G-I: The WSHPA shall be affiliated and cooperate with the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association. All members, except associate members, shall be required to join the NHPA.

A. The WSHPA annual membership dues shall be determined by a vote of the Executive Board. Adjustment to the amount of the annual membership dues shall be by a simple majority.

A. The NHPA and the WSHPA annual membership dues must be paid to the WSHPA Treasurer. The dues entitles one membership in National Horseshoe Pitchers Association and the Washington Horseshoe Pitchers Association, from January 1st through December 31 of the current year.

B. Any member who has been in the WSHPA five (5) continuous years prior to age 70, and is currently a member in good standing, shall be presented a life time membership to the WSHPA commencing on January 1 of the calendar year in which he/she attains age 70. Members that have attained age 70 or older that have less than five (5) continuous years of membership in the WSHPA will be granted a lifetime membership the year after they have completed the five (5) year requirement.

A. Anyone who desires to be a supporter of the sport of horseshoe pitching shall be entitled to an Associate Membership upon payment of annual Associate Membership dues to the WSHPA Treasurer.

B. Associate members shall be entitled to full voting privileges at all meetings of the WSHPA general membership and to participate in mail balloting, on any WSHPA propositions presented to the WSHPA membership for a vote, except-- Associate members may not vote on matters pertaining to the NHPA constitution and By-Laws.

C. Associate members must, prior to pitching in a NHPA and WSHPA sanctioned event, pay the annual dues assessed NHPA and WSHPA members less any prepaid Associate dues, except as provided in T-IV-B.

A. In the event that a WSHPA member is suspended through disciplinary action as provided in the By-Laws, his/her WSHPA dues shall not be refunded.

A. A Washington State newsletter shall be published and distributed to all WSHPA members with limitations as defined in SN-I-D & E.

B. The Washington State newsletter shall be published monthly, in so far as possible, with the exception that bimonthly publications may be permitted during November through February.

C. The WSHPA newsletter Editor and WSHPA President shall be responsible for the Washington State newsletter contents, publication, and distribution.

D. The State Membership dues shall include the subscription to the WSHPA Newsletter for the current year. However, only one copy of each issue will be sent to each family.

E. Lifetime members of the WSHPA may receive the Washington State newsletter upon payment of a subscription fee determined by the Executive Board to help compensate for publication and mailing costs.

F. Non-WSHPA members may subscribe to the Washington State newsletter for an annual subscription fee determined by the Executive Board.

G. Out of country subscribers shall pay an additional fee as determined by the Treasurer to cover the cost of postage.

A. The WSHPA Secretary and the WSHPA Treasurer shall each receive an annual compensation for anticipated expenditures and expenses at the rate of $540.00 per year.

B. The compensation shall commence with the appointment of the Secretary and/or the Treasurer to office and continue throughout his/her term of service.

C. The compensation shall be paid monthly.

A. The Officers of the WSHPA and Executive Board members shall be reimbursed for expenses incurred during their tenure for all reasonable costs encountered in the performance of their duties for the WSHPA.

B. A voucher detailing the expenditure shall be submitted to the WSHPA Treasurer prior to reimbursement of said costs.

A. The Executive Board shall be comprised of the WSHPA President, Vice President, 2nd Vice President, 3rd Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Statistician, and one member representing each club chartered and recognized as an affiliate of the WSHPA.

B. Each club may elect one member to the Executive Board.

C. Each Executive Board member shall be authorized to represent his/her club in all business matters regarding the WSHPA.

A. Each Executive Board member shall be authorized to appoint, from time to time, a delegate from the membership of his/her local club to act in his/her stead when circumstances prevent attendance of the elected Executive Board member.

B. Each Executive Board member and any delegate that he/she may appoint must be a member in good standing of both the NHPA and the WSHPA.

C. Each acting delegate appointed to represent a local club shall acknowledge that they are an appointed delegate and identify which club they are representing.

A. WSHPA members residing in a locality that does not have a local club shall be represented by the Executive Board member of an adjacent locality that has a WSHPA chartered and recognized club.

B. The WSHPA Secretary shall determine which club shall represent said member.

A. Executive Board meetings shall be scheduled by the President. The Executive Board shall meet a minimum of once each quarter.

B. The Executive Board must have a simple majority of its members present at any meeting to constitute a quorum for conducting business.

C. The Executive Board meetings shall be scheduled in conjunction with a WSHPA tournament, in so far as practical.

A. The Executive Board shall be authorized to enact rules, regulations and By-Laws.

A. All propositions to be considered by the Executive Board shall be published and distributed in the WSHPA State newsletter. Said distribution shall be a minimum of ten (10) days prior to the meeting.

