An Early History of ACUG - 1994
By Bob Devlin

Before my memory fails me, I want to officially record the beginnings of this fast growing organization. The motivation for creating a users group in Amador County did not come entirely from my wishing for contact with other users. It has more to do with cappuccinos. I still miss my evening hangouts at San Francisco coffeehouses. Cafe Tazza has finally provided this experience and stays open until 9 p.m. in the winter and 10 p.m. in the summer. I also knew that without a steady stream of customers, the Cafe would not be able to stay open so late. I talked Marv and Denise Eden, the Cafe owners, into letting me try the first Tuesday of each month as a computer users evening at the Cafe.

October 4, 1994 was our first attempt. I did not realize that I had another commitment that evening, so I talked my two associates, Eileen Lanphar and Barbara Lesch, into covering for me. It was a stormy evening that night and they waited and waited. Finally, two computer consultants from Modesto happened through the doors and they became, to their surprise, the first ACUG members. Of course, we haven’t seen them since.

The second attempt was November 1, 1994. Again, it was a stormy evening and I thought Mother Nature was showing her dislike for technology. We managed to round up eight people, besides your truly and the Cafe Tazza staff, and actually had a fruitful dialog.

The third attempt (nice weather this time) brought us about thirty members and Cafe Tazza was packed. But my plan backfired, as now we had to move to larger quarters. The rest is history as we are now filling the largest room at the Senior Center and have officers, a treasury and our own newsletter.


1995 - The Formation of the Amador Computer Users Group
By Barbara Kreiss

The first meeting held in the Senior Center was held on January 3rd, 1995. It was well attended and several members enthusiastically came forward to help form the leadership of the club. John Tinney was elected President, bringing his experience from the Orange County PC Users Group, Larry Enzler was elected Vice President. Bob Devlin was elected Secretary, and Roberta Wilson was elected Treasurer. Preben Neilsen volunteered to be the Membership Coordinator, Chuck Shipley, the BBS Chairperson, and Paul Kelly volunteered for the Newsletter Editor's job, having previous newsletter experience as a member of the Programming and Interface Enthusiasts User Group in San Jose. Kim Still volunteered to be Assistant Newsletter Editor, and the positions of Publicity, SIG Coordinator and Program Chair were left vacant. This constituted the 1st Annual Inauguration of Officers.


During this meeting, it was voted on by the membership and decided, that the name of the club would be the Amador Computer Users Group, and the club's Newsletter was established. The January meeting was the first meeting I attended. Caught up in the spirit of volunteering, and as I had written articles before for three previous User Groups, I approached Paul Kelly about writing articles for the new newsletter. The ideas turned into two columns first published in the February issue, entitled "Nibbles and Bits" and "Seen in the News". Meanwhile, Paul, with Kim's assistance, published the first issue, Volume 1, Number 1 at the end of January, mailing it on January 23rd. Titled "ACUG Newsletter", it had six pages and ran it's first and only contest, the "Name the Newsletter Contest". The contest lasted for nearly six months, but was finally won by Sarah Humbert who came up with the name "Bytes and Bits". Sarah received a year's free dues for her entry. The July newsletter was the first issue to carry the "Bytes and Bits" masthead.

While ACUG was forming, it was necessary to raise money in order to publish the newsletter, pay postage, pay for the meeting rooms etc. Donations were asked for, and the audience graciously donated enough funds for Roberta to start a bank account at El Dorado Savings for the club. The first Board of Directors meeting was held at the Cafe Tazza on January 16th and it was decided that the dues for the year should be at least $10 per member to start with, until actual costs were established. The club established a PO Box at Sutter Creek for official correspondence.

The February meeting featured our first program, presented by Chuck Shipley, Mike Holgate and Shane Liptrap on "Communications Software and Accessing a Bulletin Board". Our first SIGs or Special Interest Groups were established: the Beginners SIG with Paul Kelly and Earl Tindall as Co-Leaders and the Hardware SIG led by Preben Nielsen. A "Helping Hands" network was established with Paul Kelly and Shane Liptrap volunteering to help those in need.

The March meeting saw three Board Members at Large elected to the Board of Directors: Sarah Humbert, Shane Liptrap and Virginia Wolfe. In addition, Virginia volunteered to be the new Publicity Chair. The March program was "Personal Tax Edge" presented by Larry Enzler with comments by Bob Devlin. Two new SIGs were established in April, the Advanced SIG let by Richard Hancock and the Windows SIG led by Chuck Shipley. The April program was a discussion of Autoexec.bat and Config.sys presented by Preben Neilsen and John Tinney, and "Introduction to Genealogy" by Paul Kelly. Since the February newsletter was sent at the beginning of March, it was decided by the Editor to "skip" a month and publish the next newsletter for April as the April issue. By April, the dues were established at $25.00 per family. They remained at that level for many years, because the leadership looked for other means to help with funding.

May saw the establishment of the Modem SIG led by Nathan Feldman and the Graphics [DTP] SIG led by Bruce Shoenfeld. The Helping Hands had expanded to include volunteers such as David Barghoorn, Larry Enzler and Preben Nielsen. Nathan Feldman also took on the job of SIG Coordinator. The program for May was "The First Annual Fun and Games Night" presented by Shane Liptrap, Sarah Humbert and Chuck Shipley featuring computer games. The May issue of the newsletter carried the first paid ad for Shipley's Computer Services. President John Tinney called for the establishment of bylaws for the club. The May Board meeting considered the issue of alternate funding for the club, such as having an auction, ads in the newsletter, etc. It was felt that this would enable the club to purchase disks for a library and purchase computer equipment such as an LCD [Liquid Crystal Display] to present programs with.

In June, Bob Devlin stepped down as Secretary, due to other commitments, but presented the Board with a copy of the Sacramento PC Users Group Bylaws as a model to follow. Kim Still was appointed to carry on in his place. The June program featured a "Desktop Publishing Overview using Microsoft Publisher" presented by Chuck Shipley, and a "Desktop Publishing Overview using PageMaker 5.0" presented by Paul Kelly. In July, an Internet SIG led by Don Liston was established, and several SIGs were combined to form the Hardware, Software, OS2 SIG led by Richard Hancock and Preben Nielsen. The Beginners SIG changed its name to the New Users SIG. The Graphics [DTP] SIG was now led by Dennis & Aranka Leone. The program for July was "An Introduction to Databases" presented by Bob Devlin and Chuck Shipley. Plans were made by the Board to form a committee to develop bylaws using the SACPUG bylaws as a model.

