Range Hours are Shorter Starting November 5
With the changing of our times back to Eastern Standard
Time, clocks should have been set back one hour.
Also, starting with this time change, all firearms
ranges are to close at 4 pm each day.
November 2023 New Member Induction posted
November 5, 2023
On November 4, 2023, Mike Weiss and Sandy Stanford gave
an orientation to several new family members at the
chapterhouse. The newest members of the chapter include,
from left to right, Melanie and Steven Bolas, and Joseph
Lahmon. Absent from the photo was Aimar Lahmon and
Delbert Myrick and Lauran Fiske, who were unable to
attend Saturday's orientation. Welcome our newest
members of the chapter.
A Group of Member Volunteers have Prepared Invoices
for the Annual Mailing
posted November 26, 2023
On Sunday, October 15, a dozen or so volunteers
gathered at the chapterhouse at 9:30 am to perform
the annual ritual of preparing the IWLA dues invoices
for 2024 for mailing.
Here is the enlarged version of the chapter
inserts placed inside your 2024 annual dues
invoice mailing. A separate email (using
MailChimp) was sent in a day or so to announce the
invoice mailing and that you should expect to receive it
sometime later this week.
If you have not received an invoice for 2024
membership, please contact the membership director,
Sandy Stanford, at stanfolr@comcast.net, to receive
instructions n how to proceed. Memberships lapse
on December 31, 2023 and gate access will be
automatically suspended.
October 2023 New Member Induction posted
October 7, 2023
On October 7, 2023, Mike Weiss and Sandy Stanford gave
an orientation to 2 individual members at the
chapterhouse. The newest members of the chapter were
affirmed by the members attending the business meeting
on the evening of October 5, 2023 and are pictured
below. The two are, from left to right, Chris Rushbrook
and Danny Dorton. Welcome our newest members
of the chapter.
325th
Fredericksburg Dog Mart Raffle posted
October
8, 2023
Again this year, member Kevin Maxwell, provided for
three high-value articles for the Dog Mart
raffle. The articles include a Stoeger 12-gauge
over and under shotgun, a 35-liter Calcutta Cooler,
and a Seiko gentleman's dress watch with black leather
band. The raffle was drawn at the October
business meeting on October 5, 2023. The first 3
tickets drawn and the winners in order are:
The Stoeger O/U shotgun was won by chapter member,
Terry Fellinger
The Calcutta cooler was won by chapter member, Scott
Henderson
The Seiko watch was won by chapter member, Bernie
Balsley
Here is this year's
poster which has been on display at several chapter
meetings and the Dog Mart until October 5 when the
drawing was made at the chapter's October membership
meeting. Winners need not have been present to
claim the prizes, however, two of the three winners
attended and claimed their prizes personally
Click here to see an image of this
year's 325th Fredericksburg Dog Mart raffle poster
All proceeds from the raffle will become part of the
chapter's treasury for use to conduct chapter
activities.
Elected Officials Installed for Chapter Year
2023/2024 posted
September 8, 2023
At the September Membership Meeting held this
evening, Past President Steve Kotowski swore in the
officials elected for the year 2023/24 chapter
board. All officers and half the directors were
elected at the August meeting. Pictured below is
the ceremonial swearing in of those officials.
From left to right are pictured, Jim Lloyd, vice
president; Sandy Stanford, membership director;
Barbara Pritchett, secretary; Herbert Pritchett,
president; Ralph Kinch, treasurer; and Darrell
Schultz, director. Also elected but not present
was Latoynia Ransom-Harvey, director. Officers
are elected for on-year terms and directors for 2-year
terms. A complete breakdown of the board
constituency with term limits can be found at the member login page.
Chapter Holds Annual Shooting Sports Event in Honor
of Clayton "Fred" Marshall
posted
September 8, 2023
See Activities
tab for article and selected photos.
Events for the week of November 26 and Our Next
Chapter Work Day on December 9, 2023 updated
November 26, 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 and
dates where there are range closures.
Note also that our seasonal schedule of lawn mowing
and weed trimming will be starting in April 2024 and
will recur week on Thursday morning unless there is a
steady rain. The season ends when the weeds stop
growing around the latter part of October. The 2023
season ended on October 19, 2023 and the lawn mowers
and string trimmers have been winterized for the cold
months. Work hour credits will accrue for new
members and there will be a sense of appreciation for
all members who come to help keep the grounds looking
neat and tidy. It will make the perks of chapter
membership, like shooting and fishing, camping,
hiking, etc. much more enjoyable knowing you are part
of an organization that cares for and has pride in the
entire facility. Come and participate with the
other volunteers who toil every week to make the
chapter a showplace. A few more volunteers will lessen
the load on what now is a small percentage of the
organization. If you can't make it on a weekday,
come out on the first Saturday monthly work day.
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.
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
is our 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
(We have obtained our new charter so are able to
pickup trash when the conditions are right. For
safety reasons a pickup will not be scheduled if
the roadways are wet and slippery even if the rain
has subsided.).
IMPORTANT: When a pick-up is scheduled and you
are intending to participate, review and heed
the safety requirements on the Conservation
page. We had our first pickup on
April 8 as the road had collected a lot of
litter over the winter. The weather was
seasonal and there were enough volunteers.
- 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.
Updated Note:
Nominally
the monthly workday is 8:00 am to 1:00 pm but
in some cases, the workdays might continue even
later when workload demands it. In
consideration of the fact that fellow 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 the workday is complete. It could be as late
as 2 pm although it might end as early as 12
noon when work has been completed. The workday
tasks have priority and all members are requested to
participate whether or not the required new member
work hours have been met. Come out on a
workday to meet your fellow members and lighten
the workload by spreading it out. The earlier
the work is finished, the sooner we can all get back
to enjoying our property.
