|
President Douglas Stalnaker (Nemesis) proudly called the meeting to
order at 4:30 p.m. and proceeded to establish protocol in due form. Due
to the Pandemic, our meeting was conducted both by limited attendance
and via ZOOM. Nemesis Legion of Honor posted colors under the directions
of Noble John Knapp, and our Director General Rusty Watson led us in the
Pledge of Allegiance. The President then recognized Past Imperial
Chaplin, Ill Sir John Stanley (Oasis) to open the meeting with an
invocation.
President Stalnaker called on Ill Sir Ervin Arthur “Skip” Draber, Jr,
Potentate of Nemesis Shriners for remarks to the SASA participants. He
welcomed us to Nemesis Temple and thanked us for holding this virtual
meeting in Parkersburg.
At the request of our President, we all were given the privilege to
listen to “Take me Home, West Virginia”, by John Denver.
President Stalnaker introduced the 2019 SASA officers who were present.
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff, (Kazim) Secretary/Treasurer and SASA Past
President
Ill Sir Jason Hinkle, (Beni Kedem) 5th Vice President
Ill Sir Thornton Holt, Jr., (Acca) 4th Vice President
Ill Sir Jim Wilson, (Amran) 3rd Vice President
Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun, (Omar) 2nd Vice President
Ill Sir David Juergens, (Kosair) 1st Vice President
Ill Sir Douglas Stalnaker, (Nemesis) President
President Stalnaker then introduced Imperial Sir Kenny Craven, Imperial
Assistant Rabban (Omar), who was participating via ZOOM and who would be
called upon later in the program for his remarks.
President Stalnaker then introduced the Past Presidents who were present
either physically or via ZOOM.
Ill Sir Charles Lynch, (2005-2006) (Beni Kedem)
Ill Sir Steve Tucker 2016-2017 (Jamil)
Ill Sir Greg Diffenderfer (2018-2019) (Jericho)
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff, (2013-2014) (Kazim)
President Stalnaker thereupon recognized our Secretary/Treasurer, Ill
Sir Donnie Ratliff (Kazim) for the reading of the minutes from the Fall
Annual meeting in Myrtle Beach as the Spring meeting was canceled due to
the Covid – 19 Virus. A motion was made and properly seconded to
dispense with the reading of the minutes, and the vote was unanimous.
President Stalnaker then recognized our Secretary/Treasurer, Ill Sir
Donnie Ratliff (Kazim) for roll call. Noting we have 7 officers and four
SASA Past Presidents present, one in person and three via ZOOM. Ill Sir
Donald Ratliff, (2013-2014) was present, Ill Sir Charles Lynch,
(2005-2006), Ill Sir Steve Tucker (2016-2017) and Ill Sir Greg
Diffenderfer (2018-2019) via electronic means. The number beside each
Shrine Center represents the number of Representatives present at the
meeting.
ACCA 5
Alhambra 4
Alee 1
Amran 2
Beni Kedem 4
El Hasa 0
Hejaz 0
Jamil 1
Jericho 6
Kazim 1
Kerbela 0
Khedive 3
Kosair 4
Nemesis 13
Oasis 1
Oleika 3
Omar 4
Rizpah 1
Sudan 0
Yaarab 0
He reported a quorum was present and to proceed with business.
Ill Sir Ratliff noted he was provided documentation from Sudan Temple
that Noble Frank Long had met the 10-year requirement as a SASA
Representative and was now recorded as an Emeritus member. He reminded
those in attendance that it was the temples’ responsibility to notify
the Secretary/Treasurer of the status of any member who has served as a
Representative for 10-year requirement to be listed as an Emeritus
member.
President Stalnaker then called on 3rd Vice President, Ill Sir Jim
Wilson to present the Finance and Audit Report. After reviewing the
financial records of the South Atlantic Shrine Association, the findings
of the Audit Committee were reported to the Association, as of August
31, 2020
1. Business Checking Account $ 67,234.73
2. Savings Account $ 87,557.81
3. Total Accounts $ 154,792.54
A motion was made and properly seconded to approve the audit report as
presented, and the vote was unanimous.
