The meeting was called to order at 18:20 by ECC president John Godinez.

ROLL CALL

Present:                                                                                            Absent:
1. Bonita                      4.  Palm Springs                                 1.  Pomona
2. Freeway                  5.  San Gabriel Valley                         2.  Winchester
3. La Puente                6.  Santa Anita

MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING: Kristin Swift-Ramirez read the meeting minutes from the September 12, 2004 meeting.  The motion to accept the minutes was made by Sonny Cangiarella with a second by Lolo Ramirez. The motion passed.

FINANCIAL REPORT: Kathy Bagu read the financial report. Kathy reported a balance of $3,386.71 in the combine account as of 9/12/04.  Debits were reported as a $16.00 service charge and a $698.78 for trailer expenses and website fees.  The balance in the checkbook for 10/03/04 is $2,671.93.  The ECC has a check on hand from the Freeway club for $90.00 for their assessment fees.  Sonny motioned to accept the financial report with a second from Steve Whitmer.  The motion passed.

OLD BUSINESS

RACE SECRETARY:
Sonny reported that the race trailer was completely done.  Many changes have been made that will benefit all in the combine.  Sonny stated that the trailer had been completely cleaned and sanitized before it was moved to the new storage location at Charlie Ettensberger’s on 9/26/04.  Sonny stated that someone really needed to volunteer to flush the water system one time before the young bird season started.  John Godinez asked to have directions on how to flush the trailer to be made up and he would volunteer to do it sometime this week before the first race.  Kathy Bagu also offered a new sanitizer that we can use to spray down the water trays before they are filled at each race to help in keeping them disinfected.  The Palm Springs club volunteered to do the sanitizing while they are checking for crate cleanliness, since they are the last shipping pick up location.

Sonny also passed out a write up of race rules for the Young Bird 2004 Season to each clubs race secretaries.  The rules are as follows:

1. All entry sheets need to have a flyer name on them
2. All entry sheets are to be sent to their Club Race Secretary the night of shipping
3. The winning flyer’s arrival sheet from each club is to be sent to the Combine Race Secretary the following week with all the entries from that week.
4. No ARRIVAL TIMES ARE TO BE HAND WRITTEN for any electronic or Jr. timers.  The ONLY exception is the old mechanical clocks.

Release time for all races will be posted half an hour after all releases at:
 www.eastcoursecombine.org or call (951)685-4305

STAGING OF THE TRAILER DURING THE RACE SEASON:
Urban Paulus relocated the racing trailer to Charlie Ettensberger’s mobile home park on Sunday September 26th, 2004 at a cost of $100 to the combine.

WIRE BOTTOMS:
It was reported that the wire bottoms would NOT be ready for use during the 2004 Young Bird season.  The whole project has been put on hold at this time.  The next update will come at the Combine meeting scheduled AFTER the 2004 Young Bird season is completed.

COMITTED FLYERS:
The following clubs confirmed the number of committed flyers for the 2004 Young Bird season as follows:
Bonita – 17 teams/400 birds, Freeway – 5 teams/125 birds, La Puente – 11 teams/280 birds, Palm Springs – 5 teams/130 birds, San Gabriel Valley – 6 teams/170 birds, Santa Anita – 7 teams/160 birds, Winchester and Pomona are not participating in the 2004 Young Bird season

TRAILER CAPACITY:
We have a total of 51 teams and approximately 1265 birds.  At this time the Combine has agreed on 25 birds per shipping crate.  If you are shipping a crate that is light, PLEASE notify Urban which crate number so it can be utilized for bird overflow at the other pick-up locations if needed.

SHIPPING COSTS:
The shipping fee and the assessment fee of $185 were due tonight.  The following clubs have paid as follows:
Bonita – still owes for 1 team, Freeway – Paid In Full, LAP – Paid In Full, Palm Springs – Paid In Full, SGV – Paid In Full, Santa Anita – still owes for 2 teams

ROUTE 66 RACE:
Sonny Cangiarella passed out the bird entries to each club.  Shipping is Saturday November 27th, 2004 at 5:30pm located at the VFW Post 10267, 8607 Mission Blvd., Glen Avon, CA 92509.  You can check the East Course Combine website for a map of directions.  REMEMBER:  There is a $10/person cover charge for shipping and the awards banquet if you are not participating in the Route 66 race.  The cost is due to the low participation received for the Route 66 race and there is a need to cover the cost of food and rental of the hall.

NEW BUSINESS:

2004 YOUNG BIRD AGREEMENT AMMENDMENT:
Urban Paulus had sent an email on Sunday September 26th, 2004 asking for a $10 increase per race station because of the change in storage location of the trailer, which increased his driving mileage and time.  The combine disagreed with this charge and asked President John Godinez to speak with Urban about this charge.

ADJOURNMENT:
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Lolo Ramirez with a second by Kathy Bagu.  The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at approximately 19:55.

No date was selected at this time for the next East Course Combine meeting due to the starting of the 2004 Young Bird season.  Meetings will resume sometime in January 2005.

I would personally like to take the time to thank the active East Course Combine members for all your hard work and dedication to get the 2004-2005 racing season set.  A BIG thank you to Sonny and Steve for ALL THE HARD WORK AND UPGRADES to the trailer.  Without their hard work we wouldn’t have the trailer ready for racing.

The combine wishes everyone a fun, healthy, competitive 2004 Young Bird racing season.  GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
 
Respectfully Submitted,

Kristin Swift-Ramirez/ECC Recording Secretary