Nancy Keller sent the board an update on her progress with the Border Recorder. She is trying to have the Recorder ready for  publication by early July so there will be plenty of time to get it ready for sale at the National. She is in the process of doing a last minute quick solicitation because she believes that people are just beginning to realize how important the Recorder will be. She's sending samples out to a small group of people; these samples are available to anyone interested. She is interested in pedigrees on any Border Collies, particularly those that have competed in AKC events. She wants to have as many pedigrees as possible, as this is the most important section of the book. The final deadline will be June 20th.

Janet Lewis asked that the board and the Herding Committee decide on some criteria for the position of AKC herding representative. Nancy Little proposed the following criteria: a strong background in ISDS trialing with Border Collies, along with a strong background in AKC trialing. The ISDS trialing experience is important because the person needs to be able to use that experience to help better the AKC program (especially giving input to the AKC on the B course).  Nancy also suggested that all candidates should have owned and competed with Border Collies for at least 5 years. Richard Whorton suggested that the number of years of experience is not as important as the level of experience most particularly with involvement in AKC herding and ISDS herding. He thinks that if we work to make the AKC B course more acceptable to the Border Collie community at large, then we will eventually see handlers who have been opposed to running their dogs in AKC herding events getting involved with AKC herding.

Janet Lewis has appointed four nominating committee members: Sharon Ferguson of CA; Fran Hoffman of NC; Rena Stevens of FL and Nancy Little (chair) of MN. The fifth committee members is to be determined.

Bob Tainsh has been appointed as our delegate to the AKC.

Janet Lewis asked Kelly Whiteman for a progress report on the 1999 National Specialty.

The board discussed setting up a policy that the specialty events alternate what part of the week they're run rather than having the same events during the same part of the week every year. That way, members who can't get away on weekdays or on weekends will able to attend the events they're interested in at least every two or three years. For example, herding, conformation, obedience, and agility would each have a year when they would be on the weekend, and each would have years when they would be on weekdays.

Applications for the following new members were received and approved:

Dudley & Leslye Skelton
Dr Andrea & Lee Liu
Barbara Woods
Kathy Hardy
Judy A Wolfe
Kelli Mothersbaugh
Debby McNamara
Laurie Ayer

Respectfully submitted,
April Quist, Secretary