Wind & Fire MC · 2016-10-16 · Bill Delapp George Langley Please read the list of "subscriptions...
Transcript of Wind & Fire MC · 2016-10-16 · Bill Delapp George Langley Please read the list of "subscriptions...
Wind & Fire MC
International newsletter for Firefighters In-The-Wind
Po Box 23, La Mesa, CA USA 91944
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
Year 26 and beyond…
In this issue: 1 ………………………………………………… Prez: JR
2 ………………………………… Founder Jerry Eibert
5 …………………Editor’s Corner - Spanky Bratton
5 ………………………………… Send me your story
5 ……… Hard copy newsletter subscriptions due
6 .……… 25 Years of Wind & Fire MC – Part 3 of 4
7 …………………………………… Where we’ve been
9 ………………………………… Where we’re going
10 ……………………………………… In memoriam
11 ..................... Wind & Fire MC Challenge Coins
11 ………………………………………… Other Stuff
12 ………………………………………… Club photos
14 ..... International officers and board members
JR – International President WFMC
I want to remind
everyone that we are a
Harley riding
firefighter MC. We are
known around the
world as such. It is
very important that
only firefighters and
those that work in the fire service be “full
members”. If you have any questions, ask any
board member, JB or me. As they say "when in
doubt ask".
As you know our associate membership was
designed for family members and in some cases
those that support our club’s mission and goals;
we are a fire fighter MC.
With the Western in the books our official riding
season has come to a close, those that attended
the Western in Carson City were well taken care
of thanks to members and families of Chapter 88.
We had two very special guests this year. Aldo
from France and Big Tatonka (Dirk Broeckx) from
Belgium, they had many stories to tell. I am sure
they had a good time. Thursday the weather was
very cold, but Friday and Saturday were perfect.
I also want to thank the board members that
attended: Tex and Karen, William and Bruce.
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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As you meet fellow firefighters be sure to invite
them to join W&FMC. As our club gets older so
do our members. It is important to keep new and
younger members coming into our club.
I want to thank those that went to Europe and
attended our International Event. I understand
those that attended had a good time. I am very
sorry for the misunderstanding which caused
some members to stay home. It will never
happen again. Any member is welcome at any
International Event. We are working on some
changes to insure W&FMC is the same worldwide.
We still have some great chapter events coming
up, support your local chapters. The big events
on the west coast are the Sacramento FF
Memorial and the Johnny V Toy Run. Both are
awesome and you need to attend if you can.
Now is the time to service your bikes and get
ready for 2017 and the rides ahead.
See you on the road,
JR
JB - John Bergstrom - Vice President
As I see Things....
JB will be back in print
next issue – Editor
Jerry “Evo Red” Eibert Wind & Fire MC
Founder
Today I read the
Thunder Press edit of
my Kids Day Run
story. TP published 3
out of my 4 photos
and the article
appears very early,
page 6. Nice!
Editor – here is the article in its entirety as Jerry
wrote it:
Besides riding and socializing, Wind & Fire
Motorcycle Club (a Firefighter/Harley
international club) has a secondary focus on
charity. W&F MC’s first motorcycle charity
events in 1994 were hosted by chapters
located in Santa Barbara, CA; Bellwood, IL
and Denver, CO. Thus began the club’s
signature Burn Camp Run (BCR) events,
motorcycle runs to summer camps
benefitting burn-injured children. At camp
club members made donations and
intermingled biker-to-camper with the kids.
Hula-Hoop Relay
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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Duplicating that same BCR format, an
inaugural Kids Day Run (KDR) took place
three years later in California. This time the
venue was Camp Ronald McDonald for Good
Times in Idyllwild, a summer fun camp for
kids with cancer. July 16th of this year
marked the club’s 20-year of riding to Camp
Ronald McDonald.
Upon arriving at camp, club members are
paired-up with a Cabin – a group of kids
defined by the numbered cabin in which they
reside. In my case I joined Cabin #14, a
cheery group of young ladies. Festivities on
site include: get-acquainted games such as
Hong Kong Phooey to introduce the bikers to
their Cabins, Slow Race bike heats, camper
selfies taken astride the Harleys and the
highly competitive Hula-Hoop Relay (actually
more spectacle than contest)…details later.
It’s traditional for those campers in-the-
know to plea, “Can I wear your Colors Vest?”
This request is a narrowly disguised ploy; its
real target being to setup an “unsuspecting”
biker for the vest return ritual. Later, said
vest-retrieval requires an obligatory Squirrel
Dance, often done line-dance fashion,
during lunch, in front of a packed mess hall.
The Squirrel is a thing of beauty. Not! What it
is, is awkwardly, goofy, fun.
The Hula-Hoop Relay Race explained: Out in
an open field, four teams are stretched
hand-and-hand into lines consisting of
several Cabins with their respective bikers.
At the end of each line sets a Harley; at the
other end stands a biker waiting next to a
pile of clothes. A hula-hoop is then placed
on the arm of the first person near the line’s
bike-end. At “Go” the hoop is relayed down
the line, clumsily passing over and under
each team member’s body while that
member has both hands held fast to
adjoining line-mates. Once the hoop has
traveled the line end-to-end to arrive at the
awaiting biker, he (funnier when it’s a guy)
has to don gear from the pile (frilly ladies
clothes no less), run back down along the
line garbed in dress & bonnet to his bike,
hop on and fire it up. Cool fun…no one really
cares who wins.
This year W&F MC brought along
commemorative 20th Anniversary Run
Slow Race
The W&F MC crew takes a break on route to
camp. (The
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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Patches for everyone: riders, campers and
staff. The unique anniversary patches feature
the dual logos of Ronald McDonald’s
“Rainbow Kids” and Wind & Fire’s “Fire Bike”.
W&F MC is grateful to be part of the summer
escape of Camp Ronald McDonald for Good
Times. It’s always good to be in-the-wind.
Adding something altruistic to the journey
enhances the experience. It’s a completely
uplifting feeling to put some happy and/or
mesmerized faces on kids coping with
adversity. Nationally & internationally the
clubs hosts approximately two dozen annual
charity events.
Evo Red
Spanky Bratton – Editor’s Corner
This year’s riding
season is winding
down and for me it
was another good
time of many days in
the saddle. Our ride
out to Sturgis for the
unofficial Wind & Fire
Rally, which was done quite well by the Black Hills
Chapter, and return was one of my best ever. If
I’m counting it right and subtracting the two
years I missed in succession, it was my 17th
pilgrimage to the Hills. Once again we lucked out
with the weather when others were having wind
and rain and hail on the road. To those of you, I
tip my helmet for staying the course and building
those road memories through thick and thin.
From Southern California we made it a point to
hit the two-laners and visit old friends and
making new ones in Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Nevada
and Oregon before we came back home. On our
way through Oregon we happened along Wind &
Fire brother Jon Journey at the Chevron Station in
Roseburg. I can’t tell you how many times this
has happened to me over the years (eh, Lisa Price
Waltman?). Wear your colors! You never know
who you’ll see along the road.
This year’s ride took us down the incredible
Pacific Coast Highway 1 from Oregon to San
Francisco. We spent a couple of days to wind our
way along some of the most beautiful coastline
and landscape on the planet before we crossed
the Golden Gate Bridge at rush hour on a Friday.
That patch of ground brings back great memories
of my youth – I once rode a 1966 Honda 305
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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Superhawk from Southern California to Fort
Bragg, California to visit a girl and my relations –
some 600+ miles on a seat that was made for
cruising around town, not for the long haul. I
learned the true meaning of having an iron butt,
50-some miles at a bite. But the memories of
that great trip came flooding back to me as we
rode along the Mendocino coast.
Some of the clan still live there in fact. I hadn’t
seen my cousin Bruce since 1978 after I
graduated from the Engineer Academy and
visited at Thanksgiving. I knew he owned the
Napa Auto Parts store in the middle of town at
one time so I decided to stop unannounced just
to see if he might still be there. I dismounted
Rocinante, entered the shop and there he was,
leaning across the counter. A little greyer, but
still with the same smile and good nature that I
remembered. He’s owned/managed the place for
40 years now.
