Jay W. Sharp
2465 El Dorado Court
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Phone: 1-505-521-2619
Fax: 1-505-521-0875
e-mail: jaywsha@msn.com
Those of you who missed John Kessell’s “Pray for Me…” the keynote address at our second annual symposium, have a chance to enjoy it here in our first issue. Although it is a great read and has a number of interesting references, I don’t think it can quite take the place of experiencing John’s lively rendition first hand as we did at the Heritage Center. I encourage you to plan to attend CARTA’s future conferences.
I visited with many of you at our September symposium in Socorro, New Mexico. At both our board and our general business meeting, we discussed many of the CARTA efforts that have been underway this year. Our most important accomplishment was the completion of cooperative agreements with both the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, making CARTA the official trail association of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. This partnership allows us to pursue the goals ands objectives that we have discussed at many of our meetings. In fact, $10,000 in federal funds are being made available to CARTA this year. We have now begun to lay plans for future projects and work for expanded funding in years to come. Thanks especially to Harry Myers of NPS and Sarah Schlanger of BLM who worked closely with us to get the partnership in place. I’m sure I speak for all of our officers and members when I say that we look forward to a long and productive relationship with our friends at NPS and BLM.
I am also pleased to announce that CARTA Secretary William Little, Treasurer Helen Geer and Director Cameron Saffell finalized our 501 (c) (3) application and that it has been approved. This officially recognizes CARTA as a non-profit organization, beginning with its founding in March 2003. In addition, during the board meeting, Little announced the closing of our charter membership drive. A list of all charter members will be compiled and notices for regular 2005 dues will be sent out by the end of the year. Treasurer Helen Geer reported on our finances, noting a bank balance of $3394. CARTA has also acquired liability insurance for its officers and a general liability policy for the association.
A new CARTA logo, developed by Connie Anaya, graphic designer for the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, has been finalized and accepted by association. (It will appear as our “signature” in CARTA publications, including in the upper right-hand corner of the front page of our journal.) Connie will also be working on CARTA’s brochure, which will include a new membership application.
CARTA will be holding its first long range strategic planning session for the association early next year. A challenge cost-share grant has been approved to cover the costs of the session and to bring facilitators who will help CARTA establish short-term and long-term goals and plans. We look forward to an exciting and productive session.
At both our board meeting and our general business meeting, we discussed the formation of four new committees: Nominations, Finance/Audit, Publications/Publicity and Site Certification. I cannot overemphasize the importance of these committees, and I hope that our members will give serious thought to helping us move CARTA forward by joining these and future committee projects. We especially need to be searching for nominations for our entire slate of officers and the half of our board positions that will be up for election this summer. Our publications and publicity committee could certainly use some help as well. Those of you with writing or PR backgrounds are particularly encouraged to join. Cameron and I are heading the Site Certification Committee. We could use some help in identifying and certifying sites along the trail, especially in the north. Those interested in serving on any of these committees or in pursuing an officer or board position should contact me. (Please see the end of my message for my address.) Although we just held our second symposium and members’ meeting, it is never too early to be thinking about future ones. Both of our meetings closed with discussion of sites for our 2005 General Business Meeting and our 2006 Symposium. It was agreed that we need to solicit proposals for both of these events soon. Personally, I would like to have our members’ meetings tie in with a major event or a presentation so that we can attract more members and mix a bit of business, education and, of course, pleasure. Our symposium sites need to begin moving along the trail so that we can better connect with communities north and south of Socorro.
I would like to end with a special thanks to all who worked to make our second symposium a success. Joy Poole and Lonnie Marquez from the El Camino Real International Heritage Center did a great job of organizing the event and opening the new center to CARTA. Ben Moffett and Ida Baca served as our official liaisons. Ben Moffett also helped work with the city of Socorro and New Mexico Tech to make the symposium a success. Ben Brown served as our field trip scout. And, of course, to all of our presenters and volunteers, thanks for a great symposium!!!
I look forward to working with all of you in 2005 to develop, promote and preserve our El Camíno Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail.