AKCA MINUTES OF MAY 9, 2003

Officers Present Directors Present Guests

Chari: Larry Leverett Harlen Glenn (San Diego) Ed Salinas

Vice Chair: Doug Dahl Bruno Kudrecki (Koi Kichi) Tom Graham

Secretary: Carole Elliott Bob Finnegan (So Cal) Cindy Graham

CFO: Lisa Barnett Joyce Glenn (nishiki) Spike Cover

Board Highlights:

2005 Seminar to be hosted by the Tulsa Koi Club

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 by Larrry Leverett. There are 103 paid member clubs.

MINUTES:

Motion: To approve the minutes of April 11^th with the following corrections: under PKK Books, it should read that we are out of PKK3 but have a backlog of PKK1 & 2. Motion by Joyce, 2^nd by Lisa. Approved

APRIL FINANCIAL STATEMENT/FINANCE COMMITTEE:

FO report. Larry stated that we have $56,000 in a mutual fund but need to put it somewhere sage; cost to move would be $1,500. Lisa stated that a meeting was planned to hear We Bannister discuss Workers Compensation but due to a miss communication, Wes did not make it; need to reschedule meeting. Discussed an issue regarding KOI USA’s current policy on acceptable ads for the magazine. Connie, our new A/R manager, is doing great. We are having a few bumps due to lack of procedures, ie what reports were used to create monthly reports. Still working on how to use Quickbooks Pro to provide monthly reports. Jaquie helped Connie for a few hours. Plan to have Doug Dahl start training this month. KOI UASA accounts receivable has $38,276.57; no formal A/R report this month. Motion: For the approval to spend up to $1500 to hire Michael Pomerleau, CPA and Certified Quickbooks Pro advisor to reorganize the Chart of Accounts and re structure the reporting prior to the start of next fiscal year for the AKCA, KOI USA and A/R accounts. Motion by Lisa, 2^nd by Joyce. Approved The AKCA Bookstore needed to purchase a new fax machine for the bookstore, cost $169.02. The bookstore was having computer problems and not getting email orders due to it being old and having Windows 98 on it. Had a professional computer tech come in, set up Joyce’s old computer for the bookstore, upgrade the computer to use Windows XP and correct the settings, install necessary software.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

KOI USA: Joyce reported they held the KOI USA staff meeting on May 6th. During the meeting Lisa

reported she would like to have the books audited; she also needs a Quick Books technical support

person; preferably one in magazine accounting to help set up the books. Tom brought Barry

Pavelac’s report. It was felt that it was time to release him from his contract. They went through

the report to see which were needed from PCS. The Koi ID poster will cost $6.96 beginning

July 1st. Change of postage rate to Canada - - now $10 per year in addition to annual

subscription price. They are going to have a contest for the Anne Read print. Details will be

announced at the Seminar and in the Sept/Oct issue. The AKCA bookstore is now up and running.

No orders had been coming into the bookstore via e-mail. The orders that Debby Young was able

to salvage, she would forward. The problem was that the equipment was too old to be recognized

by Earthlink. Therefore, no orders could make it to Kim’s computer. It has been repaired now and all orders are welcome. Because not all advertisers are aware of KOI USA’s advertising standards, it was decided Tom would have them printed up and send a copy to each advertiser.

MEMBERSHIP: Doug reported that there are no new clubs to vote in this month; one application

from Ontario Pond Keepers; was withdrawn to ask club members to make the required By-laws

change to have koi as a major focus of the club in order to join AKCA. The clubs that have

already renewed their AKCA membership due July 1st are: Blue Water Pond Club and Greater

Louisville Koi & Goldfish Society. Clubs NOT renewing by October 1st will be charged a $50 late fee and be dropped from the club listing in KOI USA. The following clubs will NOT be allowed to renew their AKCA Membership July 1st due to lack of club information provided to AKCA through Doug Dahl: Cherokee Strip Water Garden Society; Desert Koi Club of Southern Nevada; Great Ponds & Koi Society of West Michigan; Mid-Michigan Pond & Water Garden Club; and, Nanaimo Fish Pond & Water Garden Association.

