The meeting was finally called to order by Mike Nietman at 1:54 during a break between rounds at the Winter Open. Members not in attendance, CK, MM, TF, KB.

1. ANNOUNCMENTS: Tom Feeney has a sponsor for the Racine/Kenosha Open. Navstar (Art Peel's company) will be the sponsor.
2. STATE CLOSED PROGRESS REPORT: Nothing new to report. TD bid entered. Brian Brzezinski and Matt Roeder entered a bid to direct the State Closed for $200. Motion to accept (Kaul/Noel), Carries, 4-0-1. BB abstains. Motion to accept the budget produced by Mike Nietman, (Noel/Hoffman), Carries 5-0.
3. OTHER OLD BUSINESS: Tour Update; The Twin Ports club is having an event 2/21/98 in Duluth. They are scheduled to have a Tour Event in September. Motion to limit Tour status to Superior not Duluth events, (Hoffman/Noel), motion to amend (Nietman) to limit status to all events inside the State borders, ( motion considered friendly), Carries 5-0.
4. 1998 NORTH CENTRAL OPEN BIDS: The Holiday Inn, Eau Claire, has committed to room rates of $42 per night for the weekend of the NCO. Motion to accept the Holiday Inn as the site of the '98 NCO, (Noel/Brzezinski), carries 5-0.
5. WEAC CONVENTION: This year's convention will be 10/28-30, in Madison.
6. 1998 MEMBERSHIP MEETING AGENDA: THE USUAL SUSPECTS; MINUTES, PREZ ADDRESS, TREAS. ADDRESS, Open discussion of topics. Election of officers, etc. NEXT MEETING: after the 3pm. membership meeting, 5/24/98, Oshkosh.
7. OTHER NEW BUSINESS: Mike Selig has qualified for a Merit Award for the Arver Amateur. The Treasurer is directed to make the usual contribution to the Selig retirement fund.

MOTION TO ADJOURN (HOFFMAN/KAUL), CARRIES 2:15pm.

WCA DUES CHANGE: Effective at this year's State Closed Championship, the WCA annual dues will be raised to $5 per year. However, if you play in any WCA sponsored event, the annual dues will be free. This dues increase was approved by the WCA membership at the 1997 Annual Membership Meeting by the required 60% vote. This increase will only affect out-of-state members that get a Wisconsin membership because it is cheaper than the local memberships, members that play out-of-state without playing in WCA events, or WCA officers that do not regularly play in tournaments. This will not affect members that already participate in WCA events regularly.

WCA TOUR NOTES: The 1997 Tour was won by Guy Hoffman (686 points). Neil Gleason (648) finished second. John Wagner (567) took the Expert prize while finishing third. Josh Kaul (501) won Class 'A'. Matt Roeder (466) spent most of the year in Class 'C', but moved up to Class 'B' at the end of the year and won the 'B' prize. When doing that, Matt opened up 'C' for Ken Ceterski (400). Ken's brother, Justin Ceterski (467) won the junior prize. Many thanks to the participants of the '97 Tour, and good luck in the 1998 Tour already under way. The prize fund for the '97 Tour was $600. One dollar of every entry fee of tour events goes to fund the tour, so the more participants there are, the higher the prize fund will be. Tournament Directors also receive points for Tour events. The Chief T.D. and first assistant Director receive points based on the median score of their class/100 point group. This information must be sent to the Tour Statistician (me) with the wallcharts.

EVENT NOTES: After a one year vacation, the Arpad Elo Open and North Central Open will return. The Waukesha Chess Club has volunteered to run the Elo this year. It will be held April 4-5 at the Red Carpet Lanes in Waukesha. Contact Yogi Lilly for more details. The North Central Open will be held over the Thanksgiving weekend again, this time at the Holiday Inn, downtown Eau Claire. The Holiday Inn was the site of the 1997 State Closed Championship. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for details.

1998 State Championship: Keeping in line with the WCA's policy of giving new T.D's a chance to grow, Brian Brzezinski and Matt Roeder will be organizing and directing the 1998 State Closed Championship in Oshkosh over the Memorial Day weekend. For those of you that don't know them, no need to worry, Guy Hoffman will be there to oversee/offer assistance.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mike Nietman was disappointed with the attendance at the previous meeting scheduled for his apartment in Mauston. Only four members were in attendance. B: There is now a chess club in Baraboo, contact person is Dan Silvernail. C: There is a ballot in Chess Life regarding the “one man one vote” referendum. D: The mailing labels received from USCF was missing some current players, Mike expressed some concern. E: New postal rates in effect; $.254 for zip+4, $.186 for bar coded. F: NEW CHESS by Kirk Plankey is now defunct. G: Beatriz Marinello is cutting back the amount of time that she will be available at the WEAC convention.

