Update on migration to CFA's new computer system, the status of epoints and registrations, and Central Office changes. Read it here |
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Our banner cat for the July, 2014 Newsletter is CFA's Beat Cat, GC, BW, NW BELAMY'S DESIDERATA OF CINEMA
(Photo by Chanan)
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Yearbook Cover Contest
This year the Yearbook Department will be holding a contest for the design of the cover. The requirements are simple - anything related to cats. If you think you have the perfect design for the cover, please submit it to Shelly Borawski.The dimensions are 8.75" x 11.25". The design should be submitted as CMYK TIFF at 300 DPI. Please allow 3 inches at the top of the design for our masthead.
The designs will be judged by our specially selected judges. If your design is chosen, you will receive $500. Submissions are now being accepted. The deadline for all submissions is July 31, 2014. Anything received after that date will not be considered. Good luck!
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Do you want to see your cat's picture on one of CFA's Social Media sites? Send those cute, funny and entertaining pictures to Jodell Raymond at [email protected] and we will make sure to give you photo credit. Show our Social Media Fans what showing in CFA is all about!
photo courtesy Kathi Hoos
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YEARBOOK ADVERTISING
AUGUST 15
Complete information is here
BREED COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL AUGUST 1
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UPDATE
All National Top 25 cats are now on the CFA webside (Under Shows -> Award Winning Cats menu) Breed Winners coming soon.
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What a busy month June was! (and July has been!) Lots of people had a great time in New Orleans at the Annual, lots of changes in both the people in CFA and in a lot of CFA programs. And a few changes with the CFA Newsletter, too.
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Lots has happened in the past month ...
The Gulf Shore Region hosted a most memorable Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Our co-chairs, Jan Rogers & Patti Oehler, had obviously worked non-stop for months and thought of every possible detail to make sure everyone had a good time. The Friday night "Mask-purr-ade" party was the most fun I've ever had at a hospitality event. With over 200 people competing in the costume contest, and lots of others joining in the fun, you had to see it to believe it.
There was also an election for Officers and Regional Directors. Three of our four Officers are new to their office and eight of our nine Regional Directors are also new. We welcome our new Board members and thank those who are departing for their generous efforts on behalf of CFA.
Lots of fresh faces on our Board of Directors. New people bring new ideas and it should be an exciting time for both our Board and our constituents. One of the changes I made as the new President was to cut back the number of Board meetings from twelve to six each year. We will meet every other month with in-person meetings in October, February & next July and conference call meetings in August, December, and April.
Another change impacts our Protest process. In the past, the Board dealt with protests only at the three major meetings (Oct, Feb, June). That really stretched out the process and it was common for protests to take a full year from submission of the protest through resolution. We will now handle protests at every Board meeting. This should help move the process along at a quicker pace.
Our Director of Operations (DO) for the past three years, Donna Jean Thompson, will be retiring on August 1st. Many thanks to DJ for all she did for us running our Central Office. We wish her much happiness in her retirement. While she is retiring from her job, she will continue to serve as one of our more popular judges so she will continue to participate in our hobby. To answer a popular question, Donna loves Ohio and plans to remain there. When the DO position was created in 2010, it was intended to be a temporary position until the association was able to once again hire an Executive Director. As many of you know, the Board decided last February to hire an Executive Director. We created both a position description and a job announcement, advertised the job, reviewed resumes, and interviewed some excellent candidates for the job. We will soon announce our selection.
In closing, I want to thank our members for the trust you have placed in me as CFA's new President. While some are expecting major changes under my leadership, that's not my plan. I anticipate some tweaking but I believe our recent business plan of slow, steady growth is a sound one and I expect to continue to support that plan. As I stated in my Welcome speech at the Annual, when I leave office you will still recognize our CFA.
