BORZOI CLUB OF AMERICA, INC.

Board Meeting Minutes - November 11, 2000

The Fall Meeting of the Borzoi Club of America was called to order by the President, Barbara O’Neill at 8:55 A.M. on Saturday, November 11, 2000 in Orlando, Florida.  Board Members present were:  K.C. Artley, Steve Gross, Laurie Kasowski, Karen Mays, Barbara O’Neill, Alice Reese, Shen Smith, Karen Staudt-Cartabona and Kathy Wright.  Absent:  Wayne Garcia, Kathleen Kapaun and Gwen Post.  A quorum was established.

Prior to the business meeting, Patti and Chris Neale presented a proposal from Region II offering to host the 2002 National Specialty in Atlanta at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.

Minutes of the August 22 Conference Call Board Meeting:  A correction to the minutes deletes the entire second paragraph of the Treasurer’s Report since the Treasurer was not mentioning checking or savings accounts but was referring to the 990 Reports for the IRS.  The Borzoi Connection has never been a part of the BCOA Treasury.  Steve Gross moved the minutes be approved as amended, seconded by KC Artley.  MOTION CARRIED

Recording Secretary’s Report - Gwen Post: (included with meeting packet) There were requests for Trophy Supported Entries on March 18, 2001 with Detroit Kennel Club, conformation judge - Henri Goldner, Sweepstakes - Trudi Jensen; May 13, 2001 with Windham County Kennel Club, conformation judge - Marci Forrester, Sweepstakes - Rebecca Peters-Campbell; and August 4, 2001 in Canfield, Ohio with the Beaver County Kennel Club.  A motion was made by KC Artley, seconded by Laurie Kasowski to approve the three TSE applications.  MOTION CARRIED.  A letter from Andy Knapp was discussed and taken under consideration.  Discussion regarding BCOA’s donation to the AKC Canine Health Foundation included information that BCGNY has not yet sent their pledged money to BCOA because they want to be assured that the funds will be used strictly for canine heart research, specifically cardiomyopathy and/or tricuspid valve disorders.  Dr. Hamlin, Ohio State University, has been conducting cardiomyopathy studies regarding specific problems in long-legged breeds.  Karen Cartabona moved BCOA become a founding member of the Canine Health Foundation with a pledge of $10,000.00 over the next five years, seconded by Shen Smith.  MOTION CARRIED.  Shen Smith moved, seconded by KC Artley, that BCOA donate $1,000.00 from the General Fund to open our account with the Canine Health Foundation.  MOTION CARRIED.  Alice Reese moved, seconded by KC Artley, that we take $3,000.00 from the Borzoi Health Fund Account for our donation to the Foundation and that it be earmarked for Borzoi Heart Research.  MOTION CARRIED.  Karen Mays was directed to write a letter to BCGNY which indicates the direction being taken by BCOA and inviting them to participate with the funds they have collected, if they so wish.  There will be information placed in the Aristocrat (the BC) and the Specialty catalog urging donations from clubs and individuals and gifts from wills, with the money going through the BCOA treasury to help pay down the balance of our pledge and to continue to fund heart research.

Membership Applications:

2nd Readings:  Claude & Billie Bertheas, Kennedy H. Clark, Jr., Nancy M. James, Carolyn Sheenan, DMD, Joachim Provenzano and Marcella Zobel.  As no correspondence was received on any of these applicants, a motion was made by Karen Cartabona, seconded by KC Artley to accept them into membership.  MOTION CARRIED. 

A vote on the membership application of Monica Berry was taken and she was accepted into membership

1st Readings:  All correspondence regarding these new applicants shall be directed to the Recording Secretary.

Tracy A. Fant - 179 Albany Shaker Rd., Albany, NY 12211.  Sponsored by Mary Childs and Pat Hardy.

Tomomi Mikawa, 827 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90403.  Sponsored by Colette Smith and Molly Webster.

