to Barbara Smith from the Religiously Bent

Barbara,

I love you. Though we have not always agreed, you are not afraid to tell it like you see it.

I don’t know if saw the new Griffionier, but Mr. Marlow takes a shot at members saying they are using Griffs to feed their ego, for profit and at me,for my religious bent.

Well, I am using Griff’s to give glory to Father. Like Jesus Christ, I’m trying to be lowly and humble and I have lost exactly $23,864 over the last 7 years.

As for the AWPGA I’m going with this: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I don’t think the AWPGA passes this test currently. However, I do believe that Wirehaired Pointing Griffon easily passes this test,. I also know that we may not have this wonderful breed In this country if it not for your efforts. Thank You.

 the Religiously Bent,

Jon Pease

farewell AWPGA

Farewell my fellow Griffonniers,

I have been honored to serve this club during the past years. I hope you were happy with the direction the club had taken. We have enjoyed the blessings of increased membership, increased funds, highly successful specialties and many new initiatives to further our clubs mission. Please join me in recognizing some of the people involved with this success.

 Cathie Jarnot has been a wonderful servant in her role as Secretary and co-editor of the Griffonnier prior to that, her countless hours of service should be appreciated by all Griffonniers. Susan Tarricone has served your club for the past decade in her work on the board and with rescue. Her selfless service has been a blessing to our club and to me personally. I could not have survived without her. Lonnie Carroll has done much for this club in his unassuming way. His work on the board and at our specialties should not go unappreciated. 

Ann Allen has served her members well, and her work on the board and her eloquence on the pages of the Gazette should be recognized. Philippe Roca has been a wonderful liaison for NAVHDA. His work behind the scenes is as effective as the photos he takes are beautiful. Jay Hoth has taken the tough job of treasurer to heart. Jay was also part of the success of our 2006 specialty. 

Carol Ptak has done an outstanding job as editor of the Griffonnier. She has gotten this publication out in an efficient manner, like this club has never seen before. Ad revenue is up and costs are down, bravo. Her work on this year’s specialty has been a privilege for me to witness. Linda Gagnon has been a wonderful judge’s education chair and given her time and energy in the face of vast criticism. I applaud her strength and want to personally thank her for her selfless work. Colleen Reiss has always served this club, her work as archivist and her help at every specialty is a model for volunteerism we can all learn from. 

I had the privilege to associate with hardworking people like Pat Loomis, Guy Ray, Sondra Rice, Jeff Bleggi and others on the 2006 National Specialty, which was the best specialty this club has ever had, by any measure.  Thank you all. Elizabeth Gannon has done an outstanding job in her role in recognizing the success you all have. Vicki Foster and her entire committee, your awards program has been an inspiration. I look forward to participating in it now. Pinkie Terry has brought a passion to her role in breeder referral that can not be understated. Angela Pellerin, Sophie Sprauge and Kelly Hayes have dedicated hours to the creation and maintenance of our web sites. Thanks to you three, for putting the public face on our club. 

Dick Byrne and Colleen Porter have done a wonderful job with our meet the breed booth and their efforts are appreciated. Pam Smith and her education of us in the performance field is amazing. She is a knowledge source that is so valuable to all of us. Debbie Cutter does loads of work and research for the benefit of this breed, most will never know. Debbie, thank you. Homer Mobely is a God send, he has taken the role of rescue coordinator to new heights and does what, I believe to be, the toughest job in the club in a manner that is very humbling to see. He has a support team of Susan Tarricone, Jean Paul and Betty Reed, Dick Byrne and Corrina Bright. Cheers to you fine people.

I could go on thanking many people, but some stand out in my mind. Sheila Yoder and my pack of greta, gracie, murphy, sheriff, betsey and phoebe. I am thankful for you all. You allowed me to spend the time needed, forgave me for bringing strife and pain into our home and helped me further the mission of this club. I am all yours again and I love you.