That’s really it, isn’t it? A great road trip isn’t
just about pounding out the miles, merely riding
through this country’s magnificent scenery. It’s
about meeting both the local and the traveler
along the way. Even if you don’t know someone
in towns along the road, get your butt off the
superslab, cruise through the oldest part of
anytown, USA and make that human contact. The
best way I’ve found is to find that mom and pop
hash house that serves up more than what’s on
the menu. You won’t regret it.
It’s in the wind…
Spanky
Newsletter Notes
Send Me Your Story!
I’m still looking for your W&FMC stories to close
out our commemoration of 25 years in the
January 2017 issue. Send them to me any way
you can get them to me.
Subscriptions are for the hardcopy of the Wind &
Fire MC newsletter mailed to you - price for 2
Years. This newsletter is also available free of
charge at our Wind & Fire MC website in the
Members Only section:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/WindandFireMC/
PLEASE make out the check to Michael Bratton as
I do not have an account for the Wind & Fire MC
newsletter. My bank will not cash them if made
out to Wind & Fire MC.
Address: Spanky Bratton PO Box 23 La Mesa, CA
91944
The price of the W&F Newsletter is $18
subscription mailed in the USA ($26
mailed outside the USA)
Last Issue of the Quarterly Newsletter:
None
Newsletter Subscriptions Due:
Joe Bingham PT Fletcher
Bill Delapp George Langley
Please read the list of "subscriptions due" above.
This is the only way that I am going to contact
you. The way it works: I put down the month you
are due; then if no payment is received, your
name appears in the next edition in the Last Issue
of the Quarterly Newsletter.
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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25 Years of WIND & FIRE MC
April 1991 to April 2016
Beginning with last quarter’s newsletter, we
embarked on an abbreviated history of our club
in honor of our 25th anniversary. I originally
intended to have JR and JB write a few words on
the more recent years and the future of WFMC,
but I thought it would be good to hear from one
of the first members in the club so I have been
bugging Member #6 Bill Cadam to give me some
of his thoughts on events of the early days of the
club. I’m happy to say my haranguing worked!
Here he writes about how the annual Fresno Burn
Camp Run and the annual Kids Day Run (which
just celebrated its 20-year anniversary) got
started.
Bill: Back in 1993 my wife at the time, being a
burn survivor, wanted to go to Alisa Ann Ruch
Burn Camp as a counselor. She spent about two
weeks with the kids and had a wonderful time.
She also met a really good friend Kristen Smith.
Anyway, that will come up later. They started
talking about the things that went on at Burn
Camp with the kids during those two weeks. I
asked if we, as firefighters and Wind and Fire
members, could ride in and spend a day with the
kids and have fun. Santa Barbara County
Firefighters Local 2046 was donating about a
thousand dollars a year toward the burn
foundation. I figured we could deliver it in
person.
My ex-wife and Kristen went to the powers to be
at Burn Camp and asked the question if we could
ride into camp and the kids sit on our bikes and
have fun with the kids. They came back with let’s
give it a try. I went to Jerry and asked if we could
do this ride to burn camp and he said, “Why not?
Let’s do it”. Thus Chapter No. 1 of Wind and Fire
made its first run to Burn Camp in 1994 in
Wonder Valley outside of Fresno, CA. If you
haven’t been to Burn Camp in Fresno you’re
missing out.
A few years later someone came to me from the
Fresno firefighters (I don’t know his name but I
will buy you a beer next time you see me, I am
sorry) and asked why I was doing this run from
Santa Barbara when Fresno is in our backyard? So
Fresno Wind and Fire Chapter has taken the helm
on Burn Camp and doing a wonderful job. Bebee
and his wife Dee and the rest of Wind & Fire
Chapter #44 do a really great job. You have Evil
and 2Evil doing the BBQ and Serving beer, what is
there not to like? Thank You for doing a great
ride.
OK, now off to Kids Day in Hemet. Kristen Smith
decided to try working at a different camp.
So Kristen went to Ronald McDonald Good Times
which are kids that are cancer survivors and
patients.