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  Central Office Systems Update
By Dennis Ganoe As I reported at the Annual in New Orleans (a fabulous annual, BTW) the new office computer system went 'live' on April 1 st. This was really the only time when we could have gone live without disrupting our year end processes even more than we did. I thank you for your forbearance. During the month of April we discovered several things about the new system and how it worked that required some re-engineering. The payment module was rewritten as were financial reports. The inability to process payment as an integral part of the registration process put us behind on registrations which we are only now beginning to catch up. Adding to the registration backlog was the year end reporting and certificate printing as well as summer vacation schedules. On July 14th we got back to full strength in the office. In addition we hired temporary help to reduce the back log of registrations. The additional help is working and we are now processing 3-4 days worth of submissions every day. As of this writing, the staff is working on June 8th submissions. Our agreement with you, our customers, is to process your registrations within 10 days and at the present rate we should reach the 10 turn-around window before the end of July. The other backlog we are working through is show scoring and publishing that information. All shows held this year had their data entered and validated within the office system. We have been posting 'grand' points as soon as we can to each cat's record and once it is posted to the cat's record it is available on Herman On-Line (hol.cfa.org). Our only glitch in grand scoring is moving a cat from championship to premiership within the reporting module. Currently those are manually corrected and an automated solution is being implemented as fast as possible. We have fully scored the first weekend of May and have run the E-Point reports for internal review. During this review we identified an issue with the overall National points, which the programmers are working on right now. We will post e-points on a daily basis once we are sure the reports are accurate. When we have caught up publishing past show scores, we will return to posting a weekly report on Friday. For those of you who subscribe to the CFA Almanac on line to view E-points, we have in place a mechanism that will suspend your subscription expiration and extend the subscription for the length of time you are going without regularly posted E-points. Our new portal for processing online litter and cat registrations (eCat.cfa.org) continues to be the best option for registering your cats and litters. The staff can process these submissions much faster than paper submissions because the system does most of the data validation at the time of submission. This cuts down on processing errors. Because there are less questionable submissions from eCat, we are processing them before old online submissions and mailed applications. We are picking the easy fruit to speed registrations through the process. Nevertheless, we will be caught up will all submissions by the end of July. The eCat portal had some minor issues determining the proper breed of a litter but we've found these were situations that the old system could not handle. Additional programming has been made to correct the error systemically rather than the staff needing to do each exception manually. We are also beginning to process "holds" for Sire approvals, leased dam and co-breeders within 24-48 hours. The future of our office computer system is looking bright. Our system continues to be improved. Technically we are having fewer code problems reported and almost all of them are corrected within 24 hours by our contractor. We are investigating the possibility of re-establishing Voice Herman as well as creating a small smart-phone application that will link to Herman On-Line, CFA Show Schedule as well as other information needed on-the-go by our customers. This move has not been without challenges but the rewards we are beginning to see and envision are well worth the effort. |
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"Cat Talk" Adds Digital Edition
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 by Teresa Keiger, editor "Cat Talk"
CFA's magazine "Cat Talk" takes a leap into the digital age by releasing an online digital version of its print magazine. We heard from many of our European and Asian exhibitors that they wanted to subscribe to Cat Talk, but shipping for the print version made it very expensive. Additionally, we have a potential subscriber base in the US that wants a magazine in digital format only. This move will bring Cat Talk to an entirely new market.
The print edition is NOT going away. Too many people want a printed magazine. The digital version will be the same cost as the print version, with the option to bundle with the Online Almanac. The regular subscription is $49; the combo OLA package is an additional $10 for a total of $59.
To receive the Cat Talk/OLA combo, you will subscribe to the digital magazine FIRST. You will then email your magazine receipt (which will be emailed to you when you subscribe) to Carol Bertone at [email protected]. Then go to http://catalog.cfa.org/credit-card.shtml to pay the additional $10 for the OLA combo. DO note that it is for the Digital Cat Talk/OLA combo in the "For" field. Digital back issues will also be available for purchase for $10/each (same as print copy). To subscribe, go to http://magzter.com and create a (free) account. Search for "Cat Talk" and set up your subscription or purchase issues. To read the digital edition, you'll use Magzter's online flip magazine - the same way that you read many other digital magazines. Magzter also has apps to allow you to read magazines on your phone or tablet. Should you end your subscription (and we hope that you won't!) you will still have access to all magazines that you purchased during your subscription period.
