MEETING NOTES

10/01/2008
LOUISIANA EQUINE COUNCIL BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING OCTOBER 1, 2008 – 1:00 P.M.

President Daniel Lyons called the conference call meeting to order.

Board members present for the meeting were: Daniel Lyons, Howard Cormier, Ruby Halter, Aleta Overby, Richard Hebert, Daryl Schouest, Tom Foshee, John Henning, Johnny Boudreaux, Dianne Morrill and Dixie Bunton.

Board members absent were: Johnny Spears, Melinda Schexnaider, Ruby Collins, Judy Travelby, Ginger Schouest and Jay Prater.

Advisors present were: Dr. Clint Depew and Ron Harrell.

Advisors absent were: Dr. Dennis French.

Daniel Lyons called for the minutes of the last meeting. On a motion by Daryl Schouest, seconded by Ruby Halter, the minutes were approved as sent.

Richard Hebert gave the membership report stating that we had 243 members. Following were the memberships by district. District 1 – 8, District 2 – 14, District 3 – 18, District 4 – 10, District 5 – 79, District 6 – 55, District 7 – 28. John Henning suggested that we try a new membership approach instead of seeking members by individual contact. He offered to use a free conference call if the membership committee wanted to meet and discuss these possibilities.

Daryl Schouest gave the treasurer’s report stating that we had $5,531.61 in the Expo account, pledges receivable were $7,200.00, and the amount in the general checking account is $13,503.42. Schouest had also provided the balance sheet and the income statement by electronic mail. Howard Cormier moved to accept the Treasurer’s report, seconded by Ruby Halter, and it passed.

The next item of business was the display. Ruby Halter stated that it is being shipped and should arrive about the middle of the month of October.

A Political Action Committee formation was then discussed. Ron Harrell agreed to discuss this item with Mr. Henry Bernard, of Louisiana Farm Bureau, to see how Farm Bureau’s Political Action Committee is structured and he will get back with Daniel Lyons and Howard Cormier.

Tracy Benoit then discussed her ad idea to do a feature story on those businesses who are willing to purchase bigger ads. It was agreed that ads would be at least ¼ of a page or larger. Howard Cormier moved to give the extra ad dollars from these featured ad sales to the Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association in appreciation for their work with the Hoof Beat News. It was seconded by Johnny Boudreaux, and it passed.

Aleta Overby gave an Expo update. She is getting ideas from the West Monroe Convention and Visitors Center. They stated that we need more than 50 rooms at the hotel for the Expo and she asked the board to send her their room request via e-mail. The grant looks good and it was suggested that we publicize the Expo in Western Horseman, Bits & Pieces, Louisiana Farm & Ranch and Barrel Horse News. The official site will be the Hilton Gardens at $99.00/night; Holiday Inn Express, also in West Monroe, will be $20.00 less. Aleta stated there will be a Stallion auction instead of the Showcase of Stallions. Daniel asked for e-mail to the board about how this will work. Aleta stated that LEC is looking for donated seasons on Stallions and she will send the board an explanation of how that program will work. In other items about the Expo Aleta stated that the Chamber is helping with publicity and a $2,000.00 grant can be used to assist with printing needs.

The Cow Dog Demonstration is on hold since Howard Cormier reported that the dog trainer, Mr. William Hetzel, had suffered 11 broken ribs in a fall from a horse while working cattle.

Considering storm losses, Howard Cormier reported that very few horses were actually lost in either Gustav or Ike. Daniel Lyons stated that other commodities such as cotton, corn, beans and beef cattle suffered greater losses. Six thousand head of beef cattle were evacuated from Vermilion Parish before the storm, so that minimized the losses due to Ike, and there is some hay available for donations. Howard reported that the Kentucky Horse Council had offered to help with the needs of horsemen, but we had no big losses from the hurricanes in the area of equines. John Henning suggested that members keep receipts for expenditures on storms in hopes that funds might be available from FEMA later, which may not be until next fall. Daniel Lyons reported that agriculture was left out of disaster assistance going to our state. No money was available for livestock needs after Hurricane Gustav of Hurricane Ike.

In incidental business, the board instructed Howard to send LEC members the AQHA poll about horse slaughter, the American Horse Council News, and to send them ryegrass planting information. The IRS granted the LEC the tax exempt status of 503C as reported by Ron Harrell. Ron will send this document to Howard.

Howard discussed the replacement of a director for District 1, who has not made any board meetings or joined LEC in 2008. Daniel said he will call the board member to find out if she had particular problems that kept her from serving as board member for District 1. A replacement from that district will be sought and named by the board.

In other new business items, Ruby Halter asked if the annual meeting was being worked on. She volunteered to help with this, as did Howard Cormier. There was a question as to whether we could have the annual meeting in conjunction with the Expo. This was put in the form of a motion by Tom Foshee and seconded by Johnny Boudreaux, and the motion passed. This will be in the plan for 2010.

The date of the next meeting was set for Tuesday, October 28th at 10:00 a.m. by conference call.

Tom Foshee moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Ruby Halter, and the meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.