President's Corner - Brooklyn Sportsman's Club
Presidents Corner - October 2020
As summer leaves us and we face the best season of all, Fall, with its hunting opportunities and the gorgeous Michigan autumn leaves (while they’re attached to the trees), let’s reflect on a few things. First, our club has weathered the COVID19 directives and restraints that were placed on us by our Governor with remarkable success. In spite of losing several large money generating events that we normally host we were able to maintain a remarkably stable income stream that minimized the huge losses we thought we would incur. This is due to a loyal and devoted group of individuals from all disciplines that trudged on in spite of numerous roadblocks. Thanks again to all Chairpersons who kept their groups involved and offered their members new shooting opportunities.
Second, in spite of all else that went wrong this year, an August storm damaged flagpoles, trees, canopies and benches in a freak straight- line wind event. On very short notice, club members quickly cleaned up the trees downed across drives, and restored the clubhouse power via our tractor driven generator and we were able to still host a special event scheduled the next morning at the club at 9 am. Fortunately, we were covered by our insurance policy and the adjuster agreed with our assessment of damages and we were compensated.
Third, our club is welcoming more and more young shooters. The Scholastic Action Shooting Program has hosted regional and national qualifying events for young shooters from elementary to high school ages. Scott and Lisa Poet are responsible for bringing these fine young shooters into our club and we welcome them. Scott was elected to an open Director position at the August membership meeting and will be a real asset to our club.
Sporting Clay and Five-Stand shotgun venues has attracted a considerable number of new shooters in the junior and senior high age groups. Some of the participants are winning awards all around the Midwest. The summer sporting clay league is winding down and the banquet is set for our final shoot on October eighth. The young shooters again, have shown us old guys a thing or two….
Finally, let’s get this year over with and start out 2021 with bigger and better goals and results. Remember, this club will give you as much as you put into it. Participate. Get out of your comfort zone and try new venues. Have fun and bring out the whole family!
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Presidents Corner - June 2020
Welcome to the new reality of operating a sportsman’s club. From a complete shut-down of operations in March, to the reopening of a semblance of normal activity in June, we have had our hands full in trying to maintain a facility and meet all of the state and federal COVID rules. If you have participated in a Saturday shotgun shoot or a pistol practice, the rules have changed and social distancing (if that is ever possible in our situation) is stressed. If you are like I am, if I hear “We are all in this together” one more time I will not be responsible for my actions….
On a brighter note, we have several individuals who have gone “above and beyond” in their service to the club. Mike Cousineau has used his woodworking skills again and created shotgun racks for the sporting clay course and Mike Luty has used the donation proceeds from the sign in table to create a fantastic new rifle range portable shooting table. It is mobile on wheels, sturdy to eliminate any rocking when shooting, fully adjustable elevation rest and swivel seat for left or right handed shooters. I would like to thank both of these individuals for their time and effort and I have enclosed pictures of their “art” with this article. If you see them on the course let them know you appreciate their efforts!
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Presidents Corner - Pandemic Update - April 2020
Wow, what a difference a week or two makes. I am writing this on the 11th of April while confined (by Executive Order of the Governor) at home and running out of hulls to reload. The Club was on its way to a banner year with almost every weekend booked through September. The Shop Rat Foundation shoot, the Legislative shoot, the 3MCA shoot, Steel Challenge events, USPSA shoots, 3-Gun events, Sporting Clay and 5-Stand events, Boy Scout assemblies, 9-Pin and The Well-Armed Women events, all cancelled.
All of these brought to a screeching halt from a strain of flu that is now affecting ways of life around the globe. Plenty of analysis is underway and, in the future, we may find out if it was an engineered affliction or of natural origin. I can only hope that each and every member or guest that we serve remains safe and healthy.
We are not alone in revenue loss and forced closing of our facility. Preliminary loss estimates for the time period between March and May is somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000. For us, as a non-profit, this is a healthy hit on our plans for expansion and future club needs, but we can overcome. For the private businesses and our members who are out of work through no fault of their own, this is catastrophic.
