http://www.watrappers.com
President — Bruce Vandervort, 5338 US Hwy 101, Humptulips, WA 98552; 360-288-2466;
brucevandervort@hotmail.com
Vice President West — Marsee Wilson, 13190 Avon Allen Road, Mount Vernon, WA 98273; 360-424-7580
Vice President East — George Brady, P.O. Box 535, Pateros, WA 98846; 509-923-2326;
cascadeb@televar.com
Executive Secretary — Ralph Dobson, 711 196th Street NW, Arlington, WA 98223; 360-652-2132; rlph.dobson@gmail.com
Treasurer — Tammy Rice, PO Box 604, Moses Lake, WA 98837; 509-855-4902; tjrice00@hotmail.com
NTA Director — Bob Maier, 38 Francis Dr., Walla Walla, WA 99362; 509-529-9568; bobmaier38@yahoo.com
Membership options:
• Regular Membership (18 And Older) — $25
• Junior Membership (Under 18) — $5
• Associate Membership (Non-Trapper) — $10
• Family Membership — $30
• Senior Membership (Over 70 and must be a former paid member whose dues are current) — $0
• Lifetime Membership (One-Time Payment) — $250
• To receive Trapper & Predator Caller through WSTA (members only) — $12
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
WSTA
(A non-profit organization)
PO Box 3687
Arlington, WA 98223
Dues entitles members to all newsletters, meeting notices, discount entry to workshops and the annual rendezvous. All monies are used to protect your right to trap.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
My apologies for not keeping up on reports lately. I have been having a few personal issues that I have to deal with that are taking a lot of my time.
By the time you get this the Rendezvous will be over but in the interest of catching up a little run down on the Spring Business meeting is in order.
We had the meeting at the Sauk-Tenaway grange. It was poorly attended. Location could be a problem. We are looking into moving it back to North Bend. It is a problem finding a location there but we’re looking.
Officers gave reports. I talked about politics and said I was done trying to get a bill through the Legislature to modify I-713 until we get a change in the political climate. Ted Cantrell took exception to this and did not want to give up. I said we will continue to remain engaged with our Legislators but we will never get a bill through until the players change.
Jack, our new Treasurer, reported on his taking over the books. They were in such poor shape he hired an accounting firm at my suggestion to help him. He had just received their report the day before so a complete report was not possible. It will be at the Rendezvous. We did learn we had went in the red by about $1100 last year.
Ralph, our Executive Secretary, gave a report on problems with magazine subscriptions caused by the change over of Treasurers. The problems seemed to be under control now.
John Consolini was appointed new Election Committee Chair. Elections this year are for West Side Vice President, Secretary and Regions 1, 3 and 5 Directors. Region 6 Director is not up for election but Al Putski was appointed to this position in light of the recent resignation of Alan Worrell due to health problems.
A couple of notes here. An oversight caused us to not include a ballot in the newsletter. Because of this it looks like the only ones who will vote are those at the Rendezvous. I am not sure I know how to fix this. Call me if you are upset about this and we will discuss ways to remedy the situation.
More on Alan later in the newsletter.
The new budget was discussed. It was not very complete because Jack is so new on the job and the books being fouled up. We worked off last years budget for the most part. We made a few cuts but it became apparent we do need to raise funds to keep from going in the red.
We voted to raise membership dues to $30 and lifetime membership to $450. We also discussed what it costs to service Life Members and the possibility of withdrawing an amount each year from the Lifetime Accounts to cover our annual costs to these members. No decision was made and we put it off until we have some more information. It will be brought up at the Rendezvous.
We passed the change in the by-laws I had proposed. The BOD will now consist of the State Officers, The Regional Directors, The past President and the Executive Secretary. The Executive Council will now consist of the Officers of the Association, past officers by request and the Executive Secretary.
A long discussion ensued regarding the Rendezvous. Kind of moot by the time you read this. I will report on how it went in another report..
Mike Monroe volunteered to be assistant Treasurer and help Jack out at events.
We also discussed the Westside Fur Sale. The fur auction is getting so small it is not worth the work it takes for us to put it on. We will probably change it to a place where you can get together with a fur buyer but not an auction per se. Instead we will try and change the event into more of a mini Rendezvous with some demos and auction. We still will try and get the WDFW to tag at the event and attract fur buyers and Shippers. Our emphasis will just change to make it more of a fun and educational event.
We also talked about trying to bring Predator Hunters into our fold as a goal for the future.
Since the Spring Business meeting I attended the NTA Western Regional at Blackfoot. We manned a booth and raffled a fur coat that had been donated by Gennette Akers, the wife of the late Dave Akers. We also raffled off a game call donated by John Consolini. Ended up putting about $350 in the Treasury. Washington seemed to be well represented. I had a great time.
Also I sent in comments on a proposal to prohibit trapping on BLM lands within Wilderness areas and Wild and Scenic Rivers in several districts in Idaho. Kind of out of state but we need to help nip these things in the bud or it can become contagious.
I also sent in comments to the Oregon Secretary of State regarding Oregon’s Ballot Initiative #5. Those folks are going to need all the help they can get. If it passes it will be an end to trapping in Oregon. Trap Free Oregon has a year to collect signatures. It will likely be on the ballot in 2014.
Ending the column on a sad note. Alan Worrell passed away on Monday the 42th of June. He was interred at Tahoma National Cemetery on July 2. There will be a celebration of Alans life at his home 8446 Libby Rd NE, Olympia WA on August 3rd. He will be missed. I never knew him to be anything but chipper and upbeat. He did a lot for trappers in the state. He was past President and had been a Trapper Education instructor for it seems like forever. I would gamble Alan gave more classes then anyone else and probably taught at least a third of the trappers in WA
We were lucky to have him as a friend. — Bruce Vandervort