This article will be a long one as there is a lot of information to cover and thoughts that need to be shared. Please take the time to read the entire article, think about some of the issues, and give us feed back.

It may appear that the same information is being submitted week after week, but that is the only way to get the information out to the bowlers. Once the meeting, the banquet or the tournament is over it is deleted from the blog. If I don’t keep putting the information out there we (the men and women who serve on your local association boards or the individuals who are your league officers) keep hearing the same old line: "I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, I NEVER KNEW THERE WAS A TOURNAMENT, I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THAT MEETING, I DIDN’T....." This is the way it has been for many years and will probably continue to be that way infinitum.

Do you, THE BOWLERS, have any suggestions about how to get the information to you, THE BOWLERS, other than the means we now have???? Suggestions are greatly appreciated. We have exhausted all means that we have and have discussed this issue for years, however, we have failed to come up with new ideas of how to get the information to the bowler.

It is you the bowler that suffers when you have poor leadership in your league. Your most important league officers are your president, your secretary/treasurer and your team captains. And yes, it is important to have a team captain. They have responsibilities to their team and to the league in general. Take the time to read the rule book and see what the responsibilities of the various officers are. If the officers that you have elected or hired (yes - you hire your Secretary/Treasurer because YOU PAY THEM) are not carrying out their job duties, THEN REPLACE THEM. You have the power. Most leagues PAY a secretary/treasurer. They are your employee. If they are not providing you the service that you feel you deserve then fire them and hire someone else. Talk with other bowlers from other leagues and see if they are receiving information from their league officers that you are not. Find out why!!

The rule book is available on-line at USBC. I know a lot of individuals do not have home computers however you can go to the public library and read the book, print it out in its entirety or just parts of it.

IF YOU REALLY WANT A RULE BOOK AND DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE LIBRARY IF YOU WILL LEAVE A NOTE IN THE WOMEN’S 600 CLUB BOX WITH YOUR NAME AND LEAGUE AT ANY OF THE CENTERS WE WILL SEE THAT YOU GET A RULE BOOK. USBC DOES SEND A FEW EXTRA - NOT LIKE THEY USED TO - HOWEVER WE HAVE SOME EXTRAS AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ENOUGH TO ASK FOR ONE WE WILL GET IT TO YOU. Remember, that a new book is published for distribution in August. Any changes will be in the newest book so you will need to request a new book in August after the League Officer’s Meeting.

The league secretary/treasurer is the only means the local boards and clubs have of getting information to you the league bowler regarding upcoming meetings, tournaments, club information, etc. They are our contact with your league and you the league bowler. Your league can only be as strong and as informed as your leaders.

We put the information out at the bowlers centers only to have the notices taken down, left on the tables, used for scratch paper, etc. We (again the board members and league officers) have run out of ideas.

Each year there is a "League Officers Meeting" held in August to provide to the league president and secretary/treasurer the packets of information they will need for the coming league season. Included in the packets are: a calendar of all the events that we know about; average books; rule books; league officers manual; flyers for the various clubs and certification applications. Less than half of the officers attend. They make arrangements to pick up their package and blindly go forward. If they don’t understand something they skip over it and never come back to it or throw it away. DO THE OFFICERS FOR YOUR LEAGUE ATTEND? Just because they attended one meeting many years ago they don’t feel that they need to attend again. WRONG. There is new information each year to be gone over. This is a question/answer session for league officers to ensure that they understand the information that is in their packet.

We hear from bowlers that their league secretary never passes anything out in the league outside of the recap sheet and the standing sheet. Wonder where all the flyers, newsletters and other bits of information are going? - apparently not to you the bowler.

HOT OFF THE PRESSES - USBC HAS DECIDED TO LEAVE THE CURRENT AWARD PROGRAM STAND. THEY WILL NOT BE MAKING ANY CHANGES TO THE 2008-2009 AWARD PROGRAM. THEY ARE LOOKING AT MAKING CHANGES IN THE FUTURE BUT AFTER A LITTLE OVER ONE MILLION E-MAILS BEING RECEIVED AT THE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS THEY DECIDED TO LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE, AT LEAST FOR NOW. There will be more to report after I return from the National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, the first week in May.

Results from the Ocala Women’s 500 Club Annual Spring Surprise Doubles held at AMF East on March 29 and 30, 2008. Women who are members of any Women’s 500 Club in the State of Florida are invited to attend and they are paired up with a member of the Ocala Women’s 500 Club for a doubles tournament. This year there were more out of town participants than local women bowlers. Winners are: 1^st place Linda Myer, Polk County/Jan Schneider, Leesburg; 2^nd place Cathy Parish, Ocala/Lise Sheerin, Leesburg; 3^rd place Debbie McPhail, Ocala/Rosetta Reed, Polk County; 4^th place Lynn Tucker, Ocala/Cynthia Barrie, Gainesville; 5^th place Mary Laurendi, Ocala/Pauline Placeres, Tampa; 6^th place (tie) Shelda Hines, Ocala/Fay Evans, Polk County and Lisa Asechliman, Ocala/Karen LaVick, Leesburg; 8^th place Fair Cox, Ocala/Diana Eichlin, Polk County; 9^th place Elaine Sistler, Ocala/Bobbi Cupp, Polk County; 10^th place Cindy Raborn, Ocala/Mary Ann Adkins, Gainesville; 11^th place Kerry Tims, Ocala/Carol Fremeau, Golden Triangle; and 12^th place Joan Neal, Ocala/Esther Farro, Suwannee Valley. Congratulations to all those who cashed!!

