May is a big tournament month in Oregon.
Sectionals in Seaside and Eugene with Intermediate/Newcomer gold rush games and a week-long regional in Redmond give players of all levels lots of opportunities to add to their colored points.
The Redmond regional also includes opportunities to play online on the tournament’s last day (May 19), with regionally-rated sessions at noon and 5pm.
Details in the links above.
Seaside!
One of the largest regional tournaments in the country starts October 2 in Seaside.
Over a week, players of all levels will have multiple options each day to play. In particular, newer players will find 499er and 199er games daily, with 499er gold rush games Tuesday through Saturday.
Hope to see you there!
Winter Edition of The Trumpet is Out
View the edition here.
Laurie Rowe says farewell to her post as D20 representative to the ACBL board, Â and Jackie Zayak introduces herself as the new ACBL board member for Region 12, which includes D20 and D21.
Don will stay busy for two more years with his re-election as D20 president , and he reports on  ACBL’s handling of a high-level cheating case.
Unit 487 Sectional, Portland, January 28-30
Here’s the information, with a link to the tournament flyer.
Here is the District 20 tournament schedule for 2022.
John Wolf’s Report from Recent Board Meeting
Members:
The unit board met via zoom on August 16, 2020.
Our last in person meeting was on March 8, 2020. We have had three email meetings: on March 19, to officially cancel the 299 tournament scheduled in April; on March 25, to agree on setting up the Save Bridge fund; and on April 16 to officially cancel the Eugene Sectional scheduled in June.
We have not been meeting regularly up until this August 16 meeting because there did not seem to be much, if anything, to meet about. But we did need to review the Save Bridge fund situation, set the date for the 2021 Eugene Sectional and determine how to handle the annual meeting currently set for February 7, 2021 in connection with an in-person two-session bridge event at Shadow Hills. Here is what was decided about these items:
SAVE BRIDGE FUND
This fund has received about $8830 and paid out to Emerald Bridge Club (EBC) a total of about $2100. The last payment was in May. Payments have not been needed since May because the on-line games have covered EBC’s expenses. The current balance in the fund is $6726.41. At least one member has asked about returning some of these remaining funds.  The board is still concerned about the viability of bridge going forward as there are unknowns, about how well, on-line bridge will do going forward, and whether expenses will remain low. For example the landlord has given a big reduction in rent up to now but that could change. The board looks at the fund as insurance for the future. However the board did decide to allow anyone who would like a return of a pro rata portion of their donation, to make a request through our treasurer Carole Schmitz. Attached to this email is a summary of the Save Bridge Fund and the procedure for requesting a return of money through Carole.
ANNUAL MEETING
I think it is safe to say that the board is not optimistic about being able to have an in-person meeting and bridge game on February 7, 2021. Shadow Hills allows us to cancel the meeting so long as we do it by January 7, 2021. So we have time to see what happens.   Whether or not an in-person event can be held, our by-laws require an annual membership meeting prior to April 1 of next year for the purpose of nominating and voting for open board positions. Guidance from ACBL tells us that the meeting can be via zoom or a similar method.   There are four members whose terms are up in February of 2021: John Wolf, Carole Schmitz, Dave Partridge and Denise Cox. Five members terms continue into their second year: Carl Scheffler, Joyce Spence, Diane Bricker, Ali Amory and Betsy Ovitt.
The by-laws provide for the board to nominate a slate of candidates and for the opportunity for additional nominations to be made by members at the annual meeting. As an alternative to doing this, Bing Kibby who is the past president of, and non-voting member of the board suggested that due to the unusual year we are experiencing and due to the lack of unit games, and sectionals, that we just keep the same board intact for another year. Essentially he suggests adding one year to each present board member’s term. Bing wrote up an explanation of his suggestion which is attached to this email. The board seemed receptive to Bing’s idea but only if there was general support from the membership. Bing’s proposal would still require a membership meeting and also a one-time amendment to the by-laws to allow the extension of all board terms by one year.
WE WOULD LIKE YOUR FEEDBACK ON BING’S PROPOSAL.  Do you like the idea or should we stick with the method provided in the by-laws?  Please contact any member with your feedback. The board members are listed on the CC line above.
OTHER MATTERS
We have scheduled unit board meetings, via zoom, for the 2nd Sunday of the next four months. The dates are Sept 13, October 11, November 8, and December 13. If you would like to attend any of those meeting let me know and I will send you the link a few days before the meeting.
Also all unit board meeting minutes and the unit by-laws can be found on the unit website which can be accessed through the EBC website.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
John Wolf
Unit 479 Board President
May is a big tournament month in Oregon.
Sectionals in Seaside and Eugene with Intermediate/Newcomer gold rush games and a week-long regional in Redmond give players of all levels lots of opportunities to add to their colored points.
The Redmond regional also includes opportunities to play online on the tournament’s last day (May 19), with regionally-rated sessions at noon and 5pm.
Details in the links above.
We filled twelve tables for breakfast and bridge on Saturday, including five tables in the 299er section.
This was a special day. Don announced that with Jon Neimand’s generous matching contribution, our club raised over $5000 for Food for Lane County. Don expressed his appreciation to Jon for his donation and all he has done to promote bridge in Eugene/Springfield over the years.
In addition to Jon, we honored Jeff Taylor with this donation. Jeff was a big supporter of Food for Lane County and organized many fundraisers at our club during ACBL charity weeks over the years. We lost Jeff suddenly in December, 2021.
Thank you to everyone in our club who helped out this charity week. It’s yet another reminder of the caring and generosity of our bridge community.
From Susie Leo:
Not only are there enough 349er players to fill the back room, but there is also another wonderful thing happening at the unit game on Saturday (April 20).
Don Marsh is going to give a short lesson on 2 hands right after the game is over! It’s true!
If you want to continue to improve your game, stay for his lesson.
Food, bridge, AND education! Does it get any better than that?
Breakfast at 9am, bridge at 9:30.
See you Saturday!
Susie
From Susie Leo:
Hi 349ers,
Saturday, April 20 is the Unit game. Betsy, Joyce and I will be providing fabulous food! (At least the first 2 will be fabulous. I will do my best!)
Please email me if you want to reserve your spot in the back room for your 349er game. As usual, we will need enough people to make a game back there.
From Susie Leo:
Hi all,
There will be no Mentor/Mentee game this month. Between somewhat lack luster support and a bunch of other things happening in our area, we will postpone this game until after summer is over.
Remember that we have many other wonderful events at our club, so please continue to support them.
Susie
susie@susieleo.comSee where you stand here
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