Just a reminder that the TXGenWeb has 6 counties available for adoption. Please consider adopting one. Hudspeth Jefferson Lubbock Mitchell San Patricio Terrell Shirley

Congratulations are in order for CC's who have earned 5 and 10 year Service Awards. 10 year award: Katy Hestand Cynthia Samples 5 year award: David Pitt Tamara Stevens Congratulations! Shirley

**Please Forward as appropriate to USGenWeb Members** The Election Committee is looking for replacement volunteers to fill seats that are currently vacant. The "job" includes: Developing a working relationship with SCs and/or ASCs to maintain a current Project membership list, and assisting in all polls and elections, especially during the months of June and part of July to host the USGenWeb Project's Annual Election. Volunteers will have the satisfaction of working with an excellent group of people to handle an important responsibility that allows our members to have a voice in our elections. Any member of the project who is eligible to vote is eligible for membership in the EC, the exception being that no Advisory Board member may serve as a working member of the EC. If interested, please send Email to Shirley Cullum. Please state your full name and a word about where you currently are a volunteer, including the URL of you site(s). The following positions are currently open: RAL - 2 year replacement Term ending December 31, 2009 SEMA - 1 year replacement Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee. Term ending 31 December 2008. Thank you, The USGenWeb Election Committee

The TXGenWeb Chat is tonight at 8:00 pm. http://www.rootsweb.com/~txgenweb/chat/chat.html Cynthia is enjoying a few days away on a cruise and I am envious. I will be in the Chat tonight so join me. Shirley

The TXGenWeb Chat is tomorrow night at 8:00pm. http://www.rootsweb.com/~txgenweb/chat/chat.html I hope to see you there! Shirley

My sincere apology to Jan Cortez. Jan earned the 5 Year Service Award last month and I failed to acknowledge her with the other January anniversaries. Jan, thanks for all you do! Shirley (red-faced and hiding)

Congratulations to Joy Neely for reaching the 10 year mark as a CC and to Steve Alvarez as a 5 year CC. Way to go Joy and Steve! Shirley

The January roll-call officially ended last Thursday. If your name is listed below, you have this last chance to respond. Thanks, Shirley Melanie Alexander Ed Black, Sr. Jo Ellen Castillo Temple Dunaway Katey Hestand Charmaine Holley Jack Martin Margaret Simpson Mike Smith

Hello Everyone, The Surfing Committee is pleased to announce Cherokee County as the January County of the Month. Congratulations to the County Coordinator, Kaye Slover and Assistant County Coordinator, Gordon Bennett! Cherokee County has much to offer researchers and visitors. You can read about the Hometown Heroes, take a trip back in time with the Indian Historical Markers, and salute the men and women who served from Cherokee in the Military. To see these databases and more, please stop by http://www.rootsweb.com/~txcherok/ and visit with Kaye, Gordon, and the friendly folks of Cherokee Co. Honorable Mentions for the month are: Angelina, Bowie, Coryell, Guadalupe, Hartley, Lavaca, and Maverick. A round of applause for those CC's as well. Sincerely, Peggy T. Surfing Committee Chair

This is the 3rd week of the mandatory roll-call. If your name is on the following list, please check in with Elaine and/or me. McStumped@suddenlink.net ShirlCullum@sbcglobal.net We still need to hear from the following members: Alexander, Melanie Ashby, Sue Black, Ed Sr Castillo, Jo Ellen Dunaway, Temple Evans, Lela Hayden, Edward Hestand, Katy Holley, Charmaine Martin, Jack Simpson, Margaret Smith, Michael Welborn, Dee Thanks, Shirley

We are into the second week of roll call. If you haven't already checked in, be sure to do so with either Shirley ShirlCullum@sbcglobal.net and/or Elaine McStumped@suddenlink.net We still need to hear from the following members: Alexander, Melanie Antell, Kimm Ashby, Sue Black, Ed Sr Blum-Barton, Linda Brewer, John Wayne Brooks, Duston Castillo, Jo Ellen Clifton, Billy Draper, Connie Dunaway, Temple Evans, Lela Fargason, Clifford Fitzgerald, Scott Griffith, Carolyn Hayden, Edward Hestand, Katy Hetrick, Mary Ann Hetrick, Brittany Holley, Charmaine Koegel, Cindy Martin, Jack Miller, Betty Samples, Cynthia Simpson, Margaret Skelly, Chris Smith, Michael Waugh, Ray Welborn, Dee Happy New Year! Elaine

Hello Everyone, The Surfing Committee is pleased to announce Refugio County as The TXGenWeb Project County of the Year for 2007. Congratulations to the County Coordinator, Rena McWilliams! Please stop by http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrefugi/ to see what Refugio has to offer. Rena has included Criminal Dockets, Probate and Wills, Letters and Manuscripts, African American and Hispanic Archives, Businesses, Clubs, and Teams, and Photo Albums, in addition to other databases. Please take the time to visit with Rena and the friendly folks of Refugio County. Honorable Mention counties for COY are Bandera, Bosque, Fannin, Grayson, Houston, Menard, Navarro, and Nolan. Congratulations to those coordinators as well. Sincerely, Peggy T. Surfing Committee Chair