The August General Meeting featured "An Introduction of Data Bases Using Microsoft Access" presented by Paul Kelly. The September General Meeting's program was "An Introduction to Word Processors" presented by Paul Kelly and Bob Devlin. The First Annual ACUG Picnic was held in October at the Lion's park located on the Sutter Creek-Volcano Road, during which a computer software and hardware auction was held to raise funds for the club with items donated by the members. The October program was "An Introduction to Mail Merge" by Paul Kelly, Kim Still and Bob Devlin. In November, we held a combined meeting of ACUG and the Amador Amateur Radio Club so that each club could see how the other uses computers. The Hardware, Software, OS2 SIG and the Modem SIG were dropped when the leaders stepped down and no one filled their shoes. A membership drive was held at WalMart, with volunteers staffing the booth. The Board discussed the procedures for the nomination of new officers, the nominations and election to be held at the December meeting. The Board also decided to proceed rapidly with incorporation.

Elections were held in December of 1995 and John Tinney was re-elected President, Chuck Shipley: Vice President, Kim Still: Secretary, Treasurer: Sarah Humbert, Board Member A/L: Shane Liptrap, Board Member A/L: Nathan Feldman, Board Member A/L: Mark Olgelsby, Publicity Chair: Virginia Wolfe, Program Co-Chair: John Tinney, Program Co-Chair: Chuck Shipley, Newsletter Editor: Paul Kelly. The program was on assembling a computer from scratch using a new motherboard, a used case and parts from an old 286 presented by John Tinney and Barbara Kreiss. Paul Kelly did a demonstration of mail merge using Word 6.0 and MS Access. The ACUG Board decided to raise funds for an LCD Display so that software could be demonstrated to a large group. After making the proposal, John Tinney seeded the fund with a donation of $50, and in addition, the Board decided to have a monthly raffle to raise funds for the project. It was noted that at the end of the year, the club had 50 members. A Bylaws Committee was formed with Bruce Schoenfeld as Chair and Committee Members Jane Wabs and Lewis Dickerson.

1996 - Growing Enough to Become a Non-profit Corporation
By Barbara Kreiss

The Second Annual Inauguration of Officers and Potluck Goodies Night was held at the January 1996 meeting and was termed a great success. The program was a presentation by Lynda Tusoni, VP of Goldrush World Access on Internet Service Providers. Members had pledged $250 toward the LCD Panel Fund. The first raffle was held successfully and it was decided that it would be held every month at the end of the meeting. The ACUG Board went over the rough draft of the club bylaws and such things as the number of Directors, frequency of meetings, how many constituted a quorum, etc. were decided.

The February program continued the Internet theme with a presentation by Art Rings, owner of Computer Depot, a local ISP. The Board authorized Chuck Shipley to explore the possibility of creating an ACUG Webpage. It was decided that the club would periodically publish email addresses of those members who wanted to be published. March brought a presentation by Frank Leschinsky of Volcano Telephone on it's Internet service and a presentation by Joe Cosentino of American Power Conversion on Uninterruptible Power Supplies. In addition, APC donated $100 to the LCD Panel fund, and Volcano donated a business telephone to the raffle. The Board discussed the ACUG Webpage which Shane Liptrap has started to build. Since he has his ISP service through Computer Depot, the page will reside there. Barbara Kreiss was named Contributing Editor.

April's program featured a presentation by Jim Rader on "Genealogy Software, and Genealogical Resources on the Internet". The club's official logo was redesigned so that the name of the club was more prominent. The new logo was placed on the developing Webpage, and would be used for official correspondence and advertising. The LCD Panel fund had reached $450. The Board decided to look into becoming a chapter of the Sacramento Valley PC Users Group. May featured the Superintendent of the Amador County School District, Ken Sherer on the future of technology in our local schools. In addition, Barbara Kreiss spoke on how to research and write an article. The club demonstrated the new LCD Panel display that the Board had decided to go ahead and purchase at a substantial discount. The May Bytes and Bits featured the first printing of the "Member E-Mail Addresses" column.

The June General Meeting featured "Internet Browsers" presented by Shane Liptrap and Mike Holgate. Goldrush World Access offered a discounted rate to ACUG members. The Board agreed to attend a SACPUG meeting at their invitation. Business card ad rates were changed to $15 per 6 months and $30 per year. It was agreed to publish extra copies of the newsletter for distribution to the school district, the Amador Library and the Chamber of Commerce to help raise awareness and membership in the club. The July program featured John Blacklock, Purchasing Agent at Prospect Motors showing us software that the dealership uses to build a customer's dream car, piece by piece. The membership voted on and passed the club bylaws. The ACUG Webpage had it's debut, finding a home at Goldrush World Access: http://www.goldrush.com/~sliptrap. A membership form was inserted in the Bytes and Bits to make it easier for someone to join if they were interested. The Board accepted Chuck Shipley's resignation as Vice President, Program Co-Chair and Windows SIG leader due to the work load where he worked. The Amador Chamber of Commerce was found to only allow members to leave brochures, and membership would be $40. The local Boy Scout troop was to be contacted to see if the club could assist in Merit Badges. The bylaws were found to have an incorrect quorum, and language needed to be inserted as to the signing of checks.

