With so much to attend to I have been remiss in posting to the website and for this I must apologize. Much has happened including dealing with the need to get a new website up and running and to be honest, my focus was getting it up and running and not on posting to it. Hopefully, this will no longer be the case.

I just returned home from our Fall Specialty, and those who were able to attend I believe will agree that it was quite a success. An entry of 105 for a fall specialty is pretty spectacular. Everyone who supported this specialty, by entry, by donation, or by volunteerism is to be commended. I made the statement at one point in time that if the membership wanted to have two specialties per year, then we needed to support them. You all came through on this one and hopefully will continue to do so in the future. Delores Neal, Trish Swagerty, and all the show committee members who worked countless hours to pull this off are owed a debt of gratitude. Even a rainstorm could not put a damper on the day's activities as attested by the group effort of volunteers working together to move the ring to dry land. The banquet was a superb mix of great food, a spectacular view, and a demonstration of generosity by the 60 or so attendees who with the gentle persuasion of Chis Anderson and Gus Hinkleman, our auctioneers, raised in the area of $2000.00 for health and rescue. The final figures are not in yet, so this is just estimation on my part based on the bidding, which got pretty hot and heavy on several of the items offered.

There were enough members at the general meeting to achieve a quorum, so we were able to conduct a small amount of business. A motion was made and unanimously passed that any changes to the number of get required for attaining an ROM, DOD, and SOD must be approved by the membership. A motion was made and unanimously passed to accept the bid submitted for fall 2005 Specialty to be held in Decatur, Alabama on 11/8 & 11/9/2005. There will be 4 tail shows following. The specialty will be held indoors at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Decatur, Alabama.

As you may or may not have heard, we did have an altercation occur between two of the members at the meeting. The matter was handled in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order.

Finally, it will soon be time to vote for next year's officers and board of directors. The slate that was selected by the nominating committee has been published and has been sent to the membership. Anyone interested in running from the floor needs to have their petitions and resumes in to the secretary on or before November 1, 2004.

That's about it for now. As always if you have any questions or concerns, please direct them to the Board.

Sincerely,