Ant Hill ,Bakersfield, Ca.
WHEN: February 27, Saturday at 9am
MATERIAL: 15 million year old fossils of shark teeth, whale teeth, seal teeth, porpoise teeth, whale bone, etc from Middle Miocene Marine beds.
MEET SPOT: 9AM NE of Bakersfield on corner of Lake Ming Rd and Alfred Harrell Hwy at the Chevron station.
By Bud McMillin & Patt McDaniel
Our question this month for Pat addresses how our CFMS liability insurance policy applies “when someone does work for a club.” Pat, would you explain the differences between employee, independent contractor and
volunteer for us?
-Bud
To start with, the organization and member organizations, their directors and officers, their employees, and their volunteers are listed as insureds under the General Liability policy wording. In addition, the policy specifically states that only those listed as insureds are insureds. This means that the company will respond any claims that hold an insured responsible for bodily injury or property damage. (This, of course, would only be for actions taken while acting on behalf of the organization and subject to other policy provisions.)
Independent contractors are not listed as insureds. Because they are in business for themselves, they must be responsible for their own actions and insure their own actions. They are also responsible for their own injuries while performing work for others.
Because you could also be held responsible for their actions, it is strongly advised that you not only obtain proof that they have General Liability insurance but also an endorsement naming your organization as ‘additional insured’ so that any claims against you would be covered by the independent contractor’s policy.
It is important to note that there are important distinctions made by the IRS, Workers Compensation insurers, and employment law between employees, volunteers and independent contractors. It is a complex subject and IRS guidelines should be consulted if you are not sure how someone working for you should be categorized. The primary guidelines listed however might be:
Contractors set their own hours and method of work. They have multiple customers, business cards, insurance, etc. They have their own tools and equipment.
Employees follow direction on how and when work is done. They are paid hourly or by salary. Volunteers are not paid but they may have their expenses reimbursed and receive honorariums and some other benefits. It is important to take care in the categorizing of those who do work for you. Penalties can be steep if it is ruled that you should have been paying wages, workers compensation, etc. In addition, directors and officers of organizations carry the legal responsibility of ‘due diligence’ which requires them to properly categorize employees, independent contractors and volunteers and to be sure that the appropriate tax documents and insurance coverages are in place for the given situation.
Here is our standard recommendation for complying with insurance requirements for independent contractors. We suggest that you provide this wording to your independent contractors so that they can let their agent or broker know what is needed.
Independent contractors who do work on behalf of, or for, your organization (building contractors, caterers, etc.) need to be insured with limits as high as the limits that your organization has and name your organization as an additional insured. The two documents you need to have legal proof of this are:
- An ACORD Certificate of General Liability Insurance with your organization (with legal mailing address) listed as the certificate holder in the lower left hand corner. This document will show the limits of liability coverage.
- An additional insured endorsement: ISO (Insurance Services Offices) form
CG 20 10 (or comparable) which lists your organization, its directors, officers, employees and volunteers as additional insureds.
We are glad to review the documents to see if they are in compliance.
Thanks for the question, Bud. We are always here for any of the Federation officers who may have questions regarding this!
-Patt Wilson McDaniel
By Jim Brace-Thompson
I work in publishing. Thus, each year I’m privileged to be sent, expenses paid, to the annual winter and summer conventions of the American Library Association, where pretty much every publisher under the sun has thousands of books spread out on display. I’ve just returned from their 2010 winter convention in Boston (a bit on the cold side, but supposedly the hotel rates were cheaper…), and I stumbled into one publisher’s booth that proved to be a veritable book bonanza for budding young rockhounds!
Kingfisher Publications, a division of Macmillan, specializes in educational books for kids of all ages. Fossil hound that I am, what originally caught my eye was an ad for a book coming out in April, the Dinosaur Sticker Atlas that uses dinosaur discoveries around the world to teach paleontology and geography at the same time. Kingfisher also publishes a large number of other dinosaur books, from basic picture and pop-up books for preschoolers to full-scale encyclopedias for high schoolers. Along with these, they have a number of books on the Earth, on the solar system, on volcanoes and mountains, on rocks and fossils, and more. All are wonderfully illustrated, and their more advanced books and encyclopedias should appeal to the adult members of your club, as well as the kids.
Kingfisher Publications is a member of the Children’s Book Council, a nonprofit trade organization encouraging enjoyment of books and related literacy materials for young people. You can check out their titles at www.kingfisherpublications.com or call for a catalog at 1-800-221-7945, est. 5438. I sure had fun leafing through their titles, and so might you!
- Jim
CFMS JURY OF AWARDS
Seeking Nominations for AFMS Scholarship Foundation Honoree
By Susan Chaisson-Walblom
As CFMS 2nd Vice President, it is my responsibility to chair the CFMS Jury of Awards for the AFMS Scholarship Foundation. To accomplish that duty, I need your help! What is the Jury of Awards of the AFMS Scholarship Foundation, you ask? Each of the six regional federations participate, chooses an honoree (an individual or a couple) who, in turn, chooses a university and participates in choosing two geosciences graduate students who receive $2,000 each year for two years, or a total of $4,000 for each student.
I’m seeking nominees for our 2011 award. The goal is to have nominees determined at or shortly after the conclusion of our annual November Directors’ Meeting in Visalia, but please don’t wait until then! I’m sure any number of worthy names come quickly to mind, so please share your thoughts with me as soon as you can.
To make a nomination, send me the name/s of your nominee/s along with a brief background explaining why you believe your nominee deserves this award. Please consider service that has been long and reaches beyond the regional level. You may submit your nominations by contacting me by phone at (661-943-1861), mail (42122-52nd Street West, Quartz Hill, CA 93536), or e-mail (slchaisson@yahoo.com). Thank you in advance for your nominees!
- Susan
By Richard Pankey
The purpose of this seminar is to encourage CFMS societies to establish and share claims and to provide them with the information to do so. At the conclusion of our last seminar in March of 2009, Gregg Wilkerson from the BLM, recommended that filing and maintaining claims on our significant rockhounding sites is a good way to establish and preserve our right for access and use. Some CFMS societies already have claims and it is recommended that more societies have and share a claim.
I would like to hear from all societies who have or had a society claim:
- When was your claim filed/established? How many years did you have the claim?
- Your experience of having a claim? The good and the bad.
- Where is your claim?
- Contact information for the person responsible for the claim.
- How is your claim managed?
- Who gets to use the claim; when and how?
- Do you share/allow other societies and rockhounds to collect on your claim?
If your society has or had a claim please e-mail or send me this information. This information is needed for our Land Claim Seminar in April. Please send me your reply by April 1st. I hope that representatives of several societies that have a claim will attend and share their experiences.
We also need to identify suitable sites and sites we wish to protect and to maintain access. Please send me your suggestions and recommendations.
This seminar will be hosted by the Mother Lode Mineral Society on Saturday, April 24, 2010 in Empire, CA, near Modesto. An announcement flyer with details, map and directions will be available on the CFMS Web Site - www.cfmsinc.org and on the COOP web site - www.ourfieldtrips.org by February. Or e-mail me at dickpankey@juno.com and I will send you a flyer.
This seminar is for societies who have questions about claims, for societies that want to have a claim, and for all rockhounds that are interested in claims. Please reserve your place at this seminar by notifying Bud McMillin at bud.mcmillin.b7yj@statefarm.com or at 209-527-8000 (work) or 209-524-3494 (home) no later than April 16th. Mark your calendar now for Saturday, April 24, 2010, watch for the announcement flier and plan to attend this important, timely and sure to be informative seminar.
-Dick
By Kathlyn Duncan
2010 is here and with it the CFMS library has received some new programs for your clubs viewing pleasure. Thanks to AFMS competition winners the Library has received three new programs and from AFMS Endowment Fund the Library has received two additional programs.
I would encourage clubs to take along your video equipment on you field trips and put together a CD or DVD for a program competition. Great way to get your club and members involved in education.
