The 2008
Vincent J. Schafmeister
PATRIOT
July 5th and 6th, 2008
We have learned that our dear friend, fellow skeet shooter and MST&SC Life Member Vince Schafmeister passed away on the 4th of July, 10 days shy of his 85th birthday. Vince was a man who lived life well, was a friend in the truest sense of the word, and a "Man" in every sense of the word. True to his family, his country, his friends and his word, he will be missed by many. I have linked his name to the obituary published in the Miami Herald, reprinted for your reading. Just a personal warning, that obit cannot begin to reveal this man. By the time I was born in 1954, he had lived enough for a lifetime, but was just getting started. Vince crewed on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea, and served in the same area in both the Army and Navy during World War II. Vince survived the sinking of the first destroyer under his command and was given another, and worked as a radio host. Vince hunted and fished and enjoyed the shooting sports. Vince survived cancer and heart disease. Vince worked tirelessly for the community in too many organizations to list.
And I am thankful to have known him. We'll meet again, my old friend. In your honor, I have added your name to this shoot, a match in every way.
The Competition has increased recently, much to the credit of the NSSA's new Class All American competition. Once again, our turnout has surpassed all previous "same month" shoots in turnout and targets. Like last year, we endured many long lightning delays to complete this shoot. We appreciate the support of the staff at Markham Park and our shooters. Eighteen shooters shoot 6,450 targets at this event, with some lost to the weather, it was a great turnout. This is the 4th shoot named The Patriot we've hosted at Markham, and one of the largest. Our thanks to all who attended, and a special thanks to John Stewart, Steve Sagal, Rocky Long and the one and only Glen Rieske for all the assistance in making the shoot happen. I would not do it without your help!
The Rockets Red Glare 20 Gauge
The shoot order now begins with the 20 gauge, and from the onset it appeared the Rocky "Mr.99" Long was in fine form. Falling slightly short of his usual near-perfection with a 97, his score was good enough (with the long run tie breaker) to capture Gun Champion. Also posting a 97 was Runner Up Howard Chin. Steve Haynie posted a 96 to take 3rd Place. Class honors went to Chuck Farnham, Mike Gosik, Thomas Tamayo and Jason Tresslar.
The Fife and Drum 410 Event
The 410 is an exciting event under ideal circumstances, and this event was very exciting. A little heat, a little wind, a lightning delay or two with some rain mixed in - what a day for the little gun! While some shooters were not shooting at their best level, a couple shot very well. David "D" Lee posted a 95, and with none even close, took Gun Champ. Runner Up went to "Surprising" Steve Sagal, who posted an awe inspiring 91. Third Place was captured by Chuck "The Weatherman" Farnham, who somehow was completely comfortable with the elements and posted a 90. Class Champion Honors went to Howard Chin, Steve Haynie, Michael Gosik and Richard Weissman.
The Musket Ball 28 Gauge
Chuck Farnham finally broke through the "clay ceiling" and captured the Gun Championship in the 28 Gauge event with a 98. Andre Williams 95 (RU) and David Lee's 94 (3rd) were not able to catch Chuck this time. Class winners were Howard Chin, Steve Haynie, Glen Rieske, Steve Sagal and Jason Tresslar.
The Powder Horn 12 Gauge
Taking a page from Rocky "Mr. 99" Long, Chuck "The Weatherman" Farnham turn in an almost perfect 99 to take the 12 gauge event. Chasing him were Steve Haynie (RU) and Glen Rieske (3rd), both with 97's posted after tedious lightning delays. Class Honors are bestowed on Todd Bowman (AA1), Andre Williams (A1), Howard Chin (B1), Steve Sagal (C1), Thomas Tamayo (D1) and Andrew Wharton (E1).
The Double Time Doubles
Our new 50 target format for Doubles continues to draw many more shooters than the 100 target format. Eleven shooters joined the fun (and the weather chased a couple off) this time. While the scores were not amazingly high, when you factor in the delays and elements, they are amazing none the less. John "The Gunsmith" Stewart managed to coax an event best 46 of 50 out of his scattergun. The crowd was right behind him, with no less than four 45's. Steve Haynie planned his first miss well, and with a 21 front side long run took Runner Up. Let's see, you missed at Station 3 on the way back? Duh! Third place went to Thomas Tamayo also with a 45. Class Champs were Andre Williams, Jason Tresslar and Glen Rieske.
The PATRIOT HIGH OVER ALL CHAMPIONSHIP
HOA Champion Honors went to Chuck Farnham with a 382 out of 400, Runner up to Steve Haynie with a 371, and Howard Chin took 3rd, also with a 371. Gotta Luv those well planned long runs! HOA CLASS CHAMPS were Andre Williams (A1), Mike Gosik (B1), Steve Sagal (C1) and Jason Tresslar (D1).
Complete Results are linked below. Be sure and scroll all the way down, and take the time to really read the Declaration of Independence. Remind yourself just how special this country is, no matter what the press says!
OTHER ITEMS:
We also collected over $500 dollars in donations for the Ehnle family through the raffle of a case of ammo, blind auction of a case of Steel Shot and donations made by shooters from Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clays. Godspeed to the Ehnle family in this time of worry, you are in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks to all those who supported the efforts.
Our next scheduled NSSA shoot is not until October 4th, but there is some demand for an August shoot. Due to the cost of travel, many shooters previously unavailable in August for our shoots will be available this year. If you are one of those who would participate in a shoot August 2-3, please let me know and I will try to schedule one.
Rates, Fares and Prices:
At the last general meeting of the MST&SC Club, the pricing issue was discussed and some changes are to be made to my previous thoughts. We will mirror the amounts collected by the Trap division, collecting $8 per shooter with their first event each day. This will not be an optional amount and will help defray the costs of beverages and food. Even if you arrive at 1:00 PM to shoot one gun, you will be assessed this amount. It will appear as Banquet Tickets on your receipt, and there will be a quantity of 2 for a two day event if you are shooting both days. Rest assured that we will adjust this amount if we find we have erred in any direction. In the absence of a Lunch Chairman, we have opted to plan on "catered" style lunches which cost a little more, but are much more convenient for all.
SCHEDULE IT:
I have begun creating a schedule for next years shoots and intend to increase the number. I will try to schedule 12 shoots - one each month - in the 2008-2009 Skeet Year. There are a couple of months that do not have our "normal" first weekend open due to other scheduled events, so I have requested other dates. I will advise when all approvals are received.
COMPLETE RESULTS TABLE:
| 12 Gauge | 20 Gauge | 28 Gauge | 410 Bore |
| Doubles | HOA | HAA | Summary |
What this weekend is really about:
and the text so you can read it:
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies:
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and
the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed.
That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to
tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for
opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State
remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without,
and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing
his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies,
without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and
superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to
their Acts of pretended Legislation:
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For protecting them by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
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For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
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For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
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For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
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For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
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For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
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For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
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For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already
begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the
high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of
their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren.
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We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
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We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.
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We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new States as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton