Hello MSA Members:
The January 12th meeting was called to order by Blaine Chapman at 6:45PM after the usual Fantastic Pot Luck Supper. The meeting was attended by 38 club members and two guest speakers from MSA, John Monk and Roland Bowie. It was a very foggy night and we are especially thankful that our guests went out of their way to make the long trip to Bridgton.
Bob Corthell (Club Vice President), introduced our guest speakers from MSA, John Monk (MSA President) and Roland Bowie (MSA Vice President). John gave us his snowmobiling history and how he began getting interested and involved in MSA. He is making a real effort to meet as many local club Presidents as he can and has already met 49! He said he was extremely pleased to see such a good turnout at our club meeting, and to see how active, healthy, and enthusiastic our club is. John talked about the backbone of MSA which is the volunteers. To honor Bridgton Easy Riders volunteers, John presented a “Maine Crew” T-Shirt to Ron Moore, who not only drives the Tucker, but who single handedly replaced all four tracks and did the maintenance this fall to get it ready for the grooming season. Blaine Chapman (President) and Steve Brill (Trailmaster) were also given T-Shirts and singled out for their tireless work in running the club. Bob Corthell presented flowers to Jan Chapman (Bridgton Easy Riders 1st Lady) and Joanne Brill (the power behind our Trailmaster) for their support of the club’s work.
Roland Bowie told us about his love of this area for his own personal riding. He found out that there were 6 landowners in the audience and he thanked them, saying that without landowners, there would be no snowmobiling. Roland is new to his position but has all the enthusiasm needed for the job. We know he will do well. There was a brief Question and Answer period following their discussion.
The club now has 86 members plus 27 Business members which is well ahead of last years numbers. The new 2018 trail maps are now available and they look terrific! Bob Corthell passed out envelopes which included the new trail map, MSA and BER decals, and proof of membership. Blaine and Steve reported that the new roller that was purchased by the club last month works extremely well, beyond expectations, to pack the snow. The last club work session totaled 100 man hours of labor, clearing out numerous birch trees that had bent down over and into the trails. A couple of days of hard rain, following our mini ice storm had caused the damage. The crew braved temperatures hovering around 20 below Zero! Great Work Guys! The “Pie Hole”, a deep water/mud hole in the trail near Pie Tree Orchard was fixed by the ATV club.
Blaine is working with the Town about a request for next season’s funding. 13 families will be going on the club trip to Madawaska on February 4th. Last meeting, Duane and Kathy Hendrix came up with a great idea for a new club fundraiser. 200 Bridgton Easy Riders long sleeve T-Shirts have been printed on the front as well as on one sleeve and are now ready for you to purchase. Thanks to Duane and Kathy for taking on this project. The gun raffle will be drawn on February 17th at the Poker Rally. We still need you to sell tickets – contact Blaine or Steve Brill. Hope to see you there!
Our next meeting will be on February 9th at the Bridgton Community Center, starting with the Fabulous Pot Luck Supper at 6PM. We will discuss the Poker Rally, Gun Raffle and tell stories about the club trip to Madawaska, amongst other items.
Hope to see you there.
Bill Preis
BER Club Correspondent
bridgtoneasyriders.com