Where does the time go? It doesn't seem possible that I have been president of District 8 for almost two years. My two-year term ends this December. I have really enjoyed serving as your president and I'm sure that our vice-president, Jay Coleman of Hutsonville IL, will do a great job starting January 1, 2009.

I want to express my appreciation to all our board members who really made my job easy. I again want to thank our District 8 secretary-treasurer, Debbie Avery of Champaign IL, for all the help she has been to me the last two years.

As most of you know, District 8 and our Northern Indiana Unit lost a very fine player and person on July 26th. Jim Pelletier moved into our area around 20 years ago and became extremely involved in our unit and district. Jim served on our Unit Board for 17 years and wrote our articles for the Midwest Monitor and the Advocate newsletters for the past several years. He has been on the Fort Wayne Duplicate Club Board for at least that long, and has served as secretary-treasurer for the past 15 years or so. Fifteen years ago, I asked Jim to help me run the Fort Wayne Regional, and he has handled partnerships and the hospitality all these years. He was my co-chairman for several years and was chairman of the tournament the last couple of years. May God bless Jim and his family. He will be greatly missed by all of us.

Happy holidays to all of you. I'll see you at the table.

    Sincerely, Bob Carteaux