AFMS Competition winners;
Romania's Mines and Minerals
Barite The Gangue's All Here
Virgin Valley Opal
AFMS Endowment Fund;
Sea Monsters a prehistoric adventure
Earth Science Careers USGS: Not Just Rocks
Romania's Mines and Minerals,
by Michael Shaw, Stillwater Mineral & Gem, RMFMS
Approx 30 minutes.
Although Romanian mineral are not commonly available in the U.S., many world-class specimens including some rare varieties have been produced during its long mining history. Some historical background, location maps, images depicting Romania's
mineral diversity, and views of mines to round out this presentation.
Barite-The Gangue's All Here,
by Larry Havens, Littleton Gem & Mineral Club, RMFMS
Approx 30 minutes in length.
Using his competitive Barite exhibit as a starting point, Lary shares his interest in this essential mineral with basic information, a dash of humor,
and the a selection of specimens from across this country and around the world.
It's varied crystal habits and uses add to the story.
Virgin Valley Opals!
by Nick Riebeek, Rookiew Rock Rollers, CFMS
Approx 4 minutes.
After a family trip to Virgin Valley, Nevada, Nick prepared this presentation for his fellow junior club members showing what he had seen, learned and found at this classic location. It is very brief, but adults will also appreciate the geology, how opals are collected and some specimens found there.
Sea Monsters a Prehistoric Adventure
National Geographic
Approx 40 minutes in length.
Journey 80 million years back in time to an age when mighty dinosaurs dominated the land-and an equally
astonishing assortment of ferocious creatures swam, hunted, and fought for survival beneath the vast, mysterious prehistoric seas.
Stunning,photo-realistic imagery recreates the perilous underwater realm of two young, dolphin-sized marine reptiles called Dolichorhynchops, or
Dollies, and follows their incredible journey through waters ruled by some of the most awesome predators ever to prowl the Earth's oceans.
Earth Science Careers USGS; Not Just Rocks
From the USGS website 2009
Approx 15 minutes.
What is the USGS and what kind of work do they do?
It's not just rocks! Biologists, engineers, cartographers, chemists and other professionals work indoors and out, here in the States and in other countries; exploring, documenting and protecting the natural world.
-Kathlyn
By Beth Myers
Once a new individual attends one of your General Membership meetings, how do you “make them feel welcome” and make them excited about joining your society? Here is how one society has developed a process that is VERY impressive:
Prior to each General Membership meeting, the society conducts a New Member Orientation at which all new members (as well as current members) are invited and encouraged to attend. At the start of each orientation, each new member receives a 3-ring binder containing 77 pages of information including:
- A brief history of the Society
- A list of Officers, Directors and Committee Chairpersons
- Field Trip information and schedule of trips
- Lapidary information, shop location and hours
- Camp Paradise and Zzyzx information and photos
- AFMS and CFMS information
- Junior Program
- Education Program
- Rock and Gem Shows
- Scholarship information
- Quartzsite and Tucson information, etc.
And, just recently, the entire program was placed on a CD and is projected on a screen during the orientation. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Finally, once the new members begin attending the General Membership meetings, each of this society’s officers are encouraged to sit next to them to help them feel “welcomed”
-Beth
By John Martin
For those CFMS Members who venture in to the North West Federation’s territory to do their Rockhounding and collecting this will be of interest to each and every one of you! The Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission met January 28, 2010 and approved the rules that cover the ocean shore inside a marine reserve boundary. This rule protects personal souvenir hunting, except where there's a biological reason to change it. Of the two proposed reserves, only the one at Otter Rock affects the shore (and just the northern, rocky part of that area). These marine reserve rules do not affect any other part of the 362-mile ocean shore.
The rule will get published online after it is filed with the Secretary of State's office, but you can see the text presented to the commission online at http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/documents/201001_Item6B.pdf .
