DISTRICT 24 NEWSLETTER
Alvin Levy
2001.1
Next three North American Bridge Championships
Summer 2001 - July 19-29, 2001 Toronto, ON
Fall 2001 - November 18-27,
2001 Las Vegas, NV
Spring 2002 - March 7-17, 2002 Houston, TX
For
reservations call the ACBL Housing Bureau at 800-773-5069
Upcoming Mini-Spingold KOs set for Toronto NABC
A new event will be featured at the Toronto summer NABC. It's a
Mini-Spingold KO divided into two flights, and run opposite the regular
Spingold. One flight will be for players with 5,000 masterpoints or less,
and the second flight will be for players with 1,500 masterpoints or less.
BIG NEWS…Bridge will be an attraction at the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City
José Damiani, president of the
WBF received word from Marc Hodler, vice president of the International
Olympic Committee, and long time president of the Swiss Bridge Federation, that
Bridge will be an attraction at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The
event will take place two days before the official Olympic opening on February
8, 2002. There is now hope that bridge will be admitted as an Olympic sport at
the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Teams will compete in three
categories, Open, Women, and Junior. IOC officials have already witnessed three
special IOC Grand Prix events, stages in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Trials to determine USA entries for Bali
Five USA teams will be determined, from three different team
trials, to represent the United States in the 2001 Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup, and
World Senior Teams, to be held in Bali, October 20 through November 2. The Open
trials are scheduled June 3-14 in Memphis, the Women's trials are scheduled June
18-26 in Las Vegas and the Senior trials are scheduled August 14-18 in St.
Louis.
ACBL Hall of Fame Inductees for 2001
The
following players have been elected to the Hall of Fame. In the Living category,
Richard Freeman and Lew Stansby, and in the deceased category,
Peter Leventritt, past president of the ACBL and GNYBA, Bobby
Nail, and Sally Young. Also selected for induction this year,
by the Hall of Fame Committee, are Alan Truscott, recipient of the
Blackwood Award for service to bridge outside bridge play, and Sami
Kehela and Eric Murray, recipients of the von Zedtwitz award for
service to bridge through bridge exploits. Congratulations to all…especially our
Alan Truscott and Peter Leventritt.
District Appointments
Congratulations to
this year's appointees to the National Goodwill Committee…
Elizabeth
Randall, Ruth Stober, and Margie Gwozdzinsky
Congratulations also to
this year's appointees to the National Charity Committee…
Billy Rosenbaum
and Jim Schneider
Congratulation to the Board of Governors appointees,
selected by the District Board of Directors…
Larry Ascher, Diana Schuld,
and Ruth Stober
Kansas City (Missouri) Spring 2001 NABC
District 24 Players have a few triumphs in NABC+
events…
District 24 players have an outstanding record in NABC
events. In Kansas City our winning ways continued with wins in the Open
Pairs II by Chris Willenken and Women's Pairs by Sylvia Moss - Judi
Radin.
Other top 10 finishers in NABC+ events include: Open Pairs I…Zia Mahmood - Jaggy Shivdasani, 3rd; Open Pairs II…Michael Polowan, 6th; Women's Pairs…Dorothy Truscott, 4th, Jacqui Mitchell - Lynne Tarnopol, 7th, and Valerie Westheimer, 10th; Open Swiss Teams, Bjorn Fallenius, 5th, Mark Feldman, 7th, Kent Mignocchi, 8th; Women's Swiss Teams…Lynne Tarnopol - Laurie Vogel - Gail Greenberg - Amalya Kearse - Jacqui Mitchell, 2nd, Jill Levin, 4th, Edith Sacks, 9th; NAOP Flight B…David Moss - Andrew Rosenthal, 10th; Vanderbilt KO Teams…Sam Lev, 2nd, Nick Nickell, 3/4, Richard Schwartz - Larry Cohen - David Berkowitz - Zia Mahmood, 9/16, Adam Wildavsky - Mark Feldman, 9/16.
Kansas City NABC gets good reviews…
Attendance was approximately 150 tables below expectations, with 9370 tables
in play. While attendance was a little disappointing, the playing site was
excellent. The two adjacent Hotels, The Hyatt and the Weston, were first
class and the playing space was spacious. There was plenty of time between
sessions to eat yourself silly, and many…too many…excellent restaurants within
the Hotels or a short taxi ride away.
Not such good happenings in Kansas
City...
John Blubaugh was found guilty of dealing his partner a
specific card while shuffling and dealing hands in team events. Blubaugh was
suspended for eighteen months, to be followed by a five year probation. In
addition, all masterpoints won by Blubaugh from March 15, 2000 through march 14,
2001, were removed.
