The leaves have begun to pop and the weather reports have the first mention of the s-word. Another sign of the changing seasons is the start-up of the Thunder Chicken’s monthly meetings. Once again we would like to express our gratitude to our hosts, Caesar’s Fare restaurant in South Barre. Our meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month as follows:

Our meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. and refreshments are provided. For those members wishing to ride in once the season begins, Caesar’s Fare is located on Trail 14F in South Barre. We hope
to see you there.

If you were born after July 1983 and are over 12 years of age, you must be certified in order to operate a snowmobile on the VAST trail system. In order facilitate the certification process the Barre Town Thunder Chickens, in conjunction with our neighboring club, the Sno-Bees of Barre will once again be putting on a safety course. The date for the course this year is December 1^st and it will be held again at the Barre Town Elementary School. Pre-registration is required as enrollment is limited to the first 40 students. Please contact Dave Rouleau for registration at 802-371-1279 or by emailing Safetycourse@BarreTownThunderChickens.com.

The safety course runs from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. and lunch will be provided. Parents are welcomed to attend.

Landowner Spotlight

We’d like to take some time each month to put the spotlight on one of our landowners. As we all know, the Statewide Snowmobile Trail System relies on the generosity of the private landowners. Many times this generosity extends to much more than simply signing the annual landowner’s permission form. Such is the case with this month’s featured landowner, Pike Industries. Our trail system crosses through Pike’s Websterville operations. During the severe rains in July, a retention pond on their property burst, doing major damage to Corridor 25. When the Thunder Chickens contacted Pike to arrange to repair the trail, they generously offered to do the repair work themselves. Pike employee, Dick Covey, worked with our Trail master, Jon Joslin, to make sure that the trail was ready for the upcoming season. This type of action makes a world of difference in these times of tight budgets. Once again, the Barre Town Thunder Chickens would like to thank Pike Industries for all they do, not only for us, but for the community as a whole.

Our dedicated core group of volunteers has been gathering every Saturday morning for the last several weeks to work on the trails. We have been lucky enough (knock on wood) to avoid any major trail relocation projects this year, so the majority of the work being done has been brush hogging and the clearing of downed trees. There has been quite a bit of excavator work needed to replace and repair culverts and washouts, but considering some of the damage around us, we have been very lucky. If you would like to lend a hand, please contact Jon Joslin at (802) 476-9709.

As most of you have probably already heard, VAST will be introducing a new TMA structure this year. In addition to the new classes of TMA’s such as antique, classic, family and the 5 day passes, there will be a discount provided for "early-bird" purchases. If you purchase your TMA prior to December 15^th, you will pay $65 + county/club dues for a resident TMA and $95 + county/club dues for a non-resident TMA. After December 15^th , the prices jump up to $90 and $130 respectively plus county/club dues. I urge all of you to take advantage of this opportunity to save a little money and support the sport of snowmobiling. For a complete rundown of the new TMA structure, please go to the VAST TMA Details page at www.vtvast.org. VAST is expecting to provide clubs with TMAs the week of November 12^th.

  Annual Raffle

Our annual fundraising raffle is scheduled to be held on Friday, November 2^nd, 2007 at the Canadian Club in Barre. This year in a new twist, we will be offering the lucky winner their choice of a 2007 Polaris 450 4x4, a 2008 Polaris 550 LX snowmobile, or $5,000 in cash. For those not lucky enough to win the grand prize or one of our many fabulous consolation prizes, there will be a delicious roast pork dinner to make your night special. Tickets are offered to the prior year ticket holder first, then applied to our waiting list. We usually turn over 5-10 tickets per year, contact David 371-1279 if you’d like to get on the waiting list.                               

Trail sponsorships are available. If your business is interested in putting its name in front of thousands of faces every winter while helping provide some of the best trails in Central Vermont, contact Greg Isabelle at 802-476-0280.

Officers/Directors 2007-2008

President – David Rouleau

Vice President – Mark Reaves

Treasurer – Steven Arguin

Secretary/Membership – Donna Keene

Trail Master – Jon Joslin

Groomer – Vinny Covino

Gary Klinefelter
Steve Malnati
Doug Anderson

George Hunt
 Kevin Collins
Nathan Hunt

Trail Sponsorship – Greg Isabelle
Website Coordinator – Patti Covino