NOTICE

CHANGE IN SPRING WORKDAYS

The spring work bond days are fast approaching. But the Easter Bunny called, and not to be politically incorrect, or to imply any oversight of, or deference to, other spring celebrations or practices, but he did point out that our annual spring range work weekend was originally scheduled on Easter weekend. In making sure we scheduled it so that it didn’t conflict with any spring matches, we failed to note that it conflicted with the Easter weekend. Knowing that many of our members will be busy that weekend hiding copious amounts of chocolate behind the dusty regions of their living room furniture, CRC has thoughtfully rescheduled the spring work bond weekend. IT WILL NOW BE HELD APRIL 22 &23.

This weekend is an important one for the quality of our range during the rest of the season, plus you get your work bond obligation out of the way early in the year and you don’t have to listen to us fuss at you for the next 6 months. So change your calendar, and don’t eat too much candy on Easter, because you’ll need to be at the range the following weekend ready to work.

Contact Dave Paananen at dpaananen@netzero.net or 303-673-0106 to let him know if you’re planning on going out that weekend and he can have work teams organized and outfitted and ready to go that morning so the work gets done fast and right.

We need all kinds of help from everybody. Some of the projects we need to accomplish this year include:

Sporting Clays trap station

Sporting Clays run electricity to office

Wiring of new maintenance building

Schuetzen target frame repair

Falcon perches on High power range flag poles

No trespassing signs on new land boundaries.

Trophy display case

Plus the ongoing jobs of cleaning; painting; grounds keeping; fence maintenance; and other work.

We could also use someone who has been trained and checked out to operate the road grader or the other heavy equipment to be on the range that day. Don’t forget, you must schedule use of this equipment and must be cleared by CRC heavy equipment manager Paul Wilson before operating any of the CRC heavy equipment. Anyone who wants to be checked out as an operator should call Paul at 303 646-6646.

So hop on over to your calendars and mark down April 22 and 23^rd as the new spring workdays, then come on out and help get us ready for another year of shooting. Thanks everybody!

From the Secretary/Treasurer’s Corner

It is still dues paying time and a lot of members have not mailed in the 2006 payment. Members are reminded that dues received after April 1^st must include a $20.00 late fee. There will be no exceptions to this well established policy and no membership cards will be issued to members who fail to pay the penalty. As in past years, the gate combination will be changed on April 1^st. The club by-laws state that members who have not paid their dues by June 1^st can be dropped. The club BofD has not established requirements for reinstatement. One thing is clear, the acceptance of late dues and work bond payments into January and February 2007 will not happen this year. Some suggestions which are being considered include requiring members to pay a second initiation fee and attend an orientation at the range to cover new safety rules, or reinstating dropped members after a 2 or 3 year wait.

Work bond cards payments must be submitted to the Secretary/Treasurer by November 1st for proper credit. The board of directors are considering a late fee for payment after November 1^st or requiring an advance payment for 2007 for members who fail to meet the November 1 2006 deadline. Exceptions will be made for members who schedule work in November and December prior to the November 1^st deadline. Again, no late payments will be accepted after December 1st.

Another matter which needs members’ cooperation is contacting the right club officer about membership. Dennis Reul and Bruce Benninghoff cannot answer all questions about membership status. They do not have access to all of the clubs’ databases. Calls about address changes, failure to receive newsletters and payments to the club should be directed to me at (303) 986-0836 or crci@comcast.net.

Thank you.

81^st ANNUAL CRC MEETING REPORT

Saturday February 25^th was the 81^st Annual CRC Meeting. This year it was held at the Holiday Inn on the corner of Colfax and Indiana. We had a great turnout for this meeting, perhaps the best in Club history. About 126 members attended the banquet, with 15or so who came for the meeting after the dinner.

The meeting began on a happy note, with the club saluting Lowell and Alice Higgins in celebrating recently their 64^th wedding anniversary. We all owe Lowell & Alice great thanks and honor for their place in securing the future of shooting sports in Colorado. We are proud to be a club committed to the future of shooting and an outstanding, secure place to enjoy the shooting sports.

This was an important meeting that addressed a lot of new developments within the club. Topics of discussion included the creation of the Colorado Rifle Club Shooting Sports Foundation, the introduction of club-wide use of a liability waiver, a work bond study report, the possible introduction of Cowboy Action Shooting to our range, and the election of 3 board members.

Terms for three of the CRC Board members – Jim Brummerstedt, Stan Dial, and Jerry Davidson were ending. Dave Jennings headed the nominating committee which reviewed and reported on nominations for these positions. Jim, Stan and Jerry were each nominated to serve another 3-year term. Also nominated were Caleb (Cal) Cooper and Bruce Benninghoff. At the meeting nominations from the floor were opened and member Gary Prebyl was nominated. Members voted, and Stanley (Stan) Dial, Jim Brummerstedt and Cal Cooper were elected to serve on the Board.

