Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But after consulting thrice with lawyers to discuss league bylaws and proper parliamentary procedure, league president Sue Given announced that there must be another vote on the question of whether the league would continue its co-sponsorship, along with the Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association, in 1997. League members will meet and vote tonight.
The league and the horsemen are contracted to collaborate, as they have every year since 1982, on the 1996 show. After that, it's anybody's guess.
``I've already told the horsemen, if I were they, I'd be looking for a new partner,'' Given said.
Hold your horses, some league members said. Haven't we already decided whether to continue with the show?
``When I came out of the meeting, I thought a vote was a vote,'' said horse show committee chairman Mary McBurney. ``I don't get it. We've lived a lot of places, and this is the fifth Junior League I've been in, but I've never seen anything like this.''
McBurney was not alone in the belief that a vote not to, in league lingo, ``turn over,'' the show to another philanthropic organization was tantamount to agreeing to continue sponsorship.
``I think that that was what just about everybody believed that night,'' said Nancy Peterson, the president of the horsemen and also a league member.
Not everybody.
``I didn't think a decision could be reached unless there was a positive vote for something,'' Given said. ``That's why we consulted the attorney.''
In other words, a vote not to turn the show over was not the same thing as a vote to continue association with the horse show.
Parliamentary procedure, said the league's board of directors, which had recommended to the membership that the show be turned over in 1997.
Sour grapes, said those members who had voted against the board's recommendation.
Proponents of the move to divest the league of its ties with the show pointed out that support for the show wasn't as solid as it might appear among the membership. Bylaws require that there be a two-thirds majority to turn the show over. The vote failed, by a count of 76 to turn over to 43 not to, leaving the necessary majority six votes shy.
A miss is as good as a mile, the other side said. Rules are rules. Whether you lose by one vote or 100, you still lose.
The unsuccessful attempt to break ties with the show on the first vote took some of the members of the board of directors by surprise.
``I've been in the league 14 years, and I can't remember something like this,'' Given said.
Should the vote go in favor of dropping the show, Given said there would be a transition year. That means that the usual contingent of 25 league members who spend a year helping stage the horse show would be reduced to five or six, she said.
The impact of a league pullout would be substantial, especially if another co-sponsor is not found . Given said there was none on the horizon.
``The Junior League is what made this show what it is today,'' Peterson said.
Since the death of the show's primary benefactor, Roanoke heiress Marion Via, three years ago, profits to the league have declined substantially. This past year, for example, Given said the show made $30,000, down from more than $50,000 a couple of years ago. Given estimated the league's actual take, after splitting the proceeds 75-25 with the horsemen, amounted to six cents on the dollar, not very good in her view.
``Especially when it is considered how much time the league spends on this,'' she said.
The Roanoke Valley league has resolved that its primary emphasis is going to be on child advocacy. Some members wonder how the league can do an excellent job on that when so much time and other resources are spent on the horse show.
``There is a lot of profit potential in this show if it is given the emphasis and attention it deserves,'' McBurney said. ``Besides, they don't even have another fund-raiser to take its place.''
McBurney also pointed out other benefits, including good publicity for the league and $11 million in economic impact to the Roanoke Valley.
Another close vote is expected.
``Whatever the membership wants is fine with me,'' league president-elect Sandy Snead said.
Snead has a vote now but won't when she becomes president next year. She declined to say how she would vote this time.
Said Peterson: ``I guess it's come as a shock to me that other people don't love this horse show as much as I do. We and the league have been a great team. But if the league doesn't want to co-sponsor the show with us, then we don't want them to.''
by CNB