Atlanta - December 29, 2001

 

The Unit 114 meeting was called to order December 29, 2001 in Atlanta at 6:10 pm at the Ramada Inn . Mike Kovacich, Larry Rich, Barbara Heller, Bob Heller, Linda Greene, Myrtis Howell, Liz Swanson, Ken Parker, Tom Carter, Mary Ann Bateman, Gil Bateman, Josie Mitchell, Dottie Walden, Nancy Hetsko, Jack Feagin, Kevin Collins, Sandy Barrow, Chuck Whidden and Ann Hedden were in attendance.

Introductions were made and the minutes were approved with the following corrections: Sandy Barrow was left off the attendance list; and Linda Greene wished to have it noted that she had asked if there was any other correspondence. Mike then read and passed around a letter from Jim Morgan thanking the Unit for its support to the Grand National Teams. Liz moved, and Josie seconded, and the minutes were approved as corrected.

Mary Ann gave the treasurer's report. Linda moved, and Larry seconded, and the treasurer's report was approved.

Correspondence was read. Barb Borah and Barbara Beckley have resigned their positions with this board. Mike asked that their areas assign new representatives to fill their positions.

Tournament Coordinator Report- Bob said that there will be one less sectional in Atlanta in 2002 due to the cancellation of the sectional slated for the Ravinia. Jack is in the midst of problems concerning the Atlanta regional and sectionals are doubtful at the Ravinia. Atlanta is slated to have sectionals March 20-24, June 12-16, and Oct. 30-Nov. 3 at the Ramada. Peachtree City (Ken Parker) gave a special thank you to all for making it so successful. He gave special thanks as well to Mike, Bob, Kathy and Chuck. Valdosta had its first sectional in five years and in spite of a bad date, the hosts were happy with the good attendance.

NAOP/GNT Funding Committee- Bob reported that the committee had met and were unable to reach a consensus. There were two viewpoints and issues to be presented to this board. The membership had received these two by email before the meeting. He asked if there was any discussion or questions concerning the issues or ones not in the memos. The question was asked as to how many people had won in their flights. Bob reported that there had been 54 people since 1996. Based on this statistic, an average of 9 people a year. The question was raised as to funding possibilities. We have $40,000 in the bank and $8,000 in the checking acoount in addition to the money earmarked for the National fund. In the mid 1990s, the checking account ran $10-12,000.

Mike relinquished the chair to address this issue. He stated that the checking account now peaks at $8,000 and goes down to $5,000 before the ACBL monies arrive. Where would this funding come from? He stated that the Pips 'n Tips has saved us money by cutting out postage, but we had also eliminated the sectional assessments. We will probably have to increase the fees to our players who participate in these events and put back the unit assessment to provide this funding. Chuck Whidden raised the question of whether we could spend the unit's money from a legal point of view.

Jack Feagin also spoke against the funding. He stated that even though we have $50,000 it is not a tremendous amount of money. Bridge education funding needs to be done. Our game is slated to die and to spend the money to benefit a few people instead of promoting bridge seems to be the wrong focus. Linda pointed out that we had tried to get all of the colleges in Georgia to institute programs a few years ago but that it had failed. Ken asked about the remaining money in our treasury. Mike explained that that money had been raised for the National and is earmarked to be spent for our next one. Liz pointed out what is given from the District and the ACBL. Larry pointed out that the district gets all of the money from running the games and that a unit's way of getting any profit from the events is fairly limited. Chuck asked what kind of study has been done on the impact of more money being offered to the winners increasing attendance. No one knew of any. District 7's subsidy to the winners is the highest of all of the districts. Jack pointed out that these events have not grown nationallly. Some districts have not even been represented at the National level. Liz suggested that the unit championship could have a surcharge of $1.00 added to it. Josie pointed out these players win but they do not bring anything back to the unit.

Sandy Barrow moved that Unit 114 vote to continue its policy to wish our District winners well but to provide no financial award to them. Myrtis Howell seconded. There were 10 votes for and 1 vote against this. Sandy stated that the good that had come out of this issue is that it had raised this Board's awareness about promoting bridge.

Pips 'n Tips - The next issue will be sent out at the end of February. Feb. 1st is deadline for submittal. Printing copies for the clubs was discussed. Mike read the list of all that had submitted their desire for hard copies. He stated that the clubs need to pick up their copies and that he would email the list of interested clubs to let them know when the issue is ready.

ByLaws - Everyone should look over the bylaws before coming to the meeting. They are posted on the web page with the recommendations for changes. They will be considered at the annual meeting at 2 pm Saturday, March 23 at the Atlanta Sectional, along with the election of officers.

The 10 representatives from Unit 114 to the District 7 Board of Directors are Emory Whitaker, Joe Sherwood, Liz Swanson, Josie Mitchell, Larry Rich, Janet Sherwood, Nancy Hetsko, Sam Marks, Bob Heller and Chuck Whidden.

New Business: A decision was made on when to hold the next Unit 114 Board Meetings. Since the Macon sectional is not until June 1, Dottie moved and Liz seconded that we hold our next meeting March 23rd at the Atlanta sectional after the Saturday afternoon session and that the next meeting be June 15 at the Atlanta sectional as well. Sportsperson of the Year will be chosen then. The motion carried.

NAOP - We need to give any input to Ann Hedden for the NAOP unit final by the March meeting.

Unit Championship Coordinator - Larry asked for volunteers for a unit championships coordinator for the next year.

Valdosta date - Bob was asked by Valdosta to see if the date of their tournament could be changed to October.

List of Presidents-Please look over this list to see if it is accurate We are trying to finalize it for publication. A special thank you to Randy Pettit for his help in reconstructing this list.
Larry Rich 2002 (current)
Mike Kovacich-2000-2001
Emory Whitaker-1998-99
Ed Barnes-1996-97
Joe Sherwood-1994-95
Randy Pettit -1992-93
Jim Whitaker-1990-91
Jimmy Turner-1989
Carey Snider-1987-88
Shaleen Notaro-1985-86
Jerry Behringer-1983-84
Barbanel Borah-1982
Jack Feagin-1980-81
Bob Duval-1979
Jan Steen-1978
Joe Cohen-1977
Morrill Hall-1974-75
Steve Willis-1973
Joe Cohen
Jerry Popkin
Edgar Gay
Nelson Rowe

Respectfully submitted,
Barbarba Heller

Unit 114 Secretary

Return to Minutes Index

Return to Unit 114 Home Page
Go to 
      Upcoming Tournaments |
Officers Page