Please note the schedule for our summer meetings. 1) There will be no assembly meeting in June. 2) Instead we are all invited to attend the annual SAM/IBM picnic at Eagle Creek Park (Shelter G) on Saturday noon, June 9. 3) So that Harry Riser may attend, the July and August meetings will be held at 7:00 PM at the Forum at the Crossing, 8505 Woodfield Crossing Blvd, on the north side of town. 4) The July meeting will be on the second Monday, July 9. The August meeting will be the first Monday, August 6. 4) The theme for the July meeting will be rope magic.

Here is the report submitted to MUM magazine for our May 7 meeting. The report included a photo of Jim Croop and Dee Saul doing Jim's ring on string routine. The theme for our May 7th meeting was "Rings and Strings." Master of Ceremonies, Jim Croop, kicked off the evening with a very fun version of Diamond Jim Tyler's Ring and String Routine his own patter and ending with Ron Vergilio's Offring. Shawn Hull then shared with us a piece of sculpture he had recently purchased, much to his wife's dismay. It was a model of a hand enclosed in a glass case. Continuing with the theme of the evening, Shawn then placed a ring on a rope. The ring eventually disappeared, only to be found on one of the fingers of the sculptured hand. Taylor Martin, explaining that rings are nothing more than simple circles, then proceeded to do a very nice rendition of the Afghan Bands. Finally, Tom Winterrowd, in an effort to be "fair and square" reminded us that the classic linking rings started out as eight rings, then six, then three. He showed us only one ring, which suddenly became a square. Following the presentations there was a stimulating discussion regarding the history of rings on ropes (strings) which goes back at least to the 1500's. Reflecting on the pros and cons of using borrowed rings generated several horror stories. The conversation drifted onto the multiple variations of the linking rings--mentioned were effects such as floating rings, linking coat hangers, barbed wire linking rings, and linking rings with black light effects. The election of officers for the coming year resulted in all of the current officers being re-elected--President, Steve Spence; First Vice President, Don Miller; Second Vice President, Taylor Martin, Secretary, Karen Miller; Treasurer, Jay Newby, and Scribe, Dale Benson.