July 2006

IPLSA LOOSES PIONEER MEMBER

When we receive a notice that a member of IPLSA has passed we notify the membership by listing the member’s name in the Lost Monument section of the Illinois Surveyor newsletter.  I don’t usually comment on the passing of an IPLSA member, but when we were notified of the passing of Lowell H. Loving, PLS 1716, of Danville, Illinois I knew I needed to include my personal comment.

In 1974 I was an exhibitor at the 17^th IPLSA Annual (then IRLSA) Conference, which was held along with the Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors, in Champaign, IL.  During the conference, Lowell Loving asked if I would be interested in becoming a part time lobbyist for the association.  He told me that Carter Jenkins, PLS 0047, of Springfield wanted to retire as the IRLSA lobbyist.

To make a long story short, I took the part time job. I was honored to work with Mr. Jenkins and also formed a great friendship with Lowell.

Over the past 32 years, I always looked forward to seeing Lowell at IPLSA conferences. Although health issues would not let him attend recently, I always stayed in touch with him.  Lowell was someone that I called on when I needed advice, especially when it came to surveying laws.  Between Lowell and his secretary, they had their law book tabbed so well that they could answer my question in minutes.

In the fall 2004 issue of the Illinois Surveyor, Lowell and Dorothy Loving were honored by several former employees and former Danville Boy Scouts who were nurtured by the Lovings.  A scholarship is being administered by the NSPS Foundation in their name.

Our condolences go out to Dorothy and members of the Loving and Wolfinbarger families.

REVISED DATES FOR ACSM / IPLSA / MSPS CONFERENCE

The dates for the Spring ACSM / IPLSA / MSPS Conference and Technology Exposition have been changed.  The conference workshops will begin on Friday March, 9^th and continue through Monday, March 12^th.  Technical sessions will begin on Sunday, March 11^th and continue through Monday, March 12^th.

The IDFPR Mandatory 4-hour Statues and Standards and the 2-hour Professional Conduct (Ethics) courses will each be presented twice on Friday, March 9^th.  All surveying workshops and technical sessions will qualify for IDFPR PDH’s.

Presentation Type:

Workshop

• A workshop provides instruction in a specific application and should focus on case studies, professional practices, methods, interactive exercises, theory, discussion, and/or hands-on experience.
• Half-day (4-hours) or full-day (8-hours).
• Attendance ranges from 3 to 150 people.
• Lecture or hands-on style presentation.
• Time for questions and answers is encouraged.
• The instructor must create and submit a workbook for ACSM to reproduce and dispense to attendees onsite.

Technical Session

• Technical sessions include but are not limited to: academic paper presentations, panel discussions, or poster presentations, (no PDHs for poster presentations)
• Presentations may be 30, 60, or 90 minutes in length. Any presentation less than 90 minutes may be grouped with other presentation to form one session.
• Attendance ranges from 20 to 70 people.
• Proceedings will be web-published on the ACSM website prior to the conference to ensure maximum interaction among researchers and users.

Tracking Attendee PDHs for Illinois PLS

Each attendee will be provided with the Certificate of Completion Form that we have used the past several years.  It will be a two-part form with the attendee taking the top white copy and leaving the bottom yellow copy at the conference registration desk.

2007 Exhibits

The exhibits will open on Saturday afternoon and close Monday afternoon.

IPLSA Annual Meeting and Banquet

The IPLSA Annual Meeting will be held late Friday afternoon.  The IPLSA Annual Banquet and Installation of Officers will be held Friday evening at the Millennium Hotel.

Call for Papers 

The ACSM / IPLSA / MSPS Conference Presentation and Workshop Committee are calling for presentations.  Anyone wishing to be a presenter should request a Presenters Application by contacting Colleen Campbell at colleencampbell@mindspring.com

Proposal submittal deadline: August 4, 2006

Acceptance notification sent out: October 25, 2006

Final Workbook and papers due: February 1, 2007

IDFPR LAND SURVEYOR LICENSING BOARD CANDIDATES NEEDED

IPLSA is looking for PLSs who would be willing to serve on the Illinois Department of Financial And Professional Regulation Land Surveyors Licensing Board.  Each year, IPLSA submits a list of candidates to the IDFPR Director for consideration of appointment when a vacancy occurs. The Board consists of 7 members, one of whom shall be a Public Member and the other 6 shall be Professional Land Surveyors. [The members must be residents of Illinois, currently hold a valid Professional Land Surveyors License in Illinois and shall have held the license under the IPLS Act of 1989, or its predecessor for the previous 10 year period, not have been disciplined within the last 10 year period under the IPLS Act of 1989 or its predecessor.]  All candidates must be approved by the IPLSA Official Board of Direction to be on the list.  Anyone interested should contact the IPLSA Office for additional information.   

GEOCACHING? – IPLSA AND NSPS

We are always looking for ways to educate the public on land surveying. 

Geocaching is the fastest growing sport in America today.  It is a great way to make the public more aware of surveying and promote the surveying profession.  Geocaching is a hi-tech version of the old Treasure Hunt game or Hide-and-Seek.  Participants obtain exact coordinates from the geocaching web site or by other means and use a handheld GPS to find a “cache,” take an item, leave an item (or not) and enter the visit in the log book.  Experienced geocachers log onto the web site to chronicle their finds for others to read.

