By now, you should have received the survey from the Steering Committee entitled "Why One National". This is not a ballot. The committee is seeking membership input.

As many of you may or may not know, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain two Nationals a year. There are numerous reasons for this. The ever increasing cost of travel and the difficulty in finding a facility that is willing to hold a show such as ours that is affordable. We are continually asking for trophy contributions, catalog ads, raffle and auction donations from the same folks that not just 5 months ago gave contributions to the current National. Not to mention the thankless job of the show committee, many of us are not willing to do this job twice a year.

Many of you are saying that we still want two shows a year, and the steering committee is with you on this position. However, we feel that the financial reason alone would be best to hold both shows back to back. The first show being considered a regional specialty and the second the yearly National. With this type of venue, we would only aks for trophy donations once a year, catalog ads once a year, raffle items once a year and auction donations once a year. Time and talent are consolidated for this once a year agenda. It also allows exhibitors, spectators and volunteers to plan each year to attend versus making a choice between two speciality locations.

The committee asks that each member take the time to fill out the survey and return it by February 6, 2006.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the steering committee or myself at  or 281-587-2997 after 7 pm CST.

Trish Swagerty
Steering Committee Chairperson