I need to cover several important items in this issue, but first I'd like to thank everyone who attended and/or helped out at the convention. I hate to mention names for fear that someone will feel left out, but feel it appropriate to give a special word of thanks to a few.

Howard Swanson and Jeff Lista ran a very successful ARMATI tournament, a review of which will be in the next newsletter. Bob Bowling traveled a long way to attend and John Hill ran almost non-stop demo games of his new Johnny Reb III rules. We were also graced by the attendance of several members of the national BOD, all of whom ran games. Altogether it was certainly a very successful first effort, especially considering the small amount of time we had to put it together.

As far as next year's show, it will be held at the same venue the week-end of October 24, 25 and 26th. We will be moving the main gaming area to the larger ball-room in the ground floor of the hotel, as we are expecting a larger crowd. We will be focusing on expanding the number of dealers in attendance.

(ed note: The larger Ball was absconded by unsavory individuals. Hurricon will be in the same room as last year with the addition of a second room for all alternative games, plus lighting will be added. These things should make up for any shortcomings from last year.)

We have reprinted a copy of our most recent bank account to show the balance therein. I'd like to thank Jeff Lista for doing such a terrific job with it. This being our first (formative) year, the treasurer's job has been a real pain in the you-know-what.

Also, everyone received a copy of the chapter's by-laws at the convention. We'd like to thank Paul Risner for drafting these and handling all the legal stuff. We'd also like to make it clear that this is a "living" document and that changes and additions may always be necessary. Anyone with a suggestion should forwarded to Paul at P.O. Box 11, Sarasota, FL 34230. (For those of you who may not know, Paul is an attorney, but please don't hold this against him, he's actually quite nice)

Other News: Election

In other news, we have decided to hold an election for all the seats on the BOD. We had previously decided to have two seats per year come open, and this will be the procedure in the future. For those of you who don't know, Bernie Chambers resigned from the board shortly after the convention, so there is one open seat. Joey LaCour, president of HMGS Gulf South, has been kind enough to volunteer to assist us and insure a fair election. The procedure is as follows:

1. All nominations should be sent to Joey's attention at the following address: Joey LaCour 2004 Airline Park Blvd. Metaire, LA 70003
2. You may nominate as many people as you wish. You may not nominate someone more than once.
3. All nominations must be accompanied by your name and membership number.
4. Nominations must be received by Joey no later than January 15th.
5. Sometime soon after the 15th an election form will be mailed to all members on which you will mark your votes and then mail directly to Joey. Joey will count the votes and declare the 7 members. The 7 members will then decide BOD positions.
6. You may not vote for one person more than once. Votes must be accompanied by your name and membership number.
7. Neither nominations nor votes should be sent to a sitting member of the BOD.
8. At the time of writing, all 6 current BOD members are running.
9. Before votes are taken Joey will make sure that anyone nominated does in fact wish to run.

This election is being held on the advise of some members of the national BOD from conversations held at HURRICON. The national BOD does not control, oversee or in any way have any control over elections in individual chapters. Each chapter follows it's own procedure.

As fair warning to anyone considering running, I would tell you that being on the BOD involves a lot of work, hassle, long-distance phone bills, political crap, meetings, time, effort, meetings, criticism, etc.,etc.

There are no perks. You do not get a break on anything. (membership, convention admission, etc.) Any questions should be directed to Chuck, Rhett, Dale or myself, as we were most involved in planning this.

In future there will be one election per year, held in the spring, with 2 seats up for reelection. This should help to insure some continuity on the BOD, and allow for long range planning.

THANKS!