MINUTES OF THE WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIT 195 of ACBL BOARD MEETING 
held at Steaks Eatery, 4243 Oaklane, Jackson, Michigan on Saturday, January 
7, 2006

The meeting was called to order by President Dennis Carman at 3:40 PM.

Present were:
President Dennis Carman
Precinct  1  -  Duane Little, Joe Manhart, and Nancy Yarbrough
Precinct  2  -  Joanne Molt and Roger Anderson 
Precinct  3  -  Eugene  Kales, Jackie Oman, and Paul Christ
Precinct  4  -  Alan Bau, Judy Euler, Marian Vyverman, and Alternate Allen 
Schwenk
Precinct  5  -  Brenda Walz and Pete Fleming
 and guests
Board Member absent: - Dave Kamm and  Tom Eadie

    The Minutes of the Board Meeting at MUSKEGON, July 16, 2005 were approved.
    The Financial Report was presented by Joe Manhart. A preliminary annual 
report was included in the pass outs showing a net profit for the year of  
$1837.  A final financial report will be presented at our next meeting.  The 
report was approved.
    Joe read an E-mail from Dave Kamm that apologized for not coming to the 
meeting and stated that he was not in favor of giving $15,000 to the Detroit 
NABC committee.
    Joe reported that Gary Blaiss, Executive Administrative Officer of ACBL,  
had responded to the letter written after our last meeting concerning the 
Parnes recorder results.  He said:
    “Your point is well taken about a more contemporary gathering of facts.  
That is one      reason why we encourage recorders to be on site of a 
tournament.  If the recorder is      not on site and does not make arrangements with 
someone to act in his or her stead,   we do have procedures in place for the 
DIC to gather statements for inclusion in the      report to the recorder.
    “By copy of this e-mail, I will ask our Chief Tournament Director, Rick 
Beye, to      remind directors of this responsibility, if he believes it 
appropriate.
    I understand from Rick that he has spoken to the Parnes and the directors 
and that all        is good.”
                                
DISTRICT 12 INFORMATION
    The Grand National Teams District Final will be on March 4 and 5 in the 
Detroit area. No prequalification is needed. Details and preregistration form 
are on the District web site.
     The District Board voted to hold the District Final of the NAP game on 
September 17, 2006.   No Unit Final games will be held.  Anyone qualifying at a 
club may play in the District Final.  With this schedule there is no time for 
a Unit Final even if we wanted to have one.  We will see how this plan goes 
this year.
    Unit 195 pairs did well at the 2005 NAPDistrict final.  David Shafer and 
Barbara Harris were first in Bracket C.  Carol Sutphen and Jim Peterson were 
third in B and Dennis Carman and his partner were third in A  There were 37 
pairs from our Unit and only about 25 pairs from the other 4 Units (only 15 total 
from the two big Detroit Units).

TOURNAMENT RESULTS:
    Muskegon Sectional:  Joe reported a profit of $151 with only 74.5 tables 
and free plays for Board members.  A free dinner at Joe’s house for the Board 
and all players after the Saturday games was well received.  
    Grand Rapids Regional:  Joanne did not brag, as she might have, about the 
well run Regional that netted the Unit $8566.
    Traverse City Sectional:  The tournament and the food was enjoyed by the 
122 tables of players.  The loss of $41 may have been due to too much free 
food.
    Lansing Sectional:  Poor attendance was the principle cause for a loss of 
$317.
    
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULING:
    Most of the 2006 Tournaments are scheduled for close to the times they 
were held in 2005.  
    Gene Kales reported that he has contacted a site for a Saturday, Sunday 
Lansing Sectional similar to the Jackson Sectional where meals are included and 
no rent is charged. He has proposed May 6 & 7.  Dennis asked if he had 
cleared the dates with Barry Lippitt and he had not.  Dennis prompted him to do so 
right away.
    Dennis reported that a search for a sight for a Battle Creek Sectional 
turned up a possible attractive site out in the woods with a golf course, but 
there was little interest in helping to organize and run this event, so there 
will be none in 2006.
    There was a discussion of additional events such as one day events or 
additional Sectionals.  Dennis stated that there are dates available if someone 
wants to plan such an event.

NAP AND STaC GAME SUBSIDIES
    The Board unanimously approved subsidizing these games as we did in 2005. 
 Clubs will be reimbursed $3 per table for one NAP game per sanctioned 
session each month in June, July and August.  The Unit will pay the total cost of 
the STaC games directly to the District.  The clubs will report their results 
and pay nothing.

DISTRICT WEB SITE
    There was a question about people other than Alan posting items to the 
web site.
Alan said he did not know how to set up that and questioned whether the site 
should be available for such posting.  This will be discussed at the next 
meeting.
    Alan was asked why the Jackson Sectional details were not on the web 
site.  They were on the District site, d12bridge.org, but not on 
unit195bridge.org.  (Tournament information is available on the Unit site now.)

ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS AND ALTERNATES
    There was a long discussion about the election.  The number of Board 
members from each Precinct is determined by the membership in the Precincts.  Each 
Precinct is entitled to two members and if the membership exceeds 150, a 
third member.  If the membership exceeds 250 a fourth member.  As of September 
2004 the Precincts had:  1: 221;  2: 208; 3:150; 4: 251; and 5: 51.  At that time 
Precincts 3 and 4 were close to losing a member.  Up to date figures will be 
obtained in March and Board members will be informed.  For the purpose of the 
election, the membership will be counted as that available from ACBL on May 1, 
2006.  Some members have requested membership in precincts other than their 
home one.  I do not have a current list of these members and need to receive a 
request from anyone wishing to switch.  Ballots will be mailed in early July 
and must be received by August 5, 2006.
    A motion was passed to break a tie vote by drawing cards to determine the 
winner, thus avoiding a runoff election.  The tied candidates will draw a 
card from a shuffled deck, the higher card by rank and suit order will determine 
the winner.

DETROIT NABC, 2008
    Dennis announced that a sponsor, Compuware,  has been found for the NABC 
and that ACBL is providing more money to the committee than previously 
announced.  Fund raising through a club game each year and Regional surcharges should 
raise about $30.000.  The Northwest Ohio Unit Board voted not to contribute  
and Eastern Michigan has not agreed to contribute.  The Detroit Units have 
pledged $25,000 each.  We were asked for $15,000.  Subsidizing bus transportation 
from Kalamazoo and/or Grand Rapids with pickups in Battle Creek, Jackson, and 
Lansing was discussed.  Joanne found that a bus could be hired for $800 per 
trip.  Other suggestions mentioned were subsidizing parking, hotel rooms, and 
game fees.  Further discussion is expected at our next meeting.

    The next Board Meeting will be July 29, 2006 in Muskegon.
    The Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,



Joe Manhart