The next step will be to craft a site-specific management plan that will deal both with scientific monitoring and public education for marine reserves. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will be leading site management planning, and we think our main role as the state parks agency will be to show -- for the tiny bit of the rocky ocean shore inside the reserve boundary -- parks can help people understand what marine reserves are, and how they're being studied. If you want to stay plugged into the whole marine reserve topic, you can go to http://www.oregonocean.info/marinereserves , and sign up for the email list at http://tinyurl.com/y9jp7lv . For the time being it looks like Beachcombing and armature Rockhounding are going to be allowed in the new Oregon Marine Reserves.
If anyone hears of any new legislation or regulations for any of our collecting areas please let me know of these as early as possible so they can be researched and appropriate action plan developed to address these areas of concern.
On the Southern Front the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2010 (S 2921) is still moving forward in the Senate Committee. This legislation if enacted will close nearly 2 million acres of Southern California Public Lands to most Public Access and will be open only to special interest groups. At this time a non scientific poll of concerned citizens and eligible voters, shows 62% are against and 38% are for this legislation. The poll results may be followed at the below website. Though the current proposal states that currently allowed activities including Rockhounding will continue in certain areas with in the controlled areas, this wording may be deleted in the final version of the bill to be voted on in congress. Please continue to write to your elected House of Representative member and voice your opinion on this important piece of proposed legislation. Remember 1 FAX or Letter = 10 phone calls = 100 emails. Your continued Rockhounding in Southern California Deserts depends on you. Just keep in mind that Section 14 of the proposal closes or drastically limits collecting on any new or acquired lands within the California Desert Conservation Area.
Section 14: Prohibited Uses of Donated and Acquired Lands
This section would prohibit the use of donated or acquired lands for development, mining, off-highway vehicle use (except designated routes), grazing, military training and other surface disturbing activities. (This means Rockhounding) This prohibition would apply only to public lands within the California Desert Conservation Area.
More information on this proposed legislation may be found at this website http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_2921.html
A summary of this bill in PDF form may be found at this website
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=a7887106-a228-4382-88f6-e5b71aebb5a4 or you may contact me at the below email address and I will email you a copy of the summary.
Please send your inquires, concerns and comments to the CFMS PLAC South’s email address at plac-south@antelecom.net and they will be promptly addressed.
-John
By Jim Brace-Thompson
With a combined American Federation/California Federation show in southern California June 18-20, we all have a rare opportunity to enter displays into a national show and to compete for national recognition with our collections and lapidary work. The AFMS show circulates among all seven regional federations and thus makes its way to California only every seven years. So this is the time to step up to the plate, polish an exhibit, and make the leap into competition!
Worried about the rules or whether you have a case worthy of competition? Fear not! Last year, Dee Holland, Shirley Leeson, and Marion and Vivien Roberts offered to go to local shows and give pointers on exhibiting competitively before then moving into the display area to provide gentle critiques of display cases for anyone seeking helpful suggestions. Like last year, once again they'll be at the Ventura Gem & Mineral Show, taking place March 6-7 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Starting 1:00 PM, Sunday, the 7th, they'll give a general presentation before walking the show floor to discuss cases. Anyone interested is invited to attend, and the Ventura club also welcomes guest exhibitors should you wish to put in a case for a critique (info on the show is at www.vgms.org). All who attended last year appreciated the great advice they received, and I know the advice I personally received paid off with a Fossils trophy at last year's CFMS Show in San Jose.
On behalf of the Ventura club, I thank Dee, Shirley, Marion, and Vivien for their visit last year, and we look forward to their return this year--and we look forward to seeing you there, as well!
- Jim
By Colleen McGann
Buy raffle tickets for your club or for yourself.
ALSO REQUESTING DONATIONS FOR the AFMS RAFFLE
- Carvings
- Jewelry
- Minerals
- Faceted Stones
- Lapidary items
Please contact:
Colleen McGann
PO Box 224 , Santa Clara , CA 95052-0224
cell 831-212-1951,
colleen.mcgann@hds.com\
By Bural LaRue
During the recent series of rainstorms I noticed that several drivers did not have their headlights turned on. Are you aware of the California law that requires drivers to turn on the headlights when operating the windshield wipers? This applies to daylight hours as well! Please turn on your lights for safety.
