Ho, Ho, Ho – Merry Christmas!
Tis the season to be merry - especially with the snow.


November Membership Meeting: On Thursday night, November 20th the membership meeting was held at the Greene Township Building. There were 14 members and 8 Board members in attendance.
Our grooming sleds have been readied for the season by member Dave Hershey. In addition to general maintenance needs, a new windshield was installed and some clutch work was performed. Dave also alerted us to some metal fatiguing along the track tunnels from drag load stresses. After transporting the sleds back to Erie, Fred Morris and Bob Hunt obtained the necessary materials, fabricated rail reinforcements and installed them to strengthen the stressed areas. Thanks Dave, Fred and Bob!

It was discussed at the meeting how there was an article in the same day’s edition of the Erie Times News which announced that our request for $97,900.00 to use towards our new groomer had been approved by the DCNR. A big THANK YOU goes out to Kent Kessler for all his hard work putting together the grant request and submitting it on behalf of all our club members. Thanks Kent!

This DCNR grant represents 80% of the groomer’s cost. Our club must match 20% of the cost with our own funds. This is why our fundraisers and membership renewals are so important! We really want to provide even better groomed trails with new equipment, but we need everyone’s help to make this happen.

A change to our bylaws ARTICLE IV DUES, Section 3 is being proposed. (2nd reading – to be voted on at January’s meeting)
Current wording: Dues shall be paid for the membership period of November 1st to the following October 31st. Any member joining the Club after January 1st will not be charged a renewal fee for the following year.
Proposed wording: Dues shall be paid for the membership period of December 1st to the following November 30th.

Fundraiser: Our first fundraiser of the season is underway. Many tickets have been sold and turned in, but there is still time to have more included in the drawing on December 18th. If you have not yet sent yours in for the drawing, please plan to bring them to the December membership meeting on December 18th or send them to our PO Box in time to be included in the drawing. Some lucky winners will have some extra spending money for the holidays. Remember, First prize is $500.00, second prize is $250.00 and third prize is $150.00. Also, the seller of the First prize ticket will receive $25.00. Thank You very much if you have sold and turned in tickets that were sent to you! If you would like more to sell, please call Keith Zambrzycki at (814) 838-1999 and he can get more to you.

Charity Drive: The second of three collections for the area food pantry was taken at the November meeting. With the donations that were mailed and those given at the meeting, we added an additional $153.00 to our total! When added to the total from last month, we now have $236.00 for the Greene Township Food Pantry. If you have not yet donated, you still have time to add your gift to this worthy cause. Donations will also be taken at the December meeting. If you don’t think you will be able to attend this meeting but would like to donate, you can mail your donation to; Wales Sno-Drifters, Inc., PO Box 7223, Wesleyville Station, Erie, PA. 16510. Your donation will enable the food pantry to buy $34 of food with each $1 donated. Last year we raised $375 – how much will be raised this year? We’ll have to wait and see. The club will add its contribution to the membership gifts and the total will be submitted for matching gifts and presented to the food pantry in January.

Trail Work: At the November meeting many of the members present signed up for sections of the trail for sign placement. This approach seemed to work well and the trails are shaping up from all of the recent work – and there has been a LOT of it.

On Sunday November 16th, a work crew consisting of John Luchs, Chris Curtis, Steve Curtis, Tom Mack, Bob Perry and Steve Hair stripped all the bridge planks, sacrifice board and ski rail off the character bridge between Morgan and Raymond roads. Approximately half the bridge was rebuilt that day with another 30 planks to go. Work was tough due to a lot of mud but the mud did prove useful in absorbing any tools or nails that came near it.

Tom Mack not only donated a new cutting chain and maintenance to our club chainsaw, but he also donated the use of his 'Gator' for trail work. Thanks Tom!