The August program was a demonstration on how to upgrade to Window's 95 using Karen Crabtree's system with Win3.1 and Win95 presented by John Tinney with software donated by Lynda Tusoni of Goldrush World Access. There was no Windows SIG meeting held. Due to Shane Liptrap's preparing to leave for college, he asked Barbara Kreiss to take over ACUG's Webpage, and it was moved to http://www.goldrush.com/~kreissb/acug and immediately expanded to include more topics. The Board found that the SACPUG would take all the dues moneys, and would only refund ACUG $5.00 per membership. It was felt that was too little to run ACUG as a chapter and the idea was shelved. Lynda Tusoni presented "Internet Search Engines" for the September program. September also brought more changes. John Tinney took over the leadership of the Windows SIG, as Chuck Shipley moved out of the area to be closer to his job. Nathan Feldman also left for college, which left two Board Member A/L positions open as well as the Vice Presidency. Elections were held during the General Meeting and Richard Leary and Dennis Leone became Board Members A/L. Paul Kelly was elected Vice President. During the Board Meeting held September 9, 1996 at Perko's Restaurant, the bylaws were signed by the Directors present. John Tinney was authorized to spend up to $200 for an overhead projector. Kim Still, as Secretary was directed to proceed with incorporation of the club as a California nonprofit corporation, and to look into the feasibility of obtaining liability insurance.

October ushered in the 2nd Annual Picnic, which was held at Howard Park in Ione. The October General Meeting featured "Corel Draw 4" presented by Aranka and Dennis Leone. The Board met at the Golden Wok Restaurant for the first time, and authorized the Secretary to purchase a general liability insurance policy. Notice was received from the California Secretary of State that ACUG's articles of incorporation had been approved and that the application for tax exempt status was forwarded to the Tax Board. A nominating committee for new officers was selected and those named to the committee were Barbara Kreiss, Richard Leary and Don Liston.

November's General Meeting marked the official opening of the ACUG Library by Barbara Kreiss, using two tables pushed together near the back door. November's program featured Microsoft's "AutoMap Road Atlas" presented by Paul Kelly. John Tinney as President, appointed Barbara Kreiss as interim Program Co-Chair, a position left vacant by Chuck Shipley. Barbara proposed membership in the APCUG, the Association of PC User Groups, an international organization of user groups banded together to share knowledge and help user groups contact vendors. The Board voted in favor of ACUG joining this group. John Tinney was named APCUG Representative. Pricing for ads other than business card size were discussed and set. For the first time, the "Editorial Staff" was printed in the newsletter, consisting of Paul Kelly as Editor, Kim Still as Assistant Editor, and Barbara Kreiss as Contributing Editor.

During the December General Meeting, the ACUG Library offered Shareware, Freeware and Demoware for the first time. Each was wrapped in a bow and nestled under a small Christmas tree. The Bytes and Bits newsletter carried the first Library Update column by Joran Kreiss listing software available. Nominees were announced and elections were held. Elected were: Dennis Leone as President, Paul Kelly as Vice President, Kim Still as Secretary/Treasurer [the offices had been combined], Rich Leary as Board Member A/L, Barbara Kreiss as Board Member A/L, Aranka Leone as Board Member A/L, John Tinney assumed the role of Immediate Past President, Paul Kelly continued as Newsletter Editor, Kim Still as Assistant Editor, John Tinney as Program Co-Chair, Barbara Kreiss as Program Co-Chair, Karen Crabtree as Calendar/Publicity Chair, Joran Kreiss as Library Chair, Barbara Kreiss as Library Committee. The program for the evening was "Broderbund's PrintShop Deluxe 3" presented by Paul Kelly. The Board set the date for an annual audit of the club's books.

1997 - Membership in the Association of PC User Groups [APCUG],
and Other Professional Groups
By Barbara Kreiss

The 3rd Annual Inauguration of Officers and PGN [Potluck Goodies Night] was held in January. The program featured Microsoft's "Monster Truck Madness" and Road and Track's "The Need For Speed" games presented by Erik Kreiss. Also, a software/hardware auction was held with auctioneer John Tinney. In addition, Bob Devlin and the Imperial Hotel had jointly donated a dinner for two plus a bottle of wine to be auctioned each month through-out the year. Photographs were taken of the Board and the meeting for our Webpage, the newsletter, and for the local paper, the Amador Ledger Dispatch. The Wednesday, January 15th edition of the Dispatch carried a half page spread featuring the photos and an interview of Vice President Paul Kelly and Publicity Chair Karen Crabtree. The Board agreed to a suggestion by Barbara Kreiss to have a half hour "Random Access" starting every General Meeting. This was intended to allow time to let people get coffee and cookies, socialize, ask questions and have time to use the ACUG Library. Paul announced changes in the format of the Bytes and Bits with the addition of SIG reports, a table of contents, photographs of the Board and columnists, combining the Secretary/Treasurer position and dropping the "Helping Hands" listing. It was felt that members could call SIG leaders or Board members for help. The Board agreed that the annual picnic would be held in the Spring rather than the Fall. Kim would develop a roster for the membership which the club would publish, members would be asked how they would like to appear in it. Three motions were passed: 1) Club mugs will be provided to former officers and to guest speakers. 2) Barbara Kreiss will be provided with $30 in petty cash for the library, and $30 in petty cash for the raffle. 3) Officers are pre-approved for club expenditures to a maximum of $100 with the understanding that the Board may not agree to accept soft/hardware so purchased.

February's program featured Quicken's "Turbo Tax Deluxe" presented by Barbara Kreiss. The first SIG column was published, entitled "New Users SIG" by Paul Kelly. The February Board meeting discussed the success of the Random Access, and it was decided to continue it. The Amador Ledger Dispatch's article was very successful in bringing in new members. The Board authorized Barbara Kreiss to spend $30 for new disks for the Library, and Dennis Leone to purchase a 100 cup coffee maker for the Random Access. February's issue of the Bytes and Bits carried a photograph of the Board and of each of the columnists for the first time. The Webpage also had photographs of the January inauguration. The March General Meeting featured "Computer Basics" presented by Paul Kelly. Bytes and Bits carried the Graphics SIG column by Dennis Leone for the first time. The Board authorized payment of a $125 fee for Federal tax exempt status, however the fee turned out to be $150. A vote was taken and passed, to combine the offices of Secretary/Treasurer, and the office of Publicity/Calendar Chair and to make Publicity/Calendar, Program Chair and Newsletter Editor voting positions on the Board.

