SECRETARY'S REPORT

Minutes from the November 5, 2006 meeting held at Dr. Matt Mason's in Salisbury, NH.

Members Present:  Jean Janotta, Dottie Duclos, Pete Dolan,  Sheila Dolan, Gull Reidy, Brenda Dean,  Kathie Chouinard, Diane Johnson, Mary Lambert, Pam Parker, Robin Goodman, Kate Viles, Celeste M. Kelly, Barbara Barreiro, Matt Mason

Guests present:  Jessica Davis, Heidi Babb

The meeting was called to order at 12:35pm by President Jean Janotta with introductions.

Secretary's Report – Gull Reidy

• Minutes from the September meeting at Griffin's were accepted as printed in the New England Aussie Newsletter, with the correction to the Harvest Moon Mania expenses of $7840.39.

Treasurer's Report – Dottie Duclos

• Tracking test 10/8/06 - entry fees $320.00, expenses $353.24, loss of $33.24.  Sue Shroeder may still have to send in some gas receipts.
• HMM 10/13 - 15/06 - total income $30,473.50, expenses $28,562.60, profit of $1,910.90.  There may still be some expenses to come in, and Renee Reschenthaler is reimbursing us for some of her motel fees.
• ASCNE Treasury - $ 22,961.92
• Rescue Treasury - $ 2740.54
• 2007 Nationals Account - $10,845.25 (checks have been received from all clubs involved)

Affiliate Report - Sheila Dolan

• No new secretary's report on the website since July

ASCA Board of Directors Report - Linda Gray and/or Chris Davenport

• No representative present
• Matt asked if the BOD meetings are posted on the website as he had received no feedback on the recommendations he’d made as a result of the late cancellation by the August stock judge.  The suggestion was made to contact Jean at the ASCA Business Office (manager@asca.org) and to copy Mike Bryant (the chair of the Stockdog Committee).

Committee Reports

• Agility - Dianne McCormick - representative not present
• Bylaws - Linda Gray - representative not present
• Conformation - Peter Kontos/Chris Davenport - representative not present
• DNA & Genetics - Linda Gray - representative not present
• Juniors - Cindy King - representative not present
• Obedience - Mary Ann Stoddart - representative not present
• Stockdog - Bill Peckha-King - representative not present
• Tracking - Celeste Kelly, Linda Gray, Sue Schroeder:  On a local level, ASCNE had a successful test, even though it was plagued with fog.  3 dogs passed to earn their TD.  Unfortunately neither TDX dog passed.   Lots of members and non-members showed up to help.  The ACA tracking committee is trying to get a new qualification form for judges.   They are also working on items for the National event (what kinds of awards, participant ribbons, etc.) and looking into the addition of different types and level tests.
• Versatility - representative not present  

Library Report:  Cindy King

• representative not present

Sunshine Report - Jean Janotta

• Terri Collins lost Zara (she and another dog escaped from Terri’s kennel while she was away from home and Zara was hit by a car).

Event Updates

• Cranberry Classic  - Fran is still looking for Conformation stewards.   Obedience confirmations went out 11/4.
• March 4 - Annual meeting and ROM Banquet will be at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, MA
• March 16-18 - Combined Winter Warm-up and Rescue Show – Brenda Dean - At this time all the judges have been hired; could use breed stewards.  There will be a Chinese Auction so Brenda is looking for donations – please donate early, often, and lots!  Conformation on Friday pm, Saturday am & pm and Sunday am, Obedience on Sunday pm only.
• March / April cattle clinic with Roger Stevens - will not happen, the weather is too unpredictable that time of year to fly in a clinician
• March 31 - April 1 - Cattle clinic with Cindi Hayden - indoors in Webster, NH – Matt Mason
• Spring – Tracking Clinic under consideration – Celeste Kelly
• April 28 & 29 - Sheep clinic with Jim Hartnagle  - Webster, NH – Matt Mason – working on a different format from last year – possibly demo and discussion on Friday; having 4 groups of 5 workable sheep on Saturday and Sunday
• May 19 & 20 – Stock Trial – CT – Tenley Dexter and Janet Benson considering hosting
• June 23-24 – Cattle, Sheep, and Duck Trial – Webster, NH – Matt Mason – pending Rick Hardin’s availability
• July – Moose a Mania – There was discussion about the practicality of having this event so close to Nationals in September – would the distance affect attendance.  ASCNE BOD will be discussing alternatives in the BOD meeting following the membership meeting.  Pam Parker said it’s done a good job drawing exhibitors from Nova Scotia and Quebec.  Barb Barreiro wanted to voice her support, she has gone every year and does obedience and the CPE agility.  She commented that it was a great location.
•   August 11 & 12 – Cattle, Sheep, and Duck Trial – Webster, NH – Matt Mason – Marti Parrish will be the judge
• October – Tracking Test – Celeste Kelly – After Nationals
• Fall – Practice Ranch Trial – NH – Matt Mason – Matt would like to host a practice Ranch Trial in the fall after Nationals; if all goes well, consider hosting a Ranch Trial event in 2008