In 1996 Kristen went to Camp Good Times and
came to me after camp and asked if we at Wind
and Fire could do a run to Ronald McDonald. I
said yes. I went to Jerry and asked “could we do
another camp run?” So in 1997 we went to our
first Kids Day (outside of Hemet, California). Jerry
came up with the name Kids Day and it has stuck
ever since.
I did the Kids Day Run for a couple of years
before I handed it off to CDF-FIRE Wind and Fire
Chapter #91. Papa Dwayne and his Chapter 91
have done a great job in running this ride. Kids
Day is an absolute blast. We play games with the
kids as well as having lunch with them. We
entertain the kids with a slow race and we play a
game with hula hoops. I can’t say enough about
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
7
how much fun this camp is. This camp is good
for the heart and it is good for the soul. We Wind
and Fire Members are doing a great job with the
kids and the firefighters who attend.
I would like to say that being a member of Wind
and Fire is an honor. Being in our 25th year as
Wind and Fire is absolutely wonderful. And thank
each and every one of you for the ride.
Bill Cadam
Wind & Fire MC Member #6
Where we’ve been:
WIND & FIRE
Rallies and Other Events
CDF-Fire Chapter #91
20th Annual Kids Day Run
Mountain Center, California
July 15 and 16, 2016
On a warm July Saturday thirteen bikes with
eighteen people made the 20th Annual Kids Day
Run to Camp Ronald McDonald For Good times.
Camp Ronald McDonald is located in the
mountains east of Hemet (Riverside County)
California and is a one week camp for kids that
have cancer.
W&F members interacted with the 125 campers,
counselors, and staff. The campers were divided
into groups and a W & F member was placed with
each group to talk about their bikes and what W
& F is all about. The kids were encouraged to sit
on the machines and ask questions. There were
some interesting games played with the kids and
a slow race contest was held among the bikes
that were there. Mike Walker and Fat Bob of the
Central Sierra Chapter faced off in the "Finals",
with Fat Bob being declared the winner!
W & F Founder Jerry "Evo Red" Eibert designed a
special Run Patch for our "20th" and generously
funded patches for each of the kids, Thank you
Jerry !
Support for this year's Run came from multiple
chapters including: Buck-Fifty from Kingman-
Lake Havasu, AZ, Central Sierra from Merced,
Fresno Area Firefighters, Fresno, Big Bear, from
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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the San Bernardino Mountains, San Diego Chapter
11, and CDF-FIRE, Riverside. This year's Run was
able to donate $2,035 to the Camp, well done
guys & gals! Chapter 91 thanks all the
participants and acknowledges and appreciates
the support of all the Wind & Fire members,
Thank you all!
Papa Duane
Chapter 91
CDF-FIRE
Black Hills Chapter #183
"Ride 2 the Hills ... Ride 4 Your Life"
August 7 – August 9, 2016
(This was a WFMC Four For Four Run)
This year’s rally was much quieter than in years
past. Not just because many went to Europe or
the new eastern rally in Indy, but throughout the
Hills & Sturgis also. With the exception of a few
members’ bikes breaking down, I think all that
came had a good time here.
We had our usual annual ride with a trial new
route, still ending at Jim's place Chute Roosters .
Meet & Greet went well with all of us pitching in
(like a potluck) around the campfire at Pactola
Campground.
We tried a few new ideas of having a mystery ride
with couples guessing where the next stop was.
We finished the day with dinner at the Alpine Inn
and hosting a gift exchange. Cesar Meza of the
Black Hills Chapter engineered [literally – editor]
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
9
the train ride this year which benefits our
fundraiser - Black Hills Children's Home.
Speaking of that fundraiser for this organization,
we collected almost $2000 this year, thank you
everyone.
I want to send out a big thank you to my chapter
members, the Bebees, Barry & all others that
helped us pull all this off.
Twig Stanger, President
Black Hills Chapter #183
Where We’re Going:
WIND & FIRE
Upcoming Rallies, Runs and Events
Sacramento Firefighter Chapter #30
California Firefighters Memorial
October 14 and 15, 2015
On behalf of the Sacramento Chapter of W&F, I'd
like to personally invite you back for our get
together and dinner on Friday October 14th. The
California Firefighters Memorial is Saturday,
October 15th.