As a result of speaking with some of our local agencies that are providing food and assistance to those in need, I found that the food banks are running low due to the enormous increase in demand. Thinking of the Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club’s community service commitment, I have asked the Board to approve a donation of $2,000 to the Brooklyn Food Bank from our scholarship fund. This may seem like a lot, but in reality, it will feed ten families of four for a week. Thankfully, we have the funds and the Board approval to make this happen.
As King Solomon once said, “This too shall pass”, so eventually, we will reopen. We will try to re-schedule as many events as possible and from the looks of things, we may be running events into October. Please conform to the guidelines for keeping you and your family safe and together we can get this past us!
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Presidents Corner January, 2020
I trust you have all recovered from the holiday’s and are setting your sights on a fruitful and prosperous 2020. The Club is going through some minor changes in regard to the pistol events that we offer our members and non-members alike. The latest is the introduction of Steel Challenge and Action Steel events to our club on a regular basis. Steel Challenge will go pretty much year-round and the Action Steel events will be mostly fair weather based. There has been a real surge in interest for both events and we are experiencing good turnouts.
The Board of Directors have discussed and passed several motions on the new land that was purchased. An opportunity to lease the land as a solar electric facility, for a substantial amount of revenue from a solar power company was presented to the Board. Of course, much discussion ensued with points of 1. Developing the land for shooting sports and 2. Leasing the land to provide revenue to improve the existing courses with a major effort to re-orient the pistol bays. With safety and community responsibilities and club financial stability our paramount concern, the decision was to lease the new land for 20 years with two five-year options to renew and direct the revenue into a Capital Improvement fund. The fund would then provide necessary capital to hire a consultant to re-design our layouts and propose ways to maximize our offerings to the shooting sports. This is called a Master Plan.
The new land was purchased as a permanent buffer to our Club due to the fact that the first 300’ of M-124 frontage was zoned C-3 which would allow development of motels, strip malls, grocery stores or anything else that is a major development. Our ownership of the land took care of that problem. The Board feels that we have the opportunity to generate over $17,000 per year to go to the planning and re-design of our club grounds. Not a bad return on investment as we will complete the final payment for the land in March, 2020.
As we are all aware, the orientation of the pistol events bays were in the past and continue to be, a point of contention in planning events. If we can consolidate the mid-bays and events bays into a centralized location with proper orientation, we will be better off in avoiding future problems.
As in life, nothing is certain and the lease is one of those. Solar project developers have a number of steps to finalize and complete the project, but the first step is leasing our land. If you have any thoughts and concerns regarding this lease, please attend the next Membership meeting on February 12th.
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Fall 2019 President’s Corner
What a busy and fun summer we have had here at the Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club! Lots of events that went without a hitch that benefitted local community projects and foundations. We strive to be accessible to all local events that we can handle and prove that we are truly an asset to the Brooklyn area. Thousands of dollars in contributions to local charities and college scholarships were presented this year to deserving students. We have been blessed with a generous donation from a member who believes in what this club stands for, which will provide an additional five scholarships next year to college bound students from our surrounding high schools.
The August meeting provided a slight change to the Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club Board of Directors. Leaving the Board due to scheduling etc., was Bruce Winder who has served as a Director for numerous years and Walt Paegel who served as 1st Vice President. Replacing the vacancies were Floyd Pratt as Director and Mick Holmes at 1st Vice President. Both new Board members will provide us with additional safety expertise as both are CRSO level instructors.
We have a new Pistol Co-Committee chairperson in Svetlana Paegel, and Ken Lane Jr. who will oversee the needs of all of the pistol related events and needs. I look forward to working with them as both are very well respected and hard-working individuals.
We successfully held two sporting clay leagues this year. The winter league began in January 2019 and ran for six weeks. Shooting on Sunday afternoons worked well and we lucked out with only one day of blowing snow the rest were sunny and enjoyable. We will begin the 2020 winter league in January. The summer league began in July and ran through the end of August with a very successful steak dinner and prize giveaway at the last shoot. Fun and good times were had by all!
