If you haven’t sent in your dues for 2008, please do so before you forget.  You will receive a $3.00 discount off the $25.00 annual dues only if you pay by December 31st.

If you want a copy of the 2008 bound volume of The Specialist, pay for it now along with your dues.  It will be mailed to you in the Spring of 2009.  Lastly, don’t forget to send your free classified word ads directly to Leonard Piszkiewicz, the Editor of The Specialist.

The Society has a Hardship Fund for those who are unable to pay their annual dues because of a job lay-off or any other hardships.  If you find yourself in one of these situations, let me know and I will arrange for your dues to be paid for 2008.  We don’t want to lose any members because of unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.

—Larry Ballantyne

The United States Stamp Society is in the process of planning for the 2008 Annual Meeting to be held at NOJEX, the annual stamp show sponsored by the North Jersey Federated Stamp Clubs. The venue will be The Meadowlands Crowne Plaza Hotel, Two Harmon Plaza in Secaucus, New Jersey. The show will be held over the Memorial Day weekend and will run from Friday, May 23rd, through Sunday, May 25th. This is the same location at which we held our 2004 Annual Meeting.

This show promises to be a blockbuster! In addition to the USSS, the United States Philatelic Classics Society and the Carriers and Locals Society will be holding their 2008 annual meetings at this show. I don’t believe that these three powerhouse societies have ever convened at the same show before. The exhibits should be spectacular and the 40 dealer bourse should be packed with those handling a full range of U.S. related material. In addition, the New Jersey Postal History Society will hold its annual meeting at NOJEX.

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The Fall Mega Show was once again held in Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan. The show floor was occupied by 79 dealers, five postal administrations, and ten societies, including the United States Stamp Society. Our booth was staffed throughout the four days of the show and served as both a meeting place for current members as well as a means of attracting show attendees, although for the first time in many years, we didn’t sign up any new members. Our Society banner along with a display of our current books, reprints, and past copies of The Specialist made an attractive showing and did result in good publication sales figurers.

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Here are the United States Stamp Society medal winners that have been reported from recent shows:

Award winners, please note: If you have won a USSS award and have not seen it reported here, it is because the show committee has failed to return the requested award report. If you would like to be listed, please send the information to Denise Stotts at P.O. Box 690042, Houston, TX 77269-0042 or by e-mail.

Show Awards Chairs, please note:

USSS AWARDS PROGRAM

The USSS Gold Statue of Freedom Medal is sent automatically to all APS World Series of Philately shows.

The USSS Silver President’s Award medal is available upon request to all local and regional shows.

For more information, or to request an award, please write to Denise Stotts, P.O. Box 690042, Houston, TX 77269-0042 or by e-mail.

William Horace Waggoner, Jr. was always known as “Bill” to his friends and family, although he is known to have said that only his mother called him “William.” Bill Waggoner was a native of Portage County, Ohio and grew up in Ravenna. He attended the University of Michigan for one semester before being called up for active duty and assigned to the Army Air Corps. Bill served in the Pacific as a second lieutenant and navigator on B-24s. After World War II Bill returned to Ravenna, married Ruth Cook, graduated from Hiram (Ohio) College and began teaching chemistry at the college. He entered graduate school at Western Reserve University and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in inorganic chemistry. He joined the University of Georgia (Athens) in 1952 as assistant professor of chemistry and remained at the University until he retired in 1986.

Bill’s philatelic interests centered on U.S. revenue issues, and he exhibited Consular Fee stamps and other revenue stamps for many years. Bill served as the Chairman of the USSS Revenue Issues Committee, which he described as “a committee of one.” He contributed many articles in the revenue area to The United States Specialist, The American Philatelist, the American Revenue Association’s The American Revenuer and other publications.

Bill has long been involved in organized stamp collecting and was one of the founders of the Peach State Stamp Show, later renamed the Southeastern Stamp Show. He served on the organizing committee for many years, including terms as bourse chairman and awards chairman. He and his wife Ruth were fixtures at the show’s hospitality table for over a decade, and together they made many financial contributions to the show. Bill also served his own local community as an active member of the Athens Philatelic Society.

In 2006, the Southeast Federation of Stamp Clubs, representing stamp clubs in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and Florida, awarded William H. Waggoner the Federation’s 2006 Rowland Hill Award. The award is named after Sir Rowland Hill, creator of the first postage stamp, and is awarded annually to a philatelist in the Southeast who has made an outstanding lifetime contribution to stamp collecting.

Bill is survived by his wife, Ruth Cook Waggoner, a son, Larry Waggoner, and his wife, Leah, two grandchildren and their spouses, and three great-grandchildren.

You will soon be receiving your 2008 membership dues notice.  We would appreciate your help in sending in your 2008 dues early before you become too busy with the holiday season.  You can also order a bound volume of the 2008 United States Specialist for delivery in 2009.

Please remember that The United States Specialist and USSS membership is on a calendar year basis.  To avoid missing an issue of the journal, please renew before the end of the year and take a $3 discount from the yearly dues of $25.