We have reserved a block of rooms at the
Hawthorne Suites, 321 Bercut Dr, Sacramento.
Once again, they were nice enough to give us last
year's rates. 1K or 2Q rooms are $69 and a 2
bedroom suite with 1Q in each room is $109.
You can call the hotel direct (916) 441-1200 and
ask for the Wind & Fire Motorcycle Club block
rate. The price is good thru Oct. 15th.
Vallejo's Mexican Restaurant IS back again this
year...they delivered a great dinner buffet. Dinner
will again be $15 for Carnitas, Chicken Fajitas,
beans, rice and all the fixins. Please RSVP for the
dinner so we know how much to order. Our
website, http://sacwindandfire.com/ will
have more info. Click on upcoming events.
Also, we'll be selling our newly designed, 2016
Memorial t-shirts (limited number), our W&F ball
caps, memorial pin and patch sets and raffle
tickets... all proceeds go to the Firefighters Burn
Institute Kids Burn Camp. To RSVP and/or reserve
a t-shirt, you can simply reply to this email or call
me, Sandy, (916) 967-4213,
Please pass this info on to your club members.
We look forward to seeing our Wind & Fire
brothers and sisters on Friday and at the
Memorial on Saturday.
Sandy Donahue
Chapter 30 Secretary
Barbary Coast Chapter #57
10th Annual Johnny V toy Run
November 5, 2016
Once again the Barbary Coast Chapter of Wind &
Fire MC will be hosting a Toy Run on November
5, benefiting the San Francisco Firefighters Local
798 Toy Program. Come join us on an escorted
ride through our beautiful streets of San
Francisco. Then join us for our after ride party,
BBQ, 50/50, raffle, music and run pin. San
Francisco Firefighters' goal is to distribute over
250,000 toys to about 40,000 dis-advantage
families during the Holiday Season. No child
should ever have to go without a little Holiday
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
10
Cheer. Please come join us on November 5th
and help us put a smile on a deserving child.
Saturday November 5
2225 Jerrold St. San Francisco
Registration 10:00 – 11:30 am
Donation: $25. Rider $5 with unwrapped toy.
WIND & FIRE Members and friends who
have left us this year
Don “Stewmeat” Stewart
Past Wind & Fire MC Board Member
Past Orange County California Chapter
September 11, 1950–February 18, 2016
Dany Vermeersch
Flanders Firefighters Chapter #181
May 6, 1961 – July 20, 2016
Brothers,
With pain in our hearts, we Flanders Firefighters
#181, inform you that we lost one of our
brothers. Yesterday evening around 7:40 p.m.
Dany Vermeersch passed away struggle against
cancer. The funeral will take place on Wednesday
27 july at 10:15 a.m. in the auditorium of the
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
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funeral home 'Bleyaert' in Bruges. The address is:
Moerkerksesteenweg 77, Sint-Kruis Bruges.
If possible, please wear the colours of Wind &
Fire, if is possible coming with your bike with a
black ribbon.
Kind regards,
The board
Flanders Firefighters #181
WIND & FIRE MC Challenge Coins
Contact Skipper Road Captain/Board Member or
Redlight at the Big Bear Chapter #53.
Terry Porter (Skipper)/Laurie Porter (Redlight)
PO Box 623
Big Bear Lake,
CA 92315-0623
Home (909)866-5151 Cell (909) 289-1508
Other Stuff…
Motorcycle Flag Display Guidelines
Thanks to longtime WFMC member William Trinkl
who sent in basic guidelines for displaying the US
flag on your motorcycle when the Wind & Fire,
POW, military or other flag is also being
displayed. Here is the US flag protocol
recommended for civilians displaying flags on
vehicles, including motorcycles as outlined by the
Courtesy Military Salute Project (CSP).
http://www.newlondonmotorcycleclub.com/uplo
ads/Flag_Guidelines.pdf
Automobile and Motorcycle Flag Display
Guidelines for Non-Military Vehicles
No other flag should be flown higher than the
Flag of the United States of America. No other
flag should be noticeably larger than the Flag of
the
United
States of
America.
The U.S.
