“The most influential communications fraternity in the Society” Published quarterly, Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors, BHS www.harmonize.com/probe Vol. 47, No. 3 BARBERSHOP HARMONY SOCIETY July/Sept 2010 AA SadSad DayDay forfor BarbershoppersBarbershoppers It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that our dear friend and fellow barbershopper Dick Girvin passed away early this morning, April 13th. Dick had been hospitalized for several days after having suffered a mild heart attack, as well as facing other medical issues. Dick had served as a FWD leader in many capacities during his barbershop tenure. He will be missed. Russ Young FWD Executive VP “Dick was the glue that held PROBE together for many years. He served as Secretary/Treasurer, Layout & Reproduction judge, category specialist, bulle- tin editor (PROBEmoter), just to mention a few. He was one of a kind, giving selflessly of himself. I’m very proud to have called Dick Girvin my friend. God speed, Dick — you will be missed!” Steven Jackson PROBE President PROBEPROBE LosesLoses SeniorSenior Statesman!Statesman! President Imm. Past President Secretary-Treasurer Bulletin Editors VP Web VP PR/Marketing VP PROBEmoter Editor IBC Chairman David Wagner E-IBC Chairman Patrick Thomas PROTY Chairman Steven Jackson Lowell Shank 816 Springdale Road John Elving 1002 Tanyard Spring Dr. Martin Banks 215 Cheyenne St. Lot 18 2413 Stonebridge Lane Bedford, TX 76021 6806 Peaceful Pines Road Spring Hill, TN 37174- 9190 Lake Braddock Drive Golden, CO 80403 Bowling Green, KY 42101 (469) 964-6414 Black Hawk, SD 57718 6131 Burke, VA 22015-2137 (303) 384-9269 (270) 202-0515 [email protected] (605) 381-9680 (615) 562-0163 (703) 425-8755 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Secretary-Treasurer EMERITUS Dick Girvin Membership VP Webmaster Bulletin Exchange In Memoriam Donald Levering Dr. Arnie Wade Coordinator 1521 San Carlos Ave 3628 Sussex Drive NE Alexander Edwards Orange, CA 92865 Milledgeville, GA 31061 535 W. Broadway #150A (714) 998-6390 (912) 452-4491 Glendale, CA 91204 Cell (714) 915-9902 [email protected] (818) 956-1132 [email protected] edwardsalexan- [email protected] Does your chapter publish and distribute a bulletin? The chapter bulletin is one of the chapter’s best PR instru- ments as well as probably the most effective communication tool between board and membership. Ideally, every chapter should be exchanging bulletins with every other chapter—hard copy, not just on-line. Each chapter has its BB unique characteristics, reflecting the specific needs and interest of its membership, but share a common bond with other chapters experiencing similar problems. PP UU Exchanging bulletins is a very effective and efficient way for chapters to share with each other not only news about activities such as chapter shows, special performances and participation in inter-chapter, division, district RR LL and Society functions, but also how they’ve handled problems that challenge most chapters such as recruiting and retaining members. We need the hard-copy bulletin and we need to be able to distribute and/or mail it to our sup- OO LL porters, friends, members (former, inactive, active and prospective), District and Society officers, and our brother chapters. We need more bulletin editors and more members in our chapters who can assist in editing, preparing GG and distributing. EE The costs of printing and mailing bulletins today is prohibitive for many chapters, even if restricting mailing bul- RR letins to known friends and those chapters close by and distributing copies to active members by hand. A few have TT weekly news-sheets to keep members apprized of chapter activities and publish/mail bi-monthly or quarterly. Many chapters have gone to on-line bulletins only, some available on their website, others e-mailing copies to those ex- AA II pressing an interest. However, not every barbershopper owns a computer or is computer-literate. Further, as any computer user knows, there are times when either the computer or the printer is out of order, not working, or un- MM NN available. What’s the answer? Swap that bulletin! “It’s great to be a barbershop editor!” Alexander Edwards Page 2 July/Sept 2010 PROBEmoter PROBE President I’m sensing some apathy and igno- rance, which can be corrected. It starts PROBE HALL OF HONOR Steve Jackson with PROBE (da board) being proactive and getting the information out in advance Bruce Anderson, Ray Barrett, to all districts. When a district has no co- Herb Bayles, Grant Carson, Jerry ordinator, the contests will usually not happen. We have been very aggressive Coltharp, Lloyd Davis, Wade over the last few years in getting the word Dexter, Mel Edwards, Leo Fobart, out. People aren’t reading their emails! Jim Fulks, Harry Gault, Let PROBE into your barbershopping Dick Girvin, Ray Heller, Bob Let PROBE Into Your world. Read the PROBEmoter. The last two years, John Elving