Many members give additional contributions for the work of the Society. Their continued generosity allows our Society to provide monthly the in-depth research information you have come to expect in The United States Specialist as well as the popular Research Papers, Reprints and Books published for our members’ use.

We would like to recognize those members who contribute to the Sustaining, Contributing and Patron levels as well as to the Hardship Fund by listing them in our journal.  If, however, you wish to contribute but remain anonymous, there is a place to so indicate on the dues notice.

Your Society’s operations require four to five weeks to process address changes and renewals until the next month’s issue of The Specialist is delivered.  When members do not renew until February or March, continuation of The Specialist is not guaranteed.  The restarting of the journal to a delinquent dues payer adds expense.  Please let us know if you plan to drop your membership, too.

—Larry Ballantyne
Executive Secretary

Word has been received that Sam Frank (USSS #8007) passed away on September 15, 2007. Sam was a native of Stockton, California and a graduate of the University of California at Riverside in mathematics. He was an operations and computer software analyst for 40 years in the defense and space industry. He lived in Westford, Massachusetts and spent summers on Cape Cod with his family. Sam had been involved in town government in Westford for many years, in both elected and appointed positions. He was instrumental in Westford’s adopting a town manager form of government. Sam is survived by his wife of 47 years, Carole. They had two children, Michael and Lisa, and a 5-year old grandson, Sam.

Sam’s interest in U.S. booklets and booklet panes spanned 35 years. Certain issues were pursued intensively, such as the 1903 2¢ “Shield” booklet (Scott #319g/h), the 1962 5¢ Washington (Scott #1213a/c), as well as all airmail and Possessions issues. Sam met Don Littlefield at Ameripex in 1986 and edited an early draft version of Don’s “Book on Booklets.”

I only met Sam twice. The first time was at Pacific 97 where I had a draft copy of the Book on Booklets that George Godin had worked on after Don Littlefield died in 1995. Sam had an interest in seeing it completed and volunteered to take over the project to finish the “Book on Booklets” that Dr. Bill Bush had started 30 years earlier.

Sam only managed to get the first of three volumes published. In December, 2006, Sam told me he planned on having a second volume published in time for the 2008 Annual USSS Meeting in Boxborough, MA (since moved to Nojex in Secaucus, NJ). Sam was actively working on it two weeks before he died.

Sam will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by many in the booklet collecting community.

—Michael O. Perry

The notice "Address Changes" appears in every issue of The U.S. Specialist requesting members to notify the Executive Secretary 30 days in advance of an address change.  Many members have become so accustomed to the notice that they do not realize the importance of it to both the society and themselves.  In order for your Executive Secretary to ensure the timely delivery of your journal, the lead time required with the printer forces notification to them by mid-month before the month of issue of The Specialist.  This in turn requires the member to notify the Executive Secretary no later than the second week of the month for the coming month’s issue.  To account for mail deliveries and other delays, that’s how your society arrived at the "30 days" requirement.

However, there is another factor that enters the picture that is costly to your society and not merely an annoyance for the member who misses an issue of the journal; that member should stop to consider the ramifications of moving and forgetting to notify the USSS.  The Specialist like most periodicals carries a notice that the publisher wishes notification by the U.S. Postal Service that address changes have occurred should delivery not be completed.  Hence, for every issue that is undeliverable, the mailing label from The Specialist is returned to the USSS with a service fee of $0.60 charged your society.  Merely notifying the post office of your move only forwards the mail for a limited period of time; you must eventually notify the USSS.  When an issue is undeliverable and a request is made by a member for its eventual replacement, additional costs are then incurred by your Society, as the replacement copy cannot be mailed using the bulk-mail rate as the printer did in its initial mailing.  In order to keep the journal at the lowest possible price, the USSS prices its membership at less than break-even cost, with the idea of making up the difference with book sales and member donations.  Your cooperation in keeping these costs down with timely notification of address changes is appreciated by all.

- Larry Ballantyne
Executive Secretary

A major expense for the United States Stamp Society is postage.  Each year the official business of the USSS requires approximately $2,000 in postage.

Discount postage usually sells for 75% of face value.  Any member who wishes to make a contribution of discount postage will receive a tax deductible contribution for the full face value of the postage plus mailing costs (including insurance).

Please mail discount postage to the Treasurer for distribution, or drop it off at any show where the USSS has a Society table.  A receipt indicating the amount of your tax-deductible, charitable contribution will be sent for all contributions in excess of $5.

- David Sugar, Treasurer
20 North Wacker Dr., Suite 2250
Chicago, IL 60606

(Reprinted from Linn’s Stamp News, September 3, 2007, p. 46)

Despite all of the pleas from various segments of United States philately, the U.S. Postal Service announced Aug. 9 that it is going to stick to its decision made in 2006 about U.S. plate numbers.

The decision is that new plates employed in printing new stamps will continue to use only plate numbers consisting of only the digit “1,” despite more than 100 years providing consecutively numbered higher plate numbers.

The Postal Service announcement came during a meeting of stamp journalists at the American Philatelic Society’s Stampshow in Portland, Ore.

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