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President Greg Diffenderfer (Jericho) called the meeting to order at
9:30 am establishing protocol in due form. Jericho Legion of Honor
posted colors and then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. The President
then recognized the Jericho Legion of Honor who has 4 members on the
SASA Legion of Honor line, those being Noble Bobby Smith, Noble Kenny
Collier, Noble Darrel McFerrin and Nobel Bud Campbell.
SASA Chaplin, Noble Todd Monroe (Jericho) opened the meeting with an
invocation, noting we have lost two SASA Past Presidents since we last
met. Ill Sir Doyle Simmons, PP (Oasis) and Ill Sir Harry Bryant, Sr., PP
(Oasis) and that we remember those families in our prayers.
President Diffenderfer then introduced the SASA Director Generals for
2019, Ill Sir Pete Rambo (Jericho) and Noble Rusty Watson (Omar). He
then praised their work to make this Session a success and for their
support to SASA.
President Diffenderfer introduced the 2019 SASA officers who were
present.
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff, (Kazim) Secretary/Treasurer and SASA Past
President
Ill Sir Thornton Holt, Jr., (Acca) 5th Vice President
Ill Sir Jim Wilson, (Amran) 4th Vice President
Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun, (Omar) 3rd Vice President
Ill Sir David Juergens, (Kosair) 2nd Vice President
Ill Sir Douglas Stalnaker, (Nemesis) 1st Vice President
And Ill Sir Greg Diffenderfer (Jericho) President.
President Diffenderfer introduced Ill Sir Chuck Blair, Potentate of
Jericho Temple for his remarks. Ill Sir Chuck welcomed us to Kingsport
and to Jericho.
President Diffenderfer then introduced our Imperial Officers who were
present, Imperial Sir Mark Hartz, Imperial Outer Guard from Boumi
Shriners and Imperial Sir Jim Cain, Imperial Potentate from Al Menah
Shriners in Nashville. He noted that we would afford them the
opportunity to make remarks later in the program. President Diffenderfer
made the comment of why the Imperial Officers were sitting in the back
of the room noting they must be Baptist with the Imperial Sir Jim Cain
responding they were Southern Baptist.
President Diffenderfer then introduced the Past Presidents who were
present.
Ill Sir Jack Richardson, (Beni Kedem) 89-90
Ill Sir Paul Gregg, (Jamil) 02-03
Ill Sir Bob Gray, (Omar) 06-07
Ill Sir Ray Fields, (Amran) 07-08
Ill Sir Donald Ratliff (Kazim) 13-14
Ill Sir Steve Tucker (Jamil) 16-17
President Diffenderfer then recognized our Secretary/Treasurer, Ill Sir
Donnie Ratliff (Kazim) for roll call. Noting we have 7 officers and 6
SASA Past Presidents present. The number beside each Shrine Center
represents the number of Representatives present at the meeting.
ACCA 6
Alhambra 4
Alee 4
Amran 7
Beni Kedem 5
El Hasa 5
Hejaz 3
Jamil 8
Jericho 12
Kazim 7
Kerbela 6
Khedive 3
Kosair 3
Nemesis 8
Oasis 9
Oleika 2
Omar 7
Rizpah 6
Sudan 3
Yaarab 1
He reported a quorum was present and to proceed with business.
President Diffenderfer then called on the SASA Secretary/Treasurer, Ill
Sir Donnie Ratliff to read the minutes of the previous meeting. A motion
was made and properly seconded to dispense with the reading of the
minutes and the vote was unanimous.
President Diffenderfer 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 checking account
of $10,076.30 and a gain of $22.18 on the savings account. A question
came from the floor “was the loss from canceling SASA at the Beach this
past September” and the answer was yes noting that we incurred a loss of
$3,973.61 from this past September, but due to it taking longer to close
the books for 2017 fall SASA due to the Hurricane, part of the loss from
2017 was reflected in this past fiscal year. We lost $14,303.56 at Fall
SASA 2017. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve the
financial report as presented. The vote was unanimous.
Ill Sir Ratliff then ask President Diffenderfer if he could proceed with
other items that we needed to discuss and vote on and he was given
permission to proceed.
