Tom
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Hi
Tom The rumor is true. Our Northeast Area Executive Board voted not to
have a rally in 2013. This was not a decision that was made lightly but
was necessary due to the lack of support from the chapters. As you are
aware we have lost money since the economy took a hit in 2008. Although
initially the losses were not significant and we continued hopeing for
bettor days this has not happned. The lack of family coach attendance
has caused a lack of vendors and therefore a lack of income. When our
rally was in August we were very successful however the first meeting
that I
attended upon becoming Northeast Area VP I was informed that National
was changing their convention to August and due to the Bylaws an Area
rally cannot be held within 30 days of a
convention. This caused us to change our rally to July. When I
immediatly contected Tom Oddy at the Expo the only dates available were
the present dates we have. At the annual meeting during Sam Allen's last
year as President the membership agreed to a five year contract with
the Champlain Valley Expo. That contract is still in effect. In order to
cancel the 2013 rally we had to negotiate with them and they agreed to
let us skip a year if we agreed not to have a rally at any other
location during that period and to agree that the contract remained in
effect and that I would remain in office to the end of my term. Unless
we get more support from the chapters in our area than we presently do,
I fear for the future for any area rallies after our contact expires.
For example we only received ads for our program book from 14 out of 41
chapters this year. I sent out 188 e-mails announcing the cancellation
of the rally a few weeks ago and I received 23
bounce backs for undeliverable and only one reply and that was from
Perfect Circle stating that they may be turning in their charter in the
spring due to apathy in getting officers for the chapter. If these
conflicting dates with our rally and lack of attendance continue to
exist then I think that sends a signal to the Executive Board that the
Area Rally is no longer important to them and should be discontinued.
Paul DuBois
