I changed my title so and I was asked to be provocative so like and for the people in a merge who don't know me it's obvious why I was asked but okay so and I'm taking my clinician hat here and also my ClinGen hat because I spend now we could have just called this a ClinGen meeting and you could have gotten three for the price of two a number of the members of the steering committee are here and I've just really become more and more convinced how difficult it actually is to classify variants and report them so I'm quite troubled by the potential difficulty in effectively classifying the variants on the list for reporting is incidental findings some have obviously extremely clear loss of function phenotypes but missense alleles as many of you in the lab know are much more difficult to classify the ACMG classification rules may approve our ability to classify variants but as you heard from Gail that still is not easy and takes a lot of work and in particular I've had the clinical experience and personal experience actually of having reclassification of variants from pathogenic to benign or V us and that is troubling and I think it's particularly troubling in the incidental finding setting our goal here is not to do harm and I did have the hypothesis you'll see I was wrong about this that some genes may be to note new to know the spectrum well and some genes have a very broad phenotype and this is definitely come up in our own reporting of incidental findings the table lists one phenotype but in fact when you go into OMIM there's five phenotypes and so what are you really telling the patient there at risk for and I have to say my complete bias start going into this was that incidental finding reporting was easier for cancer genes and cardiovascular genes and just to highlight some issues about reclassifying variants so this is a beautiful paper that came out in the New England Journal about misdiagnosis of cardiovascular pathogenic alleles in African Americans it was based on this genetics and medicine classification of variants of very large group of patients who not incidental findings for cardiovascular disease and I think at the previous meeting we talked to this about this but basically there were a number of patients with African American African American patients where the allele in fact once we had more population data is way too common to actually be responsible for the phenotype the patient had so I just I'm a clinician so I just wanted to give you three case examples and one happened yesterday so thanks Kate Nathanson for this so in 2004 when I was still doing adult genetics I saw an extremely nervous 29-year-old postdoc who had a single retinal hemangioma I sent off testing at what was considered the top lab and that's not the Baylor lab though the lab that's been used by the VHL NIH program for many years and I found I keep paper copies so I found the record and it was reported to have this intronic variant the report is completely straightforward in that this is pathogenic so there was no wiggle room in the original report the pathogenic this variants been shown to have a messenger RNA defect and that was all stated on the report so I told this unbelievably nervous person that they did have the HL and I have to say this had huge impact on him so this is not a minor diagnosis and he but he went on with his career and moved to Philadelphia and is now a faculty member and so 12 years later he came in to see Kate and she looked up his allele in ClinVar being a very conscientious clinician and now multiple labs called it benign and in fact it's found in something like 4.5% of Han Chinese and he was Chinese and he in fact has not developed any other signs of VHL so he probably did just have an isolated single retinal hemangioma and has spent you know 12 or 15 years with this diagnosis in our own CSER project we've had two incidental findings that have been reclassified both before the ACMG guidelines one very similar to the New England Journal paper a DSP allele that had been reported to be pathogenic which now based on exact data is certainly way too common and then we've had both symptomatic patient and an incidental finding with the same LDLR missense allele which was reclassified as a VUS now using the ACMG classification scheme although frankly I've spent a lot of time delving into this variant I still can't really tell if it's pathogenic or uncertain I guess that's why it's uncertain but this is really more a question of the reclassification based on better rules so what did I do for this talk I took the ACMG list I went through every one of them on OMIM which was quite interesting to do actually and I focused on the cancer and cardiovascular genes so one of my hypotheses was that some of these genes are too new so I looked at the date that the gene was first published and I just did before anything before 2000 or the date after 2000 I looked at in the literature I tried to look at what are the majority of the alleles I tried to look at other features I looked at segregation and I also looked at whether there was an expert panel in ClinVar so this is my main data okay so there's about comparable number of cancer and cardiovascular genes on the ACMG 59 it turns out the vast majority of them were identified before 2000s no offense to the human genome project but almost all of them were identified in that in the 1990s the cardiovascular genes do have more new genes but you'll see they're really not that new there are actually only six genes on the list that have an expert panel in ClinVar they're all cancer genes the primary the primary mutational spectrum being loss of function is much much more common in the cancer gene so I was right about that there's a small number of genes that have almost equal loss of function and mis-sense and then the genes where the primary mechanism of diseases mis-sense is much more common in cardiovascular and I think I think that is a potential problem with regard to age so these are the actual dates of all the genes that were discovered after 2000 you can see this line is 10 years ago so in fact the very few new genes on the list so it's not really an issue of newness we've had at least 10 years to learn about the spectrum of mutation in most of these okay so what are the other complications so they're most of them are dominant there is one x-linked fibrase and I just looked on the table again and it reckons only reporting in males although we all well those of us who do our clinicians there is clearly a female phenotype so we could argue about that there's one autosomal recessive UIH so do you report singles I think these are all things at labs even if the guidelines are thinking about the labs are going to struggle with each time what was really striking to me is how in OMIM is how many of these genes actually have both dominant and severe recessive phenotypes so again you've got a kind do when you're disclosing this do you have to explain walk okay also now you're a carrier for this rare severe phenotype there are couple that the one of the long QTs and I'm wrong about this slide is di-genic but it is also monogenic so but do you have to look for the other allele because that again is a more severe condition and a few of them really only have very few and this was just mentioned very few allele so TM 43 and SEH AF2 if you go into ClinVar each one of them only has one pathogenic allele and one has I think less than five pathogenic alleles the bigger issue that I'm just trying to get to is there's an incredibly wide range of quality of information so BRCA ones on that list okay there's thousands of documented alleles thousands of papers frankly and there's an expert panel and then you have genes that have only a few well documented alleles like Newt YH and a variety of others and then you have some extremely rare conditions you also have some other messy things like PMS to you could be calling a pseudo gene and you actually have to do a fair amount of work to know that it's not a mutation in a pseudo gene and then there are a number of these that have substantial genetic modifiers so the phenotype again is very different depending on the presence of a modifier so I have to be honest that's part of the reason I asked to give this talk I'm not clear we're doing an overall good by reporting incidental findings but I think even though we've known some of these genes for decades reporting variants in many of these genes continues to be quite difficult and I would suggest that perhaps we should consider really substantially simplifying the current recommendations I would consider and I I didn't make a suggestion to the to the committee so considering dropping even a few more of these very rare or recessing conditions unless they're really common but my main recommendation is I actually think we need a much clearer definition for the labs of exactly what should be reported for each of these genes in the setting of incidental findings so labs were not asked they're not being asked to look at the scene because of the patient's phenotype I think we need a very strict loss of function definition I know there's some BRCA1 variants that look all the world like expected pathogenic which the committee continues to use that terminology that in fact are not because there's a splice product that's that present in 10% of genes in 10% of transcripts that splices out those exons so it doesn't actually matter that you have a nonsense mutation in either of those two exons so even saying expected pathogenic can get you into trouble I think we actually have to have for each gene a very strict definition of what loss of function means I personally would recommend that for the genes that have missense mutations that an expert panel has a list of missense mutations and you don't report the others you don't have to sit there and classify each of the other ones and that if there any other specific complications like a common modifier that there be a clear rule you look for it or you don't and then I think for the clinicians receiving the results I think we need a fact sheet from the ACMG or another committee for each of these disorders that say if found in the setting of an incidental finding these are things to consider similar to what we have for newborn screening because I think right now it's actually I've disclosed some of these cardiovascular ones I think it's actually quite difficult and I'm sure the people that don't do cancer feel the same thing about the cancer ones thanks I actually in a dovetails with Wendy's presentation also I actually find it paradoxically really gratifying and really disappointing that 55 of the 56 genes on the original recommendations are still in the recommendations and that was always felt to be a first approximation recognizing many of the issues that you present but I think that the presentation you make that it's you know it's kind of it's hard to do these things I my general impression in medicine is that it's generally difficult to keep people from dying and that if we get up and complain to the world that golly gee whiz will occurs it's it's hard to do this I don't know that that's going to generate a lot of sympathy or really help us do what we need to do I'm okay with things being a little bit hard but I think the definition and the problem needs to be reframed and what do you want the positive predictive value of a secondary finding to be and what do you want this sensitivity to be right and I would love it to be a hundred percent sensitive and a hundred