Dear Students and Friends,

Our Association continues to grow and flourish thanks to all of you who train with us. It is through your hard work and accomplishment that shines as an example to others. Master Dusenbery and Master Landers constantly inform me of their pride in the members in their downline organizations. I am pleased at this years prompt response from our Black Belts and Program Directors with their 1995 registration materials which Sandan House sent out around Thanksgiving. He will be presenting a brief report on the status of our Association later in this newsletter.

I would also like to welcome Sandan House aboard as your Association representative to the Board of Directors for 1995. Those of you who were with us while we were still part of the N.K.A. can see how an Association can be run efficiently when there are people in charge who care about the members. I can remember some of you waiting as long as 10 weeks to get a simple certificate order from the N.K.A.! There was no excuse for that, and Sandan House has made sure that this sort of lax attitude will never happen in C&S. Sandan House has made it a point to try and talk to or at least write to each Program Director to offer any help or support that the Association may be able to provide and just to get to know you all better.

He is an outstanding addition to our Board, and believe me: he's the guy who will get it done for you. So, if you have any problems or questions, take advantage of this great resource! I might also point out that Sandan House not only acts as the coordinator for all Association work, but also for my school, the Rose School of Karate, as well. And if that were not enough, he also has the responsibilities of Senior Instructor for the Rose School! We should also thank his wife, Shodan Cindy House, for her patience and help in assisting him with all of this vital work.

We have an Association logo! I am in the process of getting quotes for patches and then there will be about a six week wait but I would think that by mid Feb of '95 we will have patches! Notice will be sent out to all Program Directors as soon as we have them in. We will produce enough to handle enrollment figures as presented in Program Directors 1995 Association registration information. If any of you see these numbers changing dramatically, let me know right away!

Again, my thanks to Master David Landers for his original art work design efforts that gave others an idea of what we were looking for so they could submit some ideas as well. Master Landers took all of your suggestions and re-did the designs while still keeping with my original requirements. Then Ron Hayes of Sandan David Shaw's York Self Defense Club in York, ME took over and applied his expertise to not only sharpening the designs but doing extensive research into appropriate colors and Chinese philosophy regarding those colors and the crane and snake that comprise the logo. But once we had the colors, we needed to put them together so that the logo would be visually apealling. For that, I thank my wife Pat for lending her expertise in color coordination to identify which components of the logo would be a certain color. Thanks Pat! We not only have a terrific logo, but Ron will be writting up a detailed description of the component parts of our logo so that you will all understand why the logo was designed the way it was. You will not only like the logo, but it is something that you will be able to take great pride in; there is a lot of thought and meaning that went into its design.

We have several new programs that have started up in the last few months. I would personally like to let those of you who have started a program know how satisfying it is for me to see so many people benefit from my teachings that they undertake the enormous effort and responsibility of starting their own program. Not only will the Association and the new students who will train in these programs benefit from these efforts, but the Program Director will be the one to equally benifit as the process of sharing our Art with others takes on more and more significance in their lives. Thank you for your vote of trust in our Association and we all look forward to growing together in 1995!

Notice regarding my Grandmaster's Retreat for all of my direct Disciples will be posted in the next couple of months. Comments or suggestions should be sent to me right away.

Keep up the good work!

In our art,
Grandmaster Peter M. Rose