OFF THE BEATEN PATH

OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Friends of Dunbar Cave Newsletter	July 2009

UPCOMING MEETING:

Thu= rsday July 16th, 6:00PM

Dunbar = Cave State Na= tural Area Visitors’ Center

The main topics of the July business meeting will be last minute adjustments to= our plans for Cooling at the Cave and advance-planning for our fall proj= ect – Haunted History.

NOTES FROM JUNE MEETING(a busy one):

The 2009-2010 Board of Directors were elected.= Officers: President &#= 8211; David Boen, Secretary – Suva Bastin, Treasurer – Ronnie Hunter, Historian – Debbie Hamilton. Directors-at-large: Sally Schiller and Beth Robinson se= rving a three year term (2009-2012).

Other members of the board acting as Directors-at-large and continuing in their positions are: Steve Hamilton, B= arbara Wilbur (2007-2010); Jim Hancock = and Meredith Gildrie (2008-2011).=

Cooling at the Cave planning continues to bear fruit. Music will be provided by James Nihan.

As the biography on his website (www.jamesnihan.com) states = “An award-winning songwriter, James has had songs recorded by Anne Murray, Steve Wariner and many other artists. Venues that have present= ed his songs include Austin City Limits, Regis Philbin, Mountain Stage, Gra= nd Ole Opry and the Kerrville Folk Fest= ival. He founded and hosts the annual "New England Songwriters Show" he= ld at Nashville's renowned Bluebird Café… He recently lent his voice to a documentary on the Inupi= at tribe of Barrow, Alaska.... A ne= w CD, Murals, was released in July. In gratitude [for positive spiritual changes in his life], James carries a message of love, light and healing to spiritual gatherings from coast to coast.”=

His varied repertoire should be a treat for all coming to the “Cooling.”

The June meeting closed= with a lively and informative program on the bats of = Dunbar Cave. Dr Andrew Barrass, a Principal Investigator with The Center of Excellence for Field Biology and Associate Professor in Biology at APSU, and students Seth McCormick and Morgan Kurz p= resented highlights from their three-year APSU study of the cave’s bat populat= ion.

As a result, Friends of Dunbar Cave has decided to hold its annual Haunted History events a little earlier in October (the 16^th and 17^th) to help protect these important inhabitants of the cave.&n= bsp; Disturbance of their hibernation period can lead to the death of bat= s.

UPCOMING EVENT: <= /span>Coo= ling at the Cave, Thursday July 25th, 4-6:00PM,

Bring your friends, a card table (if you have one), cards or other table games, a= nd a generous appetite for fun music and simple pleasures. Light refreshments (cookies, lemon= ade, water) will be available.

Donations of cookies or brownies are needed and welcomed. Please contact the “refreshm= ent coordinator for Cooling at the Cave”: Sally Schiller 931-237-7212 or schillers@apsu.edu.

Don’t forget a light sweater. It= 217;s cool at the cave, even in July.