[Dailydrool] Shelter Challenge Choice Points

[Val Brewer]

The most recent issue of the Drool digest contained a number of suggestions 
regarding how or whom to choose as the next shelter to pool drool votes for. The 
Pool Drool drool pool. Ick?  Additionally, I have received several e-mails 
off-line with suggestions to share as well. So it seemed to me I should try to 
pull some of this material together and summarize. I am uncertain how big 
decisions on the Drool are made--whether they simply "evolve" with discussion, 
or whether people vote. I should state at the beginning here that I am not 
available to coordinate any efforts--it looks as though our bid on a foreclosed 
house has been accepted; we will be moving from our rental as soon as we can 
close, pack, and make enough repairs on the house to make it habitable, so I am 
likely to be without a computer for an unknown period of time possibly soon. 
Uncertainty--aargh!!! I recall that Marilyn Briggs coordinated the last voting 
efforts; that Chris Bly has been the remember-to-vote elf, and Leslie Ames has 
volunteered to be the person to draw a name from a hat if that is the solution 
that Droolers choose. I do not know if any of the abovementioned or any other 
Droolers would want to volunteer to spearhead the discussion/decision process 
this go around. Summary:

Candidate pool: On the DD website there is a section marked "Rescue". This 
section lists Basset Rescues by state and also Canada. Some states have no 
rescues (my own is one of these). Some states have many rescues. Some rescues 
cover more than one state. (e.g., New England, Tri-State, etc.) If you click on 
the name of any listed rescue, a webpage comes up which provides a description 
of the activities of that rescue. Some of the rescues have stores and well 
organized fundraising activities (though may still be very strapped for cash and 
in need of assistance); others do not have these but are also strapped for cash. 
Some Rescues see many bassets a year (BaRNI with 100, for example); some have 
fewer. Some Rescues deal with older bassets with more health issues than others. 
I counted about 70 different rescues on that list. How to decide. I suspect 
every rescue is more than worthy. More later.

First Choice Point: How will the decision on how to choose be made?
      Suggestions I have heard so far include:
       1. Put all 70 names in a hat and draw.
       2. Put the names of a selected few in a hat and draw (based on criteria 
to follow in another section) 
       3. Vote on which rescue to vote for, either from the list of 70 or the 
shorter selections list
       4.  Let a name emerge from suggestions on the Drool. (Ozark Mtn. is an 
early favorite here).
       5. Don't have a single contender and encourage Droolers to vote their 
individual choices.
This choice point boils down to Draw, Vote, Emerge, or Defer.

Draw option: If this is selected (1. or 2.), Leslie Ames has volunteered to have 
her bank president draw the name while being videotaped. Names would be 
submitted to Leslie if a short list (how to determine to be addressed later). If 
a full list, Leslie would take the names from the DD Rescue page.

Vote option: I am a dunce with computers and don't know how this would be set 
up--it would need to be separate from the Drool itself so as not to eat up too 
much space--a webpage people would go to to vote, I suspect. One Drooler 
mentioned that Nancy Gallagher would know how to do this since she does Basset 
of the Week. Another Drooler mentioned that Wendie Prince set up a voting page 
for her senior calendar and would also know how to do this. So the know-how is 
out there somewhere, if the consensus is let Droolers vote on which rescue to 
vote for. And by the way, do we vote on whether to vote or not? oh my dawg--this 
is mind-boggling to me. Please bear with me.

Emerge or Defer options. To go this way, I think we just keep talking about the 
issue on the Drool until individuals feel confident about what they want to do. 
A number of folks in the last issue feel comfortable about Ozark Mountain Rescue 
emerging as this challenge's candidate. This does not mean we could not also 
take a vote if other Droolers feel strongly about voting--if Ozark Mountain is 
the most popular selection, it would very likely win a vote. Certainly, no 
matter which rescue is suggested for group support, Droolers may vote for 
whomever they support. Emerge is probably the easiest option, but as one drooler 
pointed out to me, it may not be the most fair.

Second Choice Point: If we go with either Draw or Vote, do we do a full list or 
a short list?

Full list:
    1. Points for the long list draw--this is probably the most fair, and maybe 
even easier than a short list. But it does not take into account other factors 
such as whether a given rescue has a good chance of winning, whether their 
expenses are higher or lower than average, whether they have other resources, 
etc. etc. More later.
   2. Points for a long list vote--voting enables voters to factor in 
considerations like the above and enables droolers to support the rescues in 
their state or of their choice, though if Droolers vote state lines, states with 
more droolers could outvote states with less. (This is beginning to sound like 
Senate vs. House)

Short list:
  The Droolers who have written to me off-line seem to favor this option and 
have listed quite a few considerations. I'll try to list them below in question 
form.
a. How many bassets does the rescue in question handle each year? (more favored 
over less)
b. How financially strapped is the rescue in question? This queston is 
multi-layered--does the rescue receive grant money, donations, store revenue 
that keep it afloat? Is the rescue beseiged with higher than average medical 
costs due to heartworm infestation in their area or all aging, non-adoptable 
hounds? How would Droolers know such a thing for comparison? Would it help if 
rescues (or someone writing on the rescue's behalf like an adopter) wrote a few 
sentences on the topic of 'how in the red am I"? No Joe McCarthy supporters 
invited.
c. Does the Rescue stand a chance of winning? This topic has received some 
discussion on the Drool. The thinking has been that rural rescues might not have 
as much competition as rescues from bigger states, so that a short list of 
rescues from relatively rural states might give pooled drool votes a bigger bang 
than would be the case in more densely populated states. Though we don't know 
this for sure--many more Droolers are regularly voting now than last time when 
we tried going for weekly votes, I suspect. (Particularly with Chris reminding 
people every few days. lol. Thanks, Chris). We don't know for sure we couldn't 
pull off a win in any given state.
  Draw vs. vote considerations would be the same as above.

Oh dear. My head is swimming. But that's the summary. Maybe someone could pick 
it up from here? Thanks, Val



      
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