FTTU’s Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 6:00 pm at the Bear Rocks Community Club, 161 Big Springs Road, Acme, PA. Note that the location has been changed from the Nimick Center in Ligonier as listed in the Trails newsletter. We realized we would need a larger room to allow for more distancing. Attendees are asked to wear a face covering.

At this meeting we will elect a new slate of officers and directors, review a budget for the next year, and discuss possible projects for 2021.

Click HERE for directions.

Due to limits on groups at our usual meeting place, the Nimick Center in Ligonier, we have decided to move the October meeting to the Bear Rocks Community Club located at 161 Big Springs Road, Acme, PA 15610. Take Route 31 east from Mount Pleasant and turn right on to Bear Rocks Road, make another right to stay on Bear Rocks Road, another right on to Big Springs Road. The club is a short distance on the right. The club is only about a mile off of Route 31. Click HERE for the map.

The date is Wednesday, October 7, 2020 and the starting time is 6:00 pm. This is the chapter’s annual meeting and members are encouraged to attend. According to state guidance, attendees should wear a mask.  At this meeting, will elect officers and directors for the next term.

Also, the outdoors flea market originally scheduled for this meeting has been postponed for another date.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

During the September meeting at Mammoth Park, FTTU presented the chapter’s Russ Mowry Memorial Silver Trout Award to Denny Hess. Denny has been active with the chapter since 2009 and has served as Vice President since 2016. He has worked closely with Ralph Koscianski and Linn Run Park staff on the Rock Run project and has put in volunteer hours on the Mill Creek stream improvement project as well. Denny makes the trip out from Irwin to conduct water testing on Rock Run each month. He has also served as a mentor at our disabled veterans outings.
Congratulations and thanks, Denny!

FTTU’s meeting at the Lincoln Highway SupperMarket on June 3 has been canceled along with any chapter activity through the summer.
There will be no summer picnic fundraiser this year.

Our next scheduled event will be our monthly meeting on September 2nd. Check back for more details in August for a time and location.

Sad to report that our Veterans Outing scheduled for May 2 at the Kingston Sportsmen’s Club has been canceled and tentatively rescheduled for May, 1, 2021. The family outdoors event scheduled for May 31 at Keystone State Park has also been canceled.

We will not be having a May meeting, but we may go ahead with the litter pick-up on May 6 if Penn Dot will still haul away the trash. We would all have to keep spread out. For now all clean ups are on hold. Check back here for updates.

FTTU officers and directors will be keeping in touch with each other via emails and video conferencing and will continue to plan for the future.

Some good news, two of three area Trout in the Classroom programs have released their fish and the third has the school principal feeding the trout and the fish will be released soon.

Trout fishing is still on but members are encouraged to follow common sense social distancing protocol, travel to the stream in separate cars, and bring your own drinks and lunches. Of course, most of us prefer to get as much space to ourselves as we can on the stream so that’s helpful for proper stream etiquette. See the PAF&BC guidelines in the previous post.

So, until we meet again, be careful, stay healthy and stay informed on FTTU news with forbestrailtu.org.

A couple of us have received bogus emails from someone posing as an FTTU officer asking for assistance. Do not reply to this email or any email of which you do not recognize the sender’s email address. General membership should only receive emails with the official TU masthead.

Again, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, FTTU’s April meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the 1st, has been canceled. Check back here for more updates and schedule changes.

Also, the Thursday afternoon fly tying group meetings at the Tin Lizzy have been canceled until further notice.

Ever wonder what the top TU website in Pennsylvania looks like? Well, you’re looking at it! forbestrailtu.org was given the PA Council of Trout Unlimited’s Best Website Award at the state meetings in Petersburg, PA on September 14.
The site is a complete volunteer effort with only about $100 of chapter funds spent annually on site hosting and domain registration.
If there is anything you would like to see featured on the site contact us at info@forbestrailtu.org.

The by-laws of FTTU were amended at the October meeting. The chapter’s fiscal year has been changed from October 1 to September 30 to April 1 through March 31. The change was necessary to keep in step with TU national which initiated the change. Annual financial reports will be filed by November 15, 2018 as usual and will be followed by an 18 month fiscal year to adjust to the new schedule.

FTTU officers for 2018-19 were confirmed at the annual meeting on October 3. They are:

President – Larry Myers of Greensburg

Vice President – Denny Hess of Irwin

Treasurer – Monty Murty of Laughlintown

Secretary – Scott Minster of Derry Township

Additionally, past president Monty Murty has been elected Executive Vice President of the PA Council’s SW, NW and NC regions.