Entries from November 2007 ↓

When I posted Operation Baghdad Pups, I was unaware of a grassroots organization called Military Mascots who’s sole mission is “…to find and make contact with folks who may be able to help their adopted friend come to the US to be with their own families prior to their redeployment.”

Supporting Deployed Service Members and The Mascots They Love

Christopher has posted an excellent article on this organization and the SPCA International on his website Border Wars.

Larry

I think the NAFA delegate voting system is due for some rethinking. I think I know why the delegate voting system was developed the way it was and if someone knows differently please let me know. It was developed so that the clubs that participate at NAFA sanctioned events are the ones that should have a vote. This sounds logical to me. Why would you want clubs to have a vote if they are not participating in the sport at NAFA sanctioned events? However, why are all the delegate votes given to the club owner?

NAFA Rulebook, Chapter 4 – Delegate Votes

(b) All delegates shall be assigned to the club owner.

The Participants

Why are the participants left out of the voting process? After all, the participants are the ones that make Flyball happen. Flyball is a team sport so why don’t the team members get a vote. The club owner can choose to divvy up the votes or not. Why should they have all the power? Without the “teammates”, there would be no team.

NAFA Rulebook, Article VII, Section 2. Delegates

The Board of Directors may designate delegates with special interest in flyball. Each Board member will individually receive a delegate vote over and above any delegate votes otherwise earned. Each Regional Director will individually receive a delegate vote over and above any delegate votes otherwise earned. All approved judges and supervising judges will individually receive a delegate vote in addition to any other delegate votes otherwise earned. Clubs will be notified of the number of delegates earned during the preceding fiscal year.

It doesn’t seem fair that the participant should be left out of the process. I think each dog entered in a NAFA sanctioned event should be given 1 delegate vote per year. Thus, if you have 5 dogs and 4 of them participated in NAFA sanctioned events during the NAFA fiscal year, the owner of the dog should receive 4 delegate votes. This sounds reasonable to me.

What do you think?

Larry

Well NAFA® election time is upon us again. It was announced this last week that only 20% of the votes had been returned. Seem like a low turn out this close to the closing of elections. Not much has been said on the flyball list this year but maybe that is because one of the usual writers is running for the BOD this time. Maybe some of the low voting has to do with the fact that some people are voting NOTA (None of the above) which was suggested by one of the candidates. Only problem with this is that ballots are to be destroyed after the election so no one will know how many have been returned with this written in. Or maybe displeasure with things is being expressed with the lower votes coming in and people just don’t care.

I see by the minutes of the last meeting that a balance and profit and loss sheet was distributed at the meeting (didn’t see a copy included in the minutes though) and some numbers are down. Light shipping is up (which I can see due to increases in shipping industry) board meeting expenses are up (hum maybe they should be shopping around for better ticket prices. I seem to be able to get good prices on flights when I look around), tournament fees and CRN registration are down (which is the only income that NAFA has). Hopefully the CRN’s were up by the end of the year due to people getting in ahead of the price increase (I know that’s the way I did it) but then that will take away from next years CRN income. Where is the money going to come from to keep this organization running with the expenses that they seem to be incurring?

Also was Cynosports an income or a loss for NAFA? We have yet to see a break down on costs to put this on. Don’t we as delegates have the right to know where our money is going?

Well it would be interesting at the end of voting to see the voting numbers. How many voted, how many were returned with NOTA and how many came back with only 1 or 2 votes on them. We have no choices for the ED position (not saying that the current one isn’t doing well) and we don’t have the choice for write in votes. Why even bother to put that one on the ballot?

What is everyone out there looking for in a candidate for the BoD? In some of the elections it was that a specialty was a plus (like being a lawyer would help the BoD) or computer specialties or whatever. I am not sure what some of the people running have to offer. I also have been unable to attend any of the candidate chats due to prior commitments (yup I do have a life outside of flyball).

Thanks Larry for letting me add to your blog.

Judy