percent positive predictive value as would you and we don't get that and I can drive PPV close to a hundred and almost completely wipe out sensitivity and vice versa what do you want it to be I mean if because if you could frame it that way then we can tune these things to do whatever you in the community want it I'm gonna push back a little bit so I agree that we should certainly do things that are hard I think the issue of doing things that are really hard in the setting of incidental findings is quite different okay so I would prefer and many of you who are in Caesar know I've argued for four years that we spent too much time talking about incidental findings it up here here I am doing it I would prefer the lab put their effort into making the best diagnosis for my patient they can okay that's number one number two is I think it's not simply sensitivity and specificity what I'm trying to say is it's not as simple as saying here's a mis-sense allele that we know causes whatever longqt it's also the fact that the clinician's gonna look up that gene and discover oh well some of them have sudden death and some of them have forgot and some of them have whatever so I think if we're gonna continue to do this we need to have a much clearer and I frankly we've worked with oncologists who are not you know I mean they refer the patient to a cardiologist but I think we have to really arm the clinician which much better information about if this is found in an incidental finding this is what you need to know I do think the specificity I mean without sitting down and really doing numbers I think the specificity should be significantly higher than it is I just think that the genetics is much messier than we realize and you quickly get into issues about modifiers and things like that in an incidental finding which is not necessarily where most clinicians want to be spending their time but I actually think that gets back to the 55 still there I think the are all the things you say are true and I don't want to bring my hands about it or moan and wail I just actually want to just get to where we want to get and I think it's actually true for everything we're going to try and do in predictive medicine and I think that's a great reason for emerge and Caesar to be together because this is our challenge writ large and if it's hard with 59 genes it's gonna be impossible with 5,000 and so we have to just these are pretty straightforward questions how predictive do you want it to be and some of the genes and I think the some of the cardiomyopathy genes are candidates for being dropped for some of these reasons and I agree with you that the cancer ones I we're finding are generally less of a problem for us and I would just comment one thing the gale emailed me is it's not simply so I I just want to simple it so for example the genes that only have two pathogenic alleles if you want to leave that gene on the list then just put that gene that allele and stop having labs feel like they have to at least look at every other variant in that gene which is what they currently feel like they have to do so I think specificity of the list could also be helpful and we're actually doing yeah yeah


there are also some rules to follow if we calculate with numbers that have a limited amount of significant figures. If we multiply or we divide numbers, we would use the smallest amount of significant figures. For example, if I have 4 divided by 2.0, my answer would be 2. Why? Because the number with the lowest amount of significant figures was the 4, it had 1 significant figure. If I had 4.0 divided by 2.0, I would write down 2.0 because 2 significant figures, 2 significant figures, so my lowest amount was the 2, so I write the answer with 2. Now if you add and subtract, we actually do not look at the significant figures but the decimals. For example, 1.3 plus 1.31 would give me 2.6. I would not write the 1 at the end because I round to 1 decimal as this one had only 1 decimal. These rules do not apply for exact numbers. What is an exact number? An exact number is something that is counted or something that is a definition. One foot is 12 inches would be a definition or I have three donuts. If I counted them 1, 2, 3, the 3 would be a counted number. For example, if we have three donuts, each of which has a mass of 25 grams with two significant figures, according to the significant figure rules, if we would take the significant figures of all numbers into account, it should be the lowest one, so 1. I should write the answer with 1 significant figure. However, the 3 in the case of three donuts times 25 grams per donut, the 3 is counted so it doesn't count and my lowest amount of sig figs is in here, which is 2, which gives me 25 grams as an answer. Significant figures to tell you which digit is the uncertain one, which is always the last one, but it will never tell you by how much it is uncertain. Now if you go into the science program, then you will learn an additional method of calculating how much you could be off, so not only will you know where you could be off, but also by how much. Now here the 75, that doesn't tell me if it was 76 or if it could have been 77 or 78 or 72, 71. I don't know, I just know it's the five here and the five here are uncertain. If we would use these uncertainty rules, we would also know plus minus how much, but that's something to worry about if you get to the science program.


In the University of Cincinnati I remember I would take these long walks out of the Burnett Woods and I would just ponder and contemplate, I'd say, how do I get out of this state that I seem to be in? And that's a version of what it was. It was like, well, the things that you want out of life, you have every right to ask for. That's how the Holy Spirit started with me. It was like every right. Because I was asking for love and intimacy, peace, freedom.  I would ask all the things that I wanted from God and the universe. And I would just say them and say them and say them and say them. And then I heard you have every right to ask for those. They are your birthright. They are your inheritance. You are worth every one of those things that you've just stated. And I was a little bit like... And then I said, now let's look at... move inward and see what it is that you believe will bring you that experience. So I would take them one by one and I would say, okay, one at a time, freedom, freedom. What do I believe would give me freedom? I said, if I had lots of money, if I had great mobility, if I could go anywhere in the world that I wanted to, great mobility of the body. And I just rattled off all these different things. And those were part of the beginning of opening the trap doors. Because I was told I had every right to ask for it. And then Jesus started with the discourse of like, well, you've been going about it the wrong way. And the discourse came walking through the woods with all these things that I was asking for in my life and praying for. I had to find the means to get them using the body. And I was sure that the body was involved in some of those things. Like freedom and peace and joy and love and happiness. And the whole discourse came in, no, I will have to take you there. You know, we're going there, but you're going to have to drop through these kind of trap doors of false beliefs. So whether you call them desires or whether you call them beliefs, you know, you can start to realize that if you really do follow them in, that the Holy Spirit and Jesus will dismantle all your beliefs about how to get that which you believe you don't already have. It's like turning it in on peeling the onion of the mind, all the layers of false beliefs, of seeking in externals to find those states of mind. So it's quite an inward journey. That's what I call metaphysical beyond the physical. I really get you in there. We're talking about desires and we're talking about there's all these levels with perception on the outside and then you go into emotion and then you go into thoughts, then you go into belief, and then desire, or I call it prayer, is the center dot or circle. And when you say, you know, I feel really good and whole when I go to bed and then I wake up and feel bad, and I want to feel good all the time, the way that mind works is whatever you want, it is so. Desire is that powerful. It's like your point of prayer. So anything that you truly desire, you experience. It goes, shoots right through the rings and whatever that desire is, shoots out to all of perception. So if you have alternating perceptions, like I go to bed and I feel whole, I feel whole, the world looks wonderful, all my friends are around me, I'm happy, I'm laughing, and I wake up and I feel bad, then what that is, is if you feel bad, the desire is what's at the core of it all. And so the first step, when you honestly want to open yourself to the grace of God, is to recognize you must first recognize the power of your wanting. You must first recognize the power of your wanting. See, the ego minimizes even that. I talked about how it minimizes the power of the mind. It literally tries to make you mindless in the sense of thinking you're a body, you've got a brain, and maybe a mind is part of your makeup, but it's basically, it's about pushing the mind completely out of awareness. And so that's why anything that you experience that starts to show you the power of your mind and the power of your wanting is a good thing. Like I would show the movie The Secret, sometimes in Course in Miracles groups, where it gatherings, whatever, and they immediately, actually you show the movie People Jump In, and go, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. That movie, that is so off, metaphysically. I've never seen anything so off. I mean, it's usually in Course in Miracles circles, it's a lot of criticism, a lot of criticism of the movie The Secret. Andy raises his hand. I've got two thumbs down for it. And what I'd say to people there is I said, well, actually any kind of tool or device that begins to show you the power of thought, the power of desire, is a helpful tool. That's how much the ego has pushed the power out of awareness. I think it's Mary and Williamson quoted Nelson Mandela, I think they attribute it to Nelson Mandela, but actually Mary and Williamson is the one who said, you're not really afraid of the darkness, you're afraid of your own power. I think that's something, maybe that's paraphrasing, but that's the essence of it, actually Mary Ann said that. And that's what I'm talking about when I say the first step. You're asking a very sincere question, it's like a prayer of the heart. Why is this so? Why can't I consistently experience this sense of lightness and wholeness, that's the prayer of the heart, that's the question, a very sincere question, and that first step is going to be you must recognize the power of the wanting. In other words, we were just talking about that, where the mind can say it's bad to desire and it's bad to feel. You know what that does? That shuts off the awareness of your power just by the judgment and the criticism and the condemnation that it's bad, it's bad to desire, it's bad to feel. When the way that it's all designed, there is no presence, God is not saying it's bad to desire or it's bad to feel. What it is, is the mind is in this self-criticism, it's like a judgment that literally just acts as a denial and a repression mechanism that pushes the awareness of that power out of mind. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.


