Board of Directors Update - May 2014

The Board of Directors reports are as follows for the month of May 2014.

Please see the separate "Letter from the President" for this month's President's Report.

Vice President (Frank Bleszinski):
The Youth Firearm Safety program has had great success thus far with 40 youths completing the class and receiving badges that allow supervised usage of the Indoor and Outdoor Ranges. More sessions are being planned and will be posted on the web site soon. Special thanks to the volunteer instructors, who have made this program a success: Karen Farris, Tim Gallant, John King, Matt Lavoie, Lou Lopresti, Jim Lombard, Mike Pierce and Joe Viscione.

We are also looking for an adult member willing to take the lead for an organized Youth firearm event or league. If interested, please contact me (fjbasc@aol.com) or Al Croteau (littlee195hillside@yahoo.com), the Indoor Range Director.

Outdoor Range (Dave Williams):
The outdoor range team is in the planning stages of expanding a portion of the rifle range out to 200 yards and adding some prone shooting ports. The plan also includes building a separate outdoor pistol range and additional room for competitive shooting.

Along with this, we plan on adding an additional 20 to 30 parking spaces to accommodate the growing membership. With that being said, we will be looking for help on Saturday during the work party.

Indoor Range (Al Croteau):
North Shore Firearms of Middleton (978-777-5151) has donated targets for the club’s training programs. They will be used by the indoor range and training for the pistol courses and the youth programs. Members should express their thanks when shopping at their store. The owners are members, and have helped the club out in the past.

Trap (Tony Capone):
April is over and spring is officially here. With the warmer weather more and more shooters will be making their way to the trap field, so as always please follow the sign up procedures and be patient.

On Saturday April 12th we held a 75 bird shoot. It turned out to be a gorgeous day to shoot trap. We had 14 shooters show up to participate and each one had a shot at the top spot, but only one can be the best. On this day it was Whit H. who persevered and took home the top spot. Thank you to Steve L. for bringing coffee and donuts. 

We will be having a team KO tournament starting in May. More info for this event will be available on the website when the date and time are finalized.

Archery (Bob Felsberg):
The wooden bridge at target # 19 on the 3D course has collapsed do to age and the heavy snow accumulation this past winter. For the May 3rd Spring work party, we will remove most of the bridge, saving the end platforms for utilization as a smaller, lower bridge crossing. Also we need to clean up fallen tree debris, and add additional lanes and targets (minimum two), to target #19, along with purchasing and installing a commercial tree stand at this target site. This will help aid/give new hunters an actual training/practice in safety and shooting from tree stands available through archery catalogs and stores.

Also, I am constructing two additional bag target frames to add to the right side of the archery outdoor range. They should be complete sometime this week, weather permitting. We will be setting these up with Big Hot Ballistic Bag Targets, to see how these will hold up. We also received the standard Morrell targets, which have worked well in the past.

Tuesday Night Archery is going well, and more people are turning out with the improving weather. Saturday mornings are also attracting larger groups of archers. See club calendar for updates and details.

Club member Bob Dalton would like to have access again to the archery range, in order to qualify hunters for hunting permits in Andover for 2014. Last year’s requirements were demonstrating proficiency at a 25 yard target, and I will work out a date with him on this, and have it posted on the club calendar.

Security (William MacKenzie):
During the last week of April, I looked into a possible problem reported to me concerning the outdoor range and the trajectory of rounds being fired on the 25 yard range.

I went to the range last week and observed some skip marks on the ground just before the berm. It seems that some of the rounds are skipping when a shooter is shooting at targets at the 30 foot mark. I visited the range again and found that some members were using short target stands at the 30 foot mark and bullets were hitting the ground just in front of the 25 yard berm causing the bullets to skip and possibly go over the berm.

The member was instructed to use the taller target stands so as not to cause any possibility of rounds to skip over the berm.

I will link up with the outdoor range director to further investigate the situation and if a problem exists, we will rectify the situation.

Facilities (Mike Pierce):
The following facilities projects are those completed, initiated, or proposed that are in addition to general maintenance projects. There is no assurance that those listed on the "wish list" will be progressed further as that will be largely dependant upon completion of appropriate due diligence/feasibility undertakings.

Projects Completed:

• New filters were installed in the air make up system on March 31, 2014 for the indoor range, and the air quality is noticeably improved. The lower level of the club house has been de-leaded and all waste has been removed from club property..

Funding approved and work in progress:

• Trap shelter modifications including wiring, insulation and new siding

Approved but not yet started:

• outdoor range grading
• outdoor range rifle safety modification: decision and initiation of proposed options
• Installation of curbs in parking lot
• The archery shooting stand behind the trap range is to be relocated to a proper location

To be initiated as soon as information is available for BOD approval:

• Expansion of the paved parking area. Cost proposals are expected to be received on May 1, 2014. As soon as received, a special meeting of the BOD will be convened in order to consider a motion to allocate the funding required to immediately initiate this project

Community Relations (Paul Miller):
We are sending one boy to Junior Conservation Camp this year, Zachary P. of Wilmington. The deposit for the second camper will be used for the final payment.

On Saturday, April 26th we held our 65th Annual Fishing Derby on the shores of Sudden Pond. It was a cool, cloudy day, and the rain held off for several hours. We had 80 registrants, and nine trout were caught; the largest being 16 1/2 (two inches longer than any other). It was caught by Maxx B., of North Andover. The second largest was 14 1/2", caught by John M., of Haverhill, and the third was 14 1/4", caught by Jack M., of North Andover. The youngest to catch a trout was Dylan M., of Andover, who caught a 12 incher. Trophies were awarded to all four winners.

About 18 members helped to make the derby a success, and I thank all who were able to donate their time.

Training (Sam Washburn):
This month we’ll be offering a Skeet class for the first time on Tuesday, May 20th from 6:30-8pm. A big Thank You to Whit Hazelton for offering to teach this class. If you are interested, please go to the training section of the club web site to learn more, and to register for one of eight spaces in this new class.

Membership (Mark Klove):
This month there are 28 new member applicants for presentation at the May meeting. Come to the meeting this month to meet them!

The current membership stands at:

• Active members: 1,425
• Life members: 183
• Pending new members: 28
• Current members (exc. pending): 1,608
• Total members: 1,636