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| July 2008 President's Letter |
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| January 2008 Out With The Old |
| 2007 Board of Directors and General Meeting Minutes |
July President's Letter by Scott Tullis Hello again! I really can’t believe that we are mid point through the cutting season! Where does the time go? NCHA days was quit a weekend! My hats off to Cascade Cow Cutters and Harland and Jodi Radomske! Thank you for putting on a wonderful show. Record number of entries for our area and we couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions. Such a beautiful setting capped off a wonderful weekend. It was fun to have the wine tasting and vendors. It was also wonderful to bring 4 associations together in 1 show. Increased entries bring more competition and more purse. I would like to see this type of show happen more then just once a year. Scott |
President's Letter by Scott Tullis Hi everyone, Scott |
President's Letter by Scott Tullis In the interest of making space for the banquet photos, Scott and I are working together to get the results of the annual Board of Directors/General Membership meeting to you. For those who attended and participated, thank you. We couldn’t do it without your participation. Jeff Sleeman gave a heartfelt speech about those who give back to the club and sadly, those who don’t. It’s those who show up for the hard, unglamorous part, and not just the fun part, who are the heart and soul of WCHA. Scott has agreed to continue filling the job as club President for 2008. Newly elected to the job of Vice President is Brent Mathews. The 3 vacated Board of Director positions are being filled by Greg Jones, Jerry McGuire and Jeff Sleeman for 3 year terms. Congratulations to all. Look on the 1st page of the newsletter for committees and the tentative schedule. Of significance is that the schedule has been expanded this year by the addition of an early March show at Bonina and our McKenna July show has been replaced by a July show in Dusty, Wa. at the Gustafson Arena. A big break from tradition is being made in the class schedule by moving the Open and Non-Pro classes from the 1st two classes of the day to the day to the 5th & 6th classes following the $3,000 NNP thereby showcasing them when more spectators are likely to be in attendance. There was a revision made to the Standing Rules that change award eligibility. A member must show a minimum of 50% of the time the class was offered to be eligible for year-end awards. It has always been the intent to support the members who consistently support the club. Because of the success of the 2007 Limited Age Event, the membership voted in favor if increasing the total added money for that event to $15,000.00. It is the hope that this significant increase will further stimulate participation. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback and hope that this increase will further enhance an already successful event. There was a lot of discussion regarding the importance of continuing to operate on all volunteer help at the shows and how we can encourage members to get out of their chair or off of a horse to lend a hand. Help is needed in the practice pen and in general maintenance of the grounds. A movement is under way to enlist help from the trainers in getting non-pro’s involved. Many WCHA trainers reply on non-pro’s to lope horses and we’re all there to be able to spend a little time socializing but the few who help are not there solely for everyone else’s pleasure. To make a club work, everyone has to work for the club. It takes a big person to climb out of that chair or off of that horse and ask what they can do to help. The more members who step up, the less everyone will have to do, so step up before someone says hey, you. There was a lot of discussion regarding the trophy saddle program. There has been a growing feeling among the general membership that something needed to be done to stimulate interest. The cost of the saddles naturally limits the number which can be awarded and it has become increasingly difficult to create categories that don’t exclude access to a large number of the membership. It was overwhelming decided to add 1 additional saddle. Before the end of the evening, our newly created saddle committee had more than enough donation pledges to pay for the 1st saddle. It is their feeling that being responsive to the membership and broadening the program will renew enthusiasm. The members in attendance got a lot accomplished in a relatively short period of time. While some of the discussions and debates were long and lively, compromises were made. After the meeting was adjourned, banquet festivities began filling the room with good cheer and enthusiasm for the 2008 season. WCHA has long had the reputation of being a somewhat lively organization and past history bears that out. We debate lively, we show lively and we party lively. Happy hour was…well…happy and, of course, lively. The awards ceremony was downright raucous. As for the silent auction, the bidding was just as expected……..lively & competitive. We owe a huge Thank You to Sharon Tullis for organizing this event, to Becky Sleeman, Sharon Tullis & Patti Scott for the awesome awards and to everyone who braved weather impacted roads to attend. We look forward to seeing everyone at the 1st 2008 shows March 8th & 9th at Bonina. |
