The following letter was sent by the Lake Erie Regiment: Dear Friends, It is with great sadness that the decision was made yesterday to suspend the 2006 season for the Lake Erie Regiment Jr. Drum & Bugle Corps. The main reason cited for the suspension was simply the fact that the corps was not able to attract enough members to field a competitive corps. Although there was still some time left before the actual season started, with only 10 kids attending winter camps, it became apparent that the corps was not going to achieve the membership it needed in order to survive this season. Corps Director Ray Luniewski said, "It is a total mystery to me why our membership has hit such lows! We attained DCI Division III finalist status just last August at Championships and I was really looking forward to an increase in numbers for this year. But when the winter camps came around, there were very few people who actually came. I will say that the 10 kids who did attend last weekend's camp were extremely dedicated and would have been the kind of members we have always sought. But where are the rest of the kids?" The corps administration is actively working to secure places for the remaining kids who want to march this season. It is hoped that they can find a spot for every member who wants to continue on with the season by placing them into one of the other active Division II or III corps. Plans right now are for the corps to take the year off while still keeping their very active winter guard program moving forward and also hosting their 23rd annual DCI open class competition here in Erie later in July. Then later in the summer/fall, the board will meet to determine whether the corps should try to regroup for the 2007 season or not. At this time, there are definitely no plans to sell any of the corps equipment. "We are all just devastated here by these developments but we know that to go on would not be in the best interest of the members we did actually have. In this way, we can still get them into another program and also give DCI some time to help fill up the openings in the tour schedule that our departure has created," Luniewski said.