Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

April 26, 2006

The meeting was held at Richard Ferrin’s house.

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

President Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:55 PM.

Secretary’s Report

The Board approved the minutes, without objection.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported that the WBL’s checking account was $25,544.95. The WBL also holds approximately $19,000-$20,000 in an investment account.

Dick Wegman noted that Fidelity Trust donated $2,000 for the Round Robin event last year, and hopes that Fidelity will do the same again this year.

The Board approved the Treasurer’s report, without objection.

Schweinhaut Center Club Game Controversy

Dick Wegman recalled that Lee Biggs had objected to the Thursday game at the Schweinhaut Center being limited to players under a specified number of masterpoints. Dick spoke with Wonjoo Goldstein, who runs the Thursday afternoon game. She said that the point limitation was imposed at the request of Betty Timor of the Schweinhaut Center, because of the small size of the card room. Bill Cole spoke to Roz Dixon, who runs the Tuesday game at the Schweinhaut Center, and suggested a compromise: the Tuesday game will be held in the larger room with no point limitation, while the Thursday game will be held in the small room with a point limitation. As far as we know thus far, nobody has objected to this arrangement.

New Novice Game Saturday Afternoon

Dick Wegman reported that 180-190 novices attended either the Smithsonian program in January or the Instant Bridge Player program in March. The WBL needs a Saturday novice game to develop these new players. Steve Forsythe has agreed to contact players and hold a lecture before the game.

We now have a location for that Saturday game: the Methodist Home, on Connecticut Avenue off Nebraska Avenue, N.W. Dick saw the facilities last Saturday. The Assembly Room holds 21-22 tables. The Methodist Home will make tables and chairs available, and will offer the space for free. They will also make food or refreshments available at their cost. Ample parking is available at the site.

The Methodist Home prefers that the game be held around the period of 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Dick offered to hold a WBL Unit charity game with the Methodist Home as beneficiary. The contact at the Methodist Home is Winnie Farah, who recently started attending the Unit game.

Steve Forsythe can direct one game per month on Saturday, but we need somebody to direct the game the rest of the Saturdays. Saul Penn, Ray Galucci, and Paul Kruger were mentioned as possible directors. Barbara Summers agreed to call Saul and Paul, and Fred King will call Ray.

Joint Charity Game

Fred King reported that the ACBL and American Bridge Association (“ABA”) have designated June 24, 2006 as the date for a joint ACBL/ABA charity game, and asked for suggestions about holding such a game within the WBL area. Steve Robinson suggested the Laurel Bridge Club as a location, but Don Berman doubted that there would be sufficient space there. Fred noted that ABA’s local chapter has space in a building that it owns called the “Hut”, but expressed concern about the size of the space there. Dick Wegman recalled that last year, the WBL and ABA Washington chapter held a joint game at the Hut, and there appeared to be sufficient room for 16-20 tables. Fred volunteered to follow up with Winston Edwards.

Bill Gates’ Assistance

Dick Wegman recalled the financial assistance that Bill Gates has agreed to provide in connection with a bridge program at schools, and noted that Gates and Warren Buffett are trying to get units throughout the country to hold youth tournaments, with the winners winning a trip to a national final school tournament to be held in conjunction with the regional in Omaha, Nebraska. Dick said that the local school bridge coordinators Ron Starr and Mark Rosen had reported to him that Washington area schools are not ready to participate this year in such an event.

Dick also stated that it would be helpful to hire a professional to manage the Washington area school bridge program, and said that Bill Gates’ foundation may be willing to fund it. Dick suggested that somebody with teaching experience would be helpful. Various names were mentioned, including Ellen Rosenthal, who was formerly a teacher. Dick explained that the problem with high school programs is that high school students already are busy with many activities, and the best opportunity to get youth interested would be in junior high. However, he said that Mark Rosen cautioned that most junior high schools are much more restrictive than high schools as to who can come into the schools.

New Candidates for WBL Board

Dick noted that Ellen Cherniavsky, Bob Levey, and Shlomit Rind are running for WBL board positions.

Bridgemate

Richard Ferrin reported that at the Dallas Nationals, an article appeared in the Daily Bulletin about the “Bridgemate” automated score reporting system. With Bridgemate, hand-written score tickets are replaced with a hand-held wireless electronic device at each table. North enters the contract in the hand-held device and scores the result at the end of the hand. The contract and result displays, and at the end of the round, a member of the East-West pair presses a button to confirm the information is correct. All of this information is automatically relayed into the director’s computer. This system was tested successfully at the world championship last year in Portugal.