It is time for your newly selected board to lead this club. I hope they have as much support as I have had. Good luck to all of you and good health to you and your dogs. May God Bless You,

Jon Pease

message to the AWPGA membership

Good Morning Members

I need to address this body, You see, most of you are very active in our club. I felt my post yesterday was appropriate addressed to you. However my post has not gone without criticism. I really do not care, I have a right and a need to speak to you, the active members of this club. 

I have no need to address the membership at large as they are good hardworking people who don’t care about any of this turmoil. That is my nature too. I am more saddened about the last few months than you will ever know. Miss Sheila has ordered this club and even some of her so called friends out of our home forever. I guess I will be renewing as a single.

I want to give you some of my council, the ones who want to be breed police would not listen to anything I had to say, as the history of this is long.

The code of ethics is a good thing. It allows us as breeders and exhibitors to align ourselves with people with like principals. It is a code, not law. When us, as breeders sign it, it is not to submit to the breed police. When an exhibitor joins our club after reading the code, he or she does so, to align with people of similar values. 

This code was not meant to be a policing tool. Mary Kiblan wrote the board of directors about this when she submitted the code for there approval in August of 2000.  I hope to be the one and only example of using this tool as a policing document. I have nothing to lose by being the center of this. If I lose an election, I can live with that. It would be honoring my sweetheart’s wishes. And save me a bunch of cash that could be used to improve my kennel.

This is a dog club. We have a mission. We all do different things to do what we think is right, We have a common interest. Period. I’m not going to submit my actions to the breed police. They have no authority to judge. If what we have is egregious, such as animal cruelty or puppy mill like behavior then obviously that is when we may have authority. 

Some have taken to personal insults, published in the minutes. Some want to amend minutes to add insults. I follow the charter. They can do what they want, just follow the rules. If they are successful in prosecuting me, then I cant imagine any of you will be a member of this club, as who would be willing to submit to that? 

If you don’t like me, that is irrelevant. This is about you. If you can’t see that then you should contact me and I will tell you the truth.

One last thing and I will get off this list for a while so I can go to work.. If you keep spreading rumors about me, then know this. I’m a man of honor, if you want to use my compassion for things to beat me with, then you will answer to a higher power.

Jon Pease

Tired President of the AWPGA

response to Ann, Jay and Philippe

It is as a member of the AWPGA, that I am addressing you.

We have an election coming soon, which, under normal circumstances, I would be happy about. I think the more people wanting to serve, the better.  I have led this club to the best of my ability and feel most of you know exactly what we have accomplished. 

As President I have no authority to share this with you, however as a member I can speak about it as openly as I choose.

Formal charges against me were received yesterday. I have been charged with misconduct prejudicial to the best interest of the club and breed. These charges were brought by Ann Allen AWPGA Central Region Representative, Jay Hoth AWPGA Treasurer and Philippe Roca, AWPGA Vice President. 

My first thought is not to dignify these charges with an answer publicly.  I know what I have done and wish we lived in the age of dueling. But since we live in the information age I will share the situation with you. Please forward my comments to anyone you wish.

The facts of the charges, which concern my conduct, are known by all on your board of directors.  That is because they only know what I told them. 

I had a litter at the end of January. 8 sweet puppies with homes that are a perfect fit. I had been hearing from AKC about their new microchip and thought I would give them a try. On or about the time I weaned the pups (3-4 weeks old), I registered the litter and ordered the microchips with the AKC, (I called the AKC this morning to verify the dates and the AKC confirmed the timeline.) It is my practice to file all of the AKC owner registration paperwork when the puppies are picked up. I can do this because I do not ship puppies. I also want to look every owner in the eye.

 

I received the paperwork from the AKC in mid-March. I had owners target their arrival date for April 1st. I had people flying in from New Jersey to Alaska.. I was still waiting for the microchips to come prior to taking the pups to get their health certificates for their big trip home. I have since found out, all microchip shipments were delayed by the AKC, as it was a trial promotion and the chips were to be sent directly by the AKC instead of by their vendor. 