Charles (Chuck) and Barbara Mullis, P.O. Box 8637, Riverside, CA 92515-8637.  Sponsored by Shirley Rinehold and Ross & Sharon Osborn.  Linda D. Turner, 3005 Foothill Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91361-4926.  Sponsored by Edwina M. Berg and Janis McFerrin.

A motion was made by Steve Gross, seconded by Karen Mays, to approve the Recording Secretary’s Report.  MOTION CARRIED:

A motion was made by Laurie Kasowski, seconded by Katherine Wright, that no pending applicant will receive any club mailings until they become a full member.  MOTION CARRIED.

Corresponding Secretary’s Report - Karen Mays:  A check was received from Roberta Kelly, earmarked for the Health Fund, in memory of Peter Kerr.  The dues notice from AKC was turned over to the Treasurer.  A duplicate check was returned from International Canine Semen Bank.  Sally Baron has withdrawn her request for dates for racing events.  Two Borzoi health-related manuscripts, one on Auto-immune Thyroid Disease in Borzoi and one on Bloat First Aid were turned over to Alice Reese for possible publication in the BC.  The status of our letter to Alice O’Connell at AKC regarding Borzoi color identification is unknown since she resigned her position at about the same time the letter was sent.  Sally Baron has withdrawn her request for dates for racing events.  Karen Cartabona moved the Corresponding Secretary’s Report be approved, seconded by K.C. Artley.  MOTION CARRIED.

Treasurer’s Report - Shen Smith:  A complete financial report is attached with these minutes.  There was a motion from Shen Smith to authorize Jennifer Beach-Buda to create an on-line shopping cart system for on-line visa/mastercard sales, seconded by Laurie Kasowski.  MOTION CARRIED.  It will be possible to purchase all BCOA sale items through the shopping cart as well as pay dues, make trophy donations, and make donations to Borzoi Health and Borzoi Rescue.  BCOA has picked up a used visa terminal and printer for processing all visa/mastercard sales.  The new equipment will save BCOA approximately l.5% on each visa sale.  There was a motion by Steve Gross, seconded by K.C. Artley, to allow BCOA domains to host non-commercial club web sites, maintained by their own web masters, at no charge to the clubs.  MOTION CARRIED.  It was pointed out that anyone donating $50.00 or more to the Health Fund will receive a Rousseau print.  Shen is in the process of creating an on-line database for the BCOA officers and board that should be ready shortly after the first of the year.  A correction to the Treasurer’s Specialty Report should indicate that the Health Raffle brought in $561.33 and not $430.00 and that the Total profit on the Specialty should be $10,000.00.  There was a motion by Alice Reese to approve the Treasurer’s Report, seconded by Laurie Kasowski.  MOTION PASSED.

AKC Delegate’s Report - Karen Staudt-Cartabona.:  Karen asked that she be given authorization to vote as she sees fit on all issues except those that would directly affect our breed and/or our club.  She was also given permission to present BCOA Board opposition to the AKC Multiple Sire Program at the next Delegates’ Meeting.  Steve Gross moved the Delegate’s Report be approved, seconded by K.C. Artley.  MOTION PASSED. 

Regional Governors’ Reports:  Regions I, II, IV and VI sent their reports which will be printed in the Aristocrat.  Steve Gross reported for Region III and noted that the Rocky Mountain Borzoi Club is planning to hold their Fall 2001 Specialty on Labor Day at a new location.  They will stay with the Labor Day date instead of rotating dates.  Kathleen Kapaun’s Region V report was read.  There will be Supported Entries with the Widbee Island Shows with Karen Dumke judging on Saturday and Kalen Dumke on Sunday.  Starr and Rex Allen are retiring from Borzoi Rescue and are thanked for their years of service.  A motion was made by Karen Mays, seconded by Karen Cartabona, to approve the Governor Reports.  MOTION PASSED.

Shen Smith extended a “thank-you” from the Board to Laurie Kasowski and Alice Reese for their years of service on the Board.

