Lone Star TDR Membership Drive

[GotDiesel]

Greetings,

We are going to have a membership drive to get this club off the ground. It will start on the first day of the Texas Rally 2001. We will have sign up sheets for you to sign up on, with a description of our club.

Dues are up in the air right now as far as price goes, but $ 10. 00 to $20. 00 a year sounds about right.

We are gonna try to talk to the local Dodge dealerships in the Houston area and see if we can get a discount on parts purchased by club members. I'll keep you posted on that.

If anyone else has any other ideas, about how we can better this club, please let me know either call (409-945-6207) or E-Mail -- email address removed --

If all goes well we hope to have some decals and T-shirts for sale at the rally.

Gitch and Tex (MDW) keeps teasing me and saying I just need to be the "president"of this chapter and get it off the ground, especially after they put my name down in the register as the person to contact. I've been getting lots of E-Mails too, many are people who want to know more about the club. It doesn't matter that much to me, its just a title, I just want to see this club succeed and grow. It's gonna be a lot of work but thats ok too, cause I know it will be worth later down the road.

May the LSTDR, Houston chapter grow to be the biggest and the best it can be!

 

[MDW]

Sounds good to me, Prez

 

[Okie-Go]

If you are going to be Prez. You will have to start coming to more of the meetings, we have missed you the past couple of times we got together. I thought we had a Houston Chapter already. Hope to see you in Kerrville.

 

[RustyJC]

I'm Confused

I thought we had a Houston TDR chapter. If not, whose meetings have I been going to?



Wouldn't it be a good idea to build up what we already have rather than toss it aside and start over?



JM2CW



Rusty

 

[GotDiesel]

In response to the above questions;

This is the same club that you all have been meeting with and doing things with. The only thing that has changed that we are now offically recognized by the TDR as a true chapter that meets their guidelines. SO we are not throwing away what we have started but we are going to make it better.

I took the bull by the horns so to say for two reasons-

1 Nobody else was trying to get this club organized and recognized, at least not to my knowledge if there was I apologize for stepping on someones toes.

2 Because Gitchesum and MDW kept complaining about someone needed to take the lead and get this chapter off the ground.

For those of you who don't know Curtis Harris( Gitchesum) he is our brother in LA. who is soon to be a Texan again, who gave us this great website and organized the Texas Rally 2001. My hats off to him!!



I have a lot of things envisioned for this club. But, I really want to hear about your ideas and concerns. Post them here or send it directly to me -- email address removed --



Oh, yes and what clinched my decision was that someone whom I know will want to remain anonymous posted me as the contact for the LSTDR in the latest issue.

You guys would not believe the flood of E-mails I have been recieving, on the average of about two a day.



Also in respose as to why I missed two meetings one was for work and the other because I was sick, hated to miss them too! But, gotta keep the family fed and a roof over our heads.



Thanks,



Joe Pazdera



See Ya ALL at Kerrville!

 

[Homebod]

We started a group about a year before other people decided to rename, take over and hold their own election of themselves without even coming to our meetings. We started this 2 years ago, set up the first rally after being dumped from the TDR planned event. We all voted to be named " LoneStar Rammers "

.



We then went on to have an Automatic Transmission Seminar and getting Bill K. to come down and visit us.



I can see how we haven't done very much in your eyes if your not around to see it.

 

[Okie-Go]

I agree

If we are going to even have someone calling themselves a President I would like to know who all voted. I thought I was a member and am really grateful to Curtis for putting my mugshot on the site. But to print up a handout and charge dues and THEN say you will will be be removed for not paying is going a little too far in my opinion. I haven't been a member as long as some of the others but the meetings we have had in the past consisting of kicking tires and sniffin diesel has been fun and extremely informative. I have been to EVERY meeting held since I joined. I will prolly miss the ones in November and December while hunting and time at home for the holidays. I noticed on another thread some of the other clubs kinda take a break for the holidays. I don't guess there is a law or rule that says we can't have a southeast rammer's club. Hey, that sounds good! Don't be shy, comments or concerns...

 

[MDW]

Dang, ya put forth the effort and what does it get ya, a good slap in the face.

To think I used my own personal money to buy T-shirts and am going to put the profits into the clubs account, what an idiot I am.

