VHCC February 2016 Newsletter - El Paso

VHCC February 2016 Newsletter
Chef Marco Gonzalez
Marco’s
Photo
Meet the Candidates Night: Wednesday, February 10th, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. See Pages 2
& 3 for details!
Join Us For Valentine’s Fine Dining: Make Valentine’s Weekend Memorable and enjoy Valentine’s Fine Dining at the Club on Saturday, February 13th, 2016. Dinner served 6 PM to 9
PM. Listen or dance to the music of David Cerros, The One Man Band, from 7 PM to 10
PM. Advance reservations and purchase of dinner tickets is a must! See attached flyer
for menu and pricing information (Page 4).
Taco Wednesdays at VHCC: Every Wednesday in the Bar & Grill from 11 AM to 6:30 PM.
VHCC Bar & Grill Operating Hours: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday Bar Open (8 AM to 5 PM)
Kitchen Closed (Bar Food Available); Wednesday & Friday Bar Open (8 AM to 7 PM / Friday
until 8 PM) Kitchen (8 AM to 4 PM / Friday until 8 PM for Comfort Food & Fine Dining
Nights); Saturday Bar Open (7 AM to 7 PM) Kitchen (7 AM to 4 PM); Sunday Bar Open (7
AM to 6 PM) Kitchen (7 AM to 3 PM). Note: When the Kitchen is closed, we still serve
bar food.
VHCC Board Elections Update: Vista Hills Country Club is conducting its annual election of
new Board Members. By now all Equity Members in Good Standing should have received
your official ballot in the mail. If you have not received your ballot, please call Carmen
Meza at 592-3535 or stop by the club before the 15 February deadline to cast / turn in
your ballot. The Nominees for the Board of Directors are Mr. Bill Greenawald, Dr. Octavio
Licon, Mr. Pete Solis, and Mr. Bill “Tank” Tomberlin. Thank you to each of them for stepping up to the plate, and agreeing to run for the vacant Board of Director positions. Please
remember to fill out your ballot and turn it into the VHCC Administration Office before 6
PM on 15 February. The Ballot count will begin promptly at 6 PM on 15 February, and no
ballot can be accepted after that time. We will announce the composition of the New
Board of Directors via an email Blast on 16 February.
VHCC Golf News: See Pages 5 thru 6.
Our appreciation to Phyllis Calcaterra as she continues to
beautify our Club. Thank you, thank you, thank you Phyllis!!!!
www.escaelpaso.com
“The East Side Civic Association is a non-profit, non-partisan organization.
The purpose of the organization is to promote political and civic responsibility
through informed and active participation of the citizens of El Paso.”
ESTABLISHED 1974
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2016 Meet the Candidates Night at Vista Hills Country Club
The East Side Civic Association, in cooperation with the Vista Hills Country Club, is sponsoring a
“Meet the Candidates Night” on Wednesday 10 February from 6:30 – 8:30 PM. The East Side
Civic Association is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. The purpose of the organization
is to promote political and civic responsibility through informed and active participation of the
citizens of El Paso.
The March Primary Elections scheduled for Tuesday 1 March have a number of “Contested Races”
that affects residents of the East Side of El Paso. Have you ever stepped into the voting booth
and wondered “who the heck are these candidates and which one deserves my vote?” Here is your
chance to meet the candidates in those contested races, and ask them questions. There are seven
(7) races that will be highlighted that evening. The invited candidates and the positions they are
running for are:
- District Attorney: Yvonne Rosales, Jaime Esparza and Leonard "Lenny" Morales,
- County Tax Assessor: Ruben P. Gonzalez, Siria Rocha and Gregory Xavier Gonzalez.
- State Board of Education Place 1: Georgina Cecilia Perez, Joe Fierro, Jr., and Lynn Oliver
- State Representative District 75: Mary E. Gonzalez, and Chente Quintanilla
- State Representative District 77: Adolfo Lopez, and Evelina "Lina" Ortega
- 8th Court of Appeals District 3: Steven Hughes, Robert J. (Bobby) Perez, Arturo Vazquez, Gina M. Palafox, and Maria Ramirez
- Constable District 4: Luis "Louie" Aguilar and Francisco Almada
Also attending that evening, and serving as the Key Note Speaker, is State Representative Joe
Pickett. Rep Pickett will also be taking questions from the floor after his presentation.
