AKCA Minutes
of May 10, 2002
Officers Present: Directors Present: Guests:
Chair:Larry Leverett Burt Ballou (OCZNA+ 6 clubs) Spike Cover
Vice Chair: Doug Dahl Kelly Houston (Inland) Tom Graham
Secretary: Carole Elliott Bob Finnegan (SoCal + 6 clubs) Mark Whalen (OCZNA)
CFO: Carl Caddies Judy Caddies (Nishiki+) Lisa Barnett (Nishiki) Bruno Kudrecki (KoiKichi)
Nancy Morales (KoiKichi)
Ernie Ramirez (Koi Kichi)
(Please note that clubs that AKCA Board members represent
will NOT be listed individually except in the case of their primary club)
WEB-SITE CONTEST
All Clubs who have a web-site and would like to be considered can
submit their web-site address to either:
Burt Ballou @ burtb@flash.net or to Carl Fridenstine @ himelkoi@aol.com
New Clubs to AKCA –
WELCOME!
Rep: Bruno Kudrecki..11733 Idalene St., Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 .. (562) 651-9123
e-mail: bkspastries@extreme.com
Alt. Rep: Ernie Ramirez…2600 N. Salem Place, Fullerton, CA 92835…(714) 528-9801…
e-mail: eramirez55555@hotmail.com
Rep: Gary Thorburn…5460 Godfrey Rd., Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada V9T-2J2
e-mail: gthorburn@shaw.com
Alt. Rep.: Ernie Berrows….750 Churchill Ave., Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada V95-5E1
Board Highlights:
v Welcome to Koi Kichi & WGC & Nanaimo Fish Pond & WGA as new AKCA Clubs
v Election of Slate of Officers Approved
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Larry Leverett. There are 100 member clubs.
¨ MINUTES:
Motion: To approve the Minutes of April 12, 2002 with the following corrections: Mark Whalen was
not present. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Mark Whalen. Approved
¨ APRIL FINANCIAL STATEMENT:
Carl stated that we lost only $371 this month. The net income for the Seminar is $38,588.81. There are 103 first timers registered. Our investment account is down $4,200; thought this was good in a Bear market. Lisa stated that we need to get in all expenses to Carl so that we can do our end of the year report. Lisa made up a sample for a possible new reporting format. It would be a monthly summary report; still looking at it.
¨ KOI USA: Joel Burkard has agreed to let us use the Tategoi articles and photos for the next AKCA book.
Kim Crofoot is a new person added to the proofing team and we really welcome her criticisms. She has
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been most helpful with the July/August issue. One who knows her well, her father, Larry Leverett,
suggested Kim’s name. KOI USA staff has been working with our marketing consultant, Barry
Pavelec, to complete and implement our marketing and circulation plan. Barry will increase his
involvement with KOI USA to accomplish the following: Take over compilation of
subscription/fulfillment report and provide analysis, recommendations. Complete our circulation, sales
and marketing plan. This plan includes all methods of generating subscription sales-individual, through
–the-mail subscriptions, online to web-based subscription sales and club-based group sales and continue
implementation. Serve as the circulation marketing manager and bring the entire circulation
sales/fulfillment process to something more profitable and more efficient. Act as the liaison with
fulfillment service organizations in order to improve the utilization of same as well as to do it more
economically. The cost is $900 per month plus expenses, which will be partially offset by his taking
over the compilation of the circulation reports, which currently cost us $300/mo. This agreement will
run until the December 2002 issue with a 30-day cancellation clause. Design and production artwork
will be billed separately as usual. They also discussed their current billing procedures relative to
industry standard procedures, and have decided to send out invoices with tear sheets of the ad in the
future. (A tear sheet is the page with their ad, torn out of the applicable issue) Signed insertion orders
must be on file for ads to run in the magazine. Clients with poor payment history will still be billed on a
pre-paid basis.
Carl needs approval for a data base project, up to $25,000 that will be billed to KOI USA
(from KOI USA info). Motion: To approve up to $25,000 for a data base project billed to KOI
USA. Motion by Carl, 2nd by Burt. Approved Motion: To have a consultant with a month to month
contract that will be decided by KOI USA staff. Motion by Burt, 2nd by Lisa. Approved
¨ SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: Spike passed out the monthly KHA Program report. They held a very
successful lab in Allentown found that they spent too much time on some things and too little on others.
