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CRC ANNUAL MEETING & DINNER
The 82nd
Annual
Join your
fellow shooters Saturday, February 23 for the 82nd Annual CRC
Meeting and Dinner. The dinner will be
held in the Colorado/Golden room of the Holiday Inn West Denver,
For the low price of $20 you get salad, your
choice of prime-rib or chicken cordon bleu, side dishes and choice of yummy
deserts. We’ll begin dinner at
There’s been a lot going on this past year,
and we’ve got a busy year ahead, so please plan on attending and gearing up for
the great shooting year ahead.
Board Of Directors Nominations
It’s an
election year nationally, which would normally ensure a landslide of bad puns
from the editor about our own club elections. But I’m pretty sure you’ve heard
them all before and have got to be tired of that already. Besides, CRC members are lucky to be charged
with voting for those who serve on our board of directors. Running this club is
serious business, and the dedicated members who volunteer their time and skill
to serve on the board are sacrificing a lot personally to make sure you have a
great place to shoot. What they do
matters and your vote counts, so as if a great meal wasn’t enough,
another reason to attend the annual meeting is to cast your vote for three members
of the Board of Directors. If you would
like more information about the nominees, or would like to nominate someone,
contact Tony Stahl at 303-494-5721, and plan to attend the Annual Meeting
February 23rd.
DUE$ ARE DUE!
It’s a new year, which means it’s time to
renew your membership in the Colorado Rifle Club. You should have received a
dues notice in the mail, but just in case, members are reminded to send in
their dues as soon as possible. For
2008, Individual Memberships are $55; Family Memberships are $80. And if you didn’t meet your 2007 workbond,
don’t forget to include $100.
All member dues must be paid in full by
April 1st. Members not paid
in full by April 1 will be dropped from club roster. Also the gate combination
changes on the first – so the only way to get in is to pay your dues. Help keep the next few newsletters free of
naggy scolding on this item and pay your dues now. You know you’re always gonna
want a nice place to shoot! Send your
check to CRC, P.O. Box 280251, Lakewood, CO 80228-0251.
Workbond
Update
2007
saw some changes in the workbond system.
The changes include:
These
changes have improved the workbond system, but not everyone has been aware of
them. Please make note, and be sure to
plan your workbond completion before Halloween.
We have some special projects already for
this year. Please consider helping the
club with one of the following activities.
Contact me by email at dpaananen@netzero.net,
or by phone at 303-673-0106 for more detail on all of these projects.
Spring work days this year will be Saturday
and Sunday, April 12 – 13. Spring is
when we need the most help – getting the ranges prepped for the competition
season ahead and getting long term projects planned, teams manned and equipment and materials secured. Contact Dave Paananen at dpaananen@netzero.net, or by phone at
303-673-0106 to let him know if you’ll be able to work either or both of those
days and what you’d like to do. The
farther ahead we can plan, the more productive the weekend for everybody. Members are reminded – bring your workbond
verification card with you whenever you do work for the club, and make sure
your work is recorded and signed by the match director or team leader of your
work party.
EXTREMELY SERIOUS SAFETY REMINDER
Stating the obvious is sometimes just that, but sometime stating the obvious can save a life – maybe yours. Members MUST KEEP ALL SHOTS IN THE APPROPRIATE RANGE BACKSTOP. As good members and safe shooters, we cannot ever allow a shot to “get away from us.” Ever. A single second of lost concentration in our sport can result in injury or death, jail time and possible club closure. It’s simply ridiculous to ever take a chance with safety.
This is not an idle lecture. We know members have been careless in this regard. The evidence can be seen by everyone in the walls of our new equipment shed, located at the northwest end of the road by the farmhouse. There are bullet holes, from more than one angle and distance, in that building. MEMBERS MUST ALWAYS ASSUME SOMEONE IS IN THAT BUILDING. The idea that shots are flying out there is horrific and unacceptable. We have an excellent safety record – but there can be no doubt now that it may be part luck. One of the great things about being a club member is that you can be out there shooting and feel like you’re the only person for miles. But you must never assume you are. Any member identified as someone who thinks shooting skill actually involves hitting the broad side of a barn will be expelled from the club immediately. Safety first is not some idle bumper-sticker slogan – it is the primary and most important rule on all the ranges. Keep all your shots in the backstop. It is a matter of life and death.