Geocaching began in 2002, exactly two days after the Clinton Administration opened up the Global Positioning System to high-end civilian use.  As of April, 2006 there were 225,000 caches in more than 200 countries!  There are four basic kinds of “caches.”  There are “easy to find caches,” “hard to find caches,” “virtual caches,” and “off-set caches”—which are connected to Benchmarks.   

NSPS has a plan to print copies of those documents for distributions to all 50 states.  They will order the contents (aluminum bookmarks with the NSPS logo on one side and the state logo on the other, log books, and the water-proof containers).  A small laminated card with a series of “Did You Know” surveying facts may be included as well.  States with three or more sites should be assembled so that each site has a different information card in each cache.

The state societies plan to get individual surveyors who volunteer to “own” and maintain the sites.  The geocaching Guidelines state that sites must be logged into the system, approved by a State Geocaching Coordinator, be at least .10 mile from the next nearest site, and monitored on a regular basis of every three to four months.  Phase II of the plan is to integrate geocaching into the work with the Boy Scouts of America since it ties so well into Orienteering.  Phase III is to sponsor Geocaching Events at both the state and national levels.

IPLSA would like to find a person in each chapter who would coordinate efforts to host a geocaching site in each chapter.  Sites discussed would be the Cardinal Point south of Centralia, the Lewis and Clark site at Fort Dubois near Hartford, the Lincoln Survey point in Petersburg, the Center of Illinois Population at Mazon and other sites related to land surveying.  Anyone interested should contact the IPLSA Sate Office or their Chapter President.

2006 NSPS TRIG-STAR PROGRAM

Three IPLSA Chapters stepped forward this year to offer a Trig-Star Program in seven high schools in their areas.  A total of 66 students participated in this year’s program.

Trig-Star is an annual competition sponsored by the National Society of Professional Surveyors and the state associations to recognize and stimulate the best students of mathematics in our nation’s high schools.  The purpose of the Trig-Star program is:

• To promote excellence in the mastery of mathematics in high schools.
• To honor high schools students who have demonstrated their superior skills among classmates at the local, state and national levels.
• To acquaint high school students with the use of practical applications of mathematics in the surveying profession.
• To build awareness of surveying and mapping as a profession among mathematically skilled high school students, career guidance counselors, and high school math teachers. 

2007 TRIG-STAR CONTEST ANNOUNCED

It isn’t too early to begin thinking about offering the Trig-Star Program in your chapter area in the 2006/2007 school year.  It is important to contact your local high school’s math department right after school begins this fall.  Contact the IPLSA office for all of the information you need

On behalf of the membership, IPLSA I would like to thank the following 2006 Chapter winners and the IPLSA members who sponsored programs.

2006 NSPS TRIG-STAR CHAPTER WINNERS

1) Fan Huang 2006 NSPS Trig-Star State Winner

Urbana High School - 15 Contestants                                                                             

Sponsor: IPLSA East Central Chapter, Todd Horton, Proctor     

2) Michelle A. Baillie                                                                                          

Christ Lutheran High School -10 Contestants                                               

Sponsor: IPLSA East Central Chapter - Ben Fisher & Kathy Hadler, Proctors

3) Ryan Witt                                                                                                        

                Rantoul Township High School - 5 Contestants           

                Sponsor: IPLSA East Central Chapter - Ben Fisher & Kathy Hadler, Proctors

4) Eric Seo                                                                                                            

                Champaign Central High School - 10 Contestants        

                Sponsor: IPLSA East Central Chapter - Edward Clancy, Proctor                                                

5) Ivana Yi                                                                                                  

                Champaign Centennial High School - 16 Contestants                  

                Sponsor: IPLSA East Central Chapter - Edward Clancy, Proctor                                                

6) Eric Cottingham                                                                                     

                Quincy Senior High School and Quincy Notre Dame - 4 Contestants                                                                       

                Sponsor: Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates - Ted Vahle, Proctor      

7) Alex Rockwell

Freeburg Community High School Dist. 77 -6 Contestants

                Sponsor: Rhutasel and Associates, Inc. - Gale Hake, Proctor

FAN HUANG CROWNED IPLSA 2006 STATE TRIG-STAR WINNER

Fan Huang a senior at Urbana High School was the IPLSA State Champion for the 2006 NSPS Trig-Star Program.  This is the second year in a row that Ms. Huang was named the IPLSA State Champion.  As the winner of the 2005 state contest, Ms. Huang was eligible to take the NSPS Trig-Star National Exam where she placed 2^nd in the nation and received a $1,000 scholarship.  As the 2006 IPLSA State winner she has taken the 2006 NSPS Trig-Star National Exam and we are awaiting the results.

Ms. Huang was born in China and came to the United States with her mother to join her father who was a Ph.D. student at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.  Ms. Huang has won other mathematical contests and is a member of the National Honor Society.   She will be attending Cal Tech in Pasadena, California this fall majoring in science and mathematics.