Abe Lincoln Gun Club News
www.abelincolngunclub.com
September 2010
Fall Work Day, Saturday, October 2, 2010
Hunting season and then winter are not far off and to prepare the club we are going to hold a work day on the first Saturday of October. The following work needs to be done:
- A second coat of paint is needed on the outside of the building addition, and on the east outside wall of the indoor range building;
- We need to clear more brush;
- Some grading work is needed around the buildings;
- The indoor range needs to be cleaned and the sand trap needs sifting;
- Repairs need to be made to the 100-yard benches;
- We need to tile or grade around the skeet high-house; and
- We will at least start construction on a cover for the 100-yard bench positions.
The
above jobs mainly involve dirt moving, painting, and brush cutting, so bring
wheelbarrows, shovels, paint equipment, step ladders for painting and brush
cutting tools.
New Building Almost Done
Thanks
to a lot of hard work by a few of the members, the new building addition is
almost entirely finished. The only
remaining work is some finishing in the bathroom and connecting to the septic
system, scheduled for this fall sometime. Unlike
a government project, this one came in on schedule and within budget.
You
will notice that we have installed a coffee maker and microwave oven for your
use: Please make use of them but it
is your responsibility to keep them clean. There
is no maid service at the Abe Lincoln and as always we rely on our members to
keep the place looking nice.
Lights,
ceiling fan, heat and air conditioning in the new addition are on timers. The
heat and A/C timer is locked and restricted to club functions at this time
while the Board evaluates both the cost of operation and most efficient means of
operation. We wish to make the new
lounge area fully usable to all of our members, but we also have to be able to
pay the utility bills. We have
already had, unfortunately, at least one instance where someone was trying to
air condition the indoor range area (With the range ventilation fans going,
of-course!), something that the air conditioner was clearly not designed to do.
During
this evaluation period, you may contact a club officer or member of the grounds
maintenance crew in advance if you need access to the heating or air
conditioning controls for some activity.
Finally,
a new trauma response kit is coming the augment the first aid kits.
Our old kits were great for band-aids and aspirins, but not so well
prepared for a serious injury. Look
for it in the new building soon.
Insurance Waivers
In
recent years the insurance industry has become increasingly restrictive to gun
clubs, and in order to obtain an affordable rate we must now require all of our
members and guests to annually sign a liability waiver in order to shoot at the
Abe Lincoln. We are phasing this in
this year on a voluntary basis, asking each of you to fill out one of these
waiver forms on your next visit to the club.
Next year, however, you can expect that you will be required to file a
waiver as a condition of membership.
We
realize that this is additional red-tape, but the alternatives are much higher
insurance rates and higher dues. A
supply of these waiver forms and a box for their deposit is to be found just
inside the door to the new building on the sign-in desk.
The sign-in log has also been changed to reflect the new waiver.
New Club T-shirts Available
Dan
Croll has new club T-shirts for sale. The
cost is $10 for L and XL, and $12 for XXL. The image is only on the back
(See picture below). It is not a pocket tee. Dark blue only.
Sizes L, XL, and XXL Contact
Dan for all purchases, cell phone # 836-7663. He will also have
them available for purchase at the fall work day, October 2.
Thanks
to a donation by member Denis Kerasotes, Pat Malone has planted
and nurtured a couple of new trees immediately behind the 200-yard firing
points. These will in future years
provide some very welcome shade to the 200-yard shooters.
Range Safety
We
have recently had another incident of someone opening fire at the 100-yard
position while two members were down-range checking targets at 200 yards.
We have also this year had incidents of persons starting to shoot while
mowing was taking place and a number of instances where pistol shooters have
gone forward to replace targets while rifle shooters were shooting at the 100
and 200 yard positions. Remember,
the 25, 50, 100, and 200 yard ranges are all one long firing line that
must be cleared with everyone before any firing or downrange activity.
We can’t afford any more of these incidences!
You are each entirely responsible for making sure that all ranges are
clear before you go forward to check targets, and if you are about to shoot, you
are responsible to make sure that no one is down-range.
Unless you want the club closed except for specific times when range
officers can be on duty (As is actually done these days at many clubs), then you
must police yourselves and be responsible shooters.
Enough said on this, we hope!
Shooting Classes
Member
Rick Wray is a certified NRA instructor and offers various shooting classes to
the public, primarily on self-defense but also in other areas of interest.
You will find specific information on the bulletin board in the new
building. Rick is offering a 15%
discount to ALGC members wanting to participate.
The Loss of a Great Member
Ken
Paoni, Sr. recently passed away, much to the loss of this club, his family, and
the community. For years, Ken was
Chief Instructor and ran our juniors program, which is our primary service to
the community at large. All of us
who knew Ken and worked with him at the club miss him very much.
Ken Sr. is survived by his son, Ken Jr., who is also a valued member of
the Abe Lincoln. A donation
was made to the USA Shooting Foundation in memory of Ken Paoni, Sr.