President Stalnaker then called on the Ill Sir Ratliff to present the
finance report for the past year on the SASA accounts, which runs from
October 1 through September 30. He reported the data for both the
checking and savings account. He reported a loss in the combined
checking and savings from the end of last year, which was September 2019
to the last current accounting through August was $21,465.43. We did
have an income of $32,000 from the Fall Annual meeting at Myrtle Beach
in 2019, thanks to the great work by our Director General and his team
in Myrtle Beach. He reported we lost less than $1,000 as the result of
canceling the Spring meeting this year. A motion was made and properly
seconded to approve the financial report as presented. The vote was
unanimous.
Ill Sir Ratliff then presented his budget for 2020-2021. The SASA
Secretary/Treasurer budget was the less than the year before; however,
due to less income expected the budget projected a loss of $8,025.00. He
reported the Secretary/Treasurer’s budget from last year reflected not
spending $24,301.79 of the approved budgeted amount. A motion was made
and properly seconded to approve the SASA Budget as presented. The vote
was unanimous.
Ill Sir Ratliff then announced the temples who would be placing names
for consideration for 5th Vice President to the Nominating Committee and
they are as follows;
2021 Alee
2022 Oasis
2023 Khedive
And he noted, he ran the list through 2052 and each officer has the line
up in their officer’s book for this meeting. If any temple wants to see
when their temple would be eligible, all they need to do is ask.
President Stalnaker then called on the 1st Vice President, Ill Sir Dave
Juergens to present his budget for both the Spring and Fall meeting for
2020-2021. He presented a budget for the Spring meeting that represented
a profit of $925 and for the Annual meeting in the fall at Myrtle Beach,
he presented a budget that was positive by $8,048.76. A motion was made
and properly seconded to approve both budget reports and the vote was
unanimous.
He them ask for a motion to give him the authority to sign hotel
contracts for both the Spring and Fall of 2021. A motion was made and
properly seconded to sign hotel contracts. The vote was unanimous.
Ill Sir Juergens then ask permission to open a checking account for the
Spring meeting in March of 2021. He requested to use First Harrison Bank
and those authorized to sign checks would be the Spring Director
General, Noble Noel Cissel and the Spring Treasurer, Ron Miller. A
motion was made and properly seconded to open a checking account for the
Spring meeting. The vote was unanimous.
President Stalnaker then called on the 1st Vice President, Ill Sir Dave
Juergens for the Time and Place Committee Report. Ill Sir Juergens
reported.
Time and Place Committee Report
2021 Spring March 25-27 Bardstown, KY
Fall Sept 16-19 Myrtle Beach, SC
2022 Spring March 24-26 Charleston, SC
Fall Sept 15-17 Myrtle Beach, SC
2023 Spring March 24-27 Raleigh, NC
Fall Sept 21-25 Myrtle Beach, SC
Ill Sir Juergens offered this as his report and made the motion for
adoption. A second was made to the motion to approve the Time and Place
report as presented, and the vote was unanimous.
Ill Sir Stalnaker called on 4th Vice President, Ill Sir Thornton Holt to
give the Visitation and Meeting report. He reported the SASA officers
have had 5 visits to other temples. Those being Alee, Khedive, Kena,
Kazim and Nemesis.
President Stalnaker then called on the 5th Vice President, Ill Sir Jason
Hinkle to present the Credential Committee report. Ill Sir Hinkle
reported we had 7 SASA officers present. We have 4 Past Presidents and
51 representatives. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve
the Credential Committee report as presented, and the vote was
unanimous.
The Secretary/Treasurer then gave the Membership report for the year
ending 2019 for our SASA member temples. He reported we had 4 temples
who had a gain in membership, those being Alee, Beni Kedem, Kosair and
Rizpah. We had 36,844 Shriners in our 20 temples in January 2019 and
35,709 Shriners in our member temples by December 2019, a loss of 1,135.
President Stalnaker then announced the Nominating Committee report,
which was as follows.
We received a Resolution from Oleika, properly signed and presented to
place the name of Ill Sir Len Noble as their recommendation for 5th Vice
President of SASA. Ill Sir Stalnaker made the motion and it was properly
seconded to approve the Nominating Committee report as presented to
place the name of Ill Sir Len Noble as the 5th VP of SASA, and the vote
was unanimous. Ill Sir Noble received a round of applause and accepted
the nomination.
