Thanks Tom, you're right.

  Joe.

Dave - Just now reading this thread & wondering if I'm getting it right? I can see where one would get upset about being taken off the club listing, but when I get to post #9, I begin to wonder about you?

You say you have heard nothing from Martin, but in the very next sentence you say he'll only communicate with you through the Journal.  Well, if you haven't heard from him, how the heck did you know he will only communicate through the journal?  Did you get a special issue Journal faxed to you by the editor?

Later, I see that Martin says he never got your check.  Well, when I order something & it doesn't come I always call or write to find out why. Then he says he sent a second notice in Feb.  Surely now I'd  inquire - "what the heck happened?"

So now I go back to the beginning of this thread & reread.  If I were Martin I'd be thinking that your club has ignored 2 letters asking for renewal, & since you did not, I'd think you did not want to be affiliated.  I can’t see how he would suspect there was a problem, since you sure as heck didn’t tell anyone?

Then when your club gets dropped from the list, you go on the forum and bitch about the lack of communication and trash the ASSRA.  Did you even think to call Martin to find out what went wrong?  Dah?

In the famous words of Struther Martin in the movie Cool Hand Luke - "What we have here - is a failure to communicate!"  And it looks to me like it is "you" that should have started communicating with Martin - instead of starting a "rant" of this forum.

I see you know there are multi-year memberships, yet you are making it look like you should have a certificate for each year.  At the annual club meeting in 2009, we brought along our renewal notice,  and we renewed for 3 years.  We received only 1 certificate that expires in 2011.  It covers the years 2009, 2010, & 2011.

Now, I can only conclude one of two things.  You have a real " against the ASSRA, or you’re a total idiot.  Well?

Interesting ... I expected you to pick "one", not "both."  Looks like you had your mind made up way "before" you started this "rant."   

I spent a good portion of my life with a B.C. address, and in all those years, never, never, did I find any Canadian with such a big chip on his shoulder.  You might try a laxative.

As far as I'm concerned, Martin has done a wonderful, "thankless" job, coordinating, compiling, tabulating, and "babysitting" over these many years.   

I'm sure the other ASSRA clubs and readers will see your posts for what they really are - a planned "swan song" departure from the ASSRA - hence the 2-years NO-PAY. (I'd be curious to see a dated Money Order Stub)

It always amazes me how complainers never say "I did every thing possible to resolve the issue" ... or ... "here's what I will do for you" ... but, noooo .... they just "yammer .. yammer ... bitch .. bitch .. bitch .."

Well, I like what the ASSRA does, I thank them "all" for all their hard work, and hope they understand that for the few that "bitch", there are many, many, more that are quietly happy with the organization and its members.

 

"Clubs do not have input into modification of rules, regulations or practices made by the ASSRA"

As a member of the board, I have NEVER had any affiliated club or even a member voice concerns of rules or practices..  I myself have asked affiliated clubs on their thoughts on rules, etc.

If so they would have been conveyed to the other board members and a discussion started on the submitted concerns.

Any member can attend a meeting and express their thoughts and concerns and vote on anything brought to the floor, it is all in the by laws.

The by laws are what we have to go by, and they can be changed in the proper manner.

The thing is we can not contact everybody individually, to see what they find as a mystery in the way the ASSRA is run.

I have never had any affiliated club suggest what services could be changed to accommodate said clubs.  Again I use some of my free time to ask some opinions from members and clubs, but I have to use my time for my stuff once inna while.

We can't be expected to please the world, it just ain't possible.

As I sit here and read this thread over and over. Something starts to become clear to me at least.
Communication within the association appears to be limited to either mail or face to face meetings!
1-Maybe ALL COMMUNICATION between clubs  and the assoc. be done IN THE FUTURE electronically (then there is no excuses like we didn't get it or you didn't send it) a click of a button and everything on these computers can be verified) including sending certificates membership cards. This would resolve shortfalls in the future.
2-Put our web page to work as much as this forum and have a place for people to communicate with the assoc as far as requests, questions, complaints, praises,with links to directors and board members. Then there is a electronic trail that no-one can deny or ignore. And its  a lot easier then paper and postal services. 
3-This point may lift the hair on some peoples back but I belong to 3 associations and all three have changed their journals from paper to electronic and with those it was a howling success. Far more input from members, no complaints about not receiving them or having them torn on route, easier to produce, cut paste etc, no printing or mailing costs a huge savings, membership costs were reduced) being an editor of the journal I can assure you it is done on a computer so why are we bothering with paper for those who want hard copies they can print them! All one needs is a name and password an their journal is there.
4-Questionnaires sent to members and associated clubs prior to general meetings as a proxy, are as simple as a click of a button and instantly All are informed! Everything is in the open for all to see.
I assure you these suggestions are not to be derogatory, but maybe a look into the future... 
I'm sure many members, clubs, would love to participate as far as having a bit of input or at least a way to input their thoughts or suggestions.
This makes a directors job much easier contacting those he represents.
SST

  In your next posting you say that you are still waiting to hear from Marty but in the next line say that he said that communication was through the Journal. That is not what either Marty or I told you. What we said was that members, are informed on changes through the Journal. 
Next Post you quit. 
In the post after that you told Set Trigger that as a club you no input into the rules nor can they vote on changes. Partially true, the clubs do not, members of the Association do, remember that you must have 5 members of your club be members of the Association for the club to join. Then you state that there used to be a way to list club records. That is not true I am trying to fix that but even if it were true you would have to send in scores to establish a record. In my three years I have never had you send the scores from one shoot.  Communication requires two people talking. 
This whole thing reminds me of the story of the man who prayed every day to win the lottery. After years of praying and not winning he told God” That’s it. If I don’t win next week I won’t believe in you any more.” That night God came to him in a dream and said. “ Dave meet me half way buy a ticket” 

John Merz AKA 40 Rod

Thnx for the replay As with the other Assoc I work with. We do produce a hard copy for those who are not computer literate but those who request them pay a full membership payment and that dropped the request by 99.4%. The other memberships are reduced in cost because we produce a journal for penny's electronically, membership for those were reduced 95% the journal is the biggest cost for the association.
As far as getting to members its very simple the journal is published on a link and members that are paid up can access through the main web page by entering a name and password...... same as someone on here if your a member you can post  if your not you cant access the link....
believe me its very cheap and simple as a mater of fact we sometimes put out a surprise issue to all members a couple of times a year if something special happens... and obituaries are placed there with pics in the event someone passes...every thing is full color and you can print at home on high gloss paper if you want to retain a hard copy.... we also link to other articles on the net within the journal.....
I was truly shocked that the ASSRA doesn't have a proxy system because of the vast coverage .. this can only be done effectively electronically... and if directors are doing their jobs within an association its impossible to be in contact with those they are responsible without links an broadcast emails.Believe me you wont believe how few people are not on a computer when it comes to cheap $$ information about things they are concerned with... most our members are over 65 and 99.4% want thing lectronically if the cost are reduced form $75 a yr to $5
and our journals went from about 45 pages to about 150 since the changes in the late 1990's..as the editor wouldn't you like to hit send on your computer and it done no mail not stamps and no complains.How much a copy does the journal cost not with the ASSRA?
As far as member ship payment they can be cc, check, m/o just same as now.
SST