BOD policy

[paul gurney]

Hello, I am aware that the current "way of doing business" is clearly not working with regard to the new membership requirements to form a new club. My question to the BOD is, What can be done with existing clubs? Recently you would have received an e-mail from me demonstrating what is going on in the Kingston area between the Kingston RPC and the Limestone City Flyers RPC. We do not even know all the members in the LCF club yet they had a large majority vote down our application to join their club.
Our clubs broke up 15 YEARS ago and yet there is still a small pocket of poison that remains to influence even the new members. These are the reasons that keep our sport from growing.Our concern was only elevated when your proposol to limit what you will print in the yearbook and what feels like the elimination of smaller clubs. The Kingston Racing Pigeon Club is the founding member club of the Eastern Ontario Combine and the oldest in Eastern Ontario that are trying to increase our membership to survive. WE HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE as stated in the newsletter. Please advise or leave well enough alone!!
Best regards.......Paul Gurney

[connie]

Hi Paul,

As you stated, the problems

between the Kingston RPC and the Limestone City Flyers RPC

have been going on for more than 15 years.

We do not even know all the members in the LCF club

but you must know of the 'Problems' that broke up the original Kingston club? Yet you almost seem surprised that 11 LCF members voted No and only 3 voted Yes to having you join our Club? All 3 of the yes votes were from 'new' members that were not members 15 years ago and obviously were not influenced on how to vote.

and yet there is still a small pocket of poison that remains to influence even the new members.

But little things, right or wrong, like loosing the club money, being suspended for a year and loosing the 20 X 15' clubhouse would have had no influence on the vote from the members who lived through it? Or were those 'little things' the pocket of poison you meant? And then there's the reasons I myself, the last surviving member of the KIngston Club, left the club 3-4 years ago to go to LCF club and may have influenced my vote. And your banning of Chris from the Kingston Club for watching the strike-offs & pointing out mistakes may have influenced his vote. etc, etc, etc.

These are the reasons that keep our sport from growing.

The joining of these 2 clubs would not have helped the sport grow in any way shape or form. But it would have immediately lost the sport at least 6- 7 members. It would have also lost the founding EOC Kingston Club and eventually, if History repeats itself, closed both area clubs.

And so the next best thing was to help the Kingston Club stay active for now and get new future members for their own club. Having decided that, we the LCF club offered to let any member in LCF club to go fly with Kingston in 2010 OBs and to get 1/2 their Club fees back for the one season, to get you up to 5 flyers. As all our members are very happy with our club, unfortunately for Kingston, none wanted to do this.

As you know, we have placed your ads at our cost, in different places across Ontario for anyone who may be interested, offering free kits of ybs and help renovating or building small lofts for new people.
Which will run there time but that you have since turned down those offers of help to as you said: 'pursue it on your own'. But as I told you Friday, I have another plan in the works but time will tell...

[Mikev]

My question to the BOD is, What can be done with existing clubs?

Hi Paul

I am afraid that I do not understand your question. If you are asking how the Kingston Club can get results published with only one or two members shipping, the answer is through your combine, the EOC. You are eligible to get section results on the shorter races and a combine result on the long races, providing there are three members or more present for the shipping and strike off. If you have less than three members to be present, than the new procedures do not affect you, as a club has had to have at least three members present to ship or strike off since as long as I can remember.

As for your comments regarding the situation in Kingston, I flew in the Kingston Club with Leo Blakey in 1982 and there were two clubs in Kingston at that time. Personally, I wish that back before that, the members had been able to solve their problems instead of breaking up into two clubs. If they had, we would not still be talking about it 30 years later.

[paul gurney]

Hello Mike,
Thank you for the reply and sorry for the confusion.
The Kingston Racing Pigeon Club deserves the right as a CRPU club to have their results published as a CU club as well as part of a combine, if we place high enough in the ECU standings. We realize that we will not qualify for CU awards. It seems this whole problem is created over awards. We have three CU members present for shipping and strike-off but do not always have three flyers going to the race.
We are willing to pay for our results to be published as a club. If not published it would appear that the Kingston club does not exist, when really we are trying to build the club. Why could this be denied?
We understand the intent and applaud your efforts but what you may be creating is having one club existing in an area having the power to deny memberships to whomever they choose. Personalities would then rule the day and not increase the CU rank and file. The first thing we did when the clubs broke up was to get rid of the word "Invitational" for all the apparent reasons.
Please reconsider your position and allow our results to be published.
Yours in sport
Paul Gurney

[Mikev]

Hi Paul

Thanks for your support. We are trying to move the yard sticks and when that happens, not everyone will be happy all the time. The three shipper decision was indeed in part based on the new awards system, but only in part. At some point a race is no longer a race. One member shipping one bird may be racing against the clock, but this does not fit the definition of pigeons racing against pigeons. I very much understand your desire to see your results published, as a club. If all CU membership starts to pull in the same direction, buries old feuds and work for the betterment of the hobby, one and two member clubs will no longer be on the agenda. The problems will be finding parking at the club houses for all the new members. We as a hobby need to clean up the negative club politics. I believe that the CU is taking steps in that direction. I don't expect everyone to agree with 100% of the methods 100% of the time. What I do hope for is that the membership understands that a plan is in place, the CU is acting in good faith and that most will support the effort long enough to see a positive end result. The alternative is to do nothing, and I just do not see that as a viable option.

Mike