Noble Noel Cissel
(Kosair) called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m., welcomed everyone to
our Annual Business meeting and proceeded to establish protocol in due
form. Oleika Legion of Honor posted colors and then led us in the Pledge
of Allegiance. President Ill Sir Dave Juergens (Kosair) then recognized
SASA Chaplin, Noble Bill Dehn to open the meeting with an invocation.
President Juergens then introduced
the SASA Director Generals for our Spring meeting, Noble Noel Cissel
(Kosair) and Noble Rusty Watson (Omar). He then praised their work to
make this Session a success and for their support to SASA.
Noble Noel Cissel introduced the
2021-2022 SASA officers who were present.
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff, (Kazim)
Secretary/Treasurer and SASA Past President (2013-2014)
Ill Sir Len Noble, (Oleika) 5th
Vice President
Ill Sir Jason Hinkle (Beni Kedem)
4th Vice President
Ill Sir Thornton Holt, Jr., (Acca)
3rd Vice President
Ill Sir Jim Wilson, (Amran) 2nd
Vice President
Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun, (Omar) 1st
Vice President
Ill Sir Dave Juergens (Kosair)
President
President Juergens then introduced
our Imperial Officers who were present.
Illustrious Sir Leslie (Doc)
Stewart (Omar), Trustee, Shriners Hospitals for Children
Illstrious Sir Chuck Pitman
(Yaarab), Trustee, Shriners Hospitals for Children
Imperial Sir Jerry Gantt, Past
Imperial Potentate from Arabia Shriners, President Board of Directors,
and Chairman Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Children
Imperial Recorder Jim Cain from Al
Menah Temple
Imperial High Priest and Prophet
Richard Burke, from Yaarab Shriners
Imperial Chief Rabban Kenneth G.
"Kenny" Craven from Omar Shriners
He noted that we would afford them
the opportunity to make remarks later in the program.
President Juergens then introduced
the Past Presidents who were present.
Ill Sir R. Jack Richardson
1989-1990 Beni Kedem
Ill Sir John R. (Bob) Gray
2006-2007 Omar
Ill Sir Ray Fields 2007-2008 Amran
Ill Sir David Monnell 2008-2009
Khedive
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff 2013-2014
Kazim
Ill Sir Edward (Eddie) Everhart
2014-2015 Kerbela
Ill Sir Mike Matthews 2015-2016
Rizpah
Ill Sir Steve Tucker 2016-2017
Jamil
Ill Sir Steve Norris 2017-2018
Sudan
Ill Sir Doug Stalnaker 2019-2020
Nemesis
President Juergens then recognized
our Secretary/Treasurer, Ill Sir Donnie Ratliff (Kazim) for the reading
of the minutes from the Spring meeting. A motion was made and properly
seconded to dispense with the reading of the minutes, and the vote was
unanimous.
President Juergens then recognized
our Secretary/Treasurer, Ill Sir Donnie Ratliff (Kazim) for roll call.
Noting we have 7 officers and 10 SASA Past Presidents present. The
number beside each Shrine Center represents the number of
Representatives present at the meeting.
ACCA 7
Alhambra 5
Alee 7
Amran 1
Beni Kedem 6
El Hasa 5
Hejaz 0
Jamil 5
Jericho 9
Kazim 8
Kerbela 8
Khedive 6
Kosair 6
Nemesis 9
Oasis 9
Oleika 5
Omar 10
Rizpah 3
Sudan 9
Yaarab 6
He reported we have 124
representatives including 7 officers and 10 Past Presidents; thus, a
quorum was present and we are ready to proceed with business.
President Juergens then called on
3 rd Vice President, Ill Sir
Thornton Holt to present the Finance and Audit Report.
After reviewing the financial
records of the South Atlantic Shrine Association (SASA) here are the
findings of the Audit Committee to report to the Association.
1. Business Checking Account -
$71,498.03
2. Savings Account - $87,599.02
3.
Total Accounts - $159,097.05
This figure does not reflect
expenses incurred for Fall meeting.
It is the recommendation of the
audit committee is that the books are in order based on all facts and
figures presented. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve
the SASA Budget as presented. The vote was unanimous.
President Juergens 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 checking and savings from the end of last year, which was
September 2020 to the last current accounting through August was
$17,415.21. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve the
financial report as presented. The vote was unanimous.
Ill Sir Ratliff presented the SASA
Secretary/Treasurer budget for 2021 -2022. This is the primary account
for SASA excluding the Spring and Fall meeting budgets. Income projected
in the budget is $42,164.05 with expenses of $49,500, thus a loss of
$7,335.95 He assured the representatives that he would do everything he
could to save what he could save and not be in the red at the end of the
year. He noted he was under budget by roughly $11,000 this past year. 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 5 th
Vice President to the Nominating Committee and they are as follows;
2022 Oasis
2023 Khedive
2024 Kerbela
He informed Oasis he would send a
sample Resolution for 5 th VP
for them to use and informed them they needed to appoint or elect a
nomination at their annual meeting when they elected new officers for
next year. He made mention that, he ran the list through 2056 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 Juergens then
called on the 1st Vice President, Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun to present his
budget for both the Spring and Fall meeting for 2021-2022 He made the
comment that they were looking forward for us to visit North Charleston
in the Spring. Ill Sir Calhoun offered a budget for the Spring meeting
that represented a balanced budget and for the Annual meeting in the
fall at Myrtle Beach, he presented a budget that was cash positive. A
motion was made and properly seconded to approve both budget reports and
the vote was unanimous.
