Meeting Minutes     September 4, 2003 Meeting was called to order by president Richard Yeargan at 7:31 p.m. Members in Attendance: Rich & Pegi Hughes Ken Ketterling Mark Stoller Ron Delaney Richard & Gigi Yeargan Pete Elmer Don Weber Fred Michael Larry & Carol Whitehead Mike & Tami Stoller Mike Mole (guest of Mark Stoller) Gareth & Carol Hilborn Gary Pearson President’s report: The kiosk project and camp out have been keeping him busy. The jeep and the garage are not getting worked on. Vice President’s Report- None. Treasurer’s Report: Mark passed out a copy of the most recent report. He paid the BRC dues and took in $120.00 in new member dues. Bank balance $981.72. Mark wanted to bring up the fact that the Forest Service did not provide the materials for the kiosk project and that all materials were either purchased by or donated by club members. The largest bulk of the materials were purchased by Richard, and Mark has receipts totaling $533.70. Mark moved to reimburse Richard for the supplies. Seconded and passed by a majority of members present. It was also acknowledged that Scott donated the plexiglass and thanks are sent to him for that. Secretary’s Report: Mike read the minutes from the last meeting. Membership Chair’s Report: Ron reported that we voted in three new member families at Hope Valley over the Labor Day weekend. Welcome Don & Nancy Bryant, Jerry & Barbary Sparkman and Fred & Teddy Michael. He also reported that Mike and Sally Mole were working toward fulfilling their requirements for membership. Delvin also seemed interested in membership. Ron said that he had been contacted by someone from Shingle Springs who was inquiring on behalf of 5-6 families that were looking for a club. Ron wrote back to the guy regarding his inquiry. Delegate/Land Use: Richard reported that trail grooming at Bear River Report was not going to be funded this year. The area ranger is not OHV friendly, therefore, is not going to apply for the grant. He feels this will hurt the local economy. He thought we might need to do a letter writing campaign, but he would keep the membership posted via email or the website. Correspondence: Ron passed around items he had received. BRC key chains are still available. Richard reported that he had corresponded with Tim & Patty Cremins who had signed up for the Rubicon Run. He asked about their rig and personal specifications. They did reply with enough information to determine that they would likey be able to do this run. They learned about us from Bill Myers. They will be sent an email letting them know that we welcome them on this run. Ron will also place another hat order. Past Runs: Kiosk Project: The kiosks on both ends of the trail are complete. Thanks to Mark and Diede Construction for supplying the big compressor and jack hammers. This made the work much easier and the whole thing made a good impression on the rangers. Mark brought up adding a wood placard with our club name to the sign (2” x 6” so it is smaller than the other stuff). This will acknowledge our donation of time and materials to the project. Richard will make sure that it is okay to add our name to the kiosk before we do anything for that. We were hoping we might be able to add it at trail closure this year or when we open it again next spring. Richard was still looking for some type of adhesive that would hold the plexiglass. He is going to order some new glue and give it a try. Old Business: Strawberry Trail: Richard was unable to make contact with anyone to see if we could adopt the Strawberry Trail. Ron will work on trying to make contact and get more information. This trail is in serious need of some brush control and wash-outs. New Business: American Cancer Society Relay for Life- Pete reported that this event is Saturday, September 20 at the Amador H.S. track. He thought it would be nice to have a few people present. To either volunteer to help out or to walk. Richard felt that it would be good publicity for the club and encourage all who didn’t have something else going on to try to make it. Richard suggested Mike add a sign up are on the web page. Pirate’s Clean-Up: September 27 with FOTR support. There is still a need for team leaders and clubs. There are many different areas/work details available. People need to volunteer for jobs. There will be a raffle and party afterwards. If you are interested, please contact Del to find out where you can help. Winter Fun Fest: Do we want to volunteer to sever dinner again? Both Friday and Saturday nights are available. The membership felt that Friday ngiht would be a problem because some people wouldn’t be there until late. Richard was going to get the date and ask about the discount details. It was thought by most that we would probably do dinner Saturday night again. Website Changes: Mike has added a statement to all of the pages regarding guests. Mike read what had been placed on the pages and why it was thought to be necessary. The Board of Directors were going to get a checklist together (via email) so that when guests sign up that we don’t know, we can send this to them asking for more information prior to allowing them to participate. The intent is not to discourage guests, but to make sure that the people and their rigs are suited to the run that they have signed up for. Make the Grade: Tami read an excerpt from In-Gear regarding a grant program that seeks to gather information from trail users regarding what they do with used oil and filters. Clubs can earn money for participating and gathering the survey information. The club agreed that we should participate in this. Ron said that he was the CA4WD contact person and he didn’t recall getting anything from them. It was recommended that Tami make contact and order enough supplies for four days. Petition re: Stanislaus County Trails: Del was circulating a petition. Please sign it if you have not done so already. Thanks for bringing this up Don. Gareth picked up some of the collapsible rakes and has them at the meeting for those that need one. Past Runs: Oregon Dunes: Ron reported that his family, Dave & family, Wes & Barbara, Mark & Emily had a great time at the Oregon dunes. He said it is ¾ mile wide by 13 miles long. Weather was great. They did a jet boat ride up the Rogue River. Wes had problems with his truck and Barbara got into a head on collision with another guy on the last day. It did some damage to her quad. The next day, after getting the damaged quad home to Ron’s, Barbara’s quad was stolen from Ron’s driveway. Trina’s Tour: Gareth reported that it was a good run. Train had the camp all set up by the time everyone got up there. Gareth said it was a low key run and a good time was had by all. He said it was so relaxing the he fell asleep in his jeep. Kiosk Project: Richard said the full report and pictures would be posted to the website soon. Labor Day: There were 44 members, 22 guests and 17 animals present. Saturday was the Deer Valley run.16 rigs went all the way through without incident. Had dinner in Hermit Valley and then 4 went back over the trail on a night run and the rest went back to camp via the highway. Was a good run and saw many illegal campfires. Sunday the group split up. Richard led a group to Barney Riley, Del led a group to the Sweetwater and Ron led a small group over the Strawberry Trail. Everyone had a good time on their runs. Weather was a bit unsettled with some hail in the mountains. Everyone reconvened at camp for an awesome pot luck. Thanks Rand for such a great job cooking the meat and to everyone for bringing a dish to share. Sierra Trek: Ketterlings went to Sierra Trek. They had problems and didn’t run the trail. They heard it was pretty rough and they thought attendance seemed down. Ken said the whole event just doesn’t feel right anymore. An SUV component was added, but Ken didn’t know how well it was received. They left at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Future Runs: September 13-BBQ at Ketterlings. 3:00 p.m.. A map was circulated. BYOB, chairs and a dish to share. September 20-Rubicon-all the way through, tent camping. October 4-garage sale at Ron’s. October 18-close the adopt-a-trail-weather permitting. October 25-Apple Hill run. Will be chartering a bus again this year. November 8-9-Topaz Lodge SUV run. Thanksgiving-Ron is going to Winemucca again if anyone else is interested. December 6-Christmas Party. Will try to have it at Richard’s house, but if not, will be at Ron’s again. December 28-January 4th-New Year’s Eve at Doran Beach. Gull Campground spaces 37-49-make your reservations soon. Adjourn: 9:05 p.m.