President's Message

Happy New Year TBFC! With the New Year comes our busiest few months of the year. In the next 90 days we’ll need to get 3 meetings, numerous field trips, and the largest paleo show in Florida, FossilFest, taken care of. But with the help of the Officers, Directors, and folks like you, everything will be accomplished.

January 7th Meeting
Dr. Bob Sinibaldi
What Your Fossils Can Tell You:
Vertebrate Morphology, Pathology, and Cultural Modification

Over the years TBFC members have made many important contributions to Florida paleontology. The release a couple of years back of What Your Fossils Can Tell You surely ranks at the top with many of the other fine publications released on the subject of paleontology.

Dr. Bob has been a member of TBFC since the Leisey days, he was a past President, and has remained active in the club as a Director for the decade since then. While most of you know Dr. Bob, as a “doctor”, and a Ph.D. graduate, many of you don’t know exactly what field Dr. Bob earned his doctorate. I know a lot of you have been under the impression that he must have studied in the sciences, biology, or even paleontology since he knows so much about fossils.

If you were in attendance at the December auction, you saw the news video from Fox 13’s “What’s Right with Tampa Bay” we played prior to the bidding. Dr. Bob was recently awarded the highest teacher of the year award in the country for his work with exceptionally handicapped children. The video is quite touching and I saw many of the folks in the audience had tears in their eyes after watching the short clip. His doctorate is actually in exceptional child education. (You can still view the video at: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/pinellas/national-honor-for-pinellas-county-teacher-11262011 )

When it comes to fossils, Dr. Bob is an amateur. Trust me here; when I say “amateur”, I do so with the utmost respect. With the release of What Your Fossils Can Tell You, Dr. Bob has risen to the top of the ranks as an amateur paleontologist to show the entire professional scientific community what a great contribution to science amateurs can make. We’re proud to call Dr. Bob a fellow amateur paleontologist, and proud to have him as a member of the Tampa Bay Fossil Club.

What Your Fossils Can Tell You, is published by one of the most respected publishing houses in the scientific community, University Press of Florida. It’s a hardback edition, and jam packed with photographic images and illustrations. To show Dr. Bob’s respect for his fellow amateur fossil hunters, almost all of the photographic images included in What Your Fossils Can Tell You were taken from collections in the amateur community.

Written for the avid amateur and professional paleontologist, What Your Fossils Can Tell You offers both experienced and novice fossil hunters and collectors the information needed to correctly identify and interpret the significance of their discoveries.

Professionals in the field will also use this book as a pictorial resource to assist them in bridging the fields of pathology and archaeology as they relate to paleontology. Amateur fossil hunters and professionals alike are presented with the tools they need to recognize significant finds and knowledge of how to collect vertebrate fossils responsibly and legally.

Dr. Bob, in informal collaboration with a number of fossil experts and amateurs, has compiled materials with a wide appeal. He explains many of the complex bumps, grooves, markings, and other anomalies that occur on fossil bones and teeth. A wealth of photographs helps readers visually identify these features and apply related concepts to their personal collections. Along with many common specimens, scores of unique fossil items appear here in print for the first time.

If you haven’t already heard, Dr. Bob is also the author of Fossil Diving: In Florida's Waters or Any Other Waters Containing Prehistoric Treasures and The Handbook of Paleontological Terms.

This will be Dr. Bob’s second presentation for TBFC on the Morphology, Pathology, and Cultural Modification of fossil bones and teeth. We’ll have plenty of copies of the book on hand for purchase and to be signed.

FossilFest 2012
March 24th & 25th, 2012

As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, FossilFest is only 90 days away. Here we go again…

The majority of funds TBFC operates on throughout the year are generated at FossilFest. The event is important to TBFC, not just because of the financial earnings, but also the exposure to the public we get through television and print media. Any help you can provide in volunteering, or the donation of needed items is greatly appreciated. Please help make FossilFest 2012 another great and record breaking event!

Over the next couple of months I’ll be running information here in my message asking you for donations of both fossil related items and your time. Both will be needed to make FossilFest a success.

Please take the time to read over this list of the things
we need to make FossilFest a successful event in 2012

Volunteers - We will need to staff FossilFest for three days. FossilFest begins with set-up on Friday morning, March 23rd, and will end with break-down on Sunday afternoon. You can volunteer for as little as three hours, or for the entire weekend. We have a job to suit everyone’s capabilities. Volunteers will receive a free FossilFest t-shirt, free admission and free parking! Plus, I’ll give you the TBFC Presidential Guarantee that you’ll enjoy a weekend spent meeting other paleo-enthusiasts and helping teach our community about Florida’s exciting pre-history. Please contact Seina Searle at (813) 909-9358, or tampabayfossilclub@msn.com to schedule your volunteer session. You can also see Seina at the meetings if you have any questions.

Silent Auction - TBFC needs donations of fossil and “paleo” related items for the silent auction. Do you have a few extra Metaxytherium or Platygonus teeth lying around? How about too many megalodons for your shelf to handle? We’ll take’em. Any fossil or fossil related items including books, rocks, shells, or minerals are great for the silent auction. Please go through your collections to see if you can find any fossils that you can spare. Director Phil Mathes will be running the Silent Auction and accepting donations at any TBFC meeting leading up to FossilFest, or you can drop them off on the morning FossilFest begins. It will sure help Phil get the Silent Auction items prepared though, if he can get them in advance.

Kid’s Fossil Sand Mine - The fossil mine is a huge hit with the children who visit FossilFest. If you haven’t already done so, you need to go stand by the pit for a while and watch these kids digging for fossils. It’s unbelievable how excited they get (and how much they learn). TBFC needs both scrap fossils and identifiable fossils to throw into the pit. Please take the time to "dig" out some donations for the kids. To make donations to the kid’s fossil mine, please see Matt or Danielle Moore at any of the meetings leading up to FossilFest, or bring the donations along with you to FossilFest. It is very helpful to get these fossils in advance, as they too will need to be sorted prior to going into the pit.

Display Cases - This is a great opportunity to show off the fossils that you and your family have found over the past year. The display cases are also important as they educate the public and get new folks excited to learn they can find these same prehistoric treasures. Make signs and labels for your fossils, get creative, and decorate your case to attract a crowd! You can sign-up for a display case with George Overhuls at a TBFC meeting, or drop him an email at: du12746@verizon.net

Please help us with advertising! If you know anyone who may be interested in FossilFest, please take the time to tell them about our event. Forward FossilFest information to your email contacts. If your child can take flyers to their school, please don’t hesitate to ask for as many as you may need. If you would like some FossilFest flyers to pass out to friends and neighbors, please see me at the meeting or contact me (fossilnerd@msn.com). And if you know someone who owns a television or radio station, give me a call!

From the Officers and Directors of the Tampa Bay Fossil Club, I wish all of you a safe and happy 2012. I look forward to seeing each of you at the January meeting.

Good Hunting,
Michael Searle
President, TBFC