Tuscaloosa Gun Club
Newsletter – Summer 2009
NEWS FROM ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING
We held our Annual Business Meeting on June 6th and you need to know about several of the action items that were addressed.
Election
We re-elected our President, Joe McDonald and elected a new Vice President, Russell Essary and then elected Barry Fikes to continue duties of Secretary / Treasurer. Also running for Vice President was Shane Wallace who was defeated in a close contest while the others we unopposed.
Amendments to Bylaws
We voted in favor of several changes to the Club’s Bylaws, perhaps the most notable was the creation of “Legacy Members”. Simply stated, this is a vehicle for children of the membership to continue to be club members when they become adults and at a time when most young adults are getting their financial feet on the ground, we wanted to provide a means for them to be members without the financial burden of a full new Club Membership. Furthermore, this is available to anyone who would fit into this category for the next calendar year. If you have questions or think you would like your adult children to join, please contact me. The amendment as passed is as follows:
Legacy Members - Descendants of both Charter Members and Regular Members may become Legacy Members by simply paying Annual Dues of $50. These members do not have voting rights nor may they bring guest. However, these members may become full voting members with the privilege of bringing guest after paying a Membership Fee of only $125.
There were two other membership and Range use provisions regarding Law Enforcement Officers and Honorary Memberships. Both of these are situations we have been accommodating in the past, however, they have been as Executive Actions and since they are very much in the Club’s best interest we established these also as Amendments to the Bylaws and they were passed as follows:
Honorary Members – The Executive Committee may at their discretion bestow an Honorary Membership to deserving friends of the club. These members are felt to have contributed more to the club through their generosity and their initiation is received as a benefit of their unselfish action. Their annual dues would be set by the Secretary / Treasurer to help reflect their gifts to the club.
Law Enforcement Members - Commissioned Law Enforcement Officers will be welcome to utilize our Ranges for $50 a year, there will be no membership initiation fee for those participating in this program, however, there are no customary membership privileges such as voting or bringing a guest.
One other Bylaws issue that was amended was to voluntarily raise the Annual Dues of the Charter Members from $25 a year to $50 a year. We understand there is a substantial group of our membership who are on fixed incomes and we do not want this to be an addition burden to these members, however, in light of the current economy and to accommodate the Club’s plans for expansion and improvements, this was the right thing to do at this time and has had overwhelming support from those having to pay the dues. If you are a Charter Member and this increase is a problem, please continue to pay only $25 a year and your Membership will remain as it was in the past.
Work at The Range
We are still trying to put together a work schedule to build a utility building between the Rifle and Pistol Ranges. The problem is this needs to be a two or three day project with a day preparing the site with a backhoe then forming up and pouring the foundation with plumbing and then finally a day where we can have a good size crew to do the final construction on the building.
We are planning a building about 12x24 feet with a simple roof so the actual construction of the building should only consist of throwing up 5 or 6 walls and a metal roof that should only take maybe 3-5 hours to accomplish. Unfortunately, it seems everybody’s either been working regular jobs at warp speed or illness has taken its due toll on availability as well.
If all goes well, we hope to get the backhoe work done around 4th of July week and then get the foundation done in the next week which should make for a work day in the middle of July when the weather should provide a very comfortable 150 degrees at a thousand percent humidity. We apologize for this timing but it’s the best we can do.
The product of this madness will be a convenient bathroom and storage building where we can service the Rifle Range, have accessible use of a bullet caster, storage for the mower, keep a refrigerator with cold water and drinks, plus not have to run up the hill to the can.
Grass – Anytime you have a chance to help out by cutting grass or doing some weed eating, this will be greatly appreciated. I overheard a little squawk the other day while I was cutting the grass on the Pistol Range about how we never cut the Rifle Range. Thanks to Butch Skelton the Rifle Range was cut in a first class manner but the is not just Butch’s job, it is the duties of all members to help on the maintenance of the Ranges. Next time you are down, try and budget a little extra time to help us, whether it’s on the grass or just picking up some trash that you have probably left for someone else to pick up.
NRA Foundation Grant
As was noted in the Newsletter earlier this year, the Club was awarded a NRA Foundation Grant in the amount of $4,700. We will apply to the NRA in August for a Range Grant, however, since The Friends of NRA Dinner did not locally have the success they have enjoyed in the past, we will not seek another Foundation Grant in 2010 as we have in the past.
AMMO SALES – We are currently out of the .22 LR Aguila Ammo, which we purchase from CMP. When they are back in stock (probably within a month or two) we will offer this to club members for $225 per case of 5,000, $125 for a half case and will also make available Bricks of 500 rounds for $30 each (taxes included on both). This is great deal for match grade ammo. Please contact me if you are interested.
4-H Range Schedule - Don’t forget the 4-H Team trains on our Rifle Range ever 3rd Sunday of the month. They normally start at 2:00 PM and go for a few hours. Let’s all continue to make them feel welcome at our range; they are the future of our sport!
Membership Cards – If I haven’t already given you a membership card, it should be enclosed with this newsletter. If you have not received your membership card and it is not enclosed, please give me a call and I will send yours to you. I have tried to get those out to everybody as soon as I could but in the process I’m sure there we be some of you who do not get one and to those of you who fall into this category, I sincerely apologize.
New Gate Combination – On or about July 15th we will change the combination to the gate at the range. For those of you who are not current on your dues, the new combination will be provided when your dues are paid.
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