Spring 2016 Saber Tails 7
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
T
his edition
of Saber
Tails will look
quite different.
We are hoping
that by making
some produc-
tion changes,
we will be able
to increase con-
tent at the same
time as reduc-
ing production
costs. Knowing that all our members look forward
to receiving Saber Tails, we want to make sure we are
including something for everyone. We want Saber Tails
to be a great source of entertainment, information and
education. As we reduce the quality (in terms of page
thickness) making Saber Tails more closely resemble a
magazine, we will be able to increase the number of
pages and color content, improving the reading experi-
ence for our members. We are adding several articles
that we hope will be recurring, such as Meet Our Mem-
bers, Recipe Corner, Tails from the Clown Hound Files,
etc. Your input is greatly appreciated. If you have any
stories, send me an email and let’s talk about publish-
ing your hound’s tale!
W
e also have a new editor of Saber Tails. Jane
Swanson did a fantastic job on Saber Tails for a
number of years and we are grateful for her hard work.
Our new editor beginning with the June issue, will
be Katherine Howell. Katherine is a wonderful young
woman who has been involved with our club for the
past several years as a junior handler and member.
As a new college student studying marketing, we are
pleased that Katherine’s valuable service to the club
will also be a valuable experience for her in building a
resume for her future. You can learn more about her in
the “Meet Our Members” section.
T
here is a lot of important information to review
in this issue including a proposed update to the
Club’s Constitution and Bylaws. Please take the time
to read through the side-by-side comparison. A few
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
By Tiffany Cannon
things are being changed, some topics are being moved to
a different section that closely aligns with the content and
a few additions are being proposed. We want to add in the
flexibility we may need to help the club thrive in member-
ship and remain solvent financially. There have been no
changes made to the Constitution and Bylaws since 2002
so we were overdue for a revamp. A ballot will be mailed
in early Summer for the membership to vote on these
changes.
A
lso take note of the club’s financial position through
2015 year end. At one time, the club had a much
greater sum of money in the bank. The Board commit-
ted to spending some of the money on club activities to
reduce the ‘warchest’ of cash and made decisions to sup-
port more things such as funding the Welcome Party at the
National Specialty and buying down costs for the Annual
Banquet to encourage more participation, etc. The club
has now reached a financial position that we would like
to maintain. That is, we have roughly enough in the bank
to cover a National Specialty and a year’s worth of Saber
Tails production with no offsetting income, if necessary.
Of course, we do not foresee that situation ever occurring,
but good business practices dictate that we be prepared.
This year, we will focus on increasing membership, creating
financial efficiencies where they can be found (Saber Tails
production, etc.) and other ideas that ensure the club can
work toward breaking even financially to maintain the de-
sired bank balance. We would normally NOT have included
proposed changes to the Constitution & Bylaws directly
in an issue of Saber Tails, but it saves us a great deal to not
need yet another mailing with associated production and
postage costs.
S
o please enjoy this latest edition of Saber Tails. Hope-
fully you will find some of the articles entertaining and
educational. But read through the ‘dry’ material as well.
And do forgive me any problems with grammar, punc-
tuation and formatting in this issue. I prepared it as the
Interim Editor until Katherine could take over and it’s my
first time working with a Publishing program. I know there
are still corrections needed and every time I review it...I
find more things I want to change. Eventually, you have to
call it ‘good enough’ and send it to the printer.