The scheduled trail signing on November 22nd and 23rd went very well. There was ample help. On Saturday, the workers were Mark Omniewski, Brad Bilski, Tim Bowers, Josh Bowers, Jim Johnson, Brady Johnson, David Smith, Keith Zambrzycki, Mark Sonney, Frank Winkelbauer, Christine Winkelbauer, Lance Dunn, Clint Lindquist, Fred Morris, Dan Postlewaite, Bob Hunt, George Engesser Jr. and Ken Zambrzycki. In addition, Steve Hair and his crew, consisting of Regan Tanner, John Luchs, Bob Perry and Mike Murdock, put up all the trail markings and fencing at Beechwood Inn. Thanks go out not only to the above, but also to Larry Myers for plowing out the Storage Barn parking area and to anyone else that may have worked but did not get their names on the sign-in sheet that Saturday.

On Sunday the 23rd, the workers were Randy Slomski, Alec Slomski, Fred Morris, Bob Hunt, Craig Smith and Tom Hall. Again, thanks to all who helped even if you did not get on the sign-in sheet.

On Friday November 28th, fifteen hardy souls (and members of the Wales Club) ventured into the deep snow and handled the marking/fencing of the reroute across private property so a connection could be maintained between our trails and those of Presque Isle at Lake Pleasant Rd. The re-route was necessary as a Verizon communication tower is being built where the old trail was. We have access for this crossing for this sled season only, so let us know if you know of a way to re-route this area for the next season.

After the re-route was complete, the same crew of Marvin Miller, Travis Miller, Chris Curtis, Steve Curtis, John Luchs, Bob Perry, Steve Hair, Larry Myers, Bob Hunt, Fred Morris, Marc Matczak, Tom Matczak, Brad Bilski, Brian Polito and Mark Omniewski tackled the fencing/marking at the Stubenhoffer nursery property.

A big THANK YOU goes out for all the above work to make the trails ready (and safer) for the rest of us!

All trails, other than the Game Lands, will open (with snow) on December 14th, after hunting season ends. As mentioned before, the start date for snowmobile riding in the Game Lands has been changed. Riding is not permitted in the Game Lands until January 22, 2009. As a result of this change, our Poker Run this year will be held Saturday, January 31, 2009. We continue to caution you and all of your friends to only ride on the trail which the Game Commission approves for us to follow through the Game Lands. Please respect the Game Commission and their delayed opening of the Game Land trail. We would not want to loose this major connector to Phillipsville and the #4 trail to New York.

Membership: The 07-08 memberships have ended! To date, we have received 3 new members, but only 59 08-09 renewals. We thank these snowmobilers very much for their support. The renewal rate is rather sad compared to the 122 members we had last year. If you know anyone that has not yet renewed, gently remind them it’s not too late to renew. But after this, they will no longer be receiving the newsletter or be considered a member in good standing. 47 of our renewing members have granted us use of their E-mail addresses for club correspondence. This saves the club $20 every mailing; monies that can be used on trail improvements! Thanks! If you receive your club info by regular mail and have an E-mail address, please consider sharing it with us to reduce our postage bill. E-mail your address to TBowers3@roadrunner.com and I’ll add you to our list.

Acknowledgements: Again this year, Off Road Express has generously agreed to underwrite a portion of our trail grooming cost. Their contribution will go toward fuel for the grooming sleds. At today’s gas prices, it will cost $50 each time the grooming sleds are sent out or $100 to groom the “Wales Loop”. When you are in at Off Road, remember to tell them Thanks! If you’re looking for a sled; Off Road has a large selection of late models sleds priced to sell – all makes and models. Check them out!

Poker Run: Keep Saturday, January 31st 2009 in mind for our Poker Run. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate, but if there is no snow that day, we will try again on 2/7/09.

Next Meeting: The next general membership meeting will be held Thursday, December 18th, at 8:00pm at the Greene Township Building. Please take note of the week earlier date due to the Holidays. Its party time – as usual the meeting is short and the festivities are great. Please bring a season favorite eatable to share as we celebrate Christmas time! Come join the meeting and tell us all what you think of the early snowfall! In your excitement, don’t forget to bring your tickets for the Ca$h for Ga$ drawing, your donation to the food pantry and your membership renewal (if you haven’t already turned these all in). The early snowfall is certainly encouraging that we may have a great riding season ahead of us.

Come and join us at the meeting.- T. Bowers

P.S.

If you have not gotten the chance to renew your Wales Sno-Drifters membership yet, please use our membership application form on our website by using this link:

http://walessnodrifters.com/application.html