CRC member and club attorney Bob Lees reported that CRC will change club by-laws to reflect our new tax status, from a not-for-profit to an amateur sports organization 501(H). This won’t change how we operate the club in any way. But it will enable the club to receive donations of surplus government property and possibly eliminate our property tax burden, among other things.

The BoD has also created the CRC Shooting Sports Foundation. This fund is tax exempt and able to receive tax-deductible contributions in money or in material items. Estate bequests may also be received. The Foundation will be able to use these funds for educational and shooting sports purposes, either within our club or as donations to others, such as the USA International shooting teams, etc. It will not be able to support routine club operations, but could help build new facilities that have an educational purpose. For more information please contact Secretary/Treasurer Ron Best.

The introduction of a Waiver of Liability form for all CRC members and guests was discussed. As a rifle range we are covered by the same assumed risk laws that cover ski slopes and other areas of “inherent danger”. But the reality is that rifle ranges may come to need extra legal protections, and practicality warrants obtaining those policies before we need them. Help the Match Directors by making sure guests shooting with you are prepared for this requirement. Once signed they will be good for the calendar year, so you’ll only have to sign one extra piece of paper once a year.

We understand that some members and their guests will feel this form is an imposition or a burden. Our goal is to protect, not inconvenience. We appreciate everyones cooperation. More details on this waiver in coming newsletters.

Stan Dial reported on a work bond study. The use of the work bond cards has been fairly successful and we will continue to track and record work bond compliance with their use. CRC also thanked Work bond Coordinator Dave Paananen for his continued efforts and success in managing the club’s work bond program. From planning to completion, Dave’s efforts are what get the job done. That’s a tough job but we’re in good hands with his efforts.

Other highlights included the report of the continued success of the transplant of turkeys to the bijou creek area. Many members reported having seen or heard the turkeys tromping around out there. Help us keep an eye on them, and report their sightings to Jim Brummerstead.

Baastian Cornelison was thanked for his work in the WHIP and CHIP programs, and getting the range through drought, fire scares, planting commitments, watering schemes and monitoring.

Tribute was also paid to long-time club member Ray Steele, who’s been a devoted member and always managed to come back to us, though his adventurous life as a gunsmith and secret service agent took him far and wide.

Last but not least the club discussed the proposal to bring Cowboy Action Shooting to our range. For more on that, see the article below.

A NEW (FUN) SPORT

COWBOY ACTION SHOOTING

CRC is trying a new shooting sport that promises to be a lot of fun for the whole family. In Cowboy Action Shooting everyone has to dress up in 1890 period clothes, take a Wild West name like “Bad Bart” or the “Dancehall Queen” etc., and bang away with period guns or reproductions. There are more ladies taking part in this than in any other shooting sport that we know about and we think one of the big attractions is that they get to wear fancy frilly outfits . . . and a pair of .45s. Men get to build a fancy wardrobe, with boots, belts, hats, knives, etc., and a complete new set of guns including at least two .45 revolvers, a shotgun and at least one lever action rifle or carbine, with all of the accompanying paraphernalia. What more could a shooter want! We’ve watched a few of the matches and it’s a blast! The group also sponsors a couple of elegant “Victorian Balls” each year for the benefit of charities. We hope this will be a great addition to CRC’s program.

About middle of January, CRC was approached by some of the officers of the Sand Creek Raiders, a cowboy action group then shooting at Aurora Gun Club. They had been asked to leave the Aurora club after their January shoot and were looking for a new place to shoot. They made a presentation to the CRC Match Directors Workshop in January and our group was highly supportive of looking further into it. Several CRC members have been shooting this sport for some time and have been urging the Board of Directors to take it up, but until now we have not done anything about it.

The following week, CRC Directors Reul, Best and Everitt met with CRC members and cowboy shooters Glenn Miller and Al Ashton to watch the last match at Aurora. We wanted to see how an event was set up and run and get an idea how it would fit onto our property. The group was impressed with the attitude of the shooters and the sense of fun and enjoyment, as well as the strict attention to safety. Before the match starts, EVERY shooter has to attend a safety meeting on the range. No exceptions! Then, before each shooter fires, he/she goes to a loading table where guns are loaded under supervision of a safety officer just before firing. The shooter is then escorted to the firing point and shoots under the close supervision of the range officer, who also scores. Then the shooter goes to an unloading table where guns are emptied and inspected by yet another safety officer, before he/she moves on to the next shooting scenario. Each scenario is some sort of Wild West event such as a stagecoach hold up. Scoring is on the basis of time, less penalties for missed targets, with the fastest time for all targets winning. Targets are typically steel plates at about 15 yards, and some similar things. The CRC group was highly impressed with the safety precautions which are better than at a lot of our events.

