BULLETIN PRESIDENT TREASURER EDITOR John Bachochin Loren Moore Mike Prero 15731 S
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BULLETIN PRESIDENT TREASURER EDITOR John Bachochin Loren Moore Mike Prero 15731 S. 4210 Rd., POB 1181 12659 Eckard Way Claremore, OK 74017 Roseville, CA 95678 Auburn,CA 95603 918-342-0710 916-783-6822 530-906-4705 No. 396 Dues due April 1st January 2018 by Mike Prero “Dog racing” basically equates to greyhound racing, so...Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhound dogs are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (now based on a windsock) that travels ahead of the dogs on a rail until the greyhounds cross the finish line. As with horse racing, greyhound races often allow the public to bet on the outcome. In coursing, the dogs chase a lure (originally a live hare or rabbit that could be killed by the dog). In many countries greyhound racing is purely amateur and solely for enjoyment. In other countries, particularly Australia, Ireland, Macau, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US, greyhound racing is part of the gambling industry and similar to horse racing – although far less profitable. Animal rights and animal welfare groups are critical of the welfare of dogs in the commercial racing industry where, in some countries, dog trainers illegally use live baiting. A greyhound adoption movement has arisen to assist retired racing dogs in finding homes as pets, with an estimated adoption rate of over 90% in the USA. Modern greyhound racing has its origins in coursing. The first recorded attempt at racing greyhounds on No. 396 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-January 2018 Page 2 a straight track was made in Hendon, England, in 1876, but this experiment did not develop. The industry emerged in its recognizable modern form, featuring circular or oval tracks, with the invention of the mechanical or artificial hare, in 1912, by American, Owen Patrick Smith, who had aims for the industry to stop the killing of the jack rabbits and see "greyhound racing as we see horse racing". In 1919, Smith opened the first professional dog-racing track with stands in Emeryville, CA. The certificates system led the way to pari-mutuel betting, as quarry and on-course gambling, in the United States during the 1930s. The industry of greyhound racing was particularly attractive to predominantly male working-class audiences, for whom the urban locations and the evening meetings were accessible, and to patrons and owners from various social backgrounds. Betting has always been a key ingredient of greyhound racing. Like horse racing, it is popular to bet on the greyhound races as a form of pari-mutuel gambling. Greyhound racing enjoyed its highest UK attendances just after the Second World War— for example, there were 34 million paying spectators in 1946. The industry experienced a decline from the early 1960s- after the 1960 UK Betting and Gaming Act permitted off-course cash betting. Sponsorship, limited television coverage, and the later abolition of on-course betting tax have partially offset this decline. Today, commercial greyhound racing is characterized by several criteria, including legalized gambling, the existence of a regulatory structure, the physical presence of racetracks, whether the host state or subdivision shares in any gambling proceeds, fees charged by host locations, the use of professional racing kennels, the number of dogs participating in races, the existence of an official racing code, and membership in a greyhound racing federation or trade association. In addition to the eight countries where commercial greyhound racing exists, in at least twenty-one countries dog racing occurs but has not reached a commercial stage. In 2016, a bill was passed through the government of the state New South Wales, in Australia, to ban greyhound racing. This new law was to come into effect in the middle of 2017 but was reversed in late 2016, albeit with several new restrictions on the industry. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhound_racing] No. 396 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-January 2018 Page 3 Mike Samuels, DC 208 1-16 Morris Pasternak does listing No. 396 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-January 2018 Page 4 Writing about Matchcovers for a General Publication by Phil Gordon Yes, I am a published author on the topic of matchcover collecting. Now, anyone who has met me at AMCAL knows that I am no expert on matchcover history and collecting. It was not that long ago that I learned the difference between a Filigree and a Foilite so I consider myself an advanced novice. But I am first and foremost a fan of Route 66 (US Highway 66), the famous highway that ran between Chicago and Los Angeles before being officially de- commissioned over thirty years ago. I grew up near LA in the 1950s and 1960s and my family would travel Route 66 from time to time. Many segments of old Route 66 still exist and I make it point to travel some part of the highway every year and occasionally twice a year. I read books and try to attend events and No. 396 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-January 2018 Page 5 visit with the people who still work and study this road. Like most Route 66 fans my first collecting interest was postcards. Postcards can be cheap but they can also be very expensive. They are quite popular because they are not only a souvenir from the business but they also include a picture of the business itself. Eventually I broadened out to collect other memorabilia and matchcovers from Route 66 and I have been collecting matchcovers for about twenty years now. But my interests in matchcover collecting is fairly narrow. I collect Route 66 and an eclectic mix of "what I like" so, unlike most of the readers of this Bulletin, I collect relatively few categories in depth. And I certainly don't have an understanding of the history of matchbooks, their manufacture and distribution, and all the type of variations of covers that existed through the years like most of you. I learn something every month from Mike Prero's Bulletin. Back in August 2013 I attended the Route 66 International Festival in Joplin, Missouri. Among all the programs, rallies, displays, and entertainment, there was a hall of exhibitors, state associations, and product sellers. I visited with Joe Sonderman at the booth for the Missouri Route 66 Association. Joe is a Route 66 expert who has written a number of Route 66 books, many produced by Arcadia Publishing. I had contributed some postcard images to his book Route 66 in Arizona and I had met him in person at the Route 66 International Festival in Victorville, California, the previous year. Joe, who is also the editor of the Missouri Route 66 Association quarterly magazine called Show Me Route 66, asked if I could write an article on matchcover collecting for the magazine. So was this a good or a foolish move by Joe? Here's the thing: I know few Route 66 matchcover collectors who also participate in Route 66 events, news groups and internet activity on the topic. Scary as it may seem, among all of the attendees at the Festival, it was possible that I myself was the most knowledgeable when it came to the hobby of matchcover collecting! As Erasmus said centuries ago, "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." So maybe I was that "one-eyed man" at the Festival that week and the best person to write an article. Joe wanted 1500-2000 words illustrated with matchcover images from businesses in Missouri only. Since I was not being paid I asked if the main No. 396 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-January 2018 Page 6 content could be plagiarized from my very own website (that's OK, isn't it?) and Joe replied that was fine. So when I got back to my home a couple of weeks later, I extracted some text content from my website, added a couple of paragraphs of introduction, added a closing paragraph and I had an article. I created a colorful collage of matchcover images that was formatted to fit onto a single magazine page and then I scanned two dozen other matchcovers for the magazine's graphic designer to use as necessary within the rest of the text and among the ads to fill out the pages. And so it was. My article was published in the very next issue of the magazine. It ran four pages with some illustrations plus the collage page that you see here. My point is that any SD club member could write an article like mine. Unlike Bulletin readers, the audience of a publication focused on an oblique subject like Route 66 is not composed of expert and experienced matchcover collectors: rather, readers may only vaguely remember when matchbooks were commercially ubiquitous decades ago, and have little or no knowledge about the hobby itself. Such readers will not need or care what a manumark is, or a footer, or an easel, or a "tall" cover, or whatever. A basic introductory article can lay out some general history and facts, convey some enthusiasm for the hobby, and, who knows, may possibly excite some readers' dormant interest in matchcover collecting. Phil's Route 66 website is http:// rt66.x10host.com. There are about 200 images of Route 66 matchcovers in the Matchbooks & Matchcovers section. (Note: most matchcover images are fairly low definition and that's because when I began my website ten years ago, the free hosting service that I used had limits on disk storage space. I have moved my website twice since then and disk limits are no longer relevant so I am slowly replacing the original images with higher definition images as I can.) No.