Committee Reports:

Versatility Award:  Karen Ackerman will be sending her report because she did not get a notice of the Board Meeting.  People are confusing the “Versatility Award” with the “Hall of Fame Award”.  Since dogs need titles in Conformation, Obedience and Lure Coursing to qualify for this award, K.C. Artley moved we re-name this award the “Triple Crown Award”, seconded by Karen Cartabona.  MOTION PASSED.  Yearbook/Yearplate:  Barbara Yoon reports total sales June 1 through October 1, 2000 of $367.78.  UPS has denied her claim regarding the lost box shipped to her following the 2000 National.  She is appealing this decision.  Archives:  Since her last report, Barbara Yoon has received donations from Chris & Patti Neale and Sandra Martin.  Annual Awards:  Kim Horn will continue in this position.  Kathy Wright noted she still needs to send out the medals from 1999 to the end of the year.  Kathy volunteered to send out the medals for 2000.  She can obtain mailing envelopes from Gwen.  Shen has the wholesale catalog and medals can be ordered from that.  Aristocrat:  Maureen Bardwell does an excellent job of sending out reminders for committee reports.  The award winners were not listed in the Summer issue but will be in the next issue.  Club Education:  Jennifer Beach-Buda is working on the 2001 Specialty and the BCOA Web Site.  Color Committee:  In response to a request from AKC, a letter went to Alice O’Connell regarding Patti Neale’s offer to work with them in respect to colors offered in the registration process.  Unfortunately, Ms. O’Connell resigned her position at AKC and we don’t know the status of this project.  Futurity:  The 2001 Futurity has 41 new Bitch nominations and 28 new Litter nominations to date. There are 60 puppies eligible to forward to 2001.  The 2002 Futurity will begin on November 24, 2000.  As soon as a date for the 2002 National is established, a 2002 Futurity form will be available to the membership.  Health Committee:  Pam Mayberry has submitted her resignation from the Health Committee.  The resignation was accepted, with regret, since she has done an outstanding job on the committee.  Barbara Yoon has reported that $420.00 was donated to the Health Fund through one stop shopping at the 2000 National.  Health Registry Committee:  To date, 99 BCOA Certificates of Good Health have been issued and there are 56 entries in the Health Records Registry.  Lou Avant has recommended that information on the sire and dam be entered in the Registry before registrants are issued a certificate.  It is important that this be done correctly so that members have confidence in the registry.  Lou has the records from CERF, but these do not contain the name of the sire and dam.  She feels the sires/dams of these tested animals should be given some credit.  Alice Reese will ask Lou for a clarification as to which sires and dams are needed.  She will check to see if these are animals already in the registry such as CERF, OFA, etc. or if these are applications that are coming in from the membership that are missing this information.  She will send Lou’s response to Barbara, cc. to Shen.  Historian:  Laurie Kasowski questioned how the BC is getting to AKC.  They have found copies of all BC’s except for one issue from 1998.  Shen pointed out we send them two copies of each issue.  Laurie felt that for historical purposes it is important that we have a record of all BCOA Presidents listed.  Karen Mays noted we can obtain much of this information from Lorraine Groshans’ book, THE COMPLETE BORZOI, which lists all Presidents and Secretaries from 1903 through 1980, and we can fill in from there.  Inventory:  Gwen Post’s report indicated all medals for TSE’s have been mailed and urged that any clubs who are due medals and have not received them contact her immediately and not wait until the last minute.  Lure Coursing:  K.C. Artley reported that ASFA has been invited to join AKC which would mean that ASFA would be abolished if they accept this offer.  The ASFA president has requested input from all ASFA clubs before issuing a finding.  Obedience:  Karen Cartabona announced the new AKC Obedience Regulations have been printed and are available on request.  Rescue:  The preliminary guidelines for BCOA Rescue were drawn up by the Committee with the following suggested revisions made by the Board:  The “Mission Statement” on page 1 be amended to strike provision (3).  Under “Some Suggestions” on page 2, (1) strike “Applications for a grant can be made only by the NBRF or a Regional Borzoi Club” and substitute:  “Applications for a grant can be made by a recognized Rescue group or by an individual on a case-by-case basis.”  (4) Strike the statement “and not returned to their breeders” and add “and/or tattooing” after “identification by microchipping.”  (5) Replace “An application needs to be written” with An application will be written.”  