Minutes from March 8, 2003 MAJ Meeting
Don Hudson opened the meeting at 5:45 p.m. This months
meeting was held at Cesare’s Italian Restaurant. Ten active members, one
supporting member, two applicants, and two visitors attended the meeting. This
months meeting was held an hour early to allow members to attends VA4WDA Casino
Night. Following are the details from the meeting.
President’s Report:
- Day
trip next weekend to Shoe Creek. Time and location to meet will be posted
on board.
- Trying
to obtain sponsorship from Whitten is still in progress.
- VA4WDA
Casino Night is tonight. Don has tickets for $12. They will be $15 at the
door.
- Big
Dogs Icebreaker is coming up. Trail maintenance will be on Friday if
weather permits.
- The
meeting location is still under investigation. We are looking into
Mechanicsville, and Colonial Heights libraries. Mechanicsville has a first
come first serve policy and can only be booked one month in advance.
Colonial Heights can be booked indefinitely, but would require moving the
meeting to the 3rd Saturday of each month.
- Next
months meeting will be held at the Mechanicsville Branch Library, 7179
Stonewall Parkway, Mechanicsville, VA 23111. Meeting will be held at 5pm
and must be finished by 5:45pm.
- At the
VA4WDA Annual Meeting, they requested food and event ideas for the
September Crab Feast. Any ideas can be given to Don. VA4WDA is also
looking to fill vice president and treasurer positions.
- John
Bowmer was selected for the March “Jeep of the Month.”
- On the
member’s board, a database has been set up for everyone to fill out name,
address, and phone number. This is not a requirement, just a convenient
way to allow members to contact one another.
Vice President’s Report:
- Hunter
was unable to attend meeting.
Treasurer’s Report:
- The
club has approximately $800 in the account. The vast majority of this will
go towards taxes, and VA4WDA dues. Payments have been made for the P.O.
Box and the domain name for the year. (Secretary’s note: This does not yet
account for the $200 owed to Lee for keeping the account positive.)
Secretary’s Report:
Land Use Officer’s Report:
- In the
last Blue Ribbon Coalition (http://www.sharetrails.org) magazine, there
was an article about use of grant money by conservation organizations.
Much of the money from grants goes right back to lobbyists. Nature
Conservancy received approx. $146 million in grants and World Wildlife
Foundation received approximately $96 million. Proposals are being made to
only allow grant money to be used for directly supporting the causes. To
assist in the efforts, we ask that you donate the cost of one tank of gas
to VA4WDA or to Blue Ribbon Coalition.
- The
Endangered Species Act has been used to extremes far beyond the original
intent. It has been used to close access even in life threatening/saving
situations. Senator Dale Albright is drafting revisions to the act and
urges the public to write their senator and representative in favor of
revision to the act.
- With
Spring approaching, please “self-police” by making sure you and others
“tread lightly” and if you “pack it in, then pack it out.”
Board Member Reports:
Meeting was closed at 6:10pm.