and I produced Hockenbrough, Paul Izdepski, Barbershopping World several informational bulletins (ADLIBS) Steve Jackson, Terry Jordan, Grady It’s been an interesting year. We for all bulletin judges, district coordinators, Kerr, Art Lane, Deac Martin, Bob brought back the Outstanding Achieve- and District bulletin editors. The informa- McDermott, William Moreland, John ment Awards; thanks, Grady Kerr. We tion IS available. It starts here! We can help; we will help! But our communicators Morris, Roger Morris, Buddy Myers, welcomed back David Wagner who Dee Paris, John Petterson, Waldo agreed to serve out Dick Girvin’s term as have to follow through. I do list the offi- Secretary/Treasurer. Two of our judges, cer’s email and phone numbers for a rea- Redekop, Craig Rigg, Jerry Roland, son. Hello, is anyone out there? Owen Herndon and Fred Hinesley, Lowell Shank, Wilbur Sparks, Stan passed on. Congrats to the Colby, Kan- Congratulations to all of you who en- "Stasch" Sperl, Dick Stuart, Jim Styer, sas chapter for submitting Owen’s bulletin tered our contests this past year. Thank John Sugg, Staff Taylor, Dick into the contests. you; I sincerely hope you had a positive Teeters, Arnold Wade, Charlie Wilcox There is much concern over the lack experience. This is being written before of participation in all three of our contests, International so the winners will appear the IBC, the E-IBC, and the PROTY. elsewhere in this issue (unless I change What’s the purpose of PROBE if our con- my mind and update this article). tests go away? We’re here to educate and motivate all of our Society communi- cators, whether you’re an editor, webmas- ter, PR/Marketing VP. The contests are a PLEASE RENEW YOUR PROBE MEMBERSHIP perfect way to measure your progress and to honor the outstanding work being DUES ARE STILL ONLY $10.00 YEARLY! done. I’ve always found the judges cri- tiques very helpful. You should have seen SEND CHECKS TO DAVID WAGNER my first bulletin (too late, I burned it). I’ve been cogitating (my big word for PROBE SECRETARY/TREASURER this issue) on how to increase participa- tion. First thing is to identify possible rea- sons. Your chapter has a website so there is no bulletin. RockyRocky MountainMountain DistrictDistrict You have a bulletin but it’s just a weekly calendar. EarnsEarns GoldGold inin IBCIBC && PROTYPROTY You had no idea there was a bulletin contest available. What the heck is a BETY anyway? Your District didn’t run the bulletin Owen Herndon contests. You’ve entered so many contests Colby, Kansas that there is nothing new to learn. International Bulletin Editor of the Year What’s a PROTY? Who’s supposed to run them? Can I enter a show program? Arnold Routson, II I learned about it too late to enter. Albuquerque, NM (Bernalillo County) International Public Relations Officer of the Year Year Long Activity It’s GREAT to be an RMD barbershopper! PROBEmoter July/Sept 2010 Page 3 EIBC — 2009 Electronic Int’l Bulletin Editor of the Year 2009 PROTY Public Relations Officer of the Year 1st place 3rd place 4th place Karen Nanninga Dick Kury Fred Gelden Ted Hinkle Manhattan, Kansas St. Louis, Missouri Fairfax, Virginia Kokomo, Indiana Year Long Activity “InCider Press” “By-Lines” “What’s Happening” “Kokomo News” Arnie Routson Central States Central States Mid Atlantic Cardinal Bernalillo County Albuquerque, NM IBC — 2009 International Bulletin Editor of the Year Rocky Mountain 1st place 3rd place Most Improved Single Event Owen Herndon Tom Wheatley Jerry Troxel Robert Nicodern Colby, Kansas Dundalk, Maryland Greater Indianapolis, Chicagoland West Roberta Miller Indiana Suburban, Illinois West Portland Metro “Tumblewords” “Charivari” “The Beat” “Pitch” Portland, Oregon Rocky Mountain Mid Atlantic Cardinal Illinois Evergreen 2010 Electronic International Bulletin Editor of the Year Contest 2009 BULLETINS Place Bulletin Editor Chapter DIS TOT 1. InCider Press Karen Nanninga Manhattan, KS CSD 994.2 2. By-Lines DIck Kury St. Louis Suburban CSD 986.8 3. What's Happening Fred Gelden Fairfax. VA MAD 865.3 4. Harm-o-Notes Ted Hinkle Kokomo, IN CAR 761.0 John Elving, E-IBC Chairman [email protected] Page 4 July/Sept 2010 PROBEmoter 2010 PROBE International Bulletin Contest (2009 Bulletins) Bulletin (9) Editor District Content L&R G&S Total Chapter 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 Tumble-Words Owen Herndon RMD 379 372 262 256 297 297 1863 Colby, KS 2 Charivari Thomas Wheatley MAD 396 352 262 252 297 299 1858 Dundalk, MD 3 The Beat Jerry Troxel CAR 395 331 249 256 297 298 1826 Greater Indianapolis, IN 4 The Orange Spiel John Alexander SUN 370 307 233 257 297 296 1760 Jacksonville, FL 5 Chord-inator Hardin Olson LOL 296 293 231 252 295 298 1665 Minneapolis, MN 6 The Clipper Pat Moauro ONT 254 257 265 229 297 299 1601 London, ON 7 Note Dispenser David Haase CSD 341 208 220 218 289 297 1573 Davenport, IA 8 *** Pitch Robert Nicodern ILL 302 200 231 200 295 296 1524 Chicagoland W.