MINUTES: A; Nov. 2^nd typos, Schramm, ELO, 218 not 238 MOTION to accept (CK/JK), carries. B; Feb. 1, Feb. 7, MOTION to accept, (CK?BB), Carries.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:

1. President: Mike Nietman nominated by Hoffman MOTION to close, (JN/CK), carries 8-0-1
2. Vice-President Guy Hoffman nominated by Kaul MOTION to close, (JN/JK), carries 8-0-1
3. Secretary Jerry Noel nominated by Hoffman MOTION to close, (CK/JK), carries 8-1
4. Treasurer Chris Krumenauer nominated by Selig MOTION to close, (JK/TF), carries, 8-0-1

1997-98 JUNIOR/VETERAN’S FINAL: The Junior Open had 149 entrants, 75 in the open section, 74 in the reserve section. The cutoff was at 1100. Lots of USCF memberships were sold. Final profit of $210.14 was recorded. MOTION to accept report, (JN/CK), Carries 9-0. VETERAN’S OPEN; 26 entries, low turnout, prize fund slashed, loss of $11.23 Winners were; Justin Ceterski and Patrick Van Dyke, 5-0, with Patrick winning on tie breaks. There was a four way tie for Denker rep. Josh Kaul won the tie break event.

SCHRAMM FINAL REPORT: 60 players, the $35 check from Mrs. Schramm was lost by the T.D. Borman. Profit was $3.51 ($38.51 if the check is found). George Ljaschenko won. MOTION TO ACCEPT, (GH/JN), Carries.

1998 ELO OPEN FINAL: 60 players, $21.33 profit. Alex Betaneli won, 4.5-0.5 MOTION to accept, (JN/BB), Carries.

STATE PRELIMINARY REPORT: 84 players in attendance, 44 open, 40 reserve. 5 players from the U.P. Higher mailing costs this year.

1998 NORTH CENTRAL OPEN BIDS: Eau Claire Holiday Inn, prize fund based upon 90, $2100 + trophy, break even point of 86 players. MOTION to accept the budget, (JN/BB), carries 9-0. T.D Bids, Guy Hoffman and Jerry Noel for $125. MOTION to accept, (BB/MS), carries, 7-0-2.

OTHER OLD BUSINESS, NONE.

1998-99 JUNIOR/ VETERAN’S OPEN BIDS: New dates due to a conflict, entry fee change, $14 with a $4 discount, MOTION to accept as amended, (JK/BB), Carries, 7-0-2. T.D. BIDS: the usual suspects enter a bid for $450 to direct both events. MOTION to accept, (BB/JN), carries.

FUTURE DATES:

1. 1999 MAR, 20-21 SCHOLASTIC
2. OCT, 30-31 JR/VET
3. DEC, 18-19 SCHRAMM
4. 2000 MAR, 11-12 SCHOLASTIC
5. NOV, 4-5 JR/VET
6. DEC, 16-17 SCHRAMM
7. 2001 MAR, 17-18 SCHOLASTIC
8. NOV, 3-4 JR/VET
9. DEC, 15-16 SCHRAMM
10. MOTION to accept, (TF/BB), carries.

1998 SCHRAMM : There was discussion regarding lowering the postage cost by combining the Schramm flyers with the NCO flyer. TD BIDS: MOTION to table, (BB/JN), Carries.

1998 STATE SCHOLASTIC RESULTS: 373 players in attendance, Madison West won, 6-0, John Carian won board 1, 6-0. Smooth running tournament, enforcer Jerry Noel didn’t have to kill anybody, however, some coaches came close.

2000 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISCUSSION: Same discussion, different location, who will be doing the work, and who will get the credit? Mike Nietman is going to a meeting with Lilian Carter-Pounds. Much heated discussion on the ineptitude of Milwaukee organizers. Bill Williams enters into the discussion to defend his cronies. More heated discussion ensues. MOTION to have the WCA cosponsor the event with the goal of providing much needed expertise, (TF/JK), Josh Kaul enters an amendment to give Mike Nietman discretion on WCA sponsorship, Guy Hoffman motions to table the original motion until we have more information. Motion to Table carries, 5-4 (GH, JN, KB, CK, JK in favor of tabling).