Wednesdays are $1.00 Taco Night at Vista Hills, and the candidates, and anyone attending “Meet
the Candidates Night” is invited to participate in the taco dinner from 5:00 to 6:30 PM. This is a
great opportunity to enjoy dinner at the Club, and then slide over to the Santa Fe Room to meet
and question the candidates. You can be a better informed voter by attending this event. If you
plan to attend the Taco Night please call 592-3535 ext 15 to make your reservations. Tell your
friends and neighbors too! This is a great way to get involved in your community and make informed choices at polls during early voting, or on 1 March. Just remember to please RSVP if you
are planning on having a few Tacos before the “Meet the Candidates” event.
If you have any questions you can talk to Dave Casmus, he also serves as the Secretary of the East
Side Civic Association. You can also visit the East Side Civic Association’s website to get more information at: www.escaelpaso.com
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Make Valentine’s
Weekend Memorable
and Enjoy
Valentine’s Fine Dining
at Vista Hills Country
Club on Saturday,
February 13th, 2016
Advanced Reservations and Purchase of Dinner Tickets is a must!
 Dinner will be served from 6 PM to 9 PM in the Vista Room.
 Listen or Dance to the Music of the David Cerros “The One Man Band”
from 7 PM to 10 PM.
 Chef Marco and his staff have crafted a romantic four course meal:
Complimentary Glass of Wine or Champagne
Shrimp Cocktail Appetizer
Cranberry Walnut Salad
Your Choice of Either:
Demi Glazed Chicken Marsala served over a bed of Risotto with Grilled Asparagus
or
Prime Rib served with a Loaded Baked Potato and Vegetable Medley
Ice Cream Sundae with Chocolate & Strawberries Dessert
 Cost: $60 / Couple or $30 / Person
Advanced Reservations and Ticket Purchase is
a must. Contact Carmen or Sylvia at
915-592-3535. In case of emergency call
915-443-5589. Questions: Email Sylvia at
[email protected]
4
Golf Course Update
Greetings fellow golfers: Before we jump in on the update, Terry graciously is allowing me to start
this update with a personal note. This is my last update to the membership. Effective with the
new elections this month, my role on the Board, and duties as the Golf Course “Guru,” will come to
end. I want to thank everyone for the very kind remarks and comments you have shared with me.
I really appreciate your support. I have learned much while serving on the Board, and Terry and
Rene have really increased my “Golf Course IQ.” The course is in much better shape since we
hired Rene, and got Terry refocused back on the Pro Shop and marketing the course for tournaments, evaluating the course on a daily basis by checking course conditions, and improving the operations of the Pro Shop, Cart Barn, and Practice Areas. I hope you will agree that the course appearance and conditions has greatly improved over the past 18 months. I want to thank each of
you for your support and encouragement throughout my tenure. I may not be a “Board Member”
much longer, but you can count on me as a member to be involved in the course and club operations. I encourage each of you to support whoever replaces me. The club and golf course continues to depend on all the members helping to grow and expand our membership by inviting your
friends and associates to join and use our club.
January has been a crazy month for the golf operations. The weather hasn’t always been the
greatest for play, but there certainly have been some great golf days for the most part, unfortunately we haven’t had the overwhelming public play we so desperately need for revenue. Hopefully
we can do better in February.
Rene’s Monthly Maintenance Plan: Last month Rene and the Maintenance Team finished updating a
few more of the sprinklers around the greens from hydraulic to electrical operating systems. At
this time, we have 8 of the 18 greens operating in “Electrical Mode” vice “Hydraulic Mode.” In addition to working on the sprinkler effort, Rene’s Team began in earnest cleaning up the traps, and
starting some other course visual improvements. In February, the Maintenance Crew will be doing
more Green Sprinkler updates, specifically targeting #3 and #7. The crew will also be completing
the job of spraying pre-emergent weed killer, and fertilizing the greens. A complete checkout of
the wells and pumps was completed and we had a problem with the 15 well pump. It was pulled and
sent off for repairs/rebuild. This checkout is critical to ensuring the pumps and wells are ready
for spring and summer high usage. As you can tell the fairways and greens are in really good
shape at this point. The leakers and wet spots are virtually nonexistent. Please help us keep the
course looking good, using the 90-Degree Rule and avoid driving on the fairways as much as possible while our grass is dormant. We also need everyone’s help to rake the traps and repair ball
marks. As always, if you see a problem on the course, make the Pro Shop immediately aware of the
issue. Our best intelligence comes from our members who are out there playing, and the Maintenance Team wants to fix problems as soon as possible before they become big issues, and big expenses..
