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The Ranger
Membership
Newsletter of the Ramapoo Rifle and Revolver Club, Inc. (203)
438-2095 Website: Ramapoo.com *** Email:
Info@Ramapoo.com
This
past year has been a phenomenal success for our club! 2008 ended with major accomplishments in
every area of our club, from range improvements to membership numbers and
participation. Details are below in the
officers reports.
Our
purpose and mission remains simple and straight forward: Provide a safe, convenient place to enjoy the
shooting sports for our members and the general public, and educate new
shooters in the safe and proper handling of firearms. With this as our goal, we have indeed
succeeded.
The
Ranger is our year in review and our plans for the coming year, and is a
summary of the information discussed at the very well attended annual meeting
on April 21, 2009. This year, our
meeting was once again held off-site at Anthony’s
*********************
ANNUAL MEETING SUMMARY & OFFICER REPORTS
President’s Report –
As an introduction, the primary purpose of our annual
meeting is to fulfill the requirements of our By-Laws to hold an annual
election of the club officers. This
official business does not take long, and our custom has evolved over the years
to further provide updates to the membership about the programs at the club and
celebrate the accomplishments of the club.
Our meetings have outgrown our range capacity, and this is the second
year we have provided a buffet dinner off site, with huge success.
The club is financially healthy, we have a full and
active membership, our Pistol Permit Class is booked five months out, and we
have had to start a wait-list for both junior shooters in our Friday program as
well as new member applicants! Our club
continues to be a convenient and low cost – high value option for shooting
enthusiasts.
Our members volunteer their time to run the range
operation by serving as Range Officers (RO’s).
Please help them! They are one of
us, but on any given night, they are working for your enjoyment. All of the work performed in and around the
club is by member-volunteers. Any help
you could offer would be welcome, and whether you possess specific skills or
not, we could always use extra hands.
These efforts contribute significantly to our financial well being, and
very low annual dues.
During these tumultuous times, keeping informed is as
important as ever. Joe Trench has
volunteered and has been appointed as a Club Officer to monitor Legislative
Affairs locally, state wide, and nationally.
A link on our website will provide informative, accurate information
regarding Second Amendment issues, and an occasional email broadcast will be
sent on matters we feel is important to our membership and club. Thanks Joe!
Vice
President’s Report –
Training, special range
operations, and range improvements = Joe Sherman! Joe has been a workhorse throughout the year
yet again. But Joe does not “toot his
own horn” nearly enough for what he does for this club, so this writer will on
his behalf! Thank you Joe, for all of
the below, and thanks to George Bennett for his involvement and help on most of
these range improvements as well!
On the training side: Joe
was instrumental in installing black lighting, built shooting barricades, and installed
curtain rods for range partitions for use during the Practical Pistol
Competition (PPC) nights; conducted a 60
hour advanced pistol course for our members and conducted a Beginners Pistol
Class; conducted additional PPC practice and training on alternate Sunday
mornings; runs our Friday night Junior program, and for the first time in
memory, maximized junior attendance which required a waiting list!
Operationally: Joe has taken
care of all the expended range brass and lead recycling program for the year,
and also manages our reloaded ammunition supply available at the range for the members’
convenience. Joe again successfully researched,
negotiated, and renewed our club insurance policies, with increased coverage
and reduced rates. He also researched,
organized, and scheduled the annual meeting at Anthony’s
Additional range
improvements include the design and installation of several wall storage
devices; two new range storage shelves; added outlets down range for power
tools and cleaning equipment; upgraded two range circuits. Joe and Len Silva replaced the entire fan and
light control panel at the RO range desk (thanks Len!), and with the help of
Tom Falconeri repaired the hot water heater controls (thanks Tom!)
Secretary’s
Report – Bill Schiffer:
As evidenced by our annual meeting date, we
successfully (and unanimously) voted last spring to change our By-Laws, and
modified the date requirement for the annual meeting. This allowed us to have a nice, April
meeting, rather than fight the cold and snow usually present for our February
meeting requirement.
