| R Volume LXXII No. 4 April 2020 FRESNO BRIDGE CENTER TO REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL APRIL 12 The State of California requires those over 65 to stay at home. The Fresno County Department of Health and the State of California recommend no gatherings with over ten people 65 or older. The City of Fresno has ordered "Shelter-in-Place" to April 12th. President Trump recommends that nonessential businesses and gatherings must be avoided until the end of April. Therefore, we anticipate being required to stay closed at least until April 12th, and likely longer. The Bridge Center board will monitor the situation on a day to day basis and if anything changes, we will keep you informed. The Bergon Senior Center in Madera is closed, so the Madera bridge game is also closed. The Oakhurst game is also closed, and will remain closed until it is safe to gather. Please stay safe and healthy. PLACES AND FACES Congratulations to Steven Holmes, a new Bronze Life Master. Also congratulations to new sectional masters Ed Hampton and Suzanne Sobenes and new junior masters Laurie Harrington and Louise Stermer. We are sad to report that Tom Callahan passed away. He was a frequent player in our 99er games. He was hospitalized in January and passed away in March. Our condolences to his family. POKER NIGHT April 24 We’ve scheduled a poker tournament for Friday April 24 at 7 pm. Entry fee is $20 which gets you a stack of poker chips. Additional chips can be purchased if your stack gets low. The tournament goes until 10 pm when the winners are determined. We also plan to have raffles in conjunction with Poker Night. We may have to reschedule if the Bridge Center remains closed through April. ANNIVERSARY PARTY April 19 We plan to celebrate our eleventh anniversary at the Fresno Bridge Center on Sunday April 19 with a luncheon and a charity game. We’ll let you know if this event is postponed. CLUB NEWS Leaders for March in Madera were Richard Meffley, followed by Barbara Diebert, Carol Kaufman, and June Serio. Carol leads for the year, followed by Barbara, and Steve Johnson. Masterpoint leaders for Oakhurst are Kenneth Doig, Nancy Hays, Jim Luther, Diane McDonough, Joni Roberts, Alfred Ellis, Burke Zane, Ira Estin, and James Cosby. At the Fresno Bridge Center, the top masterpoint winners for March were Richard Meffley, followed by Mun Takeda, Gerard Laquerriere, Rose Boot, Cynthia Tingey, and Steve Johnson. Mary Lou Pease leads for 2020, followed by Victor Greener, Laura Da Costa, and Ray April. Ed Keller was the top 99er masterpoint winner for March, followed by Julia Kendall, Barbara Brock, Pat Heckathorn, and Sandy Petrie. Sandy OwYoung-Chu leads the 99ers for 2020, followed by Ann Keag, Margot Cegielski, and June Serio. Although the Fresno Bridge Club is closed until April 12, it’s likely that closure will be extended again. We’ll keep you informed. | 559 675 8578 BRIDGE BASE ONLINE HAS GAMES TO BENEFIT CLUBS Bridge Base Online (BBO) long has had games that give ACBL masterpoints. During these difficult times, BBO has added games to benefit clubs. The charge is $5 for pair games and $6 for robot individual games. If you register your ACBL number, four dollars goes to the bridge clubs that you normally play in. Pair games are held at 7 am, 2 pm, and 4:30 pm. You and your partner must be online when the game starts. Individual games for clubs are held once each day. You can start anytime and take breaks as long as you finish 18 boards between midnight and midnight EST each day. Information about these games is available on BBO and at ACBL . DIRECTORY A new directory is available for $1. Jim Luther is now the director of the Oakhurst games at 10 am on Mondays and Thursdays. Contact him at 559 675 8578. Treasurer’s Report Isn’t it an old Chinese curse? May you live in interesting times. The bridge center can weather this storm. The financial statements are posted each month on the bulletin board at the club house, but of course you can’t see them since we are closed. Let me give you a rough outline. Stripping away things like food, replacement cards and the like, our minimum expenses are about $5250 per month. Rent being the biggest expense, but we have other recurring costs, like insurance. We have a little over $100,000 in reserves. So, we could stay dark for roughly 20 months before going broke. Heaven help us if that happens. Or said another way, if that happens, we will likely be seeing each other in heaven. We need those reserves if we move in a few more years when our lease runs out. If we stay, we will want to use those reserves for a