Happy New Year Greetings from EDB President

January 13, 2003

To EDB members:

I can't believe 2003 is already here! I have been the Eastern Deaf Bikers (EDB) President since November 2001, and more than a year has already passed. It only feels like a few months ago. The greatest part, by far, has been seeing EDB members and guests coming to more than 5 gatherings in 2001 and 2002. Taking part of that made me feel so good. I know some members/guests have not yet had a chance to participate any of these events or have only come once since 2001 but we hope to have them with us for more events in the near future. It is worthwhile to see old friends and meet new ones from time to time. We hope for more adventures with EDB group in 2003. Our future depends on your continuing involvement, participation and support!

Some of you have been wondering when we will have EDB meetings. There are 3 poll questions on the EDBGroup at YahooGroups website that we would like your participation in answering before we decide when and where to set up our next meeting. Your answers will help us to set up the most beneficial time/date so most people can attend. We will post more polls as soon as the existing poll questions are answered. We will also set up an election for new officers who will take our places in November 2003 or when the positions are vacant.

When we get newly elected officers, they will fill in our positions on the first day of November 2003. We hope to set up an election around March or April, depending on our poll results. We also need to set up new committees for designing a new EDB logo and for setting up By-laws. We also want to add a few Parliamentarians, so that we will have a bigger pool of EDB officers. We would like to get an acting EDB Treasurer to enable us to process new members and their membership fees before or at the election, so that we will have new members to run for those positions.

We, as EDB officers, have many things to do but we need your help. We are looking for people to fill two vacant positions: EDB Secretary and EDB Treasurer. I have been covering the corresponding/recording secretary position a few times, but I need to focus on the role of president in the meetings, rather than covering for the secretary. That is one reason there were no meetings held since February 23, 2002. There was no response from anyone who ould fill these openings. We are truly sorry to see Deb Shaw (a.k.a. Viking), former EDB secretary, and Marlena Rosendahl, (a.k.a. Meowy), former EDB treasurer leave their positions. The only way we can get those positions f illed is to expand the pool of new members so they can be available to fill positions to keep EDB in an active status.

Please Email me at ymattiello@comcast.net if you would like to be a volunteer acting secretary or treasurer until we hold the election for new officers. I want to take this opportunity to thank those officers, EDB President, Ed Martin, EDB Vice President, EDB resigned secretary Deb Shaw, EDB resigned Marlena Rosendahl, Community Liason Coordinator Jennifer Markel (a.k.a. Marley), Road Captain and Newsletter editor/writer Louis Caplan (a.k.a. The Admiral), EDB webmaster Mui Shokouhi (a.k.a. Plum), and EDB's Deaf Way II Poster Session Planning Chairperson Harry Barnum (a.k.a. Deaf Mystery) for their patience and hard work to keep EDB in a good standing since EDB's founding in 2001.

Based on the verbal agreement made at the first board meeting (in January of 2001), all 2-year terms will expire on November 3, 2003. We acknowledge that EDB does not yet have By-Laws or rules, and we would like to have some rules set up in order for us to run the organization smoothly and fairly. If you would be interested in serving on a By-Laws committee, please contact me at ymattiello@comcast.net.

I also want to thank other people again for making some EDB gatherings happen in 2001 and 2002. Here are some events that took place:

Dec. 8, 2001, Deb Perkins reserved two campsites for EDB in Ocean City, MD, for the 1st Annual Delmarva Bike Weekend.

November 2001, Deb Shaw hosted a potluck party at her place and hosted an election of new EDB officers. Marley hosted a Christmas party at her house and let us hold the first EDB meeting there. Harry Barnum worked hard to successfully get in Deaf Way II Poster Session and he made three large, fantastic posters with many photos of EDB members/guests for last July 2002.

July, 2002, Tim Mulford reserved some campsites for us at Timberfest in WVA and brought Harry's posters to his large white tent for more people to see and learn about EDB. Tim Mulford also informed us about Fly-In 2002 of the Deaf event held in Frederick, MD in July 2002 and some of us bikers attended and had a good time.

August 2002, Deb Perkins reserved two hotel rooms in NYC for our 2nd Annual America911 Ride.

My sincere thanks go to three special people who have been working hard to keep me busy as EDB President. Those three people are Mui Shokouhi, Louis Caplan and my Mom. Mui has been working hard on our EDB web to keep our members informed. I apologize for freezing EDB web for the last two months without making any changes or additions You'll see why in the next paragraph. Now, Mui and I are back together, working on EDB web to keep it updated. Louis and my Mom been so wonderful and patient. They have been editing most of my drafts of emails, letters, etc. since I first became the president. My mom, as some of you know, is a retired lawyer and she always tells me that she is willing to help me with my writing skills. Being EDB President has helped me continue improve my writing skills as well as my leadership skills.

And now, guess what? My last motorcycle trip with my husband Alvin and an EDB group of members and guests was last August 2002 when we rode from the Pentagon to NYC for charity. Oh, I miss motorcycle riding and you are wondering why I stopped ever since. Well, the good news is that I am now 5-months pregnant, we are expecting a baby girl around May 22nd. Of course, we will get back on motorcycle someday when we get the chance.

In my first trimester, I was always tired and resting. Now, I have more energy. I have been working hard on gathering photos to post on EDBGroup at YahooGroups website and doing some catch up work for EDB and myself since I started my 6-week vacation last early December. I am glad that I am almost done with some EDB projects.

EDB members and special guests have been invited to see the EDBGroup at YahooGroups website. Poll questions and many photos have been posted there but there will be more from time to time. If you subscribe to the group, you will be notified periodically when new photos, files, polls etc. have been posted. If you notice photos being removed, they are being moved to the EDB website at this address (redesigned 4/2004): easterndeafbikers.tripod.com

Our EDB website will be open to both Members and Special Guests who want to become members and are on hold. However, only members will be able to access and use YahooGroups-EDBGroup as soon as we get their second year membership fees paid. For now, you are very much welcome to add photos for others to see. Your name and email address will appear in our Member directory in EDBGroup at YahooGroups web when you register, before signing in. There are many things you can use in our EDBGroup and we will guide you through the features from time to time. If you have problems using or accessing YahooGroups-EDBGroup, please email me at ymattiello@comcast.net and I will try to help you register, sign in, and use.

Email me at ymattiello@comcast.net if you have any questions, suggestions or problems with our websites.

Happy New Year to you all. Have a healthy and safe year.

Yvonne Mattiello - EDB President

Edited by Yvonne Mattiello (EDB President)