As word of this spread, some vocal opposition developed within CRC and the Directors were pressed to come up with some answers. The first question was as to why these folks were asked to leave Aurora where they were making a significant cash contribution. This seems to boil down to two issues: space and personal differences among the people on both sides. Aurora has a very small area and in a big cowboy event, the cowboy shooters took up a major part of the parking as well as half or more of the shooting space. This happened once a month thru most of the year (except mid winter) and the big “Raid” in mid summer tied up most of the range up for most of a week. Some Aurora members felt inconvenienced by that, perhaps with good reason. CRC has lots of space and so this problem can be handled by temporarily housing the cowboys on the pistol range until we get a chance to build a dedicated range. The impact on the other ranges should be minimal. Pistol Match Directors Wayne Harris and Doug Maxwell are enthusiastic supporters of the cowboy group and we are grateful for their support.

The personality differences are a little more elusive. Aurora has other problems and the cowboy issue was a distraction from other business which they need to address. We wish them well. With concerns about space and range time out of the way, the personality issues seem unlikely to develop at CRC.

Several CRC members are very concerned, and rightly so, about the “club within a club” issue. Factions within a club can destroy it as we learned the hard way about 25 years ago when CRC was nearly dissolved. Only the personal determination of Lowell and Alice Higgins with the support of just half of the membership prevented that disaster. We do not need to do it again! When the Gateway silhouette shooters joined us, it was done on the basis of Gateway dissolving completely and the members joining CRC. Over time the Gateway name has disappeared and the shooters are fully integrated into CRC. In this case, the Sand Creek Raiders want to keep their identity because they do social and charitable things outside of shooting which will have little to do with CRC. However, most of the Sand Creek members are interested in joining CRC to take advantage of our other activities and as mentioned, some of them have been CRC members for years.

After a lot of conversation and a blizzard of e-mails among interested members, it was decided at the BoD meeting following the Annual Meeting to test the Cowboy Action concept this summer. We voted to invite the Sand Creek Raiders to use our facilities through August 2006 under the following procedures:

· Events will be billed as CRC matches sanctioned by the Sand Creek Raiders just as some other matches are sanctioned by the NRA or CSSA.

· A CRC member (Al Ashton) will be Match Director and will follow all CRC normal operating procedures.

· The return to CRC will be $5 per shooter day. This is in line with our other match returns which vary widely depending on the event.

Construction of a cowboy range will take a lot of work on permits, etc., and so cannot be done on short notice. If things go well this summer, we can extend the present arrangement and begin work on a permanent range.

· The cowboy schedule for this summer thru August is: Monthly shoots March 26, April 23 and 30, May 28, June 25, and August 27. All of these shoots are on Sunday on the Pistol Range.

· In addition, the range will be closed from 1:00 P.M. the preceding day for set up. Pistol shooters should call Match Director Al Ashton at 303 798-0189, email kuylaars@msn.com for more details.

· The Rocky Mountain Regional Raid will be July 20 - 23. This will involve the Pistol and Smallbore ranges on all days with some activity on the Sporting Clays and Silhouette ranges, probably on Thursday or Friday rather than the weekend. Set up day will be all day on July 19, so the Pistol and Smallbore ranges will be closed that day.

· There may be more monthly matches posted later.

By the end of July we hope that a consensus will develop on whether to extend our invitation to the Sand Creek Raiders and proceed with building a permanent range. If agreed, additional late summer monthly matches will be scheduled.

The Raid will be the biggest CRC event of the year in terms of numbers of people attending and there will be food service as well as equipment vendors on the range. Members are invited to come and enjoy the show!

This is seen as a good thing for CRC:

· We can help a group of good folks and preserve a sport.

· We will get exposure and publicity for CRC in ways that we cannot now.

· We will add a popular sport to our line-up in which all members can take part.

· We should get about 40 new active members and some significant match income.

· If this does not work out we can drop it without much loss.

We hope that all members will join in welcoming the Raiders into CRC.

CRC and our local Game Warden

Our local game warden Joe Padilla has been given access to the CRC property. He was present during the last release of tom turkeys, and has a great appreciation for the extent of our conservation programs and the club’s commitment to improving wildlife habitat. His expertise can help us make sure our efforts are successful.

Gate Lock

It has been noted recently that some members are leaving the gate lock with the combination not reset. It’s easy to forget to give that little dial one last twist after you’re through, but it’s an essential step. Non-members getting the combination, by leaving it there on the dial for all to see, puts our members and property at risk. Please properly use all range equipment – right down to the gate locks. Thanks!