President's Letter by Scott Tullis Hello fellow Washington Cutters! I am sorry that I really don’t have much to comment on at this time. As the writing of this letter, we have not yet had our rescheduled banquet and board/membership meeting. If you remember, we were snowed/iced out in December and had to postpone our festivities and meeting. Of course, when this hits the newsstands, we will have had our 2008 agenda hammered out! Our 2008 schedule will be in our March newsletter. I would like to take the time and congratulate all of our winners and thank you all for attending our annual banquet. I know that this time of year, we see several of our members venture out of our area and head to California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. I would like to wish all of you great success and safe travels. And we will see you all at our 1st show of the season. Scott |
Judging A Judge by Karen Jones Now that we’ve had an opportunity to reflect back on the 2007 season, how did we feel about the judges. A lot of thought goes into our judge selection beyond who’s available and how much they charge. The judges committee keeps notes on past performance and listens to the comments of the membership. In this day and age of added money and high entry fees, a bad call can be much more than a disappointment. It can cost the cutter a lot of money. So what did we see this year? I believe we saw it all. WCHA has made an effort to cultivate judges not only within the northwest and mountain states but to reach beyond and test drive judges from other locales. Travel cost is a major factor but due to our aggressive in-house travel agent, we’ve been fortunate to get maximum mileage out of the dollars in our travel budget. These factors have helped expand the pool of judges with which WCHA has some kind of past experience. Careful selection is made from that pool to hire judges who have a favorable past performance record with WCHA or industry-wide good reputation, who have performed in a professional manner consistent with NCHA rules and regulations and whose judging was universally accepted by all in attendance as reasonable and without bias. Obviously, not every cutter will agree with every call. But for those who can look beyond the results of their own run and base their opinion not on a snapshot but on the judge’s performance over the entire show, they’ve given the judges committee valuable observations for future judge selection. When at the end of the show the most common comment heard was I never could figure out what the judge wanted, that’s a red flag that something was missing in that judges performance. While the NCHA has made an effort to gain uniformity in judging through their monitor system, the jury is still out as to the effectiveness. For every positive comment heard in the breeze, there seem to be equal if not more negatives. That should be of concern to all of us in the constant quest to level the playing field. And exactly how this will affect the problem of institutional bias still prevalent among NCHA judges is yet to be determined. The commonly held belief is that bias is so deeply embedded in NCHA judges that it may take a long time to cultivate a new breed of judges who have abandoned this old institution and evolved beyond arrogantly using their judge’s card to promote their own agenda. Ok, so when we hire a judge, the judges committee looks at the judging fee, travel costs, past performance, professionalism, member comments and one other thing that merits a mention. Number 1 priority is that all cutters in a class be placed in proper order. That’s a given and many times we’ve heard cutters comment that while they might not have agreed with the scores, the result was that the class was properly placed. While this is huge, it’s not the whole story. NCHA has urged judges to more liberally use the numerical scale. Not only can this be a tool to assist judges from judging themselves into a box with a large cluster of like scores, it can set the tone for the entire show. Judges who consistently score low can take the life right out of a show and cast a gloomy pall over the whole weekend and that, too, is unfortunate. When showing under a judge who consistently scores unusually low, many cutters feel, rightly or wrongly, that it’s a negative message from the judge to the cutters. The quality of the cattle should be factored in because it’s hard for a judge to mark anyone a 75 on 71 cattle. Regardless, the enthusiasm and good cheer quickly disappear and one reason for showing is to have a good time. A judge’s demeanor out of the judges stand, while of lesser importance, is still an factor in overall performance. Not only should the judge be professional and operate within the guidelines established by NCHA, it’s important that they be courteous to everyone and particularly to those with whom they work in the show office and the videographers. They have been hired by WCHA to work for WCHA and are being paid for their services. Their presence is not a favor but a fulfillment of their obligation. Although not perfect, I feel that our judges committee has done a pretty good job with a difficult task and each new year they work hard to make it better than the last. They welcome input from all members. It’s a daunting job and although they hear plenty when a judge is unfavorable, they hear considerably less when the membership is pleased. Even if you have no helpful comment, just telling them that you appreciate their efforts would be appreciated. How hard is that? |
