1/27/2013 7:01 AM
Dear Bayer Representatives, I want to personally thank you again for the very generous act of picking an additional 5 Superintendents from the disaster zones of 2012 to attend the GIS in the coming weeks. I had been chosen back in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated my New Orleans area, and understand just how important such a donation is to those Superintendents who in reality could either not afford to attend themselves or it would of put such a strain on their clubs that they could not see fit to allow their club to send them to the GIS. As many members here are aware my hometown of Laplace, La was almost completely flooded by Hurricane Isaac on the very exact same day as Katrina hit New Orleans, which is only 25 miles down the road. My whole course was 95% under water including my shop and cart barn. While my club was spared the flood waters, vandalism the night before the storm as well as our patio cover tearing off a lot of the roof of our clubhouse left us with a lot of water damages that we are still repairing. When I wrote to Bayer to ask that they extend their generous offer again to the disaster areas which also included the after math areas of Hurricane Sandy, I had wrote the letter as a recipient from the Katrina disaster and one that knew what it meant to superintendents first hand. I never expected to get chosen again and really only wanted other superintendents to experience the same generosity that was shown to myself years back, and also that I really was working an average of 60-70 hours per week to get our club back together for the spring season. I was dumbfounded the day that Mischa Wright called me to tell me that I had been chosen, as she must have been when I had to tell her that I would have to check to see if I can get away to attend the Show. For me this generosity is priceless because it will not only get me away from the renovation but it will get me back to what I love most about this profession and that is the golf course. I will finally be able to sit down and finally start putting my spring programs together without worrying over the construction.
Thank you Bayer
James (Randy) Smith GCS
Riverlands Golf and C.C.