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS HAVE BEEN SCHEDULED AS FOLLOWS:

The Annual Awards Banquet will be held on Friday, April 25, 2008, at the Ramada Inn at I-75 and 27. There will be a cash bar/social hour beginning at 6:00 p.m.; buffet dinner at 7:00 p.m.; presentation of awards at approximately 8:00 p.m. to be followed by entertainment and dancing. Tickets are available from any Association Board member or by contacting Jerry Abrams 625-1133 or Debbie Whitten 694-3373 co-chairpersons. Tickets are $25 per person. Come check out the entertainment after the banquet/awards.

The next 6 game sweeper will be on Sunday May 18, 2008, at AMF Ocala. Entries close 30 minutes prior to squad time. Squads are at noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. Sign up and join in the fun.

Summer league information is available at all the centers. Check out what is available and if you don’t see a format you want - check in to setting up such a league - there are a multitude of options and formats available there should be one for you!!

CORRECTION TO THE PHONE NUMBERS - - Attention golfers: A Memorial tournament for the benefit of Kimmy Cairns-High’s children will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008, at the Citrus Springs Golf & Country Club. 8 a.m. shotgun start; included is golf and cart; lunch and door prizes. In addition there will be a closest to the pin and long drive contests. Cost is $55 per person. Sponsor a hole for $50. For more information please contact Joe Stewart at: 352/489-5045; fax 352/489-2067 or e-mail joestewy21@aol.com.

There is also a ball raffle (Morich) currently going on for the benefit of Kimmy’s children. Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 - see Mike Stiles to purchase your tickets.

LINEAGE INCREASE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY - YES AMF IS RAISING THE COST OF LEAGUE BOWLING AGAIN - THEY WILL TELL YOU THEY HAVEN’T HAD AN INCREASE IN YEARS - BUT WE KNOW THAT TO BE INCORRECT. THEY HAVE INCREASED LINEAGE EVERY YEAR FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS.

I went straight to the horses mouth to get "justification" of why there is another increase. I have not seen any improvements to any of the centers that affect the bowlers so I wanted to know why there is another increase and felt it was best to go to the source and seek an explanation from him. I wrote to Jesse Smith, the North Florida District Manager. His response to me was:

"The need to increase price this season and last is primarily justified by our increasing costs to do business. It is unfortunate but over the last 18 months we have been experiencing steady increases across the board in all of our expenses. The biggest impact this year has been our energy costs and payroll, coupled with A/C repairs and new A/C equipment across all the centers. It is unfortunate, but truthfully at this point the above costs for this year has surpassed the revenue generated by the lineage increase by approximately 3 fold. AMF as a company has for the last 3 years (since purchased by new ownership) been operating in a fashion in which all profits have been reinvested back into the centers annually. You have seen some of this in Ocala in the form of HPL lanes at east, new lane machines at East/West, and the new Snack Bar equipment/installation at West. We are also upgrading the front entranceway at West and the parking lot lighting currently. We are also up for consideration in Ocala for 5 other projects which may or may not come to light based on the needs of our surrounding centers. I, like you and many other Americans hope for some sense to be made out of our current economic conditions as we and many other businesses/households cannot keep up at this pace for an extended period of years."

What do you think of his response? Is it justified?

If you have questions or comments you can contact Mr. Smith at his office located at AMF East 694-1111; his cell phone 672-4398 or you can fax him at 694-2275, which is AMF East.

ATTENTION WOMEN BOWLERS - THERE IS A NEW LEAGUE THAT WILL BE FORMING FOR THE FALL SEASON AT AMF EAST ON FRIDAY NIGHTS AT 6:30 P.M. THIS WILL BE A HANDICAP LEAGUE. THE NAME OF THE LEAGUE WILL BE "DOUBLE DEUCES". FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT EITHER LINDA NYSTROM 687-0050 OR JOLYNN HOLAN 680-0428.

The Ocala USBC Women’s Bowling Association held it’s annual membership meeting on Saturday, April 5, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. at AMF East. Of the approximately 900 women who are eligible to attend the meeting only 26 women took the time to attend. This number includes 14 women who make up the Officers and Directors of the local association board. 12 women took the time to attend the meeting, discuss the legislative issue of a local dues increase, vote on the officers and directors to serve for the 2008-2009 season and the state and national delegates to the conventions. I am sure we will hear about the dues increase. I would respectfully request that you not criticize the board for their actions or the women who attended the meeting and voted. If you were not there to ask questions, make comments or suggestions, then you have no right to say anything negative. Go to a board member and ask them why the increase was necessary. Don’t start rumors or gossip about what you think the reason is, get your information from the correct source. We THANK those women who attended the meeting. Hopefully we were able to provide them with an insight to who the board is, what the board does and that we are their board. We are here to serve the women bowlers of Marion County.

As to the dues increase it was passed and the local dues will be $7 effective immediately (originally it was $5). If you certify through a summer league (any league that starts after March 15, 2008) your fee will be: $10 to USBC (the national organization); $7 to the Ocala USBC WBA (local association) and $1 to the State association for a total of $18.

High Scores for last week:

I know this was a lengthy article but I felt that there was a lot of information that needed to be presented to the bowlers.

Thanks!! for taking the time to read the article and to provide us your feed back, comments, questions or whatever.