Executive Committee Meeting – 19 Jul 15

As scheduled and predetermined, the Executive Committee meetings of the Austin branch of the Stephen F. Austin Class of 65 held their by-whatever meeting yesterday at the Aplebees on the corner of Ben White Drive and MOPAC Blvd.

Those in attendance were the following: Jimmy Phipps, Jerry Nance, and our new member (under consideration) Ernie Lee.

To begin the discussion, a toast was proposed and drank (Big ole Iced Teas all around) to our recently departed Charter member, Bobby Buntyn. Bobby is greatly missed. His council was always positive and truly respected.

Here’s to you, Bobby!

Although, not totally unexpected, a large part of the discussion was held at my house by the early arrivers (always); the biggest part detailing the Texas open carry decision and the Governor’s recent decision to arm the National Guard facilities in light of the Chattanooga incident. Pros and cons exist on both sides of the argument and just how this order will be carried out. The number of guns present downstairs was no way near those present upstairs. Be that as it may, the heat didn’t rise above a simmer.

I will state that Little Gus and Otis welcomed their old friend Jimmy with much more exuberance than either of the other two attendees. They like his Boxer, Bella, actually more than they like Jimmy, but that’s to be expected.

Once we arrived at Applebees, were seated and saluted Bobby, we jumped into the meal ordering. I know you can tell from the picture that there haven’t been many meals missed by this group. Ernie started his order off with a TRIPLE Bacon Burger and chips—see how he worked those slimming chips into the day.

The remaining three of us chose one of the new menu choices: the TRIPLE HOG Burger (that’s Bacon, Ham and a nice serving of Pulled-Pork BBQ)—we didn’t hold back and settle for the chips though—we went whole hog and got the French FRIED potatoes of one kind or another—no willie-nillies in this part of the group. All things considered, Ernie may have jeopardized his chances of full membership by taking those chips—just saying!

Somehow Ernie, without the benefit of knowledge of the established agenda, got us off on a discussion of the carrier Kitty Hawk, the Constellation (Jerry’s Boat) and the riots carried out on them during the VietNam skirmish. After Jerry had taken the opportunity to tell fifteen or twenty war stories, we finally got back on agenda. Have I mentioned before that we need to take a binding vote on whether Jerry is an official member of the Class of ’65. Somehow the previous votes have not held him back from barging in on our frivolity—that’s just wrong somehow.

If you cogitate on the situation for just the slightest, Jerry hardly makes a good runner and his abilities as a gopher are barely passable.

At some point around this time, Jerry sidetracked the discussion and stated he was looking forward to a Trump-Cruz ticket for the Republican Party. Not wanting to get too political we determined that it was not in the Committee’s interest to issue a Trump-Cruz endorsement—the issue was tabled for later consideration.

About this time, the chow showed up and the meeting took on a quieter tone for some five or six minutes—just long enough for Jerry to get BBQ sauce all over his polo.

While Ernie followed my lead and tried NOT to war story the others to death; with both Jimmy and Jerry, it’s a no win situation. Now, I’ve heard ALL of Jimmy’s multiple times and most of Jerry’s several times, none of us had heard any of Ernie’s in the last fifty years—he’s been lost that long. I will say that I enjoyed the Houston induction center desertion story the best of the few Ernie told—was that James Fridel who was the black hat there Ernie?

As a result of their showing today: Jimmy Phipps has been elevated to full membership on the Executive Committee and Ernie Lee has been awarded junior membership—he’ll have to attend a significant number of more meetings. And, if you are still wondering, Jerry Nance’s status was again tabled for later consideration.

Before you know it, lunch was over and we were back at the house standing there passing around Jerry’s new concealable .357 revolver. As a side note, I will acknowledge that as the last looker prior to returning the pistol to Jerry, I willingly passed up the opportunity to shoot any and all of the other three.