Hello,

I hope everyone's summer has been going well. The fall dart season is fast approaching. The new season will start on Wednesday, August 18. There will be a captain's meeting the preceding Wednesday, August 11 at 7:00 PM at the Eastside Locos during which captains can pick up their team's packet for the season. I will be constructing the schedule in the coming weeks, so I would appreciate it if the captains for all existing teams send me a quick e-mail indicating that your team will be participating in the upcoming season. Also, if you know of anyone who intends on or has considered forming a new team, please encourage them to contact me as soon as possible.

As you will recall from my previous e-mail following the end of last season, we have some voting to take care of. First, we must vote on officers. The following individuals have been nominated:

While I did not receive any other nominations for any of these positions, we do need one person to serve as a board member, so if you are interested, please let me know, or if you would like to nominate someone, please inform me.

We also have four proposed rules to vote on:

(1) Anyone who has played on a team that failed to pay its dues and that has disbanded will be required to pay a $20 fee in order to be reinstated, and therefore, eligible to play on another team the following season.

(2) Any kind of cheating will result in a one season suspension for the first offense, a one year suspension for the second offense, and expulsion from the league for the third offense. The Board of Directors will decide what constitutes cheating based on evidence provided by the parties involved. Instances of bad sportsmanship do not constitute cheating.

(3) No one can play under another person's name.

(4) After the home team's captain has written out his or her team's line-up on the score sheet, the visiting team's captain must write out his or her own team's line-up without looking at the home team's line-up and, if the home team captain requests to be present, he or she must do so in the presence of the home team captain. The home team captain must initial the score sheet before the match begins indicating that he or she was given the opportunity to be present while the visiting captain wrote out his or her line-up.

You can vote on both officers and the proposed rules either by e-mailing me or in person at the captains' meeting on August 11.

Another issue that has been raised is the duration of matches in the lower divisions, particularly, the C and D divisions, where matches can sometimes last up to four hours. It has been suggested that the starting time for these matches be moved up an hour, from 8:00 PM to 7:00 PM. If this is a concern for your team, I would encourage you to contact the team that you are scheduled to play to see if it would be possible to start the match earlier. Moreover, if another team requests an earlier time, please try to accommodate them if possible. The same goes for rescheduling matches for different dates, but please give try to give the other team as much notice as possible.

Finally, I've been asked to inform everyone about the upcoming 2010 Peachtree Open which will take place the weekend of August 27-29 at Sweetwater Bar & Grill in Duluth. I've attached a flyer that contains more information for those that are interested.

Sincerely,
Nathan Freeman