Lubbock County is also available for adoption. Shirley

Christmas is over and we have rang in the New Year. The TXGenWeb has 7 counties that need to be adopted. I promise that all are house-broken and will provide a warm, fuzzy feeling when researchers make a connection. The available counties are: Coryell Hudspeth Martin Midland Mitchell San Patricio Terrell If you are on the Wish List for a county, please consider adopting an alternate county until the one you really want becomes available. When that happens, I will even allow you to "trade in" the alternate county. FYI, Clarissa Loyd adopted Nueces County today. Thanks, Clarissa! Have a great weekend! Shirley

Good Evening, Everyone, The Surfing Committee is pleased to announce Harrison County as the December County of the Month. Congratulations to the county coordinators, Elaine Martin and Etta Withers! Harrison County has much to offer visitors and researchers. You can read about the 1861 Volunteer Aid Society in the Old Newspaper Articles, view the 1909 Marshall High School Baseball team and other folks and items of interest in the Photo Album, and read about Anna LuElla Ratcliff's signature quilt in the Scrapbook. Please stop by and visit Elaine, Etta, and the wonderful people of Harrison County here: http://www.txgenes.com/TxHarrison/ Honorable Mention counties for this month are Angelina, Cochran, Crane, Goliad, Johnson, and Young. Congratulations to those county coordinators as well. Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year, Peggy T. Surfing Committee Chair

The following CC's have earned the 10 year Service Award: Albert Hartsatck, Dorris Harrison, Norman Lewis, Rebecca Osborne, Barbara Peck, Carla Ratcliff, Tim Self, Peggy Sutherlin. The 5 Year Sertvice Award has been presented to Lynn Embree, Margaret Simpson, and Suzanne Waller. Congratulations to each of these people for their dedication to the TXGenWeb. Shirley

Happy New Year! The mandatory January roll-call is now underway. Please send your response to me shirlcullum@sbcglobal.net or Elaine Martin mcstumped@suddenlink.net A reply to this message will work also. Some of you have already sent responses to the roll-call and I will acknowledge those in a few minutes. My wish for 2008 is that all of you have the very best that this New Year has to offer! Shirley

> Please forward to all appropriate USGenWeb Project > lists. > > Tina Vickery > National Coordinator > USGenWeb Project > > --- > > Call for Volunteers > > The Grievance Committee of USGENWEB hereby formally > requests candidates for the positions of Mediator > and > Arbitrator. Candidates should have past experience > in > their personal or professional lives that reflects > the > following attributes: > > (1) An even disposition > (2) Reliability and timeliness > (3) An ability to suspend judgment and distance > themselves from > their own views in order to hear other > points of view > (4) An ability and willingness to propose > solutions that are fair, > equitable and consistent with the policies > and philosophy of the Project > (5) Good basic communication [writing by e-mail] > skills and an > ability to compromise and get along with > others. > > Interested individuals should send the following > information to Bob Sweeney, Chairman, Grievance > Committee > at bobs@chall.com, with the phrase > "Mediator/Arbitrator > Candidate" in the subject line. Bob will then > forward > the submitted material in confidence to the other > Committee members for review and selection. The > necessary > information is: > > (1) Your name > (2) Your e-mail address > (3) Your current position(s), if any, in the > USGENWEB Project or an > affiliated Special Project, or any similar > genealogy project > (4) A brief statement of why you believe you > would be qualified for > this kind of volunteer position. > > Note that a candidate does not have to be currently > in a > formal position in the field of genealogical > research, but > that such experience certainly helps. If selected, > a > Mediator will be asked to help facilitate disputes > which > are being heard by a designated Member of our > Grievance > Committee, listen to evidence and arguments from the > disputing parties, develop and propose solutions, > and > provide a logical rationale for their proposals. An > Arbitrator will serve when mediation has been > unsuccessful, will engage the parties with the same > disposition as the Mediator, but will also be > empowered to > propose a binding final solution in accordance with > Project procedures. The positions are not mutually > exclusive in that a trained Mediator or Arbitrator > may be > asked to serve in either capacity as necessity and > the > nature of any particular grievance dictates. > Training > and guidance from the Grievance Committee members > will be > provided. The Committee will be reasonable in its > requests and time expectations of appointed > Mediators and > Arbitrators. > > Sincerely, > > Bob Sweeney > Chair, Grievance Committee > bobs@chall.com > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message >

Hello Everyone, The Surfing Committee is pleased to announce that Refugio County is the November County of the Month. Congratulations to the county coordinator, Rena McWilliams! The Refugio County site has much to offer researchers and visitors. You can read through many wonderful manuscripts, including the Joys and Sorrows of Maggie Murphy Plummer, view the bounties paid for scalps of various wild animals, read through the newspaper abstracts, and view the African American and Hispanic Archives. When you're through with all of that and more, drop by the 1957 Dairy Queen and get an ice cream or shake. You can join the folks already there in Businesses, Clubs, and Teams. Stop in and howdy with Rena and the wonderful folks of Refugio Co. at http://www.rootsweb.com/~txrefugi/ . Honorable Mentions for November are: Archer, Brazos, Childress, Nacogdoches, Pecos, and Victoria. A big round of applause for those CC's as well. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays! Peggy T. Surfing Committee Chair

The Surfing Committee has a couple of openings for regional surfers. The amount of time involved varies, but is usually no more than 4-5 hours per month. Surfers are assigned a region of the TXGenWeb to surf and select the best county in that region for the month. You may view the regulations and guidelines for the committee here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txgenweb/surfing/Criteria/index.htm#regulations Please let me know if you are interested in joining, or would like more information about the committee. Sincerely, Peggy T. Surfing Committee Chair tcf@genealogist.net