| back to NOC page back to essft home page NATIONAL ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL FIELD TRIAL ASSOCIATION from Mhari Peschel MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING IN MCPHERSON, KANSAS NOVEMBER 27, 2004 Determination of Quorum Delegates were identified and there was a roll call of the delegates. Forty-two delegates were present which constituted a quorum for the meeting. Acceptance of the Minutes of the 2003 Annual Meeting The minutes of the Annual Meeting held in Altoona, Pennsylvania on November 7, 2003 were approved as presented. President’s Message President Don Bramwell welcomed the delegates to the meeting and reported that he was looking forward to a successful 2004 National Open Championship Field Trial. Election of Officers Don Bramwell reported that the nominating committee had put forth a slate of officers for the upcoming year. That slate included Bob Child- President, Bob Montler- First Vice President, Don Brunn- Second Vice President, Mhari Peschel- Secretary/Treasurer. It was moved and seconded that the slate of officers be approved as presented. The motion carried. Acceptance of Treasurer’s Report for 2003 The Treasurer’s report for 2003 was presented. Cathy Lewis made a motion that the report be accepted. The motion was seconded. The motion was approved. Announcement of Judges for the 2005 National Open Prior to announcing the judges there was a discussion regarding the timing of the announcement of the judges for the following year. Gary Wilson suggested that if the judges were not announced until the end of the trial it would remove any perceived pressure on the current judges and the future judges who were participating in the trial. After additional discussion it was agreed that no change in the timing of the announcement of the judges was necessary. Mhari Peschel announced the results of the voting for the selection of Judges for the 2005 National. The judges will be Don Bramwell and Ray Cacchio. Member Club Dues for 2005 It was moved and seconded that the member club dues remain at $75.00 for 2005. The motion carried. Location and dates of the 2005 National Open Don Giddens, standing in for Bob Child who was unable to attend, presented the area for the National Open Championship in 2005. The grounds would be in the area around Tremonton, UT and might also include land close to the Utah-Idaho border. The date for the National would be November 8, 2005 until conclusion. There was much discussion regarding the selection of grounds and the cover that would be on the grounds. Gary Wilson noted that the last National held in Utah had very poor cover and he felt the committee should include members from outside the Western Interclub and that the committee needed to be committed to looking at the grounds months in advance and be willing to find alternate grounds that would be acceptable if the cover was not acceptable to the committee. There was much discussion about the drought, the geographic location in the high desert, and the possibility of cheatgrass. Jeff Miller said he would be willing to be on the committee and would be willing to find back up grounds in the Washington area if it would be acceptable to move to that location. Ed Faraci questioned the dates and how they dovetail with the National Amateur. He asked if the trial could be moved to an earlier date. Mark Hairfield expressed concern that moving the trial earlier would push many of the trials into weather that was too warm for the dogs. Gary Wilson moved that the proposal as presented not be approved and that the committee rethink the dates and the grounds issue. Ed Faraci seconded the motion. The motion was approved. Qualification for the 2005 National Open It was moved and seconded that the qualification for a dog to enter the 2004 National Open remain at one point. There was much discussion regarding increasing the points required to qualify for the National Open. Don Giddens would like to see the points increased. There was additional discussion regarding the length of the trial and the ability of the judges to judge a trial that was very large. A roll call vote was taken and the motion was approved by a vote of 28 to 13. Entry Fees for the 2005 National Open It was moved and seconded that the entry fee for the 2005 National Open Championship would remain at $200.00. The motion was approved. Other Business ESSFTA Foundation Gun Raffle Dave Hopkins discussed the Gun Raffle and the fundraising efforts of the ESSFTA Foundation and informed the delegates of some of the projects that would be funded by the proceeds from the raffle and other ongoing projects of the foundation. Judging Guidelines and Point Qualifications Dean Reinke commented that as long as we stay at one point and the size of the trial continues to grow we need to address some guidelines as to the treatment of judges. His concern was that there are experienced judges who can not physically judge a trial of this size when the judges are expected to go from 7 am until dark each day with very little break for lunch or rest. He felt that the hours each day that the trial was run should be limited and that there should be adequate rest periods for judges. There were comments regarding the perceived pressure on the judges and the committee to complete the trial in a specified period of time even though the premium states “until conclusion.” The discussion again turned to changing the qualification requirements as a method of limiting the size of the trial. Jeff Miller that it all comes down to the number dogs that should be participating in the trial and that the group needed to make a decision as to what the desired number would be. Tom Schoene suggested having a different cutoff date –perhaps July 1st- and that the top 100 dogs would be identified at that point and invited to participate in the National. There was much discussion of this idea. There was concern that making a cutoff in the summer would put a great deal of pressure on the Spring trials when the cover and bird quality is not as good as in the fall. It was agreed that our sport is becoming more popular and that as long as that is the case there will be more participants and more qualifying dogs. Gary Wilson reminded the group that there was a committee which made a presentation in 2002 suggesting ways that the size of the trial could be limited. The committee had prepared a report with statistics and suggested increasing points or having weighted points in order to qualify. He felt that the suggestions were rejected at that time since the recommendations were perhaps too aggressive. He suggested that the committee should look at this issue again and make a second presentation. Don Bramwell asked if Gary would chair this committee and he said yes. Jeff Miller stated that he didn’t think we needed a committee the group just had to make a decision. Mark Haglin moved that we limit the number of dogs for the trial in 2006 to the top 110 dogs plus ties. There was much discussion regarding whether this could be done in this. manner in accordance with the bylaws. The motion was withdrawn. Esther Faraci asked that whatever recommendation the committee came up with that it be distributed to the member clubs at least two months in advance of the annual meeting so that the delegates would have the opportunity to discuss it with their clubs. Welcome to the 2004 National Open Don Bramwell said that the Field trial Chair, Steve Beyer, would make his presentation at the cocktail party so that all attendees could hear. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Mhari Peschel Secretary After the meeting was adjourned and Bob Child was notified of the motion to withhold a pproval of the 2005 National as presented by Don Giddens, Bob Child submitted a written proposal with certain revisions. The proposal was circulated among the delegates. Thirty-five delegates agreed to approve the revised proposal as submitted. Thirty-five of the forty-two delegates who attended the meeting indicated their approval in writing. This is a majority of the delegates and the revised proposal is approved. The National Open will begin on November 4, 2005 and the trial headquarters will be in Odgen, Utah. Please note that there were no negative votes for this revised proposal. If a delegate was not shown the proposal it was because they weren’t able to be located at the grounds when the proposal was circulated. Mhari Peschel back to NOC page back to essft home page |