If the t-shirts had not sold I would have taken the hit noone else.

Geez, its stuff like this that makes me wonder why I bother.

Joe Pazdera did the same thing with the stickers, Joe you are an idiot too.



Okie: I HAD the highest opinion of you. To sum this up BITE ME for trying.

 

[RustyJC]

Hey, guys,



It's obvious we have a problem here. Can I make a suggestion? Let's hold off until our get-together on October 28th and try to work this out. IMHO, we really need to work together to get this resolved so we can get on down the road.



JM2CW as a new guy in the group.



Rusty

 

[TXRam]

Let me give you my thoughts:



We started meeting for breakfast about 1 1/2 years ago. Since then we have had a breakfast meeting about every month - and attendance at times was very scarce (3 or 4 people) - I've missed more than my share of meetings, so I am not pointing any fingers here. Along the way we've lost some people and gained some people, but there are a few of us left who were at the first meeting. We've never had dues and never needed them to my knowledge.



Now we probably have more interest than we've ever had, so I can understand if some people want to make this a more organized "group". But I'm personally not paying any dues until I know what the dues are to be used for and who will have responsibility for them and how they will be handled and . . . . We (David Wilkinson, myself and a few other) talked about dues early on and decided we did not want to have dues or a formal structure because this group was all about fun, and when you start these other things there becomes quite a bit of work involved.



Here are my suggestions:



Let's have another meeting (better held at a park, barn, garage, etc. due to heated nature of some issues) and discuss this among all "members". 3 or 4 out of a group of 15+ cannot make decisions for the whole group, unless they are duly appointed officers. We can set an "agenda" of topics to discuss and, after they're discussed, we can vote as a group on any issues (i. e. , officers, dues, etc. ). I think most people will agree with any decisions that we make as a group, but not many people like when a few try to make the decisions by themselves.



Mike, Joe, Curtis - I know you're all just trying to do what you think will make the "club" better, but the "club" is made up of many different people with different ideas about/desires for the "club". I'm just saying let's step back, calm down and take a different approach.

 

[Okie-Go]

What Clint said is what I was trying to say. I had some concerns and didn't know how to say them other than just telling it like it is. I think we will get it worked out. Breakfast at Cracker Barrell still sounds yummy and then those that want we can go over to Mike's place for adjustments and such. Mike I still think you are a super neat guy. I am sorry you lowered your opinion of me. I am looking forward to the 28th.

 

[Strick-9]

I love all this fire. I'm going to have to make it to this breakfast just to watch the fireworks. hehe.



I made it to the Lake Belton Rally last year as well as Bill's seminar in Dallas. I would love to know why dues are necessary and how they could benefit the group. I'm all for helping each other with installs and learning from each others mistakes and such, but I don't see where money comes into this picture.



Let me see if I can remember some of the things that happened in Dallas.



TXRam installed a set of 275 injectors.

Homebod installed one of Bill's original Smart controllers.

And I installed a set of governor springs.



We helped our fellow TDR members because we could. We each shared our experience with others and everyone benefited. For those reasons, it was a great event. I remember leaving that event and just feeling good about myself. I learned a lot about transmissions and I also helped some people and made a few friends. It doesn't get any better than that.



And now it looks like I'll have to pay to install products for FREE on other peoples trucks.



I guess I just don't understand and maybe you all can explain it to me at the end of the month.



I say we race for leadership spots.



By then I'll have my ported head installed with lowered compression as well as my new P7100. Could be exciting!!!



-Chris

 

[TxDieselKid]

man now I think I may have to drive...

The way this thing is shaping up I think I may have to make it down. Sure hope I get off for this day.



One idea, nothing more be said about this stuff untill the metting. This would only lead to more possible hurt feelings, and maybe no meeting at all. Maybe a debate could be set up AFTER the install session. 2 folks, one on each side, giving their side's points, then open forum. Just an idea.



Maybe I will have my 4" by then. A guy offered me $60 to stright pipe, and exit it just before the rear wheel (Brian Hopper Style).



Hope I can make it,

AJB

 

[Okie-Go]

I think if someone has thoughts or concerns they should be aired out. Covering it up or holding it in will not make it go away. Everyone has an opinion and can certainly express it. Ya know, you might not like what someone said or did but that doesn't mean you have to dislike them as a person.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Recommendations

I've had discussions with Mike (MDW) and Curtis (Gitchesum) for quite a while about the LSTDR. I helped Curtis set up the LSTDR chat room as well as the first version of the discussion forums (which have now been changed) to help you guys out. As I understand it Curtis has registered the domain name www.lstdr.org to move the website to but has not found a host for it as of yet and has some trouble getting it off the ground. I have a message into Curtis for him to contact me so I can help out with that as well. Right now there is an LSTDR website at http://www.lstdr.f2s.com that is available for your use. I talked with Joe and Mike today to give them advice on this. The reason they've been talking with me is that I was one of the two people (Dr. Tinker being the other one) that formed the GLTDR ( http://gltdr.org ), got it off the ground, and have been the president of the club for the last two years. I can tell you that these guys are definately trying to do what is in the best interest of your club.



I have some recommendations for you guys on how you can resolve this and move forward. First, since you have a discussion forum and a chat room on the LSTDR site would be to take this discussion there so you can do it in a more private situation rather than in front of the more general public (TDR). One of the things that we did in the GLTDR that has been the glue that holds our club together was to set up regular chat nights. At the beginning of the club we had an online chat every wednesday at 9:00 pm eastern time which was later expanded to every sunday and wednesday at 9:00 pm. What this did was build a comradarie between the club members and kept us in regular contact. The lstdr web page has the same chat room software that we are now running on the GLTDR and is very stable and easy to use. Another thing we did that has worked out extremely well for us is that we have an online meeting the first sunday of the month at 9:00 pm. We do 100% of the work of the club during these online meetings. This gives the members an opportunity to make decisions regarding where the club should be going, based on the input of the officers. These meetings were approximately 2 hours long at the beginning of the club and now they only take about 45 minutes. The beauty of doing this is that everyone has an opportunity to attend the meetings no matter where they are (as long as they have web access there) if they wish and that it doesn't take much time out of their day (no travel time for example). It also makes it so that when we do get together we can just have fun - no business needs to be taken care of. Believe it or not we get more done in those online meetings in a shorter amount of time than any in person meetings that I've ever been a part of.



Our first meeting consisted of first electing a president and secretary, I ran the meeting and Doc took notes because we were the two that started forming the group. We were then elected to the positions. It was also decided to charge $10 dues at that meeting to cover expenses that the club would incur. Some of the costs that the club has incurred include a P. O. Box fee, website hosting fees (our biggest expense), postage, printing of business cards, a large full color banner to display at our events, paper, envelopes, etc. We post a ledger listing all of our income and our expenses in our private forum for the members to see where the money's coming from and going to. If we have a major expense decision to make (like changing web hosts, printing a sign, etc) then that is put before the members to vote on at the next meeting, if it's an emergency and money has to be spent before the next meeting then it's posted in the private forum for approval. One of the other large chapters decided not to charge dues and to keep their club informal as some here have discussed. In their case there is one member that has taken on the brunt of the expenses of the club (web hosting fees) to the tune of several hundred dollars, and has received very few donations to offset those costs. The website's for the chapters are an excellent resource and really help keep the club together and help it grow. Our club began at about the same point where you are now, we had roughly 20 members and we now have ~100.



The GLTDR as a club is currently working on a tool crib that will have tools that members will be able to borrow. Currently we have a G-tech pocket dyno in it and will be adding other tools to it in the future (an OBD II scan tool is one possibility, tools for changing injectors is another, etc). By being organized and growing the club we have also been able to secure discounts and cultivate relationships with vendors as well as having a close working relationship with a dealership for warranty service, a HUGE discount on new trucks, and a large parts discount! These are some of the advantages that can come from being organized. In my case I've saved over $160 this year alone in parts discounts - for my $10 in dues to the GLTDR, great investment IMO.



Mike has asked me to try to help you guys get through this based on my experience with the GLTDR. If the help is wanted I'll be glad to give any assistance I can, if not then it's no skin off my nose - just tell me to bug off. One thought was that I could run the start of a first online meeting to elect officers of the club. How about starting by discussing on the LSTDR forums (in the future events forum) a regular night during the week that you can have a regular chat for the next few weeks to build participation in it, then in about 4 weeks have a first online meeting to resolve some of these issues? Only thing I would ask is that it not be on sunday or wednesday nights so as to not interfere with the GLTDR chats.

 

[TXRam]

Thanks for the ideas and help Steve. Knowing how other chapters do things, etc. will help us I'm sure.



I don't think we should conduct the initial meeting(s) online - we need to get together and discuss the big issues, then on-line meetings could follow. Too many people have missed too many meetings - alot of people couldn't tell me from Mike, etc. (you can thank me later for the compliment Mike ). I know I couldn't put names with alot of the faces.



If most everyone makes the next meeting (I may not seeing as it's scheduled for the youth only weekend of deer season and I like to take my son out then), these issues can be discussed and voted on at the next meeting (or voted on on-line after the meeting - this would give everyone a chance to vote, even if they can't make the meeting - I think this is the most appropriate way).



Here's my proposal:



Next Meeting:

- discuss formalization of the club

- discuss needs and uses of dues

- discuss officer positions and even place nominations (self or otherwise) (I do NOT want to be an officer - honestly, I'm just attempting to "moderate" this issue)

- discuss anything else that needs to be voted on



THEN, if Curtis doesn't mind, put minutes of the meeting on the website and have on-line voting for all issues and for officers.



Is this acceptable to everyone???

 

[RustyJC]

Just my 2 cents' worth -



I think Clint is right about a face-to-face organizational meeting. One of the problems with communication via computer is that only the written word gets communicated - not the underlying emotion or intent behind it. Too much is subject to misinterpretation - I may read a message and think the sender means one thing, while someone else may interpret it totally differently. Personal communication gives the recipient an opportunity to see the facial expressions, body language, hear the tone of voice and all the other subleties of communicating that are lost in a "chat room" environment.



Like Steve, I also hate to see this thing aired out in front of the entire TDR. I know - I'm an old f@rt so my opinion probably doesn't count for much, but my dear ole Dad taught us that family business remains in the family! That's why I suggested that we hold off on the discussions until we can meet and clear the air.



If October 28th doesn't work for a lot of people as a date for an organizational meeting, maybe someone has a better alternative.



Rusty

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I can't seem to get the forums to work for me on the LSTDR site right now, I was going to start a thread there. As soon as I talk with Curtis I'll see what can be done about that. If it can't be brought online quickly I could create a sub forum for you guys on the GLTDR site and even make it a private forum just for the LSTDR guys so you could discuss it there. My recommendation for handling it online was twofold - one, you could get input from everyone involved through your own forums over the next few weeks and two, more people would have the opportunity to be involved in both the discussions and the votes. All I can tell you is that 100% of the decisions and meetings of the GLTDR have taken place online including the initial forming of the club and in less than two years we have built the largest and most active chapter in the country. We even made it through some VERY heated issues related to the Thunder in Muncie event that we put on back in June (there were ~300 trucks and ~700 people at that event) online. I actually think that through the use of forums you will actually get a more accurate picture of what people are thinking because everyone has the opportunity to think about what they are going to say and go back over everything that has been said to form what they are going to say. When talking in a group there are often things that you think of afterward that you wanted to say but forgot at the time. You could discuss the major issues in the forum and then have a shorter discussion on it in the online meeting before voting on it. If you go to this link - http://gltdr.org/meetings.htm - you can look over the minutes of our meetings up through October of last year (BOY am I behind on updating our site ) to get an idea of how things went for us at the beginning. JMHO



-Steve

 

[TxDieselKid]

thanks...

Thanks Steve for helping us out.



I think that Clint(TXRam) is right. Just everybody make it a point to show up. Post the minutes online, then do what ever needs to be done.



AJB

 

[Okie-Go]

I honestly feel like the start so to speak should be in person. Voting and nominations is of course fine to be done in person. We could decide if we want to be informal or formal. As for as meetings on-line I also have been unable to join the chat on the lstdr site. I can pull it up but not chat. Another thought is I know of members that come to our meetings and have never posted on the TDR forums or have a computer at home. This is unfair to them to be conducting very much online.