Our prior District 21 Director, Roger Smith, retired from the ACBL Board of Directors on Au gust 15, 2008. Roger has moved to Cleveland, Ohio to enter the next stage of his life with bridge player/fiancé Barbara Bacon. As First Alternate to the ACBL Board, I replaced Roger as District Director. I  would like to thank Roger for 12 years of exemplary ser vice. All of us in District 21 appreciate his many contributions and wish him well.

At the Summer 2008 NABC in Las Vegas, the ACBL Board took a number of note worthy actions.

Jerry Fleming of Los Alamos, New Mexico (District 17) was elected to be President of the ACBL Board for calendar year 2009, by unanimous vote.  The ACBL Board unanimously made amendments to ACBL Handbook regulations pertaining to lo cal units. The amendments create definitions of local units, impose requirements and designate unit privileges. The new rules require that each unit hold a minimum of one sectional tournament every two years; have an elected Board of Directors; hold an annual meeting; have a disciplinary chair person; and process reports of unethical  or dishonest conduct in a manner consistent with ACBL disciplinary regulations.  New rules al low each unit to have up to 24 unit champion ships beginning January 1, 2009, instead of the current maximum of 16 annual unit championships. 

¨The ACBL Board approved the transfer of Carson City Unit 465 and Reno Unit 473 to District 21 by vote of 23 to 2. All of us in District 21 are happy to welcome 143 players from Car son City and 241players from Reno as new members of our district.

¨The ACBL Board voted unanimously to in crease the number of Masterpoints required for the rating of Life Master from 300 Masterpoints to 500 Masterpoints. Of the 500 Masterpoints, 250 must be pigmented, of which 50 must be Gold or Platinum Points, 50 must be Red, Gold, or Platinum Points, 75 must be Silver Points and 75 must be Black Points. Please note: this rule does not go into effect until January 1, 2010, and will not affect any player who is an ACBL member in good standing as of December 31, 2009 and remains a paid-up member through the time that he or she be comes a Life Master. As a result of the Life Master requirement change, the rank of Bronze Life Master will be abolished, and a new rank of Advanced NABC Master will be established for players who have more than 300 Masterpoints but are not yet Life Masters.

¨The Board considered a motion to have tournament directors hear and rule on all bridge appeals filed in NABC Plus events. This is an interesting and hotly contested is sue. The motion failed by a vote of 12 to 13.

¨The ACBL Board implemented complex residency rules for players competing in North American Pairs and Grand National Team events. These are designed to be grass roots, geographically restricted events, requiring all players to be residents of the District in which they participate. The Board al lowed for limited exceptions to the primary residency requirement for snow birds, full-time students, members of the Armed Forces, and per sons who are temporarily relocated for employment. There are also complex and stringent requirements for players who live close to an adjacent district and wish to play in the neighboring district. Both the District Director from the resident district and the District Director from the district in which a player wishes to compete must approve an exception to the residency requirement and exceptions will be granted very sparingly.

¨The Board of Governors made a recommendation that the ACBL Board re consider a prior decision it had made at the Detroit NABC.