In other Cat Talk news:
Did you enjoy Cathy Scarbrough's new column "Fancy That!" and its tips for your felines at home and at show? Do send in your cat-related tips to Cathy at [email protected] Include your name and your cattery name. Cat Talk will only be publishing items in our "Transitions" column that are submitted to us. We will no longer be taking announcements from other news sources/lists. If you want to make certain that someone's retirement, passing, etc., is included in the column email it to me or to [email protected]. We will base the future of this column based on the response that we receive. |
exciting news about the NEW CFA Ambassador Cat Program
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 by Karen Lane
The program we have previously called the I-Cat program has a new beginning and a new name, CFA Ambassador Cat Program. It was recently decided that the Ambassador Cat Program should move out from under the umbrella of the Ambassador Committee. We now officially have a new name, and a renewed promise for the future. The Ambassador Program was started to put people at cat shows to better explain what happens at the cat show. A second Program then was started to put cats and very knowledgeable breeders into the show hall to educate people about the joys of pedigreed cat ownership and to carry the CFA story. Being the same program, but different, confused many people. This season is new beginning for us; we are our own program and our own committee and we are going to be in charge of our own destiny. We have a great core committee to make this program bigger and better. Tracy Dalton is our media person; we will have a new website and Facebook Page. James Flanck is our secretary and treasurer and do all of our record keeping. Chris Willingham will be working to put together our trading card program and our new breed banners.  Starting this season, we are going "back to the future" and use our bright orange cage displays. We are going to brighten them up to attract more attention by adding the color purple. In time you will see the purple color on cushions and in our display area. We have a trading card program in the works and each A-Cat will have trading cards of their breed, the cards will have breed specific information and CFA information for people to take home. Soon you will start seeing new breed banners to get the public involved with our cats and feline appreciation. The Ambassador Cats do a great amount more than just being at CFA cat shows. We attend Pet Expos and help with Pet Adoption Fairs. The cats have been used to help educate the public in places facing anti-breeding legislature, recently Ken Cribbs and Mr. Peabody were instrumental in getting a favorable decision in Hawaii. We make our cats available to our corporate partners for advertising. And some of our cat have appeared in many advertisements, print and television; and have been the subject of U-Tube videos. We will be looking to add new members to this program, please look for application information as soon as our new committee releases the requirements. When the information is released, we invite dedicated people to join this wonderful program. Starting next month we plan to highlight one of our A-Cats in each CFA newsletter. |
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By Joan Miller, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
July 2014
Are YOU The One For This Job ?
CFA Legislative Information Liaison
My job as CFA Legislative Information Liaison is coming to an end. The CFA Legislative Committee is now seeking a replacement for an extremely challenging job that will provide personal growth and gratification for the right person.
Background
Like many cat fanciers I was oblivious to legislation until 1990 when a proposal came close to where I lived. Suddenly the San Mateo County, California, Pet Overpopulation Program (POP) and a proposed ordinance, requiring every dog and cat to be spayed or neutered, opened my eyes. I realized that this would be devastating for the future of pedigreed cats and CFA. With a few other cat fanciers I attended my very first legislative community forum. We were appalled at the visuals showing barrels of dead animals and being told we, as breeders, were responsible. Kim Sturla, at that time the Director of the Peninsula Humane Society and with the Fund for Animals, had developed an emotional strategy to convince the public and lawmakers that the solution to the killing of animals in shelters was to stop all breeding. She became famous for her "Kill the Crisis Not the Animals" campaign, and her statement that "Our goal is to make [the public believe] breeding [dogs and cats] is like drunk driving and smoking".
Two important organizations had been established in Northern California - The Animal Council and The National Pet Alliance. Both welcomed cat and dog fanciers. We attended many meetings to plan strategy, and we were successful in effectively diluting the original San Mateo proposal.
This was my start, almost 25 years ago, and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since. I have been rewarded by working with others dedicated to addressing laws detrimental to the breeding of pedigreed cats and the concept of pet ownership and with cat fanciers who advocate for humane treatment of feral cats, homeless and unowned stray cats. The following outlines how the CFA Legislative Committee and the CFA Legislative Group, consisting of three people, function. Included is a brief job description for the Legislative Information Liaison position.
Read More
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Judges' Advancements and Retirements
Recently retiring from CFA's Judging Program: Holly Ayers, Bob Bryan, Jean Grimm,
and Norma Placchi.
Donna Davis was granted a one-year leave of absence.
Nicholas Pun was accepted as a Shorthair Trainee.
Koji Kanise was advanced to Apprentice Longhair 2nd Specialty.
Stephen Joostema was advanced to Approved LH/SH Specialty.
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 CFA Judges' Association
Hi all. As I take over my duties as the new President of the Judges' Association, i am reminded of what this Association is all about. It is an Association by Judges for Judges. I hope to keep moving forward with the vision that our former President had, 100% membership, social activities, and working for the betterment of our services to the Clubs in CFA.
To that end i just want to remind all CFA Clubs that Show Rule 16.04, REQUIRES that the Show Secretary must send a copy of the Flyer to the officiating Judge and the Regional Director. Show Rule 16.05 requires that the Show Secretary must provide information about the hotel, and ground transportation to the hotel and to and from the Showhall, to each officiating judge, and 16.05.1 says the Show Secretary shall provide an emergency number or cell phone numbers to the officiating judges the day prior to the date of the show.
