Thank you for allowing me to address the Board through this letter. I apologize for not being here in person, this cold just made it impossible to fly.

I would like to make a brief statement about the pointed and white ORS colors now being considered for acceptance. Although the Board ruled that the Siamese BC is not affected by these colors, the Siamese Breed Council disagrees. We voted last year by a strong majority that we feel that acceptance of these colors will be detrimental to the Siamese breed. As the Siamese BC has stated our strong objection to any pointed ORS class over and over again, I did not feel the need to place this issue on our ballot again this year. The BC reinforced last year's vote on this matter by returning me to office.

There are several reasons why the pointed and white color is harmful to the Siamese breed. For one, the ORS continue to use Siamese as an outcross, and the Siamese breeders have no say in this. If the Board wishes to grant the ORS color classes that derive specifically from the Siamese breed, they should also remove the artificial restraints on the Siamese breed that force us to be party to the creation of these colors against our will. I believe that if the ORS breeders had a choice between continuing to use Siamese as an outcross, and having a class of pointed and white cats, they would choose to continue with the outcross. However, as the Board has rigged the choices, so that the ORS breeders do not have to make any, and the Siamese breeders are not allowed to have a say in what is done with our colors and our cats, the situation is patently unfair. The Board needs to revisit this artificial situation that it has created, remove the "grandfather" clause that allows ORS to have unlimited access to Siamese cats for an unlimited time, and allow the Siamese breed to control their own destiny, or give us veto power over any pointed color proposed by the ORS breed.

Secondly, the proposal as written, only penalizes pointed and white ORS with low white. These cats should be disqualified, particularly if they have no white on the face, as they will mimic Siamese colors. There is already a movement within the ORS breed to use these "low white" cats as stepping-stones towards full recognition of a pointed division of ORS. The plan, to directly quote Bob Agresta, is to "Show them that you can be unified no matter what they throw at you. Then show the cats with less than 1/3rd white and force the issue." The Siamese BC would not object to this pointed and white class as strenuously as we do if it was just the honest desire on the part of the ORS breeders to simply add these colors to the bicolor class, and not to use them as a wedge to begin infiltrating pointed ORS colors into championship.

And last, the ORS has never been meant to have showable pointed colors contained within it. If these colors were to be recognized, in order to be consistent with current CFA policy, they should be recognized within the Colorpoint SH breed. The CPSH is the proper home for these cats as it is the pointed breed that includes all colors of pointed cats shown in championship except the four Siamese colors. The ORS breed is supposed to contain full body color cats, with the type of a Siamese. There is no room in that description for a pointed and white cat. I have no idea if the CPSH BC has ever considered the possibility of adding a bicolor division or not. But I doubt that they were approached or allowed to even consider this option.

In conclusion, the Siamese BC is opposed to allowing pointed and white ORS to be shown in championship for all the above reasons. But primarily, because this is not an end game for ORS breeders, but just the first step in their never ending efforts to reach outside the limits of the breed and run rough shod over all who stand in their way. If the Board does approve the moving of a pointed ORS color to championship status, then the Board also needs to revisit the way outcrossing between the breeds in allowed. The Siamese BC deserves to have control over who we allow to use our cats. It should be the choice of the Siamese BC to not allow our cats to be used to further a breed that insists in ignoring our justifiable concerns.

Respectfully submitted

Debbi Stevenson
Siamese Breed Council Secretary