We all need to be aware that there will be elections this spring for the Officers and board members of the RMHA. We need to get the word out about how to vote for those elected officials. My source says that the nominating committee is appointed by our current President Jake Rose. No doubt none of us out of State members will be nominated! We need to make sure that we know who we are voting for and at least have a nominee that will do the job that to date hasn't been done for us. We need all members ideas on how to obtain this and keep those that we do not want back in power out forever! If we don't intervene now and those certain people get back in power it will all be over. Talk to all you know that are in support of us and our position! Start talking now, if you wait it could be too late!

-- Kathy Naylor (knaylor@proaxis.com), January 03, 1998

Answers

I THINK it is true that people are nominated by a nominating committee or committees chosen by the President. Ron Cvetican would know and with luck he will jump in and let us know if that is correct. I do not think that no out of state members need apply. Remember, Jake chooses the nominating committee, and I think he is looking for political allies to help in what I know he wants to see done, reach out to the other associations, get the word out quickly on ASD, verify the parentage of the horses at least prospectively, work with all of the people who have these horses for the good of all the horses. I know these are things he believes in becuase he has told me, and because he used to serve on the KMSHA Board before he was forced to resign by the rule that no officer or Board member of RMHA could serve on another horse organization's Board or be an officer. He was forced to choose. The night he resigned from the KMSHA Board there were tears in his eyes. Grace has walked a fine line, serving on the RMHA Board while writing for KMSHA, being a KMSHA Examiner, and serving ex officio as it were in KMSHA, but so far she's managed that tightrope walk.

There is something else we can do besides talking to others, we can urge them to GET ONLINE! WebTv is being advertised at $199 and with a $100 rebate from their new owner, Microsoft, that is only 99 bucks to get online. Or better yet, probably, an IBM 386 with monitor and printer was advertised today in the Arizona Daily Star for a hundred and fifty bucks. Slap a 28.8 or 33.6 modem in that baby and you're online, for probably under $250, and we've got a new person that has instantaneous access to what is going on. I have a mailing list that has all the people who had horses in Wisconsin when I left there, about 80 I think, and I have offered it before to Julie Niedert, but have not heard from her that she wants it. I have 25 owners in Arizona, too, including Linda Gunn who is on the post list. Each of you knows people that in addition to talking to them, you can urge them to have direct participation in a way never before possible by getting on line. This group already has about 40 people in it, most RMHA members. I am not certain how many RMHA members there are, but I would guess 400. Our group then would already be 10% of the RMHA membership. If each of us gets only a couple more people to come on line and work with us, we can very quickly get up to being a force to be reckoned with.

-- Annette L. Gerhardt (gerhardt@sinosa.com), January 03, 1998.