Many Clubs do not provide this information to our judges, and we are often left on our own to request this information or try to find a flyer online, or call a friend or Club Member the night before we leave, so we can leave our families and Pet Sitters this important information. It is not our responsibility to get this information, it is the Club we are judging for, that has the responsibility to provide it to us.
Please make sure your Clubs comply with these show rules. It makes for a much more pleasant experience for all of us.
Have a great Show Season!
We look forward to handling your beautiful cats!
Ellyn Honey
President Judges' Association |
Norma Placchi Retires
by Kathi Hoos
On June 30,2014 Norma J. Placchi retired from CFA's Judging program. Norma entered the judging program in 1979 and has been an Allbreed judge since 1988.
Norma and her late husband Howard registered Bundash Cattery in 1971. She bred both American shorthairs and Havana Browns. Bundash Cattery owned the first Havana Brown DM, Charm's Dazzle of Bundash. This DM was not only the first DM but it was a one litter DM. Bundash also produced the first Havana Brown kitten to become a National Winner, GC, NW Bundash Levi Garrett, placing as 11th Best Kitten Nationally.
Norma served as Havana Brown Breed Council Secretary from 1986 -1997 and from 2002 -2012.
Norma's cheerful demeanor, and her gentl e handling of all cats will be missed behind the judges table. When Norma was judging you could see that big smile break across her face when she found a beautiful example of a breed, no matter what breed. Her appreciation of all cats, and her understanding of what it takes to bring a cat from a tiny kitten to the full grown adult allowed her to have a special relationship with exhibitors and breeders.
We will miss seeing Norma as a judge and wish her a wonderful, happy, healthy retirement in New Mexico.
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We'll Miss You Holly!
by Marti Semans
Holly Ayers has recently resigned from the CFA Judging Program, due to health complications.
Holly started her "Hollydaze " Cattery with Award winning Himalayans in 1982. Himi's were always her main breed, although she did work with Persians, Exotics and had a litter of Siamese and one of Abys.
Holly joined the CFA Judging program in 1996. She has been a respected and sought after Judge both in the United States and Abroad. I recently asked her if she would share a couple of funny moments from her Judging experiences.
Following are a couple moments she shared:
"I was doing a HHP final and as always I like to tease the HHP owners with my last 2 cats for Best and Second Best. I was doing that pretending I could not make up my mind so I turned to the cats and said "who wants to be best?" and one cat sat up on his hind legs and raised his paw. The crowd went wild, so of course it was my Best HHP. "
"My second funniest and most embarrassing memory was I was doing a kitten final and I had Michael Shelton as my clerk. He had been my clerk for 2 weekends in a row. As I was thanking Mike for clerking I said "I got lucky with Mike 2 weekends in a row" It took about 5 seconds for me to realize what I said and when I did realize it, I almost died of embarrassment. When it sunk in to everyone there, we laughed for 10 minutes. I could not look Mike in the face for the rest of the day. People still bring that incident up."
Holly has been a devoted friend to the Fancy. As an example of her giving spirit I recall how she stepped in to help and support fellow exhibitor Pat Helmick through her battle with cancer. Holly in true fashion spent weeks both in hospital and at home with her. In the end she took over all the funeral arraignments to assist Pat's family.
We are going to miss our beautiful Holly behind the Judging podium. She has always been so "beautifully presented" and brought such Class to our Cat Fancy. We'll miss her quick sense of humor. We'll also miss the great way she kindly handled our cats.
I know you will miss us as well Holly so please come visit us from time to time and get that much needed kitty fix!
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 Clerking Test If you've paid your biennial dues, you should have received by now the link to the online clerking test. If not, please let us know so you can maintain your status as a licensed clerk! If you take the test ONLINE, you will get your grade immediately. You also have the opportunity to take it over again if your score is below the required minimum (85% for ring clerks, 90% for master clerks). If you have sent it in on the Scantron sheet, these have not yet been graded as Central Office's focus has been on the Annual. Please remember that if you did not pass the test via Scantron, you can either take another test online, or have Central Office send you another test and scantron sheet to retake the test. At this time (7/14/2014) 180 individuals have taken the test online, with an average score of 95.6. With the availability to take the test over, you can improve the grade without waiting! Additionally, as stated in a previous CFA News, there are several questions that have more than 1 answer. I have been giving those individuals credit if they answered at least ONE of them correctly (Scantron does not have that option). As I check the test results, I have been giving those individuals credit for those questions; thus, increasing grades. I will send out the grading updates weekly. CONTRARY to the rumor mill: the online test is NOT difficult to work with! And having the ability to take the test a second time, as well as know your score upon completion, has been a great advantage! If you've passed, you've completed your 2 evaluations - you're relicensed! (You just have to wait for your card in the email - and we are looking to provide that online as well!) Taking the Clerking test online: the quickest way to obtain your score is to do the following: - If you feel uncomfortable with taking the test directly online, go thru the paper version, put in your answers.
