I am asking for your support again to serve you as the Breed Council Secretary for the Siamese breed for the next two years.

For those of you who do not know me, a little personal background: I am a single mother of two grown daughters, with an MA in Health Care Administration, currently working as a Certified Clinical Research Associate for major pharmaceutical companies. I have been breeding Siamese cats for about 25 years, and my cattery (Shimasu) has produced many grand champions, several national and regional breed and color winners, and twelve DMs. I show as often as possible in the North Atlantic, Southern and Great Lakes regions.

I have one passion in life and that is the Siamese cat. I believe that CFA is the last refuge for this breed, and that we, the members of this Breed Council, are the last protectors of our breed. I would also like to believe that when I am gone that my grandkids' grandchildren will still be able to find a Siamese cat when they wish to have a feline companion decades from now, and not have to settle for a pointed Oriental. I will, as long as I represent the Breed Council, continue to fight to make this dream a reality for future generations.

Since first winning election to this office six years ago I have lead the Breed Council in moving forward in many areas. These are some of the achievements we have realized:

• Over $1300.00 was raised from the "Beanie Baby" raffle to give the Breed Council a stable treasury from which to fund our awards and other projects.
• The penalization of the protruding cartilage (xyphoid) was reworded in a compromise version acceptable to both sides, which was overwhelmingly passed by the Breed Council.
• A website for the Siamese Breed Council has been created and maintained by Mary Kolencik and Mike Franks.
• The efforts of Russ Sawyer, Pat Decano, Kris Willison and Vicki & Mike Franks have produced one of the most complete online pedigree databases of any breed.
• Guidelines for the Lifetime Achievement Award were created and used to give the nomination process standardization and quality and a committee chaired by Sharon McKeehen-Bounds has been formed to oversee the process.
• The creation of a Breed Booth design (donated by Ron DeWilde) was completed that gives an air of elegance and professionalism to the representation of the Siamese breed at the International.
• The Breed Council, along with matching money donated by the Winn Foundation, has funded the first study into feline breast cancer. The funds were raised through a successful online auction sponsored by the Breed Council, chaired by Rick Worster and Betty White.
• The Breed Council has adopted individual sponsorship for our awards, which has given members the opportunity to sponsor their favorite winning cats and enabled us to add additional features to our awards Breakfast, such as professional speakers on health issues important to the breed.
• Candidates for CFA offices have been consistently polled on their stands on policies that will affect the Siamese Breed, making it possible for BC members to vote for candidates who support issues important to our breed.
• The Breed Council has been provided with strong representation of its values and wishes when addressing issues to the CFA Board of Directors.
• With the assistance of our breed council members (under the direction of Susan Beuerlein), we have begun efforts to compile a comprehensive history our national, regional and color winners for each decade, which will be copied to CDs and made available to all BC members.
• A similar effort is underway with our Distinguished Merit cats (under the direction of Mary Kolencik), to provide members with a comprehensive history of these important cats, their pedigrees and offspring

We will continue to face new and old challenges in the coming years. We will continue to add to the Breed Booth design and to work to fund a supplemental breast cancer study once the current study has been concluded. We have just begun an effort to raise money for the CFA Purebred Rescue group, and have challenged all Breed Councils to match our efforts. As your Breed Council Secretary I will pledge to continue to work with everyone to continue these efforts and to meet new challenges.

I also promise to effectively work to remind the Board that our Siamese is a genuine breed, not just the color of a breed, and to work to gain the respect that should be accorded to us as a breed that has been so generous in donating its DNA to create other breeds. That means that I will continue to remind the Board that the majority of our members are adamant about not recognizing pointed Oriental of any combination that includes the colors seal, blue, lilac or chocolate for championship, no matter how striking these cats may be. The Siamese cat, in my opinion, is the most special cat in the fancy, and it should be respected and revered for the depth of its contributions, not denigrated or dismissed for the convenience of a breed derived from it. With your continued support, I will work to make that day a reality.

Thank you very much.

Debbi Stevenson
shimasu@citlink.net