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Week
Of September 11th |
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During the past week, all the judges
arrived, as did the board members to start setting
up tests for the event. The grounds are wonderful
and vast with many possibilities for tests.
Each day’s tests and news will be posted that day
along with digital pictures of the tests and a few
more. There were about 20 people involved
with hauling equipment, running set up dogs, drawing
the layouts & descriptions, and of course designing
tests. This year we had an unfortunate and
scary incident during Wednesday’s set up.
This is an excerpt from Ray’s speech at the dinner
explaining the situation with our dear friend Bruce
Bachert. “Bruce gave us all a scare yesterday
by passing out and we had to call 911 and rush him
to the hospital. As you can see he is here
with us tonight but will be leaving in the morning
to return to Texas so his own doctor may test him
for what went wrong. Bruce has been out setting
up the tests and really wanted to judge but his
doctor said NO—You get back here. The test
set-ups were designed with his input so he really
will be here even though he is not going to judge.
A phone call was made in the middle of the night
to my 1995 MN co-judge to replace Bruce. It
is now my pleasure to introduce Bill Blochowiak
as a judge for the 2000 MN event. He is also
the author of “Billy’s Rule” which was published
in the April 2000 newsletter.” For all
of us here I want to wish Bruce a quick recovery
and our thoughts are with you. |
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Last night started this year’s event with the annual
Welcome Dinner & MNRC Auction, which was held
at the 2517 Club next door to the Ramada Plaza in
Warsaw, Indiana. This is the time to be relaxed
and renew old friendships with people that we all
see maybe once a year. Of course, we miss
those who weren’t able to come this year and really
hope to see them next year. Most of the handlers
had arrived in the area a few days ago and have
been training and preparing for the event.
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Today was the MNRC annual business meeting, handler
check in, judge’s instructions, etc. Committees
met and sorted out their responsibilities and crews.
Ray Muth, president of this year’s MN, gave some
speeches and ran the meeting. The proposal
that was brought forth from the Greater Pittsburg
Retriever Club and the Keystone Club was explained
followed by a discussion and rebuttal. A vote
was taken and the proposal was 10 votes for and
62 votes against. One vice president and 3
directors were also elected. They are Reg
2 Director – Jim Keldsen: Reg 3 VP is now Joe Harris
(as Jeff Schoonover will start his presidency Oct
1): Reg 3 Director will be Bill Blochowiak: and
Reg 4 Director is Diane O’Hearne. Election
of the MN 2001 judges came next and the delegates
chose: Gene Byrd (Region 1), DuWayne Bickel (Region
2), Bruce Bachert (Region 3), and Rob Rueter (Region
4). Congratulations to all!! There were
some new business discussions and the board will
consider all of these in their January meeting.
Also, Mike O’Hearne, Clarence Klaus, and Bill Blochowiak
will be paired to judge Group B leaving Bob
Meyer, Doug Lindemer, and Larry Morgan to judge
Group A. |
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All of the handlers who have been traversing the
country roads out here to get from one training
site to another will attest to the fact that every
land owner involved has gone out of their way to
help and make all of us feel welcome and at home.
Each and every night, stories are re-told over &
over about what happened to this person or that
one. One such event took place on Wednesday
when Rex (a land owner donating his property) and
his wife came out to watch and this little lady
brought with her a homemade loaf of zucchini bread
to give to the members of this training group.
Another group was out in a populated area and when
after getting well into training, they noticed that
on the deck of one house were several people and
neighbors enjoying the show. Nancy Prendergast
told me this story the other night. One of
the dogs was retrieving a bird and the flyer ended
up alive. The flyer was also their diversion
bird. Anyway, the dog was on the way back
with his bird and as he re-entered the water he
landed on this live duck. The dog kept his
cool and was swimming furiously to get back to the
handler when the duck pops up from under the water
and promptly starts chasing the dog. This
continued until the dog reached land and the duck
decided it would be safer to stay in the water.
But I guess this duck was extremely determined to
catch the dog! |
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At last year’s event the entire group was treated
with true “Southern Hospitality” and I believe we
all left South Carolina with new and treasured friends
such as Marie & Curtis Hodge, Nancy & Sidney
Tidwell, and the entire group from Camden.
We are all well on the way to adding to that with
the people here in Indiana. |
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Tomorrow is the start of the 2000 MN event with
the opening ceremonies at the Wawasee Middle School
at 7:30 AM. More reports will follow tomorrow
with test descriptions, etc. Since the pictures
this year will be from a digital camera and in the
software I will compile them into panorama shots,
some of the colors may differ from one side to another.
This is due to turning and getting different light.
I hope they will be all right and that you all will
enjoy the tests this way. I want to verify
the test and bird placement each morning with the
judges to make sure what goes up on the internet
is correct. From the information that I have
now Group A will run test 1, which is a land series
and Group B will start with test 7 and that one
is land/water. |
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There are some scratches to be mentioned from the
original running order. They are: Group
A-- # 6 and #26 and there is a move of number 114B
who will now be in A under that number. This
entry will be added to the end of Group A.
Group B’s scratches are: #6, #32, #54, #75, and
#84.
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| Terry |
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