Minutes of the ISTA Board of Directors Meeting on January 6, 2024
ROLL CALL
Southern Zone: Dennis Baker, Lauren Dunn, John Kravanek, Frank Payne
Central Zone: Steve Carver, Mike Dennis, Bill Maiden, Kevin Wunder
Northern Zone: Charlie Bickle, Patrick Haskins, Bill Huhn, Stan Systo
Others: Joan Maiden, ISTA Secretary; Bill Duncan, ATA Delegate
SECRETARY’S REPORT – Kevin Wunder made a motion to waive the reading of the minutes & accept the minutes as presented by email from the Secretary; Stan Systo seconded the motion. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Mike Dennis gave the Treasurer’s report. Joan told everyone she made a deposit that morning from donations from the John Bull Memorial in the total of $300. Kevin Wunder made a motion to accept the Treausurer’s Report; Charlie Bickle seconded the motion. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS
HOF Building Update – Denny Baker reported Steve Carver turned in $1000 dollars from gun raffle ticket sales & Bill Duncan deposited $1800 from the brick fundraiser. Mike Dennis reported he has sold $3,000 in raffle ticket in Florida so that makes around $13,000 available. Denny has not heard from Jesse Tedrick yet about the heating & cooling, however, Steve Carver said he talked to him, and he said he’s got the ball rolling with it. Denny said he will call Jesse. Mr. Myer sent the plan for the lighting - spot lights on the north & south wall but Denny thinks we should plan to have track lighting on the east & west walls as well. Denny will begin the wiring because he cannot wait much longer or he will run out of time. He will keep track of the materials & a decision can be made later on how to pay it back. Pat Haskins will be sending Denny a bid from his electrician friend for the lighting fixtures, but it may be cheaper to go to Menards. Pat also mentioned he had two metal signs made for the Hall of Fame Museum. Joan mentioned Sandy Hight gave her the metal name plates to go under the pictures of the Hall of Fame inductees’ pictures, and she suggested when they get to the point of putting the pictures on the walls they make all pictures the same size & use the engraved tags for those still needing them and everyone agreed.
Mike Jordan Memorial Handicap Event – Mike Dennis talked to Mike Hampton regarding the event, and he indicated it was worked out with White Flyer but when Mike Dennis talked to Josh Taylor, Mike said it does not sound like it was worked out. So, Mike is waiting for Josh to check with his boss to see where they are. When Mike Hampton first talked about it, he mentioned buying all the trophies but now he is not saying anything about trophies. He is talking about giving shells away and free targets and potentially raising cash to give away. At the moment Mike is on hold until he hears back from both Josh & Mike Hampton.
NEW BUSINESS
Target Prices – Winchester came out with a price increase of a penny a target but there are still details to be figured out. In the past, White Flyer would bill on receipt of targets. Now Winchester is going to bill at ship date, so they will not have any idea what is going on with pallets. What Mike believes might happen is they may include the pallet charge in the $1.35 increase and then when you ship back you are going to get credit, but you won’t see it on that bill. You will not see it until the next bill. The club is going to have to keep track of the number they send back so they get the proper credit. This is all speculation because the specific details have not all been worked out yet. Mike said ordering may be difficult as well. He said he has to order through Winchester first, get the confirmation & then call the plant to give them the order and date of when needed. Mike mentioned to the Directors if they knew of any clubs who have ordered White Flyers and have any pallets that need to go back, he’s been told they are going to give credit for the ones you have right now until the end of March, but the salesmen are trying to get it through the end of May.
HOF Gun Raffle/1099 – Mike has been getting a lot of questions from people in Florida while trying to sell gun raffle tickets whether they will get a 1099 if they win a $20,000 gun for $100. Bill Duncan is going to ask his personal accountant and Mike Dennis will ask the ISTA accountant if a 1099 will need to be given to the winner of the gun raffle and compare answers at the next meeting. Mike also asked if we have a tax exemption for the Hall of Fame. Mike said he will need a copy of the tax exemption since he is the FFL overseeing the distribution of the gun. Bill Duncan will bring a copy for him to the next meeting.
2024 Shoot Dates – Joan mentioned receiving a call from John Kravanek about a few clubs asking when their shoot dates were going to be added on the website. She reported that all shoot dates she had received to date had been added both on ISTA and ATA’s websites. There were some she had not received – Gordon, Raging Bullet, Decatur, Secor. It just took a little longer to put all the shoots on the system with putting them on both websites.
Trophies From ATA – Any trophies given this year at the Grand by the ATA must be from a company that is a sponsor. Shamrock did not pay a sponsorship this year, so they are not in the Grand trophy package. Mike got a letter from them for the AIM shoot off bag and he didn’t see it in the program and normally ATA takes care of ordering that bag. They will not be paying for that this year. Also, on Wednesday of our state shoot, we have two HAA Shell Bag for 1st & 2nd Open. These were bonus bags added to encourage more people to shoot all the targets on Wednesday, however, since All American points are given out for Wednesday’s targets, these bags are not necessary. Mike Dennis made a motion to eliminate these two trophy bonus bags. Kevin Wunder seconded the motion. Motion carried.
ATA Rebate Letter & Unpaid ATA Dues – Joan reported she received the ATA Rebate Letter and a list of shooters who had not paid their 2023 ATA dues that totaled $188.00 which is subtracted from the Illinois Rebate. It was decided Joan will send letters for the President’s signature, along with invoices, to the clubs who allowed shooters to shoot without paying their 2023 ATA dues. She will report at the next meeting if any of the clubs have paid the unpaid dues. The total rebate this year was $11,317.00.
State Shoot Program – Stan Systo mentioned a suggestion in the state shoot program under an Event where it says Targets & Trophies and the price, the word Trophies should be removed and just Targets with the price should be there because the price does not include the cost of Trophies. This issue was discussed further, and it was decided there should be a notation or an ad in the program stating all trophies are paid for by ISTA, ATA &/or Event Sponsors. Lauren asked Mike if he had ordered the hats for the State Team, and he said he had. She suggested an option for next year. She said Gary from Trapshooting Trophies makes 3” wooden targets and he also makes a holder in the shape of Illinois that if we started giving these out, the recipients could buy the holders to keep their trophies in. He also makes 2” pins.
HOF Nominations – Charlie Bickle reported that he, John Kravanek & Bill Maiden got together and went over all the nominees. There was a discussion regarding nominations and a vote was taken for 2024 nominees into the HOF at the state shoot.
DELEGATE REPORT – Bill Duncan asked Lauren to talk about IL/TX shoot. She said in addition to Brittany & Waco they added Amarillo & El Paso and MTA so there are now 5 locations for this shoot the weekend of April 19 - 21. Bill said if they can get 450 combined registered shooters, it will be a points shoot. If that happens it will be three points shoots in Illinois. Bill also reported he received a box from Jeff Miller from Ono Valley, Arizona containing ATA rule books, average cards, and medals all from Walter Gries. Bill doesn’t know who he is - if he is Walter’s grandson, but he is excited to display the items in the HOF Museum.
NEXT MEETING DATE – March 9, 2024, at 11:00 AM at Scheels
ADJOURNMENT – Motion to adjourn was made by Charlie Bickle; Stan Systo seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Maiden
ISTA Secretary