JUDGING: Bob report that they are all set for the Seminar. Special thanks to Ray Abel for his

cooperation with the judging program. So Cal Koi Club has offered $500 for hors d’oeuvre’s.

Chris Neaves is unable to attend the Seminar, thus, Bob will take over as the Keynote Speaker.

SPEAKERS GRANT: No Report.

GUIDES: No report.

KOI OF THE YEAR: Although it is past the May 1st deadline, you can still submit the Koi of the Year to Debby Young.

KOI PERSON OF THE YEAR: Although it is past the May 1st deadline, you can still submit

names for the Koi Person of the Year to Burt Ballou (please e-mail).

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS: Thus far, we have only 6-8 applications. You can still submit

your clubs Champion Koi; must be a photo - not a digital photo. Motion: To have Champion of

Champions run from May 2nd to May 1st the following year. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Larry.

Approved.

INSURANCE COMMITTEE: No report.

WEBSITE Contest COMMITTEE: No report.

SEMINAR REPORTS:

2003 SEMINAR: Doug reported that 178 people have registered for the Seminar so far. 51 have

signed up for the wet lab; 25 for the sightseeing tour; 6 for the shopping tour. 157 people have

signed up for the Friday & Saturday lunches; 163 for Banquet plus 1 for each vendor; 157 for the

pond tour. Bus and pipe and drape contracts are in place but waiting final quantity. Seminar

notebooks are being copied and assembled this month. There are 28 booths so far for the trade

show.

2004 SEMINAR: Burt e-mailed Carole that the Seminar is moving along nicely; they are working on

the budget and Maureen Hansen was able to arrange some good vacation packages with Pleasant

Hawaiian Holidays that will include airfares to the Seminar as well as vacations to other islands.

The airfares are excellent.

2005 SEMINAR: Doug stated that 2 clubs have volunteered to host the Seminar: Tulsa Koi Club of

Oklahoma and Piedmont Koi & Water Garden Club (North Carolina). Discussion about conflict

with Koi America during this year. A vote was taken and it was decided to have Tulsa Koi Club

host the 2005 Seminar. Motion: To choose Tulsa KC as the 2005 Seminar Host. Motion by

Doug, 2nd by Carole. Approved

2006 SEMINAR: Open

REPRESENTATIVE CONTACTS:

Written report submitted by Doug: Gene Stogsdill, of First Coast K/G&WGC, reports they had a

very successful koi auction. They were planning on having Sandy Yosha, DVM, speak at a club

meeting soon. Matt Healey, of Austin KC, reports they will have an auction this month. Their

members are already making plans to go to the 2004 AKCA Seminar in Hawaii instead of

attending the 2003 Seminar in Atlanta. Their club selected Judy Schwartz (club President) as their

Koi Person of the Year. Judy Schwartz, also of the Austin Pond Society, reports their club just

finished their annual plant swap meeting. They will have a pond tour June 21/22 and will take

busses to the San Antonio Pond Tour a week later. Her take on the bill currently tabled in the

Texas Legislature banning water use for landscape water ponds is that one person abused the use

of ground water for a huge pond and got someone mad enough to make a state issue of it. Bob

Slack, of Blue Water Pond Club, reports their club had speakers from a nursery and one on water

plants at recent meetings. They will have an auction on May 18 and a Pond Tour in August with

some tour time at night for the first time to enjoy the ponds at night under the lights. Doug Gilbert, of Dai Ichi KC, reports they are supporting the upcoming PNKCA Seminar in Victoria, B.C. They recently had Steve Childers and Brett Rowley from Texas speak at a club meeting. Their area has trouble growing kloi because their growing season is so short. Greenhouses or indoor ponds is probably the only solution. Beth Grunden, of Lone Star ZNA KC, replied that the water bill issue was tabled by the Texas Legislature to allow local governments to deal with the issue as they saw fit to do so. Virginia Joiner said they had several female koi let their eggs to at their recent show due to high water temperature. People were scrambling to collect the eggs to take home to raise baby koi but there were no males in the tank so good luck. Dr. Mao-Lin Tsai came from Taiwan to be Head Judge. Ray Jordan (San Antonio club) recently showed a video of his koi buying trip to Japan at a club meeting. Art Lembke, of Mid Atlantic Koi Club, reports their election of officers is coming up in May. The South Chapter will hold a koi show in May. Koi America in August will be upon them before they realize it. They have sold 50 vendor booths

already. They plan to raffle a complete quarantine system. Several important speakers are

scheduled. Dot Wilbanks, of Moto Kara Koi Kai, reports she was named club Koi Person of the

