News Archive, March through April 2002

The sun was shining and snow was melting off the roads (and trails) when the club gathered for their latest meeting.  Our President was present again and conducted the meeting, with input from the  Vice President and myself.  The important topics discussed were:

• New Meeting Location

• Raffle

• Meet and Greet

• Public Relations

• Technical Inspections

After countless discussions and ideas on the new meeting location topic a decision has been made.  The next meeting will be held at Phillips International Inn at 5121 Arctic Blvd. on the corner of International Airport Rd. and Arctic Blvd.  While the restaurant may not serve certain carbonated beverages, it is said they have decent food and can section off an area for our club at no charge.  So the next meeting will take place there, and then we can decide if we want to continue having meetings at that location.  We are still open to suggestions, so feel free to email myself and/or Dave with locations.

The club is still selling raffle tickets to win an ARB snatch block.  $5 per ticket, proceeds go to the club fund.  We will be selling tickets for two more meetings, then the raffle will be held on May 23.  If you would like to buy a ticket simply come to the meeting, or if you would like to make a donation/suggestion to the next raffle email me.

The Meet and Greet was discussed, though unfortunately organizer Brentt was not able to attend the meeting.  The reasons for the location change were discussed, and a list of events was also discussed.  A page for the Meet and Greet as been added to summarize the information and will be updated as necessary, it can be found here.

Patty has been working hard on public relations information.  We now have the application to enter the Parade for the Bear Paw Festival held July 10-14, 2000.  It will cost the club $30 to enter, and 14 vehicles can be driven.  Information will be made available soon as to what will be required, such as proof of insurance.  I am currently making a list of participants, and 8 spots are still available.  If you would like to drive your vehicle in the parade please email me or mention it at the next meeting.  Patty also did research on purchasing a banner for the club.  There are various choices, but basically the club will be buying a 3'x10' vinyl banner for display during parades and other events such as the Meet and Greet.  The club still plans to fill a time slot to help the Abused Women's Aid in Crisis (AWAIC) at the Summer Soltice Festival.  The Festival will be held at the Town Square on June 21st and 22nd from 10am-10pm.

Technical inspections are coming up soon.  It will be a quick 'once over' of your vehicle by qualified members checking belts, ball joints, proper lift installation, etc.  As well, a check for minimum equipment as listed in our bylaws will be made. Date: May 11, 2002 Time: 10am-2pm  Location: Five Star Automotive, 6614 Lake Otis Parkway.  Between Dowling and 68^th.

Reminder, our next meeting is May 9th, 2002.  Tech. Inspections will be May 11th.  Mark and Matt have been added to the Members Rigs page.

The 'Meet and Greet' that club member Brentt Blair is organizing changing locations.  It will occur near Sutton in a location off of Jonesville Road.  Specific directions will be provided when they are available.  The general purpose of the event will remain unchanged.  More equipment demonstrations may be available in the new location.

Offers for suggestions or volunteers to help would be appreciated.  The club may sponsor a barbeque.  The RTI ramp will be available, as well a pull-pal demonstration.  There has been talk about doing a clean-up at the Knik area, and organizing for that event can hopefully take place at the Meet and Greet.  Discussion of these events will be a large part of the next club meeting, so if you have ideas or concerns you think should be heard please attend.

Reminder, our next meeting is April 25, 2002.

On Thursday, club members got together for another routine meeting, but were privileged to something new.  Vice President Ryan got to fill the big role that comes with his prestigious position, and ran the meeting because our President had a prior engagement.  The meeting went smoothly, and the agenda covered a lot of items.  Topics covered were:

• Raffle

• Alaskan 4 Wheelers 'Meet and Greet' 

• Club Banner and T-shirts

• Public Relations

• Technical Inspections

• Trail run schedule

• Trail communication

• Meeting Location

The club is raffling off an ARB snatch block.  Tickets are $5 each, and will be sold for a couple more meetings.  Proceeds will help support the club, so please buy a ticket or two.  Raffle will be next month.

Club member Brentt Blair is organizing a 4 Wheeldrive Meet and Greet.  It will be June 8, 11am till everyone leaves.  There will be an RTI ramp, equipment demonstrations, tech talk, and more.  The purpose is to "Bring together the 4x4 community and make current land use issues known to everyone".  The location is 8900 Old Seward Highway (Wal-Mart Parking Lot), by the Dimond Center.  The event is open to everyone, not just club members.  If you have any questions, contact Brentt.  A copy of the flyer in MS Word format can be found here (link inactive until updated flyer is submitted.  -editor), print out and distribute copies of the flyer to help promote this event.

The idea of getting a club banner made, as well as t-shirts, was raised.  It would be helpful during events such as the Meet and Greet or parade to have a banner.  Patty is going to look into cost of having a banner made and hopefully bring information to the next meeting.

