LIBRARY CORNER

We will begin ordering new books for the Bridge

Center Library soon. If you have any suggestions

for books that should be ordered that are not al-

ready in the library, or if you believe we need addi-

tional copies of a particular title, please let Cheryl

Whitfield know. We strongly consider all requests from members when

purchasing books. If you want to donate books to the library, please be

certain your name is in them and let Cheryl know that they are being

donated. Our policy is to review book donations carefully, and if we

cannot use a particular title for any reason, the book(s) will be donated

to the public library’s book sale. Some reasons for not including a title

in our library are: (a) the book’s condition is too poor for circulating, (b)

the information is outdated or incorrect, (c) there already are multiple

copies of the title in the library. We appreciate your support of the li-

brary and hope you will continue to use this valuable resource in learn-

ing the game of bridge.

UNIT 206 CHIT CHAT Volume 3 Issue 4 Monthly Publication of ACBL Unit 206 April 2012

Editor: Sandy Cervantes

Assistant Editor: Cheryl Whitfield Staff: Teresa Moore

Features Editor: Marcia Lanphear Myra Reneau

BRIDGE TIP FOR APRIL

One of declarer’s greatest assets is

that he has no partner.

Victor Mollo/Nico Gardener

DON’T FORGET

Please remember to wear your Chattanooga River

City Regional buttons at all upcoming tournaments —

We need to promote our July

2012 River City Regional at the

Chattanoogan!

FROM THE PRESIDENT

GREAT NEWS!! As a result of the recent survey and input from our members, the Board has decided to start a Monday game. We will start slowly with games on the first, third and when available, fifth Monday of each month. The game will be open and is planned to start at 10:00 to allow moms to play and be home before school is out. [We may adjust the starting time based on players’ input]. The first game will be Monday, April 30, and will continue in May with the first and third schedule. If you know people who do not ordinarily play at the Center [i.e., marathoners], try to interest them in this game. If you plan to play on a Monday, bring someone new or make a new partnership to get more involved. We will provide coffee cake, donuts ,etc. for morning fare; however, we will not break for lunch so bring a sandwich if you feel you need stamina. Also, based on the level of play, we are going to make one of the Sunday games a team game in an effort to re-invigorate Sundays. The Club Manager will pick Sundays that have no tournaments nearby and may pick formats that increase play [handicaps, “8 is enough”, etc.]. The day of these games will be announced at the start of every month or earlier so you can plan for them. We will provide more on these games later. Best to all of you and I hope you find that elu-sive Queen of Trumps [except when I have it].

John

DO YOU KNOW...

What’s the

Snapdragon Double?

The Snapdragon double is a double by the

fourth hand when partner overcalls and

three different suits have been bid by the first three

players. It shows a good holding in the fourth (unbid)

suit and a tolerance for partner’s overcalled suit.

If the bidding proceeds 1♣, 1♥, 1♠, a double by the

fourth hand (advancer) would show a hand with dia-

monds and some tolerance for partner’s hearts. If

you held 3 hearts, you would feel comfortable raising

partners suit (either bidding 2 hearts or cuebidding to

show a stronger hand. “Tolerance” is defined differ-

ently by partnerships, but it usually indicates a dou-

bleton (some require an honor doubleton). The follow-

ing hand is typical of a hand that

would make a snapdragon double in

the aforementioned auction:

♠Kxx ♥Qx ♦KJT965 ♣xx.

The Snapdragon double must be

alerted.

