Wisconsin Trapshooting Association

WTA Annual Meeting

There were 109 WTA members who attended the annual meeting on July 17, 2016.

The 07/17/16 annual meeting of the Wisconsin Trapshooting Association Board of Directors meeting was called to order at 9:05 am by Jerry Farnsworth, President.

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call – Directors present were N/E Pat Schuette, N/E Don Chrapla, S/E Jerry Kaszynski, N/W Tate Barwald, President Jerry Farnsworth, ATA Delegate Kevin Doerring, 1st ATA Delegate Dwight Paulin and 2nd ATA Delegate Fritz Thistle. Absent for annual meeting was S/E Phil Kubow.

Treasurer’s Report – Jim called and talked to Summit for approximately 45 minutes to go through the numbers. Jim reported that the campground should be making payments to the WTA monthly; however, the campground is not generating enough money to accomplish this. Jim went through the general ledger report. Taxes were $10,000 and are now at about $40,000 now. He went through some of the other outstanding bills that need to be paid: trophies, Recob’s, trap help, etc. Treasurer and secretary have not been taking wages and directors have not been getting reimbursed for mileage either. Denny’s salary has been on hold since the beginning of the year. Jim estimated that we will be $40,000 short by the end of August. The state shoot will generate money, but the bills that get paid out will not leave much revenue left. Jim explained that the state shoot program was almost a break even with the selling of the ads. Ken Cerney stated that the profit for the banquet last night had a profit of $900. A question was asked where Ray’s estate shows on the financial statement. Jim explained that the sale of the house and the car are in the numbers. The estate is still pending for the WTA to get the funds. Interest is about $100 a day. Summit is willing to stretch out our amortization for 25 years; which will save us $25,000 a month; however, we have to have the money from Ray’s estate in order for Summit to make that deal. Suggestion was made to talk to the Town of Rome to save on the taxes. Jim said that he talked to the town assessor and they put a value of $5000 on each campsite. Andy Hall asked how they can throw the entire grounds into two parcels when it started off as nine parcels. Jim currently receives two tax bills now. A suggestion was made to start a committee to look into this. Last year we were audited and lost about $13,000. We are looking for a new accountant as well. Jim addressed the membership and said that this Board cannot run this facility without help from the members. If someone has a free weekend, come up and help. Jean Reeb will help find a new CPA. Bruce Stitely stated that the Town of Rome did not back out on the original deal; however, the WTA could not prove at that time, to the township, that we had a sound business plan to sell it to them. They couldn’t go to their creditors to prove to them that we were worthy. We were out of money in October; however, Summit allowed us to use the $100,000 in Ray’s checking account. Internet sales of camping for the year is about $1600. Jim estimates $10,000 in camping revenue other than the state shoot. Question was asked why we are writing out checks for $3 or such and Jim prefers to have the paper trail rather than paying out cash. Question was raised about allowing seasonal sites in the campground, but they would have to move out for the state shoot. However, there is an ordinance in the Town of Rome that we are not allowed to sell seasonal sites; the camper would need to be moved to a different site every 60 days.
Reuben Stark made motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Jack Morris seconded it. So carried.

Nominations and elections of Zone Directors.

S/W Zone was Jerry Farnsworth
S/E Zone was Phil Kubow
N/W zone did not have anyone run
N/E zone was Don Chrapla

Rick Teskar stated that he has a problem with Phil Kubow not being here. He was here to shoot on Tuesday, but not has helped at the state shoot at all. Rick has an issue voting him in. Rick Teskar made a motion to reject Phil Kubow as a Director for the S/E zone. YZ seconded it. So carried.

Chops made a motion to accept Don Chrapla and Jerry Farnsworth for their respective zones. Rick Teskar seconded it. So carried.

Motion made by Lynn Howland to skip annual meeting minutes due to time. Jerry Kaszynski seconded it. So carried.

ATA Delegate Report; Kevin Doerring – WI State Shoot will be July 11 to 17, 2017. Kevin stated that there are lots of rumors going around that the Grand will not be in Sparta; however, that is a rumor and it will be held and run by the ATA in Sparta. We will remain a Category 5 shoot based upon the numbers that Kevin had this morning before the meeting; as long as the weather doesn’t knock out numbers of shooters down today. Currently, we are up over 270 entries from a year ago at this time.

Jerry F. congratulated a list of names for helping on the cart path and making that happen. Janesville was missed in the state program and he acknowledged that we are sorry for missing anyone. A member asked for a list of priorities that need to be done. Jerry stated that a list is posted on the Forum of things that are needed at all times.

Nomination of the ATA Delegate.
Chops nominated Kevin Doerring. Rick Teskar seconded it.
Rick Teskar made a motion to close nominations. Seconded by Chops.
So carried.

Nomination of 1st Alternate Delegate –
Don Chrapla nominated Dwight Paulin. Chops seconded it.
Ken Cerney made a motion to close nominations. Seconded by Gary Reynolds.
So carried.

Nomination of 2nd Alternate Delegate –
Kevin Doerring nominated Fritz Thistle. Rick Teskar seconded it.
Rhino Lehman nominated LaVerne Lehman. Randy Coffman seconded it.
Jack Dewey made a motion to close nominations. Seconded by Don Chrapla.
Vote totals were Fritz 69; LaVerne 28.