It's what you do after you get up that will change your life and the lives of others. In her 35-year waterski career, world champion Christy Overton-Johnton felt every day. In the midst of her falls and failures, she became one of the most decorated women waterskiers of all times. Holding the world record in women's slalom from 1992 to 2010 and accumulating over 80 professional world titles. In 2013, God used a simple visit with an incarcerated friend to open Christy's eyes to the hopelessness of life behind bars and the need for imprisoned men and women to know the God of second chances. This is her story. This is today's Nashville. This is faith.  You're here a lot and to share your amazing journey. I love how God brings people together because I met you years ago. So happy to sit down with you. Yeah, I'm excited to be here and we've been talking about this for a long time, so I'm glad I've only happened. A long time. You know, I have to be honest with you. I started Googling you after I found out that you were this world record holder waterskier, which I love because I grew up waterskiing also. But then I started thinking, you know, we had spent some time together and I thought, who is this Christy Johnson? Because you have an amazing story of, you know, 80 titles, world record holder from what? 2010 to? 1992 to 2010. Yes, a lot. A long time. So, and then, you know, I have to tell a story. My husband went down to North Carolina and couldn't find this place that he was supposed to be. And he's like, it's Christy Lake. And the Uber driver said, Christy Lake, everybody knows where Christy Lake is.  Yeah, so I was four years old when my father, Parker Overton, decided to share his love of the sport with his daughter. And so we went out on the Pamlico River. I was four years old and he said, baby, when you're ready to go, tell the boat driver, hit it. And so I said, hit it. And off I went. And by the age of five, he was entering me in tournaments. My mom was my boat driver, my coach. We were traveling all over the world. Wait a second. Four years old. Yeah, I didn't have much of a choice, I don't think. Could you swim then and everything? I guess I could. I don't know, but you don't have to know how to swim the ski. You got to like this. Were you scared? I don't remember being scared. I remember it being exciting. I remember always loving the fact that you could learn something new every time you took to the water. So by 13, I turned professional. And so you're talking about Lake Christie. That's in Greenville North, outside of Greenville, North Carolina. My dad knew that I needed a place to train and we had been training on the Pamlico River. So he bought a track of farmland and actually dug a lake and named it Lake Christie. And then my brother's name is Michael so it has two islands in the lake called Michael Island. So we would be out there from the time I was 11 years old and we actually live back in North Carolina now and spend a lot of time at the lake and it's just a blessing to be there. But when you're 11, 12 years old, you just think everybody's got a lake. You know, I didn't quite realize all the sacrifices that my parents were making for me to be the best in the world. And we had a wonderful journey for 35 years. I competed all over the world, met my husband because of water skiing. He wasn't a skier but he had a lake in Orlando and I needed a lake. So that's where we ended up. So as you're training as a young girl, in your mind were you thinking how I want to be a world record holder? What were you thinking? Did you know that you were being trained for championships? You know, my father at the age of four, when I was four or five, he would come and kneel by my bedside at night to say prayers. But he would also cast vision and he would tell these little stories of a little girl named Christie who became the best water skier in the world. So there was never a time in my mind that I didn't see myself as a ski champion, but it was never about going out to beat other people to be the champion. It was about being the best that I could be and that's what he always taught me, was be the best that Christie can be and you'll finish up on top because I had an incredible ability to water ski. I love that you say that when you started water skiing, you fell every single day. Yeah, I tell people I competed 35 years, trained and fell every day because you can't learn something without falling. But in the midst of those falls and failures, I became a world champion and a world record holder for 18 years. And so that just tells me that it's not your falls and failures that keep you from being successful and it's not about perfection. It's about getting up. It's about continuing to say hit it instead of I quit it. And it took you all the way around the world. Tell me about some of those experiences. We skied in Russia. We skied in Singapore. What was it like in Russia? It was cold. It was windy, but it was interesting. And I didn't know that one day I would be back after I competed there. God downloaded a heart I love for the Russian people and to adopt from that area. So I ended up adopting two children and went back not for skiing, but to get my kids. Isn't that amazing? So from Russia, Singapore, Oh, France, Austria, Australia, trained on the River Kwai and Bangkok and just went all over. So where was your faith at this time? I was always a believer.  But I like to tell people I was like a water skier that believed in the power of the boat. I'd even picked up the rope, the lifeline and got connected through my faith in Jesus Christ. I sat on a spiritual dock for decades. And it wasn't until my mid 20s when skiing was actually taken away from me because of some major medical issues that I had. And for the first time, I couldn't be a skier. And the first time I realized my whole identity is wrapped up into this thing that I'm doing. And at that point, I finally surrendered my life to the Lord, my skiing to the Lord and realized I needed a relationship. He was Savior for many, many years, but he was not my Lord. And when I made him my Lord, it changed everything. So what happened after that? He took me on some adventures. So did you completely give up skiing though? No. I was always afraid if I had followed God, I'd have to give up everything that I loved. I think a lot of people think that. All he wanted to do was use the things he had given me an ability to do to use my passions and desires. I love coaching people, working with people. I love sharing experiences with people.  It's just a paycheck at a tournament that you spend within a week. And when you give it to God, he takes it and he turns it into something that has purpose. And that's what he did with water skiing. I love that. And you went from water skiing and then you were coaching. You do a lot here in Nashville with the youth and we're going to talk about that in a little bit. But from water skiing, he took you to prison. He took you to prison. We're going to talk about that when we get back. Christy, you were talking about how God took you out of the water and you struggled with what am I going to do. He took you down a different path, didn't he? Right. Yes. When I retired from water skiing towards the last year or two of my career, I realized that God was wanting me to use the platform of water skiing to minister to people. How old were you at this time? I was in the mid-20s and early 30s is really when the ministry aspect of my life started. But all those years on ESPN, I would stand up and I'd say, I want to give God the credit for this victory. But the Lord challenged me. He says, all these years you've told people that you were giving me thanks, but you've never once introduced me and how they could know the one that you give thanks to. And so I realized I was so afraid of my friends, who reject me, that I had kept my faith. They knew I was a Christian, but I didn't share anything about Christ with them. I just kind of gave them the glory for the victory. And so as I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I started using water sports to connect with people at the events. We would hold church services all across the world. And it was just such an interesting experience. And all these Christians from different denominations came together and it was wonderful. And so then I developed this heart for children and sharing the activities of water sports with these kids. And so we began a ministry called In His Wakes.  We were here just recently working with Mercy Multiplied, Nancy Alcorns. We worked with all their houses across the nation. And so that was just what I thought I would do for the rest of my life is travel around speaking and traveling around encouraging people and teaching kids to water ski for the purpose of introducing them to a power source that would never fail. But God had other plans. Let's talk about it. Yeah, so 2013, 10 years into the In His Wakes journey, I was really struggling at that point because I had a name in water sports. I had all these connections. I was using every connection and the name of Christie Overton Johnson to make this ministry a success. And the Lord had to save me from myself and put me in a ministry that I knew absolutely nothing about, something I never saw come in and it was prison ministry. And I asked him recently, I said, like, God, why would you take me from this sport that made sense?  I had no know how. I didn't know the lay of the land. I didn't have any connections. And the only name I had was the name of Jesus. And that was the only name I needed. And so when I said yes to prison ministry and how that happened is he just, I got an invitation from a professional boat driver who had been incarcerated from seven years to come visit him. And I went and when I was there, God opened my eyes to a sea of people that I'd never considered.  Because like we've already talked about, I fell every day. And if there's one thing this water skier knows how to do, it's how to get up. And you can fall for so many reasons. You can fall because of your own mistakes. You can fall because of the conditions or other people. And it doesn't matter because getting up is the same way. Like the same way I could get up. The water is the same way that these incarcerated people could get up in life with God's help. So you started the prison ministry. What was going through your mind? And how did God call you into that? And when did you know that, okay, this is what I'm supposed to do? It happened sitting talking to my friend Bill in a Miami prison. It was a federal prison and I looked around. He's like, I want you to take the message of hit it to these men and women. And the message of hit it is no matter how many times you fall, as long as you're saying hit it to the right power source. That power source is always there to pick you up. It's got all the power you need. Get connected with it and go. And God's got a different life for you. And so all I did that day in Miami was say yes. And the next week he took all the ministry that I had been doing and he put it in front of department of correction heads and that launched the prison ministry. It wasn't me starting one. God started it. Within how long did that take? A week. A week. A week from my yes. I got a call from the Florida DOC because I lived in Florida for 30 years. And they said, we found this magazine, Victorious Living, that you've been publishing. I've been publishing Victorious Living for two years at that point, not having a clue why. Okay, let's go back. Okay. So you went to the prison and spent time with your friend and then God gave you the vision. Okay, so this is 2013. 