TOUR PRIZES: MOTION to change the Tour prize fund, eliminating the Expert prize, and splitting the Under 1600 to Class C and Under 1400, (JN/CK), Carries.

USCF ANNUAL MEETINGS: No elections this year, Guy is the Delegate.

NONE

A: 1999 State bid; entered by Mike Selig, location is Fond Du Lac, add $3 Junior discount, 45/2, 25/1 time controls, MOTION to accept as amended, (JN/CK), 8-0-1.

B: Creation of Publications committee, including a feasibility study, seeking others to do badger Chess. MOTION to create, (JN/BB), Carries. Committee consists of Selig (chair), Feeney, Brzezinski.

C: 1999 NAVISTAR AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, May 1-2, MOTION to recognize as official, (JN/MS), Carries.

MOTION TO ADJOURN, (JN), CARRIES.

The meeting was called to order at 3:33 p.m. By President Nietman in the skittles room at the Gruenhagen Conference Center. Board member Matt Merrill was absent. No proxies were presented.

1. The Secretary read the minutes of the 1997 membership meeting. A motion to accept the Minutes as read was entered by Mike Selig, seconded by Chris Krumenauer. Motion carries.

   Errol Hartman had a question regarding Board resolution A. The Board makes a motion to insert Resolution D, which deletes section 7.3 from the by-laws. Motion carries unanimously.

2. Presidents Report: Mike Nietman introduced the Board members to the Membership. He then reads the Presidents Report.

   Bruce Shampo has a question regarding the Tour and rating deflation.

3. Treasurers Report: Chris Krumenauer gives his report on the fiscal status of the WCA. A motion was entered by Mike Selig to accept the report. It was seconded by Tom Feeney as amended. Motion carries with Chris abstaining.
4. Topics for discussion: The Board accept the adulation from its loyal subjects. There was discussion regarding the 2000 National Scholastic Championship and the WCAs involvement.
5. ELECTIONS

   NOMINEE	NOMINATOR	VOTES
   Guy Hoffman	Wayne Meier	28
   Mike Nietman	Errol Hartman	29
   Mike Selig	Tom Feeney	19
   Matt Roeder	Brian Brzezinski	10
   Larry Schmitt	Errol Hartman	8
   William Murtaugh	(write in)	1

Bill Murtaugh made a motion to close nominations, seconded by John Wagner, motion carries.

The secretary distributed the ballots. The election committee compiled the results (see above).

Errol Hartman makes a motion to adjourn, motion carries.

MEETING ADJOURNED.

The Board meeting to follow after a five minute break.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: $100 donation from Scott Kittsley for the Rohland Trophy, $150 in the fund now.

SCHRAMM T.D. BIDS: $100 bid from Yogi Lilly, (he pays his own lodging), MOTION to accept, (TF/BB), Carries.

2000 HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP: The dinner meeting that Mike Nietman attended had 4 others in attendance, Charles Carerros (UWM), Jan Doleschal (MPS), Lilian Carter-Pounds (Mil. Conventions), Arlen Walker.

The Milwaukee Center across from the Mecca, has a 100’ x 200’ room, + 5 team rooms.

Tentative dates: Apr. 12-17, 2000 May 3-8, 2000

7 rounds, 2-3-2 with speed and bughouse side events.

PROBLEMS: Fine Hosts is the official vendor for the center, which means no kickbacks from concessions. Possibly selling books, etc. at the hotels.

TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS: national TD’s have been contacted, all insist on having 3 NTD’s. 3 Sr. TD’s necessary, one for each section. 3 sections, open, Under 1300, Under 1000.

National TD’s have informed Mike Nietman of various items that they feel are important, varying from organization to financial. Mike Nietman has a preliminary list of prizes/trophies. 304 trophies, 75 plaques. USCF has height requirements for trophies.

MOTION TO PURSUE CO-SPONSORSHIP OF 2000 NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP WITH U.W. MILWAUKEE, (Feeney/Kaul), CARRIES, 9-0.

MOTION TO ADJOURN, (JN/BB), CARRIES, 9-0.