Events – Other Clubs

• December 9 & 10, 2006 –  Breed & Obedience – GSASA
• April 7 & 8 – Agility Trial – WASCUNY – High Goal Farm in Greenwich, NY
• April / May – Tracking Test – WASCUNY – considering hosting a tracking test on the Nationals site

OLD BUSINESS

New Members 

• Acceptance for both junior members was put on hold until they have ASCA membership numbers.
• The following were accepted as members:  Janet Rogers-Buba and Chris Reedy
• Going forward, upon acceptance as a new member, Kathie will notify new members via e-mail (if e-mail is bounced back, via mail).

2007 ASCA Nationals

• The dates are September 29 thru October 6, 2007 in Augusta NJ.
• Pete passed around the logo. 
• There was a meeting Saturday, November 4, at the fairgrounds.  The main reason for the meeting was to finalize the premium which is due December 15.  There were still a few issues (Obedience, Photographers and  Finals Stock dog judges) to be decided for the premium. 
• A deposit is due next month for the sheep.  Tenley is negotiating with someone for ducks, and there are bids out for cattle. 
• If anyone has ideas for trophies or awards, get them to Keli Gaunt. 
• Ribbon suggestions can go to Sue Winters and Peter Kontos – they are taking a trip to Hodges Badge this coming Thursday. 
• Ideas for sponsors can go to Sheila Dolan.  Peter Kontos has called Eukanuba, most dog food companies have stopped doing the welcome bags.  Sheila had a drawing for a t-shirt saying "I supported a steer for the 2007 finals, and that's no bull".  
• Any other fund raiser ideas can go to Pam Parker who has agreed to be the Trinkets and Trash chair.  Car stickers/decals saying "proud sponsor of the ASCA Nationals" was one idea mentioned again.  Diane Johnson asked if the logo could be printed and sold as a poster.  Another idea tossed out was to get the logo for Italian Charms. 
• There was a lot of discussion about the financial support or lack of from ASCA for the finals. ASCA only supports the stock finals.  The ASCA BOD signed off on Obedience and Agility Finals as long as they were self supporting (based on entry fees with no additional monies from ASCA. 
• Tuesday will be an evening with Ernie Hartnagle.  As the theme is ASCA's anniversary, it's hoped that other founding/early members will also be on hand (i.e, it’s the 30th Jr. Handling Finals – who and where is the winner of the first?).  A slide show of old photos for the banquet was suggested.  
• Robin Goodman will see what she can find for an informative handout for the welcome bags.

AKC Conflict of Interest

• As a result of this, the obedience judges for the nationals are all UKC judges.
• Celeste Kelly said some of the judges are working very hard to get the AKC board to change their mind.

NEW BUSINESS

Membership Applications - Kathie Chouinard

Membership applications with ASCA #pending will be put on hold.

ASCNE website - Robin Goodman

• Robin has redone the website and when she tried to switch it over found out the domain name expired (it was previously owned by Randall Dean (for ASCNE)).  Robin will contact Randall one more time to see if he will just transfer the ownership to avoid the bidding process.  However, in November, we can bid for the domain name if it is not renewed so Robin put in a bid of $60, to be reimbursed by ASCNE if/when Robin wins the bid.  Karen Thurlow-Kimball suggested also purchasing ascne.net and ascne.com.  An organization can not be the owner, so Robin will hold the name for   ASCNE (an agreement will be written to this effect). 
• Any ideas, fliers, photos, etc can be sent to Robin.

New ROM Award – Sheila Dolan

• Sheila proposed ASCNE change their Performance award to be in line with ASCA's and add another ROM award (the name Achievement was suggested) that would be the same as ASCNE's old Performance.   The different qualifications for each ASCA and ASCNE award were discussed.  The ROM awards are the way they are now because Mary Ann Stoddard made a mistake when she wrote them out.  Jean thought it should be discussed and voted on by more of a majority of the members and perhaps should be tabled until the March meeting.  Pete commented that it was "a program" and the more people that had input the better.  Someone suggested this was a perfect use for ASCNE-l.  A motion was made to table until the next meeting for discussion with a potential vote at the Annual Meeting.  An explanation of the awards as they are now and the proposed awards will be posted on the website, discussed on ASCNE-l and included in the newsletter.

