MEMBERSHIP INPUT SOLICITED

September 2007

The Gordon Setter Club of America Master Calendar has seen a great increase in the number of events offered for our Gordon Setter enthusiasts to participate in and enjoy with their much loved Black and Tans. Back in 1993–94, when Bill Stauder was the Vice President of the GSCA and handled the responsibilities for submitting applications for GSCA Events, there were about 40 events nationwide offered for Gordon owners to choose from.

That number has now swelled to close to 100! We have back-to-back Specialties, back-to-back Hunt Tests, Field Trials, Rally Events, and Agility Events—not to mention our much anticipated National Specialty and National Championships and Field Trial.

Our area committees and independent clubs rely on their events, in many cases, to generate the income to continue running their groups, to fund rescue, to pay for trophies, and provide necessary revenue for day-to-day expenditures.

GSCA Policies and Procedures require that NO local event may conflict with a National Event unless the local area committee or independent club has requested a waiver from the Board prior to the Event Approval deadline. When requesting a waiver, the local group must cite detailed rationale for the waiver request, and those waivers will only be granted in very special circumstances determined by the Board. In addition, the National Championship MUST be held in the fall between the dates of September 1 and December 31.

Therein lies our problem. P&P requires a 3-year Letter of Intent from local groups for the National Championship, but Board member AND National Field Trial Committee member, Marianne Goodwin, has stated that is no longer possible…and that an 18-month heads up is probably the best case scenario when finding and reserving sites for performance events. Lately, the Letters of Intent have come closer to 12–14 months.

This is not solely a NFT Committee problem, as there was NO bid for 2008 for the National Specialty and Brandywine graciously agreed to host it. Nodrog was the only bid for 2009, so it’s not like we have groups chomping at the bit to do these National events!!

However, when National date announcements come with only a year’s advance notice, that may mean that Area Committees and Independent Clubs have already hired judges for their events for the next year, put down deposits on sites, and moved forward with other expenses before the National Committees have even submitted a Letter of Intent, much less a formal bid proposal. Also, with the three month window for the National Championships dates, it is often the same area committees that frequently experience date conflicts with their regular fall event dates.

This dilemma is not necessarily anyone’s fault, and the P&P DOES allow for waivers at the Board’s discretion. But that does not address the issue that is at the core of this problem. And what exactly constitutes the “special circumstances” described in our P&P?

When that Policy was written, some years ago, there were fewer than half the number of events and traveling expenses were much more reasonable. Our Board has spent considerable time discussing this complicated issue. We want to be certain to give the National events and the people who put them on the respect and appreciation they deserve, but also recognize that our distant area committees are suffering financially as a result of this policy.

We feel there are three choices the Board could make:

1. Do we continue on, as specified in the P&P, refusing to allow local groups to hold their events if conflicting with National Events, even if the National Event dates are late in being set?
2. Do we grant waivers to any group whose events conflict with the National Event? Or, do we grant waivers to a group that holds an UNLIKE event (such as a Specialty that would conflict with the National Championships or a field trial that would conflict with the National Specialty) but refuse LIKE events?
3. Do we look to set an exact and set date for the National Specialty and an exact and set date for the National Championships and Field Trial so that all Gordon Setter owners would know WHEN that event would be and then allow NO conflicts, ever? This may require that we set a predetermined location (such as Purina Farms, for example) for the National Specialty and ALWAYS hold the event on that date at that location. Many Parent Clubs do just exactly that, to prevent the conflict situations we find ourselves in.

Please think on this dilemma which is a huge one, and contact your GSCA liaison with your opinion (liaisons names are listed in the handbook.) Your Board will need to make a decision concerning this, and we would really like input from the membership before such a decision is made.

Bill Stauder and Mary Ann Leonard