the Secretary/Treasurer’s
Corner
by Ron Best
The Four most mispronounced Names in Shooting
For some reason, many shooters can’t help but mispronounce four much used names associated with firearms and shooting. I have learned not to suggest the correct pronunciation to some hard-headed friends. These are:
GARAND
Don’t suggest to lovers of the wonderful Garand rifle that they need to shape up and pronounce John C. Garands’ name correctly. Regardless, no greater a close associate of Mr. Garand than Major General Juliann Hatcher in his book Hatcher’s Notebook, that Garand pronounced his name with a hard G as in “go” with the stress on the first syllable to rhyme with parent.
SAKO
Second to the misuse of Garand is the name
of the highly regarded Finnish rifles. I once worked for manager who was
interested in all things Finnish and who traveled to northern
LEUPOLD
Anyone who wants to know how to pronounce
the name of the best scopes made in the
OEHLER
A call to the Oehler facility
in
On Another Note:
Over the years,
Cowboy Action Zoning
update
Great News!
The zoning ordinance hearings held December 13 and January 7th
before the Adams County Commissioner were successful, and we have been given
the unanimous vote of the commission to proceed with the construction of our
new
Welcome home Cowboy
shooters! YEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAA!
CRC and all its members would like to thank Wayne Harris for all his long hours of diligent work on making this a smooth process administratively. This was no easy feat. We didn’t just trot down to the county office and fill out a form. Almost everything we need to do in association with a rifle range requires variance or exception or outright change of complicated, detailed zoning laws. Everything from the fencing and trees to construction, road use and beyond had to have a variance written and agreed upon by everybody. And by everybody we don’t just mean a few zoning commissioners and a judge. We mean all the land owners and neighbors around us too. We’re a great club and we try to be good neighbors, but don’t kid yourselves that all of them are thrilled to have a shooting range next door. A few loud complaints could have delayed things for a long time. So we as a club had to also work hard to win the support of those members of our larger community. For their support we thank them and members should thank Martin Everitt, who went door to door to talk to all the surrounding home and property owners, answer all their questions and make sure they knew what we were building, and what it would mean – both pro and con – for them. Talk about bravery – especially in a campaign year when a lot of people are door-to-door-ing them for less polite reasons!
And all the time and effort paid off,
because we not only got everything ironed out, but the unanimous vote is a
credit to the positive things that will come with this additional range to our
club and community. In a time when rifle
clubs and their neighbors are often at contentious odds, the success here
should serve as a shining example to other groups on how to get things done in
a positive way.
The 1st Annual
MAY 2, 3 &4th 2008
Colorado Rifle Club and match directors David Jennings and Tony Stahl are proud to announce we have the honor of hosting the 1st Annual Colorado Navy & Marine Corps Memorial Rifle Match, for the benefit of the Remembering the Brave Foundation.
The match is a long range rifle match open
to service and target rifle shooters with both iron or scope sights. Proceeds
from the match will go to the Remembering the Brave Foundation, a non-profit
foundation established as a support group for families of servicemen who have
fallen in action in
The matches honor servicemen who gave their lives in the line of duty, and at the match we’ll be hosting 100s of service men at the event, and parents of those being honored will be on hand to present awards. A lot of merchandise has been generously donated for prizes, and member Cal Cooper is building a couple of the trophies.
We encourage members to sign up – if not to shoot – then to help out to make sure the match runs smoothly. For more information about the foundation and the families they support, visit their website at www.rememberingthebrave.org
Entries are $60.00 or all individual
matches, or team match fee is $80 per team ($20 per shooter). Proceeds go to
the Remembering the Brave Foundation and are 100% Tax deductible. For entry forms visit www.crci.org or contact David
2008 MATCH DIRECTORS MEETING
The CRC Match Directors Meeting was held Saturday January 19th. This is the annual start of the season meeting where all the match directors get together, review the past year and plan for the coming year. 23 folks gathered for this meeting and to follow are some of the highlights.
2007 REVIEW:
·
600 of the 640 acres have been placed in the
Conservation Reserve Program which will guarantee us just under $20,000
annually for ten years. This more than covers the mortgage payments. We have
installed a water guzzler for wildlife and have bought about $20,000 in seed
for planting before April 1, under the terms of our contract with USDA. We have
been reimbursed half the cost of the seed and the guzzler. Even at the present
price of corn, the CRP program looks like a good deal for us instead of trying
to farm the land.