Announcement of All State Team by Kevin Doerring:
All State Team was given their awards between events on Friday, there is a list of them in the booklet. Names left out were the women’s team that consisted of Janet Reding, Deb Longworth, Marilyn Sydow, and Carol Keeley.

All American Team: Making the All American Team for 2016 were Sandra Jo Jack, Cathy Wehinger, Carol Keeley, Benjamin Carlson, Gerald Demulling, Mark Sacia and H. John Duwe.

HOF Inductees –
Jerry Murphy and Glen Grabski were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Old Business
– Cart path – some are using it as a walking path, but it truly is for the carts
– Helping at the Homegrounds – just restated if someone can come up and help, please do. If you come up to work, you do not need to pay for your campsite.
– PA system – there is a member that is willing to pay for some more speakers so it can be heard well. Through the raffle the entire PA system was paid for. Special thanks to Jerry K. for putting all the hard work into that raffle.
– Raffles for the shirts and hats; 47 cases in the shell raffle. Thanks to YZ and Chops – the WTA paid nothing. Thanks to Paul Becker for his efforts in the fish fry. Fed 351 fish dinners. Served 40 more this year than last year. The live auction was just short of $14,000. Silent auction just over $4000. Heads or tails, jewelry raffle, mega shell raffle was just over $6000. CZ raffle yet and the 50/50 raffle yet. Thanks to Jeff Mainland for donating the Kolar combo gun for the raffle. 299 tickets were sold out in 20 days (the last ticket was auctioned off Friday night). The drawing will be today. Total fundraising by Paul Becker totaled approximately $56,000 or $57,000 total and the goal was $60,000.
– Ray’s estate; we have been told that the papers have been signed and turned over to the attorney to get the estate settled. John Coniff dispelled rumors and stated that it was factual that Denny was not responding to the things that he was supposed to do. It was not true that he was refusing to do these things; he is fighting for his life and attending chemo, etc. The attorney is working on getting the taxes taken care of. John received a message that the attorney has received the paperwork from Denny that he needed in order to move forward. Jim stated that we are waiting for the taxes for the Homegrounds to be done by Denny as well. They have not yet been completed.

New Business
– Once we receive the money from Ray, it will go directly to Summit. The sooner we get it done, the sooner our payments can go down. Right now, Ray’s estate is valued at approximately $800,000.
– 2017 Zone Shoot Locations: (Berlin is being added into the rotation for future years.)
● Janesville SW
● Fox Valley NE
● Eau Claire NW
● Beaver Dam SE

Jerry F. read a thank you letter to the WTA from the American Legion Post 9 for being a part of the state shoot. They also let us use the colored chairs in the hoop building. Bruce S. read a letter from the Eau Claire Rod and Gun Club to the membership about Bob Webber. Jerry thanked Lisa from Greenway RV on getting the Homegrounds on google and being able to search for us. Dan Horkan said a word of thanks for Jerry F. for stepping up to the plate as President.

Rick stated that Denny Taylor should not be paid since he is no longer here. Arlene stated that if Denny does not get paid, she, Dick and Fritz will be done today. Tate stated that Jim has been trying to explain this at every meeting he has attended since he got voted on the board. Rick made a motion to not pay Denny’s salary.

Jeff Recob said that the WTA has been here for three years and one month. The Campground has been open two years and one month. He stated that we cannot close a business if we want to build a business. We may not be able to afford Denny; however, we can’t afford a $30,000 employee that doesn’t know anything.
Fritz stated that this place has been busy. He explained the youth shoots that have been here. He stated that the bunker is busy every weekend Thursday through Sunday. We owe Denny $15,000.

Jerry F. thanked Bruce Weigmann for allowing Dick and Arlene to stay in his camper. And thanks to Tom and Nora Bristol for letting Dick and Arlene stay in their camper over the 4th of July shoot so that we didn’t need to pay for a motel room.

Campground needs to have 26% occupancy in order to make ½ the payment. We need $20,000 to $25,000 to operate. Jeff Recob stated that the fundraiser paid enough to put in a 5 stand and a digital message board. Jerry F. stated that yes we can do that; however, three people cannot run this place. Jim stated that we do not have the money to make these purchases. A member asked how much we pay for trap help. Jim stated it is about $29,000. A member suggested like a $5000 scholarship given away for anyone that volunteers. Jerry F. stated that is a great idea; however, we need 100% commitment to have workers here. He explained that at the SCTP shoot we were supposed to have 70 workers and 40 showed up so all staff that were present had to score and load trap houses. A member asked if in future years, shooters can score for a ½ day and help out or if that would mess up things with the students. Jerry suggested that it would be possible, however, it would all need to be coordinated and scheduled in advance.

Paul Becker suggested that we table this topic and made a motion to close the meeting. Seconded by Tom Bristol. So carried.

Andy Hall made a motion for another general membership meeting at the fall classic. Seconded by Mike Pigusch. So carried.

Jerry thanked the NRA for the grant money and we are working on getting that money into a non-interest bearing account.

Rick Teskar made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tate seconded it. So carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9:38am.

Board Meeting
Dan Horkan made a motion for Dewey to remain president until October.
So carried.

1st Vice President
Tate made a motion for Dan. Yes, accepted.

2nd Vice President
Dan nominated Tate. Yes, accepted.