President's Letter by Scott Tullis Hello again. I had planned to detail our awards banquet and general membership meeting in the space, but… thanks to go old Mother Nature we had to cancel and reschedule. A huge snow storm hit the mountain passes expecting 2 feet of snow, and in checking around the rest of the state, it was snowing or forecasting snow and/or freezing rain. We just didn’t think it safe to put our members on the roads at that time. So put this on your calendars! We will try this again. And hopefully, more of you will be able to attend. I do, however, implore all of you to try and attend the general membership meeting that will be held just before the banquet at 2pm. I know I mentioned it in my last letter, but it takes all of you to help run this club. If there is something you would like to see changed or added, now is the time to let your voice be heard. See you all Jan 12th in Sunnyside at Snipes Mountain. Sharon and I would like to wish you all a very prosperous new cutting year! |
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW? As we wrap up the 2007 season, the one thing which is quite clear is that WCHA had a very successful year. Although the final results have not yet been announced, word has come from our Treasuer, Patti Scott, that WCHA had a good year in many ways. At the grassroots level, we increased our membership base. This is the essential foundation on which a successful organization is built and maintained. WCHA serves members from not only Washington State, but also from Oregon, Idaho, Canada, California and a few other far-reaching locations. Many of our members are members of other affiliates as well which, overall, is very good for the industry. We produced a full schedule of weekend shows with good attendance. WCHA is committed to producing quality shows for the weekend cutter emphasizing good ground, nice facilities, quality judges, attractive added money and the best cattle available. Maintaining this degree of quality is not an easy job. We all owe a huge show of appreciation to our Officers, Board of Directors, Committee Members, stock contractors/venue owners and everyone who worked diligently behind the scenes to provide the best show experience possible. We expanded our sponsorship participation. The sponsorship committee really made an effort to bring more sponsors aboard. Our sponsors are a big part of our success and continued financial stability while allowing us to provide more incentives and benefits which can be passed back to our members. We enjoyed a hugely successful Limited Age Event. Although still in its infancy, the WCHA LAE continues to grow with enthusiastic support from all over the Northwest. We’ve been able to offer all of the ingredients which are necessary for a quality LAE while maintaining an acceptable level of profitability. And what of the profits? We‘re able to pass those profits back to the membership in many ways, so you need not be a LAE participant to enjoy the proceeds. As we face down 2008 with the reality of pain at the pump, the inevitability of increased cattle costs, the current high prices of hay & other livestock feeds and a potentially inflationary economy, what changes should be made to insure a successful 2008 season? To my way of thinking, none. Plans are already underway to tweak a few things here and there to further improve our services to the members. Fate has interceded in the form of a horrendous winter storm which caused a postponement of our annual Board/General Membership meeting and our awards banquet to January 2008. Well say, that’s this month! That means that there’s time for everyone to commit a few hours of their time to participate in the governance of this organization in addition to having a little fun socializing with fellow club members. WCHA allows a high degree of participation from all members so long as we adhere to the rules of order. Simply put, that means that you can make a difference, your voice will be heard and you have a vote on many of the issues. Beating this drum gets a little tiring, but a few hours of time in exchange for an entire year of service is not a lot to give. And so far as the banquet? It’s not about that 5 second walk of fame to receive a year end award. That’s but a small part of the time spent celebrating the end of a season with friends made over many seasons. Please check the announcement in this newsletter for the new date, time and location of the 2007 meeting and celebration. Let’s party down! |