Will correct for the next labs to be held in Portland and Austin. Spike stated that Linda Montgomery
got PNKC to give them a grant of $350 to buy food. They need to select the next three regions for next
year and then mail invitations to those clubs. They are way under budget; will revise their budget for
next near downward. They also need to make up a diploma. Spike passed out a basic pond calculation
formula with approximate conversion factors that Norm Meck made up.
¨ MEMBERSHIP: Doug reported that two clubs have applied to be member AKCA clubs; checks,
membership roster, etc. sent in. First club is Koi Kichi & Water Garden Club, located in the Long
Beach, CA area; they have 28 family members; should all be KOI USA subscribers soon.
Motion: To accept Koi Kichi & Water Garden Club as an AKCA member club. Motion by Burt,
2nd by Carole. Approved. Second club, Nanaimo Fish Pond & Water Garden Association,
from British Columbia, Canada, has 22 family members. Motion: To accept Nanaimo Fish Pond
& Water Garden Association an an AKCA member club. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Bob.
Approved
¨
JUDGING: No
report.
¨ SPEAKERS GRANT : Larry stated that 2 clubs have used their “lottery” grant and have contacted
him; sent expense receipts: Central Florida and Daichi Koi. Oklahoma has also used its grant and
sent expense receipts to Burt. San Diego KC will be using its speaker grant this June 9th to bring
in Joe Zuritsky to speak on selecting and purchasing koi. It will be held at the Japanese Friendship
Garden in Balboa Park and include free admission to the garden to see the 7,0000 gallon koi pond
that the club manages for the garden. The event starts at Noon. There is a nice small Japanese
eatery at the entrance of the garden to pick up lunch before the meeting if you would like. All
clubs are invited to attend. We will have the annual “lottery” drawing for 2002-2003 (Lottery)
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Speakers Grant next month.
¨ GUIDES: Seven clubs
still need guides sent to them. There
are still clubs who have NOT
sent in their club roster.
¨
NOMINATIONS:
Mark counted the ballots sent in (38 ballots); unanimous for the slate.
SEMINAR REPORTS:
¨ 2002 SEMINAR: Mark said that he and Sheila Jackson have spoken together a lot lately. They
have done a great job getting the lunch for the pond tour. A buffet is planned for the Saturday
night dinner; Burt stated that a sit down dinner is in the hotel contract. Discussion followed. 240
people have registered. Income is strong; expenses low. There is one speaker scheduled per
session; thought this could help vendors. Discussion followed. They received a Proclamation
from the Mayor of Concord for the AKCA Seminar. Mark suggested that we use someone like
Candy Chessler to help organize/get hotels.
¨ 2003 SEMINARS: Doug showed everyone the poster for the Georgia Seminar. Theme is “Georgia
On My Mind”; beautiful poster using the skyline of Atlanta. Brenda Atwell called Judy to let her
know that no one in the club had signed up for registration at the Concord Seminar; Atlanta will
have a booth for information and registration. They are working on prizes/raffle items
¨ 2004/2005 SEMINARS: Do not have a club committed for either 2004 or 2005 Seminars.
REPRESENTATIVE CONTACTS:
q Written report submitted by Burt: Henry Culpepper, of Central Florida KC, said that the CFKC May
meting was held pond side at the home of Kim Hafley. Club president, Henry Culpeppper, gave a
lecture on water testing and brought a wide variety of test kits. Members were encouraged to
bring pond water samples so that water parameters they normally do not test could be checked.