No
other events are presently planned, however, it is
always prudent to check with the official
chapter calendar for any last
minute changes.
Our Pond Supports All Kinds of Natural Flora and
Fauna posted
August 11, 2023
The pond has an abundance of examples of all
aquatic animals and flora in central Virginia.
This year there is a return of pond weed growth to the
shoreline of the pond. Our pond manager and a
few volunteers have been waging a battle to reduce the
growth to make fishing a little easier. The
growth will be abated when colder weather settles
in. Also, the pond has yielded an abundance of
fishing experiences throughout the winter and spring
when anglers have been rewarded with all sorts of
large catches including trout and bass. The pond
also serves as a source of other natural
wildlife. Occasionally, the wildlife that
inhabit our pond will sometimes need some
management. Here is a photo of one of our
members who has reduced the population of a healthy if
not ugly snapping turtle. I am sure there are
others in the pond so it is important not to dangle
your toes in the water lest you encounter the jaws of
one of these reptiles.
Butch Morris Awarded for his "Save Our Streams
(SOS)" Conservation Effort posted
August 4, 2023
See article and photo on the conservation
web tab on the Fred-Rapp chapter website.
New Officials Were Elected as Officers of the
National Chapter posted
August 3, 2023
The Izaak Walton League of America, Inc wrapped up
their annual convention last week. The
Fredericksburg-Rappahannock Chapter is proud to
announce that our chapter president, Herbert
Pritchett, Sr., of Fredericksburg VA has been elected
as the vice president of the national chapter of IWLA,
Inc. Pictured here is a photo of the
installation of the officers' ceremony conducted at
the convention. From right to left are the new
president-elect, Jodi Arndt; vice-president-elect,
Herbert Pritchett, Sr.; and treasurer-elect, Scott
Meyer, who is also from a Virginia chapter.
Herbert is the Newly Elected National Chapter
Vice-President (See the News Page) posted
July 29, 2023
We Have been Hearing Recent Claims of Very Large
Bass in Our Pond posted
June 28, 2023
Member Dirk Johnson sent a photo of a catch made by
his daughter at the chapter pond yesterday. This
is proof positive that we have some big ones in our
pond just waiting for someone to put a hook in their
mouth. She looks very happy!
Communications with Membership posted
June 9, 2023
It is again apparent that not all members are getting
communications from the chapter. We use a
variety of email, calendars and social media to try to
communicate information. Some information is
critical, for example firearms range closures. We try
to pass the word as quickly as we know when critical
situations arise. The fastest way to do this is
by email and the use of the chapter calendar. If
you are not on distribution for email please let me
know at newsletter @ iwlafred-rapp.org (take out
spaces to form the email address) and I will put you
on the list of distribution. If you have a family
membership include your significant other's
information as well. I need your first and last name
and email address to do this after checking to assure
you are a member. (No non members are on the
distribution.) I also try to make sure
information of import on the use of the property is
listed on the chapter calendar. You can always
check the chapter
calendar at this link. The calendar trumps
any other scheduling information usually. The chapter
calendar is a Google calendar and if you use Google
calendar as your personal calendar you can overlay the
chapter calendar so you can always be up to date with
chapter events. Less often, information can be found
at our website and our Facebook sites. If it is
a time critical notification, look for an email and a
calendar entry.
The only US postal mail notification you will receive
in any year is the annual mailing for annual dues
which normally happens in early to mid October each
year.
By the way, if you are changing either your postal
mail or your email address make sure you notify the
chapter so our communications will keep up with
you. Again, you can send it to me (Jim Lloyd) at
newsletter @ iwlafred-rapp.org (remove the spaces to
form the email address) and I will assure that the
databases needing change will get changed.
Two SignUp Events Added to the Member Login Web Page
posted
May 20, 2023
The SignUp links for the Fredericksburg Dog Mart and
the recently scheduled Fall Spotsy Wine Festival have
been added to the Member Login
page so members may access the links and volunteer
support for the events later this fall. Sign up
soon and often!
The Prestigious Judge John Tobin honor was awarded
at the May Membership Meeting
See the News Tab.for
details.
Work Day, June 3,
2023 posted
June 4, 2023
Work day on June 3 had many varied
activities. Some brush clearing was done on
several parts of the property, weeds were pulled
from the pond to make fishing from the bank a little
easier (and to keep the weeds from taking over the
entire pond surface.) A camera was added to
the power pole in the parking lot to provide a fixed
"stare" and a higher resolution record of gate
entries and exits. The pan, tilt and zoom camera
will be relocated in the near future to provide more
dynamic coverage of the upper part of the
property. A good portion of the ramp leading
to the chapterhouse entrance was replaced as the 5/4
planking were getting very deteriorated. Some
stone was added on the side of the sidewalk leading
to the stairs at the chapterhouse to reduce a
tripping/falling hazard. A warning stripe of
yellow was also pointed to draw attention to the
sudden change in elevation of the sidewalk. A
heavy bolt was added to the new doors to the tool
shed to secure the doors flush with the frame. The
gasoline engine powered garden pump was serviced and
restored to proper function. Nona prepared a hot dog
lunch for rewarding the workers who toiled that
morning to improve the property.
Come out to your chapter next
month on workday to keep our investment properly
maintained and a source of beauty, utility and pride!
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.
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.
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.
