The rodeo season is upon us and hopefully you are as excited for the new season as I am. We have a had a tastes of Spring weather and that has been a welcomed change. The board of directors and committees have been working to get this years season put together. The NPRA office is still waiting on some approvals, so check the schedule for changes and updates. A reminder that approvals and a tentative schedule will be on the website nwprorodeo.com as well as in CN. If there is ever any information you would like to have mentioned on either publication please contact the NPRA office 503-829-8868.

NPRA SCHOLARSHIP DUE APRIL 15
Scholarship applications are available for the 2010-20011 school year. Please call the NPRA office for an application. Eligibility requirement are as follows:

Judges/Timers CLINIC
A clinic for Judges, Secretaries and Timers will be held April 10 & 11 this year in Molalla. Please call for times as they have not been clarified at this time. There will be two additional Secretary/Timers only clinics in Culver. The first on April 3 and the next on April 17. Both of these will be at 10AM. You must hold a current card and attend a seminar every other year to maintain your certification. Contact Diana Alexander, 541-548-8293 or Lori Newman,@ the NPRA office 503-829-8868 for more information.

SPRING MEETING
April 24,2010 in Vancouver has been set for the Spring Board Meeting. This will be in conjunction with the NPRA annual Committee Appreciation meeting. All committees are encouraged to attend. For more information about this event, please contact the NPRA office 503-829-8868.

RODEO SCHEDULE
The listed Rodeo Schedule is Tenative and due to some changes. Be sure to check for changes and updates they will be published both in theCN and,on the NPRA website nwprorodeo.com. You may also call the NPRA office 503-829-8868.

MEMBERSHIP
If you have not purchased your 2010 membership card, now is the time to do so. Elma will be our first 2010 Spring rodeo. Entries will be Tuesday, March 16 from 11 AM to 7PM. The NPRA accepts Visa & MasterCard for dues, fines, etc. There is a $7.00 office charge added when using your credit card.

If you qualified from Oregon, Washington, or California to the National High School Rodeo Association Finals Rodeo last July in an event sanctioned by the NPRA, you may request a membership card--permit or regular membership card. A completed membership application must be submitted to the NPRA. Just note what event and give the state in which you placed in your high school association last year.

THE COMPETITOR NEWS
Your subscription year now runs from January 1 to December of each year. Only one issue of the paper will be mailed per household unless you request an additional copy. A card will be in your membership packet to return to the NPRA office to do so. This helps keep the costs down for the newspaper. It is critical that you keep your address current with this office because the paper will not be forwarded.

For questions and sign up for clinics please contact Diana Alexander 541-548-8293 or Lori Newman @NPRA 503-829-8868.

Let me start by saying I am honored to have been elected as your new president. I look forward to serving you and our organization over the next 2 years.

Most of you know I have been the Northern Committee Director for the last 4 years and have been with the Roy Rodeo Association for about 10 years. I retired from the US Army in 2006 and work now for a large Family Practice group in Puyallup Washington.

Our organization is in a bit of transition at this point. Our long-time secretary Rita Rattray has stepped down and she will be missed. Please thank her for her service when you get a chance. Lori Newman is our new secretary and most of you know she is no stranger to this organization. I and the rest of the directors have the utmost confidence in her abilities and we are certain the transition between her and Rita will be smooth.

It takes a lot of work to make this organization run smoothly. We are all on the same team with the goal of putting on the best rodeos, with the best stock and best Cowboys and Cowgirls in the Northwest. This takes effort from each and every one of us, directors, contestants, committees, contact acts, stock contactors, countless volunteers and all that work behind the scenes to put on over 40 rodeos in our season. With this in mind, I want to make it very clear to all that your opinion matters and your vote counts. It is difficult for the board of directors to make decisions that will best support you if you don’t make your opinions heard. Pass along recommendations and concerns to your respective directors, if you don’t get an answer or want a second opinion feel free to contact me.

We have a rule book for a reason and the rules apply to every card holder no matter what their position, from me all the way down to first year members. Please remember that your conduct as ladies and gentlemen says as much about you as your performance does and that people from all walks of life and all ages attend our rodeos. Not all are fans of what we do, it is up to us to change their perspective and make them fans.

I look forward to seeing you throughout the year and hope all have a great season.

RODEO CONNECTION
Procedures Updated March 1, 2008
Addition to Entry Procedure, 9-1 of rulebook:

Preferences -- You can give two (2) preferences. You may use "slack" as a preference as long as you give a performance as your second or first preference. You may not use "slack or out" as a preference.

An invalid preference will drop a priority by one and contestants will be responsible for fees and fines. Examples of an invalid entry are: entering for slack when there is none, entering for slack with no other preference.

You can give a draw out parameter--if you cannot be up at a certain time you may say "draw out". If you don't get your preference you will be taken out of the rodeo. It is your responsibility to send to Rodeo Connection the central entry fee when you use the "out" parameter and are drawn out. If you fail to send this fee, the fee may be doubled and/or added to the contestant's next rodeo receipt.

Drawn Out of Rodeo --If you are drawn out of a rodeo because your preferences were full when you draw number came up, you will be put on a waiting list for the requested performance. It is your responsibility to check with the on-grounds rodeo secretary to see if there have been any medicals/turnouts for that performance. This must be done before the draw for that performance. The contestant will be placed on the timer's/judges sheet in the turned-out position as "drawn out" not as a late entry.

Random Draw --Rodeos will have a minimum of 10 timed event contestants per performance when slack is available. The number of contestants may be changed to 8 or more with committee request.

After entries close there will be a 1 hour grace period to change entries. If the contestant elects to draw out of the rodeo at that time, the central entry fee needs to be sent to the Rodeo Connection office.