Hot Topics!
updated February 2,
2023
February 2023 New Member Induction posted
February 4, 2023
On February 4, 2023 we gave an orientation briefing
to 2 new family memberships (4 members) at the
chapterhouse. The newest members from left to right
are Lee and Amy DeMatteo and Jim Huefner (Amy Lynn
Huefner was absent for the photo).
Report on the Execution of
FY 2022 Budget Available posted
February
2, 2023
Members can access the
report that was presented at the February 2023
Membership Meeting by opening the Member Only login web page
AmazonSmile Charitable
Contributions posted
January 27, 2023
On February 20, 2023, Amazon
will be closing AmazonSmile to focus its philanthropic
giving to programs with greater impact. Member's
purchases will continue to generate Amazon donations
to the chapter until that date. See Amazon
explanation of reasoning for closing this
philanthropic means after a decade. Over the
years the chapter has received about $380 in
contributions.
January 2023 New Member
Induction posted
January 8, 2023
On January 7, 2023 we gave an orientation briefing
to 1 new individual membership at the chapterhouse.
The newest member (actually a returning member) is
William Wang. We welcome Bill back as a member of
the chapter. He is pictured below:
New Chapter Operational Policies Approved (Posted
January 8, 2023)
On January 2 , 2023, the chapter board of directors
met, discussed and approved updates to the Attachment 1
to Bylaws constituting the Operational Procures.
As the policies were last modified in 2018, this
constitutes an update to this document required at least
every 5 years. The new Attachment 1, Operational
Procedures can be located as a link to a PDF file in the
Member
Lggin area of this website.
New
IWLA Logo Replaces the Old - Effective Immediately
(Posted
December 31, 2022)
New logo pictured above
Absolute Final Deadline for Chapter Membership Renewal
is January 31 and you must Pay a late fee of $20 in
Addition to Other Fees
(Posted January 23, 2023)
If your 2023 dues payment is not postmarked
before February 1, 2023, you will be dropped
from the membership rolls and must submit a new
application if you want to become a member of
the chapter and the league. That means you will
be a new member and must pay the initiation fee
and commit to a service hour obligation as a
prospective member.
Remittances received on or after January 18 (the last
envelope opening session) will be opened and processed
before the end of the month by the membership
chairman. Your payments will be processed and your
access to the property, suspended if not paid by
December 31, will be reinstated. Any dues submitted will
require a $20 late fee per our operating policies.
Checks received after January 18 will be processed near
the end of the first week of February by a small group
of volunteer and deposited in the bank soon
thereafter. That will be the last organized
renewal session of 2023.
Events for the week February 5 and Our Next Chapter
Work Day on March 4, 2023 (Updated
February 4, 2023)
See the official
chapter calendar for events during the month and
for any changes to the official event schedules.
Note especially our monthly slate of meetings.
If you desire an event to be placed on the calendar,
please communicate with the president, Herbert Pritchett
Sr at his cell phone number 540-226-0015
or his email address hwpritchettsr@yahoo.com. You
should also reference the event requirements detailed in
the Premises
Use Agreement located on the Facilities
web page.
Our active mowing season ended the week of October
27. During the active mowing season, each Thursday
is designated as a mowing/string trimming day starting
in early spring. The activity will usually start
at 8 am or earlier and last until the grass and weeds
have been cut. This schedule will commence at the end of
April and will continue until first frost curtails the
growth near the end of October. If the day is a
washout, it might be rescheduled. Watch for an
email notice.
Usually in the first week of the month, the chapter
will hold our board meeting on Monday (sometimes Tuesday
if there is a holiday or event such as Halloween)
evening at 6:30 pm and our membership meeting on
Thursday evening at 7 pm. Both meetings will be in the
chapter house.
Scheduled monthly workdays (first Saturday of the month
typical schedule):
- Saturday, grounds maintenance tasks begin at 8:00
AM, All new
members need to sign the roster sheet to obtain
credit for work hours. You must sign in
when you arrive and sign out when you
leave. There are no exceptions. The
kitchen area of the chapter house is off-limits
except for kitchen crew on work day.
- Saturday, Adopt-a-Highway roadside pickup event at
8:30 am (A roadside pickup is usually planned for
work day if there is trash to collect; Watch here
for a notice for our next pickup which wil be when a
little warmer weather arrives. For safety reasons a
pickup will not be scheduled if the roadways are wet
and slippery even if the rain has subsided.) There will not be a need for a
pickup until early 2023. IMPORTANT: When a pick-up
is scheduled and you are intending to participate,
review and heed the safety requirements on the Conservation
page.
- Saturday, 9 AM, Prospective member interviews
in the Activity Center temperature permitting (or
chapterhouse-- ask) and new member orientation in
chapterhouse.
