In September, 1993, several Starfleet members in the Cincinnati, Ohio/Northern Kentucky area who had been feeling left out of the excitement of being part of a chapter started talking about the situation and tried to find a solution. The reasons for not joining one of the local meeting oriented chapters was numerous . . . work prevented attendance of meetings, no car prevented traveling to meetings, schedules were just too busy to cram in one more meeting, etc.

These six people figured if they had a problem attending meetings, there must be other Starfleet members with the same problem who would like to belong to a chapter. The idea of starting a correspondence shuttle in the area was the result of these discussions.

Although the Regional Coordinator in Region One approved of the idea the first time it was mentioned, there were others who did not. After several months of writing letters and making long distance phone calls, the SHUTTLE JURASSIC NCC-1793/8 was officially approved on January 4, 1994 as the only correspondence chapter in Region One at that time.

All shuttles must have a mothership, and the JURASSIC members were pleased to accepted an offer from RADM Linda Neighbors Smith (R/1 Regional Coordinator) to shuttle off her ship, the USS HEIMDAL NCC-1793. This has proved to be a wonderful association, and even helped us develop our fictional history while working with the HEIMDAL on a role-playing scenario. (see below)

The six charter members of the SHUTTLE JURASSIC were Joy Menges, Carolyn Donner, Gary Donner, Dave Slaughter, Freda Kurtzman, and Dennis Schwendemann. These people got together to vote on who would become CO and XO. Carolyn Donner was elected CO, with Joy Menges being elected XO. Other charter members accepted other positions on the forming shuttle: Gary Donner -- Chief of Computer Ops (RO), and Chief of Engineering, Dave Slaughter -- Treasurer, Freda Kurtzman -- Historian, Dennis Schwendemann -- Chief of Medical and Joy also agreed to be the newsletter editor. Other positions would have to wait until there were more members.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

At that first get together we also discussed a name. A large number of names were suggested. A discussion limited it to only a few. With the popularity of dinosaurs most of the names dealt with specific dinos, but one stood out that had come to be associated with dinosaurs of all sorts -- JURASSIC. Although only a limited number of dinos actually lived during the JURASSIC AGE, the hit movie had caused it to be associated with all sorts of dinos, especially the ones we liked . . . raptors, T-Rex, brontos, pterodactyls, etc. So a final vote was taken and the name JURASSIC won. It was immediately registered with STARFLEET.

LOGO AND MOTTO

Shortly after we became an official shuttle, we accepted drawings from the crew for a possible logo. There were six possible logos. A vote was taken to narrow it to two. Then another vote was taken which provided us with the logo you see here. The logo reflects the flying dinos called pterodactyls in general. The pterodactyl is flying to the stars (represented by a single star in the upper left corner). The lower middle shows a small drawing of the Shuttle Jurassic with our NCC number above it. To the left of the dino are the words "World Wide" which shows that we are dedicated to being a correspondence ship with members all over the world. To the right of the flying dino is the JURASSIC's motto "From the Past to the Future".

When the Shuttle Jurassic became the USS Jurassic, the members decided to keep the original logo and upgrade it to say "USS" with the proper NCC number, and change the little shuttle to a side view of the starship.

STARSHIP AT LAST!

The shuttle continued to grow throughout the seven month shuttle program. At last all positions were filled, we had grown to well over the 10 member minimum required to become a full chapter (starship) of the Starfleet organization. We had completed everything and on time. On August 6, 1994 the shuttle Jurassic was parked in a special section of the shuttlebay of the USS JURASSIC NCC-3500. That date made us a full chapter of Starfleet. And we continue to grow and change and modify. For as SPOCK said in Enterprise Incident, "It would be illogical to assume that all conditions remain stable."

While working on a fictional scenario with our mothership, USS HEIMDAL, the Shuttle Jurassic went on a secret mission into the Romulan Neutral Zone. Here the Jurassic rescued a GORN ship that was being attacked by the Romulans while part of their crew was planetside. The Gorn ship was destroyed, but the Jurassic crew saved the Gorns on the planet surface by beaming them on board. While trying to leave the mysterious planet's orbit, the Jurassic was attacked by a second Romulan ship. This time a Gorn ship, which had just arrived to help it's already destroyed ship, saved the day for the Jurassic. The Shuttle was badly damaged, so the Gorns invited us to follow them through a nearby wormhole. They emerged near the Gorn home world.

The Gorns are excellent engineers and helped repair the shuttle Jurassic right away. While waiting for the Gorn and Jurassic engineers to finish repairs, the crew was invited to rest and relax on the Gorn planet. This included a visit to the far side of the planet where dinosaurs much like the extinct species from earth, live and roam the countryside freely. The CO of the Jurassic was so impressed by the pterodactyls, that the Gorn leader gave her a pair of baby pterodactyls to take with her. Upon returning to the USS HEIMDAL to make our report, one of the pterodactyls was given to RADM Smith. The other remains with the JURASSIC crew as a mascot.

The shuttle soon grew small for the JURASSIC crew and the growing pterodactyl. They petitioned Starfleet for a new vessel. Starfleet agreed on one condition. The Gorns had recently petitioned Starfleet for a technology exchange program where they would join with SF engineers to build a better starship. The Jurassic crew members (especially the engineers) had made such an impression on the Gorns that they requested this be a joint work using Gorn engineers and scientists AND the crew of the Shuttle Jurassic. This would be the first JURASSIC CLASS Exploratory Cruiser ever built. The Jurassic crew quickly agreed and headed for the planet Cestus III where their new ship would be build.

A few months later the new Jurassic Class Exploratory Cruiser was taken on it's maiden voyage. Several of the Gorns joined us on this adventure where the ship preformed even better then anticipated. After this the new starship went back to Cestus III for some upgrading. The Gorns remained on as part of the crew as the Jurassic now travels through space, exploring new worlds and making new friends.