Official Voice of the American Volkssport Association

1001 Pat Booker Road * Universal City, TX 78148-4147

phone: 210-659-2112 fax: 210-659-1212

VOLUME 6, NUMBER 10 DECEMBER 1999

Another year of volkssporting is coming to an end, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of volkssporters who have worked so hard during this year to keep our sport alive in the United States. A thank you, also, to all of the volkssporters, clubs, and state organizations who have so generously made donations to the Millennium Fund and the AVA during this year. And, a very special thank you to the small group of AVA volunteers who spend so many hours at the National Headquarters helping the National Headquarters staff with the routine business of filing, stuffing envelopes, typing and whatever else we ask of them. These are the things that make the AVA an enjoyable place to work and make our sport very special.

In January, we will begin our twenty-fourth year of volkssporting in the United States. There are many challenges facing the Association. It will take the combined efforts of all of us to meet those challenges. The staff and I look forward to working with each of you to make our sport prosper and grow in the months to come. There will be a lot of demands on everyone from me to the AVA President to the individual volkssporter. The past tells me that you will all be there in the future to answer our calls for help and support. I know as an Association we will be successful in renewing The Spirit of Walking across our nation.

To all of you happy holidays and the best in the new year and the new millennium. May God bless each of you in the days to come.

IVV Rules -- additional regulations for five km. Referring to the recent decision made in Tata, the following clarifications must be observed:

**The change applies ONLY to regular events. (Permanent and YREs minimum distances remains at 10km.)

** There MUST be at least a 10 km walk organized and a 10 km route laid out. Going a five km route two times to make a 10km is NOT allowed.

** The five km route can be a part of the 10 km route (i.e. a shorter version) or it may be a completely separate route. HOWEVER, there MUST be a checkpoint located within the route.

** No association or club is obliged to have five km routes available.

** All associations must process IVV books with five km entries, even though that association may not allow five km routes itself.

EC Meeting -- The Executive Council will hold its next meeting Friday, January, 21 in Savannah, Georgia. It will be held at the Holiday Inn, 7100 Abercom Street. It will start at 8:30 a.m. A copy of the proposed agenda is enclosed.

Treasury Notes -- this newsletter usually is mailed with monthly statements. However, the November issue was left out of the statements. It is enclosed, please see that your club treasurer receives Treasury Notes.

Holiday Schedule -- AVA Headquarters will be closed December 24 and December 31.

Money Bags, by Candace Purcell, Financial Manager. It is nearing that time again. No, not Christmas, rather tax season. To help with your tax-related stress, the IRS offers publication 1796 on CD-ROM. This publication contains:

* current tax forms

* instructions

* publications

* prior-year tax forms and instructions

* popular tax forms which may be filled in electronically, printed out for submission and saved for record keeping

* Internal Revenue Bulletins

You can purchase the CD-ROM via Internet at http://www.irs.gov/cdorders for $16.00 plus $5.00 for shipping. By ordering online, you save 30%. For $23.00, plus 5.00 shipping, you may call toll free to 1-877-2336767. According to the IRS, the first release will be available in mid December. The final release is set for late January.

To run the IRS CD, you will need either Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT40 with service pack three or later; 486 or Pentium based PC; 16MB of RAM (Windows 95) or 24MB or W98 or 32MB on Windows NT; 75MB of available hard disk space CD drive and Windows compatible printer. It is also available for MACS. For complete details, please visit the IRS website.