First, he noted that we had all new Potentates and several new Recorders
and we were not being consistent in reporting SASA Representatives. We
have one temple that sends me 3 names and one that sends me 25 names as
representatives. In Article III of our Bylaws, Section 1 states;
“The Representatives of the Association shall be composed of Potentates,
Chief Rabbans, Assistant Rabbans, Recorders and two additional
Representatives to be elected by each member Temple. All elected
officers of the Association, all Imperial Officers, and Past Imperial
Potentates within the jurisdiction of the Association shall be
Representatives at large with all rights and privileges. All Past
Presidents of the Association and all Past Potentates shall be
Representatives “Ad Vitem” with all rights and privileges. Those who
have served as Representatives for ten (10) years and have been elected
to Emeritus status by the Association shall be a Representative with all
rights and privileges for life.”
He also mentions we have no way to track those Representatives who have
been so designated for 10 years and that each Shrine Center must track
that and report those who have served for 10 years as an Emeritus
Representative each year when they report to SASA their updated list.
Ill Sir Ratliff noted your SASA officers met in Greensboro in February
of this year and approved a SASA Fraud Policy. This is now required by
our Insurance Policy, it basically covers how we will conduct business
going forward and how we will monitor our finances and what happens if
we have banking irregularities or money mishandled. It will provide us a
path should something happen. It also requires an approved “Expense
Report” to be completed, with receipts attached and signed off by a SASA
officer to get reimbursed for cash spent out of pocket for an event. A
motion was made and properly seconded to approve the Fraud Policy as
presented. The vote was unanimous.
Next. he noted during the Officers’ meeting in Greensboro in February we
worked on updating the SASA Officer Policy. The policy conflicted with
our newly approved Bylaws. Normally we don’t bring this before the body
as it serves as a guidance document for the officer’s responsibilities,
ie, the way we compensate for rooms, how we handle meeting expenses,
when the fall and spring meetings are held and responsibilities of the
Director Generals as well as officers. A motion was made and properly
seconded to approve the SASA Officers’ Policy as presented, and 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;
2019 Beni Kedem
2020 Oleika
2021 Alee
2022 Oasis
And he noted he had run the list through 2055 and each officer has the
line up in their officer’s book for this meeting if any temple wanted to
see when their temple would be eligible, all they had to do was ask.
Ill Sir Ratliff then reminded the Representatives that he had emailed
each Shrine Center a month ago asking each Shrine Temple to bring 5
lapel pins from their Potentates to Kingsport, that would be placed on
plaques for our special guest at the Fall Business meetings and he could
accept those lapel pins anytime during this meeting.
Next, he asked the Representatives to provide him with the names and
contact information for the SASA Associations that operated under our
Bylaws. These associations operate under our Bylaws and report their
financial affairs under our tax ID number, and we must have a line of
communication with each of these associations.
Ill Sir Ratliff asked the group to wish Ill Sir Paul Gregg, PP Jamil and
SASA Past President 2002-03 a Happy Birthday and the whole room sang
Happy Birthday to Ill Sir Paul.
President Diffenderfer then called on 3rd Vice President, Ill Sir Ralph
Calhoun to present the Finance and Audit Report. After reviewing the
financial records of the South Atlantic Shrine Association here are the
findings of the Audit Committee to report to the Association.
1. Business Checking Account $120,324.61
2. Savings Account $ 55,933.36
3. Total Accounts $176,257.97
This figure does not reflect expenses incurred for the Mid-Winter
meeting. It is the recommendation of the audit committee is that the
books are in order based on all facts and figures presented. The audit
committee would like to make a motion to the Associations members that
we move $75,000 into the Eastman Credit Union for a 9 months CD at 3.7%.
This would give us a better rate than we are currently receiving. As
approved at the Fall meeting minutes that the signatures on the account
would be Ill Sir Greg Diffenderfer PP (President SASA), Ill Sir Doug
Stalnaker PP (1st Vice President SASA), and Ill Sir Donald Ratliff PP
(Secretary/Treasurer SASA)
A motion was made and properly seconded to approve the audit report as
presented, and the vote was unanimous.