- Go online and put those answers into the test. At the completion of the test, you will get your score. If you don't achieve the grade you need (85% for clerk; 90% for master clerk) you can take it a second time.
- Please note: there are several questions that have more than one answer. Once I receive your results, I can go thru and see if you missed them and give you credit. Many people have gotten 90% or higher because of this. If you do not pass, we will let you know.
Clerking Schools At the Board meeting at the Annual, there was an outstanding issue in regards to fees for the Clerking Schools. The following was approved by the board (per the CFA Secretary's notes): - For Clerking Schools requested more than 30 days from the date of the school, in addition to the fees for the Student Kits, there is a $25 fee.
- For Clerking Schools within 15-30 days out, there is an additional $75 processing fee, in addition to $125 for express shipping, if necessary - or no shipping fees of the materials are to be downloaded/sent electronically
- Clerking schools will not be approved within 15 days of the school
It was also recommended that the Clerking School Instructor materials be available for download from the CFA website. They will be working on that and should have that available in the near future. Judges: please remember that if you plan on teaching a Clerking School, you must take and pass the current Clerking Test at the Ring Clerk level. Clerking for the World Show Judges have been asked to select the clerk they would like to have for the World Show. On occasion, if they cannot find a clerk, they will ask the Show Committee to find one for them. If you would like to be on that list, please contact me and I will put you on it. PLEASE NOTE: in order to clerk at the World Show, you must be currently LICENSED, even if you have already been asked to clerk. So, to expedite the process, you might want to take the test online! |
 WINN FELINE FOUNDATION
by Betty White
Change is in the air at Winn, but it is all good! Dr., Glenn Olah became president of Winn -- no surprise as he served the board this past year as president-elect. He has been quite busy with the Winn blog and a myriad of other tasks in anticipation of his new position. Dr. Vicki Thayer, president of Winn for the past two terms, has agreed to serve the Foundation as executive director. It is a daunting position, but Winn is exceedingly fortunate to have such a capable person at the helm. The board is delighted to have such enthusiastic, caring people guiding its future.
Many of you will remember Dr. J. Gookin of North Carolina State University who spoke at the Winn Symposium a few years ago. She is doing some heavy duty, Winn-funded research in Ecoli infections in kittens. Purina is preparing an article about her research for their upcoming newslet
 ter, and the author is anxious to interview any breeders who have experience with this problem. The contact information is [email protected]. The working deadline is the 18th!
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Winnie hopes you all enjoyed the CFA Annual as much as her assistant did . She dropped one of those feather masks when she unpacked, and I FOUND IT!
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Feline Youth Education Program
by Cathy Dunham
Congratulations to the National winning youth participants on a successful show season sponsored by Royal Canin. Their current successes are the foundation on which a very bright future will be built. The program was designed to let the young people of CFA determine their own path through various activities in hopes that they will find themselves in the hobby they love and in life in general. All our young people have accomplished a great deal this year from showing their feline companion to helping shelters with fund raising and food drives to stewarding at shows to helping with all aspects of show production to promoting CFA in the most positive light to the general public.
The positive attitudes these kids have exhibited all year have given us some great moments and wonderful memories to be shared with family, friends, and the cat fancy in general. The contributions made by each of them will be felt for years to come, it gives the program great pleasure to recognize the National Winners, please join the program in congratulating the future of CFA on their accomplishments
 | | Nautika receiving her YFEP Award at the Annual Meeting (Chanan Photo) |
Overall Winner: Nautika Buterakos
Division One - Cubs Division Two - Lions
1. Payton Gomez 1. Nautika Buterakos
2. Aiden Bartlo 2. Rebecca Gibson
3. Ethan Wright 3. Hailey Goldsbary
Division Three - Cats
1. Hope Gibson
2. MacKenna Goldsbary
3. Richelle Hanes
If any child, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or friend would like more information about the exciting Youth Feline Education Program, please visit our website at www.Yfep.org or contact Cathy Dunham, YFEP Chair at [email protected]
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CFA Management Committee
With the election of Dick Kallmeyer to the VP position, I would like to thank President Mark Hannon and the current CFA Board for selecting me to fill the open DAL seat. I will continue as head of the Management Committee and pledge to work in a continued diligent manner to solve issues for CFA. I am indeed humbled at the appointment and will do all I can to help CFA be the best organization possible!
