Washington Club Meets - Cascade Spring Show

[Mindy Waters]

Saturday March 15, 2025
DOUBLE SHOW
Requested by Mindy Waters

Evergreen State Fairgrounds
14405 179th Ave NE
Monroe, Washington 98272

Show Contact- Emmett Wild magpie.wild@yahoo.com

[Russ Blair]

Mindy when was this meet request made? I ask because I didn’t see it on the upcoming meet list or in the winter newsletter? I am just trying to make sure it wasn’t overlooked during our transition. It looks like the entry deadline postmark is March 1, 2025, according to their catalog on poultry show central, which is also the newsletter publication date.

[Mindy Waters]

It was not missed.

Michael Meunks accepted the request and sent the club information through to Emmett in December, cc Scott. Our meet info will be in their catalog coming out soon. I was ensured that the entry deadline is going to be set for after our March Newsletter is published (as long as it gets sent out on time). Michael said it shouldn't be a problem, as it follows the policy.

We have at least 3 club members already planning to attend and I'm hoping for more. I've been promoting the show in local groups. Should be a great show!

Thanks.

[Russ Blair]

Mindy unfortunately Michael, or any other elected officer including myself, does not wield the power to just skirt around our meet policy. Which clearly states

 “Club meets may be placed by the Director in charge of meets when a member requests a meet for a specific show he/she plans to exhibit Ameraucana at, in time for the meet to be publicized in the quarterly Ameraucana Newsletter prior to the show's entry deadline.”

Our Ameraucana Alliance and its elected officers are governed by our Constitution, By Laws and the four current policies that are in place. As the elected President it is my job to insure that these guidelines are strictly followed. I will email Emmet tonight and let him know that this meet request fails to meet our current meet policy so it can not be sanctioned by our Ameraucana Alliance and will not qualify for our awards or points. Remember not all of our members receive email newsletters, some receive hard copies delivered through the post office. I am sorry for any misunderstanding but you served two terms as a director and are well aware of our position on this.

[Mindy Waters]

How does it fall to meet the policy? The entry deadline is March 3rd.

[Russ Blair]

According to poultry show central it says March 1 is post mark entry deadline? 

https://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Cascade_Spring_Show.html

Mindy since you apparently forgot what is stated in our meet policy here is the reason that we require meets to be placed prior to entry deadline.

Members need to know well in advance when and where meets are placed for planning purposes.



Here is a link to our meet policy in its entirety if you want to review it to avoid this mistake in the future? https://ameraucana.org/DnLd/Ameraucana%20Alliance%20Meet%20Policy%204.7.2024.pdf

[Mindy Waters]

The info posted on PSC is from last year's show. It has not been updated yet for this year, which is why I spoke with him about it. He said the entry date will be the same or later for email entries, which is how the majority of entries are sent in.

[Russ Blair]

I have sent an email to Emmett to try and get some clarification. Apparently someone has contacted him insinuating that I may be “politicking” or attempting to cause “club infighting” which is far from the truth.

 I am beholding to uphold our constitution, by laws and our policies (including our meet policy) and that is what I am attempting to do. We have a meet policy for a reason and it pertains to all our members equally. Which is why some other members meet request could not be requested.

Scott did forward me an email containing this meet request, that Michael sent in on December 31, 2024 that I was not CC on. I will not assume why I was not included and will wait for Emmett to reply to my email.

I would like to say according to our archived newsletters this meet has always been confirmed and published in our winter newsletter not our spring newsletter. Which makes me believe that someone may of forgotten to send this meet request in so it could be published in a newsletter per our meet request? I trust Emmett will be honest in his answers and we will soon have the information needed to confirm this meet doesn’t violate our meet policy.

