Fire devastates Texas; Rain hits East Coast

Extremes...hot and dry, hot and wet! It just depends on where you live. The Austin area is currently under burn bans, fire warnings and evacuation notices as numerous fires blaze their way across rivers, creeks and highways.

     The number of homes turned to ash continues to increase. Because the wind has finally slowed down, fire fighters are gaining ground. We all appreciate your calls and concern.

     On the other side of the coin, we are hearing about torrential rain coming yet again to our friends on the East Coast. Keep us posted and keep everyone in your thoughts.

Thank you for your comments. Yes, we have had ideas and thoughts shared with the team by members throughout the Society. Many have to do with membership and reorganization of our committee structure. Team members get all the information and appreciate the thoughtfulness and creativity of our members. I don’t know that any “strands” as you called them are emerging other than the two key targets I mentioned. We welcome input on any part of the documents. Team members are looking at every article and every standing rule. Small group focus groups within the team are working on particular portions of the documents.

As for getting the word out, we have tried to do that through state conventions, the regional conferences, state newsletters and websites, the International website, the NEWS, and our Administrative Board members and members of the team are spreading the word in all their communications. It has also been a focus of the “BUZZ” from the International Communications Committee. We would be grateful for anything you can do to help spread the word even more. Time is of the essence.

Information can be sent to me or to any member of the Revision Team. Anything I receive is forwarded on to the entire group. Thank you again for your interest and your participation. Take care. Catherine

Some think the job is overwhelming, but this Revision Team is already in gear and working.

Last Revision was 1982

Greetings: 1982. Wow! That was a long time ago. That was also the last revision of our governing documents. The Society has come a long way since then. If you read The Constitution and International Standing Rules carefully you will see the need for a revision. The Constitution Committee did read both documents in great detail. It was like reading a patchwork quilt with all of the changes over the years. Recognizing the need for a revision, the committee asked for and received (1) approval from the Administrative Board to take on the revision process and (2) permission from the Executive Board for Carolyn Rants, International President, to appoint an ad hoc committee to assist the committee. Together, the Constitution Committee and the Ad Hoc Revision Committee comprise the Revision Team.

The process has begun and your Ad Hoc Revision Team is working hard to get documents ready for all members by the spring of 2010.

We need and want your input. We are not rewriting our governing documents; we are revising and improving them to advance the Society. We are looking at everything in great detail and working hard to use language everyone can understand and phrasing that can only be interpreted one way. In many cases, how we operate has changed with the onset of technology and our documents must reflect those changes. We are creating replacement documents that will bring us into the 21st century where, for example, a reference to mail does not only mean postal mail. The goal is to produce documents that are user friendly, comprehensive, understandable and concise.

If you have ideas and/or concerns, send a message to me. I will see that your input gets to the right people on the team.

I look forward to hearing from many of you.
Catherine Davis
cadavis2000@yahoo.com

Society to revise Constitution, Standing Rules