I'm pleased to announce the members of my committee are: Ginger Meeker, Chair Pam Delabar Jean Dugger Dennis Ganoe Dick Kallmeyer Jodell Raymond.
Thanks to all these people for being willing to put in the time and energy to make things work! As we complete projects, our work will be published in this newsletter.
Regards, Ginger Meeker
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 | | Sophia & Yooni Staples receiving Best Cat |
by Geri Fellerman
Regional Director
The only show in our region in June was our annual Regional Show and Awards Banquet on Saturday, June 21, in Stamford, CT, which had the theme of Margaritaville. Lots of tropical fun ensued and the banquet decorations fit beautifully with the theme. Thanks to everyone involved in this production - it went off flawlessly. We then had the bonus of a Sunday show as well thanks to Capital Cat Fanciers from Region 7. Shown are some photos from the show and banquet courtesy of Carolyn Jimenez.
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Jeri Zottoli receives Best Cat in Premiership, with Russell Webb
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A staple for Independence Day weekend in our Region is the Diamond State show held in Delaware. Needless to say, there was a red, white and blue theme as shown in the photo below left - also courtesy of Carolyn Jimenez. I've been attending this show for about as long as I've been in the cat fancy and can always count on a good time (although I had to leave early due to expected kittens). We can always look forward to a wonderful raffle table.
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Gary Veach & Omar Gonzalez receiving Best Kitten, with Lorraine Rivard and Russell Webb.
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We are now gearing up for the Garden State show next weekend. Lots of work but very rewarding. Stay tuned for a report in the next Newsletter.
 | | Jeri Zottoli judging at the Diamond State show |
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Dennis Ganoe, Director at Large and delegates, Carol Warrens, Marianne Clark and Betty Carruthers
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by Terri Zittel, Region 2 Secretary
First of all we would like to congratulate Pam Moser, our new Region 2 Director and Ginger Meeker as Director at Large, fulfilling Dick Kalmeyer's term of office. Both of these ladies will be assets to the CFA Board.
Twelve kittens and cats from Region 2 made National Wins this year. 5 Kittens: GC, NW Mystic Rose Magic Man of Purrcasso, GC, NW Parti Wai My Blue Heaven of Cuzzoe, GC, NW DotDotDot Reflections of Wild Rain,GC NW Castilleja Lite Brite of Jobara, GC, NW Kiomichi's Outrageous Fortune.
3 in Championship: GC, BW, NW Cinema's Valentino of Wishes, GC, NW Maine Lvrs Charlie Brown, GC, BW, NW Amber Snow ChoclatMousse of RK Gems.
4 in Premiership: GC, GP, NW Calivan's Tuff Tiger, GC, GP, NW Ivy Cat Ice Breaker of Gr8katz, CH, GP, NW Purrcasso's Starry Night, GC, GPD, NW Syracoon Aslan The Lionhearted.
The Cattery of Distinction is certainly a great way to honor those breeders that produce many fine cats year after year. Those Region 2 breeders honored at the annual are Tier V (100 - 149 grands) Wain Harding (Bastis), Paul and Ginger Meeker (Castlkatz); Tier VI (150 - 199 grands) Marianne Clark (Kurisumasu); Tier VII (200 - 249 grands) Dee Johnson and Connie Roberts (San-Toi).
Pam will be holding regional meetings at the SunKats show on July 20th on Sunday morning and at the Poppy State show on August 9th. She is open to items of discussion so have your ideas and questions ready for her.
Finally, congratulations to Region 3 on the wonderful convention held in New Orleans this year. Our delegates and winners were delighted with the Mask-Purr-Ade party on Friday night and I hear the delegate bags were a big hit.
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by Steve McCullough, Regional Director
Whew!! What an amazing month June was. Pulling together all the stuff that goes with putting on an Annual. Between Jan Rogers, Patti Oehler, their committee heads and their teams of people, it all culminated in a truly fun-filled, informative, and celebratory few days. While I know that Jan and Patti were there for the week prior, several of the Krew began arriving late Tuesday to early Wednesday. Bag stuffing began @ 9:00 a.m. sharp on Wednesday. Pam Bassett & Tracy Bayarena had all the items staged around the room on tables while stuffers grabbed a bag and went around the tables gathering everything that clubs and individuals donated for those wonderful bags. By the time they were at the end of the line we were hearing how heavy they were. Completed bags were lined up and it was off to get another empty one to go through the process again. It was really fun watching it all come together. By 12:30 we had over 500 bags stuffed and ready to give to delegates.