He then proceeded with the other officers,
Illustrious Sir Donnie Ratliff, PP Secretary/Treasurer (Kazim)
Illustrious Sir Jason Hinkle, PP 4th Vice President (Beni Kedem)
Illustrious Sir Thornton Holt, Jr., PP 3rd Vice President (Acca)
Illustrious Sir Jim Wilson, PP 2nd Vice President (Amran)
Illustrious Sir Ralph Calhoun II, PP 1st Vice President (Omar)
Illustrious Sir Dave Juergen, PP President (Kosair)
Ill Sir Stalnaker made a motion for each of these officers to serve SASA
2020-2021 and it was properly seconded to approve the Nominating
Committee report as presented, and the vote was unanimous. He then
proceeded to ask each officer if he would accept his new position and
each responded with a yes.
Ill Sir Stalnaker made his remarks to the SASA family, thanking his
team, the members of Nemesis Temple and his wife for their tremendous
support for the most unusual year anyone could have ever imagine. A year
where a Pandemic that changed the world, changed all his plans as both
the Spring meeting was canceled and the Annual meeting was forced to be
held mostly via electronic means. He expressed his most humble
appreciation for all those who have given of their time to make the year
a success. He then gave special President Awards for outstanding service
to Mary Newton, who runs our registration for both the Spring and Fall
meetings and offers to help with budgets and contracts. To Ed Propst,
who served unselfishly as the Spring Director General and to Bob
Dennison who served as the Spring Treasurer and who went above and
beyond to save every dollar he could as the Spring event was canceled.
And then to the Temple of the Year, Nemesis Shriners, for their
unyielding support in answering every need requested of them.
Ill Sir Stalnaker announced that earlier in the year we had received a
request to accept the application to have a new unit to our parade
participation. The Bylaws allow the officers to vote to accept such
requests but thought it be more open if we let the membership decide. A
motion was made and properly seconded to accept a new unit, the South
Atlantic Pirates Association to our list of approved associations that
operate under the SASA banner. The vote was called for and the vote was
unanimous.
President Stalnaker then called on Ill Sir Ratliff to report any new
business. He reported that the notice of a potential change in our
Bylaws were sent to each member Recorder in February with a description
of the requested changes outlined. He asks that we table until the
Spring meeting the suggested change in the number of member temples from
20 to 25. He then ask that we proceed with a vote to consider the change
in the Bylaws to permit the Spring and Fall meeting of SASA take place
via electronic means in the evet of an emergency. The change to allow us
to conduct business via electronic means was place in the form of a
motion and properly seconded and the vote was unanimous.
President Stalnaker called on Ill Sir Dave Juergens for a special
motion. He then explained the situation after the most recent hurricane
and the damage to the Habibi Temple located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
He made a motion that SASA donate $1,000 to the Habibi Temple to help
them with the clean-up and repair of their temple. The motion was made
and properly seconded. The vote was unanimous.
President Stalnaker then asked the Director General, Rusty Watson, for
announcements, noting the dedication and effort by him and his team was
nothing less than outstanding. The Director General noted that we were
still in the process of canceling everything in Myrtle Beach for the
September meeting and we were negotiating with the hotel to save every
dollar we could save.
After a short break, President Stalnaker introduced our Imperial
Assistant Rabban, Imperial Sir Kenny Craven (Omar) for the purpose of
installing our officers. All officers for the year 2020-2021 were
properly installed and Imperial Sir Craven gave the Proclamation
proclaiming all officers of the South Atlantic Shrine Association were
properly installed and ready to perform their respective duties.
President Stalnaker then invited Imperial Sir Craven for any comments he
might want to share.
Imperial Sir Kenny commented to the group that it is an honor and
privilege to serve as your Imperial Assistant Rabban. He complimented
SASA for leading the way in how our association was run and how we
conducted the business at hand. He noted what the Global Pandemic had
changed the way we were forced to do business and compliment SASA for
holding this meeting via ZOOM, so others have the opportunity to
participate. He noted how blessed he is to get up every day and get to
work with such a dedicated group of officers.
Ill Sir Juergens then presented Ill Sir Doug Stalnaker with his Past
President’s jewel and pin. The membership then presented him with a
plaque with 19 of the temple’s pens on it with words of gratitude and
thanks and then he was presented with a Silent Messenger statue on a
wooden base. All give with thanks for a job well done for his year as
President of SASA. 2019-20.
Ill Sir Juergens gave us a brief overview of his plans for 2021 and
thanked everyone that helped with the meeting today and adjourned the
meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Donald L Ratliff
SASA Secretary/Treasurer | 
