The meeting was called to order by Bob Swift and those in
attendance sang the Star Spangled Banner. He announced that the MARC has 576
members, is financially stable and is growing. What started as a largely “appointed”
board will be a fully “elected” board by the end of next year.
David Kress, Secretary/Treasurer was introduced and gave a
financial report. In addition, he worksto recruit membership with the help of
Retriever News. He announced that the club has $134K in the bank and last year’s
event in Sedalia, MO grossed $26K.
Corporate Sponsor Liaison Susan Bell came to the podium and
expressed he gratitude to the Sponsors. She placed a special emphasis on Tina
Styan and Retriever News who she called the “backbone” of support to the MARC.
She then thanked David Carrington of Avery Sporting Dog and Dean Reinke of Purina
along with the many other MARC Sponsors.
Stacy Ritchie was identified as the MARC Communications
Director and was unable to attend the event due to historical flooding of the
Arkansas River.
The Nominating Committee announced that Frank Prendergast
and Ed Sullivan will be leaving the board. David Kress has completed his first
term and will be going for his second term as Secretary/Treasurer of the
organization. The new term starts on July 1st with the following new
Board members: Dave Kress, Jace Tramontin, Meghan Baker and Charles Pugh.
Laura Judd announced that the Fourth Annual MAI will be held
in Corning California starting on April 19th.
Charles Pugh explained the club was giving a new title for
those dogs that had passed the first and second MAI’s, these two passes gave you
the “MAR” title. The AKC would recognize the third pass and the official title of
“MAH” would be awarded. The dogs that received a pass in the first two events
were called out.
Doug Ljungren of the AKC took the podium and announced staff
changes. The RHTAC had staff changes that included a new chairman, Jack Combs
who replaced Bill Teague after his many years of dedicated service. The
following changes were announced. One of the judges can judges two times at the
same event on the same weekend. Furthermore, you only have to judge one time at
your current level to move up to the next level.
As soon as Entry Express can complete the programming, the limits
for the Master tests will be increased by 10%. The limits will increase from 60 to
66, 90 to 100, 120 to 132 and 180 to 200. You will no longer have to pay the
scratch fees previously charged by Entry Express, instead they will be a more
reasonable credit card service fee. It was requested that handlers with more
than 12 dogs total across all stakes have assistance at the event to get the
dogs there and on time.
The John O. Blackbird Memorial Award which honors the life
of John Blackbird was given to the individual who most closely represents this
ideal. For 2019, that individual was Bill Blochowiak of the Sooner Retriever
Club. Bill accepted the award and addressed the audience thanking them for the
honor.