Year. Artist Karen Butler, who is a club member, spoke at their last meeting about her art. Check

her website out at www.koibubbles.com. Then they viewed the video “History of Niigata

Nighikigoi” by Kaz Takeda. Becky Frohman, of Olympic KC, provided the club information

required by AKCA and reported they plan a Pond Tour on August 9th with 8-9 nice ponds. They

lost several members to a new club Koi 101 run by Ed Fujimoto not part of AKCA. Their club is

making an effort to make the club meetings more educational with good speakers and discussions.

They have interest from their local newspaper on koi and koi ponds. Geoffrey Huntley, of

Piedmont K&WGS, reports they had a successful koi auction that was opened to the public for

the first time. They will have a Pond tour in June and a Koi Show the 1st of November. Their club plans a 2 hour trip to Ashville, NC to visit club members who have moved and to have a local

pond tour. Their club members will help out at the Atlanta Seminar in June and their club has

asked to be considered to Host the 2005 or 2006 AKCA Seminar. The Convention Center in

Greensboro is interested in an AKCA Seminar. Zabelle Hazen, of Pioneer Valley WG&KC,

Reports they will have a Pond Tour July 12/13. They had 60 people at their last meeting. The

club founder, Priscilla, finally agreed to be club President after many years avoiding the pleasure.

All of their club meeting speakers are booked for the remainder of the year and they are starting to

schedule 2004 club meetings to make sure they can get popular speakers. Debbie Goddard, of the

Tulsa Koi Society, reports their proposed 2005 AKCA Seminar Chairman will attend the 2003

Seminar in Atlanta to get a feeling for the task if Tulsa is selected for the 2005 Seminar. Their

club is growing slowly and they held a swap meet last month. The club is discussing having their

first small koi show this fall. Mary Oxman, of Ventura Koi Club, reports the Aqua Ultraviolet

representative will speak at their next club meeting. The Terra Pond representative spoke at their

last meeting. Mary sent Doug Dahl an article from the MAKC newsletter that originated from the

North Florida Koi Club on the use of pure brands of kitty litter in place of Bentonite clay products

since that is exactly what some kitty litters are made of. The kitty litter goes for $5 for 25 pounds

and is great for reducing string algae and for clarifying your pond water. Dosage is 1 heaping

teaspoon per 1000 liters of water. It can be placed into net bags near the string algae or just put

into the pond. Make sure there are no other ingredients or fragrance, just CLAY. 2 brands are

recommended: one formulation of “Prescious Cat” kitty litter is available without additives from

Petsmart stores, and “Special Kitty” is available without additives from Wal Mart stores.

(Editorial note: Doug personally thinks a fine powder Terra Pond is better because it can be

sprinkled over dampened koi food and fed to the koi. It will improve the skin quality on the koi

but it is much more expensive. This is the first time Doug has heard of Bentonite clay removing

string algae and he will have to try it. Doug knows 2 people who used a granular version of

Bentonite clay and they complained it clogged their filters so use it carefully and if you have a

mechanical pre-filter all the better to keep it from clogging your filter.) Robbi McCleney, the

newly elected President of Valley of the Sun Koi Club reports they will have their club picnic

next month and then wind down for the hot summer months. (Editorial note: Doug found it funny

this club is winding down for the hot summer and other clubs in northern states and Canada are

just thawing out and starting club meetings.) Doug will contact the following clubs in June: Idaho Water Garden Society; Klahanie Koi Club; Las Pampas K&WGS; Central Calif. KC; Desert

KC of So. Nevada; Michigan K&Pond Club SE; Nashville Pond Society; Mendocino Coast

KC; Shasta K&WGC; and, Springfield WGS.