A. All Funds of the WSHPA shall be governed by these procedures unless specifically excepted here-in.

A. All funds of the WSHPA shall be deposited in a WSHPA bank account or shall be invested in an appropriate savings account, stocks, bonds, or certificates to realize an adequate return on WSHPA funds. Selection of the banking establishment and type of investment for all funds shall be at the discretion of the WSHPA Treasurer.

B. Signature of either the Treasurer or the President, but not both, shall be required on all written checks.

C. A signature card for both officers shall be provided to the bank, so either the WSHPA Treasurer or the President shall have access to the fund in case of incapacity of the other.

A. The WSHPA Treasurer shall be responsible for maintaining a recorded accounting of all funds of the WSHPA.

A. The Treasurer shall make all books and records including records of receipts and expenditures available to an auditing committee appointed by the Vice-President or the Executive Board.

B. The Vice-President shall appoint an auditing committee consisting of two (2) or more members to conduct an annual audit.

C. The auditing committee members shall not be officers or appointees in any other capacity in the WSHPA.

E. The WSHPA funds, books and records shall be audited at least once each year, after the closing date for yearly business.

F. An audit may be required at any time by a simple majority vote of the Executive Board.

A. The closing date for yearly business shall be July 31.

A. A financial report of all WSHPA funds shall be presented by the Treasurer to the WSHPA membership at the annual meeting held in conjunction with the State Tournament.

A. A special fund, designated the Winetrout Special Fund, shall be governed by the procedures for all WSHPA funds, except as noted in F-VII.

B. The Winetrout Special Fund shall be invested in an appropriate savings account, stocks, bonds, or certificates to realize an adequate return on the fund.

C. The principal investment shall not be withdrawn except for an emergency. Said emergency shall be declared by a simple majority vote of the Executive Board.

E. Interest earned on the principal of the Winetrout Special Fund shall be used to compensate the President, Secretary, Treasurer, Statistician and newsletter Editor for anticipated expenditures and expenses, or any other use deemed appropriate by the Executive Board.

A. In event of the death of Winnie Winetrout, this will be known as the Winnie Winetrout Memorial Fund.

B. This Fund will exist as long as the WSHPA exists. If WSHPA ceases to exist, the Fund #2 must be transferred to the NHPA General Fund. No part of the principal can be withdrawn except as noted above.

C. The annual interest from this account will be distributed as follows:

A. All special funds, such as memorial funds, special assessment funds, scholarship funds, Juniors Trust fund, etc. shall be recorded and reported by fund name by the Treasurer. Expenditures from these funds shall be authorized by a simple majority vote of the Executive Board and reported to the membership by publication in the WSHPA newsletter.

B. Expenditures from the memorial fund shall require a written statement detailing the reason for the expenditure signed by at least four (4) state officers.

A. A Hall of Fame committee shall be comprised of five (5) members appointed by the President.

B. In the event of death, resignation or removal from the committee of any member, the President shall appoint a new committee member to fill the unexpired term.

C. Each member of the committee shall serve a five (5) year term, with one (1) members term of office expiring each year.

E. There shall be a minimum of one (1) male and one (1) female on the Hall of Fame committee at all times.

A. The name of nominees submitted as candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame must be submitted to the WSHPA Hall of Fame Chairperson by the member recommending induction of the nominee.

B. The Hall of Fame Chairperson shall report the names of all nominees for induction to the Hall of Fame committee.

C. A dossier detailing a complete history of the candidates activity in horseshoes, etc. must be submitted to the Hall of Fame Chairperson at the time of nomination.

E. The Hall of Fame Chairperson shall submit copies of all candidates dossiers to each committee member prior to June 1.

F. Hall of Fame committee persons must abstain from voting on Hall of Fame candidates that are members of their immediate family.

A. Guidelines suggested for the Hall of Fame committee to follow are:

B. When a person is selected as a candidate, but does not receive the required twelve (12) votes to be inducted, the name will remain on the ballot for the following year. If at that voting, he or she still does not receive enough votes, the candidate dossier would have to be presented again at a later date.

C. SPECIAL NOTE: The Hall of Fame committee should be resolved that induction into the Horseshoe Hall of Fame is a very special honor, and as such, the criteria for approval of nominees by the Hall of Fame committee should be maintained at a high level to assure that this honor is bestowed only on those who have significantly contributed to the sport of horseshoe pitching.

