I hope this finds everyone enjoying the holidays.  The Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) convention last month was fun and worthwhile.  There were many interesting talks, meetings and lively social events. The individual geological society presidents and GCAGS board meet twice a year to help plan future GCAGS conventions, and report our society activities.  Next year, GCAGS will be held in Shreveport. The ETGS board has pledged to help with the convention, since we are so close geographically and several of our members and theirs participate in both societies.  The Shreveport Geological Society has some good things planned already; I know it will be worth attending. We always appreciate input from our members; please contact us if you have any ideas to improve the conventions or if you would like to help.

The carbonate seminar we offered last month, taught by Dr. Jeff Dravis, was a great success.  It was well attended and we had a record turnout for the luncheon, 83.  I would like to thank Rusty Jackson for setting up the seminar and luncheon and Dr. Dravis for his quality instruction and interesting presentations.

I hope this finds you enjoying the cool fall air.  I plan to enjoy it on the San Antonio Riverwalk this week and learn a lot at the GCAGS convention.

We had another successful ETGS Golf Tournament thanks to Nick Pollard.  There were 106 golfers and Stephen F Austin students raised money for their AAPG student chapter on one of the holes.  Check out our website to see the winners.

We had a record attendance for our luncheon last month: 80.  This month should be just as good.  We will have a seminar and luncheon on the same day. You can choose just the luncheon or both, Wednesday, November 15th, at the Cascades Country Club.  Dr. Jeff Dravis will present both the seminar and luncheon.  Most of you are familiar with Dr. Dravis and his carbonate geology work. The seminar will be "Overview of the Austin Chalk in South Texas and Louisiana”. There is new Austin Chalk horizontal activity in Karnes County and huge new wells (in an old play) are being made.  

We had a good start to our luncheon series in September. It was wonderful to see so many of you. However, we are still falling short on RSVPs early enough for the Cascades to prepare.  PLEASE remember to RSVP by the Thursday before the luncheon; in fact, if you are fairly sure you are going, there is no time like the present, at easttexasgeo.com.  This month C.F. “Casey” Clawson will present “Horizontal Exploitation of the Cotton Valley Sands in East Texas”.  Many of you may know Casey as he is a petroleum geologist for Samson Resources and has worked East Texas for 36+ years.  Check out his bio and abstract on our website, his talk is sure to be informative.  The luncheon is on Wednesday, Oct. 18th, 11:30 at the Cascades Country Club.

Our September social at Rose City Draft House, in conjunction with SPE, was another success.  Thanks again to Hunter Carr for setting it up.