THANK YOU
Thanks to Lions Darren and Debbie McApline, and Mike Main for the excellent meal at our December 16th meeting. Also, thanks to PDG Gary Johnson for speaking to our club at this meeting.  His speech was about LCIF and conventions.  He complimented our club for being so prompt in sending in our Midwinter Convention forms.

GOVERNOR’S NIGHT/CHRISTMAS [ARTY
Our annual Governor’s Night/Christmas Party was a huge success with a good time had by all.  Besides the DG Floyd Roden and his wife, other dignitaries in attendance were Vice-District Governor Pat Kennedy and his wife and Zone Chairman Brian Manson.  District Governor Floyd handed out the Presidential Awards to Lions Duane Hass and LaNette Thorson.

Also, a big thank you to Lions Cathy Rufer and Susan Grangroth for doing a superb job on decorating our meeting place for the party.

MEETINGS
Our first meeting of the new year will be on Thursday, January 6th at our meeting place.  Lion Terry Thorson will be cooking a meal at this meeting  which will be at 7:00 P.M.  Our business meeting will take place after the meal.

Our second meeting will be take place on Thursday, January 20th also at our meeting place.  There will be a Board of Directors meeting at 6:30 P.M. Lion Tom Fiecke has volunteered to cook at this meeting which will be at 7:00 P.M. followed by our regular business meeting at 7:30 P.M.

MIDWINTER CONVENTION
The MidWinter Convention will take place at the Marriott in Bloomington on January 21-23, 2005. A tentative convention schedule is once again included in this month’s newsletter.

YOUTH CENTER
The Youth Center will be open this year on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 6:00 until 10:00 P.M.  Families/guests and youth ages 10 and up are invited.  Lion Cathy Rufer will be in charge again this year.

The Youth Center held its annual Christmas party on December 18th. We had forty adults and children in attendance.  The group voted on bringing in computer games, additional board games, pinball machines, a karoake machine, and a football foosball machine.

Students enjoyed playing games, having singing and dancing contests, and watching a movie.  We served ham sandwiches and hot chocolate.

Our theme was “Bring a Friend” night.  There was laughter, music, and a good time was had by all.
DRUG POSTER CONTEST
The Howard Lake and Waverly sponsored the 2004 Drug Awareness Contest back in November.  The contest ran in conjunction with Chemical Awareness Week at HLWW Schools.  This year, there were two separate contests.  Besides HLWW High School, Middle School and Elementary, there will be a separate contest at St. James Lutheran School.  Judging took place on Monday, November 22nd.  Pictures of the winners took place on Tuesday, November 30th.
The first place winner in each age bracket will have their posters judged at the MidWinter Convention in January.  Thanks to Lions Steve Weber (chairperson). Nancy Main and Mardell Lemke for doing the judging.

The winners of our poster contest are as follows:

HLWW SCHOOLS

KINDERGARTEN   1st Place Ashley Farnick (Humphrey Elem.)
    2nd Place Nichlaus Trump (Humphrey Elem.)
    3rd Place Janna Hatrick (Winsted Elem.)

GRADES 1 & 2  1st Place Logan Kritzeck (Winsted Elem.—Gr. 2)
    2nd Place Mikayla Karels (Winsted Elem.—Gr. 2)
    3rd Place Yuliya Pererva (Winsted Elem.—Gr. 1)

GRADES 3 & 4  1st Place Austin Simonson (Winsted Elem.—Gr. 3)
    2nd Place Amber Menden (Winsted Elem.—Gr. 4)
    3rd Place Kira Karels (Humphrey Elem.—Gr. 3)

GRADE 5   1st Place Sarah Marketon (Humphrey Elem.)
    2nd Place Ariel Kocher (Humphrey Elem.)
    3rd Place William Jaros (Humphrey Elem.)

GRADES 6 – 8  1st Place Sarah Randall (Gr. 6 – Kuehn)
    2nd Place Ednel Diedrich (Gr. 6 – Bleth)
    3rd Place Matthew Confeld (Gr. 6 – Gagnon)

GRADES 9 – 12  1st Place Laura Jacobson (Gr. 9)
    2nd Place Holly Doroff (Gr. 9)
    3rd Place Andy Jacobson (Gr. 10)

ST. JAMES LUTHERAN

GRADES 1 & 2  1st Place Emily Schmidt (Gr. 1)
    2nd Place Max Kittock (Gr. 1)
    3rd Place Madyson Woolhouse (Gr. 1)

GRADES 3 & 4  1st Place Bethany Kozitka (Gr. 3)
    2nd Place Michaela Bowman (Gr. 4)
    3rd Place Kayla Stueven (Gr. 4)

GRADE 5   1st Place Hannah Nistler
    2nd Place Brooke Baird
    3rd Place Dane Virnala

GRADES 6 – 8  1st Place Amanda Kubasch (Gr. 8)
    2nd Place Brooke Kubasch (Gr. 6)
    3rd Place Austin Christensen (Gr. 7)
 

NEW CLUB SHIRTS
Thanks to Lions Steve Weber, Mike Main, and Darren McALpine, our club will be getting new shirts for our club (just in time for the convention!).  The shirts will be red with white lettering.  This time, the shirts are also available in women’s style along with the men’s.  The cost of the shirts are as follows: S –XL--$16; 2XL--$18; 3XL--$21.  If you are interested in ordering one, please put your name and size on a slip of paper in an envelope along with a check for the cost of shirt to: Lion Steve Weber; P.O. Box 22; Howard Lake, MN 55349.  Please make your check payable to C & C Embroidery.  The first order will be going out later this week.  If you want a shirt for the convention and haven’t ordered one, please let Lion Steve know ASAP.

BIRTHDAYS
Happy birthday to the following Howard Lake Lion members who will be celebrating a
birthday in January: Tom Sullivan (2); Dan Judd (8); Darrell Main (12); Terry Thorson (19);
and Denny Massey (31)