Lincoln 80’s officers performed the Elks Initiation ritual twice in Phoenix.

What a great pair of performances!!. Your Lodge Officers were fantastic!

After all the smoke had cleared and the scores were posted, our Officers were judged No. 2 in the NATION and “BEST IN THE WEST” by virtue of their beating the team that had beaten them in the Western prelims - New Mexico.

In their first performance, they put up a 96.96 score. This was good enough for 2nd in the West and was their ticket to the “final four” consisting of New Jersey and Florida from the East and Nebraska and New Mexico from the West. In the final performance the team scored 96.24, second only to New Jersey who scored 96.89

Every team member came through in both performances. In the West, we had one No. 1 performer - Jeff Sneller, Inner Guard. Congratulation to All American Jeff (he now answers to AAJ). Amy Jacobson our Exalted Ruler and Larry Bratt, Esquire were second in their chairs, with Larry finishing a scant .20 out of first. Stephen Wirth, Leading Knight and Doug Rienks, Loyal Knight each finished third, with John Brooks fourth, but only .20 out of second and Sonny Lane was fifth as Lecturing Knight. Larry Schwindt, the Candidate was scored even though it doesn’t affect the team score, and he finished second. KUDOS TO THE ENTIRE TEAM. Individual scoring in the finals is not revealed by the National Committee. Sixteen teams competed in the West, nineteen in the East.

Even though we endured 110-115 degree heat in Phoenix and had to stay a couple extra nights because we made the finals, a wonderful and busy time was had by all. Luckily we had our good luck charms- Spencer Hagan and Nick and Alexis Rienks - with us. John Brooks was installed as District Deputy of the Grand Lodge for the east district in Nebraska. Congratulations to John. Stephen Wirth, Exalted Ruler, attended all sessions of the Convention as our Lodge representative. He will report to the Lodge in August.

All of this would not have been possible without the financial help of many of you. Whether you donated money or attended one or more of our fund raisers, we thank each and everyone for their generous support.

For the third year in a row the Lodge ritual team, composed of the current Lodge officers, has won the Elks State Ritual Contest. With a score of 97.69 out of a possible 100, they bested the four other teams in the competition. Second place was won by Grand Island Lodge with a score of 96.73. Third was Omaha with 95.49, fourth Hastings with a score of 95.30 and fifth was York at 89.53. In winning, the team received the Hobe Blackledge plaque, given annually to the winning team and retired the Hobe Blackledge traveling trophy since it was the third consecutive year we have won the state competition.

All State performers (highest score in their chair) and the chair they performed in are: Amy Jacobsen, Exalted Ruler; Larry Bratt, Esquire; Doug Rienks, Loyal Knight; Larry Schwindt, Candidate. It should be noted that Steve Wirth, Leading Knight and Jeff Sneller, Inner Guard scored the highest for their position, but were not eligible for All State honors since they are PERs. Sonny Lane at Lecturing Knight and John Brooks, Chaplain complete the team.

Doug Rienks won the coveted Nutzman trophy which goes to the highest scoring office in the contest. He won with an individual score of 95.85.

The next stop for the team is the Grand Lodge Ritual Contest in Phoenix which is held July 15th through the 19th, with the National Champion being announced on the 20th.

As usual, we will be having fund raisers - namely a dinner sometime in June and breakfast on father’s day, June 19 -to help defray some of the expense of the trip. We would appreciate your support. Thank You.

Your team had an exciting and educational trip to Orlando. Exciting to see our name listed in the Convention newsletter as the leading team for 2 days and educational when we realized the contest ran for three days. As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over until the fat lady sings." For us the fat ladies were represented by New Mexico, Texas and Minnesota. Each of these teams outscored us after we had posted a good score of 95.4261 on Saturday and that score stood up until the last team on Sunday. But then the trouble began. Three of the remaining four teams bettered our score and this put us in 4th place overall.

Individually, we had good balance in our scoring, with a couple of outstanding performances by Chaplin Larry Bratt and Loyal Knight Jeff Sneller. Larry had the 2nd highest score of 93.775, while Jeff scored 93.221 and was 4th in his position. It should be noted that Lincoln Lodge was judged the BEST in the WEST in team appearance. The ladies in their black gowns and the gents in their tux's with red and black vests were outstanding.