·
40 acres of the Allis section have been reserved for
the Cowboy Action and short range pistol sports range. Rezoning hearings were
completed January 7 and Wayne Harris is now preparing,
to apply for a construction building permit. Construction will cost about
$120,000. Anyone having contacts with military reserve or active duty units, or
other organizations which may be able to help us in return for a training opportunity,
is urged to let President Reul know.
·
We have to fence at least the Rector - Leader road side
of the Allis section. Dave John will start on it in the spring and will need
work bond helpers.
Other Range Improvements
·
The
·
We have a new street address,
·
We have had two complaints from our rancher neighbors
about driving manners of some of our members on the local roads. Please direct people asking directions to
the Rector - Leader Road rather than the other roads which will get them to
the range. Ask visitors to be tolerant
and careful of the farm equipment on the roads. They will get out of the
way if they can, but you must yield to them.
We’re on that road for recreation, but they are on it to work – so
please drive with care and patience on the way to the range. Remember – they
have been good neighbors to us – so be good neighbors to them – and share the
road!
Membership
·
Current membership is 605. We had 16 fewer new
applications in 2007 than in 2006. We
are gradually losing numbers, and directors discussed ways to get more shooters
out. Do your part and bring your friends
and neighbors out shooting with you, and encourage them to join. We’re only as dynamic as our membership – so
we never want to see the numbers get stale!
If you’ve got ideas about how to get the word out about us, please let
one of the BoD know!
Budget
·
The club is in good financial shape. We have paid off
the construction loan for the maintenance building and are paying the
construction loan for the silhouette firing line cover ahead of schedule. We
have about $17,000 in cash and checking accounts, $21,000 in Money Market and
$230,000 in our investments. As might be expected, our investment account is
suffering from the current market problems but overall did well in 2007.
·
We are looking into the possibility of accepting credit
cards for match entries and dues, etc. New
bank procedures make it much simpler than it has been previously and members of
other clubs report that it has been worth the service fees to them. We’ll keep you posted on these developments.
Range Maintenance and Improvements
·
Don is also wiring the maintenance building and needs
help, especially people who can work on high scaffolding, as well as materials
and supplies.
·
Some of the Cowboy shooters rewired part of the trailer
spaces last year and will do the rest before the June match.
·
Range Equipment.
Paul Wilson is in charge of all the clubs large equipment. We need grader operators and we also need to
keep the grader working. If you are interested in being trained to run the
grader please contact Paul at (303) 646-6646.
DON’T (DO NOT) USE EQUIPEMENT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN
TRAINED TO OPERATE. Members are also reminded that the equipment maintenance records
must be filled out each time the equipment is used. We must have a good record of how much
something is being used so we can keep up with oil changes, maintenance etc. on
this VERY expensive gear. You won’t be
in trouble if you break something – but you will be in trouble if you don’t
report it! Fill out the sheets on
clipboards, located in the big maintenance shed.
·
We need to redesign the schuetzen range target frames
to make them stronger and easier to build. In doing that we will need to reconstruct
the sockets where the frames set into the ground to change the spacing. This
will be a major work party project and will require closure of the schuetzen
and maybe the smallbore ranges while it is going on.
Communications
·
We need to do a better job communicating with members,
especially with urgent notices such as unscheduled range closures, member
illness etc. The principal hold up has
been the newsletter editor, who promised to get off her butt and would like to
take this opportunity to apologize to members about the irregular nature of the
newsletter this past year or two. Also
discussed was the creation of a mailing tree for match directors so they can
contact their own “shooter base” with urgent news. More discussion to come!
·
In Memory of
Claudia Hartman
We regret to inform club members that Claudia Hartman has passed away. Claudia was the wife of former CRC President Bill Hartman, has been a CRC member for many many years, going way back to the Morrison road range days. For years Claudia attended smallbore rifle matches with Lowell and Alice, and she scored targets and assisted in the staff office during matches. She was a dedicated member even though she wasn’t an active shooter, and she will be very missed by everyone at CRC. Our love and prayers go to her family and friends.