KIDS AT HEART PYGMY GOAT CLUB
WINTER MEETING 2004
JANUARY 24, 2004
The
Winter 2004 meeting was held in Porter, Texas at the Porter VFW Hall. There
were 15 members in attendance.
A
lasagna lunch furnished by the club preceded the meeting.
Club
president, Stetts Stettler, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.
Secretary,
Sandy Naumann, read the Summer 2003 meeting notes, which were approved as read.
Club
treasurer, Red Mertens, gave a detailed treasurer's report, which was accepted
as presented. The balance in our
account as of January 1st, 2004 was $5,159.98, plus $330 in petty cash.
The
election of 2004 officers was held.
Election officials, David and Margaret Sterling, counted the votes and
announced the officers for 2004:
President Robert “Stetts” Stettler
Secretary Sandy Naumann
Treasurer Red Mertens
Historian Linda Michalak
Newsletter
Editor Annie
Stettler
The
proposed by-laws revisions were presented and discussed. They were approved as presented except for
the addition of the word “voting” in the sentence reading “A quorum of at least
10 voting members is required to conduct official club business”. (The new, revised by-laws are attached in a
separate document).
Discussion
was held concerning how to award points for the 2004 Wether of the Year
Contest. The following method was
approved, combining suggestions from Charles Michalak and Polly Mertens:
1)
Placings
of KAH club members’ wethers will only be counted for shows within Region 7
plus those shows sponsored by Unique Petites Club.
2) The total number of points earned by each
wether will be
divided by the number of shows in which the wether won at least fifth place.
Points for placings won at the designated shows are calculated in
the same manner as before. This new method should ensure that
exhibitors who cannot attend a large number of shows will have an equal chance
of winning as those who are able to travel and attend many shows.
Proposed
shows sponsored by KAH for Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 were discussed and voted
upon:
1)
A
show will be held in Schulenburg on Labor Day Weekend. Club members were assured that the deep sand
in the aisles will no longer be a problem.
Every attempt will be made to keep expenses down so that the show will
not lose money as it did last year.
2)
The
LA Fair show will be held on October 30-31, 2004. Judges are to be determined.
3)
A
SE Texas Pygmy Parade VII will be held in Spring 2005, with the location to be
determined at a later date. Alternate
locations to New Caney will be researched.
Red
Mertens presented certificates and cash awards for the 2003 Wether of the Year
Contest. Red Rock Hills Black Jack,
owned by Stacy Hamilton, was the winner, and Buttie Buddies Boscoe, owned by
Sandy and Bill Naumann, was the runner-up.
Annie Stettler brought up
whether or not to continue e-mailing the club newsletters instead of printing
and mailing them. This saves the club
quite a bit. It was decided that this
would continue, but any member who preferred the newsletter to be mailed could
notify Annie and she
would do so.
It
was suggested that Kids at Heart Club designate Mrs. Blanche Rihn as a Lifetime
Honorary Member. Club members
unanimously approved. A nice
certificate will be presented to Mrs. Rihn.
Red
Mertens reported on the NPGA Directors meeting held last weekend in
Orlando. He touched on the following
topics:
1)
New
officers were elected:
President:
Aaron Esterline
Vice President:
Ray Hoyt
Secretary:
Mark Adkins
Treasurer:
Linda Henwood
2)
Additional
information may be included on the Breeders’ List on the NPGA website. Send any updates to Aaron Esterline
3)
The
new Showmanship and Judges Training Manuals were discussed and revisions were
made, including new wording on breed standard markings becoming moderate to
very serious instead of disqualifying faults.
4)
Method
by which the National Champions was changed from the present method of the
winner being the one with the most 1st place votes. Now goats will be awarded points for 1st
place, 2nd place, etc. and the winner will be the one with the most
points.
5)
Discussion
was held on mandatory retirement for wethers with 12 Best Wether wins. This item was tabled.
6)
The
rule that a judge cannot judge a goat with his own herd name was amended to
exclude sanctioned 4-H shows.
7)
The
judges Dress Code was further clarified and includes such things as no denim
clothing, no open-toed shoes, only shirts with collars, and no shorts.
8)
Drinking
of alcoholic beverages at shows was discussed, and it was agreed that as long
as it was done with discretion, it was okay.
Otherwise, the show chair can ask them to leave or take further action.
Stetts
reported on the Convention committees meeting held in Shreveport on January 10th. Complete minutes of this meeting can be
found on the Region 7 website. Polly
suggested that club members donate “goat items” to be included in a basket to
be put in the convention auction. Sandy
will post a “Basket List” on the Kids at Heart website so that members will
know what has already been donated. We
also discussed and approved for the club to purchase two “street signs” for a
main aisle in the fairgrounds. Since
our club has members from many states, it was decided that we would rather
purchase a sign with our club name instead of a state name for our sign.
Members
voted to purchase a half-page ad for the club in the convention Show Book.
The
$500 for sponsorships that was approved for last year was extended for 2004,
but members agreed that ONLY pygmy goats would be sponsored from now on. Only $65 was spent from last year for the
4-H trophies.
It
was voted on and approved to hold the Summer 2004 Kids at Heart meeting during
the Convention, date and time to be announced later.
The
meeting was adjourned at 2:30 pm.