A. The awards distributed at all WSHPA sanctioned tournaments shall be governed by the procedures described in this section.

A. An awards system, known as the Plaque Program shall be administered by the WSHPA Secretary.

B. The plaque program shall apply to all classes in WSHPA sanctioned tournaments.

C. The Secretary shall maintain a record of tournament wins for all participants in the plaque program.

A. The plaque program shall consist of plates and plaques awarded to winners in each class as follows:

After each individual player has won his/her first five (5) plates, a plaque, shaped in the outline of Washington State, will be presented to that individual. When an individual player has been awarded sufficient plates to fill the plaque [thirteen (13) additional plates] a second plaque will be presented after the next plate is won. Subsequent plaques will be presented after the first tournament win following the filling of each plaque.

A. A fee, determined by the Treasurer and concurred by the Executive Board, will be paid to the WSHPA by the tournament director for each plate awarded at his/her tournament.

B. All plaques shall be furnished by the WSHPA.

A. In addition to the plates awarded under the plaque program, each tournament director may, at his/her discretion, determine and present additional awards to each class. Such awards may include prize money, trophies or other prizes, but shall not include WSHPA plates or plaques over and above those authorized in A-III.

A. NHPA Patch Awards shall be presented to the First Place winner in each class. The award insignia shall read Class Champion, except the winner of the top class in the tournament shall be presented a NHPA Patch Award with the insignia Tournament Champion.

A. The WSHPA shall have sole authority to grant NHPA and WSHPA sanction to all types of horseshoe pitching tournaments, events, and contests held within the State of Washington.

B. A tournament must be open to all WSHPA and NHPA members to be granted a sanction, however the number of entries may be limited by the tournament director. Requests for entry into a tournament with limited entrees shall be granted on a first come basis.

A. The WSHPA Secretary shall be responsible for granting of WSHPA and NHPA sanctions and establishing schedule dates, at his/her discretion, for all sanctioned horseshoe pitching events.

B. Requests for sanction of events will be considered annually by the WSHPA Secretary.

C. Requests for sanction of events must be submitted sixty (60) days prior to the event.

A. The WSHPA shall have jurisdiction to determine all rules and regulations governing sanctioned horseshoe pitching events in Washington State.

B. The horseshoe pitching rules and regulations established by the NHPA, including the latest revisions enacted by the NHPA, are here-by adopted and shall govern all sanctioned horseshoe pitching events within Washington State unless specifically excepted in the WSHPA By-Laws.

B. The tournament director shall be responsible to verify each entrant's eligibility by checking his/her WSHPA and NHPA membership cards.

D. All entrants shall declare to the Tournament Director whether they are forty (40) or less than forty (40) foot pitchers at the time they sign up for the tournament.

E. Any person who registers for a sanctioned tournament and then failed to show up or cancel out, will forfeit their entry fee to that club before they are allowed to enter another sanctioned tournament.

A. Tournament entrants shall be seeded into classes based on individual ringer percentages established from tournaments pitched by each entrant during the past twelve (12) months.

B. The WSHPA State Statistician shall provide the tournament director with a list of WSHPA members and their current official ringer percentage for seeding entrants.

C. All entrants must have competed in at least one (1) sanctioned tournament in the previous twelve (12) month period to have an official ringer percentage.

E. The WSHPA State Statistician shall determine each WSHPA members official ringer percentage by calculating an average based on the ringers pitched and shoes thrown in the highest three (3) sanctioned tournaments that the individual member has competed in during the past twelve (12) months.

F. In the event that a WSHPA member has pitched in fewer than three (3) sanctioned tournaments in the preceding twelve (12) month period, the State Statistician shall compute the members official ringer percentage based on all of the ringers pitched and shoes thrown in sanctioned tournaments during the previous twelve (12) months.

A. The tournament director shall, at his/her discretion, determine the number of entrants seeded into each class, striving toward establishing eight (8) person classes, when practical, considering the number of entrants and the percentage point spread in class size determination. (If the percentage point spread is 10 points or greater in any class, the tournament director should consider the option of using 3 or more person classes.)

B. The tournament director shall strive to establish separate classes for men, ladies, juniors, and senior thirty (30) foot pitchers. If, in the opinion of the tournament director, separate classes are not feasible because of insufficient number of entries or the ringer percentage point spread of entrants would be too large to be evenly competitive, then he/she may establish mixed classes combining thirty (30) and forty (40) foot pitchers into a class or classes.