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Tournament Updates: The schedule of February Tournaments is below, if you want to play on the
day of tournament, please call the Pro Shop ahead of time to coordinate your play. We hate to
frustrate your plans, but tournament revenues are vitally important to the club.
Dawn Patrol Monthly Tournament: The January Group was smaller than normal because the temperature at tee time was a little frigid, but by the third hole everyone had stripped off a layer of
clothing, and after six holes it was shirt sleeve warm. The scramble winners shot a respectable 61;
congratulations to Paul Robertson, John Holzenthaler, Bob Leber, and Dave Hanson. Second place
went to Ken May, Dave Casmus, Bill Greenawald, and Ron Zarter after winning a playoff hole. This
month’s Dawn Patrol Tournament is scheduled on 17 February.
VHCC 2 Person Best Ball Net Tournament: It was another fun even and a huge success! Thanks to
everyone who participated. The winners were: 1st Place – Ray “Grandpa” Wilson and Carlos
“Sandbagger” Jimenez who shot a 59 Net Best Ball; 2d Place was Jeff “Long Knock” Vinton and
Duffy “No Slack” Rivera; 3rd Place was a Tie between the team of Ken “Snake Eater” May and Dave
“Short Knock” Casmus, the other 3rd Place Team was Donato “Little Bro” Marchese and Paul “Big
Bro” Robertson.
FEBRUARY TOURNAMENTS (Advance Look)
Monday 8 February: El Paso/Southern New Mexico Old Timers Golf Group
Sunday 14 February: Valentine’s Day Couples Tournament (9 Holes of Best Ball & 9 Holes of
Scramble Play
Wednesday 17 February: Dawn Patrol Monthly Scramble (9 AM)
Sunday 28 February: Bad News Bogies vs VHCC Challenge (1 PM)
The Ladies Golf Group will begin their 2016 Season on Tuesday 9 February. Any Ladies who would
like to join the group for their weekly Tuesday Play Dates should contact Sheila Gardner or the
Pro Shop for more information.
Please check out our Vista Hills Website for updates at: http://www.vistahillscc.com/ and …
You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and friend us on Facebook too!
Hit ‘em long and straight!!
Dave & Terry
6
Sun
Mon
1
7
8
Tue
2
9
VHLGA Saint
Valentine’s
Tournament
VHCC Board
Meeting
14
15
16
VHLGA
Blind Nine
Scramble
Late Charges
Ballots Due In Applied
by 6 PM
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
3
4
TACO
Wednesday
11 AM to 6:30
PM
5
6
“Fat Tuesday
on Friday”
Comfort Food
Night in the
Bar & Grill
5 PM to 8 PM
Reservations
Required
10 TACO
11
Wednesday
11 AM to 6:30
PM
Meet the Candidates 6:30
PM to 8:30
PM
12
13
Valentine’s
Fine Dining
6 PM to 9 PM
Reservations
Required
18
17
Dawn Patrol
Scramble
9:00 AM
TACO
Wednesday
11 AM to 6:30
PM
19
20
21
22
23
VHLGA ACE
FEB / MAR
Tournament
24
25
TACO
Wednesday
11 AM to 6:30
PM
26
27
Five Star Fine
Dining in the
Fiesta Room
5 PM to 8 PM
Reservations
Required
28
Bad News Bogies vs VHCC
Challenge
Tournament
1 PM
29
Mar 1
VHLGA Split
Six
Tournament
Mar 2
Mar 3
TACO
Wednesday
11 AM to 6:30
PM
Mar 4
7
Mar 5