I hope you had a good holiday. If you haven’t done so check out the pictures from our annual workday. We accomplished several things including cleanup of the shotgun ranges, repair and dirt work on the rifle and pistol ranges and clean up of the clubhouse. The first item you will see on the range is that we have moved the entrance gate back to its original location. By moving the gate it was felt safety in accessing and leaving the range would be improved and I think this gate is easier to operate versus wrestling with the old gates. I hope to get the two old gate posts by the road painted soon so it will be easier to see the entrance from the road. We had an excellent turnout for the workday and an excellent lunch was provided by Jeff Alessi and his traveling grill.

On a sad note, we were informed of the passing of Kathleen Burke, who was the landowner of the property on which the range is located. Needless to say we do not know how this will affect the property in the future. Kathleen owned a lot of property in the county and it will probably take time for the estate to be settled. We have been in contact with Kathleen’s attorney and feel that our lease for this year is secure. I will post any details affecting the club as soon as I know them.

Good news for Skeet shooters, As you may know at the annual meeting we discussed the plans to improve the skeet machines as it had been pointed out they were not throwing to regulation speed (They were still to fast for me). During the workday two of our directors Gil Gilchrist and John Harris volunteered to look at the machines and see if they could fix them. Gil informed me the machines have been fixed and are throwing the distances they should. So shot gunners enjoy! I would pass on this instruction (which applies to all our throwing machines): When you are finished be sure and manually trip the machines, if necessary, so they do not stay in the cocked position. De-cocking will lengthen the life of the machines and keeping the houses clean of broken birds will let all

shooters enjoy.

One item in closing, I was at the range last week and happened upon a “new” member. I use the term new loosely as he was a member and director many years ago and due to health issues has been home bound several years. He recently has regained limited mobility and one of the first things he wanted to do is come to the range and shoot. That joy and comrodrary of shooting is why the club exists and I hope we will be able to continue for years.

Again a big thank you to all those involved in the workday and a thank you to Gwenna Kelton for not only the pictures but also our NEW web page, YEA!