Hey Marc,
 Greetings from West Virginia! I hope live is treatng you well! I don't know if you have heard, but Nelson had some chest pain on Easter, and went to the hospital. They kept him, and did bypass surgery to repair several blockages. He called me just before his surgery, he told me he would call again once he was feeling up to it. This means I'll need to depend a little more on you in the design of recruiting incentive pins. What I talked over with Nelson was to design a pin, about 3/4&quot; or so, with the HPOCA logo, across the top of the logo have a banner with the word 'Recruiter', the pin would probably need to have 2 pins on the back. Then the first upgrade would be a wreath, made to look like a tip toe steel wheel, at the top of this would be a banner that reads 'Top', so that when assembled, would read 'Top Recruiter'. At the bottom of the wheel should be cast in 2 small rings for mounting lower banners. Nelson is a veteran also, and when I spoke of my Expert Marksmanship badge he knew right away what I was talking about, as this is similar. The Army has 3 Marksmanship awards, a marksman gets one with a maltese cross, or something similar, a sharpshooter is the same but with a bullseye in the middle, expert is slightly smaller with a wreath around it. These badges have 2 rings at the bottom to attach banners below naming the various weapons qualified with under this rating. I'll give some of my ratings for an example, I was awarded the expert for rifle, which is the expert badge, with the rifle banner attached by 2 rings, then I added to qualifications, Pistol, M-60, Machine gun, Granade, M-79, etc., each additional qualification has it's own banner, and is attached to the bottom of the previous banner by cast in tabs w/holes for attaching the next banner with rings. What I believe we can consider is to use these banners to either note recruiters volume, or to note the years in which recruiters qualified. Another option would to look into the pins churches give out for attendance, most of those are upgradable. We are still working on this project, and with Nelson having medical difficulties, it will probably slow us some. I would like to have this recruiting program in place by the end of the year, and be making awards by the following 2009 WGT, In order to do this, the designs should be looked at during the Summer Show, so they can be approved, and promoted to the members. That would give 2008 for members to recruit, and earn these awards. I have also discussed giving a 'Recruiter of the Year' award similar to our 'Member of the Year' award. Big difference is this award would be given for the highest number of members recruited. Not who is your best buddy! I need to find a way to make that Member of the Year award more fair, in the past it has been directly tied to influence, bypassing better candidates, not all the time, but sometimes. I am very happy with your performance in your committee work, and encourage you to seek re-election. To work for the betterment of an organization does take BALLS, because there are those who would rather work toward their own ego, and sometimes one needs to stand up for what is right! I feel you want to make our association better! Try to coordinate the toy projects where once the Orchard tractors are sold out, the Battleground toys will then be soon available. It appears to me as though we are beginning to build a steady customer base on these collectables. It would be good to have these available for the WGT, Louisville, and possibly the Farm Progress Show. Are you going to take care of the Farm Progress Show this year? I talked to Nelson at Louisville, he would be willing at that time to take charge of that show, so, I'll need to show him the ins and outs of the show. It is tough for me to operate my businesses and put on a tradeshow, with shortly before or after having a WGT. I can put in some time, but being there the whole week gets tough. We are on schedule financially, hopefully before the WGT we will have some money to expand our inventory. I am thinking we will be back to point zero by the Summer Show, that means we will have enough money to guarantee our obligations. If we are there, or very close, I will ask the membership to authorize establishing a trust fund, with a board of trustees to administrate it, with the specific goal to maintain the portion of dues we members pay for our member benefits, legally earmarked, and separate from our general funds. You once mentioned the term 'fiscal restraint' to me. In organizations similar to ours, this is something hard to find, so why should we be any different? It is to our advantage to implement safeguards. I fully realize I won't be on the board forever, and the board may eventually change in a completely different direction, we don't know what the future will hold. I feel this safeguard will protect the interests and investment of the members thru whatever storm we may face. An additional advantage is it won't show a large amount in the treasury which is obligated. As I look at that pile of contracts in my laptop case, and then balance that against the reports that Larry gives me, I see where we have little or no money, but the report shows lots of money, just not lots of obligations. When members see big figures, they can come up with all kinds of good projects to spend it on. That trust fund will tend to give a more accurate picture of what is available. I am hoping to get nominations coming in at the Summer Show, I would like the members to become more active in this. I want members to be active in the political process, and I want members to take a more active role in the administration. I feel our committees are making great strides in accomplishing this. This is a good reason for me to let committees do their work, I am not a big advocate of micromanagement. Granted, we do have some financial limitations, but in time we can get past that problem.
Take care!!!
Andy