NEW LAW! Move over for Caltrans vehicles with flashing lights. California drivers must now slow down or move over when they see California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) vehicle flashing warning lights. This is according to recent legislation signed by Governor Swartzenegger.
The new law, Senate Bill 240, adds Caltrans vehicles displaying flashing amber warning lights to the list of vehicles for which motorists must slow and, if safe, move over to a lane not immediately adjacent to the stationary vehicle. To date 45 other states have enacted similar laws requiring motorists to move over or slow down. Violation of the new law is punishable by a fine of not more than $50. Drive safe!
For more work zone safety tips you can visit the California Department of Transportation at www.dot.ca.gov/gq/paffairs/news/pressrel/09pr23.htm
Source: Riverside County handout
-Bural
By Dick Pankey
&
Marshall Havner
On January 13, 2010 I attended the Clear Creek Management Area Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement public meeting. The meeting started 5:30 and ran until 8:30 PM. I arrived early with Anthony Lane TGMS Tule Gem & Mineral Society representative, and ALAA American Lands Access Association member. After signing in as public speakers we had a nice dinner at the Harris Ranch restaurant during the first social hour of the meeting. When we returned Mr. Cooper BLM Hollister Field Office Director discussed the results of the Environmental Impact Statement and the DRAFT Resource Management Plan. He also highlighted the proposals which resulted from these statements and plans. Afterwards the public was invited to speak and was informed that we would be limited to three minutes each as we only had one hour of meeting time for public speaker's scheduled. I was the first to speak and Anthony spoke second. I used the first two and half minutes talking about ALAA, AFMS, CFMS and TGMS and how all these organizations all use respect, compliance, and cooperation while using public lands for recreation and some of the things we are doing for our communities. When the beautiful young lady hosting the public speaking started pointing at her watch, a sign which she had earlier instructed the individuals who were speaking meant, you only have 30 seconds to summarize, I turned and raised the card I had received from the BLM and read from it: California Public Lands: Use, Share, and Appreciate. Then said that's exactly what we want to do but how can we when we've been removed from your grand equation? We want to be part of that equation which brings solution. I then held up a jade sphere from Clear Creek Management Area. As I held up the sphere I said this thing of beauty is a product of using, sharing, and appreciating TGMS resources.
I explained that I asked for and gotten it from a TGMS member as a rough piece of jadeite from CCMA and had another member make a sphere from it. I stated that this beautiful sphere is an excellent example of using, sharing, and appreciating. I also gave another example of how a public organization and a government agency can use, share, and appreciate BLM managed land. I invited the audience to talk to Ed Waldheim, with CORVA, California Off Road Vehicle Association and the Friends of Jawbone, www.jawbone.org, that this was a good example of how the public can work with the BLM concerning land usage issues. I concluded by saying that ALAA, CORVA, AFMS, CFMS and TGMS members are all citizens of America who do not want recreational access to CCMA taken away. Don't take us out of the equation.
On February 4, 2010 I listened to a telephone message inviting me to be part of an upcoming workshop concerning land usage issues and financial and economic issues concerning CCMA. The message was from Sky Murphy, BLM Hollister Field Office Public Relations Expert who assured me that all information would be coming shortly in the mail. More information and details will be shared when available.
-Marshall Havner
ALAA Representative TGMS President
(To ALAA members and all rockhounds, Marshall is a great example of what I been proposing about getting involved with BLM and FS. He attended a couple of meetings, met and got to know some BLM and FS personnel, spoke up and gave his views at the meetings, and now he has been invited to participate in a BLM workshop concerning land usage in the CCMA. Any of you can do this, too. Contact a BLM or FS office of district that you are interested in and request to be on their mailing list for announcements and information about their management planning and land use regulation. Get involved; participate in the process to keep our public land open for the public.
You Can Have An Affect!
-Dick
Hosted by the North Orange County Gem &
Mineral Society
