The 2007 Mid-West Beagle Gundog Association Championship Runoff was held May 5 & 6, 2007 in Everton, IN.   The championship was hosted by White Water Valley Beagle Club.  Once again White Water did an outstanding job of hosting this year's event.  Game was plentiful all weekend and the weather was beautiful.  If you haven't been to White Water for this event or one of their licensed trials let me tell you, you are missing out on some of the finest cottontail running in the country.  The hounds pounded rabbits from the start until the completion of the championship trial all week in every class.   On behalf of the MWBGA, all the officers would like to thank everyone that attended and completed.    The association especially wishes to issue a heartfelt thanks to Harry Wilson, Mr.  & Mrs. Richard Wayson and the other White Water members that went out of their way to make sure our championship trial was a success.   Furthermore the association would like to thank each of the gentlemen that judged the championship trial this year as well.

After the completion of classes in the field on Saturday, the association held a free dinner for all those in attendance.   Following the dinner an association meeting was held.   After association president, Jamie Rice called the meeting to order and secretary, Brandon Hill, call meeting to order the following matters was discussed.

Motions made at the previous association meeting in January at Mid-Kentucky Beagle Club were voted upon.   The first matter to be voted upon was the changing of the date of the championship runoff.  Currently the runoff is held the first weekend of May.   Due to the temperatures and heat in the month of May as well as various family events trialer's are usually involved in, the association felt moving this trial would be of the best interest to all.  Motion was passed unanimously.  Great Miami Beagle Club was offered the first opportunity to host this event.   Date of next championship runoff event is to be determined in September at the next association, which will be held at North Central Ohio Beagle Club in Laure, OH.

The second motion to be voted upon was the Hound of the Year bonus points system proposed at the January meeting.   Such bonus points system consisted of the following... Currently at licensed, all age qualifying and derby trials the hound of the year points are tabulated using the following scoring system for each trial:  5 points for 1st place, 4 points for 2nd place, 3 points for 3rd place, 2 points for 4th place, and 1 point for NBQ.   The proposed bonus points system offers one bonus points for every 10 dog entered.   For example...  1-10 entries would give zero bonus points, those hounds would get only the 5, 4,3,2,1 we use now.   11-20 entries would result in 1 bonus point for every placing dog so they would be scored 6, 5,4,3,2.  21-30 entries would result in 2 bonus point for every placing dog so the scoring would be 7, 6,5,4,3 and so on and so forth for as many entries are at the trial.  In essence the bonus point scale is to reward hounds that win and place in large classes.    Motion was passed unanimously.  The bonus point system will go into effect being in 2008.

The third motion to be voted upon was the discontinuance of the overall MWBGA Hound of the Year award.   The motion had been made at the January meeting due to the previous motion of the bonus point’s scale.  In light of some classes having far more entries than others, various delegates felt that if such award continues that the 15" male class stood a higher chance of obtaining such award.   As result of such motion was made at the January meeting to do away with the award.    Motion was passed unanimously.

The fourth motion to be voted upon was that all field champions be eligible to compete in the association runoff without having to qualify for such.    Motion was passed unanimously.

The fifth motion to be voted upon was that previous all-age winners of the championship event would be qualified to compete in the following year’s event.  i.e. 2007 winners would be eligible to compete in their respective classes in 2008.   Motion was passed unanimously.

The sixth motion to be voted upon was the changing of the Hall of Fame to induct only one hound and one hounds men per year. This motion passed unanimously.

Two beaglers were elected into the Midwest Hall of Fame this year. Mr. Larry Carter and Mr. Fred Faust, congratulations to you both.

In new business, awards were handed out for Hound of the Year, Sire of the Year, Dam of the Year, & Breeder of the Year.   Winners of awards are as follows:

13" Derby Hound Of the Year - Pea Ridge Jedi (FC Tyson's Picking Banjo X Big Time Queenie), Glen Townsend, Owner & Breeder.

15" Derby Hound Of The Year - Smith's Blue Twista (FC Drew's Blue Storm X Dean's Casey), Don Smith, Owner & Breeder.

13" Male Hound of the Year - FC Drive on Bunker Buster (FC Bingo's Mr. Postman X Drive on Chase's Shady Lady), Steven Bailey, Owner.  Don Leckrone, Breeder.

13" Female Hound Of The Year - FC GMC's Primetime Peeka-Boo (FC Brent's Prime Time X Gay's Spring Creek Robin), Chad Peercy, Owner.  Greg Wells, Breeder.  Peeka is now owned by Bob & Brandon Keese of Highland, MD.

15" Male Hound Of The Year - FC Hill's Primetime Trailblazer (FC Brent's Prime Time X Hill's Hardrockin Wendy), Brandon Hill, Owner & Breeder.  Consequently Blazer also won Better Beagling's Outstanding Pack Hound Award for 15" Males and AKC High SPO Hound for 2006.

15" Female Hound of the Year - FC Smith's Lucky Lady II (FC Drew's Blue Storm X Dean's Casey), Don Smith, Owner.  Stephen Dean, Breeder.

All-Age Sire Of The Year - FC Brent's Prime Time (FC Branko's Jackpot X FWR Blue Banks Moon Pie), Greg Wells & John Shelton, Owners.  Brent Gay, Breeder.

Derby Sire Of The Year - FC Brent's Prime Time (FC Branko's Jackpot X FWR Blue Banks Moon Pie), Greg Wells & John Shelton, Owners.  Brent Gay, Breeder.

All-Age Dam Of The Year - FC Holesack Candy (Breeding Not Available), Gene Benischek, Owner & Breeder.

Derby Dam Of The Year - Dean's Casey (FC Branko's Boone Creek Trimmer X Hazel Hills Jo Jo), Don Smith, Owner.  Greg Parrott, Breeder.

All-Age Breeder Of The Year - Gene Benischek of East Central Ohio Beagle Club in Monmouth, IA

Derby Breeder Of The Year - Mark Ross of Great Miami Beagle Club in Camden, OH. 

The next association meeting will be on Saturday, September 22^nd 2007 at the North Central Ohio Beagle Club. The time will be dependant on the completion of the running for the day but approximately 6:00 – 7:00 pm.

The itinerary for the next meeting and topics of discussion are as follows.

1: Hall of fame nominations are required to be submitted by all member clubs no later than this meeting. If your club is unable to attend nominations can be mailed to me no later than 9/22/07. This year it was decided that clubs submitting nominations give a brief description of why they think the hound or hounds men should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This serves to let beagler’s who may not have been involved in the association or beagling in general an idea of why a particular hound or hounds men deserves inducted. As in the past each club should submit four hounds and four hounds men for voting.

2: Plans are to be finalized for where and when next years runoff will be held.

3: Some changes to the wording in the bylaws needs to be addressed as to what constitutes a qualifier and or derby trial.

4: The definition of a “Derby” and should the association change the rules to simplify the eligibility requirements by making a derby any hound under the age of two years of age.

5: Last but not least: Jackets will be handed out in a brief awards ceremony to all hounds and hounds men receiving awards listed above. Please try to attend to accept your award, if you can not attend please make prior arrangements to have your jacket picked up by someone attending the meeting.