The program in April covered "Scanning and Scanners" and was presented by Paul Kelly. The Bytes and Bits first listed the Hospitality Chair as Aranka Leone, with Helen Cutler as Hospitality Committee. The Software Library Committee was also listed for the first time as: Barbara Kreiss, Rich Leary and Lindy Zichichi. The Webmaster was also listed for the first time as Barbara Kreiss. The Board discussed, made a motion and passed a resolution to buy a computer for the club to demonstrate software with. The Treasurer's report showed that ACUG now had 79 members. May's program was a demonstration of "Partition Magic 3.0" presented by John Tinney. The 3rd Annual Picnic and BBQ was held on Saturday May 10th at the Lion's Park on the Sutter Creek-Volcano Road. The program featured "games" such as the ACUG Floppy Flip and the Disk Toss for prizes. Contestants became quite serious about winning. The winners were Roylene Moran, Kim Still and the husband and wife team of Karen and Earl Crabtree who had been practicing for months to beat all other competitors. The Board discussed advertising in the Newsletter and on the Webpage. For the Newsletter, the rates were set at [per insertion] $35 for 1/4 page, $45 for 1/2 page, and $55 for a full page. Computer Classifieds placed by members were free on a space available basis. Barbara Kreiss as Webmaster stated that she would also place the classifieds on ACUG's page at no charge. The deadline for ad submission was set at the 15th of the month. A motion was made, seconded and passed to purchase a 200 MHz Cyrix Tiger computer for the club. John Tinney and Barbara Kreiss placed the order that evening.

The highlight of the June General Meeting was ACUG's new Tiger computer. The program was on "How to Use Unzipping Software" featuring WinZip presented by Barbara and Joran Kreiss. The Board authorized Barbara Kreiss and John Tinney to purchase McAffee VirusScan to protect the new Tiger computer and the Library software from viruses, and to purchase raffle software. July's program, "Hardware" featured John Tinney discussing how to add components and what was inside a computer. The Webpage was updated with a number of new search sites and a page for the newly formed Advanced SIG, led by Barbara Kreiss. There was no Board meeting held.

August featured a program presented by Lynda Tusoni of Goldrush World Access on "Connecting to the Internet". ACUG's newsletter, Bytes and Bits won "Runner-Up Best Design" for small newsletters, in the Intergalactic User Group Officers Conference Ten Newsletter Contest [a national contest held every year]. The certificate is on display in the ACUG Library. During the August Board meeting, members decided to include the names of member's businesses in the Roster. Barbara Kreiss proposed that ACUG join the Amador Chamber of Commerce. With the Board's approval, she paid the $40 annual dues and was reimbursed. A motion was made and carried for the club to pay the $50 each, registration fee for Barbara Kreiss and John Tinney to attend the APCUG conference at the Fall 97 COMDEX held in Las Vegas, Nevada in order to meet vendors, develop contacts and bring back information to the club. Reviews, and the demonstrating of donated software or hardware was discussed. It was agreed on a proposal by Barbara Kreiss, that if a person reviewed a piece of software or hardware, published the review in the Bytes and Bits, and then demo'd it during a meeting before the membership, it would become theirs to keep as compensation for that work. This is standard practice in User Groups. A great deal of work was being done by Barbara as Program Co-Chair to contact vendors and join vendor associations, and make sure ACUG was registered with them as a user group, with the purpose of obtaining software and hardware for reviews and demonstrations.

The September General Meeting featured a program on "Quicken" presented by Bob Devlin of Gold Dust Enterprises. The first official Software Review under ACUG's new review policy, on TravRoute Software's "Door-to-Door", appeared in the Bytes and Bits written by Richard Leary. Kim Still did a great job producing the club Roster, which cost $1.00 each to print not including a mailing cost of 55 cents, for a total of $1.55 per member. As many as possible were distributed during the General Meeting to save postage costs. The election of officers was discussed at the Board Meeting and it was decided that the elected officers with a vote on the Board would be as follows: President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, Publicity/Calendar Chair, Programs Chair and three Directors for a total of eight. There would be no "co" positions, instead there would be "assistant" positions if necessary. While a person may hold more than one position, that person would have only one vote. The Bylaws will be changed to reflect this, and voted on at the November meeting. Barbara Kreiss proposed a "Webpage on Disk" to be written in HTML and to be handed out to new members with club information on it, and as Webmaster, will be working on this project.

The program for the October meeting was "An Overview of MS Office 97, part I" presented by Barbara Kreiss. This was the first time a vendor-donated software package was demonstrated to the club. Microsoft also donated raffle prizes for the event. The Bytes and Bits published two reviews: "MS Office 97" by Barbara Kreiss and "Door to Door" by Dennis Leone. The Board discussed the nominations for office, the election to be held in December. It was agreed that Barbara Kreiss and John Tinney should carry business cards and a flyer about the club to COMDEX. John donated an ink cartridge for Paul Kelly to print the flyers and business cards. $500 was authorized to pay the yearly premium on ACUG's general liability insurance policy coming due in November. Rich Leary was appointed Representative to the Amador Chamber of Commerce. It was agreed to host a presentation by the Jackson Christmas Committee in November. Barbara Kreiss would invite the Volcano Internet Users Group to the December meeting to "get aquainted", with the idea of attracting vendor demo's with a larger group attendance. A reciprocal Weblink was established between the two clubs.

The November program was "An Overview of MS Office 97 part 2" presented by Barbara Kreiss. The Bytes and Bits published three reviews: "Corel WordPerfect Suite 8" by Karen Crabtree, "i publish" by Eilene Moran and "PhotoRecall" by Richard Leary. The Board again discussed the officers and directors, and decided that the voting members would all be "directors" rather than some being termed "chairs" i.e.: Program Director and Publicity Director ["Calendar" was dropped]. There would be 10 voting members of the Board, with a quorum of 6 which would include: President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, 3 elected Directors, Program Director, Publicity Director, Immediate Past President, and Past President. The Board unanimously voted to abolish term limits effective with the next slate of officers/directors. It was felt that the club would lose too many good officers that were vitally needed if term limits continued. These changes will be incorporated into the club bylaws by a vote of the membership at the December meeting. Personal contributions to the Christmas committee were made by some members of the Board and given in the name of the club. Can goods are to be donated by the membership. Barbara Kreiss, John and Rena Tinney left for COMDEX to represent ACUG during the APCUG conferences and to establish contacts with vendors.