Due to membership request, Henry also started a lecture series on the many koi varieties. First up
was Kohaku, Sanke and Showa. Each month, several varieties will be discussed. Newer club
members will no longer have to say “I like the red and white one.” Johnny Foster, of Nature’s
Coast K&WGC, said that their next meeting at Fosters will be a koi auction; trying to get
Dr. Briggs from Univ. of Florida to speak on isolating koi. The day before this meeting will be a
field trip to a water lily vendor, “Rainbow Nursery & Ponds”. June meeting will be at “Adams
Eden”, a Gainesville tree farm & large number of gingers. Planning a “culling trip” to
Water”; 8 members went to Jacksonville’s koi show; had a koi auction & silent auction. Brought
in over $1,000 for their club. Norbun Watson, of Warner Robins KC, said that their pond tour
will be June 1st from 2 p.m. to 9 pm. With 15-16 ponds. They expect 200 or more attendees plus a
church group of 200 people will tour 6 local gardens including Norbun’s the same day. The
Saturday after the pond tour they will have a dinner. Joe White, of Florida East Coast, said that
their club went to Slocum Water Gardens for their last meeting; next meeting will be at Aquatic
Gardens in Deland; the owner will talk about water plants. The June meeting will be at White'’;
will have a koi auction. Jackie Welch, of Oklahoma KC, said that Brett Rowley is coming this
month for a talk. The Downs are building a mud pond of at least 500,000 gallons or larger that the
members are going to put some koi in to grow out until November for a club project. Debby
Young, of Southern Arizona, said that they had a successful pond tour (300-400 tickets sold);
tickets were per carload. Their pond was noted “best pond” by the attendees. Carl Fridenstine, of
Santa Clara Valley KC, said that they are working on the AKCA club web-site contest rules; has
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found 49 sites. 6 ponds picked for pond tour July 20th; considering limiting the number since last
year was almost 1,600 attendees. Peter Enfield, of Pacific Wonderland, said that they have a
member that wants to join the KHA program. Their club went to Blue Water Koi last month.
Sheila Jackson, of San Francisco Bay KC, that that Norm Rancourt is doing a mini wet lab at this
next meeting to show how to do scrapings and use a microscope. The club is working hard on the
Seminar; Sheila found a Seminar binder that was used for a criminalists convention and it gave her
several good ideas for their binder for our Seminar; the club is looking for a new site for their
auction. Linda Montgomery, of Cascade K&GFS, said that their last meeting was at Sunset Koi
(Tony Prews'’ place).
q Written report submitted by Bob: Charles Phelps, of Greater Louisville, said that they are having a
koi auction on May 11th. Their annual koi show is over Memorial weekend (May 24-25) with
Bob & Joan as Head Judges. Todo Todorsky, of North Florida KC, said that they are holding
their koi club meeting May 12th; pond tour is May 18-19. Mona Coleman, of Northern New
Mexico, said that their Seminar, held in April, went well. Doug Dahl & Dr. Erik Johnson
lectured. Their pond tour is scheduled for June 22-23. So Cal Koi Club is having a pond tour on
May 19th with 6 ponds in the Los Angeles/Bay area. They will have a white elephant and pot luck
at the Finnegans on June 9th. Their July meeting will be at Ben Plonski’s home to talk about his
new pond. Koi auction to be held in August. Lester Berkow, of Tropical KC, said that their koi
show in February brought in 20 new members. Pat Christensen, of Northwest K&GF, said that
everything is going well. Their koi show, in July, looks like it will be a good one again this year;
a lot of work has gone into it. Bob tried, but was unable to contact the following clubs: Forrest
City Pond Club (phone disc.); Greater Pond & Koi Society of West Mi. (No phone number
available); Indiana Koi Club; Niagara K&PS; Rocky Mountain KC; Sierra KC; W.G.C. of
South Texas; & West Tennessee.
