The third annual MSDA trial held at Northwest Communtiy College Livestock arena was a huge success. A lot of hard work went into putting it together, but it was a really good trial.  Many thanks to John and Gloria Atkinson for arranging for us to have it in Senatobia again.  They also hosted a fine handler's supper on Friday night.  Ronald Lloyd donned a chef's hat once again and did a masterful job on the fish, hushpuppies and fries.  John's neighbor, Richard, manned a mean grill and pulled off some finger lickin' good BBQ chicken.  They had all the trimmings to go with supper and a diverse dessert table.

I would like to thank Gloria for making my job easier.  She had gotten the entries for Saturday's open class so I was able to get the running order drawn out on Friday night.  That made for an on-time start SAturday morning.  We had 37 runs in open sheep, 30 in pro-novice, 9 in nursery and 3 in novice-novice.  That was only 9 dogs less than last year, but it ran much faster.  We were ready to start the cattle trial by 3 pm.  We had 29 dogs in open cattle and 11 in pro-novice.  That was off from the last trial but still a good turn-out.  We got through at a much better hour this year and everyone got a little morerest to go again Sunday.  On Sunday, we ran 35 in open sheep, 21 pro-novice sheep, 7 in nursery and 2 in Novice-Novice.  That made a total of 184 dogs run in two days, which ain't bad.

Buzz Shearon deserves a big round of thanks for the excellent job he did judging.  The time allowed on the course was ample, but not excessive, which expedited the trial.  Denise Kelsoe clerked the biggest part of the trial with relief from Gloria Atkinson, Debra Catledge and Leslie Scruggs.  John ATkinson was an excellent M.C. and added a little bit of spice to the down time between runs and classes.  Jackie and James Jones, C.B. Hamm and Gregg Atkinson worked the top side and did a masterful job putting out the sheep and cows.  Mrs. Gale, Leslie Scruggs and Patricia Jones helped keep the paperwork flowing smoothly.  As in the past, the Senatobia trial was a success due to the hard work of those mentioned above and some I have failed to mention.  A big hearty thanks to everyone involved!

Upcoming we have  the Mid-South Fair trial on Sept. 22, 11:30 am, Jackson Fair trial on October 8-9, 2002 and Robert Barlow's trial on October 11-13, 2002, 1 pm on Friday, 8 am on Saturday and Sunday.  If you have information or news for the newsletter, just let me know.

Diane Jones
13873 Strickland Road
Byhalia, MS 38611
postwoman6@yahoo.com