President Juergens then
called on the 1st Vice President, Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun for the Time and
Place Committee Report.
2022 Spring March 24-26 North
Charleston, SC
Fall Sept 15-17 Myrtle Beach, SC
2023 Spring March 24-26 Raleigh,
NC
Fall Sept 20-24 Myrtle Beach, SC
2024 Spring March 21-24 Richmond,
VA
Fall Sept 19-23 Myrtle Beach, SC
Ill Sir Calhoun 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 Juergens called on Ill Sir
Jason Hinkle to present the Visitation and Meeting report to note the
various temples and events the SASA officers had attended since our last
meeting. Ill Sir Hinkle reported a total 9 visits by our officers.
President Juergens then called on
the 5 th Vice President, Ill
Sir Len Noble to present the Credential Committee report. Ill Sir Noble
reported we had 7 SASA officers present; 6 Imperial officers, 10 Past
Presidents and 124 representatives. We had 1,545 nobles and family
members registered at the time of the business meeting. The ladies’
luncheon was sold out, as was the Hillbilly Shindig. A motion was made
and properly seconded to approve the Credential Committee report as
presented, and the vote was unanimous.
Ill Sir Ratliff a report on the
SASA Shrine Center’s Membership. We had 10 Shrine Centers with a gain in
membership, with one having no change and 8 with a decline in
membership. The twenty SASA Shrine Centers began the year with 33,593
individual members and our year-to-date membership was 34,096, a gain of
0.12%
Ill Sir Juergens read a Resolution
from Alee Shriners to place the name of Ill Sir Freddie Humphries as
their recommendation for 5 th
Vice President of SASA. Ill Sir Juergens made the motion and it was
properly seconded to approve the Nominating Committee report as
presented to place the name of Ill Sir Freddie Humphries as the 5th VP
of SASA. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve Ill Sir
Humphries as 5th Vice President of SASA. The vote was unanimous; Ill Sir
Freddie Humphries received a round of applause and accepted the
nomination.
President Juergens presented the
Nominating Committee report, which was as follows;
Secretary Treasurer –Ill Sir
Donnie Ratliff, PP (Kazim)
5 th
Vice President - Ill Sir Freddie Humphries, PP (Alee)
4th Vice President - Ill
Sir Len Noble, PP (Olieka)
3rd Vice President - Ill
Sir Jason Hinkle (Beni Kedem)
2nd Vice President - Ill
Sir Thornton Holt, Jr., PP (Acca)
1st Vice President - Ill
Sir Jim Wilson, PP (Amran)
President - Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun
II, PP (Omar)
Ill Sir Juergens made a motion for
each of these officers to serve SASA 2021-2020 and it was properly
seconded to approve the Nominating Committee report as presented, and
the vote was unanimous. Each officer was ask if he agreed to serve for
the years of 2021-2022 and they answered in the affirmative.
President Juergens then called for
any new business. The discussion and the vote to change the SASA Bylaws
to increase the number of SASA members from 20 to 25 Shrine Centers. A
motion was made and properly seconded to approve the change to our
Bylaws as explained, and the vote failed by one vote.
President Juergens invited the
candidate for Imperial Outer Guard, Ill Sir Ron DeVoll (Zuhrah) to the
podium and he spoke to the group as to why he was seeking that office.
Ill Sir Len Noble read a letter from Ill Sir William Rasner who is
running for Trustee for Shriner’s Hospital, who could not be with us due
to a scheduling conflict. Next, we had one individual wishing to be our
next Trustee for the Shriners Hospital Board, Ill Sir
Chuck Pittman. Ill Sir Pittman spoke for a
few minutes to explain why he wanted to be re-elected to the office.
President Juergens then asked the
Director General, Rusty Watson, for announcements, noting the dedication
and effort put forth by him to make the event possible. His first
comments were to praise his team and that he takes no credit. He then
gave us an update on our status at Myrtle Beach. He reported the city
has shorten the parade route due to a lack of available police officers.
He asked us to do what we can to eliminate gaps in the parade. If a
temple is not ready to pull out at the appointed time, that temple may
not get to parade. If anyone has any suggestions as to make things
better, he asks them to contact him. There will also be a Parade
Marshall’s meeting at 4;00 PM
President Juergens invited
Imperial officers for any comments they wanted to share. Each Imperial
officer spoke with important information for us to consider.
Ill Sir Jurgens then ask any
temple to come forward for any check presentations. The Kosair Charities
had offered a dollar for dollar match up to $100,000 to be divided
equally to the 3 hospitals in the SASA footprint. Omar Potentate Buddy
Ellis presented an IOU for $25,000 for the match to support our
Greenville, Dayton and Lexington Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
Ill Sir Dave Juergens adjourned
the meeting at 4:31 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Donald L Ratliff

SASA Secretary/Treasurer
September 18, 2021 |