The annual meeting and the annual Ranger Newsletter
continue to serve the members as a review of past accomplishments and future
plans. Our website continues to be our “online bulletin board”, with
information about our hours of operation, range safety rules, program
descriptions, directions, and links to other shooting related sites, to include
the Department of Public Safety. The
website is also our “online brochure”, and has attracted many visitors who have
come down to shoot, take our PPA courses, and joined as new members. Please visit often, and share our web address. If you have suggestions or information you
would like to see on the Ramapoo website, send a note to Webmaster@Ramapoo.com. If
you are interested in helping maintain, design, or update our website, please
send me an email!
We will continue to communicate more with our members
via email, and will be converting to exclusive use of electronic communication
(email and web postings) this year for all notices, the Ranger, and membership
renewal billing. The time and expense
required to write, print, prepare, and mail our club communications is a high,
and there are great savings in time, effort, and expense by conducting this
business electronically. For the few
members who are either unable or unwilling to receive communications
electronically, we will provide printed copies at the range of all club
communications, and can be viewed at your convenience. Our policy is simple: We will not give or
sell any of our membership’s private information to anyone, including email
addresses, and any email sent will hide and protect your email address. Information sent via email will be limited to
club related business, and you may opt out at any time. Please take a moment to send us your name and
current email address, or any changes, to info@ramapoo.com.
Treasurer’s
Report – JC Woodward:
Overall financial condition of the club continues to
be very good. More members have
generated more income which is good for the club financially, and indicates our
members are happy with the benefits afforded by membership in Ramapoo. Paid Membership is currently at 280 total
active members, with a waiting list. The
following actions were completed by JC:
Worked with previous treasurer (thank you Bill White
for your years of service to the club!) to make a smooth mid-year transition to
new treasurer with minimal disruptions to the club. Organized and purged the treasurer’s archives
of fifteen year's accumulation and free up considerable space in club office. Created a document retention and disposal
schedule to provide meaningful archive policies for the future. Consolidated all our deposit accounts at
Citibank and invested our funds at better returns, with help from Rob Power. Setup online access to membership records for
Secretary. Worked with Secretary on a campaign
to re-enlistment inactive members, and purge remaining inactive members from
our rolls in order to establish a current, accurate club roster. Identified reserve requirements for backstop
and other capital improvements in order to prepare financially for the clubs
future.
JC has invested considerable time and effort to take
advantage of the many powerful features of the Quickbooks accounting system for
automating tasks and providing more useful reports. These new capabilities, along with our goal
of going to a “paperless” administration of billing membership renewal and club
communications are a great improvement for our club!
JC also revived the NRA recruiting program at our PPA
classes, as well as providing a link on our website for discounted NRA
membership.
Executive
Officer’s Report –
Range maintenance is ongoing – “we do what needs to be
done”! This has been Joe’s dedicated
response for years – and “get it done” he does!
Joe, with his new replacement George Bennett, keeps our range looking
fantastic by doing the so-called “dirty work”.
Joe and George tiled the first half of the range floor, clean and oil
the back stop on a scheduled basis to help us ensure a very long life from this
very expensive, very important asset, and cleaned and repainted the other half
of the range floor. The carpets were
cleaned and shampooed, and the new tiles already cleaned and waxed and
additional lighting was added down range to aide in down range
maintenance. The target carrier in port
9 was repositioned and offset to address the close proximity to the building
support pole. Joe also has been a key
player in our brass and lead recovery and recycling program.
Sergeant at
Arms Report –
Responsibilities include the daily expendable supplies
and in house organization required around the range, as well as the clubs
ammunition inventory and sales. Rob also
ensures our PPA books, forms and reports are provided. A short list perhaps, but it takes plenty of
time and effort. Thanks Rob!
Chief
Instructor’s Report –
The range runs on the dedication of the Range Officers
– thank you all for your time and commitment and safety record! Thank you, Tony for your years of service to
the club as well, and we welcome Joe Italiano as the new Chief Instructor. Safety is every shooter’s responsibility – please
review the Range Safety Rules often! We
currently have 22 ROs working regularly.
The club has historically coordinated a Range Safety Officer class
annually to qualify new Range Officers.
If interested in future classes, please contact Joe Italiano for
details.