Richard pointed out the following advantages of Bridgemate: (1) fewer table scoring errors; (2) no director entry errors; (3) fewer caddies needed; and (4) lower risk of score tampering. Barbara Ames added that it would eliminate the problem of a possible “wire” with scoring tickets inadvertently left face up.

Richard believes that the WBL should get Bridgemate, if the cost is affordable. While in Dallas, he spoke briefly with Nadine Wood about Bridgemate. Nadine told him that the company marketing the device has spoken to the ACBL about a package purchase deal through ACBL and made a brief presentation to the ACBL Board about the system, but she did not know the exact cost. Richard agreed to follow up with Nadine.

Play Bridge Brochure

Barbara Ames reported on the latest efforts to distribute the WBL’s “Play Bridge” brochure. She pledged to meet with a committee on this issue, and report back to the Board later.

Fred King noted that he recently made a presentation to World Bank retirees. Steve Robinson and Richard Ferrin also came to assist. Approximately 16 people picked up brochures.

AARP

Fred King said that at Gatlinburg, Nadine Wood and Bruce Reeve said that the American Association of Retired Persons (“AARP”) will sponsor games at a few regionals around the country, including Atlanta and Alexandria. District 7 will contribute $500 to the game at the Atlanta regional, the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference (“MABC”) will contribute $1000, to be divided evenly between the Atlanta and Alexandria regionals. Hopefully, District 6 will contribute to the event at the Alexandria regional. Fred did not yet know how much AARP will contribute.

Novice/Intermediate Player Mailings for Regionals

Fred King reported that the MABC contributed $2000 to District 6 on an experimental basis for a publicity mailing to novice and intermediate players on upcoming regionals. Complaints were raised that the money was not widely distributed. As a result, at a recent MABC meeting when a similar contribution was proposed, the motion failed on a 10-10 tie vote, with the MABC President breaking the tie by voting nay. Donna Bowser then proposed a postcard mailing to target 0-50 masterpoint players for the Alexandria, Hunt Valley, and Ocean City regionals. That motion passed on a 10-10 tie vote, with the MABC President again breaking the tie, this time by voting aye.

Machlin Trophy

Fred King raised the issue of the nomination schedule for the new WBL Machlin sportsmanship trophy. Dick Wegman suggested that nominations should be open through August 15, with the Committee meeting in September, and the trophy presented at the October WBL sectional Saturday, October 21. Dick said that he would announce that schedule at the WBL Annual meeting.

October Tournament

Dick Wegman reminded the Board that the October sectional will be the WBL’s 75^th anniversary, at which tournament the newly refurbished Eynon trophy will be awarded.

Old Minutes

Dick Wegman reported that Carol Geagley has in her possession several years of old WBL board minutes. Dick asked what the WBL should do with them, including any Executive Committee minutes.

Barbara Ames said that she has an intern who could scan them. Richard Ferrin noted that he has minutes going back to 2000. Richard agreed to confer with Nadine Wood and WBL Historian Peter Boyd about appropriate paper and electronic storage. Dick Wegman suggested saving the Executive Committee minutes separately from open session minutes.

Donna Rogall noted that she has numerous old pictures of WBL members, events, etc. Dick suggested that pictures and memorabilia should be assembled for display at the October tournament. Nadine and Peter will go through the material.

Compensation for Bulletin Editor

Donna Rogall, editor of the WBL Bulletin, noted that she has not had a pay increase for more than two years, and asked for a raise. Dick Wegman directed the Bulletin Committee (Don Berman (chair), Richard Ferrin, Steve Robinson, and Nadine Wood) to confer by e-mail and make a recommendation.

Departing Board Members

Dick Wegman noted the departure from the Board of Winston Edwards and Jane Sturgis, both of whom have done a fine job. Dick recalled Winston’s collaboration with Ron Kral on the Smithsonian bridge class project, and as ABA liaison. Dick also noted Jane’s work as WBL Charity liaison.

Next Meeting

The next WBL Board meeting will take place Wednesday, May 17 at Fred King’s house. The WBL’s annual meeting will be held May 11.

The Board thanked Richard Ferrin for hosting the meeting.

Whereupon, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary