Discussions during the general membership meeting at Fort Bragg revolved around state fees and a central zone bid without a guarantee of waiver of state fees if the shoot went to Texas. It was not a pleasant couple of hours for any of us although the meeting was the largest general membership meeting ever held by your Association.

On 1 April 2003 I talked with Dave Wood in final preparation for the upcoming shoot in Phoenix.  The state fees topic was also discussed, and I asked Dave to email me a synopsis of the discussions he had after the 2002 General Membership meeting.   Below you will find his comments.

Pat,

During our phone call last night you asked that I put something in writing about what members expressed to me concerning AFSA paying state fees.  If you feel it's appropriate, you can post this to the website...it may spark some lively discussions in Phoenix!



The event I am about to describe took place at the conclusion of the General Membership Meeting at the 2002 Championships at Fort Bragg.  I was approached by small groups of members who came two or three at time, until there were probably about 15-20 people involved in a discussion concerning the paying of state fees at the Armed Services Championships.

I did not solicit this discussion, in fact I was trying to get back to the computer to finish out some reports, but the people that approached me, who included both Active Duty and retired members, were passionate in opinions on this topic, so I stayed to listen.

The universal consensus of the group was that they did not want their Association to ever pay state fees.  My first reaction was that this had to do with the cost of the shoot; we had just finished a contentious discussion and vote that involved paying more for targets than we were used to.  As I listened more carefully, however, I understood that it wasn't about money at
all; it was about symbolism.  What that group expressed to me, some more eloquently than others, was that a state association waiving its fees for this unique, all-military shoot, was a way of recognizing the sacrifices that servicemen and women have made in the past, are making now, and will continue to make in the future.  It was a way of saying "Thank You."  This group bristled at the idea of categorizing our shoot as "just another Zone Championship" or "just another big shoot."  They wanted AFSA to be thought of as a military organization first, and a skeet shooting organization second.

Here are some of the ways (and now that it's over a year old, I'm sure I've forgotten some of these) that they wanted make sure that I understood that this wasn't about money.

1.  If one club offered the shoot at $15 per hundred with state fees waived, and another club offered the shoot at $9 with a $1 state fee, they would vote for the club that waived the fee.

2.  If a club offered to "hide" the state fee in their bid price and they (the members) found out about it, they wouldn't attend the shoot.

3.  If AFSA offered to pay the state fees for the members, they would be incensed.

4.  If a benefactor, i.e., an AFSA member volunteered to pay the fees out of his pocket, they still wouldn't attend, because this is about the symbolism, not the money.

I must tell you, that prior to that night in North Carolina, I had never given the issue of state fees much thought.  I confess that I was moved by this group's apparent intentions:  to hammer home that this association is unique among skeet shooting associations because of its honorable
membership, and if this 40 year tradition was going to die, it was going to do so under protest!

Dave

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