Pistol Permit Application (PPA) classes continue to be
scheduled once a month. The current
class size and schedule appear to be just a bit behind for the strong demand,
and classes have been full. A huge thanks
to the 2 Primary and 18 active Instructors for their time and dedication to
train and qualify new shooters! Over 115
new shooters were trained this year!
Winter Bulls Eye League is active in the south western
Junior
Program Report –
Friday nights have become very active with young shooters. We welcome new juniors aged 10 -18 any time,
but please be aware that we have had to start a waiting list through the
spring! The instructors have the ability
to teach any level, and can take a young shooter to the highest levels
desired. We have a talented, dedicated
group – take advantage of their expertise!
Thanks to Joe Sherman, Tony Markert, Mel Stimmel, Frank Hert and Tom
Falconeri for running this fine program.
Parents of juniors can also actively participate and learn
to shoot with their child. We also welcome
all Scouts seeking to earn firearms merit badges. This program does not require club
membership. The Junior Club meets every
Friday at
Joe Dzubak has raffled a
spotting scope, the proceeds of which will help defray the cost of ammunition
for the junior program, and upgrade/procure a left handed rifle for the junior
program. While selling the tickets, a
group from the Stratford Gun Collectors
Club decided to donate $300 to the Ramapoo Junior program on the basis that
junior shooting programs need support. Special thanks
Action
Shooting – Boris Moreyn:
This continues to
be an active and fun program at our club, shooting two or three times per
month. Not officially sanctioned, but it
follows the IDPA protocol. Practical Pistol Competition at Ramapoo is now entering
its 8th year with both Plate shooting, which involves
shooting at reactive targets until they are all down or you run out of
bullets, and IDPA Style involving IDPA targets and varied scenarios to simulate
real-world defensive challenges. Emphasis is on drawing, moving and shooting
safely and accurately. If
interested, contact Boris to get on the email list at ramapoomatch@hotmail.com. You will be notified 2 days before the match, and also in
case there's a cancellation.
New Business,
Future Plans for 2009:
·
A motion was made to provide “official” name tags
for the RO’s and Instructors to help clearly identify them to the
membership. Unanimously approved. Name tags have been procured and distributed!
·
A motion was made to make jacketed/plated ammo
available for sale at the range.
Unanimously approved. Joe Sherman
will procure as available.
·
Continue upgrading and replacing interior storage
cabinets.
·
Continue to implement Board Member understudy
program to involve more members in the work of the Board.
Dues:
Annual 2009 dues
of $50.00 per member and $25.00 for spouse or second member in a household (we
are on a March to March schedule) were payable as of March 1, 2009. Members who did not renew by April 30, 2009
were dropped from membership, and waiting list applicants were contacted.
Reminders:
As in the past,
the Range will be closed on Sundays during the months of June, July and August
because of historically low summer participation. Sunday hours will resume
after Labor Day.
Please remember to
pick up your brass around the stall, behind the firing line, sort, and dump
into the appropriate bins. Brass is
recycled for the benefit of the club, and is just one more way we can help keep
our costs down.
Help the Range
Officers keep the range and ready room tidy, clean and well organized. This
responsibility belongs to all of us – it is OUR club.
Safety continues
to be “priority one”. Please remember that our Range Rules require all
targets to be completely down range. Also, please remember to thoroughly
check your firearm before you shoot to insure it is operationally safe and always
keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Please reread the Range Rules periodically.
Copies are available at the check in desk, as well as online at Ramapoo.com.
Wrap Up:
The Board of
Officers is committed to ongoing improvement of the Club and will work in a way
to make shooting at Ramapoo the most positive experience possible. We welcome your continued active
participation in Ramapoo’s programs as well as your suggestions on how we might
improve the Club. Please remember that our volunteers do almost all of the Club’s
work. With your support we will have another great year.
Below are the
current officers, as voted unanimously by the members present at the annual
meeting. Congratulations to all!
New Board of
Officers Elected for 2009
President Ted Richards
Vice President Joe
Sherman
Treasurer JC Woodward
Secretary Bill Schiffer
Executive Officer George Bennett
Sgt. at Arms
Chief Instructor Joe Italiano
This email
address is always available for your input, suggestions, and questions, and will
be forwarded to the appropriate Board Member or person! Use it often!