 | | Patti and David Oehler |
Work was not over though. While we enjoyed lunch the group signed Thank You cards. Pam, you kept us all working and kept it all organized. Tracy, words are not adequate to describe the amount of work you put in to gathering all the wonderful things that were in that bag. I heard so many comments from people all week-end about the quality of the items in the bags. Everything from the Region 3's Hospitality night Thursday, and Region 9's Masq-Purr-ade Ball on Friday night, culminating in the Award Presentation and Banquet on Saturday night, everything just flowed. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as it appeared they did.
Our popular and beloved Allbreed Judge Betty White has retired from the judging program. She received a wonderful Thank You standing ovation at the Annual. We are still looking forward to see Betty from time to time.
Since the folks in Region 3 were working so hard on getting ready for NOLA, there were no Region 3 shows in June. As we are recovering from NOLA and gearing up for our postponed Regional show in August, there are no Region 3 shows in July. Our Regional Show and Banquet will be held in Alexandria, LA on August 13-14, 2014.
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by John Colilla, Regional Director
The Great Lakes Region held their latest meeting at the Sternwheel Cat Fanciers' show on July 5th. Like a well-run business we will become more customer-oriented and driven. We have started exploring social media and finding ways to create more show awareness for the general public. Carmen Lawrence and Lorna Friemoth were assigned to head up this project and they welcome all feedback and suggestions.
Over the next few months we hope to develop and get a site published with pertinent information for the upcoming 2015 annual in Toronto, Canada.
Be sure to mark our upcoming shows on your calendar:
July 26th, Motor City Jazz Club & Midwest Persian Tabby Fanciers are putting on a one day show in Taylor, MI with 5 Allbreed rings and 1 Specialty ring.
August 16th, Midwest Persian Tabby Fanciers has a one day show in Taylor, MI with 5 Allbreed rings and 1 Specialty ring.
August 23rd & 24th, Sacred Cat of Burma is having a show in Medina, OH with 8 Allbreed rings and 2 Specialty rings.
August 30th & 31st, National Siamese Cat Club is holding a 10 Allbreed ring show in Brockport, NY.
We hope to see you all there!
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by Lisa Marie Kuta, Regional Director
As a brand new board member I look forward to serving the Southwest Region and CFA! Thank you to Michael Shelton for his four years of service as regional director.
Region 5 celebrated "All That Glitters" at our annual awards show and banquet on June 14 in Palm Springs, California. A huge "thank you" to the show management and all that came and helped set up. Such a lovely event wouldn't be possible with all the dedicated volunteers and exhibitors.
We wish to extend special congratulations to our exhibitor and clerk of the year! Bonnie Wilson is our clerk of the year. Master clerking, ring clerking and entry clerking--Bonnie does it all! Our exhibitor of the year is RoseAnn Wheeler. Rose produces shows, organizes banquets and otherwise makes the most difficult looks easy all while showing her cats with dedication.
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by Candilee Jackson, Midwest Region Secretary
What an annual! Regions 3 and 9 did a spectacular job of hosting the CFA world! Many thanks to everyone who participated in the planning, promoting and running of an incredible event: the bar has certainly been set for next year in Toronto. The Midwest Region was well represented with many attendees gathering for meetings, parties and of course, the spectacular awards banquet. A surprise for most was the banquet's emcees, our own Kirk and Candilee Jackson, who proved their mettle in improvising a New Orleans style sing-a-long when technology failed during the presentations.
 | | Donna Hetherington |
Moving from all this excitement to the show season, the MWR is off to a slow start, with few shows during the hot summer months.
Upcoming is the joint Midwest TGIF and Abyssinian Midwest Breeders show in St Louis, MO, on August 2-3 which promises a great show and even greater fellowship. The following weekend, August 9, finds the Midwesties attending a beach party courtesy of Mo-Kan Cat Club where there will be a bikini contest! This is a must-see, folks!
In closing, the MWR was saddened to learn of the passing of long time exhibitor, Donna Hetherington. The backbone of Mo-Kan, Donna's lovely kitties and friendly presence will be greatly missed.
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 by Jean Dugger, Regional Director
As a brand new board member I look forward to serving the Southern Region. Once again the Southern Region has proven its excellence in breeders and exhibitors with Best Cats in Premiership and Agility, as well as numerous National winning kittens, Champions, Premiers, and Breed awards. I am honored to be the new Regional Director for this wonderful group of people who are making indelible contributions to our beloved cat fancy.
