Winter 2015 newsletter

ELLERY SNO-CRUISERS

n e w s l e t t e r

A Quarterly Insight into the happenings of the Ellery Sno-Cruisers

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Inside this issue >>>

Events 2

Let’s Make it Happen 3

Meeting Schedule 4

Officers/Directors 6

A little Respect 8

Winter 2015

Volume 1, Issue 40

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December is always a flurry of activity for club volunteers scrambling to install trail signs and finish whatever work is needed to make trails safe in a time for the first flurry of snow following the opening date of the trails. There is always a push to get everything done with the hopes that there will be enough snow on the ground to be riding in mid December by the time New York State de-clares that hunting season is officially over and snowmobile season officially begins. This scenario has not happened in a number of years and the memories of riding my sled over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house on Christ-mas Day is long in my past. Although it has been a number of years since we have seen a winter that has retained snow on the ground from December until March, we have managed to get in some outstanding snowmobiling seasons. This year is no exception! Mother Nature neglected to turn on the snow machine in December

and by the same token, snow-fall was less than ideal in Janu-ary, only allowing the trails to be opened for about a week. Feb-ruary, on the other hand has more than made up for the late season with generous snowfall, low temperatures and ideal conditions for grooming. The club volunteers on the groom-ing crew have been doing an outstanding job and have racked up countless hours knocking down the bumps and laying down some smooth trails. February has been out-standing for our sport and at this point, no end is in sight.

We hope that everyone is able to get out and enjoy this gift we enjoy here in Chautauqua County during the winter months and wish to thank all of the club volunteers (especially the grooming crew) that work so hard to make this happen, Mother Nature for the extreme snowfall amounts and the land-owners who graciously allow us to maintain trails on their prop-erty.

Late Season Turns Into

Great Season

For the most current information, check our website: www.ellerysno-cruisers.org or find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ellery-Sno-Cruisrs/133144796764715

ELLERY SNO-CRUISERS | 716.499.7539 | www.ellerysno-cruisers.org


Real Estate Advantage

716-484-2020

Homes & Property on

and near the trail.

Earl and Ginger Johnson

A number of different snowmobile events take place during snowmobile season which help to get many out to enjoy their sport. The 2nd annual WinterFest, an event designed to help raise proceeds for the 5 Chautauqua County snowmobile clubs was held at the Bemus Point Golf Club on January 31st . Hosted by the RiderScope and Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Services: http://www.clsnowmobiles.com/ . It features groomer rides, vendors, door prizes, 50/50s and many other fun winter activities. Congratulations and thanks go out to the RiderScope and Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Services for all their hard work and all the hours put in to organize and sponsor this event. The Chautauqua County Federation of Snowmobile Clubs annual ride-in was held on February 8th and continues to be one of the must-do events of the sea-son. Held at the Stockton Firemen's Grounds each year, this event offers a sample of a large variety of food do-nated by various restaurants along the Chautauqua County trails. Federation President Ray Head has coordinated the growth of this annual event for the past several years. Although the weather was too warm that day to allow for grooming of the trails, there was still a good turnout. Thanks goes out to all the restaurants for the food donations and all those who volunteered their time and resources to make this event happen. The 5th annual Poker Run hosted by Ellery Sno-Cruisers, Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Club and the Lakewood Kiwanis Club was held on February 15th to benefit Starflight. Participants this year braved below zero tempetures to venture to any 5 of the 10 participating locations to pick up a card. The final stop was the Vikings Lake Park in Maple Springs for dinner while their hands were tallied. Thanks goes out to all the volunteers from the 2 snowmobile clubs and the members of the Lakewood Kiwanis Club for the many hours they put in to organize this event. To see the complete list of events, check the events calendar on our web-site at: http://www.ellerysno-cruisers.org/events/

Events Add to the Fun Factor of the Snowmobile SeasonEvents Add to the Fun Factor of the Snowmobile SeasonEvents Add to the Fun Factor of the Snowmobile SeasonEvents Add to the Fun Factor of the Snowmobile Season

