From Findlay:

Take I-75 North to Exit 186 - SR 582 and Turn right off exit!

Turn left at first cross road - Dunbridge Rd. Stop at bar on corner if so inclined!

Turn Right at Dowling Rd. - Course is on Left

Or

Follow directions above and take SR 582 to SR 199 which is McCutchoenville Rd. NOT Lime City Rd.

Turn Left on SR 199 to Dowling.

Turn Left on Dowling - Course is on the right.

Or

Turn left off Exit 186 - SR 582 and follow to SR 25.

Turn right on 25 to Dowling Rd.

Turn Right onto Dowling Rd.

Course is on left.

From Toledo:

Take I-75 To SR 20 - Exit 193 and head towards Perrysburg. (West)

Turn left at Marathon Gas Station and follow South Boundary St. to SR 199 - Louisiana Ave. Turn Left

Follow SR 199 to Dowling Rd and turn right. Course is on right.

OR

Take 20 east to Lime City Rd. - which is not SR 199 and follow it to Dowling Rd. and take a right. Course is on the right.

Or

Exit at Route 25 off 475 and turn South on SR 25. Follow 25 to Dowling Rd and turn left. Course is on left.

Lime City Rd. is NOT State Route 199!!!!!!!

Do not follow 582 to Lime City Rd if you are coming from Findlay. Turn on 199 - McCutcheonville Rd.

Brothers Registered so far:

Kevin Sweeney

Ed Diebold

Lou Kuhnle

Mike Schubert

Mike Mallett

Greg Davis

Art Baldaras

I look foreword to seeing you at the course

Kevin Sweeney 97'

The goals set in May of 1998 are coming to fruition. The following is a report on the goals we set and what the current status of each is.

Committee Governance and Investigation - Rick King has been diligent in working with all areas of the corporation. Anything from handling national fraternity contact to ensuring that our committees are reporting progress have all been handled by Rick. His input and guidance has helped our organization tremendously.

Financial Record Keeping and Reporting Goal - Accurate financial reporting corrected to re-establish credibility in alumni corporation financial management. We have seen the complete re-vamp of the Alumni Corporation financial tracking system. "Bravo Mr. James Rossi." Jim has successfully produced, within 30 days of assigned duty, budget, cash flow, balance sheet, and expense report/check register for all Eta Mu Alumni Corporation accounts. This goal has been met thanks to Jim Rossi.

Corporation Constitution - Accurate and enforced constitution. Jeff Detmer is the committee chair for this goal. He has successfully re-established the constitution as a tool to govern our organization. The confusion over constitution versions and how we can best manage it have been answered. Jeff re-established the constitution and has since made changes to the constitution that bring it up to speed with today’s corporation business. You should have received the latest copy with proposed revisions in your last newsletter. This goal has been met thanks largely to Jeff and the alumni membership that so willingly provided him with guidance.

Accurate Membership Records - Accurate address and phone number collection and regular distribution. Mike Soldwish is the keeper of the list. In fact, he has been for a number of years. He continues to provide us with accurate list of our alumni membership. Thank you Mike, your efforts do not go unnoticed.

Communications - Newsletter distributed on a regular basis. Jonathan Zimmerman has been the chair over this area. He has successfully distributed newsletters with timely and pertinent articles for our members. He has been diligent and patient in gathering the articles and as a result we have seen a terrific communication tool delivered.

Planning - There have been a number of major decisions made in the Alumni Corporation. The largest of which is the purchase of a new house. We established early in our tenure as alumni leadership that we needed to properly assess our direction before moving forward with any major plans. This included the following: 1. Get input from active brothers, university administration, national fraternity officers, and alumni on

direction of the fraternity and Greek system at The University of Findlay. 2. Reestablish relations with the University, National Fraternity, and Undergraduate Chapter.

We then moved forward and began negotiating with all who had an interest in purchasing our house. The offer from the Church of God as of homecoming was too low and would have compromised our guidelines. We rejected the offer of $72,000 from the Church of

God. There interest was in providing additional parking for church functions. We did negotiate a counter offer that was based on conservative occupancy estimates and our cash position after we purchased another house. The guidelines were simple. Do not compromise our cash/equity, location, occupancy, or ownership positions as a result of selling the current house. This offer and only this offer would be accepted. If rejected we were to move forward with renovation efforts on the current house and be there for at least another five years. We informed the church and our membership at the homecoming meeting of our plans and through some discussions between both sides were able to negotiate a $150,000 offer from the Church of God. Needless to say we are now in the market for a house. We are still working under the following guidelines:

1. Do not compromise cash/equity position
2. Good parking for house occupants
3. Ensure minimum requirements to house 12 men in house
4. Fund mortgage and renovation for purchase or building of new house
5. Ensure good location to campus life
6. Ensure cooperative environment for input from all sources as the search progresses.

