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2014 President’s Message

For those of you who missed the annual meeting, here is a recap of 2013 and a look ahead to 2014:

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

On behalf of the board of directors, I want to thank Wayne for his service as LCRC president over the past 8 years. Not only did he serve as President, but he has been housing and maintaining the club trailer and equipment as well as, with Dale, hosting the acclaimed spring NAHRA dinners. He has managed bird importation permits for all our events, and far more. Thank you Wayne.

As you may recall from last year’s annual meeting, we started the year with a lower than desired cash balance. I am happy to report that thanks to the diligence of our event chairs, all licensed events turned a profit last year, leaving us in a much better position this year, as our Treasurer Dale Goodrich reports. Thank you to Doug Martin, Bruce Butler, David Butler and Jennifer Adsit for the hard work and great results on this!

Let’s all take a moment to recognize Deb Brown and the Vermont Federation of Dog Clubs for their long and diligent work on breeder/dog legislation. Last year marked the culmination of years of effort with the passing of the house bill H.50. A huge achievement. I don’t think most people realize the countless hours, the round trips to Montpelier, and the relentless focus that went into lobbying in the Vermont legislature for our rights to breed and own quality dogs. Thank you so much, Deb and the Vermont Federation. Deb will give us a legislative update later on the agenda.

New and different club events: Thanks to Ken Bora, two club training days were added to the calendar in 2013 and they seemed to be enthusiastically received.  We also added a health screening clinic, which was successful and profitable for us as you will see on the Treasurer’s Report. I have asked each event chair to give a brief recap of last year as part of our meeting a bit later today.

So what’s on tap for next year?

  • We will continue with the same licensed events as last year.
  • We also will host another health screening clinic.
  • We need to focus on bringing in new members, and lending our experience to help them be successful. Training events are a great way to do this. The 2013 training days were a success, which we all hope to build on this year. Ken has already volunteered to chair three days this year. If anyone wishes to step up and chair a training day, please let the board know. I also plan to discuss with the board the possibility of sponsored regular training sessions at night around the state.
  • In addition, Deb Brown is working hard to bring us a Seminar to be presented by Jill Volsch. This event would be held in Addison.
  • Finally, the board has been planning to consider a breeder code of ethics when we review our policies. We need to clearly identify ourselves as responsible breeders, in accordance with Article II of our bylaws. This is especially important in light of the national and state legislative environment. There are many challenges to our rights to own, train, compete and breed quality retrievers on the local and nationwide scene.

If you have suggestions for the board, please let us know what you think, and feel welcome to attend board meetings to do so.

In closing, thanks again to everyone who donated their time to make 2013 a successful year for our club, and here’s to an even better year in 2014.

– Terry Butler

 

Club training day

The club test scheduled for September 15 has been changed to a training day. See Calendar for more information or use this contact form to get in touch with Ken Bora.

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