John since the meeting in Lancaster I have been pretty busy.  Not home very much, but I should be here for awhile now.  So, I've been thinking about making a post with some observations on the meeting and the club.  I still have not got my magazine and thought I'd also comment on that.  

One of the things I don't like about the club is they hand out stuff for people to look at at the start of or during the meeting and then want to have you vote on it in the next 10 minutes.  I think that any handouts they are going to have should be provided to the members when they check in with the sponsoring club so you can look it over before the meeting and make half smart comments.

As far as the by-laws go I'm waiting to see if Andy makes a comment to my brother about my input to the committee.  I will tell you that if they don't hand them out before hand at the meeting in South Dakota, I will stand up and say we should delay a vote until members can read them and ask about them.  Maybe no one else will support me, but I really don't care and I don't think the club has to rush into any revisions.  The biggest thing wrong with them right now is the appointed directors.  That has to go, but we don't need to take what the by law committee presents as the final word.  I still think regional directors are the way to go, but that would mean that the chapters in the regions would be responsible for coming up with members that would really participate as board members.  I can tell you after my 45 minute meeting with the current group they don't think that the "regions" could come up with guys that would participate.  I think that is not correct, but I may be wrong and they may be right.  I do think we should try it and see what happens.     

[quote:1ngry7vc]Hi Bill,

  I suppose this is a mute point, but what do you think we can do about the by-laws? I agree with you on the presentation at the meeting. The unorganized and unprofessional conduct of a NATIONAL association just drives me crazy. The final presentation of the draft is not going to be presented until the summer show. I bet Andy hasn't done a thing with what they came up with! It looks to me like there could still be time to do some changing. 

  Are we going to need a shake-up in the leadership to change direction and break the "Good ole Boy" hold that is now in place? I'm not sure I'm ready to run for a national office, but I believe I could do as good if not a better job. I'm sorry to hear you were subjected to the "closet". I just can't believe that this club could intoxicate someone with the little power it has! 

  It may be too late for the by-laws this time, but who knows?

        Thanks for the reponse, John.[/quote:1ngry7vc]