Finally, I cannot tell you how much the building and grounds have improved over the last couple of years. We took a run-down, overgrown acreage and managed to literally move it to first-class shooting venue status. The landscaping is fantastic and the manicured ranges are something we should all be extremely proud of. I know I am. Thanks to ALL who lent a hand in clearing our property of brush, trees, moving dirt, planting flowers, trimming lanes, building stands, painting stands and most of all showing up to shoot which is ultimately what makes this club what it is, a first-class venue.
Enjoy the fall and the upcoming hunting seasons, good luck and don’t forget to invite a guest to enjoy and join our club.
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Spring 2019 President’s Corner
Well, the first of May, and winter may finally be over! We have quite a few changes that will be taking place between now and the full swing of our summer season. First, the new land is in the process of being cleared by a dedicated group of members who have worked tirelessly on a couple of weekends to begin the tree and brush removal along the frontage on Monroe Street. The contractor who will excavate the old foundations and remove the big dead trees will commence during the first week of May. We are planning on re-purposing some of the old barn foundation stones to landscape the circle in front of our club house as the tree stumps will soon be ground down and a flower garden will replace the grass.
We have been able to advance a payment on the land contract due to the better than anticipated land assessment receipts and have saved approximately $1,700 in interest payments. The way things are looking, we will own the land outright in 2020 and development can really get started based on the recommendations presented by our Land Development committee.
Providing a venue for special shooting events will be the focus of the early part of summer, with the now annual “Shop Rat Foundation” shoot scheduled for May 18th. This foundation is one that our club has committed to supporting on a yearly basis as we strive to help them involve school age children in the Trade fields by offering “hands on” experience. On June 1st, we will be holding the third annual “Second Amendment Shoot” which is always a lot of fun, so you still have time to put a sporting clay team together and participate! Monday, June 24th will be the initial “3MCA” (Mid-Michigan Mechanical Contractors Association) sporting clay event that will be offering a great alternative to the normal golf outing format. We look forward to hosting this event!
Our club house has a new addition! A 75” Vizio smart TV which will allow us to interface with our laptop or smart phone for training videos and afternoon viewing enjoyment. Thanks a couple of members who donated the funds to make this happen.
Remember that your club needs you! Volunteer a couple of hours per month to meet your yearly ten-hour work requirement. It can be as easy as picking up unbroken clays on the courses, landscaping and policing the range areas. There’s always something. Let’s get out of hibernation!
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
December 2018 Newsletter
Have you ever had the urge to experience what the early settlers and pioneers went through as they cleared the wilderness to begin a new life in a wild territory? Have you needed to practice your tree felling and skidding skills? Do you enjoy being “surprised” by an occasional wild animal? Ever have the desire to change a landscape from “primitive” to “productive”? Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club is pleased to announce that we can satisfy all of those fantasies as we begin to clear the Monroe Pike road frontage on our newly acquired property. There will be a mid-winter work party to all those who may need some hours to meet their 10 hour per year quota. The tentative date is February 16th, 2019 with an alternate date if needed in early March.
Initial work will entail clearing the fence rows along Monroe Pike, and Wamplers Lake roads in preparation for new fencing, felling and burning the dead trees on the north-east edge of the old homestead and various other brush clearing exercises. Completing that portion of the job will help us to survey and assess what new uses the land can be developed into. Currently, it’s hard to imagine what a great addition the property will be to our organization, but once we start the clearing, new ideas will be generated.
As I sign off for the 2018 year of achievements with successful pistol, shotgun and charitable events, I wish every one of our members a very Merry Christmas and hope that the new year will bring you health and prosperity. A final thank-you to all of our valuable members who gave their time, expertise and financial support to make this club the best in the area!
John Calhoun
President, Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club
Fall 2018
As we wrap up a busy summer here at the club and get ready for the upcoming hunting seasons, remember that there are lots of opportunities to get your required hours of work in as we prepare for the winter season. The building will need to be power washed and eaves cleaned before the snow flies. Range areas need to be prepared and canopies stored. Many of our picnic tables can be either painted or stained and some need seats repaired. I will ask that a list of maintenance items be posted on our website and members can pick the item that they would like to work on.
