I sincerely hope that if you were among those that were able to take time to celebrate the recent 3-day Labor Day weekend, you had a safe and enjoyable holiday. AAPS will not be scheduling a meeting in Denver this year. With yet another show in the planning, the events are spread to far apart to hold a membership meeting in a location that will allow a meeting at a reasonable hour. Instead, we are planning an online board meeting after the Denver shows. If you would like to attend, send me a message (george@stonejungle.com) and I will make sure you get an invitation and link to the meeting. More next month! Sincerely,  2025 Election of Officers, First NoticeThis is the first notice of the AAPS 2025 election. According to the AAPS Bylaws, Article 5, Section C, paragraph 6, nominations for all officer and board positions will be accepted until the first Saturday of January and may be submitted either by phone, in writing or by email to the Administrative Director. AAPS members may nominate any member in good standing, including themselves for any available position. Only the names of members accepting their nominations will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be mailed with the January Newsletter and will be available during the meeting in Tucson on February 8th 2025. Winners of the election will be announced during the meeting. This election the following positions will be available, Vice President, Secretary and four Board positions. Please nominate someone and when the time comes, Please Vote! You can view the current slate of officers and see whose term is expiring here; https://www.aaps.net/officers.htm Megalosaurus bucklandii Tooth RequestI received a request for help locating a Megalosaurus bucklandii tooth from AAPS member Dr. John Scandizzo. If you have a specimen available or know of one for sale, would you please email John at Romanus44@gmail.com Fossil Theft AlertsJust a reminder to everyone, that the association maintains a webpage dedicated to fossil thefts from fossil dealers and museums, so that members can be informed about illegal or stolen specimens that may come into the market. The association members have assisted with the recovery of specimens in the past, and it is vital to the trade and science that we continue to do so. The webpage can be reviewed here: https://www.aaps.net/aaps-fossil-theft-alerts.html Last Call for New Category ListingsWe have been updating the annual form for dealer listings in 2025 Tucson Guide. I sent out a notice in June to all business members with a copy of the edited form. Only a few members responded. I'm attaching it one more time for review, and ask that you look over the listed categories. If you offer a product that does not fall under one of the listed categories, now is the time to contact me and ask for a new category listing. The forms will be sent to our printer on Monday September 23rd so that we have the forms to include with the membership renewal that will be mailed on September 30th. Once the forms are printed, no requests for new categories will be accepted. (2025 Proof Dealer Information Form) Do Not Return This form, it is a sample only! Fossil Basin Chamber of CommerceAAPS member Keely Sweeny and I have worked with a number of Kemmerer quarry owners and fossil prep shops to develop a brochure on Cooperative Paleontology to help promote tourism in the Kemmerer area. The brochure project was originally started to have information available for visitors attending the annual fossil show held at the visitor center in Kemmerer summer at the beginning of the quarry season. Keely and I decided to expand it and to make it available at the region's hotels, chamber of commerce building and local business to promote the quarries and stores. The Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce was hesitant to display the brochure because it promotes non-chamber members. The AAPS board of directors discussed this and we negotiated with the chamber of commerce and offered for the association to become a member and encourage the quarries and prep services in and near Kemmerer to also join. If you are a Kemmerer based store, or quarry owner, please download the Fossil Basin Chamber Brochure and consider becoming a member. https://aaps.net/pdf/Fossil-Basin-Chamber-Brochure.pdf Legal Service for MembersWith the rapid expansion of the paleontological business and the exponential growth of the prices for which fossils can be sold, the stakes have increased for those who are in the business of finding and selling the specimens. When more money is involved agreements between landowners, workers, and owners of paleontological businesses are sifted through with more attention to detail and looking to gain advantages and perhaps a larger piece of the potential or realized revenue. It is more important now than ever to have well written agreements and governing documents for any partnerships or joint ventures. Darren Watts is an attorney licensed in many of the western states in which the fossil activity is most prevalent. He has been practicing law for 20 years working with these types of legal documents as well as litigating contractual issues. More recently, he has been working on land issues as well as joint venture and partnership agreements for a prominent fossil company in Wyoming for the past four years now. His focus is on preventing potential problems through planning and paperwork.
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Donations to AAPS The Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, AAPS, is a public charity under IRS section 501(c)(3). As such it is tax exempt for income tax purposes and is permitted to receive tax deductible gifts pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service. It is also able to receive tax deductible bequests for Estate Tax purposes. Donations to any of our scholarships and Grants are totally tax deductible here in the United States. 100% of all Scholarship and Grant donations are used for those purposes. Specimens donated for our annual auction and for the youth programs may also be deductible, but you need to check with your tax and estate planner.
