Club by-laws posted here so members can read them. If I'm not mistaken, they should be available to all club members when you join.

Terry

short and to the point !
I am proud of being in the club,I believe I am a good/positive ambassador of the club at any time my rig is out of the garage or even in the garage.believe it or not it and myself are seen out in the dirt very much. It just so happens not at the same time and location as the club events.this is a matter beyond my control.When i first got wind of the BY-LAW update on the table I was very hurt to say the least.This UP-DATE should be better titled, CHANGE. man when I first joined the club fun and smiles were the theme of the day. Now i too agree we have grown a lot.With growth comes change,they go hand in hand.But to intentionaly rule out so many members,and really it appears good members with minimum runs in a year.?We still pay dues,attend meetings,attend events when possible,just dont join in on the "carnage".Many questions arise.honorary members?senior members? and much more. In a recent pole I did myself..un official and means nothing,BUT. When speaking to other clubs on this subject, it was the near destruction of the club on more than one occasion.I only ask please be cautious of all the ramifications that result on NEW IDEAS and the implimation of them.My heart is heavy with the possible need for me to remove that sticker from my jeep that i have been so proud of for quite some time now.since the vehicle was brought home from the dealer as a matter of fact.I will be hopefull of maybe things not changing too much.Now i am going out to wash and wax my jeep right now. sincerely '''THE YELLOW SUB''' steve lose and family

Steve,
I have been the leader on the bylaw changes. My intent here is to update the bylaws and to make improvements to help the club grow and hopefully get more participation on club activities. It is not my intention to remove any active members! What needs to be identified is what is an active member? We will have our second bylaw meeting with the bylaw committee.

Terry

thank you for taking the time for the answer. and for the time you are spending caring about the club. i agree that more people should pony up time and effort to make it all around better for all.. see you at the next meeting. happy holiday / steve & co

Steve,
As your club president, you should expect an answer from me on any issue you have. We (the bylaw committee) had our second meeting on Sunday. This lasted about 3 hrs and I have attempted to send the new proposed bylaws out on .RTF & .DOC format. I hope you and everyone else is able to open one of the files. Thank you for the support of the club and hope you will continue to do so throughout the following year! I have some exciting plans I would like to work on and hope you will get involved with them!

Terry

good morning: you guys are putting forth considerable time and effort for the club,wich i am shure everyone appreciates. thank you, this is to confirm reciept of the by-law copy sent out to all of us. enjoy the snow,man i shure have/steve

Note: I did not receive the bylaws in any format. Please send them to me at: jnelson_nvms@hotmail.com so I may review them prior to the meeting.

I am very interested in some of the changes that are being proposed. I am aware that the by-law committee has worked hard to update the bylaws, which is probably a good thing in general. But, I've been hearing some rumblings about listing members as active / non-active and/or making minimum requirements for club membership. If this is true, a rationale is in order. What exactly is the reason members need to be labeled active or not?

I will not be bullied into participating in a club. I pay my membership dues and that should be enough. My participation level is my own business. I will also not be bullied into going on runs that I am not comfortable with or those that do not fit into my schedule. It should be fun - whatever level you prefer. Personally, I do not want to break my Jeep when I go out on a run - I have neither the financial wherewithall, the skill, nor the desire to repair my Jeep on a quarterly basis.

While I am grateful to see many new faces in the club, I am concerned that the High Desert Four-Wheelers is undergoing a schism that pits the 'serious' four-wheeler against those that are more 'recreational' in their four-wheeling. Of course, I fall into the latter category. I haven't been on a run recently for several reasons, which are my own, but the main one is because I don't trust those run leaders who say a run is "easy" and then come to find out that the run took 10 hours, or axles were broken, or there was body damage to a rig or two. All I can say is, "Whew! Glad I didn't go on that run!" and then I vow not to go on a run led by that person.

This upcoming meeting should prove to be lively. Please be prepared to offer the rational for any changes being proposed.

