3/7/08

This news is to inform everyone that we will not be running the Annual Grand Boot Hill in 2008.

As many of you are aware Hawthorn Lanes where the Grand Boot Hill has been held for the last nine years was sold to Brunswick Corporation early in the year. As part of the transition I met with Brunswick's regional manager and the center manager to discuss the Grand Boot Hill. Bill Spigner having been a strong supporter of the tournament over the years graciously agreed to attend the meeting with me. In that meeting Brunswick indicated that they were aware of Hawthorn Lanes' long standing commitment to league and tournament bowling and it was not there intention to change that focus. This meeting took place on January 13 and Brunswick knowing that I was leaving shortly to run Boot Hill Las Vegas indicated they would be back to me in a couple of days. I did not hear from them and my attention was then focused on the Las Vegas tournament. At the conclusion of the tournament I attempted to contact the center manager to no avail. I then contacted Bill to see if he might know the status although he is no longer involved. He was under the assumption that the tournament was scheduled as usual and gave me the cell phone for the center manager. The bottom line is Brunswick is not interested in committing the center for the entire weekend if we needed the whole center.

Subsequently I spoke with Tom Sims of Fox Bowl. He indicated a willingness to host the tournament. However with fewer lanes than Hawthorn we would need to seriously rework the event formats and prize lists to make it attractive for the bowlers. Realistically there is not enough time to do this well. Therefore we have decided not to conduct the Grand Boot Hill in 2008 as you know it.

However we are looking at other options on a smaller scale and will be back to you with details if we can work them out by the first of April. We continue to be committed to competitive scratch bowling and want to keep the Boot Hill name out there as we look at other tournament opportunities nationwide.

Please contact me if you have any questions. We hope to see you at Stardust for the Boot Hill on March 16.

Woody