2013. Then God took the magazine that he had already had me publishing that was not reaching really anybody. Okay, so this wasn't really related to the prison. The prison, not at all. Okay, so Victorious Living was just a passion you were. He said, tell people's God story. So I started telling him. He put the magazine, some supernatural way, in the hands of the Florida DOC. And then they called me and said, we want this in every prison in the state of Florida. And that's how the prison ministry got started. Amazing. I did nothing but say yes. So we're already writing Victorious Living. And you're telling people's stories. I was ghost writing people's stories. Tell me about some of those stories. Is there somebody in the magazine that just really jumps out? How many years? Well, it's been since 2011. We're quarterly. And so every issue, I think, there'll never be an issue this good. We'll never get stories like this again. And then I'll come across someone, and I just hear their story. And every story is powerful. And so many people think I don't have a story. And I believe that's alive from Satan because the Bible says it's by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies that the enemy is defeated. So every story sticks out to me as a redemption story of God. Who have you done recently? Daryl Strawberry. Daryl Strawberry. Carol Kent, Mike Lindale. But it's not just the famous people. Everybody's just people. And no matter if you grew up in the limelight, if you grew up on the streets, if you grew up with a lake named after you, everybody needs the Lord. And I think that the most powerful stories are just these life transformation. I mean, my new group of people aren't water skiers. My friends are now former murderers, former drug dealers, former mafia and cartel leaders from all around the world that God has taken their life and totally transformed it. And that verse in Corinthians that says, he makes you a new man and a new woman is true. Like, I can't even imagine that they were like that. And that's why I just love these stories because they're powerful and they remind us that God can do anything. You know, we're going to talk about behind the bars and some of the people that you've met when we come back. Christy, God took you behind the prison doors. What was that like? What was the first, you know, when you first went in there and you heard those metal doors close? It was probably the most exciting and nerve-wracking. I wasn't afraid. It was just one of those things like, I knew God had made this happen. I knew God would put me where he wanted me to be. And so I also knew that if he didn't show up, I was in trouble. And so being behind bars has taught me to totally rely on the Lord for words, for the ability to speak life into people, to connect with people because in the natural, I haven't had those experiences. So there really isn't a connection. But through God's anointing on this, He's just knit us together and it's just amazing. So I love it. I come alive when I'm behind bars. So you go to both men and women's prisons? Yeah, our magazine goes into prisons all over the United States. And I have the opportunity to do prison tours just to deliver hope. That's what we do is we deliver the hope of Jesus Christ. We go in and like to say like splash the living water on people and just surround them and flood them with God's word and the hope that it's not over and their life can be redeemed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And a lot of them do feel like it's over. They do. I mean in the natural there is no reason for hope. It's the darkest place in this world. And yet the light shines the brightest in the darkest places. So I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to minister not just through the magazine, not just through going in and doing prison tours but through tablets. I get to teach the word of God to men and women in a very applicable way and that's just such a passion of mine. Everything is changing, isn't it? Everything's changing. From the magazine, now it's going on the tablets. So it still goes in but there will be a time where it's only going to be digital. We really have a wonderful foothold and place on the tablet systems and it grows consistently. Right now we're on over 600,000 tablets and that's just growing because there's more and more companies coming up and they want these resources because they're delivering that hope. They help the prison facilities when there's hope in there. Facilities change because lives are changing. Communities change. Families change. So we get to really be a part of and not just encouraging the incarcerated population but the wardens and the correctional leaders and that's a place that I really feel like God leading us because it is not just a dark place to live but a dark place to work and there's a lot of chaos and I just know that when God comes in there and he shines his light he overcomes that darkness and brings peace. Is there anybody in the prison, man or woman that you met that just really sticks out in your mind? There's so many but I was thinking about that earlier and this lifer named James and James was once on death row and he gave his life to the Lord and the Lord then just began to move him out of the death row into another segment of the population.  He has purpose. He's flourishing and thriving in the place that he is and when you see that and then I go on the outside it's like okay if James can do that in there I had no excuse but to do that out here is to take the opportunities that God has given us because the reality is we can flourish wherever we are and that's why I love Jeremiah 29-11 God says I know the plans that I have for you but he says that to a people in captivity and so I see James he's flourishing. There's other guys and ladies who truly know the Lord they're alive in those dead places and I believe that I've seen more free people incarcerated physically than sometimes I do on the other side of prison walls because just because we have physical freedom doesn't mean that we are free mentally and emotionally we have a lot of saved people but they're not living in the authority and in the abundant life that Jesus Christ died to give us and so I go in and everybody's like oh what a great work you do but I come out fired up and ready and excited and determined to live my life to the fullest with all the opportunities that God has given me. You know and he wants us to have an abundant life. He does. And to live it to the fullest. I love what you're doing. What about any of the women? Is there anybody that you can think of that you've touched there? Yes, there's one particular lady that served decades behind bars and I met her, her name's Christina right when she came out of prison and she was actually giving her testimony at an event in Arizona and I met her. It was like God just highlighted her and I went over and introduced myself and said I would love to share your story in the magazine. I didn't know that God was highlighting her not just for her story but to come alongside me and to be a production manager for victorious living. Christina had lived on the streets for decades since she was like 11 years old. She had been hopelessly addicted to meth and heroin, lost her children, been incarcerated for decades. She had had her dream as a little girl to be a writer. I didn't know all this at the time when God was highlighting her. I just knew I needed her story and now this woman is traveling all over the United States. She just went to a conference with Carol Kent. She got to interview Carol Kent. I love Carol. Oh, Carol's wonderful. And it's just amazing how God can take a life and restore it and redeem dreams and restore family. She's now a mom to the girls that she lost. And when I see Christina and all that she's overcome because she didn't have a loving family I had. She didn't have lakes named after her. You know, I had Lake Christie. Christina was on the streets but the same God that gave me purpose and peace is the same God that restored everything that she lost and is using her just like he's using me and we get to work together and I learn from her. She teaches me about a world that I'm ministering to that I didn't really understand. And so I just love how God brings people together and he, like you said, he weaved our stories together. He weaved mine and Christina's together and it's a beautiful thing, the body of Christ. And his restoration, redeeming and restoration and the people that God chooses to do his work. Chrissy, what's next for you? Oh, not much grass grows underneath my feet. God, I have to put the brakes on me sometimes. I see so much opportunity in the prison system. Digitally, we just brought on a trauma-informed care counselor who is providing mental health help through the digital tablets. I just noticed this morning, she was the number one female lead on there giving people the tools to overcome substance abuse. The tools to have mental health in a place where, you know, 85% of the incarcerated population have drug addiction problems. That's substance abuse issues. And so it's just wonderful to be able to deliver hope. The gospel of Jesus Christ, also tangible tools developing relationships with national reentry partners. Spanish Christie's launching soon. I call her Spanish Christie. Lady out of Venezuela is lip-syncing. I saw it. It's amazing. I'm like, I speak Spanish. So it's wonderful. Fluently. And now that's going to go on these tablets and reach, because our magazine is bilingual. So now we get to reach the Hispanic population in a way that no one else is doing. I just see us all over the world with this magazine, not for my glory, but for the glory of God. Victorious Living. Victorious Living Magazine.com. Victorious Living Magazine.com. Christie, thank you. Thank you. I love you. I love you too, sweet friend. My friend, do you need the Lord in your life? Do you need restoration? Isaiah 41.10 says, He will give you strength and uphold you with His righteous hand. But if you read a little bit farther in verse 13, He says He will take your right hand and lift you up. Do it today. This is today's Nashville. This is faith.


