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
We have a new format for the Swiss Team game. Currently it is referred to as a Swiss Mixer. What’s that, you ask? It is a combination of a Swiss Team and an opportunity for some possible mentoring in a fun and supportive environment.
Here are the details.
- C players will sign up with another regular C partner just like you do when you play in the back room at the Unit games.
- A players and B players will also sign up as pairs with your regular partners.
- 4-person teams will then be created so that each team will have one A pair and one C pair.
- B players will be assigned a team, so don’t worry. You will have a seat at the table! You may be N/S or E/W, depending on how many sign up.
If there is time between the sessions, players will have the opportunity to ask questions and make comments.
Date: Saturday, January 4
Time: Play begins at 9:30. Be there around 9:00 so you can get together with your team.
Where to sit: The A players will all sit N/S. The C players will all sit E/W. B players will sit where Don tells them to. (Hee hee)
PLEASE SIGN UP AND LET THE FUN BEGIN!
From Susie Leo:
Hi Green Room Players/349ers,
The next Unit game is on Saturday, December 21.
If you want to once again have your Green Room (back room) reserved for players with 0-349 Master Points for the Unit Game, please send me an email with your name and your partner’s name. If you don’t have a partner, use the Partnership Desk email to ask for one.
Send your email Back Room Unit Game reservations to me at susie@susieleo.com.
UNIT Game is on Saturday, December 21
Food is at 9:00
Bridge is at 9:30
Please note that Saturday December 14 is the Swiss Team event. They are TWO DIFFERENT BRIDGE EVENTS. You are totally welcome to play in both, but I wanted to highlight that there are TWO bridge events at the Emerald Bridge Club on the next Saturdays.
See you at the club!
Susie
499ers mark your calendars! Eugene/Springfield Unit 479 has scheduled a sectional tournament for April 11-12, 2025 at Emerald Bridge Club in Springfield, Oregon.
This is an opportunity to earn silver points in a limited-game environment. So if you are a non-Life Master with 499 masterpoints or fewer, join us for a fun time in April.
Two sessions will be held each day.
Here is the tournament flyer.
Swiss teams will be Saturday, December 14th. Lots of folks responded that they would be able to play on that date so we will see if we can make it work.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We are truly grateful and thankful to be part of such a caring and loving and, most of all, fun group of folks.
Sherri and Don
This message is for our 349er players.
Kevin Kacmarynski is going to present 4 free classes at an upcoming regional tournament. He has asked for input on what topics would be most helpful to our 349ers aka I/N players.
Here is how you can help. Please email me back with your answers to these bridge questions. If you have other questions, send those too! These are just to spark your mind to think about gaps in your own game.
- What area of bridge do you feel you need the most help with? Bidding? Defense? Play of the hand? All of them?
- What specific topic would you choose to have a lesson on? Some ideas are slam bidding, defense against NT, cue bids, etc.
- What are partnership agreements and why are they so important?
Please get back to me by Monday, November 25, if you have ideas for lesson topics. Be as specific as possible.
Thank you for helping Kevin! 😊
Susie
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