JULY '99 PRESIDENT's CORNER
By Ron Gibby

It’s been a busy time since the last newsletter with many club activities taking place. I want to acknowledge those who have played a major role in making these club activities successes. Thanks to Fred Fisher, who did a great job as the CD for the Big Bird Fly-in held on June 12 & 13. Unfortunately, the wind blew both days resulting in challenging flying conditions on Saturday and an early shutdown of the event on Sunday. Thanks to George Vargo and Bill Greger for a fun float-plane fly-in, which was held for the first time at the water ski area at the Richland "Y" on June 26 & 27. A lot was learned this year which will help to improve this site for future float-plane fly-ins. Thanks to Bill Greger for a well-planned fun day for the children of the ARC on July 7. Even though the wind tried to spoil the day, almost everything miraculously went off as planned. Thanks to Rob Opgenorth, Ron McMahan, Gordon Anderson and Jerry Wallis who spent most of the day on the flight line helping the kids fly and Gerry Showalter who spent the whole day preparing and serving hot dogs and punch to our guests, their advisors, and everyone else. Thanks to Dennis Cone for a another great Pattern contest held on July 10 & 11. Wind was not a problem but the temperature soared higher than the pattern planes and drinking water was not available at the field due to a city pump failure; but, nothing can discourage a die-hard pattern flyer. Dennis received invaluable help from Larry "the Motor Home" Mitchell, Bill "the Burger Chef" Greger, and Linda "the Gracious Hostess" Cone. Thanks one and all! And finally, thanks to Junior Kinnaman for providing magnets at the field (good idea from Frank Hirsch) to use to find those unreplaceable nuts/bolts or small metal parts that are accidently dropped into the grass by fumbling old hands , and, a long overdue thanks to Monty Stratton who prepared a special copy of our Field and Safety Rules for posting on our ORV park bulletin board. Monty laminated a copy of the rules between 1/4 inch pieces of plexiglass so it can exist in the hostile environment of sun and water experienced each day on the bulletin board. This is only a temporary fix for the problem, but I appreciate Monty taking the initiative to make our site legal according to our agreement with the City.

Finally, one item of business. To prevent an accumulation of unneeded/unwanted donated items at the ORV Park field, it was decided at our last meeting that any item left at the field as a donation without first getting permission from the Club President will be returned to the donor. If the donor cannot be determined, the item will be hauled to the dump. Okay?! Enuff said.

Until next month, happy flying.

For comments or questions about the club please contact me by phone at 946-5356 or by Email at president@tcrcm.org .