[ SHOWGSD-L ] THANK YOU - and some thoughts
- From: "MARGERY GOLANT" <mgolant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 01:32:49 -0500
Having finally returned from Concord (long story there....!), and returning
to a house that has normal power and full Internet access, I wanted to
express my thanks to all who voted for me for Recording Secretary. It is
humbling to have received the largest number of votes of any candidate in
this election. I very much appreciate your confidence in me, your rejection
of the negative campaign tactics a few people tried to employ, and I promise
you that I will continue to do my utmost to do the absolute best I can as an
officer of the GSDCA, and to act for and in the interest of the membership.
Please do not hesitate to call me to discuss anything and everything
regarding the Club. The best ways to reach me are:
office - 954-693-0153 (my direct line)
cell - 954-821-1988
email: mgolant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
The worst way to reach me is to call my home. That is the number in the
Roster and on the GSDCA web page. While it really is my home number, I am
not home often, and there are so many junk calls, sales calls and other
useless stuff that clutter up the voicemail it takes a long time to dig
through them, and there is not always time. That is an ok option if you are
in no hurry <G> - I do hear them when time permits, but not every day.
Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all who did not win, but
were willing to do your utmost to advance the interests of the GSDCA, and to
take the heat, the negativity and the controversy that unfortunately was
part of the process this year. There are a lot of good people in place,
ready and willing to do their best for the Club. I am hoping that now that
this election is behind us, we can really dig in and work for the good of
the GSDCA, and get past the terrible tone and negativity we have seen
recently. There is a lot to be done, many important issues to address. We
cannot possibly get there if we are busy attacking one another, taking pot
shots, making negative and sarcastic remarks. I so agree with Ileana - when
people speak up with negative and critical comments, they should be
challenged to provide constructive suggestions and solutions. It is so much
easier to sit back, complain and criticize than to find workable solutions !
It is hard to understand how much effort the people who do the work of the
Club contribute. Please give them consideration - even if you find
something you don't like, there are ways to express that which are
constructive, not hurtful. The people who planned the National, worked the
National and judged the National worked like "dogs". They were exhausted by
the time Saturday night came around..... Sitting with many of them at
dinner, I felt tempted to feed them - they could hardly lift their own
food...
I am glad to see that now many understand why the Board voted for this site
- it was a good one. Not perfect - but excellent in many ways - so good
that other clubs are also looking to use it. Next year, St. Louis, the year
after, Ft. Collins, the following year, Beaumont. This year, the Board will
be looking at sites in the NorthEast. All that have been selected are
wonderful sites, all have pros and cons. GIve them all a chance, plan to
come - whether you are competing or judging, or as spectators. Your Club
needs you, and coming to the National is guaranteed to plug you into what is
going on in your breed, to energize you, and to give you a renewed sense of
commitment. If you want to serve on a Committee, please step up and put
your name on the list. We can use all the help we can get.
Folks, we on the Board really do try hard to do right by you all.... We are
human though, might miscalculate, might misunderstand. If we do, it is not
because we don't care what the membership wants. We are not perfect, and
have different perceptions of what will work. If you think you have a
better idea, by all means, make it known. We want your input, we all
benefit from constructive suggestions. Likewise, we all get frustrated and
defensive at attacks and constant complaints. We want to do the right
thing, try hard to do just that, even if we don't always agree on what IS
the right thing to do. There are many different ways to say the same
things, ways that are communicative and constructive, ways that are nasty,
hostile, destructive. Please do it the way that is constructive, and please
don't permit anyone to do it the negative way - if you see someone speaking
or posting with hostility, anger, negativity, do as Ileana suggests -
challenge them to make suggestions to fix the wrongs they perceive.
We really do need to keep in mind that we must stick together, learn to
support one another, because there are a whole lot of people in this world
who do not have a clue what we are about, why we care, and frighteningly,
there are a whole lot of people in this world whose agenda is to destroy
organized breed groups and canine breeding and competition.
To respond to some of the questions I have seen come across my handheld:
The new Board - Officers take office on Jan. 1, 2006. At that point,
government of the GSDCA will look like:
OFFICERS:
President - Lew Bunch
VP - Gary Szymczak
Corresponding Secretary - Sharon Allbright
Recording Secretary - Margery Golant
Treasurer - Bill Pfeiffer
AKC Delegate - Carmen Battaglia
BOARD:
Class of 2006:
Lee Brown (filling remainder of term of Lew Bunch)
Helen Gleason
Dania Karloff
David Landau
Tom Mesdag
Nanci Nellis
Paul Root (filling remainder of term of Gary Szymczak)
Class of 2007:
Carmen Battaglia
Tish Walker
Joan Fox
Kris Fasano
Carolyn Martello
Nancy Harper
Rita Sandell
On the GSDCA web site. www.gsdca.org there is a link to an email address:
board@xxxxxxxxx - by means of this email address, you can send an email that
will go to ALL Officers and Board members at the same time. Likewise, all
email addresses, mailing addresses and phone numbers of individual Officers
and Board members are there as well. You can and should feel free to be in
contact with us in whatever way works for you, to express your wishes,
thoughts, concerns and suggestions. We really do want to hear from you, we
really will pay attention.
The Minutes of ALL Board meetings are posted on the GSDCA website, with the
exception of the July meeting since those were just approved on Sunday. I
will send the approved July Minutes to Gail and BIll so that they can be
made available in the Review and on the web site as soon as possible, and
will start the work of creating the Minutes of the meeting which just
occurred two days ago. Admittedly, this is not a speedy process - we tried
to come up with a way to make it work faster, but for a number of reasons,
that was not feasible. The point of the Minutes is to be the official
record of what occurred at Board meetings. As such, it is necessary that
they be comprehensive, that they be accurate, and that all 19 (Board members
and Officers) agree that that is so. That takes work, time, and the ability
to discuss any disagreements - not to keep the membership in the dark. That
is also the reason the Board-o-Gram was developed - to communicate QUICKLY
with the membership the key things which occurred at the Board meetings.
Don't hesitate to contact me afterwards if you have questions, want answers,
just want to talk. And, best of all, if you possibly can come, please do. I
would bet you will be pleasantly surprised - and you will be welcome. You
will see that the Board members are not arrogant, are not exclusionist, not
elitist, really DO want to know what you think so that we can try to do what
you want us to do.
Please take the time to call or email those who are going out of office and
off the Board, and those who ran but were not elected. They too have worked
hard, cared greatly for the GSDCA.
Those going out of office are: Ginny Altman, President, Ken Downing,
Vice-President, Board Members: Leon Breault, Ellie Carson, Lanalee
Jorgensen, Dorothy Linn, Lori Nickeson, the candidates for President and
Vice President, Evan, Helen and Jerry, and those who ran for the Board but
were not elected: George Berstler, Kathy Casteel, Ed Hill, Randy Darnell,
Wayne Davis, Laurie Pruitt, Dave Coleman, Joanna Rand, Kelly Knight, Tom
Castriota. These people went through the process because they CARE, because
were willing to put themselves on the line for the GSDCA.
.
Now that it is over, let's stop throwing rocks, taunts and insults, stop
throwing rocks, taunts and insults, and let's all try our damnedest to work
together to improve our Club and to support our Breed.
Margy Golant
mgolant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2005. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://www.showgsd.org
============================================================================
Other related posts:
- » [ SHOWGSD-L ] THANK YOU - and some thoughts
