I trust that everyone had a great holiday season, as for me and mine we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. These are my two favorite holidays, for on both of these we take time from our busy schedule to give thanks to our Creator for his many blessings and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would like for all the ASMLA membership and everyone that receives this Newsletter to take a moment and say a prayer for the upcoming shooting season. Pray that we all stay safe on the line and in our travels as we go to the many destinations to enjoy our sport. Pray that God will watch over not only us but our families and all our loved ones. Good luck and see you soon, Jim.

The Presidential election was indeed interesting. Only in America can politicians make such a mockery of what our Forefathers set forth in the Constitution. I was in shock and disbelief as I watched in horror what went on. I could not believe how the media tried to manipulate the voters of this country. Not only this but the way that the Democratic Party tried to get votes added in an underhanded manner saying that they wanted every vote to count and at the same time trying to have votes thrown out that didn't go their way. I do not consider my self a Republican or Democrat but a American. It is very unfortunate in this country that we do not have a truly honorable political party. I did just as I'm sure a lot of you did and voted for the man I felt would not chose to undermine the Constitution. I am praying that President Bush will work to undo the harm that our former administration imposed upon this nation. It is unfortunate for the Democratic Party because I felt that the party took on the character of its administration. The character of the Clinton / Gore administration was as immoral and corrupt as any in history and I am proud they are no longer in the White House. True Americans won a major battle when they voted in President Bush, but the battle is far from over. Now is the time to throw it into high gear and give all those that would undermine the Constitution of the United States a good BUTT KICKING. I personally plan to boycott every source that even hints that they are Anti Constitution be it TV, Newspaper, Radio, Grocery Store, Department Store, or products. I am tired of the media and their onslaught against the Constitution of the United States. You say wait a minute why do you say Anti Constitution don't you mean Anti Gun, NO !!! I MEAN ANTI CONSTITUTION BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE MESSING WITH!!!!!!!! I am saying right here and right now if you don't like the freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States then pack up and go to one of the Communist Countries where these freedoms have been taken away and are not available. THE DOOR AIN'T LOCKED FOLKS PACK UP AND LEAVE. This is the message that I am going to carry. I know most if not all of you feel the same as I do; it is time to make ourselves heard. I want everyone to continue to write his or her Congressmen and Senators don't slack up now. We can't stop until we have swept the last of the trash into the garbage where it belongs.

This is our first match of the season and I am looking forward to it. This match will be held at the Magic City Gun Club in Pinson, AL. please see the attached flyer for specifics. Contact Jim Parker at (205) 681-8353 or e-mail at japark50cal@aol.com.

The ASMLA and Magic City Gun Club are sponsoring a Muzzle Loading Clinic for the State of Alabama 4-H Groups. This clinic is designed to do two things. First we want all the juniors to be familiar with their rifles and to learn about range safety and muzzleloaders. Second these events are geared to give these 4-H shooters a glimpse of the kind of matches that are held at many muzzle loading matches around the state, country and at Friendship. The Clinic will be on March 17^th and the State Championship will be held on May 19^th. Contact Jim Parker at (205) 681-8353 or e-mail japark50cal@aol.com.

This is first major pistol match of the year and if you are serious about your pistol shooting you will want to be there. For more info contact Chuck Sedgwick @ (423) 842-7529 or the infamous Marvin Hinkle alias YT @ (765) 525-9985 or e-mail at mrhinkle@theinnet.net.

The Shotgun match will be held in Clanton on April 7^th at Sam Gladdens Place. The line matches will be held at the Magic City Gun Club on April 20^th, 21^st, & 22^nd. Contact Perry Mitchell @ (205) 681-1209 or e-mail at perry.mitchell@wgint.com.

CALL (205) 681-8353 OR E-MAIL @ japark50cal@aol.com

The ASMLA web site has been a great success. We are right at a 1000 hits since we started it and have received e-mail from Italy and Norway so that lets me know that people all over the world have visited with us. I hope that all our membership and those that are on our mailing list have taken time to visit their site. This site was set up with the help of Robert Morrow, without Robert we would not be as far along as we are now. Please drop Robert an e-mail and thank him for all his work. The web site address is www.angelfire.com/al3/asmla. I have received word from a few people that if you don't type the address right that you get another sight that is not representative of what the ASMLA is promoting. So when you type in the address be sure to type angel and not angle. We have picture galleries on the site, anyone of our membership that has pictures that they would like to share on this site e-mail them to Robert and he will post them for you. Robert's e-mail address is rmorrow@angelfire.com. I need to ask a question to our members and those that receive the newsletter that are on the mailing list. Would those of you that have a computer and Internet access be willing to get the newsletter, scoring and match updates either by e-mail or just by checking the web site on a regular basis? The reason I am asking this is because of mailing cost. The price of printing and mailing the newsletter is the biggest cost that we have in our organization. The price of postage just went up and I have heard that it is going to be raised again in the near future. We could curb these cost if some would be willing to receive the newsletter electronically. The newsletter is our main source of communication and a very important part of our organization and we are not trying to do away with it, we are just trying to save cost. Anyway if you can and don't mind getting an electronic copy please e-mail me at japark50cal@aol.com so I can update the mailing list accordingly.

Right now we have two people advertising in our newsletter. One is Eddie May and the other is myself. If anyone out there would like to advertise in the newsletter the cost is $30.00 a year. This includes your annual membership, which runs from January to January. This gets your add to about 340 people 4 times a year plus on the web site which has reached almost a 1000 people in just a couple of months. This is one of the cheapest forms of advertising that I know of. The ads don't have to be related to muzzle loading but I would like to keep them related to sports shooting. If anyone is interested please call or e-mail me, Jim Parker (205) 681-8353, japark50cal@aol.com.

The NMLRA is looking at many avenues to promote muzzle loading at the junior level. They are working with the NRA and 4-H in an effort to come up with and education program to train adult volunteer instructors from a unified training program. This effort is well on its way and we should be seeing the results of this in the not too distant future. Once the program is in effect we are going to need adult volunteers that are willing to dedicate some time to this training and to a junior program. If you are concerned with the future of our sport and a desire to work with people then you are the person we are looking for. There are a lot of things that need to be done for us to have an outstanding juniors program. We need clubs that will sponsor a junior program. Having an active club sponsor a Jr. 4-H Shooting Sports Club takes care of two of the major obstacles, having a place to shoot and the knowledge of muzzle loaders that have been in the sport for some time. I know that these resources are out there, all we need if for you to make a commitment. Another thing that we need is a muzzle loading target rifle that is sized for junior shooters. We need a rifle that has an adjustable pull length, decent triggers and target sights and a good round ball barrel at a cost that a junior's family or club can afford. We need programs for these juniors to compete in. We need an award system to give them goals to work toward so they will advance their skills. We need sponsors that are willing to invest monetarily in this program on an individual and professional level. We need advertising to get knowledge these programs out to the parents and the world know that there is a place where there is knowledgeable and trained volunteers that can work with their juniors. Volunteers that are backed by the NMLRA, NRA and the 4-H, these are well known and respected organizations. Out of all the things I have mentioned here that we need the hardest one to obtain will be the adult volunteers. We can have an excellent training program, a great facility, rifles to shoot, programs to shoot, sponsors, and juniors to participate but without trained volunteers none of the above is obtainable. Over the next year you will see the evidence of all the hard work that is going into the junior program. Please take time to consider being an adult volunteer for a 4-H Shooting Sports program, you will not regret it.

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