- Saturday, All-in-One badging photos between 9:30 AM to 12 noon. The photo sitting will be
first come first served. If you are possessing a
temporary access badge (either orange or white),
please come in to obtain a proper photo ID. If you
are replacing a badge (where a photo exists but
the badge has failed due to misuse) there will be
a new photo badge reissued for a fee of $10 using
either your archived photo or a new photo taken at
the time of issue.
- Saturday, around 10 AM, a trap thrower training
session will be offered as needed and weather
permitting for the auto clay pigeon thrower with
wobbler base on shotgun range (range 4). This is a
15 minute tutorial and demonstration (if demand
exists; please advise Sandy Stanford if you want an
orientation.)
- Saturday after work has completed there will be a
lunch served in the activity center or the
chapterhouse if weather is too cold before workday
is considered complete.
Note: In consideration of the fact that members are
volunteering their efforts in support of the chapter on
monthly workdays other recreational pursuits (fishing or
shooting as prime examples) are closed until workday is
complete. It could be as late as 2 PM although it might
end as early as 1 PM when work has completed. The
workday tasks have priority and all members are
requested to participate whether or not required new
member work hours have been met.
No
other events are presently planned, however, it is
always prudent to check with the official chapter calendar for any last
minute changes.
December 2022 New Member
Induction posted
December 3, 2022
On December 3, 2022 we gave an orientation to 1 new
family membership at the chapterhouse. The newest
members are David and Laurie Dodson and are pictured
below:
Our Pond has been Stocked
with Trout posted
November 19, 2022
On Friday morning, November 18, a truck from a trout
farm in West Virginia entered our gates at the property
and drove immediately to our boat launch ramp and began
to unload about 300 nice sized rainbows and at least two
sizeable brown trout. Angling is allowed
immediately and you must keep each trout you catch with
a daily creel limit of 3 trout with the possibility this
will increase later. Each fish placed into the pond
probably averages a pound and a half. Before you leave
the pond, please register your catch on the clipboard
attached inside the fishing shelter so we know how many
fish we have taken from the pond. There will be a second
stocking sometime before Christmas so fishing at the
Walton pond should deliver some pleasure and excitement
well into the winter season. A couple photos of the
stocking follow:
Status report (Sunday,
November 20): It appears from the catches
recorded that the trout are acclimated and hungry.
Several nice catches of 17 inch fish have already been
recorded. It was also noted that an angler recorded 4
fish taken on two separate days. His name has been
hidden so as to protect the identity of the
guilty. It looked like he might not have read the
catch limit rule at this stage of the season. I
have attached a copy of the clip board and recorded
catches. Also a photo of the enclosure containing
the clip board in its outer water resistant
wrapping. Please remove the clip board when
recording your catch and replace the clip board with
care so the paper does not get wet. With the
warmer weather in the coming week, the fishing should be
fun! Who is going to catch the brown trout?
Remember:
The daily limit is three trout and then you are
done!
Dues Renewal Envelope
Opening Session Number Two posted
November 14, 2022
On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, a group of dedicated
Ikes gathered at the chapterhouse to perform the ritual
opening of membership renewal enveloped for the 2023
membership year starting in January. Almost 150
envelopes were opened and payments processed for the
renewing members. The gate access periods were
adjusted to expire on January 1, 2024 so the permanent
membership cards will be operational until that date and
will open the gates for entry and exit. If you
have not renewed yet you have roughly 6 more weeks to
postmark your submission before the grace period in
January 2023 when an added late payment fee is
levied. If not paid by February 1, 2023, your
membership will lapse.
A big thanks for the sacrifice of time made by the
renewal processing crew that gathered for session
2. This result of this effort added to that of
session 1 places our renewal rate at almost 50%. The
next call will come when we have approximately 150
envelopes in hand for processing and it will be on a
Sunday. Watch for the notification.
Here is a photo of the group that staffed three tables
on last Wednesday.
Winners of the 324th
Fredericksburg Dog Mart Featured Raffle (posted
November 2, 2022)
We conducted a featured raffle this year for two
prizes... a Charles Daly, 12 gauge shotgun that was
donated by member Kevin Maxwell and a YETI cooler
donated by Green Top Sporting Goods, Ashland, VA.
The raffle tickets were sold over the course of several
months and at the Dog Mart on September 24th. The
drawing was held on October 6 at the October membership
meeting at the Fredericksburg-Rappahannock
Chapter. As the winners drawn that evening did not
need to be present, the manager of the raffle, Tammie
Pasterak, chapter board member, contacted each
winner and made arrangements for the prizes to be
delivered. So, without any further ado, the winners of
this year's featured Dog Mart Raffle are:
IWLA Member, Dave Burgess
won the Charles Daly, 12 gauge Shotgun
Non-member, Toni Kelley,
won the YETI Cooler
Congratulations to our
winners and a big thank you to Green Top Sporting Goods
and Kevin Maxwell for providing these fine prizes, to
Tammie for managing the raffle, and for all the people
that purchased the raffle tickets. We will be
having another featured raffle for next year's 325th
Fredericksburg Dog Mart on the last Saturday of
September 2023, i.e., September 30.
See some drone photos of the Fredericksburg Dog Mart
on the Activity Web Tab posted
October 16, 2022
Directors and Officers Sworn in for
2022-2023 posted
September 5, 2022
At the membership meeting on September 1, 2022, the
new directors and officers that were elected in
August were installed for the 2022-2023 board.
The past president, Steven Kotowski swore in the
members that were elected. The following photo
was taken by Shannon Christopher:
From L to R:
Jim Lloyd, vice-president; Herbert Pritchett,
president; Barbara Pritchett, secretary; Jamie
Branham, director (2 year term); Ralph Kinch,
treasurer; Tammie Pastorek, director (2 year
term). Jim Rector, director (2 year term) was
absent for the photograph.
Workday Report on
August 6, 2022 (Posted
August 7, 2022)
We had a successful workday on Saturday with a group of
volunteers that braved the humidity to continue trimming
the overhanging branches on the tree line. Some of
the Troop 21 scouts continued to outfit the pontoon boat
that will eventually allow wounded veterans to venture
out on the pond for some fishing tours. And a
number of members took advantage of some training on the
newly modified skeet thrower that now has a "wobbler"
base to make shooting clays more challenging. We
oriented 3 new members (see below). We had a great lunch
of pulled pork on fresh rolls, potato salad, cowboy
beans and rice and pickled onions. After lunch, a
large audience listened to Darrell Schultz discuss the
planning and needs for setting up Dog Mart on September
24, 2022. Much work is defined and volunteers ares
still needed. Go to our Fredericksburg Dog Mart SignUp
application and choose your task. Many
openings still exist and your help is needed. More
items are needed for this year's raffle. One of
our members has obtained several items from Green Top
which will be raffled. Green Top donated one of
these items and the member donated the other.
Raffle tickets will be sold soon for these quality items
with a desire to bring in much more than their value in
return. If you want to contribute to the raffle,
send an email to newsletter@iwlafred-rapp.org along with
an accurate description of the donated item.
Judge John W. Tobin Award for 2021 Presented Posted
May 6, 2022
At the May membership meeting the prestigious Judge
John W. Tobin Award was presented to member Al
Saunders. See additional details at the News page.
Earth Day Celebration updated
May 5, 2022
On April 23, Fredericksburg and the surrounding area
celebrated Earth Day. And the
Fredericksburg-Rappahannock Chapter of the Izaak Walton
League of America participated in the celebration of
Earth Day on the Rappahannock at Old
Mill Park. We had four tables at the event... our
chapter membership table, the Healing Waters Fly Fishermen
was there and the Apiary had a table as will Troop 21, Boy
Scouts, who helped with our barrel train attraction.
Thanks
for those that volunteered and supported at this annual
event:
New Additions to the Range Rules have been Published (Posted
March 18, 2022)
The range
rules have been updated. You may read those rules
and the changes on the Facilities
Web Page and at the Member Login page.
Welcome to the Boy Scouts of America Troop 21 (Posted
March 5, 2022)
The Fredericksburg-Rappahannock Chapter of the Izaak
Walton League of America, Inc. signed an agreement with
Boy Scouts of America, Troop 21 to make them an affiliate
of the chapter. You will notice that our calendar
has already placed a weekly meeting of the Troop on Monday
evening at 7 pm. You will also notice in the near
future and as the weather gets better additional activity
by the troop on the grounds as they begin to move their
equipment to the property. When you see the troop out at
the chapter give them a welcome.
Here are two photos from March 7, 2021 at their very
first official meeting at our chapter house:
Members of BSA Troop 21
shown with Scoutmasters Jason Stone and Craig Kibler
Scout led small
discussion group
A big Welcome to BSA
Troop 21
Zero Tolerance Policy Issued for Firearms Ranges (Posted
January 2, 2022)
On December 28 an email was sent to all subscribed
members announcing the initiation of a zero tolerance
policy for certain violations of the range rules.
All members are advised to read the email
and the current chapter Pistol,
Rifle and Shotgun Range Rules thoroughly.
This policy was instituted to increase the safety of
range operations and was effective on New Year's
Day. Note: If you are not receiving email
reminders from the chapter you might not be on the
distribution list and you are not informed about chapter
functions and operations. You can add yourself to
distribution, if a member, by applying here.
If you are not a member you will be removed after review
by the moderator.
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