President's Notes (September 2001)

by Scott Hatch

Here it is the end August with elections coming up and no one has offered to run against our current VP or Sec/Tres. I can't say enough good things about both Tim Mulverhill and Steve Nordby. Anyone interested in running against them? I need to know by Sept 25th. Do you think you have what it takes?

Although there is always room for improvement I have to say the BBQ was a HUGE success! Thanks to whoever suggested donating the left-overs to the local homeless shelter, they sent me a letter thanking us for our kind donation. For the people concerned with the distance from the campground to the meeting spot, next year we will be meeting MUCH closer. This was my first time staying at Historic Valley Campground and I wasn't sure how well they would accommodate us, now I know that they loved us! It was great to see so many faces; some new, some old, and some that came only for the BBQ! I know it was a rough start on the trail but I am proud with the way our club handled dispersing 50, that's right, 50 vehicles. The largest group was only 13 vehicles! Our club has always made it a point to keep our groups small; this was the hardest test to date, which I say we passed with flying colors!

Thanks to Steve Ballou for coordinating Bud's BBQ and the free keg of Pete's wicked ale, Rick Boiros for the tip on an awesome campground, Lou Kiklis from Elais 4WD Center for the gift certificate, Patrick Greenwood of Custom Drive Shaft for the donation of the axle u-joints, Mark Murphy for the donation of the ``Jeep'' mug, Steve Nordby for the accounting and raffle work, Bob Ackerly and Paul Maxwell for the last minute trail leading, Rhonda Pratte President of the North East Association of 4WD clubs for giving us an update on the what the Association is up to, and Denise Mulverhill for the best club T-shirts yet!

Finally anyone interested the Association is gearing up for some serious work and it will need the help of all of our club members. The time has come for us to start self-policing our sport! Through the Association Rhonda Pratte has arranged to work with the New Hampshire Fish and Game to accomplish this task. We will be patrolling closed areas and educating renegade 4-wheelers. The other exciting thing that the Association is working on is a sticker program through the state of New Hampshire. This will give everyone who obtains a sticker a two million dollar liability policy through the state. In my opinion Landowners will be much more inclined to give written permission to our sport. In time we may have a trail network for OHVs, but remember we need to start somewhere. Another advantage to a sticker program, the state will be obligated to secure land for our sport. To accomplish this the Association needs YOUR help, the time is now to get active!!!!