Club Phone

716-499-7539


As a club we get many questions from our members inquiring about how all this happens. Sometimes there are comments from people in the early season inquiring why trails are not opened. Other times it may be a question about how they manage to get that great big groomer around all those trees on that narrow little trail. Basically, we are a group of people dedicated to our sport and dedicated to making Chautauqua County one of the best destinations for snowmobiling in the country. It takes the help of many dedicated club members who volunteer their time and it takes the gracious financial donations and fundraising efforts to buy materials to maintain trails and maintain grooming equipment. It also takes a large number of private land owners who allow this all to happen. Almost 100% of the Ellery Sno-Cruiser’s trails are on privately owned property as opposed to public land or park land and we have upwards of 175 very gener-ous land owners on our trail system. One of our main priorities is respecting our land owners because without them, we certainly wouldn’t have trails to ride. Trail work and signing would not get done without an excellent system in place. Our club has a system wherein certain club volunteers act as Trail Stewards for a certain portion of trail. It is usually the portion that they live on so these volunteers take ownership of their section. With this system in place, our entire trail system can literally be signed in a day or two. With that being said and even with a great system in place there are still countless hours of work to do such as clearing downed trees, rebuilding bridges, re-placing washed-out culverts, re-routing certain sections around planted crops and around closed sec-tions. It takes a massive group effort and we certainly appreciate the time that the volunteers put in for the cause. Last and certainly not least is the incredible group of guys who handle the grooming operation who know that their work is the benchmark when it comes to judging the quality of the trails. You can certainly see that they spend many hours out on the trails but what is not apparent is the incredible amount of hours they spend on maintenance and repairs to the equipment. Again, a massive effort. When people first get involved with the club they are absolutely amazed at how much is involved with making it all happen and as with any not-for-profit organization, it takes the hard work of many volun-teers. Now more than ever, your club needs your help. Whether you are a local or live out of state, your efforts can make a difference in helping to promote our sport and promote Western New York as a pre-mier snowmobiling area. We always need volunteers to help with trail work, but we also need people to step up with administrative duties such as working on trail grants, newsletters, social media communica-tion, fundraising and event planning, just to name a few. If you are looking for the gratification of helping out with a cause that benefits you, please let us know! Attend a meeting, leave a message on the club phone or find us on Facebook. Get involved and find out for yourself how all this happens!

How Does All This Happen?How Does All This Happen?How Does All This Happen?How Does All This Happen?

Club Phone

716-499-7539

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ellery-Sno-Cruisers/133144796764715


Ellery Sno-Cruisers Newslet-ters are posted on our web-site at: http://ellerysno-cruisers.org/membership-

information/newsletters/

If you missed any of the news-letters, you can access them here.

Meeting Schedule >>>

Regular club meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Bemus Point Golf Club beginning at 7:00 PM. All members are welcomed! Board of Director’s meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of the month at the See Zurh House in Bemus Point beginning at 7:00 PM. Any changes will be posted on the website: www.ellerysno-cruisers.org .


LAW OFFICES OF

RRRRANDYANDYANDYANDY E. RE. RE. RE. RHINEHARTHINEHARTHINEHARTHINEHART

Randy E. Rhinehart Attorney at Law

800 Fairmont Avenue

Jamestown, New York 14701

(716) 483-1289 Fax: (716) 483-1920

• General Practice

• Real estate

• Personal Injury Claims

• Wills & Estates

• Bankruptcy

Club Phone

716-499-7539

Trail Condi-

tions Hotline Courtesy of Chautauqua County

Visitors Bureau


President

Vice President

Secretary

Treasurer

Signing Coordinator

Trail Coordinators:

Bemus-Stockton Trail

Stockton Area Trails

Gerry Trail

Membership Coordinator

Directors:

Jamie Carlson

Mike Allenson

Chuck Hinman

Lisa Allenson

Ray Head

Ray Head

Don Meder

Conrad Mason

Dawn Gilbert

Jim Cheney

Greg Stanton

Harold Mong

Tim Ode

Don Meder

Conrad Mason

Jaimie Kayner

Donna Crandall

Officers & Directors


Caster Drilling Inc

5363 Stow Road

Ashville, NY 14710

Phone: 716-789-2230

Fax: 716-789-2234

http://www.casterdrilling.com/


Please Respect our landownersPlease Respect our landownersPlease Respect our landownersPlease Respect our landowners————Or Go Home!Or Go Home!Or Go Home!Or Go Home!

It would be a wonderful world if we could always focus all of our efforts on the positive as-pects of our sport. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Every year the clubs in our region are faced with complaints about certain individuals crossing the line and acting in an inex-cusable manner. Granted, we are talking about an extremely small percentage of people but this is certainly one time when a few bad apples DO spoil it for the whole bunch. Each and every year we get complaints and each and every year we are faced with cases where disrespect has pushed landowners to make the tough and totally understandable decision to shut down the trail. We have to wonder why this has to happen and it always boils down to one thing. COMMON SENSE! When you are out on the trails please put yourself in the land owners shoes. Ask yourself, If I owned this property, paid all the taxes, mortgage, insurance, upkeep and then, out of the goodness of my heart allowed people to run across it with snowmobiles asking nothing in return, would I put up with things like: • Loud modified exhaust systems late at night? • People running all over the place outside the staked trail? • Excessive speed when my children or dogs are outside playing? • Yelling, screaming racing through a quiet zone? • Spinning tracks when the snow cover is thin? • Litter and beer cans left behind? We don’t think so and we don't expect the land owners to put up with it either. We also don’t really expect the offenders to start behaving properly after reading this. What we do ask is for everyone to keep their eyes open for anyone who is not respecting the landown-ers and notify the club or the proper authorities if they notice anything improper going on. The sport is all of ours to enjoy but it couldn’t be possible without our landowners. PLEASE RESPECT THEM!

Winter 2015 newsletter

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