We have established a search committee that is headed by undergraduate members with the alumni playing an active role. We hope to find a good location before the end of this school year. This will give us time to renovate during the summer and be ready for undergraduate membership in the fall of 1999.

The purchase of a new house will change the way we do things within our organization. As we move forward with these changes your involvement become more critical. We need your input and knowledge to make our Alumni Corporation the best. The best not only at The University of Findlay, but the national level as well. The state of the Theta Chi Alumni Corporation Eta Mu chapter is very good.

The active alumni membership will continue to work toward a long term house purchase. It is with this purchase that we will create a very sound financial future for our organization. Once this is completed we will be approaching the membership for help. This will entail the creation of new ideas and exciting new opportunities for our membership and undergraduate members. Please contact me with any questions regarding the progress we are making or any new ideas you have to continue to make our organization the best alumni corporation.

By the time this newsletter is printed, all the nation will know whether we will or won’t have six more weeks of winter. Well, forget about Punxsutawney Phil; the Eta Mu Chapter has their own special indication that spring is on the way. It’s the annual Groundhogs Day party, a yearly tradition at Findlay for well over twenty years! I was not in attendance at this year’s bash, but you can tell that if everyone had a great time, it’ll only be eight more weeks until spring (formal that is! April 9-11, 1999 in Perrysburg, Ohio).

Although the groundhog has been the chapter mascot for years, not may Eta Mu Theta Chi’s can boast basic knowledge of the groundhog or traditions of the Groundhog Party. Lucky for us that I needed to contribute an article to this newsletter.

First, the marmota monax - popularly known as the woodchuck or groundhog, does not chuck wood. The common name come from a Cree Indian word, wuchak, used to identify a group of animals which includes the groundhog’s dirty cousin from the West, the marmot, or the Alphus Sigmus Phius.

While hibernating, the groundhog sleeps in a large grass nest at the end of his or her tunnel. Now this sleep is a deep sleep; body temperatures fall from 97 degrees F to less than 40 and heartbeat drops from about 100 beats per minute to four. Not unlike a few brothers after a long evening of quarters!

Look for little groundhogs in the spring. A litter of four or five blind little groundhogs is born in April or early May. Not unlike pledge classes, a fall litter is usually larger.

Groundhog Day may be a Pagan Holiday, but it derives from Candlemas, a Christian festival commemorating the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after Christ’s birth. Celebrating the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple, Christians lit candles to symbolize the association of light with Christ, beginning in the middle of the fifth century A.D. Importing the Candlemas tradition to the United States in the mid-18^th century, Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants looked to the personable groundhog as the prophet of spring.

More locally, it’s most likely the early brothers of the Eta Mu Chapter were looking for a reason to throw a party and chose Groundhog Day as good as any other to party. The spring pledge class usually served as bartenders at this kegfest and most of the campus would make an appearance.

The event continued as such until 1979 when the chapter purchased the house at 1200 N. Main Street. Then the brothers changed the party to a Theta Chi only date event. Some campus lowlifes held the Theta Chi’s accountable for their lost free beer and lovingly started referring to Theta Chi brothers as squirrels. The brothers form 1980-84 or so started taking this as a term of endearment and adopted this rodent cousin to the groundhog as an unofficial mascot.

In the early 80’s, the Groundhog Party became infamous for it’s outrageous themes such as pajama parties, mock weddings, or "Come as Your Favorite Rock Star" themes, complete with organized contests or games serving as entertainment. Gary Schmidt served as the improvising "Theta Chi is Wild" game show host for some great parties in the mid-80’s. I can tell you that Womba was as brutal as they come.

Now I hope that young and old alike have learned something new about the lovable mascot the groundhog. When you think that winter is just dragging on way too long, give your brothers a call or get together and start some new traditions that would shake the halls of Theta Chi!