Dear Fellow Members,

Well, another year is almost come and gone and in just 38 days, we will begin a new shooting year for Music City Tactical Shooters.  We have a complete shooting schedule for 2008 posted elsewhere on the website and we will be going back to our traditional 1st & 3rd Saturday shooting schedule.  This means that you do not have to check closely every month to determine the shooting dates and you can just check off those 1st and 3rd Saturdays.

We will resurrect our trophy match for the upcoming year.  We certainly do not anticipate an immediate return to the grandeur of the old Music City Cup matches, but we are taking a first step in 2008.  We will be looking to some of you for help with this project.  More details to follow.

2007 has been a pretty successful year for the club in major competitions.  As you already know, Bill Baldock was the ESR Champion in the Southern Regionals and the Tennesse State Match.  This is pretty impressive, since these were the only two major competitions that he entered in 2007 and he has barely been shooting IDPA for one year.  I think we are going to have to nickname him Snake or Little Jerry, or something.  Maybe we could just make him load five rounds only in that 625.

This old buzzard has been very fortunate to sneak up on three wins in major matches in 2007.  1st Place - CDP Marksman - Southern Regionals,  SSR Champion, Tennessee State, and 1st Place - SSR Marksman - Mississippi State.

Many other members - Dennis Saylor, Lee Corbett, Gary Gaddis, Chip Prece - have made excellent showings in major matches this year (If I have left anyone out, I apologize).  For the size of our club, we have achieved outstanding results in 2007 and I hope we can achieve even greater results in the future.  WE HAVE SOME EXCELLENT SHOOTERS IN OUR CLUB!  ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS TO GET THEM TO COMPETE IN THE BIG MATCHES NEXT YEAR! 

Our match on 12/01 will have a special "Blind Stage" that we will be shooting for a $25.00 Gift Certificate.  This stage will be shot separately from the regular match and is designed to minimize the differences in skill levels between shooters so that everyone has a chance to win the prize.  Everyone - member or not - can win, so bring yourselves and your buddies.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for their participation and support in 2007.  The year has had some ups and downs, but mostly ups.   I want to thank the officers for all of their help and input, and I particularly want to thank Robert Standley for his dedication and focus.

Robert has been a constant in very difficult times.  You rarely find his kind of focus and dedication in a volunteer organization such as ours.  It would have been easy for him to just to throw his hands up some time back and go on to other business, but, thank goodness, he is just not built that way.  My hat is off to you, Robert, for all of the things you do for us.

And also lets us not forget Darrell Potts.  Darrell is one of the unsung - and unseen - heroes of our group.  For those of you who are not aware, Darrell hosts and maintains the MCTS website, which makes it possible for us to have an internet presence.  Without him, MCTS would be just another name on the IDPA roles.

I WANT TO WISH ALL OF YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!   I LOOK FORWARD TO MOVING AHEAD IN 2008, WITH YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT, TOWARD THE LEVEL OF SUCCESS AND GRANDEUR THAT THIS CLUB ONCE HELD!