Written report submitted by Phil Hunter: Linda Siler, of the Springfield Water Garden Society,

reported that the club’s April meeting and Seminar was well attended with 85 people present.

They had several speakers and wonderful door prizes. Many questions were asked. Thanks to

Jerry O’Quinn for hosting. The May meeting will be on the 8th. Brian Williams will be bringing

plants to sell. The public pond tour is on June 21 and 22. Dolores Butler, of the Shasta Koi &

Water Garden Club, reported that the next meeting will be a potluck. Becky Maier reported that

the Dayton Koi & Goldfish Club held its April meeting at the home of Linda Kinney. On May

3rd, Dr. Johnson will hold a Koi Health Seminar at the Dayton Airport Inn. The May meeting will

be on the 6th and will be a koi photo judging contest. Everyone is to bring a picture of their koi

along with measurements. The club will be traveling to Louisville on May 24th for their Koi Show. The following clubs had no reports this month: Capitol Area Koi & Water Garden Club;

Gainesville Koi & Water Garden Club; Inland Empire Water Garden & Koi Society; and,

Mountaineer Koi & Water Garden Society.

Written report submitted by Burt: Linda Montgomery, of Cascade Club, is having Dr. Tim Miller-

Morgan speak at this month’s meeting. Next month they are taking a field trip by bus up to Pan

Intercorp and Joel Burkhart is doing a talk. They are also organizing a plant sale to generate some

revenue for the club. Joe White, of Florida East Coast Koi Society, said that their April meeting

was at the Whites; heard a talk from club member Kim Johnson about the use of native plants in

Florida landscape. Meeting in May will be at John & Susanna Trittschuh in DeLand. They are

planning an indoor meeting in June with speaker on topic of growing water lilies and other aquatic

plants. No meeting in July. John Canfield, FLECKS, was commended for his fine job as

AFKAPS 2003 Chairman. Club reps will meet May 10th for wrap-up meeting of AFKAPS 2003.

Jesus Brito, of Oklahoma Koi Club, said that the club bought a trailer to store all their koi show

items and will be fixing it up at their next meeting; they are getting a box of koi from Infiltration

that will be for a lottery at the next meeting to raise money for the club. The club members are

going to put some koi in the Downs’ mud pond again this year to grow them out but they are going to make sure they are all females. Their President spoke on spring start up and diseases at their last meeting. Martha Foster, of Nature’s Cost K&WGC, said that they had their first young koi show last weekend; Joe White was the judge; had 53 koi. Joe Pawluk supplied 11 sankes for a

lottery and growing contest; judged separately at the show and will be brought back next year to be judged again. All the Florida clubs are going to Orlando next week for a rap up meeting of the

AFKAPS koi show and to divide the profits from the show. John Hathaway, of Pacific

Wonderland, said that their club rented a 15 passenger van and went to Blue Water Koi in

Olympia, Washington. Members bought some new koi imported recently from Japan as well as

pond supplies. On Sunday the club had an exhibition at the Japanese Gardens in Portland at their

Children’s Day Festival with a tank set up with some of the koi purchased the day before at Blue

Water Koi. The club is planning a koi raffle at Peter Enfield’s in June to raise some money for the

club. ZNAOC’s last meeting was the final planning for the club’s auction on May 18th and the Koi Tutorial June 7th; some discussion about the fall kopi show. Burt was the speaker and talked about the difference of picking young koi versus Tategoi and went through what to look for in Tategoi, whether they be young tategoi or tategoi that are several years old. The club voted on the By-laws. Carl Fridenstine, of Santa Clara Valley Koi, said that they participated in the Cherry Blossom Festival April 26/27th at Cupertino. Debby Young, of Southern Arizona Koi Association, said that it has been a quiet month; the pond tour went well. Ron Ernst, of K&WGC of North Texas said that they held their May meeting at DKK Show; presented a Friendship Award. Having a special meeting of officers to try to determine which direction they are headed. Forced to cancel koi show and pond tour this year due to time and manpower restraints. They have sent out a survey to get a feel of what the members want to do. Working on their 10th Anniversary dinner. Kenneth Wong, of Dallas Koi Kichi Group, said that they had DKK’s 1st koi show at the Morton Myerson in downtown Dallas with the Asian Festival this past weekend, May 10th. The show was a success and everyone had fun. They will continue to plan the rest of the year with educational programs and events.

