The annual National HRC meeting was held in Memphis, TN on 12 & 13 June, 1999. I was fortunate enough to represent the Central Florida HRC and was the only HRC member from Florida to attend. On Friday, I attended a Judges Seminar conducted by Ed Thibodeaux. The room was full of very experienced judges and the discussions were enlightening. This was probably the last judges seminar to be presented in the old format. The new format will be a Power Point presentation with slides, video clips and audio and is just about ready to be released. One observation came through loud and clear. Judges are human and their interpretation of the rules always has and always will vary. How tests are set up will differ greatly depending on what part of the country you are in and how folks hunt in that part of the country. Some points worth emphasizing:

- Having designated test dogs is a club responsibility.

- The Hunt Committee needs to approve each test set up to make sure it is consistent with the rules. Committee may even want to run a set up dog the day before to make sure the test has no hidden problems. The Hunt Committee should also approve any changes that are made once a test is in progress.

On Friday I also attended a forum on club activities. Some of the points worth mentioning include:

-Review mailing list for club newsletters. Mail copies to national officers and national PR people.

- Some clubs have ads in newsletters to help defray mailing expense.

-List new members in newsletter...people like the recognition.

-Some clubs have a raffle at their monthly meetings.

-Some clubs make a big thing out of their annual general membership meeting. Dinner, guest speaker, awards, auction and raffle. One club in Michigan cleared $19,000 just from this one event.

-Just about all clubs have some kind of training in conjunction with their periodic meetings. It is all focused on what members need and is generally broken down into three groups (started, seasons and finished). The also go over the rules, have guest trainers and have gun handling and safety classes. THERE IS DEFINITELY A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE QUALITY OF TRAINING AND MEMBERSHIP.

-Title for Started: This issue has come up in the past and was not approved. However, there might be a chance for a started title if it was linked to higher standards, i.e. return the bird to hand, dog off lead and handle the gun. Right now there is no formal action being considered. I have running rules change proposal forms and they can be submitted by any member.

-There are lots of dogs who get UKC titles who are not members of HRC. The dog (not owner) must be registered with UKC to get a title. HRC is considering some kind of action where a owner would have to be a HRC member to run in a test or get a title. There was lots of discussion and a committee has been appointed to study the issue.

-Calusa HRC has officially folded and is no longer on the HRC roles. (note: Joel Luna held that club together and has had a bout with cancer. Lloyd Kiernan has suggested we give Joel a honorary membership in the CFHRC).

On Saturday, the Board of Directors meeting was held. Any member could attend, but only official club reps could talk or vote. I held Richard Davis' proxy so I got to talk and vote. Significant points follow:

- Scholarship applications from the HRC Foundation are found in the HRC Magazine along with scholarship requirements. This year there were 21 applications with 5- $1000 awards being given. Next year the amount will be increased to $1500.

-National corporate sponsors now include, Purina, Tri-Tronics and Mossy Oaks. They are working on Remington. Mossy Oaks plans to give HRC members a 10% discount on Mossy Oaks products. Clubs will be able to get blind material at cost. Details will be forthcoming.

There were 11 new clubs chartered this year; 4 clubs folded; net gain of 7 for a total of 90 clubs nation wide. There is now a club on the west coast (Whistling Wings HRC in Seattle, WA). Over 13,000 dogs ran in HRC hunt tests last year.

-Rule change proposals must be submitted to the Running Rules Committee by Dec 31, 1999. I have forms. Some changes under consideration include: No use of training aids on test grounds, no training on test grounds, clarify order of upland events (any order), no collars on seasoned dogs, add distances to Upland tracking test (40-70 yards with at least one major change of direction), change seasoned blinds to 40-60 yards, and all birds except live flyers must be dead.

Finally the election of officers was held. Glenn Stelly was elected President, Larry McMurry VP, Rob Lewis Treasurer and Kathy Gibson Secretary. Glenn has judged finished tests for us and is a great guy. He will be super President. I met and talked to each of the new officers before the vote and was impressed with each of them. There are lots of dedicated people that make HRC work at both the executive committee level and on the working committees. HRC is a solid organization and we should all be proud of being part of it.