HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. Our CCSC Annual Meeting was held today to elect new Board members and discuss several critical issues facing the club after our damaged gliders and facilities. It was quite well attended and there may have been more in attendance than we've seen in a few years.

2. Jack Wiegand and I went flying for his refresher flight. Nothing wrong with Jack's skill set for soaring. He just needs to begin flying more as the weather now starts to improve for soaring.

3. Hanna Marlette and Frank Owen went flying together and I'm not sure who did more of the flying, Frank or Hanna. But it seemed that she did the takeoff so at least Frank let ladies go first.

4. Anthony Squires visited Avenal for the first time in many months. He lives in San Diego and once in awhile gets up to Fresno for a few days and makes sure he gets to Avenal to maintain his glider skill set. He is a licensed glider pilot and has soloed in power planes enroute to his add-on rating in power one of these days.

5. Curtis Modin, our recent senior solo pilot, came out for two refresher flights so that he can begin to log solo flights enroute to his license. Curtis just needs to fly more often because his skill set is very good but rusts more easily than the younger generation.

6. The "Boot Caper" occupied Jack and Hanna for the better part of an hour. They were determined to unlace, then retie Harold's boot laces around both ankles without him waking up. A few times they got a scare when either Harold "snorted" loudly or Loyal walked up to the patio. But true to "Mission Impossible" they accomplished the feat (no pun intended) and when Harold woke up, his feet were tied together. Nice work you two. Just goes to show you what kinds of interesting and academic things young people occupy themselves with when they have too much free time.

7. Jack Wiegand played monkey a few times jumping from the trees next to the patio without breaking an ankle. Lucky or skilled???

8. We just found out that Jacob Mersino has been accepted to the Air Force Academy located in Colorado Springs, CO. He has been waiting for word about his acceptance for nearly a year and finally it came. We are thrilled as much as he is to see him progress in his flying career because it all began at Avenal with his early solo on August 23, 2003 at age 14 years, one month, then his license on his 16th birthday, then his power flying solo, and now this. WOW !! We will be seeing him fly the F-22 Raptor one of these days and we can say, "We remember him when he was too small to reach the rudder pedals". Great accomplishment, Jacob, now we'll have a reason to fly the Dakota to Colorado Springs a few times in the next four years.

9. Sherri Demsky visited us for a few minutes late in the day. She has been working in Fresno, and living on a farm in Lemoore. Busy is the word for her life. Matt Demsky has been traveling all over the U.S. while Jon Demsky still works on water projects for Granger Water Supplies. Welcome back, Sherri.

Central California Soaring Club

General Membership Meeting

February 16, 2008

The annual meeting was called to order by Roy Norman.  Roy had a tough presentation this year.  He went over the losses that have occurred over this past year.  The loss of a club ship, future glider cover, patio cover, another member’s ship; Loyal moving to Hawaii at some future date and our biggest loss, the passing of  Vice-President Dennis Mast.

Roy then moved on to recognition of those who have done so much over the past year.  First was Jim Burgess for his tireless devotion to the erecting of the glider cover.  He spent many days erecting it only to see Mother Nature tear it down.  Next he recognized Loyal for his continued support of the club with his tows and maintenance of the runway and watching over things.  Mike McClellan was recognized for all this work on the shower and the many hours he spent working and reworking the forms for the shelter structure.  Lastly, Richard Walker was recognized for his assistance on the shower project.

Roy stated that at his request, club member and CPA Peter Mersino, had audited the financial records for the year 2007 and found them to be in good order.

Roy then announced that he would not be continuing on as President and opened the floor for nominations.  Mario Crosina was a choice by many, but he declined the invitation.  Roy then nominated Richard Walker.  A second from the floor followed by closing of nominations sealed his fate and he was elected. 

            A short adjournment followed to allow several late arriving members who flew in to attend the meeting.

            After our short adjournment the Operations Officer’s position was opened up for nominations.  Dan was asked if he could continue in that office and said he could.    A motion to nominate Dan was proposed and seconded.  Dan was elected unanimously.  The Vice-Presidents position was not filled by the Board since it was so close to the annual meeting and so Mario Crosina was nominated from the floor, a seconded recorded and again a unanimous vote ensued

The next order of business was a discussion of what we would do without Loyal as our tow pilot.  The discussion continued with members voicing their concerns about the ways to launch aircraft.  This included purchase of Loyal’s plane; contract towing and supplemental winch tow options.  The membership then left it to the Board to entertain the options discussed and present the alternatives at some future forum. 

Next the membership discussed a variety of issues.  The patio cover, upcoming contest, at this juncture Mario Crosina, prior contest director, mentioned the ever increasing problem in getting tow planes for the contest and the fact that there are not enough contestants to cover the costs of staging a contest, Mario suggested that a fly-in type week-end might be more successful in lieu of a contest, membership recruitment, monthly and quarterly meetings, clean up issues, funding for towing operations.  Dan Gudgel also discussed the need to have clear guidelines on proper towing procedures. He will issue those consistent with the type of equipment and method used.

The new president then addressed the meeting with the need for an alert system for the club, security concerns when Loyal leaves for Hawaii, emails to members to disseminate meeting minutes, and projects the members might desire

            One item that was overlooked by the new President was his thanking Roy Norman for his service to the club.  His persistence in and close oversight of the shower project got it completed in time for the Women’s seminar and almost in time for the contest.  Thanks Roy and the new President has promised he will be picking your brain for what to do as President.

Several projects were mentioned that need to be accomplished; airport clean-up, finish recovering the patio, and salvaging the parts from the wreckage of the hangar shelter.

Meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm