CLAIRTON SPORTSMEN’S CLUB
January 2008
The President’s Corner
For the most part, past comments in the President’s Corner have generally been in the nature of thanking, apologizing, pleading, or informing members of bad news, etc. This letter is going to be very different. Its purpose is to discuss and inform you about some important topics concerning our club.
Senior Citizen Memberships
The first subject I would like to talk about is 2008 membership dues. We raised the general membership dues from seventy dollars to ninety dollars for this year. Through the process of raising membership dues in the past couple of raises we did not increase the membership cost to senior citizens. This resulted in senior citizens paying only sixty percent of the dues paid by a regular member, and forty percent is not an acceptable senior citizen discount. During the discussion to raise the general membership dues to ninety dollars, a decision was made by the board of directors to increase senior citizens dues to more closely reflect the type of discounts more commonly given senior citizens.
Uncontrollable Expenses
Our uncontrollable expenses at
the club (taxes, insurance, grass cutting, utility bills, etc.) are $110 to $115
thousand dollars a year. For the 2007 membership year we fell 20 thousand
dollars short of our uncontrollable expenses. Dues income does not cover all
our club expenses. Some expenses are
usage related. Simply because a member
has paid his dues for the current year; he or she does not have the right to
use the club and pay nothing else. Your
membership pays for the existence of the club.
Sign in
Procedure and User Fees
The board of directors, through a
long process, decided to go to a sign in and user fee procedure, which all successfully
dominate clubs use. This procedure is necessary for the survival of the club.
There has been a lot of confusion about this procedure. Not to insult anyone (which
I have been accused of in the past) but to make this new transition as simple
as possible let me state the following: If your use of the club is not part of a club
sponsored function, (a club sponsored function is when a person is running that
function telling shooters what they are to do and how much that function will
cost.) then you are considered an off hours user. If you are using one of our
ranges as opposed to sightseeing or visiting the clubhouse, you must sign
in. To recap the sign in procedure when
you come to the club you are to sign in on the front porch and pay one dollar
for
Difficult but Necessary Subjects
These above subjects and matters are not easily discussed and usually never agreed on. These programs are put into place to ensure that your membership dues, if at all possible, do not rise and are necessary for the success of the club. The club is currently in good financial state and is showing a profit for the first time in a while. Participation at the club is extremely high which is necessary for a successful program. These subjects are discussed at the general meeting which is on the third Tuesday of every month at 8:00 PM. If you would like to state your opinion you are welcome to come and make your comments in public.
Thank you,
Tom Jack
Joe Kasyan
Well it’s that time of year again: the beginning of a new shooting season filled with a lot of activities. Tom Knapp is coming again in March, the ATA Zone Shoot in May, and the Skeet Junior Shoot in June. This has the potential to bring in even more new shooters to our club.
We are doing well so far. Even though membership renewal is down a bit from last year at this time, the slight increase in dues and the $1.00 for open range use has made up for this. With things going along as they are we should have a great year this year.
Our turkey shoot went well. We gave out about 80 turkeys this last time. The weather was good and the members and their families participated in all the activities. On the other hand, our ham shoot did not do as well. The weather was not as nice for us. We still had a lot of families there and we still shot with the rain coming down and the winds blowing. As usual, Santa came for the children and we had a good time.
The directors have been opening the club house on Sundays and we have had quit a few new members join because of this. We need to keep this open and welcome the new families to our club. Invite them come out and enjoy the club that we have been enjoying for years.
Remember that all the new families that join and their children will be the future of this club. Help them in any way you can to learn our rules and be safe. We need everyone to be a part of this great club.
Paul Wassel
We are well into the 2008 membership year and the club is doing quite well despite the dues increase. If we keep getting the renewals and the new memberships at the current rate we should have about the same number of members that we had at the end of the 2007 membership year. As someone said, the “Club’s greatest asset is its members”. The members are what makes things happen at the club. The club belongs to the members.