APRIL SPOTLIGHT

GAIL & JIM MOON What’s the old adage? -“Opposites Attract”. Never has this been a more perfect statement than that of the two featured in this month’s profile-Jim and Gail Moon. There is Mr. calm, cool, re-served, patient and extremely “overview” and then Mrs. hyper, obsessive compulsive, overly organized, and loud. (Jim will tell you that there is no such thing as an inside voice with Gail). Both of them, however, will tell you that the last 44 years of their mar-riage has been wonderful, exciting, and extremely rewarding. Gail was born and raised in Cleveland to her parents, Winston and Phyllis Prince, where she attended Arnold Elementary School, Arnold Jr. High and then Bradley Central High School, graduating in 1964. She attended Wesleyan College in Macon Ga. for two years, then went to the University of Kentucky for one year and graduated from the University of Alabama (where “my heart truly remains”.) (This was the result of Jim making a trip to Cleve-land, in December 1966 to visit some family members and swept Gail off her feet at a party. They were then married in August 1967. Gail completed her degree in Secondary Education but spent most of her life as a stay-at-home Mom with the exception of substituting and having several part time jobs throughout the years. Jim grew up in Mobile, Alabama, attended Woodcock Elementary School, Barton Academy for Junior High, and graduated from Murphy High School in 1962. The night of his gradua-tion he left Mobile for Washington, D.C. where he was enrolled in George Washington University and was to go to work for the FBI. His longtime childhood goal was to be a Special Agent with the FBI. However, due to his vision starting to fail, he was told that he could only hold a desk job with the FBI. At this time FBI required Accounting or Law Degrees to be an agent therefore, he left the FBI and went to pursue his Accounting degree. He attended Springhill College in Mobile for one year then went to the University of Alabama where he completed three degrees in Accounting, completing his Ph.D. in 1970. During his career as a professor and administrator, Jim and Gail lived in Florida (USF), Chattanooga (UTC) and Bloomington, Normal, IL (Illinois State Un.), finally retiring back to Gail’s hometown in 2007. Gail and Jim have two children, Elizabeth (Lariscy) with two grandchildren (Bailey and Austin) and James, Jr. (with one grandchild, Ava.), all living in Florida where they were born.

Gail and Jim have several hobbies singly but by far their favorite hobby together is bridge, traveling and especially cruising. They have been playing bridge from the very beginning of their marriage, but it was when they moved from Florida to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois that they started playing competitively in 1995. With Jim working, he was only able to play on weekends or nights; therefore, he completed all the red/gold/silver for his life master before getting but a few black. Gail started playing at least two times a week and on weekends with Jim and starting gaining much knowledge from her favorite partner Betty Capodice who had played bridge for some 50+ years. Gail and Betty traveled together to many tournaments, regionally and nationally, actually winning several Flight A knockouts nationally with a couple of their favorite teammates. Gail would then take what she learned and discuss and teach the new conventions to Jim. As a result, they formed a very successful and fun part-nership. Gail will tell you that Jim is by far her favorite partner/friend ever not only in bridge, but in life. As a result of playing together, Jim and Gail have traveled to many sectional, regional, and national tournaments over the entire USA with the high-lights of their bridge career winning two Grand National Pair events and two free six night trips to Vancouver, Canada and St. Louis, Missouri.

As for travels, Gail and Jim recently completed a 38-day transpacific cruise to the South Pacific with the highlights of the trip, stops in Australia. Other cruises have been a transatlantic cruise to Spain, a cruise around Italy, and a cruise to both coasts of Central America including passage through the Panama Canal. All of these cruises had plenty of bridge. Before this Jim and Gail took a long Trafalgar bus tour to western Europe. Other travels have included a trip to Hawaii as a result of Jim recruiting for his profession and also many other US cities for conventions and recruiting.

Gail wanted to make note of one event right after they returned from their honeymoon to show just how patient and caring was Jim. Jim had been playing a lot of bridge with his college friends and was quite good. Gail had played a little but was not very good at all. When playing with friends one night, Jim bid 1NT and Gail, as his partner, had 17 points but had no idea what to bid. She passed. When she laid down her hand, Jim’s exact words were: “Sweetheart” I don’t think you can pass with this hand.” That is the way he has been the rest of his life -----so patient. When the Moons aren't traveling, they are regulars at the Cleveland Bridge Club, and their expertise is admired by many. Liz Owen mentioned that she likes to tease them about being "trailer trash" because they happen to have a camper on the Hiawas-see River, but she also told me that they are good cooks and are active as such with the American Legion, with the proceeds go-ing to charity. I think we at the bridge club can all agree that Jim is always genial and handsome, and Gail adds a bit of glamour, spark and style!

