The July Meeting/Picnic/Constellation School was a roaring success!  Thanks to all those who helped put it together and to all those who came! A record-setting 65 members, guests, kids, and dogs were there in spite of the threat of the heat and West-Nile-Virus-bearing mosquitoes.  In fact, the weather was quite tolerable, even pleasant as the sun went down, and the steady breeze kept away the mosquitoes!

The bar-b-q spread was fantastic--brisket, chicken, sausage, slaw, potato salad, ice cold liquids of all types, cobblers for desert!  Nobody left hungry!  The new nametags prepared by Harry Bearman were a hit also, helping everyone put names to faces in the crowd.  We had lots of time and portable shade for sitting around and getting to know each other.  The crowd was a good mix of old, new, and prospective members.  Music filled the air with a collection of astronomy-related tunes--and I use the term "related" extremely loosely!  One scope was set up for solar observing during the afternoon so we could see all

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Inside this issue:

FWAS Prime Focus Selected as 3rd Best Newsletter!

We  have been notified by the Astronomical League that this newsletter has been selected as the 3rd place finisher in their 2002 Mabel Sterns Newsletter Award program! 

The Sterns Award is intended to recognize League members for outstanding editing of League society newsletters.   The Sterns Award is chaired by the Astronomical League Vice-President.   The winner is selected by journalism professionals and/or committee members recruited by the Vice-President.  It isn't posted on the web yet, but last year's results are currently still at http://www.astroleague.org/al/awards/sterns/sternss.html.  Look for this also in an upcoming issue of The Reflector.  I also want to add my personal thanks to all of our contributing authors - without whom we would not have been able ot place this high!