President Diffenderfer then called on the 5th Vice President, Ill Sir
Thornton Holt, Jr to present the Credential Committee report. Ill Sir
Holt reported we had 7 SASA officers present. We have 6 Past Presidents,
108 representatives. We have 122 registered for the ladies’ luncheon,
112 registered for Representatives’ luncheon, 133 have registered for
the tour of Bristol Motor Speedway and 191 registered for the
Presidents’ banquet. A motion was made and properly seconded to approve
the Credential Committee report as presented, and the vote was
unanimous.
President Diffenderfer then called on the 1st Vice President, Ill Sir
Doug Stalnaker for the Time and Place Committee Report. Ill Sir
Diffenderfer reported
2019 Spring March 28-30 Kingsport, TN
Fall Sept. 19-22 Myrtle Beach, SC
2020 Spring March 26-29 Parkersburg, WVA
Fall Sept. 17-20 Myrtle Beach, SC
2021 Spring March 25-27 Claremont, KY
Fall Sept 16-19 Myrtle Beach, SC
2022 Spring ? Charleston, SC
Fall ? Myrtle Beach, SC
Ill Sir Stalnaker 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.
President Diffenderfer is chairman of the Nominating Committee and he
announced the next Shrine Center to place a name in nomination for 5th
Vice President is Beni Kedem and we have a resolution form Beni Kedem
signed by the Divan on December 13, 2018, to place Ill Sir Jason Hinkle
as their recommendation for the next 5th VP. This is resolution is read
at this meeting for information only as Ill Sir Hinkle will be voted on
at our annual Business meeting in Myrtle Beach in September 2019.
President Diffenderfer invited the candidates for Trustee for the
Shriners Hospital Board and we had 2 candidates present, Ill Sir Anthony
West and Ill Sir Chuck Pittman. Ill Sir Ralph Calhoun spoke on behalf of
Ill Sir Mack Griffith. Each candidate had 5 minutes to speak.
President Diffenderfer then asked each Director General for
announcements. Ill Sir Pete Rambo had nothing to report but Noble Rusty
Watson gave us an update on our status in Myrtle Beach. He reported the
electronic registration was working great. It made registration much
easier and much faster and it made reimbursement for the beach last year
happen within two or three days. If anyone has any suggestions as to
make things better. In Myrtle Beach, it is important for us to capture
everyone that comes to SASA. The Shriner pays for registration, but his
family pays nothing. To be eligible for the A Tax money we need to
account for everyone that comes with us, so it is important to register
your wife and family. Please register any visitors and family that comes
to the beach as their registration is free.
President Diffenderfer then called on Imperial Sir Mark Hartz to speak.
Imperial Sir Hertz gave a presentation on our Shriners’ Hospitals and
the challenges we had before us. Imperial Cain spoke up to further
explain our challenges with the hospitals as well as membership. Both
Imperial officers thanked the President and the SASA officers for their
hospitality. He said they were delighted to be here in Kingsport. He
offered to answer any questions we might have on the hospitals and the
fraternity.
President Diffenderfer called on our Director General, Noble Rusty
Watson, to proceed with the drawing for parade positions for the Annual
Meeting in September 2019 at Myrtle Beach. Noting we have drawn in
alphabetical order for years, this year we are going to draw the Shrine
Centers out of a basket and then they would draw for parade positions in
order your Shrine Center is pulled out of the first basket. As each
temple was called forward in order of their name being drawn out of the
first basket to draw for parade position out of the second basket. The
following is the way the parade will line up. The number beside each
Shrine Center is the number they drew for the step off position in the
parade.
ACCA 20
Alhambra 8
Alee 4
Amran 12
Beni Kedem 7
El Hasa 15
Hejaz 6
Jamil 3
Jericho 1
Kazim 10
Kerbela 17
Khedive 18
Kosair 14
Nemesis 16
Oasis 5
Oleika 11
Omar 19
Rizpah 13
Sudan 2
Yaarab 9
After the parade drawing, Ill Sir Diffenderfer adjourned the meeting at
12:03pm
Respectfully submitted
Secretary/Treasurer
South Atlantic Shrine Association | 