Do Collect I got 300 V bucks for a daily reward. Yeah, we big Paula. Hello What oh somebody chat is she too loud chat. I'm just in volumes. I'm just doing on the stream You don't have to touch yours because it sounds fine to me upgrade llama Claim to seasonal sale freebie Madhu's Good grief stop How much is in here? Why was that long so fat? Yeah, Lee What was that an upgrade one? I don't know but I got like 250 tickets and a billion people. I Just wouldn't stop All right It was uh, yeah upgrade llama. That's what it was You still have one more. I think Something I just got a legendary survivor. Okay So that was a survival on my guess All right, let's look at my research Collect my research Do the squares? That's a training team Yep, you want those? I do Okay, and that you want to fill it in Your squads if you sort it it can sort by personality type so it can match There's rating personality Something else Slotting bonus rarity level rating. Yeah, so I did about personality Let's just do her So I get a bill of damage bonus Oh She's already been level Okay Thanks for the follows guys appreciate it. All right, let's do an expedition. I'm gonna put this off too long. I Need Wait, what's this? Yeah, those two toolboxes aren't there all the time, but you know if you want to like it's caches sometimes those Have if you read it, it'll tell you That'll bring back supplies or something. So if I send a hero on this do they get XP? They do not get XP. So I thought you cannot use them. Right, right. So I got to pick people I'll pick the ninjas because I never use an engine. That's a soldier She looks like a ninja Same thing all that and I didn't even select them birthday girl and Ninja girl You get a bonus if you do a constructor if you look on your left side. Oh Sort by expedition match The bonuses will be green. So that's how you'll know. Oh get a little bit extra Okay, well, they didn't sort but okay. I understand I I Thought that would do something different, but it didn't but now I get it. What's up back? So let's do another expedition This is gather supply locally That's how you know that it'll give you supplies back. It takes a higher one sometimes And sometimes it'll give you double bonus. I don't know what it depends on but okay, so this they're gonna fail 55% chance they may or may not fail. You mean you know, I'll have a 50% chance that they'll fail I've had it pass one. It's like 20 something. Well, you're you so that's that kind of stuff happens Other people that don't happen change vehicle. Okay dirt bike We're doing it. We fail. We fail the bonuses double up if you have picked two green Provide man I don't know. That's what I was saying about the bonus like sometimes it'll give you double bonus and sometimes it won't I don't know what it depends on. I think I have done my mobile gaming maintenance for the day Now let's look at my daily quests. Oh Killed 300 huss in successful mentions missions as a ninja replace quest Destroy teddy bears only found in some urban zones. All right. That's how they're done Sub Dragonfire You could pin those quests too so you can keep like a Little note of how many you destroyed if you want. Is it auto-pin quest sometimes? Okay, good, I mean if you pin it I know how you like clean stuff because it'll be on your right-hand side Mission, okay, so my next thing I gotta do is risky business rifty business Fire the prototype bomb into an active rift So we're doing deliver the bomb I don't think I've ever done this remember if I have That's an invite Build tracks protect the bomb complete delivery. This was not here when I played last time It's like some TF2 nonsense going on here Is easy What do I hear chickens this morning so tracks are made of wood and metal Um They give you some and then if you if you're the one who's actually running it then you can create them Pretty simple. I think it's like that. I found my cap.   That's kind of bad That's save the world Gladly pay your Tuesday for a gun today No, hey, babe come to me.  I'll be back for you. I'm good and ready Have the board for the win. Hey, Jerry, please. Thanks for the fire 500 bits Appreciate it. Are we defending her? Hey That gave me some things Oh a schematic cash, I like those because those are actual schematics Even though that was a legendary Actually, it's not actually a schematic is actually a schematic cash It's a big difference you get different quantities and qualities out of other schematics, but schematic cash I Sashay cash Yay, I've reloaded this monster Beep-a-dee-boop-boop. I don't know what we're supposed to be doing That low-key launcher first gotta get the Blue-claw oh we need four blue-claw for this This guy has five, but he hasn't put it in there yet. Should we kick them give daddy heat? Oh, that's it right there I was like, what is this giant bomb icon on my map how quaint This mission type was not here when I play last time I don't know about you guys in chat who have been watching me play this you guys have been Tracking what things have changed. I don't remember this Escort of bomb It's like the number one question people ask is save the world being neglected now that be ours All popular and stuff like H1Z one dead. They kind of sound how they sound. Yeah That's for a big bag of nothing. You know long don't touch my hoverboard. I'll protect this Yeah, eventually the bomb comes Whoa spectral just re-subscribed with a tier 3 sub everybody showing some love the chat. Thank you mr. Spectal. Why are you doing today man? Thank you for coming by the subathon the last The last part of it Welcome welcome welcome. Thank you for that tier 3 sub for 32 months man Big time support. Hmm. Appreciate the support support. I said support like six times Well good grief Thank you for the five thousand bits speckle. How are you doing today? I already asked that I'm gonna ask again support support support support Perfect. Thank you so much spectral for the five thousand bits everybody show some love in the chat Thank you so much man.   So it's five wood five stone and two metal I'm gonna give you 20. Okay, cool Just like you said Yes, like oh that if you want to equip them and then Try to take us over there to where B is F5 I think it is And we just go to your inventory and select it I Have not eaten veggie might yet. He has not it is sitting on the counter in there. I Have not eaten it. I know you guys have spread it thin on some toast and Something else I forgot the other thing Never heard of veggie might It's like fermented paste and I'm kind of afraid.  I'm kind of scared Yeah I mean every time it comes up people like the mistake that Americans make is that they they just they just pile it on And they just put way too much on there and then if they face this transform I'm like, I'm scared. I didn't want that to happen. So we got a escort.  I like this. I especially like the fact that you can control the You can control the track.  No, that's that's That's that's more like a that's yeah, that's that's a big goal there, man Trying veggie might on cam is like eating like a ghost pepper to me. That's a big time goal So harm exactly report him for self harm. He's making himself gag So if more people on it doesn't go faster or not So many soldiers Yeah, no skill up got um The warframe community developed our community managers to eat and they were gagging on stream I felt bad for them Ski bidi bop and dd Yeah, dude, don't promote other streams in here. That's That's just rude man. It's really rude. It still boggles my mind that people just think that's okay So are we done? No, but that's not how physics works Okay, that's a lot of people You putting up some traps Yeah, I'm gonna see if they Take my route Yeah, I don't know where they're gonna come If you look at the purple area, it'll tell you Yeah, but Yeah They tend to Not do what I think they're gonna do We're on the other side I'm chasing and they're on the bomb now I got them Look at all these chickens. They got the memo So we're a robot here Dude was up there sniping I see you. Oh wait the other side Catch I was bad, bro I didn't know they were coming over here You got that side right? I had to break out the typewriter. They were uh They were overwhelming me


President Mohammad Ibrahim has sworn in four new federal permanent secretaries, which are Beatrice, Jedi, Agbama, MNI, Kachalom, Daju, Malam, Shehu, Ibrahim, and Mary-Ugwe. The president administered the oath of office on the permanent secretary shortly before the commencement of the meeting of the federal executive council at the council chamber of the state house Abuja. Meanwhile, a mini-silence was observed by the council in honor of former member of the council, Tonya Graham Douglas, who passed on on the 25th of April. In a related development, the minister of science and technology, Bonnaya Ono, while briefing state house correspondents after the weekly meeting, announced the approval of the 2022 revised national energy policy by the council. The policy takes into cognizance the vast available energy resources including oil and gas, coal and renewable energies with the view to effectively utilizing them for overall national growth. Nigeria is so blessed and what we want to do is to make sure that we have a mix that will bring in all the various energy resources that Nigeria has for the benefit of our nation. We have to plan our economy around the energy resources available to Nigeria. Also, the minister of power Abu Bakr Ali presented a memo for the variation of a subsisting contract for 132 direct recruit line from Katampe to the Masjid Abiola stadium in Abuja. The minister further disclosed that the council approved two contracts for the procurement of two sets of power transformers and the construction of a transmission line in Kirby state. Offshore is 8.2 million euro, then the onshore is 522.7 million naira. So the offshore remained the same. The offshore is now increased to 724.6 million naira. Offshore. Meanwhile, the minister of information, Alhajilay Mohamed who spoke on behalf of the minister of mines and steel, announced that the council has approved the engagement of transaction advisors for consultancy services for the concession of Ajakute steel company limited and the national iron ore mining complex in Itaqwe in the sum of 853.266 million naira, inclusive of 7.5 percent vat.