A. The highest class in a tournaments shall be designated class "A". The designation "Championship Class" shall be exclusively reserved for the highest men's, ladies, juniors, and seniors classes in the annual Washington State Tournament.

A. All sanctioned tournament games shall be forty (40) point cancellation or count- all scoring (including ringer only count-all scoring, as used in the Winetrout Tournaments).

B. The tournament director at his/her discretion, may limit the length of games by establishing a set number of the shoes pitched by each contestant in each game.

C. In shoe limit games, or when using count-all scoring, games that are tied after regulation play shall remain tied. Each pitcher shall receive credit for 1/2 a game win for a tied game.

A. The winners of sanctioned tournaments shall be determined by listing from the most to the least games won during round robin play.

B. Ties for first place shall be played off.

C. The tournament director may limit the number of shoes pitched in playoff games.

E. In the event of ties for any position other than first place, the tie breakers shall be in the following order:

A. In tournament competition the wins and losses and all statistics accumulated shall remain in the books for a pitcher who has to forfeit one or more games for any reason. Any person who forfeits games shall finish wherever his/her record puts him/her in the standings unless he/she forfeits for an unapproved reason as defined in the NHPA rules, then he/she finishes last.

B. If a person cannot complete a started game and must forfeit, the score of that game and all other forfeit games shall be 40 points and a win for the competitor and 0 points and a loss for the person who forfeits the game(s).

A. The Washington State Championship Tournament shall be held annually during the Labor Day Weekend. It shall be at this tournament only, that the titles "State Class Champion" and "Champion Horseshoe Pitchers of the State of Washington" be awarded. The "State Class Champion" shall be awarded to the first place winner of their respective class. The titles of "Champion Horseshoe Pitchers of the State of Washington" shall be awarded to the first place winners of their respective Championship Classes.

A. The WSHPA President, or his/her delegate shall be the tournament director.

A. Any person having established residence in the State of Washington may become a member of the NHPA and WSHPA and be eligible to enter any State Sanctioned Tournament during the year with the exception that the following additional requirements must be met to qualify to enter the Washington State Championship Tournament. To qualify for entry into the Washington State Championship Tournament a pitcher must pitch in two (2) sanctioned tournaments held within Washington State since the last State Tournament.

B: All entrants to the Washington State Championship Tournament must signify their intent to pitch in the tournament by means of paying the entry fee required, to the WSHPA Treasurer by the designated time established by the Secretary, in advance of the tournament.

C. Entry fees will be refunded only in the event of sickness, death or an emergency due to the act of God.

A. There shall be as many classes as are practical or possible in the judgment of the President or the designated tournament director, including classes of play for men, ladies, junior boys and girls seventeen (17) years of age or under, and senior men sixty-five (65) years of age and older.

A. The current men's, ladies, juniors and senior State Champions will automatically be seeded into the number one (1) position in their respective Championship Class, except juniors who have exceeded the age requirement for competing in the junior class.

B. The seven (7) men 40-foot pitchers with the highest official ringer percentage and the current Men's State Champion shall be seeded into the Men's Championship Class.

C. Ladies, Juniors and Seniors State Champion classes shall be seeded at the discretion of the President or the designated tournament director based on the number of tournament entries and the percent point spread.

E. The Men's Championship Class shall pitch a double round robin of fourteen (14) games, other Championship Classes may pitch a double round robin, at the discretion of the President or the designated tournament director. The President or designated tournament director shall strive to establish classes with a minimum of ten games played.

F. The President or the designated tournament director shall strive to make twelve (12) person classes.

A. The rules and regulations as specified in T-III shall govern play in the Washington State Tournament unless specifically excepted in the State Tournament Section of the By-Laws.

B. Games won, shall determine the order in which the participants are listed as winning.

C. All first place ties shall be played off.

E. All games, including playoff games shall be forty (40) point cancellation, regardless of the number of shoes pitched.

A. The members in good standing, attending the regular meeting held during the Washington State Tournament shall award by a simple majority vote, the site of the Washington State Tournament for the following year.

A. The tournament director may suspend from that tournament any pitcher for unsportsman-like conduct.

B. If a pitcher is removed from the tournament and the tournament director determines that additional action is required, the incident shall be reported to the WSHPA President. The WSHPA President shall contact all parties involved with the incident and, if, in his opinion further measures are necessary, shall set a meeting time and place for a hearing by the State Officers and Executive Board.

C. The State Officers and Executive Board may suspend, restrict from further play, and/or revoke membership in the WSHPA from any member after a fair hearing has been held. Said member shall have an opportunity to be heard at the meeting.