William S. said .... >"I am just not as extreme on the issue of slabbers selling at shows. I personnally feel that in a free society there is nothing that can be done to really close them out.<"

I keep reading posts about this "free society" reference .... and the flag-waving, God bless our "freedom of choice" issue .... and that "anything legal should not be banned" arguments.

It's all Fairy Tales folks! The last I heard, it was still legal to smoke in this country... but you can't do it on our convention floor ... nor in many other public venues around this great "free society" country. IT IS BANNED! We make choices every day of our life on banning something or another by choosing an alternative.

There is nothing (or no one) suggesting stopping anyone in or outside of this club from collecting, buying, selling slabbed casino chips .... but in my humble opinon, it should not be allowed at our annual 3 lousy days Las Vegas convention IFthe club membership is serious about stopping slabbing in our hobby!

If you can't live without the slab for 3 lousy days in Las Vegas out of 365 days, then you are addicted just like the smoker on an airline who can't wait two or three hours, or who can't wait to finish his/her meal at a non-smoking restaurant, a casino show room (or non-smoking poker room) and go outside to light up. Take your slab customers up to your hotel room if you have to .... or into the hotel lobby to transact your slab business .... but not on our convention floor. So what's the problem here?

And while I'm at it. I've also seen references to airtite holders being compared to slabs. "Airtites aren't slabs folks"..... If some of you think they are the same thing, (dealers included) then you still don't have a good grasp on this slabbing debate.

This complex issue is not just about slabbing. A major part of the issue is the accompanying 1-70 point grading system...., which I claim the club officers have unwittingly endorsed by welcoming the slabbers to come and participate at our convention. This is not a "cheap shot" that I have been privately accused of making in another post last week. I simply don't know of any grading/slabbing company that does not currently use the 1-70 point Sheldon coin grading system for also grading/slabbing chips. So if the slabbers are invited and welcomed ... then so is their abusive 1-70 grading system to my way of thinking.

Marv Weaver's insightful post further down was very revealing. We hear comments that 350+ names on "The List" is not an accurate polling of the membership viewpoint .... yet only a little over twice that number voted in the last election. 350+ is a significant number to my way of thinking to be ignored.

Sorry to be so late with this post, but I've been away since Friday and have a lot of catching up to do.

I still maintain that the club was fortunate to have such qualified candidates offering themselves for election to office.... the successful candidates who were elected; as well as those who were defeated. I'm not ready to burn the present Board to the stake over this issue,.... but as I've stated in earlier messages posted to this board .... "your influence counts; use it!" I believe the Board has erred in their vote on slabbing. It is up to similar thinking club members to convince them that they have.... without all the animosity build-up.

Maybe in addition to "The List" that didn't get the club officer's attention ... someone ought to start drafting "The Ban The Slab Petition" to present to our club officers.