HIGH GAMES FOR MARCH

Chattanooga

Open Linda & Ron Smith 73.61

NLM Pat Snyder/Carolyn Buzzanca 71.43

Cleveland J. Herrmann/Marcia Lanphear 70.14

Fairyland Muggs Smith/Maryl Elliott 68.26

CHATTANOOGA BRIDGE

CENTER

GAME SCHEDULE

Sunday 1:30 Open Game

Monday 6:30 Mini Lesson

7:00 NLM Game

Tuesday 12:00 Open Game

Wednesday 12:00 Open Game

Thursday 5:45 Lesson

6:30 Open Game

Friday 2:00 Novice Lesson/

Play & Practice

CHANGE OF RANK

APRIL 2012

Information not available.

♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠♦♣♥♠

GET WELL WISHES

We are sending our warmest

get well wishes out to Reba

Jernigan. We hope she quickly

recovers and is back strong

and healthy. We would like to

see her sweet smile back at the

Chattanooga Bridge Center

soon.

In Memoriam

Harry Brundage

We were saddened to learn of the passing of our good friend Harry Brundage at age 83 this past March 3rd from complications of Alzheimer's disease. For many years Harry was a regular at the Chattanooga Bridge Center. Although his attendance had decreased over these past few years, we still remember him fondly, and he will truly be missed. Harry was always the gentleman — considerate, kind and polite to partners and opponents alike. His interests were many — golf, hiking, sky-diving and bridge to name a few. Harry was a true renaissance man. By education and profession, Harry was an industrial engineer, and he was a very successful businessman. But, his true passions were his pastimes. He was an avid skier and was one of the founding members of the Chattanooga Ski Club, serving on its board and as its president. He led a number of ski trips to locations around the world and enjoyed every minute he spent on the slopes. He also served in a variety of board positions with the Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club. The outdoors was Harry’s true love, but if he had to be inside, you could find him at the bridge table. He enjoyed the mental challenge of the game, but most of all, he enjoyed the competition. He was a kind partner and a tough oppo-nent. He loved to win, but even in defeat, his gentle nature was evident. We send our most sincere wishes of sympathy to his family and friends as they deal with this loss.

CLEVELAND NEWS

CLEVELAND GAME SCHEDULE: Tuesday and Friday — Game at 1:00 P.M.

Second Thursday — Game at 6:00 P.M.

Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to game time. Reservations are requested.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Charles Fletcher April 1 Maryl Elliott April 2 Jim Pulley April 20

Teresa Moore April 22

ALERT!! There will be no game in Cleveland on Good Friday, April 6.

GET WELL WISHES We are sending our wishes for a very

quick recovery to Ralph Rogers as he

recuperates at Lifecare.

We hope you hurry

back, Ralph. We miss

you!

UPCOMING AREA TOURNAMENTS

Regional Tournament:

Gatlinburg, TN April 16—April 22

Sectional Tournaments:

Greenville, SC April 26 — April 29

Morganton, NC May 4 — May 6

District 7 GNT Competitions:

Greenville, SC April 28 — April 29

Flights A and C

Morganton, NC May 5 — May 6 Championship and

Flight B

CHATTANOOGA SECTIONAL MAY 25—28

Our own Memorial Day weekend sectional tourna-ment is just around the corner, but you still have time to find the perfect partner to enjoy all the exciting events. The tournament begins on Friday afternoon, May 25, and will culminate on Monday, May 28, with the Swiss Team events.

Tournament Chair Jody Plummer can use your help — why not email Jody at jodyplummer@epbfi.com or give her a call at 423-596-4696 to volunteer. It takes all of us working together to ensure that our tournament is a success.

Don’t delay — contact Jody today!