Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

November 16, 2005

The meeting was held at Fred King’s house.

In attendance:  Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Clyde Kruskal, Steve Robinson, Jane Sturgis, Barbara Summers, Dick Wegman, and non-voting member Donna Rogall.

President Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:50 PM.

Secretary’s Report

The board approved the minutes, without objection.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported that the WBL’s checking account balance was $17,670.46.  The only outstanding bills were for the November and December unit games, and the Bulletin.  The board approved the treasurer’s report, without objection.

Initial Matters

Dick Wegman noted receipt of a card from Kitty Gottfried to the Board thanking the Board for its grant of free plays for life in recognition of her services.

Dick also noted the passing of Madeleine “Masse” Gallant and Bernie Arret.  Notes of their passing should be published in the Bulletin.  Dick will ask Michael Carroad to write a remembrance of Bernie.  Madge volunteered for the WBL by handling free plays and partnerships for many years.  Barbara Summers will ask Charlie Margolis to write a remembrance of Madge.

Revised WBL Policies

The Board continued its discussion from October of proposed revisions to the WBL policies, authored by Fred King with suggestions by several others.  The Board discussed revisions to the following sections:

Free Plays

Guaranteed Partner Program

Membership

Motions

Novice Program

Ombudsman

Policies, Amendments

Recorder

Regulations Regarding Play

Round Robin

Special Events

Sectional Tournaments at Clubs

Tournaments

Trophies

· A motion was made to strike the language in the existing policies providing for double points awarded for WBL Sectional Knockouts.  The Board approved the motion unanimously.

Unit Game

Washington Player of the Year

Web Page

Except as noted above, all of the suggested revisions were agreed without objection or formal vote.  Following the section-by-section review of the WBL Policies, Jane Sturgis moved to adopt the policies as revised.  Winston Edwards seconded the motion.  The Board approved the motion unanimously.

January Sectional

Dick Wegman said that the WBL needs a volunteer to assist Nadine Wood with the new daily bulletin for WBL sectionals.  On behalf of the Tournament Committee, Fred King and Barbara Ames agreed to confer with Nadine to find an assistant.  Dick also noted that the WBL needs to identify a volunteer to obtain trophies for the overall masterpoint winners for the tournaments.

Machlin Prize

Fred King recalled that the Board agreed in the October 2005 meeting to establish an annual trophy award for good sportsmanship, named in honor of Jerry Machlin.  (Secretary’s Note: a “Machlin Trophy” had previously been awarded for points accumulated in WBL sectional senior events, but because the WBL no longer runs separate senior events at sectionals, that award had been discontinued and note thereof struck from the WBL Policies.)

Fred reported proposed criteria for the trophy suggested in writing by Dick Wegman:

The candidate should (1) demonstrate strong ethical standards and a commitment to active ethics (i.e., full disclosure of systems and agreements to opponents, etc.); (2) behave graciously at the table after bad results or good results; (3) exhibit exemplary behavior at all times toward partner and opponents; (4) demonstrate an ability to get along with multiple partners; and (5) demonstrate a willingness to help mentor other players in the game.  A player wouldn’t necessarily have to satisfy all five, but these are some of the criteria that a selection committee might consider.

Fred commented that in his view, the first three of the above criteria are the most important.  He noted that Millard Nachtwey has agreed to assist with candidate selection.

Barbara Summers recommended that free plays not be awarded to the winner, the trophy itself would be a sufficient prize.  Dick cautioned that the candidate search not be limited to Flight A players.  Donna Rogall suggested advertising the opening of nominations.  Fred King observed that there is insufficient time to present the new award at the same time as the Lovenberg Cup at the end of this year, and suggested that the first award be made at the last sectional of the year, i.e., the D.C. Championships.

Barbara Summers moved to proceed with establishing the Machlin Trophy as discussed.  The Board approved the motion unanimously.

Nominations for Charity for District Six Charity Funds

Dick Wegman reported that the ACBL’s new charity fund selection mechanism provides for the ACBL to make annual awards designated by the various districts on a rolling basis, and that the ACBL has set aside $20,000 to award to a charity designated by District Six.  District Six, in turn, has asked each unit in the district to offer suggestions.  Unfortunately, because of the award schedule, the units have only a few days to make a suggestion to District Six.  According to Dick, Charity Sack had suggested designation of the National Association for Teaching Entrepreneurship, but Dick did not have any details regarding this organization.

Barbara Ames noted that the district encompassing Chicago made as its designation the New Orleans unit, in recognition of the need for hurricane relief.

Dick reported that Nadine Wood suggested that the WBL recommend designation of the award to Bridge at Schools, and noted that this was an organization with which the Board was familiar.  Dick stated that because of the compressed charity award schedule, Bridge at Schools might be the default choice unless Board members proposed viable alternatives in the next day or so.

Dick then asked whether designation of the Smithsonian would be appropriate, in recognition of the Smithsonian’s sponsorship of beginning bridge programs.  Dick noted that Ron Kral regularly interacts with Smithsonian personnel because he teaches the bridge program there.  Dick and Fred King agreed to discuss this possibility with Nadine Wood.

Managing Unit Cell Phone

Clyde Kruskal reported that last week, he was in charge of the unit’s cell phone.  He checked for messages, and found messages that were stale by several weeks.  WBL players need an alternative number to call, because the unit’s cell phone is off most of the time. 

Dick Wegman stated that the Board should arrange to have a volunteer check the cell phone every day or two.  Clyde agreed to try checking the cell phone for messages for the next month.

Ethics Requirements for WBL Trophy Events

Clyde Kruskal stated that he saw a need for better wording in the WBL’s policies regarding ethical violations and eligibility for WBL trophy awards.  One issue is how to handle a situation where a potential trophy winner is subject to a Conduct & Ethics (“C&E”) Committee where the Committee has not yet met at the time of the trophy award.  A related issue is whether a C&E Committee should have the power to revoke an award previously made.

Steve Robinson suggested that the pending Committee issue could be handled by stating in the policies that the WBL reserves the right to delay award of any trophy.  Fred King queried whether a C&E Committee had the power to revoke an award previously made.  Steve replied that retroactive action by a C&E Committee would be unnecessary if the WBL could delay an award while a C&E Committee was pending with respect to a potential recipient, because the WBL policies already require that the winner be in good standing, and if the award were delayed pending C&E Committee action, good standing would be lost before award if the C&E Committee imposed a sanction.

Clyde also stated that the “good standing” language be narrowed, because an award should not be withheld for minor infractions such as isolated rude behavior or passing of a bad check.  At Dick Wegman’s suggestion, Clyde agreed to circulate proposed language.

Bill for WBL’s Washington Post Ad for Last Sectional

Barbara Ames reported that ACBL agreed to reimburse three-quarters of the expense for the advertisement that the WBL posted in the Washington Post for the last sectional.  She asked who should pay for the remaining quarter of the bill.  Dick Wegman and Steve Robinson directed Barbara to send the bill for the remaining quarter to District Six.

Upcoming Board Meetings

The next WBL Board meeting will take place December 21 at Barbara Summer’s residence.  Clyde Kruskal will host the following meeting on February 1, 2006.  The Board thanked Fred King for hosting the November meeting.

Whereupon, the meeting adjourned at 10:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary