I wish to thank Detachment Commander Davis and the Detachment Executive Committee for reappointing me to serve as your Detachment Adjutant. This marks my 24^th consecutive year as Adjutant. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions to help improve the Detachment, please let me know and we will look into them. Until next month!!

CHAPLAIN'S MESSAGE
Herbert Swoope, Detachment Chaplain
hswoope@msn.com

I would like to thank everyone for their support for a new year.

“Service to God and Country” embraces every aspect of our American way of life. Not only must we prevent the spiritual decay of America; however, we must charge our citizens with a spirit of positive Americanism, with respect for law, reverence for authority and awareness of human rights and freedoms.

Please pray for our troops that are fighting for our freedom and the freedom of others.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Stanley Viergutz, Detachment Special Olympics Chairman

I want to thank each Squadron that donated to Special Olympics at our Convention. We had donations from $25.00 to well over $1,000.00. Most importantly you raised over $17,500.00 fro Special Olympics Florida. Myself and the folks at Special Olympics were overwhelmed. Pat yourselves on the back and keep up the good work. I will have more information on the Winter Games at Disney Sports Complex in the next Source. Thanks again for a great Convention.

DETACHMENT MEMBERSHIP
Jim Roberts, Detachment Membership Chairman
jimroberts3@earthlink.net

The 2006 – 2007 Membership year is underway and I hope that you all have your tractors, combines and hand tools ready to go to work “Grow Your Membership” and “Farm for the Future”.

I am going to rely on everyone to keep the momentum from last year moving this year. We are truly successful when we all work together to make our goals. This is my last month as the National Membership Chairman and you all have seen my articles and I have been focused on our renewals. That focus will continue this year. I am a firm believer that renewals is the way we will truly Farm for our Future and catapult us to tops in membership. Remember – Renew, Recruit and Reinstate.

This year Detachment Commander Mark Davis set a goal of 11,550 members. However, I think that we can do 12,000 members so the new goal is 12,000 members. So mount your farm machinery, gather your hand tools and let’s start planting. Until next time.

NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS

The Detachment’s Website has been moved from the Angelfire url. The new address is www.floridalegion.org/sons. This was accomplished through the help of Larry Leudenburg and Jim Roberts. Thanks guy’s for getting everything moved. The purpose of moving the site was to get rid of the Pop Ups that Angelfire was sending. We are now on the Florida American Legion site which is also linked to National Headquarters.

FALL CONFERENCE

The third annual Fall Conference will be held on October 21^st, 2006 at the Rosen Centre in Orlando. This is the same hotel that we had our Detachment Convention. There will be no Spring Conference, therefore we will be going back to our old Mid Winter Conference schedule. We will have a Detachment Executive Committee meeting in the morning, followed by our regular meeting schedule. The afternoon session will be a training session. The complete schedule is not yet formatted. Please see the next issue of The Source for more information. Please make your plans to attend.

NEW DETACHMENT OFFICERS FOR 2006-2007

Congratulations to our new Detachment Officers!!

Detachment Commander – Mark Davis #304

Detachment Adjutant – Ed Sheubrooks #40

Assistant Adjutant – James Roberts #4

Assistant Adjutant – John Spisiak #57

National Executive Committeeman – John Crawford #120

Alt. Natl. Executive Committeeman – Larry Smith #64

Western Area V. Commander – Steve Lugenbeel #75

Northern Area V. Commander – Thomas Lemrow #250

Eastern Area V. Commander – Gary Scott #1

Central Area V. Commander – John Jennings #72

Southwestern Area V. Commander – George Talbot #323

Southern Area V. Commander – Brian Tyrkas #180

Detachment Chaplain – Hebert Swoope #148

Detachment Historian – Steve Gordon #110

Detachment Judge Advocate – John Crawford #120

Detachment Sgt-at-Arms – Mike Dooley #38

AWARD WINNERS

Convention was not only to elect new Officers and renew old friendships, but to reward those who have worked hard for the Detachment. We would like to recognize those winners for the 2005 - 2006 year.

MEMBERSHIP:

1^st 100% Squadron – Ocala #27

1^st 100# District:

Category I – 3^rd District

Category II – 17^th District

Category III – 6^th District

Category IV – 12^th District

1^st 100% Area – Northern Area

Largest Squadron – Madeira Beach #273

Charles McEvilly Memorial Largest % Increase

10 – 100 Members – Haines City #34

101 – 1000 Members – Oneco #312

REPORTS:

Don Halliday Memorial – Best Year End Report

Winner – Jacksonville #129

1^st Runner Up – Port St. Lucie #318

2^nd Runner Up – Riverview #148

Mark Mast Memorial Americanism Report

Winner – Jacksonville #283

1^st Runner Up – Kissimmee #10

2^nd Runner Up – Jacksonville #137

CHILDREN & YOUTH:

Winner – Punta Gorda #103

1^st Runner Up – Palmetto #309

2^nd Runner Up – Fort Myers #38

Greeley Paine Memorial – Top Contributor Special Olympics

Winner – Dunedin #275

1^st Runner Up – Jacksonville #283

2^nd Runner Up – Several Ties/ No Trophy Given

Jim Mitchell Memorial – Top Contributor CMN

Winner – North Port #254

1^st Runner Up – Venice #159

2^nd Runner Up – Jacksonville #283

Albert J. Farhforth Memorial SAL Member of The Year – William Kelly