by Allison Vaughn, Communications Chair

Pursuant to Article IV D section 2 of the by-laws, notice is given of an election for candidates for the board of directors to be held at the general meeting on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.  The meeting starts at 7:00 PM and will be held at the Twin Lakes shelter.

The candidates for office are:

Lori Turner,                President

Judy Lincoln              Vice President

Louise Flenner         Secretary

Eric Seaman             Treasurer

Kevin Wehner           Director

Before the election, nominations will be taken from the floor.  There must be a quorum of 20 members for any election to take place.

Here are brief biographies for each candidate.

President: Lori Turner became a member of CAS in 2012 after taking up birding a year prior. She became the Field trip Chairperson in 2016 and sat as a general board member after stepping down from the field trip chair in 2017. Lori has helped with some CAS events such as the CAS Open House and the 60th Anniversary Event celebrating CAS’ 60th birthday. Lori hasn’t been very active with CAS since the birth of her beautiful and wonderful son, Isaac, in 2017.  Lori is excited to get involved again and help CAS make a difference in our community through birds and habitat.

Vice President: Judy Lincoln is a Columbia resident for 58 years with the first pair of good binoculars bought 20 years ago. She has participated in Bird Counts for the past eight years. Judy volunteered at Raptor Rehabilitation Project for 16 years and helped doing everything from rescue to releasing and training bird handlers on the glove. She has helped with the annual Banding with Nature at CANS for six years. She is interested in hearing members’ thoughts on topics of interest for CAS. She wishes she had “perfect, young eyes, musical memory, and the keys to cooperation, influence and persuasion.”

Secretary: Louise Flenner’s interest in birds has taken her on many adventures.  She and her husband often seek a place to go camping based on what birds we might see. In recent years, they went to Minnesota to canoe with the Common Loon, walked in a gorgeous pinery in Missouri in search of the Brown-headed Nuthatch, and hiked the bluffs of Mt. Magazine in Arkansas to see the Rufus-crowned Sparrow in its only Eastern nesting site. While they don’t travel to the big destinations like Costa Rica, they enjoy the birding in and around the Midwest.  Louise has been particularly interested in monitoring the effects of increased human presence on the heron rookery in Gans Creek Recreation Area, a passion which began long before the area became a Recreation Area in the Columbia Parks and Recreation system. Louise is a regular participant in the annual Christmas Bird Count and looks forward to working with CAS to further the love of birding in the Columbia area.

Treasurer: Eric Seaman has been CAS Board Treasurer since 2007. Eric’s day job is director of Jefferson City’s sewer utility. Eric has never seen the creature known as “Bigfoot,” but has talked to several people who believe they have.

Director: Kevin Wehner is originally from Kansas City, MO and has spent 10 years in Columbia. He works as a Healthcare Advocate with Central Missouri Community Action. Kevin helps people enroll in, understand and use Medicare, Medicaid and ACA coverage. He is married to Susan Schabilion, spouse and is the lucky father to Quinn, the doggo, and has been involved in CAS for 10 years. CAS Board experience includes serving as CAS Field Trip Coordinator, and currently oversee the CAS Facebook Group. He has served as Membership Chair for the Missouri Birding Society and is currently the MBS Webmaster and eNews Editor. Kevin’s favorite bird is the Scarlet Tanager and favorite birding spot in Columbia is the 3M wetlands, while Tower Grove Park is St. Louis is a hefty second place. Kevin likes to fly kites and recently began collecting fountain pens.