November 2010 Newsletter
                              Fort Dodge Duplicate Bridge Club



     Irene Adams and Joan LeValley had recent stints in the hospital.  We wish them speedy
recoveries and a quick return to the bridge table. Doctor Ashton McCrary of Lake City died 
in October.  Ashton was a former longtime member of our club.  Our sympathies go to the 
McCrary family.
    
     The club's Halloween party and game was a very nice success.  All the randon partner-
ships were very convivial.  The treats table was a largesse of interesting edibles including
sugared faux eyeballs.  Many thanks go to Janet Moore, Rhonda Olson, Lorie Spanjers, Nancy
McGough, James Chesnutt, and Martha Bailie who organized the event and provided all the
delicious food.  Special appreciation goes out to all the members who participated.

     There will be many special games in November.  The week of November 8, the club will be
participating in the District 14 STAC games.   STAC is an acronym for Sectional Tournament at
the Club Level.  All games that week will be STAC games.  The score results of our games will
be sent to Minneapolis to be compared with the results from all the other clubs in the dis-
trict.  From all these results, overall winners and placers will be determined.  It will be
possible to win local points or STAC points. The STAC masterpoints pay on a sectional tourn-
ament level.  These will all be stratified pairs games and will be conducted in the usual
local format.
    
     The organization of the ACBL is divided into districts, units, and local clubs.  Our
clubis a member of District 14 which comprises the states of Minnesota, Iowa, North and
South Dakota, and Nebraska.  The district is then divided into area units.  Our club belongs
to Unit 235 which is the area of northwest Iowa.  Each year, the ACBL grants a number of Unit
Championship games to all the units in the country.  Our club will be allowed to hold a great
number of these games because another club in the unit desires not to hold them.  In Nov-
ember there are four unit championship games, three Monday nights and one on a Friday night.
Check the November calendar of events on the bulletin board to see the specific nights.
These games do pay many more masterpoints for winning and placing.  There is no extra entry
charge.
    
     The week of November 22, there will be club championships at all four of our regularly
scheduled games.
   
     The board of directors will meet at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, November 12.  One topic on the
agenda is the annual Christmas party/local charity game in December.  At this time, the
directors will select a local charity to receive the donations of the players who play that
night.  It is usually a considerable amount of money, usually in the hundreds.  If you have
a favorite local charity that you think would be suitable for this money, let one of the
directors know, or better yet, you are most welcome to attend the meeting and make your sug-
gestion at that time.

     Historically, the Friday night game the day after Thanksgiving Day has a very weak
attendance record.  If you are in town that day and have no family commitments, do try to
play that night.