Ellen, you got it. Finally, they finally sent me an invitation. Incredible. Yeah. Only a year and a half later. Nobody else is waiting right now. So that's good. So you'll share your screen. I'll watch for the participants. Sarah. Or vice versa. If you have it up, I don't have it up right now. Sorry to say it again. Or I'm happy to watch for participants. I don't have the agenda. I'd have to like go in my email and download it. So I haven't made Sarah calls yet. Yeah. You watch the participants then. And promote them all to panelists. I just promoted Gavin. So I will get rid of participants. Gavin and Lauren, I don't know if you can hear me, but I've promoted you to panelists. So you should be able to click. The invitation and log back in as a panelist, which will allow you to, to speak and turn on your cameras. Looks like Gavin raised his hand. We haven't quite started, but Gavin, if you wanted to say something you could. Yeah, hi, I'm Gavin. This is my friend Lauren. I just wanted to make an introduction to community engagement class at UMass Amherst. And one of our assignments is to attend a public meeting. And so that's why I work here today. Just to see how they work and how they, and we're going to make the other project do a couple of weeks about anything right about it and stuff like that. Great. Welcome. Welcome. Yeah. And probably have you introduced yourself again once everyone else joins. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else coming in. Yeah. I'm just going to go ahead and go ahead. Nina. Augustine. I've promoted you to panelists. There should be a button for you to click on so that then you'll be able to talk and share your camera. So where is the rest of the committee though? Did anyone say they weren't making it today? Just Bennett. Sean is often late and. Brit. Does anyone have Brits phone number? No, I don't. I don't know. I don't know. All right. Pressuring cannot have a quorum. Would you like me to text Shoshana? Sure. Okay. And do you want to take minutes on. Sure. I want to officially remind everybody that we are recording at the moment, even though we haven't officially started the. Meeting. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Or you said Bennett cannot come. You're on mute, Henry. Okay. Julian is coming. Ben. It's not Julian's having trouble getting on. Okay. To text him the link. Which would be the link from the town website, not the official link. I can only email it to him. I can text it. If you give me his numb. Hold on. Okay. What's his phone number? 413. Yeah. 658. 7611. So I'll get the link off the town website or show you send them a panelist one. No, send them the link off the town website. Yep. Find it. And Gavin and your friend whose name I already forgot. We're going to do today and discuss our committee. And Leon, if you want to join too. Has she been promoted? Sarah. There you are. Hi. Welcome. So we're a town official town government. Or made up of volunteers. The job is to help the tree wooden. Make decisions around protecting street trees. We discuss all kinds of things. We educate people about the importance of street trees. And then if someone wants to remove a public shade tree, which is a tree within the right of way of the town. Then we meet and discuss that. And we advise the tree warden who's sitting here, Alan snow. And he makes the final decision. We're an advisory committee. I'll put the agenda up. You can see some of the things we're going to talk about today. Okay. Okay. Can everyone see that? Yes. Yes. Great. Just make your pictures bigger. There we go. So as a official government agency, we. Do have to take minutes, record minutes, you know, approve them, et cetera. Then we give our reports. I'll explain what's coming on email and things like that. And then we have the various issues we're talking about. That's under number six presentations and discussions. So you see, we do quite a varied list of different things. And that'll become clearer as we go on. Do you have any questions? Unfortunately without. Having four of our seven members here, we can't have an official meeting. So. I think Julian is coming. I just arrived. I apologize. I'm late. We've been having some trouble getting the wifi to work. Okay. Julian's our vice chair. I'm going to stop sharing for a minute. Leona, do you want to tell us what brings you here today? Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Hi, I'm Leona, I guess. And I am a grad student at UMass studying regional planning and planning department. And I'm also working on a project in Amherst. So just learning more about. Different projects in Amherst as well. What is your product project about? Right now I'm working on, they're doing a Pavilion at the Renaissance center. So I'm helping doing a project. I'm also working on a project in Amherst. I'm also working on a project at the Renaissance center. So I'm helping doing some drafting work for. The firm that's working on that. And then. For class. I'm also working on a fire station project. Because I think they're replacing the department of public work site with a new fire station. So I'm making up conceptual ideas for that project as well. Great. So, I'm working on it as well. So Sean is coming. Okay, I, we should have a quorum then there she is. We have a quorum now. Oh, good. So we'll wait one more minute.  So are there any other announcements or public comments? Okay. Can we approve the September minutes? Does anyone have any changes or corrections? All right. Henry, did you send them out? I couldn't find them in the email. They go out. Yep. Okay. Do you send them out really early? Yeah. I send them out right after the last meeting. Oh, I think I'm sorry. I think I sent them out the day after the meeting. I meant the agenda. I'm sorry. Oh, the agenda. Yeah, that went out. But here you can see the agenda up here. Yeah. Yeah. It all goes out, but, uh, yeah. All right. So all in favor of approving the minutes. All right. Hey, we can see Julian. There you go. So we have the minutes. I'll get them posted. And volunteer hours. We record all the hours we put into the committee. And when we apply for a tree city, USA award. We have a total of volunteer hours is one of the things that we use to show that we're active. So I've put in about, um, Maybe 18 hours this month. Sarah. Two. Julian. 15. Okay. Ellen. Five. Shashana. Um, five. Okay. And we don't know about Bennett and. Who else am I missing? Great. Great. I didn't hear back from her. Let me just actually check that. Nope. Nothing from great. Okay. Um, okay. So that's the volunteer hours. And then. There were several volunteers at the tree planting. So maybe five people for a couple of hours each. That's not right. So it'd be another 10 hours. Good. Yeah. My chair's report. Um, Not a ton of things going on. That's the wrong piece of paper. Where's my, Oh yeah. Um, did you guys, anybody interested in doing the DCR training department of conservation and recreation training? When is it? That's on Friday. It's the 14th. Yeah, Friday. What time if it's not in my school. I was in one of the emails I sent. Okay, great. Let me find it. Thank you. It may be too late to sign up, but it's a really great thing. Sarah, have you done that? Yes, I did it. My first year. It was great. I'm Julian. I remember it being all day and all day affair. It's changed this year. Is it different? Yeah, it's much smaller thing this year. But it was great. There were a lot of really good speakers. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone knows Alan. So that was a great way for me to connect. Um, you know, mentioning that I'm on the tree committee and that I knew Alan and, um, a lot of the people were, uh, Other tree wardens, um, you know, from different places around the state. Um, And there were some really great talks about invasive species. Um, we did a tree planting. Um, We did a group, um, reviewed tree planting. Um, and then there were a number of different speakers. So it really, it really was a great conference. I was glad that I went. Thank you. Um, yeah. So I recommend everyone on the committee doing it. If they can. Julie and it would definitely help you. Um, I was at the big E helping out in the maple. Um, I was there with her, um, legislative assistant.  Um, so I talked to her about some of the issues we've talked about that need to happen on a statewide issue. She's supportive, but needs more information, which I sent her. Um, and I'm hoping to encourage other towns to also contact their Congress people and state senators to really push some of these issues. So, um, I can talk more about the issues later, but, uh, we'll see if this time later at the meeting. Um, I talked to Paul Bockelman, the town manager. We're still not, um, able to go to live meetings. Over someone who told me we were, that's not true. So, uh, he knows we want to. I think we do. I want to at least. Yeah. And then the only other thing I have is, uh, this Sunday I'll be giving my tree talk at the Unitarian church in Greenfield. Instead of the sermon, I'll be the. The sermon, I guess, you know, I'll be talking about trees and how incredibly complex they are. So. That's open to the public. If you want to come at 1030 next Sunday. You can hear me talk about trees. And, uh, I think that's all. Uh, Julian, want to do the vice chair report. Sure. Thank you. Um, so vice chairs report. A few things to cover is just that Henry and I are speaking to the vice chair. I think that's noted. Um, One other thing is that I am planning to meet with the town manager. Um, sometime in the coming weeks in the morning. So if there was anything we wanted to bring up. Uh, it's related to climate and that type of stuff. So, um, I think that's, um, I think that's, um, I think that's, um, one other thing is that I am planning to meet with the town manager sometime in the coming weeks in the morning. Um, I think that's related to climate and that type of stuff. So if we wanted to speak on that, we absolutely could. Um, Cause anything you all would want me to bring up. The other thing I would note is that we. Um, Or at least I was working with the, Oh, what was it? It was. The folks from. Um, I think that on, they were asking me some questions about. Like what has happened with the merry maple, et cetera. Scott said he wasn't going to publish an article, but was interested in hearing from me. And, um, the other thing I would note is that there is a community. Event. Uh, at the Amherst historical society, I believe this weekend. Um, I think that's something under their large tree, um, in front of the historical society. And I think that is all for me. Great. Social media is doing well. Now in tree wardens report. All right. Um, See, uh, it looks like we're going to have a potential tree hearing coming up soon for the. Um, There's one roundabout project. There's one town tree. Uh, it's about a 12 inch tree. And then one, um, I'm not sure if it's actually a town tree or not. If it's outside the public way, but it's pretty close. There's also a cedar tree. On the, uh, Corner of Pomeroy and, um, Rest Street. So that might be coming up for next month. So we can get everything posted properly and everything. Um, Uh, as you're collecting your hours, I was, uh, remembering that, uh, Tree City, USA application will be coming due in. Two months, roughly speaking. Um, We always seem to get caught short a little bit and kind of. Preparing some of our documents and. You know, the detailed, um, Accomplishments of the Shaitree committee. Um, I also need to do a better job on my end. Nobody ever sees the report and kind of goes into a. It's all online, but, um, It is a good way for us to, to make note of everything that we do accomplish and in our tree program