q Written report submitted by Doug: Art Lembke, of Mid Atlantic KC, reports their club is looking
forward to competing in their web-site contest. They have a Young Koi Show in Frederick, MD
this month. Several club members are planning on attending the AKCA Seminar. Art Lembke
and David Hester will present Japanese Koi terms lecture at the AKCA Seminar. David Smothers,
of North Carolina K&WGS, reports their club had their first cull sale to raise money for the
club. Their May meting will allow members to view and purchase many tosai (1 year koi) from
Ogata Farms. Their club is up to 12 members in their first year. Virginia Joiner, of Lone Star
ZNA KC, reports they are looking forward to Kevin Phams visit selling koi at their next meeting
at the Grundens. Kevin will give a koi lecture as well. They are just a few weeks from their
fourth annual koi and water garden tour. They ask that we pray for rain in Houston. Gary Chin,
of the Camellia KC, reports their club members went on a Spring koi buying trip to various
dealers in the San Jose area. Many tosai found their way into Camillia club member ponds. Their
last meeting included a program on pond treatments coming out of winter. May 5, the club
sponsored a Pond Tour consisting of 11 ponds. Olympic Kc reports their club is active coming
out of winter and their recent newsletter included articles on Feeding Fish When It’s Cold
reprinted from the Inland Empire Koi Society Newsletter and an article by Myron Kebus on
Hand-Feeding Your Fish. Doug tried to contact the following clubs too late again this month and
received no reply this month: Bob Passovoy, of Midwest Pond & Koi Society, said that just
completed their most successful Trade Show yet (May 3-4) and now they’re gearing up for their
Annual Pond Tour on July 13-14 with members opening their ponds to the public on those two
days. Maps are $10 apiece and can be purchased from vendors all over the Chicago metropolitan
area. For details, see their web-site: mpks.org. Their 10th Annual Koi and Goldfish Show is set
for August 24-25 at the DuPage Co. Fairgrounds, Wheaton Ill. They look forward to a great
turnout. Texas K&GFS;
Austin Pond Society; Austin KC, Tulsa Koi Society;
Moto Kara Koi
Kai; Koi & WGC
of North Texas; Blue Water
Pond Club; Las Pampas K&WGS; Kansas
Pond Society; Idaho WGS; Mendocino Coast KC; Klahanie KC,; Northern Midwest ZNA.
During the winter there is not as much going on with koi so Doug will contact the following clubs
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within the next 2 months: Ventura KC.
q Written report for Larry: Ladean Paden, of Prairieland Pond Society, said that Ace Hardware and
Luguna were paying for their next meeting. A complete pond kit will be given away to a lucky
Society member. Gary Wittstock will be showing slides in the morning and sharing his
experiences of water gardening. EPonds.com will also be present for questions and answers about
ponding. Shelly Klinger, of Central Illinois Water Gardeners, said their President, Brian Jones,
had to drop out of the club due to situations beyond his control so Vice President, Roger Wilke,
has stepped up. Karen Craig will ecome the editor of “Ponderings”, their club newsletter. Jackie
Tridle will be Program Chairman. May’s meeting will be led by John Boersma. Topic of
discussion will be “Floating
Islands”. Carol Walters, of Water Garden & Koi Society of
Alberta, said May 10th & 11th sees Leon Lopez, AKCA Judge, presenting on “How to Pick a
Quality Koi” on the 10th and “Koi 101”, the basics about koi keeping, on the 11th. The following
week they will hold a fish sale and will have a table for people interested in their club with
information and membership applications. They also need their two free issues of KOI USA. She
said it’s much easier to promote the sale of subscriptions to KOI USA if they have more than their
own personal copy, which she won’t part with. Alice Kinselman-Ames, of the Santa Fe Pond
Society, said her club is basically fiddling out. She has told them she can’t do all the work
anymore and the club has expressed a wish to “go social”; they will be going social. Will no
longer have a formal structure. Judy Endsley, of Ohio Koi Club, said they had their first meeting
April 28th. The Koi Persons of the Year chosen were Larry & Jean Kelly. Debbie Bocknek’s fish
was Koi of the Year. Carl Forss was here with fish to sell and also directed a wet lab identifying
parasites with a microscope
q Written report submitted by Kelly: Inland Empire WG&KS said that their next general meeting was
May 1st at the Rock Barn/Rock Placing Co. The program will be a KHA panel presentation;
spring wake up. The PNKCA Convention will be June 8-9th at the Airport Ramada Inn in
Spokane, Wash. For registration, contact Phyllis Anderson at (208) 762-5749. There will be a
Garden Expo on May 11th at Spokane Community College from 9am. Until 5 pm; Chairperson is
Greg Linnebach. Springfield Watergarden Society’s May meeting will be at Maplewood
Nursery on May 9th. There will be a members only tour on May 25th; four gardens from the
Railroad Society and 5 ponds. Shasta Koi & WGC’s had their April 20th meeting at Tom &
Becky Tranbarger’s with a presentation by Georgia Carrion on preventive pond salinization along
with a workshop on the proper calibration of your specific gravity meter to maintain the correct
level of salt in ones pond. The May 18th meeting will be at Sherrie’s Water Gardens in Anderson.
