Rome was not conquered by the barbarians; it withered from within, the victim of it's own success and the descent of it's ruling class into self gratification and petty competition for office and power. Although the process was protracted, once begun it seemed inexorable, beyond the reach of human intervention.
So it is with NAWBA, the North American Working Bouvier Association. The association, under increasingly inept and passive leadership, seems unable to carry on the most routine functions required by the constitution, by laws and common sense. The minutes have not been updated in ten months, the web site, the chief visible manifestation of the organization, has been untouched for five months, and is incomplete and sparse, to say the least. The membership appears to be well below a hundred and the finances, after years of inept management, are no doubt a source of serious limitation.
But the surest sign of advanced decay is the fact that sixteen weeks before the championships, the only national level annual event, they are still in the "planning" stage!
According to their web page, they have actually chosen a site, Denver, and "The committee is feverishly planning for spectacular event." But no events, judges or schedules have been announced and no hotel or travel arrangements are known to exist. Eric Johnson, apparent event chairman and association president, has been silent and invisible.
A year ago the Pacific Gateway event went belly up at the last minute, even though they appeared to be on track, that is, had a credible schedule of events, announced judges and location arrangements. This of course marked the demise of that once heralded organization, for all that remains is a derelict web site, untouched in fifteen months, to mock the vanity, ineptness and abject failure of the leadership, primarily Marion Hubbard and Ron Gordon.
Although the decline of NAWBA is linked to the decline of the Bouvier as a serious breed in Europe, the primary and immediate causative factor was Marion Hubbard's successful effort in 1996 to elect her own slate of officers and run the organization according to the perceived wishes of the show breeders, pet owners and play trainers. Within two years the leadership was at each others throats, quarreling over the spoils of politics. The formation of the Pacific Gateway organization effectively split NAWBA into east and west coast factions, neither apparently viable.
The Denver championships are a turning point, for if they fail to pull this one out of the fire then the decline will be as rapid and final as that of Pacific Gateway.
Jim Engel June 2001