Flag is
mounted
on its
own
right as
the
vehicle is moving forward, EXCEPT when it is
mounted as follows.
A single U.S. Flag mounted on the roof of an
automobile or a truck, or on the rear fender
or “bumper” of a motorcycle, CAN be
mounted in the center of the vehicle OR it can
be mounted on the right side (passenger side)
of the vehicle.
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
12
The U.S. Flag can be displayed in the center of
a row of an odd number of flags (i.e. three
flags, five flags, seven flags, etc.) mounted
across the roof of an automobile or truck or
in a fender-mount or bumper-mount on the
rear of a motorcycle. In this case, the U.S.
Flag should be higher than all other flags.
“Higher” means that the uppermost red stripe
of the flag should be above the top of all
other flags. This can generally be
accomplished by using a U.S. Flag one size
larger than all of the other flags or by
extending the length of the pole holding a
U.S. Flag that is the same size as all of the
other flags.
The U.S. Flag displayed in the center of a row
of multiple U.S. Flags mounted in a line
across the roof of an automobile or truck, or
in a fender-mount or bumper-mount on the
rear of a motorcycle, CAN be higher than all
of the other U.S. Flags (in the case of an odd
number of multiple U.S. Flags, i.e. three flags,
five flags, seven flags, etc.) OR all of the U.S.
Flags can be the same height and size.
If a row of multiple U.S. Flags has an even
number of flags (i.e. two flags, four flags, six
flags, etc.), ALL of the flags in the row should
be the same height and size.
If U.S. Flags are flown from poles extending
out of the “post holes” in the rear of, and on
both sides of, the bed of a pickup truck, both
U.S. Flags should be the same size and
height.
Courtesy Military Salute project:
http://www.newlondonmotorcycleclub.com/uplo
ads/Flag_Guidelines.pdf
WIND & FIRE MC On the road again…
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
13
Volume 24 Issue #4 October 2016
14
Sergeant at Arms
Shannon Turner
1224 Triangle Drive
Central Point, Oregon 97502
(541)324-8984
Board Member
Darrell Stevenson
PO Box 97
Dawson, TX 76639
(903) 875-9895
Board Member
Ron Hyde
57 Bay Hill Lane
Panorama Village, TX 77304
(281)298-1968
Board Member
William Trinkl
3971 Bison Blvd.
Lake Havasu City AZ 86404
(714) 743-9852
Board Member/Hospitality
Gary Lovell
1411 Hwy. 205
Rockwall, TX 75032
(972) 563-9116
Board Member/Secretary
Mike May
3416 Lancaster Way
Calgary, Alberta T3E 5W6
Canada
National Rally/Board Member
Terry “Hef” Heflin
(634) 484-0824
Board Member
Tom Dill
6063 Newcombe Court
Arvada, CO 80004
(303) 669-0375 cell
Membership/Club Products
Dave Barr
PO Box 8633
Bodfish, CA 93205
(760) 379-4941
Chaplain
Mark “Straight Arrow” Rittermeyer
4784 Foxwood Blvd
Lakeland, FL 33810-2041
(863) 816-9898
Newsletter Editor
Mike “Spanky” Bratton
PO Box 23
La Mesa, CA 91944
(619) 415-6258
Wind & Fire Historian
Wild Bill Sterne
1008 Georgia St
Louisiana, MO 63353
(573) 754-0122
Club President/CEO Board
Member/Webmaster
John “JR” Robbins
3113 Tupelo Drive
Merced, CA 95348
(209) 769-7408
Vice President/CFO/Board
Member/Corporate Rallies
John “JB” Bergstrom
140 Slatey Ford Rd.
Greenbrier, AR 72058
(501) 428-7701
European Director/Board Member
Eddy Styven
Vinkenlaan 17
2630 Aartselaar
Belgium
03 8871938
Road Captain/Board Member
Terry “Skipper” Porter
PO Box 623
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315-0623
(909) 866-5151
Charity Officer/Board Member
Bruce Reibly
65 Cortez Dr.
Nocoma, TX 76255
(940) 825-5138
Safety Officer
Lisa “SureShot” Rudikoff
Colorado 303-949-5896
W&F plaques JB and Eddy