Once again our club has been designated an NRA Gold Medal Club for 2020. This is an annual award based upon meeting criteria for 100% NRA membership, publishing a club newsletter, operating an active youth program, membership in the NRA's state association (California Rifle & Pistol Association), and an active NRA recruiting program. Thanks to all the members who assisted in making our club a Gold Medal Club for 2020! 

All members will receive their annual membership renewal notice on/about December 1st.  Annual dues have increased 425, to $125/year for Regular Adult and Senior Members to help cover the costs of environmental cleanup work and other range operating expenses. This is the first dues increase in at least 5 years.  

Please check and update your membership profile this month to make sure your NRA expiration date and other information is correct.

Many members have not listed an emergency contact on their profile. If you haven't listed an emergency contact, or it has changed, please update your  profile on the website. It's very important for us to have the emergency contact information...if you become ill or are injured on the range, we need to know who to contact. 

On March 1, 2019 the NRA increased their membership fees.  However, you still get a better deal on our Club's website, and when you renew using the button on our home page, your club gets a commission from the NRA.  The new fees are: 

Today someone shot one of the red lights that we use to indicate a cease fire in the pistol house. It may have been an accident and we certainly hope it wasn't deliberate. It looks like it was a 22, based on the size of the hole in the shatterproof bulb.

We expect whoever did this to fess up and pay for the bulb and a replacement fixture.  If you shot this safety light, send an email to facilities@scottsvalleysportsmen.com and offer to pay for the damage.  Click on "Read More" to see pictures. 

The broken hand washing station in the pistol house has been replaced by a new unit.  Be sure to wash you hands after shooting to remove any lead residue before eating or smoking!  

Last night the Club held it's first new Youth Training Program class in the pistol house, with 10 scouts, several parents and Club NRA Certified Instructors. Everyone had a good time and the young folks learned a lot about firearms safety and marksmanship. 

Huge thanks to Charlie Baum for organizing this and all the others who have volunteered to be Instructors, Robert Cobez for training and certifying the Instructors, and the Club's Board of Directors for funding the program. 

After some delays getting the old Porta-Potty from D&G Sanitation removed from the premises, we now have the new one from Ace Portables in Watsonville installed and ready for use. It's the same kind, but a bit newer and cleaner. We expect the service to be much better.  Clean-outs are scheduled to occur every Thursday, and they will also clean out and service the older, green potty that belongs to the club.  

If you have an Apple IPhone, you can download an application that will display some selected information from our website, including the events calendar. It will give you the ability to sign up or make changes to your registration for events. You will not have as much capability as the full web site, but it may be of use to some of you. 

You can download this from the Apple App Store. Look for the Wild Apricot App for MEMBERS. 

Note that while the app has the capability to display a directory of members, the club has chosen not to enable that feature for privacy reasons. If you see a selection on the screen for a members directory, it will be turned off.
 
Unfortunately, I do not have an iPhone and have not had an opportunity to download and try this App myself...so I can't help you if you need some assistance. Perhaps some adventurous member who is reasonably computer savvy will download it, figure out how to set it up and send me an email to treasurer@scottsvalleysportsmen.com. 

Wild Apricot is working on an Android version of this app, but the timetable for delivery has not been announced.  

At the February 2018 Board Of Directors Meeting, a decision was made to increase the initiation fee from $40 to $75, and to pro-rate the annual dues collected at initiation based on the month of initiation. A schedule of fees was established as follows:

Orientation Month	Initiation Fee	Dues Collected
January	$75	$100
February	$75	$  95
March	$75	$  85
April	$75	$  75
May	$75	$  65
June	$75	$  55
July	$75	$  50
August	$75	$  45
September	$75	$  35
October	$75	$135 (includes following year dues)
November	$75	$135 (includes following year dues)
December	$75	$135 (includes following year dues)

The initiation fee was raised to better reflect the time and effort expended by club officers in organizing the entire onboarding process for new members including interviews, range safety orientation classes, creating new member credentials and tracking meeting / club service attendance by probationary members. This fee goes to the club treasury, but we believe it should reflect the value of the time volunteered to manage the process. 

The dues pro-rating is intended to be fairer to those members who join late in the year instead of charging a whole year of dues for members who join mid-year. Members who attend their Range Safety Orientation in October, November or December are also charged for the following year dues and will not have to renew their membership almost immediately after joining.