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   U    Letter from the Chair.

 Dear All

I have been very fortunate to be able to visit Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. The first 4 days soon passed as we attended the American Veterinary Medical Association Annual Congress that is always very impressive and informative. Lectures started at 7am and continued until 6.30 at night. Although it was very hot:  38 to 40 C with humidity between 85 and 100%, all buildings and busses were airconditioned, sometimes to a point where you needed a jersey!

There are a lot of interesting places to visit: 

1) the largest aquarium in the world with 4 whale sharks, several different sharks, different areas with fresh water and sea water tanks, with areas simulating the different conditions of the waters of the world – tropical, cold sea conditions, and estuaries. Very impressive!

2) The Coca Cola museum: Coca Cola was first formulated in Atlanta and the world head office is in Atlanta. The museum contains all the memorabilia that were issued by the company over the last century, all the different advertising campaigns, a small bottling plant, the history of the development of the company and a tasting room that has, on tap, all the different products that falls under the Coca Cola Company, including Minute Maid, Fanta-range, cherry, apple and cranberry Coke, Diet Coke, Coke zero, Tab and many more.

3) Cyclorama and other sites of historical value of the war, as Atlanta was one of the bigger cities that fell under the control of the  South.                            

4) The Atlanta Botanical Gardens that features a tree top walk so that you can also see the Gardens from above. The hothouses with tropical plants and orchids growing in typical forest surroundings are beautiful. They also have a kitchen, kids and vegetable sections where herbs, edible flowers and vegetables are grown to be distributed to indigent people.

5) The Body Museum – Human bodies dissected to show the different layers and organs in situ.

6) The museum of the blind – you spend 30min in the world of the blind without being able to see anything and experiencing the world as a blind person would.

7) The 1996 Olympic Park – large gardens with water features and areas for children to play in the water from a musical fountain.

8) The Children’s Museum that is there to stimulate thinking in children.

9) The Museum of Patriotism – unlike in RSA where patriotism is equated with a political party, the American patriotism is for the country and politics plays no part in the love of their country.

10) CNN studios : live television broadcasts and productions of soap operas and documentaries can be witnessed.

11) Several shopping malls where the summer sales were on.

12) Several independent breweries.

Many other sites and things to experience are to be found in Atlanta.

The highlight of the visit for me, was meeting up with Gayle Pruett, chairperson of the BTCA. What a wonderful person! She came to Atlanta to meet me after a 3 1/2hour trip. She brought with her 6 Biewers, 3^rd generation of her own breeding. She no longer has any German dogs and these dogs are beautiful with very smooth hair coats, very good colouring and all under 6 pounds (2kg). She is an incredible knowledgeable person and is presently furthering her studies in the field of genetics. She is passionate about the Biewer terriers and is working hard to establish this new breed and researching its origins. There has been a lot of adverse publicity about her lately, but Gayle has several court cases going on against people for amongst other fraud and defamation and has already won several cases.

Gayle is planning on visiting South Africa in 2011. I hope that she will have time to meet with as many of the club members as possible, as it will be to our advantage to learn from a dedicated person with a strong belief that the Biewer Terrier is the dog of the future.

Until next time  

Marianne.