 The day came when  people arrived to get their pups and  I had no chips. I apologized and arranged to get the chips to them. You see the chip is so new and advanced that the box of chips has its own injector system ( Only 1 injector per box ). I took 1 pup to the vet and had her injected, and then I put the injector in the box and then placed a chip and a address label and postage in 7 specific envelopes and started the box on its way from New Jersey to Alaska. I have kept a watchful eye on the boxes progress. I have 3 pups not chipped as of today; the box should be to Colorado by now. You see each person must receive the box and then find time to get their baby to the vet. I trusted these people with taking a puppy and many of them have spent a significant amount of time with Sheila and I. They came here from a great distance; I trust them, when they say they injected the chip.  All of the pups are registered with the AKC and AKC/CAR.  If you think my actions are misconduct prejudicial to the interest of the club and the breed then you agree with some of your board of directors. This is the basis of Ann, Jay and Philippe ‘s charges against me.

There are other charges against me, regarding the conduct of others that I (and the rest of the board) knew about. Out of respect for others I will not comment on others conduct here. I can tell you that their alleged violations of our the Code of Ethics occurred prior to the club adopting the code, Thus these charges are invalid.

However it does bring me to this conclusion. We passed the Code of Ethics with the appropriate attentions. It was never intended to be a policing document. I have no desire to be the breed police. If others do, I’m sure the 3 breed police we have now, would appreciate your support. I do not want this to harm our club. I appreciate the support of so many. Please do not do things to harm one another or our club. We all need each other if we want to achieve good things.

Now as President,

I promise you that I will follow our charter to give these charges the proper consideration and respect such a serious charge should receive. I have also decided not to campaign for President in the up coming election. I will let those who support me do that. 

I apologize that this has to be an issue. I hope you have a blessed day.

Sincerely,

Jon Pease

Presidents message to AWPGA, May 2007

 

Greetings My Fellow Griffonniers. 

I hope you have all seen the current issue of Gun Dog magazine and our clubs advertisement in the issue. I thought the breed feature / article was a fair representation of what was told to the author. I know the article will be seen by many people who will be considering owning a Griff. I hope that these prospective owners will read the article in its entirety and after careful deliberation, contact one of you about obtaining a Griff.

 I’m been planning on attending the AKC Parent Breed Club Conference in Atlanta with Lonnie Carroll. I will be looking for help from other clubs with issues we have and will have as we continue to grow. If you are interested in any particular issue, please contact Lonnie or me by July 15th.

We have lots of new project going on throughout our committee’s. I encourage you to read the minutes to follow the status of these projects. We should all be excited about the things our members are doing. Remember, if you want to help or start a new project, contact your regional representative. 

I hope you are all enjoying your summer; it is time to start training for the fall season. I hope to see all of you at the 2007 Specialty in Washington State. The committee has done an outstanding job getting out all the material in a very efficient matter. You have all of the information already, so don’t delay. Enter an event and make your reservations today.

Enjoy this issue of the Griffonnier and may God Bless You.

Jon Pease

President

Presidents message to AWPGA, March 2007

 

Greetings My Fellow Griffoniers. 

Do you know that I love our club?  The AWPGA means so much to me. Most of my friends are members and all members are my friends. I have been going through lots of personal change lately and the one constant is my dogs and our club. The thing about clubs is that we have people involved. And I do not have to tell you that people make things interesting, just take a look at our latest minutes later in this issue.

But I want to remind everyone, we have great people who do wonderful things. They may not do them the way you or I would, but they do things. They exhibit, perform, breed, train their dogs and they do loads of volunteering for our club. I want to thank everyone who does so much for all of us.

We are very happy to announce that our club will be advertising in Gun Dog magazine. Look for a Griffon issue in May/June time frame. We feel this will highlight our wonderful members and remind the public of what a real Griffon is all about. I hope that those of us, who participate in the Breeder referral program will really see our membership value rise with the use of this new form of public education. Well I have      6 week old pups calling for dinner so I’ll cut this short. Enjoy this issue of the Griffonier and may God Bless You.

Jon Pease

President