HAT Meeting, 5.5.10

The May 2010 HAT meeting was held today. There were 17 people present. As always, there was much discussion, much give and take among the membership.

As for the hard news, the membership voted to raise dues to $12 annually, starting in January 2011. A Public Affairs Committee, chaired by Ron McDaniel was established. Members are urged to contact Ron regarding violations of church/state separation, or other issues the committee might like to focus upon.

Herb reviewed the meeting held at his house earlier this month. There was a concern raised that the word “rationalism” found in our bylaws in section II could be misunderstood as “rationalizing” and thus asked for it to be changed to “reason.” This applied only to our chapter’s mission statement and not the bylaws. There is a procedure which has to be followed to change the bylaws.

Marilyn Clarke gave a presentation based upon an article from Harper’s Magazine from December 2007. “Hot Air Gods” by Curtis White was the essay she used.

In the “Readings, Quips, and Quotes” section of the meeting, I read the poem “Blackbirds” by Julie Cadwallader Staub.

Stan Simpson announced he will be holding a gathering at his house in the near future. I will pass along the information on this gathering once I have it.

I invited the membership to attend Church of the Restoration tomorrow morning for the 11:00 service. I think each organization will be able to benefit one another.

Please add your comments below by clicking on “Comments.” I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at Restoration.