A royal mix-up...in two Vanderbilt quarterfinal matches…Jacobs versus Rosenkranz and Nickell versus Meltzer, the 3rd quarter boards were interchanged (by an unnamed Director) with the wrong teams. The 3rd quarter had to be replayed, and the matches didn't end until 4 am.
ACBL Board of Directors Actions…
Al
Levy was re-elected as 401(k) Trustee for a four-year term.
Bob
Lix was re-elected as Treasurer for a one-year term.
Retirement Benefits for Canadian
Directors...
Canadian Directors will be given equivalent
retirement benefits as US Directors receive. Currently, US Directors receive a
401(k) contribution and a pension while Canadian Directors do not. In the
future, Canadian Directors will receive an equivalent retirement benefit through
the Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plan. Past differences, going back to
1993, will be made up for through a lump sum contribution.
Proposed Reduction in the Size of the Board of Directors
...
The ACBL Board of Directors has agreed to the concept of a
smaller Board, going from 25 members to 13. This would come about by having one
Director representing two Districts. Under this plan one Director would
represent District 24 and District 3. A committee has been appointed to put
together a specific plan. This motion passed 13-12, but requires a bylaw change
to ultimately pass. A bylaw change requires a 2/3 vote, so the odds are against
this plan passing.
Club Games Scored across the field...
Management will run an experimental game whereby clubs in different
locations will score across the field. The software to do this is now in place.
Club Game Barred Players...
Currently a
club may bar a player for whatever reason it deems proper consistent with ACBL
Rules and Regulations. To bar a player, club management must notify the player
in writing and send a copy of the notification to the ACBL Membership
Department. The Board passed a motion that would allow a club to extend the
barring of a player from NAOP club qualifying rounds, Sectionals, STaCs, Unit or
District competitions held at the club. In such cases, the written notice to the
person barred must include the person's right to appeal the action to the Unit
Board in which the club is located within thirty days of the action taken by the
club.
ACBL Code of Disciplinary Regulations...
Currently a played could be represented by an attorney at a
Disciplinary hearing. The Board passed a motion that states that a player may
not be represented by an attorney at a disciplinary hearing.
Either party to a hearing may be represented by an attorney in regards to other
matters concerning the hearing.
A third North American Team to represent the ACBL (Zone
II) at the 2001 Bermuda Bowl in Bali...
A motion was defeated
that would have directed the ACBL representatives to the WBF to request that the
WBF allow Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico to participate in a Tri Country playoff,
with the winner playing in the Bermuda Bowl in 2001. Currently the US has
two teams entered in the 2001 Bermuda Bowl. A third team would have
automatically been granted if Canada, Bermuda, or Mexico finished in the top
half of the World Olympiad held in Maastricht last year. In all
likelihood, a third team will be granted for the 2003 Bermuda Bowl.
2001 North American College Bridge Team
Championship...
A College championship has been established to be
played on the Internet with six regional teams playing in a final at one of the
NABCs.
Online Pair Event Masterpoint Awards...
All
Online sanctioned events shall award masterpoints that are unpigmented. That
means no Gold, Silver, or Black masterpoint awards. A certain number of
Gold, Silver, and Black masterpoints are required to become a Life Master.
United States Bridge Federation...
The ACBL
has established a US Bridge Federation. Bylaws and articles were approved. This
organization was initially established to meet the International Olympics
Committee regulations, which requires such an organization to select a team or
teams to compete in the Olympics.
Regional and Sectional Appeals
Committees...
The Sponsoring Organization (District or Unit) has
the responsibility to provide an Appeals Committee if a player asks for a review
of a Director's decision. A Sponsoring Organization could ask the Director in
Charge to select a committee of Directors to hear an appeal. This procedure,
rather than forming the usual Appeals Committee, is not suggested except at very
large tournaments or NABCs since it would require a large and very knowledgeable
staff in order to put together a committee of Directors would not have been part
of the original decision or advisory group.
Scheduling & Sanctioning Regional and Sectional
Tournaments...
If it is in the best interest of bridge and the
ACBL, management may grant a sanction even though such a sanction would violate
an existing regulation. We have a recent STaC that required changing the
dates by one day in order to meet ACBL regulations (a tournament can't be held
over two weekends) even though there were no conflicts with other tournaments.
Now the ACBL can grant this kind of sanction.
REMEMBER…The summer 2004 North American Bridge Championships, co-hosted by District 3 and 24, will be held at the NYC Hilton. We are currently raising money through an added $1 entry fee at Regionals, and also through sponsorship. Anyone knowing of potential sponsors please contact me.
An article appeared in the International Computer Games Association
Journal, written my yours truly, on the
4th ACBL WORLD COMPUTER-BRIDGE
CHAMPIONSHIP
Check out the NSBA's new web site at http://www.libridge.com, as well as
the long established GNYBA web site at http://www.gnyba.org
Al
Levy
allevy@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/allevy
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