Honorary Membership Award Process – Jean Janotta

• Honorary memberships have traditionally been awarded every 5 years – the last time was in 2003. 
•   After the last awards were given, the request was made to have a more formalized nominating/review/selection process and to make the presentations at the Annual Banquet. 
• Anyone interested in participating in developing the process and being on the committee, please talk to Jean Janotta.

New Agility Trials – Gull Reidy

• Gull will look into holding a new trial at a sports facility being built in Plymouth, MA .
• Jean and Robin are looking into the American K9 in Amherst, NH.

Membership Secretary – Kathie Chouinard

• Kathy Chouinard needs someone to take over this position as she is experiencing some life style changes as a result of aging parents
• The duties of this position as documented in the ASCNE By-laws

7.1.2.  Membership Secretary: 

The Membership Secretary’s duties shall include but not be limited to:

A. Maintaining an up-to-date record of members in good standing, address, phone, email (optional) and date dues payments received.

B. Collecting and recording of membership dues received every January and forwarding them to the treasurer in a timely fashion.

C. Processing of applications for membership and sending each applicant a copy of ASCNE Bylaws.

D. Producing a list of members qualified to vote in elections.

E. Producing mailing labels for newsletters, flyers and other club mailings.

F. Maintaining a record of terminated memberships for at least two years.

G. Placing a current membership list in the newsletter annually.

• Kathie can answer any questions on the actual hows and whats
• Robin Goodman has developed an Access db to support this effort if you have Access software
• If you’re interested, please contact Jean Janotta

Access for Club Laptops – Pete Dolan

• In support of the agility trials as well as the upcoming Nationals, it would be very beneficial if the club laptops had the Access database software loaded on them.
• Pete found 2003 Office Pro (which includes Access) Promotional for the two laptops – licensed for 2 machines for $180.  He will find the info and contact Jean.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:15pm

The next meeting will be January 7, 2007 at Canine Mastery in Seekonk, MA.

Respectfully submitted,

Gull Reidy, Secretary

ASCNE 2007 Calendar of Events

• January 7 – Meeting – Canine Mastery, Seekonk, MA
• February 17 & 18 – Potential Agility Trial – NH – Jean Janotta
•        March 4 – Annual Meeting & ROM Banquet – Log Cabin, Holyoke, MA – Mary Ann and Joe Stoddart
• March 16, 17 & 18 – Rescue Show – Silver City Canine Training Center - Taunton, MA – Brenda Dean / Sue Winters
• March 31 / April 1 – Cattle Clinic with Cindi Hayden – Webster, NH - Matt Mason
• Spring – Tracking Clinic – Celeste Kelly
• April – Intro to Herding – Lebanon, CT – Tenley Dexter
• April 28 & 29 – Sheep clinic with Jim Hartnagle – Webster, NH - Matt Mason
• May 19 & 20 – Potential Stock Trial – Lebanon, CT – Tenley Dexter & Janet Benson
• May 26 & 27 – ASCA Agility Trial – Contoocook, NH – Jean Janotta
• June 9 & 10 – Colors of Summer – Auburn, MA – Keli Gaunt
• Early June – Bob Vest Stock Clinics – CT – Tenley Dexter
• June 23 & 24 – Stock Trial – Webster, NH – Matt Mason
• July 8 – meeting – Silver City Canine Training Center – Taunton, MA
• July 27, 28 & 29 – Moose-a-Mania – Skowhegan, ME – Clara Gardner
• August 11 & 12  - Stock trial – Webster, NH - Matt Mason
• September 9 – Meeting – location TBD
• September 29 – October 6 – ASCA Golden Jubilee Nationals – Augusta, NJ
• October – Tracking Test – Celeste Kelly
• Fall – Practice Ranch Trial – NH – Matt Mason
• November 4 – Meeting – location TBD
• November Breed & Obedience – Fran is not planning on hosting this event in 2007 – other takers?

Events – Other Clubs

• April 7 & 8 – Agility Trial – WASCUNY – High Goal Farm in Greenwich, NY
• April / May – Tracking Test – WASCUNY – considering hosting a tracking test on the Nationals site