Millenium

The Ocala Jeep Club of Florida

FINAL REPORT OF THE MILLENIUM by Joe Smith

The year end party drew over 50 participants who managed to put away 50 lbs. of grilled chicken that was cooked up under the supervision of Dale Gibson & Ernie Prevedel. Several items were discussed after the dinner that will be addressed at the final meeting of the year on Dec. 11. First thing, since all of the club officers were unchallenged at this party, it was determined that there is no need for the mail out ballots. Second item is that there was a motion to raise membership dues to $25. This is to help cover the upcoming costs needed for the formation and maintenance of the corporation. Third item discussed was the adoption of the new 5” dia. color vinyl decals as the official club logo and if they should be included with cost of membership. It was suggested that we keep the original die cut vinyl decals as the ‘freebies’ or give the member a choice between the two. The club is holding off ordering the new decals until this item is voted on at the next meeting. After the meeting was adjoined the kids were all loaded up in Beth’ s Toyota and taken out to see her famous cows. All the kids (including some of the parents) really enjoyed meeting the herd. While they were gone some of the guys got antsy and proceeded to climb Ernie’s loading dock. You’ll have to ask Ray Woo for details about his ‘loading dock rebuilding party’ that he will be hosting in the near future.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The final event of the year will be a Christmas theme trail ride on Sat. Dec 18. We will meet a the Phillips Jeep dealership on US 441 in south Ocala. Plan on leaving at 6:00p.m. The trip will go south and start with a quick tour of the Villages downtown square and then proceed to Uncle Donald's farm in Lady Lake to view their live nativity scene complete with live animals. After that a short hop over to the Cottom Farm to see their monstrous light display. If you’ve never seen it, you owe it to yourselves to see it at least once.

Some of next years events include the Martin Luther King weekend campout at Lake Ocklawaha. This is a joint venture with several other Jeep clubs. Several fun activities are planned and promises to be a great time. Contact Ray Woo for more information and campsite reservations.

Finally, the club has been asked for the second year to provide trail bosses for the Second Annual Superlift 4x4 Adventure. This event is tentatively set for the weekend of Feb. 25. There will be a mandatory meeting with the event organizers, trail bosses and the Forestry Service to review the events procedures on January 22. This was and will be another major feather in our cap since it will be covered by all the major national 4x4 magazines. We received numerous acknowledgements throughout the past year from articles about this event in these magazines. More details will be passed on in the future as we get them.

Finally I’d like to thank the club for the award of recognition I received this past month. It is my pleasure to provide this rag to the club and look to the membership for guidance in ways to make it even better.