A unique opportunity for members

Ever wonder how the designers of riflescopes test their optics, or want watch them as they field-test their latest models? Well you may get the chance! Nikon Sport Optics will be giving a demonstration of new riflescopes and optics out at the range. Dates have not been finalized but watch the website and the newsletter for further updates.

Another Vandalism Incident

In what is hopefully in isolated incident, Bob McAlice reports on clear vandalism on the Silhouette range.

On a warm day in late December I packed up my gear and headed to the silhouette range for some practice. Upon arrival I set up a shooting bench and placed my rifles in the rifle rack. That’s when I noticed that someone had performed a “wood penetration test”…on the brand new rifle rack!

Two large caliber handgun rounds were fired into the upper left corner of the 2x4-constructed rack. A foot long chunk of the rack was split off and on the ground. As the builder of these gun racks, I was outraged. This was a clear-cut case of pure vandalism.

Vandalism in itself is bad enough, but inflicted by the use of a firearm is far worse, and should be held to a higher degree of accountability. Remember that the club is bought and paid for by all the members and that everything out there was put there by sweat and hard work of other club members. Shooting it up shows malicious disregard for the work and property of fellow members.

The rifle rack has since been repaired. This is the drawback of an unsupervised range.

Editors note: If you’re interested in demolition and looking for an outlet head on down to the gulf coast with some work gloves and a sledge hammer and help them clean up or something.

2006 Silhouette Season

Our monthly Silhouette matches are usually held on the first Sunday of each month. New members are encouraged to come out and watch a match. This is a fun shooting game that you’ve just got to try. Check the match bulletin for dates and times, or call me or one of the silhouette match directors for more information.

2005 Season wrap-up

The 2005 High power shooting season ended with the November & December matches cancelled due to bad weather. Overall we lost fine scheduled matches to bad weather or low attendance. Shooting in winter months is always risky; hoping for good conditions on the day a match is scheduled. This, combined with hunting season conflicts makes late year matches an “iffy” thing.

Volunteers needed

It’s not too early to start thinking of your 2006 work bond requirement. As you know most members are obligated to perform an eight-hour work bond task or pay an extra $100 along with their dues payment each year.

Spring and fall is usually when the club shuts down for the maintenance weekend. However, many other tasks can be performed throughout the year. Why not meet your work bond by helping out at a match. We’ve got some good ones coming up. On June 3 & 4 CRC will be hosting the Colorado State High power Silhouette Championship. Or, on September 9 & 10 our annual Aggregate match will be held.

These are two-day events and we will need target setters on both day of each match. This task is nothing more then resetting the target animals between relays. We send five people down range in our pickup to reset and paint the bits on the animals. This is one of the better work bond tasks the club offers. Watch the match, see the targets close up, listen to the “one that got away” near miss stories – by some of the best tall tale tellers in the State – and ride around in the back of a pick up all day. What more do you want in a work detail!

Call Bob McAlice at (303) 403-4063 to volunteer. We need five people each day starting at 8:00am and ending at approximately 3:00pm.

Smallbore

Attention weather watchers, ranchers, farmers, bar-bet enthusiasts!

There will be Bad weather – of pretty much any variety you want to bet on, on Sunday April 9^th. How do I know? Am I a trained meteorologist with a fancy chart of predictions? No. I am a smallbore shooter. And April 9^th is the Smallbore Clinic and League Spring Warm up. Traditionally that has meant snow, or high winds, or lashing precipitation of some kind as our seasons greetings.

But we tough it out and have a great time anyway – cause hey – we’re out shooting. Besides if I’m wrong, and the weather is great, it could mean it’s a beautiful spring morning – the way spring can only be on the Colorado prairie at dawn.

So come on out and bring your friends to the league clinic. This is that time when you can get coaching tips from the best shooters on our home range, all while you’re pretending its for your new shooter friends! We’ll begin squadding the line at 8:30 and shooting starts at 9:00am. The cost per person is just $5 of shooting each day, or $35 for the whole summer league course. We shoot a ½ match course of fire.

This is the perfect sport with which to introduce someone to shooting. They learn every fundamental from position and sight picture to wind doping, and they learn in a fun and friendly bunch of experienced enthusiasts. Hope to see you, and the sun, out at the smallbore range April 9^th.

Olympians Shooting at CRC

Two time Olympic medal and 19 time World Champion Lones Wigger flanked by USA Biathlon Team members Jeremy Teela and Rachel Steers, both of whom competed in the Torino Winter Olympic Games, as well as the 2002 Games. Sarah Korad of Laramie Wyoming has also participated recently at CRC.