Introductions were done with the following in attendance: George Bloomer-Unit 119 rep, District 7 Finance Chairman and MABC Governor, Judith Bloomer-Unit 119 rep and MABC Secretary, Richard Brown-Unit 160 rep, Louise Burns-Unit 160, Eldon Clayman-President, Susie Clayman-Unit 244 rep and MABC Governor, Ray Coleman-Augusta Co-Chair and Unit 202 President, Phil Erlenbach-Unit 191 rep, Barbara Heller-Vice President, Bob Heller-MABC Governor and Unit 114 rep, Nancy Hetsko-Secretary and MABC Governor, Wayne Hollingsworth-NAP Coordinator, Pat Jankovic-Unit 165 rep, David Klein-Wilmington Chair, Unit 118 rep and MABC Governor, Mike Kovacich-MABC President and 1^st Alternate to ACBL Board of Governors, Al Levy-ACBL President, Beverly Levy, Barbara Martin-Unit 191 rep, Julia Murphy-Unit 171 rep, Walt Murphy-Unit 171 rep, Dick Myers-Unit 114 rep, Jo Anne Newby-Unit 165 rep, Judy Nolan-Treasurer, MABC Governor and Gatlinburg Co-Chair, Bruce Reeve-ACBL Director, Larry Rich-Unit 114 President and MABC Governor, Veronica Ruggles-Unit 202 rep, Pat Seiler-Unit 160 rep and MABC Treasurer, Janet and Joe Sherwood-Unit 114 reps, Chuck Whidden-Unit 114 rep and Webmaster, Carol Winecoff-Unit 169 rep, Harold Winecoff-ACBL Governor, and Nadine Wood-District 6 Director.

Minutes: Barbara Heller moved that the minutes be approved as submitted, Judith Bloomer seconded and all approved. It was noted that in the future, minutes would be out approximately 2 weeks after meeting date.

Treasurer’s Report: Judy Nolan presented the Treasurer’s report and pointed out that the pink sheet is the proposed budget for 03-04 and also that EasyBridge is now part of education instead of being a separate item. Janet Sherwood moved to accept the treasurer’s report, and George Bloomer seconded. Walt Murphy asked why the proposed budget only showed $1000 interest and Judy Nolan responded that it was based on current interest rates. Liz Swanson inquired what the $7000 budgeted for GNT expenses encompassed and was told that it covers the $6400 for the winning teams in each flight plus any additional expenses. The Treasurer’s report and the proposed budget for 03-04 were unanimously approved.

Tournament Coordinator: Bob Heller handed out the updated tournament schedule and indicated that there were a few changes.

Publication Editor: Bob Heller had nothing new to report.

Education Committee: Barbara Winzurk informed the board that Charlotte Blaise has sent letters to education liaisons regarding a new program to try to get students teaching bridge to other students in the ACBL’s continuing effort to bring the youth into bridge.

Easybridge & CDIN: Before Priscilla Smith arrived to present the Easybridge report, it was mentioned that we had a very low turnout for the EB accreditation in Gatlinburg and it was suggested that we should have fewer accreditations or we should set a minimum for class participants. Bruce Reeve suggested that we should limit 2004 accreditations to Hilton Head, Raleigh and Atlanta and that the ad should say "must register before x date". Chuck moved that we adopt Bruce’s suggestion, Liz Swanson seconded and the motion was passed with one opposed.

Priscilla reported that EasyBridge is still alive and well, with about 10 tables in Hilton Head, 6-8 tables in Maryville and Hendersonville and about 8 tables in Winston-Salem and Charleston. We had accreditations during Columbia and Raleigh. The accreditations are down relative to when ACBL was supporting Easybridge, but the people taking the accreditations now are more serious about it. Edith McMullin has removed herself from the program due to illness, and Marti Ronemus is now running the program. The accreditations currently cost the participants $25 for attendance and $25 for materials and should not cost the district anything to put the accreditations on.

Regarding CDINs and TAPs: Bruce Reeve commented that a club director refresher course had been put on earlier in the week with good tournout. Since the club directors represent the ACBL to the majority of members, club directors are very important. Bruce wants to have a TAP during the next Raleigh Regional and feels that the club director refresher course should be held on a regular basis. Marlene Wass wants to have a club director course during Gatlinburg next year. Priscilla wants to do a CDIN during Hilton Head next year. Since the break-even point is 8-10 participants, Mike Kovacich suggested that we set a minimum for CDINs to avoid a loss. Bruce Reeve moved that for 04 we schedule CDINs for Hilton Head and Gatlinburg and TAPs for Raleigh and Atlanta. Priscilla suggested that we implement some sort of advance sign-up with her e-mail address. She stated that she prefers to do the CDINs the weekend before the tournament starts. It was pointed out that running TAPs was turned over to local people; the district will publicize them, but local people run them and make or lose money on them. Bruce changed his motion to simply say that we would offer the Club Director course during Atlanta 03, Hilton Head 04 and Gatlinburg 04. The motion passed unanimously.

