THE NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY,
27 JUNE 1997

The ninth Annual Meeting of the Society was held on 27 June 1997 at the University of Washington in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Fellow Pietsch, the President of ASIH, hosted both of the meetings (Anon., 1997b).⁹²

Because of the joint meeting with ASIH, the only Society activity was the Business Meeting.⁹³ President Phil Harris called the Society to order at 1508 hours. Twenty of the 136 Fellows of the Society were present. Eight Founding Fellows were in attendance.⁹⁴

Four new Fellows were inducted into the Society (App. 17, Fig. 44). Fellows Chris Donohoe and Rollie Gubitosi White (1964-) were nominated for President. Fellow White was elected in abstentia to the Presidency for 1998.⁹⁵

President Harris opened the floor for a discussion of "Old Business." The first item on his agenda was a request to open for discussion the proposed Society publication. The motion was defeated and the proposal remained tabled. The next item of "Old Business" concerned a parliamentary technicality concerning last yearís action by the Society in eliminating the category of Foreign Fellows. Fellow Pietsch explained that, contrary to last yearís action by the Fellows, changes to the wording of a given chapter of the Bye-Laws are not allowed. Changes to the Bye-Laws are made by the addition of new amendments to Chapter 12. In this way the document reflects the passing of time and history of the Society. Pietsch moved to accept the language of Chapter 3, Section 9, remove it from Chapter 3, and restore this amendment to Chapter 12, amendment 2. The motion was carried on a voice vote.⁹⁶

A third and final item of "Old Business" concerned the addition of an "inactive status" membership for Fellows who miss two consecutive meetings of the Society. Such an amendment to the Bye-Laws was passed at last yearís meeting. Fellow Pietsch offered a motion to change this from an addition to Chapter 7 to a new amendment to Chapter 12. The motion passed by voice vote.⁹⁷

Fellow Cameron Sharpe asked whether or not Fellows needed to make annual contact with the Society and the general consensus was yes. This led to a general discussion about the Society and the difficulties this presented. At the conclusion of this discussion, which resulted in no action, President Harris turned the meeting over to incoming President Morgan Busby. President Busby appointed Oregon Fellow Christopher Lee Toole (1951-) to be vice-president.⁹⁸

President Busby called for "New Business." The first item called for the update of the Web site of the Society and the addition of membersí e-mail addresses to the site. The second item of "New Business" presented by Past-President Harris was to appoint Fellow Ted Pietsch as Society "Parliamentarian-for-Life." Discussion followed, with the theme that the parliamentary rules governing the Society are not well known to the members (Fig. 45). Hence the need for a constant parliamentary review of the actions of the Society. Discussion then focused on the need to create a new Society position and whether such action would require a change in the Charter. A motion was then made to appoint Fellow Pietsch "Unofficial, Official Parliamentarian for Life of the Gilbert Ichthyological Society." The motion passed on voice vote.⁹⁹

The next item of "New Business" concerned the upcoming 10^th anniversary meeting of the Society. Fellow Pietsch offered the opinion that this meeting was a "big deal." Fellow Dunn reported that Mrs. Dorothy Thomlinson Gilbert (1929-) and her daughter, Mary M. Gilbert (1962-), had expressed interest in attending the next Annual Meeting. The fourth item was a request by Fellow Orr for the Oregon Chapter to investigate a possible meeting site near Portland for 1998. The final item of "New Business" was a motion by Fellow Pietsch to strike from Chapter 7, Section 2, of the Society Charter the requirement "Signed by the Secretary" from the annual summons for the Societyís meeting. This motion was passed by voice vote, creating Amendment 4 of Chapter 12.¹⁰⁰ The Business Meeting was adjourned at 1624 hours. Past-President Orr hosted a cookout for Society members at his home on Monday, June 30.¹⁰¹