Public Relations topics were discussed again.  The club still plans to fill a time slot to help the Abused Women's Aid in Crisis (AWAIC) at the Summer Soltice Festival.  The Festival will be held at the Town Square on June 21st and 22nd from 10am-10pm.  See March 28 meeting notes below for more details.  It was decided that a list of possible volunteers would be put together as the date neared.  The club is also going to participate in the Parade for the Bear Paw Festival held July 10-14, 2000.  Approximately 14 club members' vehicles will be able to drive in the parade.  More details to be provided.

Tech. Inspections have been tentatively scheduled.  This is a mandatory event.  It will be a quick 'once over' of your vehicle by qualified members checking belts, ball joints, proper lift installation, etc.  As well, a check for minimum equipment as listed in our bylaws will be made. Date: May 11, 2002 (date was accidentally omitted on original post  -editor) Time: 10am-2pm  Location: Five Star Automotive, 6614 Lake Otis Parkway.  Between Dowling and 68^th.  See calendar.

No trail run was scheduled for this week.  Many members are currently working on their rigs at this time.  Also keep in mind that this time of year the trails will be getting very soft.  Please respect the trails and avoid running on them when they are especially soft, as you will needless tear up the ground.

Ryan reminded members that they need to have a CB or FRS radio in their vehicle during trail runs.  The club typically uses channel 10 on either band.  Make sure you have at least one or the other.  Communication with other members while on the trail is valuable and necessary in a large group.

No new suggestions for a meeting location were received since the last meeting.  Most of the locations researched before required a fee of some sort for meetings.  A couple more restaurants have since been suggested.  Hopefully there will be enough free locations on the list at the next meeting that we feel comfortable holding a vote.  For now the meetings will remain at Sicily's Pizza.  If you have a place you would like to suggest, please email myself and/or Dave.

Our next meeting is April 25, 2002.

On Saturday I got an email forwarded to me originally from club member Noah Miller.  The message was pointing out a land use conference going on in Anchorage right under our noses.  Unfortunately no one from the club attended to my knowledge, due to the fact we were unaware of the event.  But the club is currently making contact with someone who did attend the conference.  I will relay additional information when we find out more.  The Anchorage Daily News did have an article about the conference in Friday's edition.  In case you do not have the newspaper available, I have scanned a copy of the article 'Land Users Start Talking'.

In today's Daily News there was short article about Anchorage vehicle emissions restrictions.  The DEC apparently has gotten additionally funding to begin enforcing I/M test compliance on vehicles not only registered in Anchorage, but ones that are registered elsewhere and used to drive to work or school in Anchorage.  I know many fourwheelers often modify their engines with aftermarket parts to increase performance, and remaining 'smog legal' can be difficult.  Be aware that the warning from the authorities is now out; having a vehicle registered outside of of the MOA is not a legal loophole if the vehicle is driven in Anchorage regularly, and it is now going to be enforced.  Please take appropriate steps if this affects you, I would hate for anyone to get a $200 ticket if it could be avoided.  Again, a scanned copy of the article may be found here.

Reminder, our next meeting is April 11, 2002 at Sicily's Pizza.

The club got together for another Thursday night meeting, and because the amount of daylight grows steadily this time of year there was still sun shining as we settled down in our all too routine meeting venue.  Among the  consistent attendees was a couple new faces and some veteran members who had not made a meeting appearance this winter.  Perhaps they have been following the webpage (ed: I like to think someone actually reads this site) and wanted to participate in the vote on a new meeting location.  Or perhaps the warm weather and blue skies of the recent week had made a compelling contrast to the record setting one-day snowfall, and spring fever is setting in on members.  The topics discussed were:

• New meeting location
• Public Relations information
• Club information booklet
• Tech. Inspection scheduling

Dave spent some time researching new meeting locations by calling the places which were suggested by members.  Unfortunately most places wanted money up front just to hold a table or room for us.  If we crossed off the list all the locations that would have a charge for each meeting held there, we would be left very few options.  So the search continues.  The vote has been tabled till the next meeting, as well we are still taking suggestions.  Please email myself and/or Dave with your suggestions.

Our unofficial club PR director Patty had more information on volunteer opportunities for us.  She brought information on the Abused Women's Aid in Crisis (AWAIC), who badly needs volunteers at the Summer Solstice Festival.  The Festival will be held at the Town Square on June 21st and 22nd from 10am-10pm.  AWAIC requires blocks of volunteers, this would be 16 people for 3 hours.  A quick hand vote on who would be willing to help showed that we most likely can gather 16 club members (and their family members) to volunteer.  Please email our Vice President Ryan if you are interested, he will compile a list of volunteers.  More information will follow, such as a specific date and time for our club to volunteer.  We also plan to enter the Bear Paw Parade this summer.  The Bear Paw Festival will be July 10-14, 2002, more information to come.  This would be a good opportunity to shine up your ride (or not shine) and display it to a lot of people.

Brentt has voluntarily taken on the task of developing a booklet for new or prospective members.  The club had a pamphlet some time ago, though most of the current membership has probably never seen it.  The idea of the new booklet/pamphlet is to provide 'to join' information, a general club description, safety and mandatory equipment list, contact information, and anything else applicable.  I personally think this is a good idea, and look forward to seeing what is produced.  Talk to Brentt at the next meeting if you are interested in helping or have ideas.