Entitlement: Nothing new has been brought before the committee, but Barbara Heller did comment that the bidding boxes the District purchased for use in school bridge programs are actively being used.

NAOP Report: Wayne Hollingsworth reported that this year’s expenses should be under budget. He reminded us that qualifying starts in June.

Oversight and Publication Committee: Joe Sherwood reported that the committee had met to discuss selling pages in the district 7 publication and that they were proposing that pages be available on a "first come, first served" basis for $150 per page. Any unit desiring to purchase pages would have to reserve the space 4 months prior to publication, and the material would need to be received (in publishable format) 2 months prior to publication. Bob Heller can notify us 8 months in advance of when space will be available. The September issue will have up to 8 pages available and the November issue will have up to 12 pages available. Mike Kovacich suggested that Bob keep a waiting list. Susie Clayman asked whether these pages could be purchased by individuals; Joe responded that the pages can only be purchased by units and other districts, etc. Full pages must be purchased. If the publication exceeds 48 pages, postage costs will increase. The committee’s proposal was approved unanimously. Joe reiterated that Bob needs to know by May 1 for September space.

Committee to Study Withdrawing from MABC: David Klein reported that the consensus of the committee (members David Klein, Joe Sherwood, Len Case, Wayne Hollingsworth, Judy Nolan and Nancy Hetsko) was that District 7 should remain a part of the MABC, but that a major overhaul of the MABC was in order. The committee recommends that we perform a critical review of various aspects of the MABC:

David indicated that the committee felt there were 3 potential ways this review might be done:

Ray Coleman inquired how many of the committee members were MABC governors. 3 of the members are currently governors and 2 have been in the past.

The committee's proposal was approved.

Eldon appointed the committee members to a new committee to study the structure and operation of the MABC. David Klein will pass along the report made to the District 7 Board today to the appropriate District 6 people.

GNT Report: Liz Swanson reported that the revenue from club level qualifiers is about $500 less than last year, but the district final should be bigger than last year and we will have more teams advancing to Sunday, so we should make up the club level shortfall. Hendersonville had 36 teams for the flight B and flight C area finals compared to 22 teams last year. She also reported that there was a rumor that 2 years ago the District 7 flight C team did not play in the National finals. Liz requested that someone check each year to ensure that all teams receiving money from the District for the GNT did in fact actually play in the National finals.

Site Committee: Bob Heller reported that the Site Committee would reconvene Friday morning during the Atlanta regional and that they were trying to fill holes in the tournament schedule. It is hoped that during Long Beach the ACBL would finalize the decision to give District 7 an additional regional. Therefore the Committee recommends that we plan to fill an additional slot for 2005. With the Summer NABC being in Atlanta in '05, the committee feels that the best time slot would be either starting November 28^th (immediately after the Fall NABC in Denver) or the following week. The Committee does not believe that having a District 7 regional that close in time to a Denver NABC will be a problem. Bob further reported that there are 2 sites under consideration for this regional. Myrtle Beach has a new Marriott resort on the beach opening in 2004. They would give us $79 per night for the 2005 regional with $89/night for future Christmas to New Year regionals alternating with Charleston. Asheville also has a new site, a Marriott Renaissance which would give us $89/night for the 2005 regional. The committee's motion to plan an additional 2005 regional was approved. Myrtle Beach was approved as the preferred site for the additional 2005 regional.

MABC Report: Mike Kovacich reported that the contracts for Charleston in '04 and '06 have been signed in anticipation of getting the OK on an additional District 7 regional. The contracts have a clause enabling us to get out of them if we don't get the additional tournament sanction.

District Director’s Report: Bruce reported Board activity in Philadelphia was very light, and reminded us that he is running for another 3 year term.

ACBL President: Al Levy commented that during his travels as President he has seen that tournament bridge is alive and well, but at Gatlinburg it is thriving and exciting! He said that he wanted to give special recognition to Marlene Wass and Judy Nolan for their extraordinary efforts. Al also mentioned that District 7 was fortunate to have a dedicated board member in Bruce Reeve. Al went on to say that his agenda for the year was to push getting bridge into schools and to push for better promotion of the game of bridge, especially through corporate sponsorships.

Old Business: None

The next District 7 meeting will be Saturday morning, June 14th in Augusta.

There was a rising motion to adjourn.