Our land assessment of $100 for the next two years is progressing nicely and we are on track to possibly pay the land off earlier than first proposed. Remember that 2018 assessments are due by October 1, 2018. Your Directors are beginning to receive requests on development of the land to enhance our recreational shooting offerings. We continue to support our local high school shooting sports and hope to be able to expand into trap and possibly skeet fields on the new property.
Our club has been working with other non-profit organizations to offer sporting clay events that benefit not only their organizations, but show that the Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club is truly community service oriented. We are fortunate that our tax classification has been returned to exempt status and we will strive to provide that basis of tax exempt status by serving others. In every joint undertaking, we have received nothing but praise for not only our excellent facility (clubhouse) but the absolute beauty of our grounds. To this we owe a lot of thanks to those individuals who provide their time and effort to maintain, repair and enhance our property.
Here is wishing you successful hunting and fishing during my favorite time of the year!
John Calhoun
President
August 9, 2018
Well, another Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club election is over and the membership re-elected me as the president of our club for another year. We thank Bob Mercer, who left the Board of Directors for his time and input while on the board and welcome Kirk Culik as Bob’s replacement on the Board of Directors. Other election results are: Walt Paegel 1st Vice President, Ray Garrow 2nd Vice President, David Tamagne Secretary, Diana Peacock Treasurer, and Phil Davis three-year Director term. Congratulations to all and let’s work together to continue to move our club in the right direction!
I would like to recap a truly international event that was just completed on Sunday, August 5th. The USPSA Area 5 Championship event was held at our club with over three-hundred fifty entries and shooters participating. I was totally unaware of the distances traveled by some of the shooters who participated in the event. The response that we are receiving following the event are, to put it simply, fantastic.
As a shuttle driver for the shooters during the five-day event, I heard nothing but compliments on our club’s beauty, friendliness, food and stages that were provided the shooters. One response from two shooters from Argentina compared our facilities to those found at International World Shoots. They shoot virtually all over the world and complimented Walt Paegel and Mike Barrera on a world class event. Many other compliments all very positive have been received. Great Job!
As a result of the USPSA Area 5 match, the club has benefited to the tune of $37,000 as host club. The Board of Directors has established a Capital Improvement / Land Fund and has allocated an initial $25,000 for future development needs here at our club. Only Board authorized expenditures or revenues can have access to the fund.
Land assessment payments are due by October 1, 2018 for this-years assessed member funded land contract payment on the new land. At the membership meeting I requested a Committee be established for development of not only the new land, but improvements to our existing club property to better meet the community outreach needs. We sponsor three high-school trap teams as well as the MSU pistol shooting team. Please volunteer for this committee as we need all disciplines to have a say in the development of our club. Have a safe remainder of the summer and remember hunting season is coming up fast!
John Calhoun
President
May 23, 2018
Dear BSC Members:
I think summer may be here after all! It’s the 23rd of May, and the temperature is above 70 degrees. A big thank you goes out to the twenty-one volunteers who showed up on April 29th and gave a full day of back-breaking work to get the club looking absolutely great. Although we cleared a lot of the brush along the main driveway, a lot of trimming remains. We are looking for volunteers to man the mowers!
April was also a busy month as we closed on the 27.14 acres on the corner of Wamplers Lake road and Monroe street. With the special assessment for the next three years on our membership renewal, we can expect to have the property paid off by 2021. Our property tax exemption granted by the Columbia Township Board of Review will allow us the flexibility to transfer some of that prior obligation to the land purchase.
On May 19th, the first Annual Shop Rat Foundation sporting clay shoot was held at the club, with 17 teams participating representing manufacturing companies from across Michigan. The Shop Rat Foundation is an after-school program that introduces middle school and high school students to careers in the manufacturing fields. At the completion of their schooling, the students can apply for a job with the participating companies and step into a real well-paying job out of high school. The event raised a lot of cash for the Foundation and the club received a generous stipend for hosting the event. All participants were very enthused and impressed with our facility and sporting clay course. We are looking forward to this event becoming an annual part of our outreach to support other 501-c3 organizations.