Technical Inspections were mentioned again.  We currently are setting a loose time frame of mid-May, and the location will be Five Star Automotive.  A specific date will be set as the time approaches, since it is somewhat weather dependent.  Most likely the inspections will occur on a Saturday in May.  Watch the calendar and attend meetings to find out more.

The above business was taken care of fairly quickly.  Other short topics were discussed.  Trail maintenance on the Permanente trail is still proposed, but will be a weather dependent activity.  The goal will be to cut the brush back when the trail is dry enough to be passable, but before the foliage has a chance to grow in densely.  This will likely be scheduled for May-June.  Peter Wong took a minute to remind everyone the Midnight Sun Street Rod Association is having a swap meet on May 4th.  This can be a good place to buy and sell parts.  Not mentioned at the meeting was another upcoming event to be aware of, April 4-7 is the Great Alaska Sportsman Show.  There is a section is March 31st Anchorage Daily News with information and a calendar of events.  While most of the events are geared towards fisherman and hunters, some of the more general outdoor seminars maybe of interest, such as 'Coordinating Coordinates for GPS users'.  As well, in the past Ed Angel with Northern 4x4 Suppliers has put is TJ on display at the show, but I do not know if he will be this year.

Our next meeting is April 11, 2002 at Sicily's Pizza.

The Members Rigs section has been updated again, Paul Harris and Dave Piffarerio have been added.  The links page has updated with a couple new links.  A new gallery has been added with pictures from the summer of 2001 sent in my Jeb Simpson.

The club got together for another winter meeting.  Once again, the weather was crisp and pizza crust was not.  Attendance was good, with approximately 20 current or prospective members present.  The meeting started earlier than usual and was fairly brief.  Without time to research all the suggested meeting locations, the vote was delayed till next meeting.  So the agenda was limited; no new business was brought forth.  The topics included:

• Community Service
• New meeting place
• Tech. Inspections

Dave received some information on possible community service opportunities.  More information will be provided as it becomes available.

As said above, we originally had planned to vote on a new place to hold club meetings on this date.  But due to the lack of suggested locations until a couple days before, we were unable to research all the locations.  We will need to make sure the location can accommodate a group as large as 25 people, have adequate parking, an appropriate atmosphere for children, and reasonably priced food.  I can personally say the presence of beer on tap is a bonus to many members as well.  We currently have around a dozen places on the list of possible locations.  If you have any ideas please email myself and/or Dave with your suggestion.  We will do the research to see if the place meets the general criteria for the club's needs if you prefer.  Thanks to all those who have sent in suggestions already!

Tech inspections were discussed again.  A tentative plan is to hold the inspections in early May at Kurt Hala's shop.  Kurt and Curtis have graciously offered their time to perform the inspections.  Focus will be on minimum requirements as stated in section VII of the club by-laws.  As plans are finalized, directions to the shop and a specific date/time will be made available at the meeting and on the webpage.

Other topics were discussed such as train maintenance, club dues, and possible trail runs.

Our next meeting is March 28th, 2002.

The President's Column section has been updated for the first time in nine months.  The covers various topics, mostly dealing with membership and looking forward to the heavy wheeling season fast approaching.

 Last Thursday we held another club meeting, and once again there was an unusually good turnout for a winter meeting.  Its unknown if the attendance was because our president was going to be present and the meeting would be conducted in a slightly more colorful manner than recent ones, or if it was the optimism of winning the driving lights.  Regardless, a large number of new and prospective members were on hand.  The topics included:

• Tech. Inspections
• Public Relations
• New meeting place
• IPF Driving lights raffle

Tech inspections will be scheduled with in the next couple of meetings.  Inspections will be performed for the benefit of the vehicle owner, as well as club members who will be on the same trail runs.  The intention is to find problems that can be repaired easier and quicker in town than on the trail.  As well, it is a good time to verify and review minimum requirements, which can be found in section VII of the club by-laws.  The inspections will be scheduled tentatively for May 4.  Now is the time to make sure you rig has all the proper supplies and all necessary repairs done.  If you are unsure of something on your vehicle, please ask other club members.  There is a lot of technical knowledge in the club.

Some ideas for positive public relations were shared at the meeting.  Such as participating in the Bear Paw Parade this summer, or volunteering time at a fundraiser benefiting abused women.  The club has not committed to any particular event yet, but ideas are continually being explored.

The large turnout again forced the issue of changing meeting locations into the meeting agenda.  This topic has been discussed at various meetings, but no votes have been taken or any decisions made.  It was decided that a new venue WILL BE chosen at the March 14th meeting.  All members present will have a vote on the new location.  Please email me if you would like to suggest a suitable location.  I will compile a list before the next meeting.

The IPF driving lights were raffled off after selling a few more tickets.  The lights were won by Jerry Hermann.  Congratulations Jerry.

Our next meeting is March 14th, 2002.

Members Rigs has been updated again, finally got Chris Calvert listed.