Board of Directors Update - April 2016

The Board of Directors reports are as follows for the month of April 2016:

Vice President (Frank Bleszinski):
A recent article spoke to the importance of youth firearm instruction. Researchers put eight randomly selected children pre-school to kindergarten in a room with a fake gun to see what happens. It took 15 seconds for one youngster to find the gun and start playing with it. With the parents watching from a separate room a parent said "he's shooting my daughter". The only 2 children who did not pick up the gun were the ones that had guns in their homes and were instructed by the parents about guns. Our clubs' Youth Firearm Safety training is an excellent introduction to firearms and is conducted on a regular basis. See the web site Training tab for registration.

Outdoor Range (Phil Proto):

• The “Clear” procedure MUST be followed and the person calling the “Clear” must let everyone know by walking to each end of the pistol and/or rifle bays. This way the person calling the “Clear” will be acknowledged personally by everyone.
• No Bottle, Cans, or any other foreign objects are allowed to be placed on either the rifle or pistol range
• Rule posting will be added in multiple places (rifle side + in warming room, currently only on the pistol side)
• Zombie targets with a painted red X thru it to have been posted to indicate visually they are not allowed
• Recruiting to add to the outdoor team in order to provide maintenance, modifications or do outdoor range orientation.
• Firearms should be transported from your car to the shooting stations unloaded and with the action open. Cases or shooting bags are preferable.
• Ground shooting at any targets is not allowed on the outdoor range.
•  Target frames are designed to hold one targets centered in the frame.
•  No silhouette targets allowed.

Indoor Range (Al Croteau):
Please note that there are changes in the range rules. Due to the damage incurred on the new sound proof panels, there is an imposed limit on the caliber and distance that may be fired on end  ports # 1 and 8. No larger than 22 caliber may be fired and at  the only distance is 50 feet. The other ports are not affected. Signs are posted at both ports. The range will be open in the morning when the pistol classes are in session. They will be closed at a time in the afternoon when the pistol class is undergoing its' live fire session. At all times the web site should be checked for new information.

Trap (Tony Capone):
The winter trap league is over and congrats to Gary M winner of the B class and Doug B winner of A class . Special thanks to Doug B for doing a fabulous job keeping the league running smooth and to North Shore Firearms for all the great prizes!

At this time there are no shoots scheduled for the month of April, If this changes the information will be listed on the website and I will send out an email. If you would like to receive special trap event emails please contact me at aceaceallin@yahoo.com to be added to the email list.

If you are new to shotgun sports please go to the website and sign up for the intro to shotgun class or contact Steve the training director for info on shotgun training classes

We are looking for help on April 30th for the spring work party. The trap field needs helpers to rake, clean, and other misc things.

Archery (Robert Beals):
Not too much to report this month, the storage containers have been moved and repositioned one final time and the practice field is still being worked on.

Hopefully the weather will improve within the next few weeks so the final grading and preparation can be completed and grass seed can be planted so the field will be ready for use soon.

Would also like to send out a reminder that broadheads are strictly prohibited on the 3d course and until the practice field is completed there are NO designated targets for broadhead use.

Security (Bill MacKenzie):
During the month there were no issues reported.

Facilities (Mike Pierce):
Spring time is upon us again. The work party is scheduled for April 30th. Rain date scheduled May 7th.

Work progress on outside pistol range is progressing. Foundation for new pistol range has now been completed. Next step is to install shooting house.

Containers for archery range are being moved to the top of the hill so that we can move the garage up from its location to continue progress on the new trap range.

New blinds have been installed on club house windows.

Ladies and Men's room are being remolded to improve the look and to reduce the amount maintenance required to clean.

See you all at the spring clean up!

Community Relations (Matt Lavoie):
We are accepting applications for scholarships to family members of club members to be awarded in June. The application can be found at http://andoversportsmensclub.org/downloads/scholarship-application.pdf, and can be mailed or scanned and emailed to me (matt.lavoie@andoversportsmensclub.org). The deadline for applications is the end of May.

Every year we sponsor two campers for Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp from July 31 through August 12, to be held at Moses Scout Reservation, Russell, MA. We are accepting names now for consideration. Please email me (see above), or see me at any meeting to submit a name. The deadline is the end of April.

Plans are also underway for one of our biggest community events of the year, the 2016 Fishing Derby. It will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at Sudden Pond and will start at 6:00 am. Please let me know if you are available to help.

The club has made a $2000 donation to the Veterans Northeast Outreach Center in Haverhill for the month of April.

Training (Steve Cioffi):
We had a very successful RSO training. 65 members are now certified RSO. We had 35 people take the First Aid training with tourniquet training. We have added an Intro to building an AR. This class is almost full. Our youth shotgun program will kick off April 15 AND 16TH.

Stay tuned for new and upcoming classes. Watch the calendar and front page for an upcoming RSO meeting where the RSO's will be issued Andover Sportsmens club RSO pins.

Membership (Steve Harsfald):
Greetings Old, New, and Prospective Members:
Membership is still busy giving tours to prospective members and planning for full membership meetings until June.  Please note and read the article on the website front page to all prospective members submitting an application between now and June 9, 2016.  This article and the membership page has all the information you need to become a member at the June 26th special membership meeting.  After the June 26th special meeting, the next membership meeting will be September 2016.  All applications received AFTER June 9, 2016 will be received on a "first in basis" and when September is full you will be rolled over to the next month available.

All the positions and most of the work done at our club is volunteer.  When we put information on the website, send emails, post rules on the ranges, and take our time to give range safety orientations, we ask that you PLEASE READ & PAY ATTENTION to the information. This is for your safety and everyone else at our club.  Many times I have had members tell me they didn't see the information in an email.......when it was a paragraph with ********* at the start and finish.  I was standing at the trap range one Sunday watching a member and child walking across the parking lot with what appeared to be a BB gun rifle.  I followed them into the indoor range and introduced myself and asked "is that a BB gun, and how old is your child"  The answer was YES it is a BB gun and the child was 7 years old.  I explained the rules and the "new member" was very sorry, said he didn't know and left.  I know for a fact that this information was given in the Range Safety Orientation and is in the printed range rules new members have in their packet, on the website and on the specific range.

SAFETY  SAFETY  SAFETY & PLEASE READ AND OBEY RANGE RULES AT ALL TIMES.  In the new world that we now live in accidents do not take a holiday and do not discriminate who gets hurt.  With 2000 members ASC has a great safety record, NEVER forget safety.  SEE SOMETHING....................SAY SOMETHING!!
As always please free to email any questions or concerns you have.

Membership:
Existing members: 1775
Life Members: 192
Pending Members: 29
Total Members: 1996