The program in December featured the "3rd Annual Fun and Games Night" and for the first time, a User Group tradition: "A 1st Annual Swap Meet". The program was presented by Barbara Kreiss, who brought in 5 systems, John Tinney, who brought in 1, Paul Kelly, who brought in 1 and Jim Ralph, who brought in 1 for a total of 8 computers running with various games for the membership and guests to try out. The Swap Meet featured members selling software and hardware including computers to anyone interested. ACUG also sponsored a canned food collection for the Christmas Committee. Elections were held. Elected were: Paul Kelly as President, Richard Leary as Vice President, Karen Crabtree as Secretary/Treasurer, Frank Blauvelt as Director, Aranka Leone as Director, Kim Still as Director, Barbara Kreiss as Program Director, and Polly Chapman as Publicity Director. Dennis Leone became Immediate Past President, and John Tinney became Past President. The Bytes and Bits featured a review on "MS Internet Explorer 4.0" by Paul Kelly. The Board discussed a fund-raising idea brought back from COMDEX for the club to offer magazine subscriptions at a greatly reduced rate. A motion was passed to offer these subscriptions. Barbara Kreiss will be gathering information on it. Lastly, it was decided to form a "separate" account in checking for the raffle funds.

1998 - Our Membership Grows, Building Relationships with Vendors, Developing Community Service Programs
By Barbara Kreiss

The January 6th General Meeting program featured the 3rd Annual Inauguration of Officers and PGN: Potluck Goodies Night, always a favorite with members. A demonstration on PhotoRecall was rescheduled to March due to illness of the presenter. The Board had a request from a non-member to rent the club's display equipment on short notice, and although the Board did not have a quorum, it was decided that the request be denied at this time. Further discussion on the subject was recommended. Paul Kelly suggested the club have an official "greeter" of some kind at the door during the General Meetings. Barbara Kreiss had done a poll of the membership to see if there was interest in the discount magazine subscriptions, and only a few members responded. The conclusion was, that there was not enough interest in the cost savings amongst the membership, to justify the work involved. Membership expirations was discussed and the policy is that the address label will show the date of expiration, the Secretary will call to remind the member during the first month, the second month will bring a second reminder, and the non-paying member will be dropped by the third month. The Bytes & Bits featured a "Fall COMDEX Report" part 1 by John Tinney.

February's program featured a demonstration of Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 by Karen Crabtree. Corel's shipment of goodies for the club raffle and members was delayed by a huge snow storm in Canada. Photo's were taken for the Bytes & Bits, the Webpage and the local newspaper. The Board voted not to rent any club equipment. On Dennis Leone's proposal, a vote was passed to fund the raffle prize account with a beginning balance of $200, not to exceed $400 and all monies over $400 will be put into the general account in savings. The raffle prize account will be funded from the sale of raffle tickets and will not be reseeded by the general fund. Barbara Kreiss presented a demo of a "Membership Disk" as a good method of supplying the membership with a great deal of information about the club, including the bylaws, the history, how the club works and other information, including a membership roster. If printed, the current information would total over 30 pages. Distributing all this information on disk, would be a great cost-savings to the club, and of great benefit to the members. It was agreed that the first issue would be distributed at the March meeting. The club database was hit with the Year 2000 Bug, or Y2K, as it refused to give members who had paid two years in advance, any newsletters. This was corrected by going to a four digit date. The Bytes & Bits featured three reviews: "MS Access 97" by Paul Kelly, "Adobe Photoshop 4.0" by Aranka Leone, and "Cirque Powercat Touchpad" by Barbara Kreiss.

The program in March was a double-header featuring a demonstration of TravRoute Software's "Road Trips Door to Door" presented by Dennis Leone, and G & A Imaging's "Photo Recall" presented by Rich Leary. At the Program Director's request, TraveRoute and G & A Imaging donated a copies of their software for the raffle, G & A Imaging also sent magazines and other hand outs. Corel sent mousepads and brochures to be given away to the audience, and a video demo of WordPerfect Suite 8 for the club's resource library. In addition, Corel sent Corel Print House and 10 Professional Photo CD-ROM's for a special raffle which was held for those who attended the Corel demonstration in February. The Board decided to have a table by the door for signing up new memberships. Bob Devlin and the Imperial Hotel graciously extended their gift certificates for the "bottle of wine and dinner for two" auction for another year. Bytes & Bits featured the "Fall COMDEX Report" part 2 by John Tinney, and a review of "i Publish" [not a typo] by Barbara Kreiss. Also, an APCUG-syndicated column "The Deals Guy" by Bob Click was added to the newsletter featuring vendor discounts to Association of PC User Groups member clubs.

April brought us an exciting double-header consisting of PowerQuest's " Drive Image", "Guardian Angel", and "Partition Magic" presented by Gene Barlow, Director of User Group Relations. After a break during which Gene and son offered members software at half the street price and also threw in free upgrades to the next version for all those attending, they continued with the second half of the program, demonstrating MGI Software's "PhotoSuite" and "VideoWave". PowerQuest and MGI generously donated software to the raffle, along with a surge protector donated by Barbara Kreiss. The Board accepted the resignation of Kim Still as board member due to pressing commitments. The Board re-affirmed that the club mission statement is: "Members helping each other and the community by building a better understanding of computers and software". This mission statement had appeared on the Website from August of 1996 and on club stationery at about the same date designed by Barbara Kreiss in order to send "official" letters to vendors and others. A new overhead projector was purchased so that the club could return Bob Devlin's which he graciously allowed the club to use until we could afford our own. Karen Crabtree, as Secretary/Treasurer took over the responsibility of producing name tags, since she maintains the database. The Bytes and Bits featured articles by Mark Craig on "Y2K and You" and also "Notes From the APCUG Roundtables" by Barbara Kreiss.