The memberships break down for 2008 membership as of
Directors - 18 Senior - 268
Life - 22 Junior - 112
Regular - 773 Spouse - 15
Total 1208
Directors: Tim Thompson
PISTOL
Chairman: Joe Kasyan
ACTION PISTOL
Ray Ackerman, Joe Kasyan and Paul Wassel
The organization and planning
meeting for the 2008 program will be held at the main clubhouse at
Director
Our Fall League winners were:
AA: Bob Smith 128 A Brise Bickerton 84
John Saunders 112
AAA OPEN: John Bucco 211 AA OPEN Mike Ruyechan 95
John Saunders 193 Bob Ruyechan 92
A OPEN: Jim Chamberlain 84 AA RIFLE John Saunders 168
Bob Smith 162
A RIFLE: Ron Fisher 134
Brise Bickerton 81
The December Ham Shoot was
highlighted by the first 25x25 fired in a league shoot since the steel rails
were put in place in 1980. Bob Smith was
shooting his Cowboy 1894 Marlin: cal.
32 H&R loaded with a Hornady 100 grain XTP/HP. The sights on the rifle were
replaced with a Lyman front globe and a Williams’s rear peep.
On December 23rd, John Saunders matched this score with the
first 25x25 posted in out league. He
used a scoped Contender chambered in .22 Hornet.
The open sight record continues to be 22x25, first posted by Jim Santory
on
Mario DiSaia
First of all, range officers are again required to attend as many meetings as possible this year. That helps you answer questions that come up regarding the club and how/why it does things.
I also am asking range officers
of every department to volunteer their time at least one Sunday a month from
No one is authorized to use any range at this club without first doing those things required to use the range, such as signing-in at the clubhouse for an open range or registering for a club sponsored shoot. This is for your safety and the safety of others.
Members, be proud of your club. Please volunteer your help and time as 18 directors can not ‘do it all.’ Please do the simple things like policing the range after you use it so it is clean for the next person and show your membership card when asked. As always, be safe, be careful and have fun.
Chuck Becher, Terry
Steiner and Perry Wancheck
The 2008 rifle schedule will be listed on the web site, and we are again shooting a CMP 30 round match (no pits) in addition to the 50 round NMC course (with pits). See schedule or contact Perry Wancheck for further information.
Muzzleloader
shoots this year have been going great; average shooters being 14 strong. We
would like to see some new faces out there, so if you have a muzzle gun and
would like to join in the fun come out and check us out. We've added new
targets and plan to move some to make the range not so predictable. So look for
new things to be a happening. We're also kicking the idea around to have a
small spring ‘rondavoo.’ If you are
interested stop around and ask. Remember, black stuff first! – Terry
Steiner
Cast Bullet
League
Director: Chuck Becher
Our
cast bullet and .22 rimfire league was a huge success in 2007. I want to thank everybody that helped to make
it successful. We had a great time and
loads of fun. I look forward to another
successful season in 2008. Don’t forget
the .22 indoor adult shoot Sunday nights at
We
will be starting a new rifle match the last Friday of the month beginning in
March. It will be any rifle, any sight, and
any caliber 100 yard bench rest.
Starting time will be
The last day to shoot the Fall League will be January
2. The skeet range will be open DEC
26/JAN 2. The skeet banquet is Wednesday
JAN 9 starting at
We are having problems with the #1 high house machine. It appears that when the machine is being released, the switch is being held down causing the cocking arm to over-rotate. Please just push the switch and release it immediately.
We are looking for shooters for the Golden Triangle League. Dates are posted in skeet and in the club house, as well as on the web site. Come on out and have some fun. Cost is still $13.00 for adults and $10.00 for shooters under the age of 18. This covers 50 targets and food.
2007 Fall Skeet League Recap:
High Gun 12
High .410
High Junior Matt Zimmick 20.2 Most Improved Matt Zimmick +5.5
12 gauge high guns: Tm. 1 – Gary Smotzer 21.2, Tm. 2 – Rick Flaugh 22.0, Tm. 3 – Eric Marburger 22.0, Tm. 4 – Frank Marone 21.2, Tm. 5 – George Gleich 23.6, Tm. 6 – John Brickner 23.6, Tm. 7 – Alan Lambert 23.8
Winning 12 gauge team: George Gleich, Lou Brickner, Greg Chekan, Bruce Riley, Bill Brody, Joe Kasyan, Ed Dineen, Matt Zimmick
.410 High Guns: Tm .A – Ralph Croushore 19.3, Tm. B – George Gleich 20.9
Winning .410 Team: Don Steinert, Tom Jack, George Gleich, John Wanker, Gabe Statari Jr., Dennin Hunsinger
Director: Harry Beatty & Larry Page
Perry Wancheck
Attention Junior Members ages (15 to 18): Clairton Sportsmen’s
Club will again be holding an essay contest. The topic of the
essay must be conservation related. The winner will awarded a
one week stay at
About the classes and school: Conservation Leadership School (CLS) is a one-week residential program for high school students (ages 15-18) to learn about the world around them through exploration and hands-on activities. It's your ideal school, where the classroom includes over 700 acres of forest, fields, wetlands, and streams...where learning about the environment goes hand-in-hand with having fun, meeting new friends and learning leadership skills.
