Brothers,
Another Busch Brothers Annual Meeting has come and gone.
As vice president and secretary of our group I offer the following minutes for your approval/correction/addition.

The 19th BBAM was held June 26th, 2010 in beautiful Manchester, OH at the Rich Lask estate.  There were 13 Brothers in attendance that arrived in the following order;
Friday = Rich, Steve, Paul
Saturday 
11:35=Chris, 11:45=Tex, 12:04=Craig, 12:13=Bob & Jon, 12:22=Hutch, 12:28=Tony,Mike,Dustin. 
The meeting was officially started at around 12:28 with all brothers above present.  Hoss arrived sometime later in the day, but no one recorded the time.  Hoss, do you remember?

For weeks prior Rich was preparing for the BBAM including help from Steve and Paul on Friday.
There was a skeleton can wall constructed much like the ones at our old meeting place in Clifton.  This year was interesting because for the 2nd year in a row full beer cans were used to construct the skeleton wall and all cans were busch camouflage cans.  Shortly after the meeting officially started everyone had an opportunity to buy an official 2010 bbam polo type shirt.  This was the most professional shirt to date and there were two choices of colors between sandstone and steel.  Most were advised to take shirts to their vehicles and some learned later in the evening that our shirts burned easily.  Who knew?? As shirts were being sold there was an offering taken for all you can drink and other house expenses for Rich.  Once paid, everyone was given a Pick Your Pony card to fill out and given an index card to mark their row on the wall.    
Paul reports that Jon was the Pick your Pony winner- off 45 cans. Steve was 2nd off by 48.  Damn you Jon.  Beat me by 3 cans.  You are a beer drinking hustler.  Nice improvement; 9 last year to 15 this year.  A cone for you.

It was close to 90 degrees so we mostly stayed inside until around 7:00.  We started our 3rd ever official Euchre Tournament around 3:30.  Busch Mountain rules where in place which involved one round with each player with four deals each.  The top 4 players advanced to the final four.  We had a 12 man rotation with Jon in charge.  Sadly, we got started too late, organization was rough with such a large field of drunken players and order was not sustainable and the tournament was abandoned at some point.  Therefore, hopefully next year we can pull off our 3rd official euchre tournament.  FYI =the entry fees were donated to Rich in the morning.  

After the Euchre tournament was abandoned there was a break in the action which allowed everyone to do whatever needed to be done including many rounds of social drinks, grabbing some food, ride or drive the Tractor, ride the quad, or ride the motorcycles.   

At around 5:45 PM we began our full members meeting.  We reviewed the notes from the previous year.  Let it be known that one issue from the previous year full member meeting was to password protect the buschbrothers.com website which was completed by Jon.  James was to be brought up for a vote for full member, but will have to hold another year as associate. 
As for new businesss…..A new tradition was initiated by Chris with the Busch hats he brought from Maryland.  The member with the most cans on the wall gets to wear the BUSCH drinking cowboy hat and the member with the fewest cans on the wall has to wear the BUSCH drinking safety helmet.  Shortly after we started to discuss new business there was a break in action that moved our attention to our rabbit of the year Bob wearing the cowboy hat becoming the first casualty of the evening.  For all those that witnessed the excitement; it was something to see.  
Jon took the floor to lead us in the next well organized discussion with a powerpoint presentation that focused on the fact that our recent timeline of annual meetings are off one year.  He proved that this was not our 18th bbam, but in fact our 19th bbam.  So, next year will be the big 20th bbam. 
Thanks to Jon for discovering this lapse in our timeline and bringing it to our attention.  Jon also had a fine presentation concerning some much needed amendments to our constitution, but due to a member not being present and some drunk and disorderly members nothing was passed and must be tabled to next year.  I would like to thank Jon for all of his preparation and attention to detail on our constitution and historical coverage.

I believe it was decided for everyone to hold their current offices which include:
Chris = President
Steve =VP and Secretary
Jon = Historian 
Paul = VP of Consumption Statistics
Rich = BM administrator and BBAM festivities director
Tex = grill master and fire starter

Consumption was up again this year (nuhhh) to our 5th highest year ever at 250 cans which is 82 cans over last year.  There were 5 more additions to our case club for the year all of which are repeat case club members: 
Mike(25)=7 time case club member, Paul(24)=9 time, Chris(24)=8 time, Tony(24)=2 time, and honorary member Hutch(26)=2 time.
There were strong showings by Hoss(19), Bob(17), Tex(17), and Rich(17).
To round out the field Steve(16), Jon(15), Dustin(14), and Craig(12).  

Concerning the case club….and the case club plaque/poster…please give a word of thanks to Tim for the design and Chris for getting it printed and delivered.  I think it looks great and can be changed easily every year at minimal expense/time.  If anyone wants to get creative and contribute contact Chris with your ideas to make it even better.

The gassing of the annual bon fire was prepared by Tex and ignited by roman candles (I think started by steve) and the fireworks commenced for about 10 minutes.  I think everyone made it out of the fire safely but I know it was close.

Again this year the tractor rides throughout the night were definitely a highlight and lasted well into the evening.  Driving a late 70's blazer over the fields and thru the woods over the trees is something that should be on everyone's bucket list.  It was still barely running in the morning, but missing several pieces including the entire tailgate assembly which fell off without help.  Scary!!  There was a big cedar tree thru the grill in the morning that no one remembers and that may have killed it because the radiator appears to be fatal.  Hopefully it can be patched up for at least another year.  The two motorcycles and quad were ridden much more this year which was awesome and no major injuries reported.  

We brought back another tradition this year of having an unveiling.  After many years of discussing the idea I was able to get created a custom BUSCH BROTHERS neon light that we hung in the center of the main room of Rich's house and unveiled later in the evening with much fanfare complete with smoke effects.  Also, after many years of waiting the folks at Heidelberg donated three of their Busch menu/display board/signs.  One which we hung next to the new neon.  Paul was instrumental in putting the messages on the board which were great.  Please thank the guys at Heidelberg and continue to drink as many AB products as possible in your homes and whenever you are out.  BTW- thanks to Paul for providing setup work/materials, the tractor, and most of the food and fireworks.

There were no major injuries (Hoss indicates that his eye is fine), no major damage, and no police presence (except Dustin).
I believe a good time was had by all.  A few others mentioned that the bbam this year went very fast and I agree.  I am guilty of crashing a bit too early but after 3 days of drinking in a row I think my body is starting to tell me something as I pass the 40 yr mark.  I think I should slow down or train harder.  I think I will train harder.  The BBAM is called the Superbowl of Drinking for a reason.  Nnnuuuhhh!    
  
If anyone has anything else to add, please reply so I can communicate it to the rest of the group.
Also, please reply if you have any ideas for the BBAM2011= 20 years.

A couple ideas brought up already include:
Starting the meeting at noon regardless of who is there.
Starting the full member meeting early.
Starting the 1st euchre tournament early with only 8 players with no smokers.
Changing the seeding on the wall for the pick your pony.  I think Mike might get promoted.
Getting confirmation or proxies from everyone to get the constitution corrected. 
Chris will donate starbucks energy drinks for everyone next year.
Make the meeting a 3 or 4 day event for those that wish to make it a total vacation including renting a house on the river with boats!

Get all your bbam2010 pictures send to jon asap to post on the protected website.

Please reply to approve/correct/add to the minutes mentioned above.
Have a great day!   
Brother Steve