The May meeting featured Microsoft Corporation's "Extreme 97" a showcase of their software presented by John Tinney and Barbara Kreiss. Microsoft Corporation donated software for the raffle. The Board discussed various issues including: Barbara Kreiss needing several people to take over the running of the Library, as she has too many jobs and needs help. Polly Chapman suggested that a "wish list" of items the club needs could be published in the newsletter. Barbara agreed to write a monthly column to that effect. Frank investigated Senior Center lockers to see if we could store our equipment there, but none are available. Barbara presented a request from the Amador County Library for volunteers to assist in teaching the public how to get "on-line" at their new public-access computers. Barbara has donated her time to set up and maintain a Website for the ACL, which they need as a condition of their grant. Many of the Board members volunteered on the spot. ACUG and Barbara as Webmaster will have a credit at the bottom of each page of their site. This fits in very well with ACUG's commitment to serving the community, and will hopefully publicize the club. The 4th Annual BBQ and Picnic was held at Lions Park May 16th. The Grand Champion Disk Tosser was Therese Ralph. The Grand Champion Floppy Flipper was John Tinney. Both won joysticks and software, and will receive a certificate at the June meeting. Bytes and Bits featured an article on "Partition Magic: Installation and Use" by Paul Kelly

The June program was a double-header, featuring a presentation on Adobe Corp.'s "PhotoShop v4.0" presented by Aranka Leone, and a presentation on.Microsoft's "Access 97" presented by Paul Kelly. Adobe Corporation donated "PhotoDeluxe", and Microsoft donated "Dilbert's Desktop Adventure" for the raffle. The winners of the Disk and Floppy Olympics, John Tinney and Therese Ralph both received certificates signed by the Board. During the Board meeting, Board members acknowledged several club members who had stepped forward to volunteer: Jeri Taylor volunteered to assume the Library Chair in November when she returned from vacation, Ted Langlet immediately took Library Committee, Pre-owned software/hardware and also Library Committee Handouts and Sales, Frank Blauvelt will take the Membership Chair position and man the table by the door, with Karen Crabtree on the Membership Committee to assist. Polly Chapman will assume Library Committee, Lending Library. Bytes and Bits featured a review of "WebExpress v3.0" by Barbara Kreiss.

July brought another double-header featuring a presentation on Design Intelligence's "i Publish v2.0" presented by Rich Leary and and overview of "How to Create Your First Webpage" presented by Barbara Kreiss. Design Intelligence donated ball point pens, free trial versions of "i Publish" for the members, and software for the raffle. The Board had guest speakers: Dave and Bill Barghoorn from a new ISP located in Sutter Creek, AmAFrog. They will offer club members the same discount as Goldrush World Access, and also offered to share their window display at the Amador County Fair with ACUG without cost. It was voted to accept the offer. Polly, Barbara, Frank, John and Gene Sproul provided computer parts and signs for the display. Barbara designed an ACUG tri-fold brochure for the club that can be used at meetings, mailed to prospective members, and handed out at the fair July 30th through August 2nd. The brochure included a membership form. Paul Kelly resigned his position as New Users SIG leader due to lack of time, and John Tinney agreed to invite the New Users to the Windows SIG until a new leader could be found. Dennis Leone decided not to hold regular meetings of the Graphics SIG due to poor attendance, but asked that interested members call him. The Bytes and Bits featured a review by Mark Craig on "GoldMine v4.0" and noted that the Graphics SIG had closed it's doors. ACUG's Website featured the Advanced SIG page created by Barbara, with links to virus detecting companies, and also Websites that specialized in debunking hoaxes, to help members find out if they had a problem with a virus or were only being fooled into passing on email Spam.

The August General Meeting was a double-header featuring a new Internet Service Provider located in downtown Sutter Creek called AmAFrog, presented by owner Dave Barghoorn. The second half of the program was an overview of Micro Vision Development's WebExpress 3.0 presented by Barbara Kreiss. AmaFrog donated a serial mouse, and Micro Vision donated a copy of WebExpress 3.0 to the raffle. We also handed out coasters and brochures from the companies. A new updated version of the Membership disk was issued. Members were asked to bring the old ones in and "trade" them for new ones, free of charge. The August Board meeting discussed the need for a monitor for the club computer, as ACUG has been borrowing Barbara's every meeting. Paul Kelly will step down as Editor due to lack of time, and Gene Sproul will be the new Editor with the October Issue. A request by a company for a link and ad on our Website was discussed and the Board decided to charge for such advertising requests. Lindy Zuchichi agreed to take the position of Library Committee Raffle Ticket Sales. Mary Guzman of the Copy Corner donated 150 copies of the ACUG brochure to the publicity effort at the fair. Bytes and Bits featured a software review of "ThumbsPlus v3.2r" by Barbara Kreiss.

Septembers program featured GoldMine Software Corp.'s "GoldMine 4.0" presented by Paul Kelly. GoldMine generously donated a 5-user $895 list copy of the program for the raffle, and sent free trial CD-ROM's and information packets for all. The Board traded speakers with John Tinney to get a better pair for meetings. Barbara Kreiss mentioned that ACUG's active link had been removed from the Chamber of Commerce page and will send an inquiry to them. Bytes and Bits debuted a new column, "Help Needed!" by Barbara Kreiss covering a list of items the Board feels is needed, or job positions that are open. In addition, a review: "Microsoft's FrontPage 98" by Barbara Kreiss was published. Members were requested to print and fill out the annual evaluation forms from the Membership disk and send them in so that the officers can poll the members to see what they want for the coming year.