More information and requirements to attend may be found by going to Penn-States link: http://conferences.cas.psu.edu/
We seem to have some confusion as to what is an open range as opposed to a closed range. I do not want to insult your intelligence so I will try to define the difference this way. A closed range is any range that is scheduled and in use for a club sponsored activity such as rifle and pistol matches, scheduled practices over a specific set or type of targets, work parties on the range or because the range contains equipment on the range that is only available to certain groups such as the action pistol ranges because of the targets and accessories they use or the ‘over the hill’ 100 yard range to which all access must be scheduled in advance as access to the range could be hazardous when the upper skeet ranges are in use. Therefore, an open range is one which members may use when a scheduled activity is not in session, unless the range is restricted for other reasons.
Our rifle, pistol, archery, skeet and trap ranges are traditionally open when no scheduled club activity is taking place on them. Skeet and trap do have a requirement that someone must have a key to turn power on and activate the machines, but they are open to members who have met that requirement when not otherwise in use.
On occasion, range officers may open a range for practice. While the range officer is in control of the range it is considered open but under his supervision and can be used by walk-on members with his consent under the rule on the cover sheet of this newsletter relating to signing-in.
We have gone to some trouble to simplify our basic range rules and they are printed on the cover of this newsletter. Rule 1 is rule 1 for a reason. If you are not signed in at the clubhouse, there is no open range available to you at the club.
NRA Grant: The National Rifle Association awarded us a grant to purchase shotguns for youth and new shooters to be used in our shotgun programs. We recently completed that purchase and have three nice, good quality shotguns for that purpose. The guns were paid for using the grant supplemented by club funds. There was a report at the club that we had purchased one shotgun at the total cost of the three and no consideration was given to the part that NRA funding paid much of the cost. By the way, NRA memberships are available through our club. We benefit from our association with the NRA and their support of our programs.
Late news: As some have you have noticed, the clubhouse had been repainted and cleaned. A ‘smoke-eater’ is being purchased to help with the smoking issue in the bar and attendance seems to be up on Sundays. Some of them have complained about the smoke and here I am talking about new members, not the ‘old vets.’ Please remember the children and minors that come to the club as well as those of our club who have medical problems with tobacco smoke when indulging in this habit. Who knows, some of you may want to bring your children and grandchildren here some day.
Tom Jack made a great comment at
the end of his letter about ‘coming to the membership meeting and making your
comments public.’ I have often commented
that ‘bar talk’ at the club often has the Board making decisions or thinking
about doing that when in fact we are not even near to a decision on
something. In my years on the Board I
have seen us take several months to come to an agreement on something and
numerous times when we have tabled an issue, never to be revisited by that
Board. A very important source to us is
your feedback at the membership meetings.
Expressions of discontent or desire for something new or different made
at the bar or on a range in a one-to-one discussion with a Director sometimes
may not get the consideration they may deserve because elapsed time and memory
reduces the immediacy of the request.
SEE YOU AT THE RANGE
WEBSITE: clairtonsc.org
THE THREE BASIC RANGE RULES AT CSC
1. All members using open ranges must sign in at the
clubhouse prior to going to the range.
2. All members are responsible for understanding and
following existing club rules and are held responsible for the conduct of their
guests and family members, especially children.
3. Membership cards must be visible when using
any open range.
Clairton Sportsmen’s
Club
DEDICATED
TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF OUR ENVIRONMENT
IMPORTANT INFORMATION INSIDE