Delete “sent out to the NBRF” and replace with “An application will be written which can be placed on the web site and made available to all eligible individuals or groups.”  The guidelines need to be revamped to clarify that we are not awarding donations to shelters for good work but to directly support animals in need.  It was suggested the rescue person and one Board Member make decisions in an emergency.  ROM:  The Register of Merit Committee submitted their proposal for Board consideration.  K.C. Artley indicated she would like to see the ROM proposal publicized to give the membership the opportunity to comment on the proposal.  She felt all first level performance titles should be worth the same 5 points.  This consists of an AKC Field Ch., ASFA Field Ch., Companion Dog Title, Tracking Dog Title, Novice Agility Title, Oval Racing Ch. and Gazehound Racing Ch.  K.C. would also like to see additional titles for Obedience, Tracking and Agility only be awarded additional points for a maximum of 10 points.  There were comments that health issues should be separated from Register of Merit because once a ROM title is awarded, you can’t take it back if one of the dogs does not complete the annual screening, and health issues can change.  It was recommended the proposal go back to committee and have them look at K.C.’s suggestions.  The Board agreed all health issues should be removed from the proposal and the point system made more equitable.  It was felt the committee was doing an excellent job and we now have a base to work from.  Karen Ackerman should be asked to look at this proposal since she worked hard on the Versatility Hall of Fame point system and understands what it takes to make up the various titles.  Shen will be checking with Marilyn Polsfuss to see who was officially included on her committee.  Specialty Guidelines - Barbara O’Neill:  The Specialty Guidelines have been updated.  They are now in Word format for easy e-mail attachment.  Barbara feels some committee work can be done outside the local area and a National Committee should be formed with three-year commitments.  Future potential committee members will be brought to the Board for approval.  Standardized Trophies - Barbara O’Neill:  We are having trouble obtaining the promised “keep” trophies associated with the donated Challenge Trophies.  It was suggested we remove the phrasing and buy a supply of silver frames to hold presentation certificates.  Trophy donations should not go in the catalog until we have the trophy in hand.  Medallions for foreign Specialties which will be placed in presentation boxes have been ordered at a cost of $41.70 per dozen.  Barbara Lord put the list of foreign specialties together and Kathy Wright has volunteered to handle their distribution.  There are six specialties that will receive the medallions in 2001; Denmark, England, France, Russia, Slovenia and Sweden.  Throw/Pillow - Sharon Robinson:  A picture of the proposed throw/pillow was circulated.  Barbara will check with Sharon to see if we have permission to use the picture.  Ways & Means - Barbara Yoon:  There will be both a live auction and a silent auction but no consignment shop at the National.  Although Barbara would like to see a change in the percentage BCOA receives from the sales, it was determined that the percentage has already been set and it is too late to change this.  2001 National Specialty - Andy Knapp:  The hotel is undergoing a $13 million renovation, sale items have arrived, raffle items have been obtained and details of the Iams sponsorship worked out.  There has already been over $2,000 in sale items and some of the items have had to be re-ordered.  The Liubimyi Drugk Class is being hosted by BCGNY.  Since this is not an AKC event, there was a motion by K.C. Artley , seconded by Steve Gross, that entries for this class be put in the catalog with only the name of the dog, the age and the name of the owner.  MOTION PASSED.  2000 Yearbook - Barbara O’Neill:  The yearbook contains 646 pages which is over 100 pages larger that the last edition.  The cost for ordering 500 books was $32,969.73.  This comes to approximately $66.00 per book.  Shipping and handling will run over $6.00 per book.  Advertisers with five or more ads receive two free copies.  Approximately 200 copies will go to advertisers leaving us 300 copies to sell.  There was a motion by K.C. Artley, seconded by Alice Reese, that we ask $80.00 a copy, which is in line with what other clubs charge.  MOTION PASSED.  Shen Smith moved, seconded by Alice Reese, that in future editions advertisers receive a free copy with 3 ads.  With one ad they will receive a voucher for a 30% discount; with two ads, a voucher for a 60% discount.  MOTION PASSED.  A motion was made by Laurie Kasowski, seconded by K.C. Artley, to approve the Committee Reports.  MOTION PASSED.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