[Mindy Waters]

I didn't forget. I had a reason I waited to request the meet to be included in the spring newsletter instead of the winter newsletter. Exactly four entire months in advance of the show (November 15th, the date things are required to be sent in for the winter newsletter) I was not sure I would be able to make the 4 hour trip (one way) to this specific show. I was waiting on a follow-up appointment with my son's orthopedic surgeon to see if he was going to be needing to schedule his knee surgery soon. He will need surgery, but the timing is what we were waiting to find out because his growth plates are not closed. After his appointment, I was able to confirm that we could still go to the show. And I also confirmed with other members in the area that they were planning to attend as well. No fun having a meet with just one exhibitor. That's why the request was made in December instead of November. I posted it here on the forum to let others know as well as in my local poultry and local Ameraucana group to make sure everyone has ample time to plan. I apologize for assuming the meet policy as written meant the deadline was March 1st. Is March 1st NOT the date? Is March 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th, etc an acceptable date? The policy may need an actual hard date added for clarity so that myself and others do not assume the newsletter publication date IS that date if it is not.

[Laurie Ashley - Selah Farms]

I was told today, that the postmarked entry deadline needed to be March 1st or later, to qualify to hold meets at this springs shows.  I am understanding that the 2 meets I requested for upcoming spring shows had deadlines BEFORE march 1st, and thus wouldn't be able to be put in the march newsletter, so wouldn't comply with the policy and as such have been canceled as breed club meets.  I am now out all of my entry fees, as there is no point in exhibiting the birds if there is no meet.  One of the shows was canceled due to AI scare, but the other show I was looking forward to quite a bit. 

I'm learning as I go, forgive my mistakes of not understanding the policy correctly previously. 

[Russ Blair]

If the post mark deadline is March 1 that would make a meet ineligible for a sanctioned meet if it was not placed in time, and it would be published in our newsletter ON March 1, 2025. Mindy very well knows this, sadly this is not the first time she has tried to get a meet placed last minute despite our Meet policy. If she was unclear what “prior” meant she would of asked for it to be clarified when the board of directors made changes to our meet policy on May 8, 2024, during her last term as a director. 

I apologize to any members that were planning on attending this show and encourage them to fill out a meet request earlier to avoid any conflicts like this in the future. If anyone is unclear of our guidelines by which we are governed please visit our website at Ameraucana.org or AmeraucansAlliance.org where our Constitution, By Laws, and the four policies are available for everyone to read and review. If you were wondering what our four policies are that we currently have theres a points, meet, honorary Vice President and a lifetime achievement policy.  I strongly urge all of our members to read them and get to understand them. I am done arguing this, I was elected to uphold our policies and that is what I am doing just like I did my last term, here is a link to our meet policy for anyone wanting to read it. https://ameraucana.org/DnLd/Ameraucana%20Alliance%20Meet%20Policy%204.7.2024.pdf

[Mindy Waters]

The updates to the meet policy that the board voted on last term had nothing to do with dates, so mentioning that here is irrelevant.

Laurie was told the date was clarified to her as needing to be March 1st or later? Hers that were rejected were before the March 1st. So please answer when the hard date actually is. We are both asking for clarification NOW because it is relevant to both of us and every other member this may come up for in the future. Laurie is being told March 1st is an okay postmarked entry date. I'm being told that fails to meet the policy. Please clarify because this is not consistent.

[Mindy Waters]

For the record, when I had asked for an exception for a prior show, it was under completely different circumstances and this is what you told me. It is why March 1st was what I thought the date you were following was. Why ask for more clarity in May when that is what you told me?

[Russ Blair]

Mindy I am done arguing this, the meet policy is clear. Meets must be published in a newsletter PRIOR to the entry deadline, not published ON the entry deadline. If the shows postmark deadline is March 1 a meet can’t be placed if it’s published in the newsletter March 1. This does not allow time for members to plan to attend and is nothing more than a members attempt to harvest points. I am not the one who waited until December 31 to send in the meet request. I am just upholding my duties as President that is stated in our constitution. So if there’s any hard feelings I would suggest you take a deep hard look at your part in this instead of trying to blame others or play the victim.

Article 1 - President
The President shall be Chairman of the Board and responsible for the execution of the Constitution & Bylaws

[Mindy Waters]

What? I didn't send in my request on December 31st.

I'm asking for clarification as a dues paying member, which you are not providing.

There is also an official process for disputes about rejected meet requests per the meet policy that you are failing to even mention as an option for members to appeal for a board vote.

Laurie, it seems the date you are being told is wrong as well. I guess March 2nd is the date that would be acceptable? Who knows. Russ will not clarify. He says the policy is clear enough and ignoring the fact that members think it is not.