Jim
Leinicke,
Secretary
May
2010
Dear Members,
If
you have been out to the club in the last week or two, you will know that work
is underway on constructing the “clubhouse” addition to the indoor range
building. When completed, this
building addition will provide not only an indoor restroom, but also a meeting
area that is totally separate from the indoor range.
This is something we have needed for years, but even more so recently as
the club has increasingly made its facilities available to the public, and
especially to youth groups.
The
construction of this building addition is being carried out by a dedicated crew
of club members, who intend to have the building at least framed and closed by
the time this newsletter arrives in your mailbox.
More volunteers will be needed to finish it.
Before it is complete we will need volunteers who are good at finishing
drywall, painting, putting down flooring, and installing plumbing, among other
things. If you have any of these
skills and are willing to lend a hand, please notify Steve Rowoldt (502-9447) smr-spi@yahoo.com,
or Dan Croll (836-7663), mrfixit824@aol.com.
Annual
Meeting/Work Day, June 13, 2010
The ALGC Annual Meeting and Work Day is set for June 13,
2010, with the work day to begin at 8:00 AM and the meeting to start at 11:30 AM
or soon after.
Work Day- We
have two major projects planned for the Work Day, and several routine cleanup
and repair projects. One major
project is to entirely replace the roof on the outdoor covered range, while the
other planned job is to hang and finish dry wall in the new building addition.
Among the more routine spring projects, are planes to replace the 50-yard
target backers, remove the old 25-yard posts, clean up the indoor range bullet
impact area, and of-course do the brush removal and weed cutting that is needed
annually.
We especially need anyone with experience hanging and
finishing dry wall to come equipped to work on this project, and the rest of you
need to bring along what you believe to be the necessary tools to do these other
jobs. The club tries to provide
necessary building materials, but we have to rely on you to bring the tools!
Ray Kurniskie has asked me to request wheelbarrows and brush-cutting
equipment especially, along with tree trimming equipment.
We could also use a couple of post-hole diggers, along with lots of
battery drills and screw-drivers, wrenches, saws, etc.
We know we will have plenty of willing workers, but to put you all to
good use, we will need you to bring tools and work gloves
Annual Meeting / Elections - Aside from the usual reports
and discussions, this annual meeting involves the bi-annual election of club
officers. Offices open for election
include President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and we very much
welcome nominations for any of these offices.
Some of the current officers are just finishing their first two-year term
and are willing to serve another, but some of the rest have been in their
current job for quite a few years (Your Secretary, for instance) and really feel
that it would be good for the club to have some new blood in the job!
Anyway, the Abe Lincoln Gun Club is only as good as the members who step
up to help manage it, and all of us have a responsibility to take our turn on
the board.
Nominations for officers may be given to either President
Steve Rowoldt or to Secretary Jim Leinicke (525-3725).
Annual
Dues are Due by July 1
Please take note that your annual gun club dues must be paid by July 1, and you will not receive further notice. Under the By-laws changes made in 2009, your annual dues are $100.00 if you pay in person at the Annual Meeting/ Work Day June 13. Otherwise, the annual dues are $125.00
Skeet
Range Update
Ray Kurniskie reports that the voice command system for the skeet range has been updated and is now much simpler to operate. If you are a skeet shooter and don’t understand the new system yet, please get together with Ray and have him explain the changes.
Other
Facitiies Reports
Aside from the new building work now underway, there have been quite a few other improvements made this spring. First of all, Ray Kurniskie did not wait until our road became hopelessy rutted before arranging to have two more coats of asphalt grindings put down this spring. The road is now in excellent condition again due to his quick work. If you are an indoor pistol shooter, then you already know that all of the previously graveled area inside the building has been replaced with concrete. This was done for the sake of air quality, primarily, as the gravel produced a great deal of dust. We hope that this change will help our air filtration system keep up a bit better.
On both the outdoor and indoor pistol ranges, lanes are being marked to remind everyone of the importance of keeping your fire entirely in your lane. We have also placed cut-outs on the 100-yard plywood and request that you center your targets over these cut-outs to help preserve the target backing boards so that we don’t have to replace them so often.
Finally, our conservation folks have been busy. There is a new purple martin house near the front gate awaiting summer occupation, and Pat Malone recently completed a controlled burn of our prairie grass area. Many of you will be delighted to hear that we will shortly be having some trees planted on the back of the 200-yard shooing berm to provide needed shade. A member has graciously offered to pay for these trees, and you should see them planted within the next few weeks.
4-H
Program
The Sangamon-Menard County 4-H is starting a youth shooting program and has approached the Abe Lincoln with a request that club facilities be made available for youth instruction programs. The Board has agreed to make the trap and skeet range facilities available for shotgun instruction, and the indoor range facilities available for winter .22 rifle instruction. We have no further details yet, but will make every effort to schedule 4-H activities at times of minimal club member usage. Watch the website for further information.
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We
will see you at the Annual Meeting/ Work Day!
Jim Leinicke, Secretary