This outstanding performance would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work that the officers have put in since shortly after the first of the year. Congratulations to each officer and they want me to remind each of you that the trip wouldn't have been possible without the support and well wishes from so many of our members and friends. - Rich Todd, PER

The officers of Lincoln Lodge #80 won the State Ritual Competition held in North Platte at the 98th Nebraska Elks Association Convention, Friday April 23 through Sunday, April 25th, 2010. Lincoln performed Friday at 11:00. Four additional teams competed through-out the day.

Loyal Knight Jeff Sauders, Omaha, won the Nutzman Award for the highest scoring officer. Ritual Coach Joe Thompson, Hastings, won the George B. Klein Award for his contribution to Ritual. Lincoln Lodge #80 won the honors of bringing the Team Traveling Troply back home for winning their 2nd in a row, State Ritual contest.

Lincoln Officers worked hard to accomplish back to back state titles which hasn't been done since the 70's. Their dedication to Ritual is obvious and the excitement for another shot at Nationals is on the horizon. Your State Champions will be heading to the National Ritual Contest in Orlando, FL during the first week of July.

Show time is 1:00 PM on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010. More information to follow as we get closer to this exciting event.

Thank you to Carrie Fiedler's family for allowing her to step in to fill the Lecturing Knight's position so the team could compete at State. Juggling a husband and four kids during the last two months of practice is not an easy task. Ryan and kids, we need your Mom for two more monthers as we prepare for our next goal.

A special thanks to PERs Bobby Clinkenbeard and Richard Todd for helping to keep the Lincoln Officers focused in our quest for another State crown. Also, Connie Moore, who is always there to make sure the Officers Ritual jewels are pinned correctly before competition. Your smiling face helps to relieve the tension just before we enter the room to victory. A special thank you to Deb Sneller for taking our photo right after the competition. It made the front page.

Last but not least, Thank You to all of Lincoln Lodge No. 80's members, familites and friends for your continued support in Ritual. We will make you proud.

Lincoln Lodge 80's Ritual Team was presented the 1st place plaque, The Hobe Blackledge Ritualistic Award on Saturday evening, April 25, 2009 at the Nebraska Elks Association Convention held in North Platte, NE at the Sandhills Convention Center in the Quality Inn Hotel.

The team had a 30 minute practice on Thursday evening in the ritual room. At 11:00am on Friday they were judged. Several lodge members were present as observers and it was agreed, that in their humble opinions, the team gave an exceptional performance. They were proven right at the Saturday evening banquet.

First was Larry Bratt, who received a trophy for the highest scoring Candidate. Then Gerald Miles was awarded the plaque for the highest scoring Inner Guard. Competing Esquires were repeating the chair and the ritual chairman declared that the trophy would be awarded to Dr. Doug Rienks. Go Doug! Amy Jacobsen as Loyal Knight and ER John Brooks was Leading Knight also earned the top award.

As final proof of our teams' strength, the 2009 Nutzman Ritual Award for the Highest Scoring Officer in the competition was awarded to our Exalted Ruler John Brooks serving as Leading Knight. Go Dad! He received a cup trophy and a large traveling trophy which will be on display in our lodge trophy case until competition next year.

After all of the individual awards, the team was presented the Blackledge Award. The team is very proud of their accomplishments. The Nebraska Elks Association will provide $7,000 for the team to travel to Portland, OR in July for National Convention. It is estimated that the team will need to raise another $4,000 - $5,000 to help with the team costs. Past state officers, members of other lodges in our state and our own members have offered financial support.

On Sunday, the team had the honor of being invited to perform the Memorial Ceremony during the closing of the 2009 convention. I must say that our male team members look very regal in their tuxes and Amy Jacobsen very royal in her dress. They command your attention when they perform. Larry Bratt served as the Esquire for the ceremony, since Doug Rienks had a family obligation in Lincoln on Sunday. Many lodge had representives at the ceremony and the team received many compliments and thank you's for a job well done.