Capital Area Koi & WGC will visit Sagauro Nursery & Gardens at Whitmore Lake and the
University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor on Saturday, May 18th. On
June 23rd there will be a mini members only pond tour in the Grand Ledge area. Inland Koi
Society will have their May 26th general meeting with a potluck at Joop & Maria Kolster’s home.
June 23rd will be IKS Pond & Garden Tour from 10-4 pm. Catered dinner for pond owners and
volunteers only/awards/tally totals; no other general meeting this month
q Written report submitted by Carole: Elizabeth Hill hosted the April meeting for Southwest K&PA;
Burt Nichols, of Water Garden Gems, was their guest speaker. May 11th, Bob & Judy Birch &
Deb & Jerry McIntosh hosted their monthly meeting.
q
Written report submitted by Joyce: Vergil Hettick, of ZNA So. California, said that they did not
receive the ballot with enough time to get it to a meeting before the deadline. It was postmarked
April 18th with a May 1st deadline. Dan Morgan, of Washington K&WGS, said that they did not
receive the ballot in time. Their Eleventh Annual Show in September is moving right along and
they will add the information to their web site. Dave Peebler, of Kansas, reported he had returned
the ballot.
Page 6
PROXY CALLS FOR JUNE
v
What
club wants to host the 2004 & 2005 Seminar?
OLD BUSINESS:
v Web-site: Burt said that there will be from 4 to 7 different categories; still working on how to
categorize them. They are also looking at the money prize; need to set criteria for judges.
Motion: To award $100, $50, and $25 for prizes for each category for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place for 4 to
7 categories. The first award will be just prior to the Atlanta Seminar. Motion by Burt, 2nd by
Doug. Approved.
v PKK1 & PKK2: Motion: To reduce the cost of PKK1 and PKK2 to $15 each or $25 for two for the
2002 Seminar and thereafter. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Lisa. Approved.
NEW BUSINESS:
v Insurance Certificate: Burt stated that there was a club that added a special policy addendum; the
cost of this is added the our premium that the club will have to pay. Burt asked that all clubs be
reminded that they need to fill out the form in the club kit (only this form) and send to our
insurance agent (if needed…will not most of the time). Please follow our procedure regarding
insurance coverage.
v Risk Manager: Burt created his own title of risk manager when dealing with insurance carriers.
Larry made it official and appointed Burt as our Risk Manager.
v Ebay: Carl stated that someone (from Redmond, Wash.) is selling AKCA Health guides . Someone
else (from Westfield, North Carolina) is also selling KOI USA Posters using the name of KOI
USA 2000. On May 4th, Carl e-mailed him and told him not to use the name KOI USA 2000.
Motion: to hire legal counsel to pursue the gentleman selling the posters if he doesn’t remove
KOI USA 2000 from Ebay by next month. We will also pursue anyone using the trademark or
copyright that relates to AKCA/KOI USA. Motion by Burt, 2nd by Lisa. Approved.
v Recognition Award: Motion: To have AKCA should create a recognition award for an individual or
entity to be awarded at any appropriate event not limited to koi shows with the award not to
exceed $50. Motion by Burt, 2nd by Doug. Approved. Motion: To have an AKCA Recognition
Award that is to go to a koi that is selected by Joel Burkhard. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Burt.
Approved
v Corporate Seal: Carl turned over the corporate seal to the secretary, Carole Elliott.
v Book Store: Carl stated that he needs authorization to have someone to handle the bookstore when
Carl & Judy are not in town; they will be moving to Sun City. Expect the storage facilities to
move to where they are moving. Motion: To let Carl & Judy arrange for a replacement when
they are not in town. Motion by Burt, 2nd by Doug. Approved,
1 opposed, 1 abstain
v Audio Equipment: Bob stated that the audio equipment needs to be stored locally. Bob volunteered
to store during the transition; cannot keep it permanently or ship.
Motion to adjourn at 9:35 p.m.. Motion by Carl, 2nd by Carole. Approved
Respectfully submitted,
Carole Elliott
Secretary