Thank you.

ofrdgrl,
While I do not know who I am responding to, I would like to address your concerns. The bylaw update is something that is overdue. The "club" is a fourwheel drive club and comes with requirements to maintain that membership. There have always been requirements to stay a member of the club, they have not always been enforced. The purpose of club membership is to share in the four wheeling life style, paying dues and never going on runs or attending meetings is not what this club is all about. I'm not sure there are many clubs out there that are like that. I agree that several runs have been lead by people that are more active and on runs that may be more difficult than you want to do. This is after all a four wheel drive club!! May I suggest that you plan, submit and lead a run that is more to your skill level. There is nothing wrong having several club runs per month, keep in mind, we are a four wheel drive club. I can't stress this one point enough that we are a four wheel drive club, we should socialize with club campouts & club picnics, but the main focus will always be four wheeling.
I have been on several club runs with my Bronco, I have taken this rig on several that were very easy and a couple that we harder. At all times the leaders were right on as to the difficulity and possible body damage or drivetrain breakage when I asked. I have placed my full trust in each of the trail leaders on the runs. All of the trail leaders have pre-run the trails many times and have done a fantastic job getting us through. The trails I have been on also had by-passes for those who didn't want to damage their rigs.
My main focus is to prevent a "schism" in the club, there will always be different skill levels of the membership. Reguardless of skill level, club participation is a must!! This is defined by 1) attending the meetings, 2) attending club runs & 3) keeping dues up to date. Not meeting those requirement puts your committment to the club in question. I will send you a copy of the latest bylaws and hope to meet you at the meeting on Monday.

Terry

Terry,

I resent Jennifer the email with proposed bylaw changes, I don't know why she didn't get the first email even though the correct email address was on your original email but sometimes the spam filters will block good stuff thinking it may be junk mail.

Mark

Remind me again why enforcement of membership requirements, specifically the run requirement, is necessary to the operation of the club. It still is not clear to me.

You say that “the purpose of club membership is to share in the four-wheeling lifestyle, paying dues and never going on runs or attending meetings is not what this club is all about”. (emphasis mine) Where did this vision come from? Don't get me wrong... I didn't join this club simply to pay my dues and sit idle. Who does that intentionally?!? But, sometimes life happens (personal illness, birth, death, graduate school, or other such 'nuisances' that are obstacles to participating fully in the “four-wheeling lifestyle”). I attend meetings when I can and pay my dues with the hope that life will release me a little maybe this spring, maybe this summer. It's MY vision. It's MY hobby. I'm in the club because I WANT to be. And, with the new bylaws, I would have to appeal(!) to the Board in writing about any 'hardship' I may be experiencing that prevents me from participating at the level required for regular membership? Are you kidding?!?

So, the enforcement of membership requirements is meant to motivate people to participate? Seriously? Or is it intended to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak? You say you want to avoid a "schism", but there is no other way for this to end if the bylaws are adopted as written. Look at the club roster. Look at how many people you see regularly on runs. With the new definition, the club will be down to a fraction of the current membership. Yep, those folks will be active, but at what cost? This is a CLUB. And yes, as a matter of fact, there are clubs out there that don't bully their members. I am a member of the AV Desert Divers and have been for some time. I haven't been able to participate with that club as much as I would like, for the same reasons listed above, but there is no threat to have my membership status demoted or eliminated. I attend meetings and dive when I can and they welcome me as if they just saw me last month. They offer dives to their members every month because they love to dive, whether there are 2 members or 20 in attendance. There is no "dive attendance keeper".

I've been a proud HD4W club member since '06 and talk up the club to every Jeep owner I run into. However, if this is really what this club is all about now, I will sadly forfeit my membership, take the club stickers off my Jeep and take the website off my bumper. I thought it was all for the love of four-wheeling, not because of some mandatory requirements. What a shame.

I don't mean to be antagonistic. Really. I sincerely want to know why it is essential to enforce arbitrarily fabricated membership requirements. What purpose does it serve?