The October meeting featured Microsoft's "FrontPage 98" presented by Bill Barghoorn of AmAFrog Internet Services. Microsoft donated "Encarta 98", G & A Imaging donated "PhotoRecall" and Webcentric Computer Services donated 10 CD-ROM jewel cases to the raffle. The Board discussed the "Jerry Awards" contest offered by the APCUG during the Fall 98 COMDEX show, and passed a motion to enter our work with the Amador County Library. Barbara Kreiss is the Library Liaison, and so will write up the essay for the contest and submit it to the APCUG. Polly Chapman discussed the Hospice of Amador needing ACUG's help with getting connected to the Internet and other problems associated with networking printers and configuring laptops. Barbara Kreiss and John Tinney of Webcentric Computer Services, had been approached by Bud Grumm, vice president of the Bank of America about the problem also. Webcentric agreed to go and see the director of Hospice, Al Herrick about the problem and get more information. Barbara announced that Microsoft Corp. would be sending a representative to demo software at the December meeting, which was a major coup for the club. The board discussed many different publicity tactics and the handling of a large crowd at the General Meeting. The goal was to bring in at least 100 to 200 people to such a major event. Nominations proposed by the Board for the December elections were: President - Jim Ralph, Vice President - Rich Leary, Sec/Treas - Karen Crabtree, Program Director - Barbara Kreiss, Director - Gene Sproul, Director - Frank Blauvelt, Director - John Tinney. Nominations would also be solicited from the membership at the November meeting. Barbara made a motion that awards be given for members service to the ACUG, and that they should be presented yearly in January at the Inauguration of Officers ceremony. The Secretary would be responsible for the records, and procurement of the awards. Award certificate printing will be the responsibility of the Editor unless other arrangements are made. Awards are to be given as follows: Framed certificate, signed by the Board: given annually to all SIG leaders, Chairs, and Committee members. Small mug, 11 oz. given to Board members. Large mug, 15 oz. given to Officers. Small plaque 6x8 given for 3 years service. Large plaque 8x10 given for 5 years of service. The Board agreed that it was very important to recognize those who put in many hours of service and who work hard for the club. The motion passed. The Board agreed that an ad for the Christmas Committee would be placed in the November and December issues of the Bytes and Bits free of charge as a community service. The Bytes and Bits Editorship was officially taken over by Gene Sproul, whose first issue was October's.

The November meeting was a double program featuring Cerious Software Inc.'s "Thumbs+Plus" presented by Barbara Kreiss, and "What's Inside that Box?" presented by John Tinney. Cerious Software Inc. donated two copies of their software and Webcentric Computer Services donated a multimedia organizer for the ACUG raffle. Nominations were solicited from the membership, and Bob Abreu was added to the ticket for Board Member, and Jim Ralph declined the nomination for President. Paul Kelly then agreed to serve another term and placed himself in nomination for President. The Board met and decided that the number assigned to a member in the database would stay with that member and not be reassigned or used again. Membership cards would be issued and have the club logo, Name:_____, Expiration Date, and Authorized Signature, which would be the Secretary/Treasurer. Polly Chapman discussed the half page Amador Dispatch ad, sponsored by local business to advertise the Microsoft event. John and Barbara will go door to door and try to sell ads, and Polly will do contacting by email. 18 advertisers are needed to sponsor the $456.75 ad so that there would be no cost to the club. Other publicity efforts were discussed. Barbara reported that the "Jerry Awards", presented by the APCUG at COMDEX in recognition of their User Group's contributions to local communities will come with a substantial cash award to the winners. Barbara has also submitted in her contest essay, in addition to the Amador Library work, the work Webcentric is now doing for the Hospice of Amador. The awards take place November 16th in Las Vegas. The Bytes and Bits ran a half-page ad for the upcoming Microsoft event, notice was placed that a Genealogy SIG was forming, and a plea for someone to come forward and lead the New Users SIG was mentioned in the "Help Needed!" column by Barbara Kreiss. Also, a review of McAfee's "Web Scan v2.0" by Frank Blauvelt was published. ACUG's Website was updated with a page for the Genealogy SIG.

The December meeting was the most exciting and momentous of ACUG's career, and featured "A Microsoft Evening" presented by Microsoft representative Jan Roycraft. Microsoft generously donated 10 software packages to the raffle including "PhotoDraw 2000", "MS Encarta 99", "Age of Empires", "AOE Expansion pack - Rise of Rome", "MS Combat Flight Simulator", "My Personal Tutor", MS collectable digital clock, and "Revenge of the Arcade" titles. Over $700 in software in all. We broke all records for attendance, topping out at 176, and broke all records for raffle receipts. TSPN a local cable network taped the event, which was broadcast throughout Amador County. It was a very successful event, brought the club many new members and impressed the Microsoft rep to the point she promised us a return visit in 1999 to demonstrate "MS Office 2000". In addition, Elections for Office were held. Elected were: Paul Kelly as President, Richard Leary as Vice President, Karen Crabtree as Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Kreiss as Program Director, Polly Chapman as Publicity Director, Frank Blauvelt as Director, John Tinney as Director, Bob Abreau as Director, and Gene Sproul as Director. The Board meeting discussed the success of the Microsoft event, and a mistake on the ballot which allowed all four persons running for Director to be elected. It was decided to increase the number of Directors on the Board this year only, rather than disappoint anyone. Dennis Leone resigned from the Board as Past President. The Bytes and Bits newsletter again carried a half page ad for the Microsoft Event and the Christmas Committee, a new column by Jeri Taylor as Library Chair called the "Library Report" as she officially took over the Chair in December, and new for the newsletter: an inserted full page ad from the Office Depot. Barbara Kreiss volunteered to proof-read the newsletter every month, and became "Assistant/Contributing Editor".

1999 - ACUG Wins an International Award,
Holds it's Own Awards for Volunteers and Joins a National Ad Campaign
By Barbara Kreiss

The General Meeting for January 1999, featured ACUG's 5th Annual Potluck Goodies Night [PGN] and Inauguration of Officers. The 1st Annual Awards Ceremony was also conducted, the Board of Directors having voted to hold a ceremony every year to thank the individual volunteer members who work long and hard hours to make sure the club runs smoothly and efficiently. Framed certificates, mugs and 3 year service plaques were awarded. Two plaques were also awarded to local businesses who had contributed significantly to the club: The Imperial Hotel and Goldrush World Access. The Board decided to have an occasional "Members Night" at the General Meeting, and open the floor for member to member questions and answers as well as demo'ing such things as the Membership disk and the ACUG Website for the benefit of new members. Barbara Kreiss proposed joining the APCUG's national ad campaign to bring in advertising dollars for the Bytes and Bits Newsletter. A committee was formed and a new ad rate schedule for the newsletter was proposed and adopted. The results of the APCUG's Jerry Awards contest were a pleasant surprise, ACUG having won one of the International awards: a certificate and a $500 check to be put towards our community service efforts. In other matters, the Genealogy SIG was founded, it's first SIG leader Jeri Taylor. The Windows SIG, led by John Tinney and the New Users SIG led by Ted Langlet combined to better utilize the large room currently rented by the Windows SIG. The bytes and Bits featured a review of Partition Magic v4.0 by John Tinney. Erik Kreiss was named Assistant Webprogrammer by the Webmaster, Barbara Kreiss and proceeded to help produce the ACUG Membership Webdisk. Kim Still resigned as Assistant Editor due to lack of time.

