July 2004 Issue. Editor/ Webmaster Randy Hawkins - email ffly98@aol.com

Bill Divens and Tommy Vinci are having a Garage sale Sat August 7th. They say they want to unload a bunch of stuff. Stop by and make some offers. It's a Bill's house in PTC call Tommy for details 770-461-0592.

Once again we are homeless. As a result I am sure many of our members are thinking of moving on to other clubs in the area. Given our field situation I can’t blame anyone for taking this step. I joined the Griffin Club last year and this year I am also a member of the Skymasters Club. I do implore you though not to give up on the Fayette Flyers. We are actively pursuing another field and are very solvent in terms of our core membership and, thanks to the SEFF team, our bank account.

At this time we have two active pursuits for a new field. The first option is looking promising at this point. Tom Huckaby located a field off of Tillman Road and we have been in contact with the owner. I just spoke to him on the phone and while he is very agreeable at this time he has two partners which he must check with. If either of them vetoes the idea this kills the deal. We should here back from him within the next week or two. Of course there is a catch. They have the land on the market and hope to sell it within the next year or two. This is the reality we will be faced with in most instances of private land in Fayette County, and why, should this come to fruition, we will still be pursuing a second option.

I have been in contact with County Commissioner VanLandingham. He was sent a detailed packet on our club, the AMA, and our needs and he has been talking to other members of the County government on our behalf. Within the next few weeks I hope to set up an appointment where Tom and I can meet with Mr. VanLandingham and other members of the commission to discuss the possibility of getting the County to help us secure a more permanent field site. I anticipate this will be a long process with a few bumps in the road. I feel good about this as Mr. VanLandingham has already proposed one site that we have checked out. He is a member of the Kiwanis club and recommended we look at their property off of Dozer Road. Tom’s assessment indicates there are too many obstacles on the property so this field won’t work out. The silver lining though is that there does seem to be a genuine interest on Mr. VanLandingham’s part in helping the club if possible. It is now our job to convince the County that helping us will be in the long term interest of the citizens of the county.

I have been remiss in reviewing our calendar of events. As a result we failed to formally notify our membership that July’s schedule of events would not take place. I am sure that with the field status as it is this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. So, I will propose at the July meeting that we suspend the calendar until we are back up and flying.

Once again please stay patient with the club. We will still hold our regular meetings and I will send out emails covering any truly significant findings the field search committee uncovers. If you run across a lead please don’t hesitate to call us or email us. We will do our best to check things out as thoroughly as possible.