ATA Building

Didn't the ATA buy a new building and tear the old one down? Anyone got ideas as to what happens to the new building? I am not sure what happened to the old building?

 

Last I knew the ATA was smart enough to purchase a building downtown in Sparta and not on the property of the State. That said, they could probably sell that building since they own it.

The old building in Vandalia has been torn down.

 

The city of Sparta could rent it for Visitors Bureau, for misplaced Trapshooters, Or office space for the EC & BOD and Delegates searching for jobs.

Or use it for the 8 traps that are missing, search team.

GB DLS

 

How could the State of Illinois rent or sell property they don't own, if the ATA would have no further use of the office in Sparta it would of course be up to the ATA to dispose of this property.
Even if the Sparta complex closes the ATA office would continue to operate as the collector of shooting scores and records maybe not in Sparta but somewhere else.

 

OLDPHART...

No doubt that now with computers they can store information from anywhere.

Many of The OLD records were shredded before the move from Vandalia...Apparently someone in charge thought they wouldn't have any historical significance....I guess there were many, many files, (I saw all of the rows of boxes on one of my visits), and to save shipping costs it was better to shred and dispose of them. I have not been told how far back in years they kept, but my understanding is there was no attempt to sort for historical purposes, just start shredding.

Sad, but a lot of OLD historical records have been lost in the shredder.

 

It's unfortunate that the historic records were destroyed, you would have thought that with computers or even DVD's the records could have been saved. It would have taken some time but the ATA had time before they moved. The ATA probably looked at the cost to retain the historical records and decided that it was too expensive to retain our history, Too bad.

 

I think my rights as a life member were shredded right before the move!

 

The "lease agreement" 5.5 (i) says ... "Any other agreement not withstanding, the TROLLEYS donated to DNR by the ATA shall cease to be used for transportation and instead shall be placed along the shooting line and at other locations at the facility by DNR for seating and shade for spectators and visitors to the Grand American. The ATA and DNR shall include the location of such trolleys in the annual Management Plan required by Section 7.1, below."

So ... someone paid to ship "trolleys" to "donate" ... and records had to be "shredded" ... "to save shipping costs " ...

Was there a 'Clinton' in charge of that decision ?????

 

Actually they were extinguished back about 1955 according to my notes in my file on the history of life memberships. Here's a summary.

17MAR1924 Simple Fee Transfer – Harry W. McDaniel et us to the Dayton Trap Shooting Association and its successors issued the following restrictions on the land binding for 15 years :

(1) that the land above described shall be used for a period of 15 years as a home for the Amateur Trapshooting Association of America, and that the headquarters of said Association shall be maintained in Dayton, Ohio, during that period ;

(2) that a suitable club house be maintained and that the amount heretofore donated by grantor [Dayton Trap Shooting Assoc.] herein to be expended in the general equipment of the grounds, rendering it suitable for trap shooting ;

(3) that during said period of 15 years, said ATA abandons said grounds for beneficial amateur trapshooting, for a period of two consecutive years during said period, then said ATA shall reconvey said premises to this Association [Dayton Trap Shooting Assoc.] and the title thereby revert to his Association.

16AUG1924 Picture of Life Membership Certificate

21JUL1930 Quit Claim Deed Transfer – transferred the fee simple and released and abrogated all prior deed restrictions of the original deed.

1946 The 1946 ATA Rule Book still confirmed Life Members as part owners of the Amateur
Trapshooting Association property & assets.

Circa1946 Rights of transferability of life memberships were reportedly extinguished by ATA Board of Directors. (Reported in ATA E. C. Minutes of December 2004)

NOV1954 Proposed Charter and By-law changes were discussed by the Executive Committee at their meetings of November 4-7 for consideration at the next annual Director’s meeting.

Amending the Charter to allow disposition, encumbrance or lease of ATA property by either the Directors or the Executive Committee with the consent of the majority of the Directors, as opposed to the previous rule which would require approval of approximately 7,500 individual members.

24AUG1955 Life membership Certificate Holders’ voting rights were extinguished by the ATA Board of Directors by passing an Amendment to the original Certificate of Origin (Articles) from 1923. There were 47 votes in the affirmative out of 53 voting members present.

1950’s Reportedly, all rights of Dissolution (corporate liquidation) were extinguished in the early

1950’s because of the conflict with the Internal Revenue Code. When the ATA sought and was approved for non-profit status as a 501( c )( 7 ) tax favored corporation, a quid- pro-quo (this for that) was impressed ... all assets upon dissolution of the corporation either “escheat” to the State of Delaware or may be transferred to another 501 ( c ) entity ... one (1) of two (2) choices and no others.

2004 Numerous inquiries by members to ATA requesting clarification about evolution of the dissolution of rights held by those who purchased “Life Memberships.”

 

Call me crazy but anytime an organization would want to alter, change or modify the terms of the Life Members, memberships that cannot be good or even reasonable ... What good could it of done and for what specific reasons other than take the power away from those that built the Association in the first place and take over the organization from within ... The EC and BOD are supposed to be the mouth piece for the members, voted on by the members and not have their own agenda for the betterment and be benficial to them specifically and not the general membership ... The EC has a LOCK on those postions created by them so others cannot violate their agenda ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

To answer WPT's question, below is the reason stated in 1954 & 1955 as to why life members were stripped of their previous voting rights regarding the property and other assets of the ATA. It was too much time and effort to obtain permission from life members. Personally, I think important decisions like property purchase and leases should take time and have a lot of review and though regarding the planned improvement for the organization.

Report of ATA Executive Committee Meeting Held November 4-5-6-7, 1954, Vandalia, Ohio

9. The meeting next considered Charter and By-Law amendments. The following were recommended to be presented for consideration at the next annual Directors’ meeting:

A. Amending the Charter to allow disposition, encumbrance or lease of ATA property by either the Directors or the Executive Committee with the consent of the majority of the Directors, as opposed to the previous rule which would require approval of approximately 7,500 individual members.

AMATEUR TRAPSHOOTING ASSOCIATION
Permanent Home Grounds – Vandalia, Ohio​

MAYNARD B. HENRY, President LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
September 16, 1955

TO: ALL MEMBERS OF THE ATA
FROM: Executive Committee

Under the heading of new business several amendments to the by-laws and Articles of Incorporation were presented and passed.

1) The Articles were amended to allow the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee, with the written consent of the majority of the Board of Directors, to sell, lease, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of real property and other assets of the corporation. This amendment was necessitated by the fact that the original Articles required written approval of a majority of all of the members prior to such action would be a slow, cumbersome process, requiring the written permission of 7,000 members.

 

"Personally, I think important decisions like property purchase and leases should take time and have a lot of review and though regarding the planned improvement for the organization". (History Buff stated this )

Personally, I couldn't agree more ... The 7,500 members did not nor would they of ever had to vote, the majority could of carried anything at anytime so that would of eliminated that problem ... I would think that Members would want to be involved when certain things pertaining to the future existance of the Association would arise and not leave it to the chosen few ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Since the inception of computers this should be ammended so every Lifer has a vote.

Can all be done by E-Signatures, etc...

OH, I forgot who is in charge...