Written report submitted by Larry: Jerry Juhnke, of Cherokee Strip Water Garden Society, said

they have a pond tour coming up in June and are in planning now. They also are interested in the

Koi Health Advisor program. Hilda Adams, of the St. Louis Water Gardening Society, said they

had their first ever koi of the year contest. They had over 20 entries; club members were amazed

at the number of really pretty fish! Final plans are underway for Pond-A-Rama…a 40 pond, two

day public pond tour June 21-22. Also, the Society is getting ready for the July Festival of Fins

meeting. Bob Dice, of the Ohio Koi Club, said they held their first meeting of the year on April

27th. Mark Bodycott, from USA Koi, was there with fish for sale. Judy Ensley’s Shiro Utsuri was voted Koi of the Year from their club and Ron & Mary Bergman were voted Koi Persons of the Year. Ledean Paden, from the Prairieland Koi & Pond Society, said this meeting e-onds.com

will be attending, speaking on new products and those reliable old ones. They have one civic

project this year, it will be installing a pond at a local retirement home. To date they have installed and designed a zoo pond (7,000 gallons); 3 retirement homes (5,000, 4,000, & 56,000 gallons); and, a local restaurant (4,000 gallons). This restaurant supports the club with meeting places for free. Shelly Klinger, of the Central Illinois Water Gardeners, met at the Bloomington Library. President Roger Wilke, a student of the Koi Health Advisor Program, was the speaker. Shelly pointed out all club members appreciate learning more about how to keep our beloved koi healthy.Clubs not responding this month are: Nanaimo Fish Pond; West Plans Water Garden Society; Mid-Michigan Pond & Water Garden Club; Madison Area Pond Society; and, Gulf Coast

Koi Society.

Written report submitted by Joyce Glenn: The Atlanta Koi Club doesn’t have anything to bring up

at this date. The ballot will be mailed shortly. The club is having a meeting next weekend and

David Marier will be able to present the information to the Board at that time. Len Brown, of

Tampa Bay Club, reports all is going well. They had a meeting in April at Luis Perez’s home in

Tampa. He has a great pond with an island in the middle that held 15 members seated under the

shade. Their next meeting will be on Sunday, May6 18th, at the Bonsai Koi. They are planning

their third annual show on Sept. 28th at Richard Schmidt’s horse ranch. They will vote on the by-

laws at the May meeting. Dave Peebler, of the Koi Club of Kansas, reports their speaker grant

speaker will be Brett Rawley, from Texas. They are inviting the Oklahoma Club, Kansas Pond

Society, and the Enid, Oklahoma group. In July, the Kansas City Watergarden Society is having

a water garden tour and a bunch of the club members are planning to caravan to the event. Leroy

Taba, of the Hawaii & Goldfish Club, reported back some information regarding the KOI USA

part of their 2004 Seminar. More details on this later.

Written report submitted by Bruno Kudrecki: At Koi Kichi & Water Garden Club’s next

meeting, their guest speaker will be Mr. Earl Rugraff; he is a Bonsai specialist and will be giving a

lecture on the art of bonsai and a demonstration on the proper techniques of plant choice,

maintaining the proper bonsai shape and overall caring of the bonsai plant.

Written report submitted by Scott Zehm: Richard Adema, of Canada Koi Club, said that their club

is planning their pond tour for this year; it will take place in July and feature 4 ponds on the tour.

