"If I DECIDE to tip a dealer $100, cool. If the dealer shorts my payout $1, he's gonna hear about it." ... Stu Grant

Tough talk Stu ... but I don't see where you are being short-changed $1 in the on-going club dues hike discussion. Rules are rules... just like the payout example you gave.

It has been officially announced in the club magazine (the official means of communicating with the ENTIRE club membership) that effective July 1st, by authority of the elected BOD, the annual club dues are being increased to $30 and the LM dues are going to be increased to $450 for those members who complete three years membership. According to the club's professional counsel, if a member completes three years continuous membership before July 1st, the member get in under the wire as a LM for $300. On July 1st the rate goes to $450. How did your hypothetical wager example above wind up getting short-changed $1 Stu? There is no grandfather clause provided in the club's Constitution. If you are renting a home and the landlord increases the rent on July 1st, how do you figure you should get it for less?

The lease is about to expire Stu. Seems to me that you have a clear choice. Pay the new rent increase ... or move out of the house ... and complain and complain and complain about the hike to anyone who will listen.

Set up websites ... take out full page advertisements in the New York Times if that's what it takes to make you happy.

Stu; You'll never be satisfied with any answer of explanation that many well-meaning folks have offered to you ... so I'm giving up trying. You're not happy with the original BOD decision ... and you're not happy with any compromise that the Board may be trying to work out behind the scenes (dismissing it as "double-talk") that may wind up being in your favor.

The next decision you make is entirely up to you.