little remodeling (new carpet). Reserves are good. But in these interesting times, we need the reserves to tide us over while we are not playing bridge. The best way to see this is: if we stay dark for a few months, we are OK. More importantly, we need to stay healthy so that we can play when play resumes. This virus spreads easily. Let’s face it, we are an older group of people and us older folk are suffering worse than other age groups with COVID-19. The steps being taken by the city and state to keep us out of harm’s way are for us. If you are following the news, they call it “flattening the curve”. As a statistics nerd, I get it: fewer people get sick, but the cases occur over a longer period of time. Key word is FEWER. It is best for us to hunker down and wait this out. Maybe it will be over in two weeks, but don’t count on it. Don’t expect a magic cure coming from the feds. Luckily, our state and city are doing the right things to manage this. While the survival rate is not so bad, it seems to impact those over 65 worst. That is us. We have to make sacrifices. Stay home. I have to give up visiting my new granddaughter for a few months. What greater sacrifice is that? In the meantime, play on-line. You can earn ACBL points on bridgebase.com or funbridge.com . OTHER CLUBS Most ACBL clubs have closed while we are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Two bridge players in Colorado have died of corona virus after playing several times at their bridge cub. Several players were infected during a recent regional in Tucson. Our clubs will reopen when we know it is safe. Bridge Winners has a lot of information on how clubs are coping, plus lots of other information. |
| WINNERS UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP 1A Gerard Laquerriere - Mun Takeda 2A1B Byron Steinert - Anthony Toto 3A Robert Durbrow - Richard Meffley 2B Don Austin - Marion Austin 3B Ray April - Laura Da Costa UPGRADED CHAMPIONSHIP 1AB Laura Neville - Carol Miller 2A Ray April - Victor Greener 3A2B 2Steve Holmes - Ann Derwin 3B1C Mary Lou Pease - Sally Perring 2C Laura Da Costa - Carol Rodder CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 1A Ray April - Laura Da Costa 2A Victor Greener - Dave Haberstich 3A1BC Patrick Carroll - John McGregor 2BC Don Austin - Marion Austin 3B Debbie Kemp - JoAnn Huebner CHAMPIONSHIP 1AB James Sweet - Laura Da Costa 2AB Sally Perring - William Glass 3A Renee Laquerriere - Cynthia Tingey CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 1/2A Victor Greener - Richard Meffley 1/2A1B Avis Morse - Cynthia Tingey 2B Rose Boot - William Glass 1AB Rose Boot - William Glass 2A Gerard Laquerriere - Mun Takeda 3A2B1C Rhonda Hampton - Cynthia Tingey 3B Victor Greener - Allyson Farrell 2C Judy Nibler - Angelina Heisdorf 299ER CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 1/2 Nancy Jones - Georgia Murach 1/2 Jonel Mueller - Ann Keag 99ER CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Ed Keller - Julia Kendall 2 John Cadwalader - Carol Fiorentino 3/5 Sandra White - Lynda Moller 3/5 Clint Hudson - June Serio 3/5 Sandy Petrie - Pat Heckathorn | INDIVIDUAL 1 Don Austin 2 June Serio 3 George Dalition 4 Joycelyn Kauder 5 Andrew Graves INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP 1/3A Richard Meffley 1/3A1/2B Laura Da Costa 1/3A1/2B Steve Johnson 3/6B Carol Kaufman 3/6B Debbie Kemp 3/6B William Glass 3/6B Victor Greener OAKHURST WINNERS Ken Doig and Nancy Hays Diane McDonough and Jim Luther Joni Roberts and Al Ellis SPECIAL Laura Da Costa - Richard Meffley Carol Kaufman - Steve Johnson Richard Meffley - Steve Johnson Barbara Diebert - George Dalition June Serio - Richard Meffley Rosalie Jorgensen - Avis Morse [B] Ruth Christensen - Laura Neville [B] George Dalition - Barbara Diebert [B] Steve Johnson - Ruby Buttereck [C] Ray April - Howard Arquette [B] Don Austin - Marion Austin[C] 750 SPECIAL Renee Laquerriere - Patricia Creede Kathleen Coit - William Coit [B] Kathryn Miller - Barbara Wiedel Pamela Pigg - Ann Keag [C] Sandy OwYoung-Chu - Mary Claire Ewing Dora Gostanian - Sydney Bluestone Kathryn Miller - Ann Keag Barbara Brock - Barbara Wiedel 99 SPECIAL Alvin Fred Schellack - Margot Cegielski Lynda Moller - Sandra White [B] Pat Heckathorn - Sandy Petrie Sandra White - Lynda Moller Barbara Gaudin - Ed Keller 2Marlene Fiore - Nicki Gram Alvin Fred Schellack - Julia Kendall 99 Pat Heckathorn - Sandy Petrie Clint Hudson - June Serio John Cadwalader - Carol Fiorentino Clint Hudson - June Serio Ed Keller - Julia Kendall Sandy Petrie - Pat Heckathorn |
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