We have all made our way to Mississippi for the first day of the 2010 Nationals. There are cars and dog trucks from all across the country. Starting at 9 a.m., the Merchandise Committee opened their doors. They were well staffed with the hostess and sales have been brisk all day. Brenda Little was set up in the lobby of the hotel with all of the Luck Lab pins, her lanyards etc. Molly Schlachter had a table set up with pictures from the previous Nationals and all of the information to have shots taken for 2010. She announced that this year, EVERY dog will have an action shot taken along with the normal photo with the handler. Suzanne Medford and Tal Broyles have done a beautiful job with the hostess committee. The Purina bags were stuffed and ready to go as each handler checked in. Across from Molly, the Retriever News had a table stocked with the new Callback directories, Judges Manuals, copies of the latest issues of the News and binders that will hold the slick new version of the magazine.
Lee Jolley and Tom Vaughn take a moment to relax before the meeting.
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| Brenda Little from Lucky Labs and Patti Kiernan. |
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| Molly Schlachter, Official Photographer |
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| Gwen Jones, Retriever News Online Reporter |
Retriver Advisory Committee Meeting
This afternoon the first meeting was brought to order at 2:10 p.m. The Rules Committee announced that the three proposals for the past year passed.
1. Prohibit the destruction of birds.
2. Full refund for contestants when there is a judges change after the premium has been printed.
3. Canadian Championship dogs cannot run the Qualifying in the States.
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| Kate Simonds, RAC |
There was discussion about the use of ATV's in planting a blind and retiring the blind planter or retiring the bird thrower.. There were several other questions concerning the legality of the distance a blind planter or a gunner could move and the tracks that ATV's leave for a dog to follow. Bill Totten talked in behalf of the PRTA. He was discussing the applications for grants. He reminded the audience that the PRTA has grants that they give to Field Trial Clubs who own their own land and want money for grounds improvements. He stated that the clubs who would like to apply for these grants should go to the on line web site for the PRTA grant application. The site is currently down but will be back up soon.
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| NRC President, Lee Jolley |
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| The NRC Board, L to R: Gary Ahlgren, Jim Cope, Craig Stonesifer, Joe Broyles, Mitch Patterson and Loren Morehouse |
General Meeting
Lee Jolley brought the general meeting to order at 3 p.m. After a brief moment of silence for Field Trialers and Field Trial Dogs that we have lost this past ( passed!) year, the landowners for this years event were
honored. Ronnie and Randy Lampkin have been active in making their property ready for the event. This included putting out bales of hay, mowing and cleaning out ponds that they do not even use. A standing ovation was given by all in attendance. After the sponsors were given plaques and the contributors acknowledged Mitch Patterson gave the secretary treasurer report. It was announced that the 2011 stake will be held in Oakdale California. The judges were announced for the 2011 event. They will be John Goettl, Ed Haskins and Lee Jolley. |
| The 2010 Judges L to R: Chester Koeth, Martha Russell and Larry Calvert. |
The starting numbers were on actual chips from the casino. #39 Gary Unger will start. The Rotation will be:
1st and 2nd series combo #39
3rd series #63
4th series #87
5th series # 14
The test dogs for this years National will be Bobby Smith with AFC Twinbranch Pilgrim Pride, male lab and Mark Medford will run AFC Tequilla's Hot Tamale, lab female. The first test dog is to run tomorrow morning starting at 6:40 a.m. and the first running dog at 7 a.m. There are two scratches, #5 and #79. There will be more later, we are late for the cocktail party!!!
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| Ray Voigt, Alex Washburn and guest and Mike Lardy. |
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| Jay Du Four, Gwen Jones, Teena Ritter and Lo Dirmeyer. |
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| Can you guess who this bow tie belongs to? MORE COCKTAIL PIX TO COME TOMORROW!!! |