Already we are making plans for upcoming events. We have plans for fundraisers and I have had many people come forward offering to do important jobs that make our region run smoothly and effectively. We have many exciting shows on the calendar: Richmond at the end if July, then Foothill Feliness, Tropical Cats/That's My Point, and Ocicats International/Maine Street in August. The Southern Region is going to have a great 2014-2015 show season.
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by Edward Maeda, Regional Director
The Japan Region held a Regional regular club meeting and Award banquet Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu on 13 July, Sunday afternoon, 2014.
At the club meeting, a region financial report and region activities report for 2013-2014 was presented by previous Regional Director, Kayoko Koizumi, after which the new Regional Director greeted club delegates and announced new region staff, region secretary, and region treasurers. The new regional staff then took over duties from the old staff.
On Sunday night after the meeting, the old Regional Director opened the award banquet. The old regional director's duty expire at closing of this banquet.
Thank you very much to Kayoko Koizumi and the regional staffs for your long service. I appreciate Kayoko Koizuni and all of the old regional staff members.
Last show season's Best cat in Championship in Japan Region is GC, RW Zukadream Fantasia, a copper-eyed white solid Persian female, bred and owned by Mie Takahashi. Congratulations !!
The next monthly report from Japan Region will be our Regional Awards !!
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by Pam DelaBar, Regional Director
Region 9 had super representation at the CFA Annual Meeting in New Orleans as many of our clubs had delegates at the annual business meeting. It was very exciting to
see the fabulous accomplishments of European cats in the national wins this year:  13th Best Cat GC, BW NW Brumar Just a Gigolo of Kuorii, a Shaded Silver Persian from Italy 15th Best Cat GC, BW, NW Lac Hong Harlem Desir, a Bombay
from France
18th Best Cat GC, BW, NW Lyuboburm Shaula, a Burmese from Russia 19th Best Cat GC, BW, NW Omina Mea Citius Altius Fortius, Abyssinian from Russia 21st Best Cat GC, BW, NW De Silsanos Koko, a mackerel tabby Persian from Spain Best Longhair Manx was from Finland, GC, BW, RW Touchant Sans Queue (also the Penguins at the MaskPurrAde Ball!)
And definitely not forgotten, CFA's Best Cat for 2013-2014 GC, BW, NW, Belamy's Desiderata of Cinema, was bred by Monika Vowe of Germany.  | | Region 9 Delegates at the Annual meeting |
We are preparing for our exciting regional show and awards banquet to be held in Bremen, Germany 2-3 August. Our first regional meeting for this show year will be held at noon on 3 August. Also, we are hosting the first BAOS for this show year in Bremen 31 July-1 August. Everyone is invited to the show and the banquet which will surely be a festive event this year thanks to our hosts, the German CatWalk club.
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 | | Amanda Cheng and Thomas Low |
by Richard Kallmeyer, International Division Chair
The International Division welcomes the new ID reps: Amanda Cheng (from Shenzhen, China) and Thomas Low (from Singapore). Amanda, CFA's first judge from China, will have primary responsibility for Korea, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Thomas will cover Southern Asia countries. Both with work with the ID committee to develop the Gulf Shore countries, Africa and Central/South America.
The ID committee congratulates Phebe Low for her well-deserved second CFA Star award, well deserved for her 6 years service as an ID rep. The committee also welcomes 2 new members. Cathy Calhoun as the 2nd board member on the committee and Kenny Currle returning to handle the Gulf Shore Community countries.
The ID had two National Winners this year. Wenwei (Allen) Shi, from Shanghai, China had CFA's 7th Best Kitten, GC, NW Kitties Land Dream A Blue Doll, Blue British Shorthair). (Allen is shown with his wife, Charlene). Long (Allen) Chen, also from Shanghai China) had CFA's 9th Best Cat, GC, NW Parti Wai Ex Route 66 of Joycat Ex, a Brown Spotted Tabby And White Exotic.
On July 11, Passion Feline Fanciers put on the first show of the season in Taiwan in Tainan. Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan and the 4th largest city. Matthew Wu was the show manager and An An (Anna) Hsieh was the show secretary, a first time for both of them! Anna is a television news reporter for Macau, residing in Taipei
 | | Show setup with Master Clerk, Kit Fung; Show Manager Matthew Wu; PFF officers Danny Tai and Chris Wong |
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LH Specialty judge Amanda Cheng at her very first show! Assisted by Petter, a police officer in Tauochung, Taiwan.
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