Our June Membership meeting will be a review of the By-Law changes that are necessary to ensure that we are meeting our community service goals and maintaining our tax-exempt status. Please plan on attending the June 13th meeting at 7 pm.
It has been a busy and productive year so far, and we are really getting things done, so on behalf of the Executive Board, thank you for your support as we strive to improve and expand our sport! Have a safe enjoyable summer.
John Calhoun
President
April 2, 2018
Dear BSC Members:
As we finally move into Spring, it’s time to clean up the grounds for another great year of shooting sports. I have received requests for a date that we can lock in for the work party at the Club and with the weather finally breaking, April 15th and 29th could possibly work. It will take at least those two days to prepare our grounds and spruce things up in the clubhouse and grounds. A couple of options that you will have in regard to tasks that need to be done are:
- Window washing club house inside and out
- Driveway berm trimming
- Tree trimming (low branches in the way of the mowers)
- Pistol bay bank maintenance (events range) and mowing
- Sporting Clay stand construction
- Middle pistol bays (11-16) maintenance and bay 17 cleanup and maintenance
In other pertinent news, we are closer to the final signing of the new property land contract, as the final paperwork has been approved by both the land owner attorney and our counsel in the transaction. In regard to the special assessment that has been voted into effect for the next three years, the assessment can be treated as a donation to the 501c3 Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club and is tax deductible should you need it for your 2018 taxes. We will prepare a letter of acknowledgement for your tax preparer.
Another important development is the property tax exemption granted by the Columbia Township Board of Review. We owe a lot of thanks to Dave Tamagne and Phil Davis who made the professional presentation and submitted supporting documentation that proved our contention that the club is serving a community service and lessening government burden in the activities and charitable donations that we provide.
So, as we move into more comfortable temperatures for our activities, may you all have a safe and enjoyable shooting season and remember that our club offers a lot to its members. Let’s come up with more club activities for the whole family! Your suggestions are always welcome.
John Calhoun
President
January 2018
As we enter the new year, I think it’s a great time to reflect on the strides that this club has made in the past year to fulfilling our mission. In our By-Laws, it states that the objective of the Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club is to promote hunter education, the shooting sports, sportsmanship, environment and the conservation of natural resources. I think we are well on our way to meeting all of those stated objectives and more.
I participated in two hunter safety classes in 2017 and we had close to one-hundred new hunters afield as a result. Through the leadership of Jim “Moose” Dickman, we have again established a reliable point for new hunter education. Our shooting sports are second to none in the area with the excellent pistol bays, sporting clay course and new this year, the five-stand operation that has successfully allowed us to expand the shotgun opportunities. My thanks to Carmi McRoberts and Mark Carpenter for using their imaginations and experience to create exciting target presentations.
Our pistol disciplines have had another successful year with events held by both IDPA and USPSA without a serious “hitch”. We continue to receive compliments on our facilities from outside participants from all over the United States and Canada, so we must be doing something right. My sincere thanks go out to Mike Barrera the Pistol Chair and Walt Paegel USPSA coordinator for their guidance and direction. The NRA range technician visited our pistol setup in November and is preparing a report on how we can further improve the current pistol ranges.
Of course, there are occasional conflicts due to scheduling and the number of venues that want to use our facilities, but for the most part, we are able to overcome those temporary conflicts and make the club an inviting place to visit and use.
As we forge into the new year, we are presented with an opportunity to expand our club through the purchase of adjacent property that would allow us to protect our interests from potential developers and potential commercial development that would conflict with our purpose and charter. With the help of the membership and current property owners, we hope to be able to report progress on this important issue in the next few months.
So, with that quick recap of 2017, I wish you all the very best in the New Year and let’s plan on making 2018 the best yet for Brooklyn Sportsman’s Club. Onward and Upward!
Regards,
John Calhoun
President