The February 1999, General Meeting's program was on "Y2K Myths and Facts" presented by Barbara Kreiss and John Tinney of Webcentric Computer Services. Since the Millennium was fast approaching, TSPN TV network taped the event, and broadcast it to Amador County cable subscribers. Barbara also announced to the membership ACUG's winning of the APCUG Jerry Award at the Fall 98 COMDEX show, to great applause from the audience. The Board discussed using the Jerry Award for future community projects such as the Hospice or a student scholarship. John Tinney proposed having a raffle instead of an auction for the Imperial Hotel dinner, raffle tickets to be $5. This was approved. The Board discussed buying a new projector so that presentations would be clearer and brighter. Don Liston resigned as SIG leader from the Internet SIG. The Bytes and Bits newsletter published a review of Microsoft's "Motocross Madness" by Erik Kreiss. Barbara Kreiss officially took the position of Historian although un-officially she had been doing the job since 1995. Aranka Leone and Helen Cutler stepped down as Hospitality Chair, and Hospitality Committee respectively. Jim and Therese Ralph took over as Hospitality Chairpersons.

The General Meeting for March 1999, featured a double-header. Dave Whittle of MGI Software presented "PhotoSuite II and VideoWave II" with a peek at "PhotoGallery" and made himself popular by offering discounts on the software to our members. The second half of the program featured a "Members Night" and members were encouraged to ask computer-related questions and have those in the audience try to help. Evaluation forms were handed out so that the membership could let their leaders know what they would like to see at future meetings. It was announced that a new Game SIG was forming, led by Erik Kreiss. The Board appointed Bob Abreu to look into what costs might be involved with purchasing a PA [public address system] for the club. A decision was made to put a business-supported 1/2 page ad in the Amador Ledger Dispatch both to promote ACUG and to promote the upcoming April meeting with Microsoft. It was decided to continue selling raffle tickets for the Imperial Hotel dinner, as it proved more popular with the members than the auction, and put the dinner within everyone's reach. Barbara Kreiss proposed a roster change form to be available at the membership table so as to assist her in updating the roster on the Membership disk, and a clock at the presenter's table to aid in keeping the program on schedule. Gene Sproul suggested that a new bulb be purchased as soon as one of the two available burned out in the overhead projector, motion carried. The Bytes and Bits featured an article by Erik Kreiss on the new Game SIG.

The April General Meeting featured a program on Microsoft's Office 2000 presented by representative Jan Roycraft. Microsoft donated over $1600 [retail] in the form of 13 copies of PhotoDraw 2000. In addition, they passed out a short survey and requested that members go online to fill out a survey. Club members pitched in and did so. In return, Microsoft donated 2 complete copies of MS Office 2000 professional to the club officers to help with running ACUG. Webcentric Computer Services donated a beta copy of the Office 2000 suite to the Lending Library so members could try it out. The Board discussed methods of helping new users including utilizing the 3x5 question cards at the General meeting for those who are shy, putting the helping hands phone numbers back in the newsletter and pushing the SIGs more, as an ideal forum for one-on-one questions. The Board also discussed the 1/2 page Microsoft ad in the Amador Dispatch as being disappointing in the layout. It was decided that it is extremely important to view the proofs in the future and make sure that the newspaper is doing the ad properly. The Bytes and Bits advertised the Microsoft event in a 1/2 page ad.

The General Meeting program in May was on "L & H Voice Xpress Professional Version 2" presented by Paul Kelly of PK Performance Systems. It was announced that the Internet SIG had a new leader, Kharma Heald and would be meeting again. The Board discussed costs of a PA system. Lindy Zichichi donated a lapel microphone and battery pack to the club, some testing would be required to see if it is still functional. The APCUG national ad campaign will be kicking off with an Inprise ad, and the Board voted to charge $50 per month for a Webpage banner ad, minimum 3 month commitment. The Board also voted to accept the cost of a 10 to 15% fee charged by ad agencies placing ads, if necessary. AmAFrog ISP's asked ACUG to share its Amador County Fair window display again this year and the Board approved. Barbara Kreiss made a motion to set up a computer-related scholarship fund with the $500 received from the APCUG Jerry Award, seconded by John Tinney and approved by the Board. The Bytes and Bits featured a review on "Magix Music Studio Deluxe V 2000" and "Magix Music Maker Deluxe V 2000" by Barbara Kreiss. A full page ad for the newly re-formed Internet SIG was published.

The June General Meeting program featured Microsoft Corp's "Expedia Streets & Trips 2000" presented by Barbara Kreiss of Webcentric Computer Services. The Board received a request from the California State Library requesting an ACUG representative to attend a working luncheon to discuss the needs of rural libraries. Barbara Kreiss agreed to attend and at the local luncheon emphasized the contributions of time and expertise that local computer clubs, the APCUG and small business can make, and the needs of small counties for access to computers, the Internet and information. This was followed up by a summit in Sacramento at the State Library, [also attended by Barbara, who was placed on the meetings Technology Committee], the result of which will be an official State report to be published recommending the direction the State Library will follow in its Rural Libraries Initiative. The Board reconsidered the Web banner ad price as too high, and reset the price at $35. Adobe Systems will be buying a 3 month Web ad at that price. Gene Sproul has volunteered to be our new Chamber of Commerce Representative. In answer to a members inquiry, the Board decided that business cards cannot be combined to make a larger size ad. The Bytes and Bits featured a 1/2 page ad from Inprise & Borland and a product review on "Hard Drive Mechanic Deluxe" by John Tinney.

Due to work overload, a new Historian was sought, but no one was interested in continuing to document the group's history. Further information may be found in the monthly back issues of Bytes and Bits, the Secretary's meeting notes, the Photo pages and the Community Service Page.