I was at the Bud this year. I remember the issue involving the X and the time limit. What the score committee did was go by a procedure that has been followed for years. What's with the "goings on" comment? What exactly do you mean by that?
They followed historical treatment of the situation. If you read the rules it say protest ends X minutes after the targets are hung. That verbiage in the rule book has always been read(no, I didn't say interpreted) as meaning no protest after each match's targets were hung + X minutes.
Two years ago I and some others in Maine agreed at Jim Borden's request, to review the score rules and try and correct obvious errors like spelling and to suggest rule clarifications. We did just that to the protest of targets rule. It got enough signatures to be on the agenda in 2007. It was tabled by the group. Sure, I think it needs clarification now as much as I did then. But, for anyone to suggest or implicate certain IBS people in some kind of control conspiracy is ludicrous. They are just following historical convention. Recognize that and then work to change the rules without all the inuendo. Those IBS officials have worked their hands to the bone for the benefit of IBS and have been honest, fair and predictable in their actions. If you or anyone else wants to isolate certain IBS officials, like officers or members of the score committee from performing certain functions at a shoot, fine. Establish a rule to that effect. Your suggestions about the motives of some IBS officials is puzzling me. Regards --Greg
Greg,
Regarding the Bud, the target that was under controversy was an obvious mistake made by the scorer for a 10, not an X. The target was marked a 10, accidentally I'm sure, when in fact the shot was a 9. This was a simple "clerical" error which should have been changed with no need for a protest at all. A protest was filed however because thats what was demanded. In any event, the referee's determined that in fact the shot was a 9. The next morning when the Statistician was changing the score in the scoring trailer, Gary Long instructed him that he could not change the score. The reason he gave was the rule we are discussing. Here it is right from the IBS rulebook: "Scores win be posted and thirty minutes allowed for protests to be brought to the attention of the Referees." Obviously the word "win" is a typo and should be "will". My question to you...Where does it say that a single set of targets will be hung(your word), and then 30 minutes allowed for protest? It clearly states that the SCORES will be posted.
The "goings on" refers to many things that went wrong at the match, not just that one incident. I'm not going to go into detail about all of them, but here's a couple: On the first day of the match, after the completion of the 100yd Agg, the Statistician made an announcement over the scoring trailers' loudspeaker, His word were unforgettable to me and many others: He said: "Does anyone else want to come up here and waste $10 on a protest?" I had just finished moving some flags around, and was walking back to my loading area with a couple other competitors. One of them turned to me and said "what did he just say?" We were flabbergasted to say the least.
On the third day of the match, before we got started, we had the required safety meeting. Do you know what it says in the rulebook in regards to if a shooter misses the meeting? It says they will not be allowed to shoot. Do you also remember that right before that meeting the Vice President of IBS announced to everyone there that one of the shooters had an issue, and could not attend the meeting? Was that shooter denied the ability to shoot that day? Now I'm not a big fan of this rule, but rules are rules, and this one was BROKEN in front of a bunch of IBS members, as well as officials. I'm not going to mention who this shooter was, but I will allow that the competitor in question is a close personal friend of the VP.
As to why I believe this group is trying to control all things score, just go the IBS webpage and look at the agenda items written this year. Then look at the recommendations of the Score Committee. I don't know who has input when it comes to these recomendations, only that Gary Long is the chair, FWIW. The recommendation for Records procedure is to keep it in the Score committee, rather than integrating ALL potential record scoring(Group, Long Distance, Score) to the Records Committee...where it belongs. This item has been fought about in years passed, with the Score committee getting there way every time.
The very first agenda item would not allow IBS officials or committee members to serve as referee's at any IBS match. The use of these people as referee's is such a conflict that it's laughable. What is the Score Committee's recommendation? They don't feel that most ordinary members are capable of being referee's.
If this cannot be construed as trying to "control" all things that relate to Score in IBS, I don't what else to tell you.
