 |
| Flagstaff Area ATV Club |
 |
| July Newsletter |
FLAGSTAFF AREA ATV CLUB
July Newsletter
7/9/06
President's Notes
The meeting was called to order on July 9th at the Community Building at 10:00am. We want to make an announcement that there will be a town meeting with the selectmen on July 18, 2006 to discuss a land sale off Eustis Ridge Road. Don welcomed all old and new members and introduced the Officers and the Board. Don also discussed the fact that there has been some mischief on the trails in the middle of the night. If you see any vandalism on trails or private land please call Don, no matter what time of the night it may be and he will get someone there ASAP. There are probably only a few involved but this must be stopped. Don reviewed bills as follows; Maine Sportsman - $90.00 and the Excavator was $2,000 (this was split with the snowmobile club). A motion was made and passed on the bills presented. We need to send the information to ATV Maine as to who our Director and alternate Director would be representing our club at their meetings and also voting for all of us. The club agreed that Don Plante will be our Director and Robert Dennett will be the alternate Director. Don brought up the fact that Dick Smith has a 6000-pound winch that needs a battery and would come in handy for trail work especially at the Alder Stream area. A motion was made and passed that the club would buy a new battery for the winch and pick up any costs incurred to use it. Don also reminded everyone that there is a dinner at the Natanis Camp Ground on July 22, 2006 for the club. The cost is Adults - $6.00 and Children $3.00. There will also be a 50/50 raffle drawing. The price for tickets is 1 for $1, 6 for $5 and 15 for $10. If anyone is interested in helping to sell the tickets please call Don or Sandy. We have received a nomination form for" Landowner of the Year Award." This is a great gesture to all the landowners that allow us to use their land for our recreational purposes. Dick Smith, our Trail Master will handle nominations Some of the trails near SFT closed temporarily due to the state not having this land on their map. This creates liability for the club and SFT. Once the state does add it to the map the trails will reopen. This was the first meeting since Family Fun Days and it appears the club made $440.00 from the event. The club would like to extend a huge thank you to the following organizations for their contributions in making this a success for us this year,
Hannaford-Farmington, Fotters Market, White Wolf Inn, Northland Cash Supply and Pines Market. Also a special thanks to the following folks that worked on Saturday all day in the heat, Marilyn and Carl Dodge, Ray and Nancy Charest, Phil and Yvonne Hill and Pete and Edie Manter.
Vice President's Notes
THE MUD RUN
MENTIONED IN THE VP`S REPORT HAS BEEN CANCELED! SORRY FOLKS! WE HOPE TO
BE ABLE TO DO IT NEXT YEAR WHEN INSURANCE WONT BE SO HIGH. WE APOLOGIZE
FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF
OUR CLUB.
Our club will host a "Mud Run" Saturday, August 12, 2006.
We presently have posters and the release forms. The site has been checked and approved. There will be an ad in the Maine Sportsman. All clubs in Maine have been mailed a poster. The competition will start at 10:00am with the children's run, and the other competitions to follow. We are checking on insurance and trying to find out if we can piggyback on the FABA policy for this one time event. We are going to ask the Lyons if they would like to do concessions and we will be selling hats, T-shirts and memberships. This is a great event for those folks that really want to get in the mud without ripping up trails.
Friday evening , August 11, 2006 there will be a ride for all interested starting at 6:00pm at the parking lot next to the Eustis Post Office. The ride will end at Rodney Gagne's home where there will be a BBQ and Bonfire at approximately 7:30pm. If you miss the 6:00pm meeting Rodney's place is on Porter Nadeau Road on the right hand side, just look for all the people and you won't miss it
This Ride is on !
Trail Master's Notes
Dick started with extending a big thank you to John Girouard of Ossipee NH for his kind permission of 7 years to use his land for the Split Rock connection. After the last meeting Dick met with Dennis Steavens the Representative of the Penobscott Nation and looked at where we would put bridges of which there were 4. We have put in 3 and signed the system. The climb to Snow Mountain Pond is steep and rocky and not recommended for 2-ups or novices. Don, Randall, Cappy and Dick have finished the work on Bag Mountain, 7 box culverts and the two walls. On June 14th Plum Creek called and said we could have our connector to Split Rock and Tea Pond to Alder Stream. On the 20th of June Randall finished up Bag Mountain and we moved the excavator to the Split Rock connector and started work. June 16th Don put down the remaining 5th plank on the Pines Trail. June 20th Dick sent in the request for a grant. We have spent over $7,000 and have 143 miles of trail, so Dick thinks we will get the maximum sum of $5,000 in grant money. June 29th we finished the connector with the excavator and returned it. July 4th Don and Dick finished the connection to Tea Pond and Alder Stream. Don and Dick put in the remaining 2 water bars on the Split Rock connector July 6th. July 7th Don, Ray, Pete, Carl and Dick put in the timbers for the bridge on the Split Rock Trail. Dick needs more lumber to finish planking. Bob Dennett suggested we give Dick the money needed and finish the job. A motion was made and passed that we would give Dick money for the lumber. We are also recycling wood from old bridges and other various places to use on our trail system.
ATV Newsletter
All trails on Penobscott land will close on September 15th due to hunting season.
Treasurer's Report
Bob Dennett went over the current balance in the ATV bank account.
A motion was made and passed to accept the Treasurer's report. If anyone would like the details of this report please contact Bob.
Membership Chair
Ruthanne reported that we now have 233 members of which 24 are
business memberships.
Secretary's Notes
Nancy brought up the idea of sending newsletters via e-mail to save yearly postage that will come to about $1,000.00 this year. The group decided that we would give all members the choice next year on application if they would like the newsletter sent to them via e-mail or regular post. Until then we will continue to send out the newsletter through the post except for those of you that have asked specifically to receive e-mail only. Nancy will also check into bulk mail rates since we are a nonprofit organization.
There were 28 members present for this meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:20am.
The next meeting will be on August 13th, at 10:00am at the Community Building.
2006 Officers
President Donald Plante 246-5946 damp@tds.net
Vice President Sandi Isgro 246-2922 whwolf@tdstelme.net
Treasurer bob Dennett 846-3996 rdennett@maine.rr.com
Trail Master Dick smith 246-3201 dooer@tds.net
Membership Chair Ruthanne Smith 246-3201 dooer@tds.net
Secretary Nancy Hanson 246-2232 nancyanderic@gwi.net
Safety Officer Rodney Gagnon 375-4061 swayback3@netzero.net
Board of Directors
Ray Charest 654-4557 rcharest@tdstelme.net
Pete Manter 778-3186 peteedie@tds.net
Randall Erskine 246-2910 ersk1@usa.net