National Show Committee: .There was a motion by Shen Smith, seconded by Kathy Wright, that Barbara O’Neill serve as the National Show Chairman and K.C. Artley be in charge of the Triathlon.  MOTION PASSED.  The rest of the Committee will be appointed at a later date.

2002 National Specialty:  The Neale’s proposal to have the 2002 National in Atlanta was discussed.  K.C. Artley moved the Specialty be held in Atlanta, seconded by Alice Reese.

MOTION PASSED.  Barbara O’Neill will be Show Chairman and Susan Pennington will be the Facilities Coordinator and supervise the local arrangements.  Patti Neale’s presentation was a good example of what a proposal should be and her proposal form will be added to the Specialty Guidelines as a sample of the information we need.

FCI Standard:  Karen Staudt-Cartabona reported on the International Conference that will be meeting in July, 2001.  She indicated that many breeders throughout the world are unhappy with the new FCI Borzoi Standard.  Alice Reese made a motion, seconded by Shen Smith, to appoint Karen Cartabona to the Ad Hoc Committee of the FCI Standard.  MOTION PASSED.  Since Andy is looking for a Monday night program for the Specialty following the Lure Coursing we might consider an in depth work shop entitled “Understanding Your Standard”.  Any foreign visitors could be asked to participate by discussing their standards.  Barbara will contact Jennifer Beach-Buda and Andy Knapp and clear this through them.  Karen Cartabona, Kathy Wright and Shen Smith volunteered to act as facilitators of the break-out discussion groups and Shen will work on handouts and study material.

Clarification of Ownership For Awards:  K.C. Artley moved that effective January, 2002, all owners of a dog must be members of BCOA in order to be eligible for any awards.  After some discussion it was decided that this proposal will be referred to the Annual Meeting for the membership to review.  Until there is a change, the current policy that the first person named on the AKC papers must be a member of BCOA will remain in effect.  K.C. explained that for those keeping statistics it is sometimes difficult to determine who the first name is.

NEW BUSINESS:

Updating the National Ring Stewarding List:  Updating the list of ring stewards will be one of the first jobs for the National Show Committee.  The Board will solicit names of interested members.

Clarification of National Information in Summer Issue of Aristocrat:  There was a motion by K.C. Artley, seconded by Alice Reese, to include 1st through 4th place winners only in the bound section of the Summer Aristocrat.  MOTION PASSED.  This information also needs to be put up on the web site.

Dues Increase:  To accommodate the higher cost of inflation, printing and postage, Laurie Kasowski moved, seconded by Alice Reese, that dues be increased $10.00 across the board for 2002, except for Junior Members.  MOTION PASSED.

List of Kennel Names:  To avoid duplication of kennel names, Pam Hill has requested that BCOA maintain a current list of active Borzoi kennel names as well as historical names on our web site.

Top 10 Dogs for Straight Racing:  Barbara O’Neill has asked Carol Enz to look into obtaining membership in LGRA so that we can offer LGRA events.  K.C. Artley moved, seconded by Karen Mays, that: BCOA recognize the top 10 dogs in LGRA and NOTRA.  MOTION PASSED.  K.C. Artley moved Barbara Ewing be appointed to serve as Racing Committee Chairman.  Barbara stated this committee appointment would be made after the first of the year when other appointments are made.

Health Fund:  Alice Reese will transfer monies from the Health Fund to K.C. Artley to be placed in a separate checking account .  She needs to get tax exempt status for this account and the Rescue account.

As there was no further business, there was a motion by Laurie Kasowski, seconded by Alice Reese, to adjourn the meeting.  MOTION PASSED.  The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Mays
Corresponding Secretary