The annual meetings of the United States Harness Writers Association were held this past weekend at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Saturday’s USHWA meeting gathered together the group’s Board of Directors, while Sunday’s session was an open event for all of USHWA’s members.
Positive numbers for USHWA were reported by several officers and committee chairpeople. The Association reported a profit for the fourth consecutive year, with the prospects of a fifth straight growth period looking good. USHWA’s financial status is largely determined by the annual Dan Patch Banquet, and high-level performance in both sponsorship participation and ads taken in the popular souvenir banquet journal were very promising.
Also a good sign is that the membership of USHWA, declining a few members a year in a contracting industry in recent times, actually showed a small increase since last year’s meetings.
The annual By-Law and Rules & Regulations Change Proposals did not offer some of the controversy and heated exchanges of recent years, although both sides were argued well on a couple of contentious issues. One By-Law change that went into effect right away was the method by which the directors established the two ballot candidates for this summer’s Communicators Hall of Fame elections, and as reported earlier Jay Bergman and Joseph Kyle were selected from a talented field to take a place on the election ballot.
Sunday’s general membership meeting saw the 26 USHWA directors in attendance joined by a similar number of members from the active membership ranks. The greater portion of the Sunday meeting was devoted to the committee reports of some two dozen USHWA subdivisions which keep all aspects of the organization in working order throughout the year, from Hall of Fame candidate biography compilation, to traffic control during the Dan Patch Banquet, to oversight of various phases of social media usage.
Kim Rinker, the director of the Ohio Standardbred Development Fund, was elected president of the organization during the Sunday meeting. Rinker, who had been vice president, succeeds Shawn Wiles of Monticello Raceway, who by USHWA bylaw now becomes the Chairman of the Board.
In a contested election for USHWA Vice-President, Barry Lefkowitz, the USHWA treasurer, narrowly defeated Derick Giwner of Daily Racing Form Harness. Lefkowitz said that he would retain his treasurer’s duties as well during this term.
Both Wiles and Lefkowitz were presented with Gold Lifetime Membership pins during the General Meeting: Wiles as an outgoing President, and Lefkowitz, for the required years of service on the Board as treasurer.
Jerry Connors was again voted USHWA secretary.
(With files from USHWA)