The club is having a little struggle in keeping members interested mainly due to the difficulty

in getting good speakers. The club is also thinking about doing a koi display/barbeque. The

members would bring their koi to be judged by amateur club judges. Therefore, it is a display

show rather than a typical koi show. Richard is starting work on a membership drive; their club’s

website is canadakoiclub.ca. Jackie Allsup, of Eastern Iowa Pond Society, said that their club

will be holding their annual plant and fish swap at this months meeting. The club is busy planning

their annual pond tour (July 13th) and most members ponds are up and running now after the long winter. It is nice to see things finally greening up! At the club’s next meeting, later this month,

they will have a potluck and a guest speaker talk to them about plant propagation. The club’s year

is planned and they are looking forward to the meetings. Barbara Gantt, of So. Carolina Koi &

Water Garden Society, said their club is helping a local school put together a small water garden.

This water garden will not feature koi. The club is looking to see if a local dealer would be willing to donate the supplies needed for the water garden. There are several dealers in the area that will be contacted. The club’s upcoming pond tour will be held over the 2 day weekend and feature a total of 13 ponds. The club is thinking about having Dr. Eric Johnson speak to their club again this year. Was unable to contact North Texas Water Garden Society.

Written report submitted by Bob Finnegan: So Cal Koi Club’s May meeting was for planning their

upcoming pond tour to be held on Sunday, May 18th. There will be 7 ponds starting at Bob & Joan Finnegan’s where people will purchase their tickets ($8 each) and get a map and info on all the ponds on the tour. Bob & Joan’s front pond is 1,600 gal. And their back pond is 10,000 gallons.Another pond on the tour is on a 5 acre parcel with a working vineyard and had a 70,000 gallon pond. Ben Plonski, owner of Laguna Koi Ponds, will also have his pond (10,000 gallons) on the tour.

Written report submitted by Carole Elliott: Bryan Bateman, of Mid-West Pond & Koi Society, said

that they had their Spring Trade Show over the weekend of May 2 & 3rd; it was a great success

with 46 booths rented this year. They had close to 1,000 visitors buying fish, supplies, gifts, etc.

They are going to try a tosai auction this year for the first time on June 8th. They will auction off

approximately 40 show quality one-year-olds to club members. This will be held at Bryan’s home. On the weekend of July 12-13th, they will have their 12th Annual Pond Walk with 47 ponds on display. This event has become one of the most popular garden walk-type events in the

Chicagoland area. They are excited and proud that six of their members expect to be certified as

AKCA Koi Health Advisors in June. Larry Bortner, of Chesapeake & Potomac, said that it

hasn’t been a great year for their club. It’s been a year of filling in some ponds and making raised

gardens out of some high maintenance ponds. The BIG BOYS (almost three feet) Butterfly Koi

are all healthy and still getting ooohss and awwss! Jan Jordan, of Mid-Columbia KC, said that

two couples, the Boedekers and the Borcherdeings, are going to the PNKCA Convention May 17-

19th. As it is the same date as their regular meeting, Jan will be chairing the club monthly meeting May 18th. In June they are participating in the first Garden Fair held by the Master Gardeners at their Demo Garden. They will be doing an informational and informal People’s Choice Koi & Goldfish Show, next to their Demonstration Pond. Biggest ponder problem this spring seems to be herons.

PROXY CALLS FOR JUNE:

Have your officers changed; have you sent in the paperwork for any changes?

OLD BUSINESS:

Koi Books: Doug stated that Tom got a formal bid for the 3 koi books: Buying & Judging Koi; Basic

Koi Ponds, & Koi Medication, Disease, Koi Care. TFH Publishers has been very slow in

responding to us; it was felt that there were too many problems in going with them. Motion: To

authorize the publication of the three koi books to be phased out over a 6 month period for each

for an approximate cost of $92,000. Motion by Doug, 2nd by Harlan. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:

Carole’s computer: Carole stated that the computer she received from Burt had the same memory as the one she had that had been freezing up. Her koi club, So Cal Koi club, purchased another for

$599. It was decided that AKCA would only pay for paper and black ink used for AKCA

purposes.

Motion: To to adjourn at 8:50 p.m. Motion by Lisa, 2nd by Doug. Approved.

Respectfully submitted,

Carole Elliott

Secretary

b. It’s been a year of filling in some ponds and making raised

gardens out of some high maintenance ponds. The BIG BOYS (almost three feet) Butterfly KoiI

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