accounts. And if we do a good job on preparing that, then we can maybe do a better job on preparing things to be released. You know, locally taking people's attention. Um, They also have a growth award, which, you know, is doing projects which are. Bigger, uh, Different than we've done in the past. Um, can be just, you know, Um, doesn't have to be monetary, but it just be something for education and outreach or, or can be monetary. So we can, um, Spend more time kind of thinking about that and see if we can actually apply for part of that growth award for the town. Um, We still have, um, Uh, Some of the white pine stream move on the Collins street. Uh, the project is moving very quickly and we need to get those down while I was on vacation. And I gave my crew a nice list of things to accomplish as far as tree work goes. And unfortunately I bought the truck. Went in for its annual safety inspection. And the auxiliary electric motor. Uh, which can run the hydraulics on the truck. Uh, failed the test, even though you never use it unless it's an emergency and the hydraulics go down. Uh, they won't let the truck run without that auxiliary motor. So, um, It was down for most of my two weeks of being away. And they managed to get a few things done, but they didn't get as much accomplished. Um, So we're looking to get those McCollum street down trees down soon. Um, so that's a project and get done. I do have, um, Four trees selected for ginkgoes selected for plantings along clowland street that, um, I will have on hand, it would like to plant this fall. And I also have two trees on hand for Lincoln for a planting, um, that I've been working on with a resident there. They're public. Public shade trees, but, um, I've been working with the resident to replace one that we had to take down a dying northern maple. Um, those plantings that either the crew, or maybe the state, the state community can help plant in November, but we'll see. I'd like to get it done by the crew. It just depends on what we have available for time. What else? Um, Amherst college reached out to me to see their, they're actually looking at believe to apply for a treat campus USA designation. And it's something that I've asked them to do for a number of years. And there's been some changes there. And it looks like they're interested in applying for that. Uh, status. And so they asked. If I would be interested in participating in there. They're going to form a, you know, a group. Committee essentially to, um, to help that college with this tree planting and tree. You know, tree care. So I might, um, join their committee. Um, they haven't gotten back to me yet. When the first meeting's going to be. Potentially. What was that? I'm sure any one of us would be happy to join them and help them in any way we can. Yeah. Um, You know, McCollum Street tree. You know, uh, the resident on McCollum Street removed a lot of private trees. There were no, they're Norris Spruce's. They were significant in size and, you know, it kind of caught everyone's attention. Um, a lot of folks who were involved on the faring street and sunset. Um, or concerned. Um, there's a lot of interest in that group to potentially. You know, work. You know, to help. Uh, with the significant tree. Um, Policy or ordinance or. Um, you know, some form of, uh, Way to monitor removal of private trees. You know, move into the slow time after planting season and maybe begin. Jumping back in on the, uh, significant tree ordinance for private trees. So. See where that goes. Um, I think that's about it for now. All right. Thanks. Oh, Treasurer's report, Sarah. Right. Um, the account balance is 18,950 and 89 cents, which reflects a number of, um, Transactions. Um, Okay. There's been. A donation in September. Um, And, uh, a number of different payments came out. So I think that we are up to date. It was the donation for $500. There was a donation for 500, but that was, I believe back in. July, there was also a $300 donation in September. Oh, well, we should find out who that came from so we can send a thank you. Yes. Uh, unfortunately that's all the information they have on the account record. So if anyone knows, let me know. Sarah, I just want to confirm that amount. 18,950 and 50 cents. 950 and 89 cents. 89. Thank you. That's great. I don't know who did the 300. The 500 was from our Hampshire village where we planted trees. Um, last, last year. So that replaces this check. I can rip up, which was made out to me personally instead of the town. Yeah, that's it. All right. Thanks. Let's move on to presentations and discussions. Can I jump in on that just for a second? Yeah. So I just want to make sure the committee's clear. If somebody makes a donation. And it gets sent to one of you for some reason. That needs to come to me. I need to, there's a process at DPW. To log that in. So that way we capture all the information who sent it and everything. If it just goes ends up going to the town hall, we can't track it. There's no guarantees going to get put in the tree planting fund. Well, this money apparently did go in the tree planting fund. It didn't come to me. Did it come to anyone else? They might have just mailed the donation to the town. They just mailed to the town, but it didn't get logged in. They just mailed the donation to the town. Through DPW itself. All right. Thank you. Whoever you were. All right. Town tree inventory. Anything new on that? No updates. Okay. Social media updates. Julian. Yeah. Yeah. For the Instagram. I posted something. I think we got two new followers this month. Right before our Woodside planting. For on the little story to remind people and other than that. We haven't had many updates. I think we got two new followers this month. Might be good if you posted our upcoming meeting also. Yeah, certainly. I did that today on Facebook, but Sean, if you could do that sooner on Facebook, it'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And Julian, you on Instagram. Yeah. Good. Okay. Okay. Tree tour. Ellen. Anything on that? Nope. All right. I'll start having a little more time after this week. So maybe beginning of next month, we should set a meeting date and talk about the flyer and. You know, the printed brochure. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Last Saturday was really nice. The weather was great. Lots of neighborhood help. Britt got donuts for everybody. Which is a nice addition. And the big question is, should we do a November planting or a workday? Or is it getting too cold and late by then? Yeah. I mean, I think we'll just have to wait and see what the weather does. Well, we should be able to at least do a workday if not a planting. Oh yeah, definitely. If it's yeah. We'll wait and see what the weather does. And if it's too cold, we will. We'll do a workday. It's fine. Okay. So everyone plan on second Saturday. In November that will be out from nine to noon somewhere. Working on trees, taking care of them or planting new ones. Great. We should think about where those might be. We want to decide that now. Yeah. I mean, I. We started grinding some of the stumps on orchard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know we continue with orchard. We could try to do more on the column street. I would like to think that. By then the sidewalk project will be mostly done on the Klauen. So we could do either. Two good options. And if we do a workday. I'll think about that. Okay. All right. Well, just save the date and. We will do something in November. And then we should start thinking about places to plant trees next year. We start again in April. Okay. The history museum. Anything new on that? No update. Okay. So anything we need to be doing or just waiting to hear about the grant. No, the grant. We have all the information we need about the grant. It's just a matter of my. My. I need to use this term. My bandwidth right now to just try to take on that project. So I just need to get a few things, which I thought we would have done by now off my plate. So I can focus more on. The history museum. Because the grant was awarded so late, we do have until June of next year to. We do have until June of next year. So. We'll keep it on the agenda. North common Mary maple. Has there been any word from Paul or any news? I did receive news today from Paul. Officially. His. Decision has been to remove the Mary maple and the other two trees. And that we should try to do that. Before Thanksgiving. Do you have any questions or comments from people who have asked? I don't know the details. My understanding is that they are, they're coming up with a. Alternative. Event. For the Mary maple. I've been asked to reach out to all the people who had contacted us about. Getting pieces of the tree to make art. So we're going to get some of the tree. So. I need to put a list together. Contact those people. And get some country. We're going to use a contractors to take down the Mary maple. So we want to use a crane. So that we can. Dismantle the tree. Carefully. And larger pieces. Versus smaller. If we did it in-house. So that's, so. Great. Just joined the meeting. Sorry to interrupt Alan. Just wanted to let you know. Great. All right. I joined a little while ago, but I think it was as a, like a guest that wasn't. Able to do anything. So. Can we see you also? There she is. Let's see. Great. All right. I was going to say, so is that something. Publish size now on. Instagram and Facebook. And ask people if they want a piece of the wood. Yeah. I, I, you know, I'm having a meeting on Thursday to discuss how we want to. Publicize the. The process how. You know, you need to have control over.  Pieces of some air maple wood. We have to come up with a plan that's safe and fair and gives people a chance to. You know, maybe we.  Some of our staff time. You know, I think that people can take home. So I guess I'd like to wait until after I've had that meeting and can discuss how we want to officially advertise. Okay.  Eventually. You use it at the Arbor Day table. Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would just add that I have been in kind of informal conversation with a couple of people. So I think all of you probably know that the, the hearing on the Mary Maple, the minutes from that were shared and written up in the. A couple of papers. Locally. And so one of the things that I had said about. You know, doing something to kind of commemorate the tree. I had a bunch of people reach out to me after that, including from the Chamber of Commerce, including a couple or at least one. Council person. And, you know, some of them have circled back. So I would be very interested in, in helping to put something together. To kind of commemorate the tree.  That matters. That's great. Thank you. I can. Maybe we can merge our, our list of people who are interested and try to. Reach out to them all. Yeah. It sounds like there are a lot of conversations going on in parallel, but no like official conversation. Or maybe that's the official conversation. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know about that. So. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. So after this is. After you have that meeting, I think it'd be really good for us to. Publicize this on social media. It's another way to reach out to people. So wait for that. Town budget line item. No. I noted that the town put a significant. Amount of funding aside for like roads and another. Chunk for us the track. In a recent meeting. And Dorothy Pam, one of our town counselors suggested a shade tree line item at that meeting, but it didn't get any traction rather it got no response. All right. So it might be. Yeah. At some point in time for us to really push. Right. Letters the other right. You know, show up at council meetings and push for this. We'll pass on that for now. Old items. Connection with Stockbridge school. Anything happening there. I need to, I need to. Get on that. Yeah. I'll do that. North Hampton road. Shoshana, have you been following up and taking photos things? I'm totally doing that this week. Good. These things moving off the old ongoing items list. Yeah. Very trees. Sarah, are you working on that? Yes. No update. I can reach out to my contact on the library committee. If we would like to invite them to our next meeting. Okay. I, well, the update is Alan, after your comment when we looked at the plans about there being more trees removed than it looks like there were on the library committee, there was a lot of discrepancy. So they have in that one plan set, they have one plan that shows. Most trees being saved and on just a couple of removals. And then they have another plan in the same plan set that shows more being marked for removal. So. There's, there's an update somewhere that didn't get. Updated throughout the entire package. So that's a something to follow up on that. If I get any word on that prior to our meeting, I can send out an email. Otherwise we can just have a guest speaker at our next meeting. I'll try to arrange that for November. Thanks for looking into that. Yeah. You're welcome. All right. And I haven't seen anything in the news saying things are moving ahead. So that's my job is to let you know of that. All right. So I'm going to go through that. I'm going to go through that. I'm going to go through the website update. Well, Ben, it's not here. So probably nothing there. Complete street state level initiatives. That's what Julian and I are doing Thursday. With the mass tree wardens and foresters and. My meeting with Mindy Dawn was helpful. She's really great. She's really supportive. And it's offered to come meet with us. So. We'll let you know about having her come back for a meeting. And I'll reach out again to Joe coming for two. Yeah. So. Any significant tree ordinance. Any movement there. Alan, you did mention people were. Interested in that. Yeah, there's, well, there's, you know, they're seeing. In their neighborhood, they've seen a lot of, you know. Trees removed. And they're around private property and some of them were on public property. And they're, you know, they are referencing other communities that were on public property. And they're interested in, you know, Why doesn't Amherst have one? So. Should we invite them to our meeting next month? If you want to start picking that up and working on it. Wouldn't be a bad thing to do. That I was. Invited to attend a. Um, either one of their Sunday brunches or. Nightly. They have a meeting occasionally in the evening. Of the neighborhood. And then they have a Sunday brunch with the neighborhood. Once a. Once a month, it sounds like. And I offered to come and talk to that group about. You know, Amherst. Trees and urban forest. And they said. If you want to come to, please come and discuss. So I can. Move that up on my agenda. Make that conversation happen and then see if they're interested in. Helping. We're discussing the. Significant tree ordinance. Okay. Sorry, who, who is this group? I don't know what their official name is. It's a, it's a fairing street. Okay. Neighborhood group. They came out of all the removals that. Yeah, got it. Yeah. They've actually have a long history of having these. You know, once a month's Sunday brunches. We've been doing it for. Quite a long time. So it's a. Seems to be an organized group. Would you be interested in having. Committee members attend that at all. I mean, I wouldn't have any objections to that. I can ask them. I was thinking Sarah might be especially useful for you to go. Yeah, I'm, I'm happy to help. I. I would like to continue to work on that project. I just. I think it'd be best if I was partnered or if someone else is interested or if this group is interested. You know, if I have someone who's kind of keeping me accountable and giving me some deadlines and stuff. That's just going to be easier.  Share the load with a lot of the literature reviews, a lot of reading, and I just don't have as much time to devote to that these days as I did prior. So. Sarah, is it just a matter of trying to get a sense of what other communities are doing with significant tree ordinances? Yeah. I think it's very. Bare bones. And I think that one of the selling points. I mean, it's great to get the community involved, but one of the selling points in order to get it to pass. And it's.  Having. A robust. Literature review, basically. And what other communities are doing. Right. And how it's working and how, you know, that sort of thing as well as obvious community support. So. I would be happy to help with that. Great. Okay. Yeah, just being, sharing some of that, that reading load and notes would be super helpful. So thanks a lot. Great. Yeah. So I'd like to see those connections made between. Britt and Sarah, you guys in the committee. Alan's talking about. Great. For. Newcomers. Right now we have laws that protect street trees. Trees within the public right of way, but trees on private property and backyards or people on the wood lot in town. We have no control over that. And because of the importance of trees in this day and age, particularly always, but certainly more so now. We're trying to see if we can create an ordinance that will protect the largest trees in Amherst. One's two or more feet in diameter. We haven't seen, we haven't finalized the number yet, but. And some towns have that. Consider part of the urban forest, the urban canopy and we want to protect those trees. So that's what that's about. Okay. Solar bylaw group Julian. Yeah, so, um, I went to their last meeting, which was actually a public hearing. Um, about their work and they were doing that with the ECAC. I brought up the idea of like neighborhood solar. That similar to what Alan and you were talking about. With. Having like one. Solar area that's distributed among a number of homes. And then one member asked like, how would it be funded, et cetera, but other than that, not much they're still in their process of drafting a bylaw. And that was their meeting to seek public input in that type of thing. Okay. Thank you for doing that. Yeah. You'll keep us posted on that. All right. Other other comments or other things we need to discuss. Okay. If not, I'll talk a little bit about the statewide issues I mentioned earlier. So if I don't have them right in front of me. Hold on. Well, this, uh, for those who don't know, there's a law that governs and protects shade trees in Massachusetts. It's called mass general law chapter 87. And this was a law that was passed 100 years ago. And it's still on the books. It says if you crash your horse and buggy into a tree and harm it, you have to pay. There's nothing in the law that says you crash a truck into it. So it's quite outdated. The fines are quite low. Requirements to be a tree warden in a town, every town in Massachusetts has to have a tree warden. But the requirements of the tree warden are very minimal. So we're trying to say, look. We're trying to get back to it. So we're trying to push that to happen now. One of the things we're trying to do. As Julian mentioned, you know, right now. People get great tax credits to cut down forests and put up solar farms.  It's a great tax credit. So that's one of the big statewide issues. And it almost passed right before COVID hit. And then the legislature went into a tailspin. And they didn't get back to it. So we're trying to push that to happen now. One of the things we're trying to do. As Julian mentioned, you know, right now. We're trying to push that to happen now. So we're trying to push that to happen now. So we're trying to push that to happen now. And that's a good thing. But if you're clearing, clear cutting forest to put up the solar farm, then that really we think defeats the purpose. So we're trying to get that law changed a little bit. Similarly, the, another issue is the complete streets program in Massachusetts. Which is a program that tries to get every street. Anytime you do a repair work on a street, if you want to get state funding, you have to put in bike lanes and. Places for bosses to pull off and things like that. So that's all great. But since we have very narrow streets. And trees are not mentioned in this law. It means every time you widen the street for that stuff, you're going to be cutting the trees down. And removing any chance of putting in new trees. So we're trying to get trees included in that. And then the fourth thing is a bill that came up and then went down, but it's still live. To create a funding mechanism for more trees in towns across the state. So. In order for those things to happen, we really need to be pushing, like I said, our state center and rep, Mindy Dom and Joe Cumberford are total supporters, but other parts of the state, they're not hearing from people. So we're trying to really push to get everyone. Everywhere to motivate it to pass this. The other thing I would note is that we are talking about that. At the tree worms and foresters conference this Thursday. On Thursday. So. Lots to do. In town things to do and statewide and nationwide and internationally. So. We do our part. We will all of you too. Okay. Henry, I just want to add that. It is that western mass tree wardens and forest association dinner meeting. It's not really a conference. And if anybody wants to attend it, it is. You know, five o'clock tomorrow, Thursday evening at the blue bonnet diner. And for, you know, 30 bucks or so, you get. Some good CE use and.   And the second presentation. Is the exciting topic of mass department of labor and safety. And what they do for. Making sure that municipalities follow all of OSHA's guidelines. So. Thrilling topic. I would maybe put out there that whoever is able to attend could kind of informally. Maybe find out which. Western mass towns have significant tree ordinances as a, as a good starting point for local comparison. I don't know if that's possible, but if it comes up in conversation and, and, or maybe Sarah, you've already figured out which, which local municipalities already have that. But anyway. Some, but nothing comprehensive. I don't think any in western mass have it. Possibly in Springfield, I don't know. Springfield. Springfield definitely does. It's very old. It's sort of antiquated. And then North Hampton has something. And again, it's more through the design review process. So it is only activated once you begin a project.  Or wouldn't be activated by some. Yeah. It's linked to their zoning board of appeals. Got it. Alan. What's the name of the dinner? The group. That's the western mass tree wardens and foresters association. So I'm a member of the mass tree wardens and foresters association. And we spoke six or seven years ago, we started a western mass chapter so that people out in western mass can have some continuing education. Opportunities. So I think it's a piece. So. It's been pretty successful. So. Thank you. All right. So, um, Gavin and Leana, do you have any. Questions or anything you would like to say. No. All right. Well, I wish you all great luck in your projects and please. Join us second Saturday in November. I'm going to put you on our list so you know what's happening with us. My email is well, the shade tree committee's shade tree. CMT. At gmail.com. So we send once a month newsletter blast out with what we're doing and what's happening. Yeah. Interesting tree news. All right. If there's nothing else, I will say we can close the meeting. All right. Thanks everybody. All right. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thanks.