From: Patty Draper/Bill Robertson
To: ABANA Chapter Presidents and Board Members
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 8:01 PM
Subject: Re: Presidents Reply
Dear Chapter Presidents,
Here is my response to Bill Fiorini's concerns.
Patty Draper, President
FABA
October 10, 2000
Dear Bill,
Thanks for your e-mail. I don't think the issue here is the anvil shoot.
ABANA's approach to the anvil shoot, for example, is what's bothering the
leadership of many chapters.
Anvil shoots by chapters have never been prohibited, yet the ABANA board
is considering kicking FABA out of ABANA for staging a shoot. The bylaws do
not speak to anvil shoots. The bylaws direct chapters only to "to promote
blacksmithing and blacksmithing education. . . and the ideas served by ABANA"
(Article III-A, Section 1) and to "abide by the applicable ABANA bylaws
and other structured operating procedures." (Article III-A, Section 2(f)).
The ABANA board addressed anvil shoots by resolution in 1997, which stated
"ABANA officers, Board Members, Chapters, and the general membership are
encouraged to endorse this policy and to corporately and personally desist
from the practice of Anvil Shoots." A March 1998 message to chapters in
from
ABANA president Joe Harris stated: "ABANA has taken an official stand
against anvil shoots and in the interest of protecting your organization,
its volunteer officers and directors against liability suits, I hope your
chapter will adopt a similar stand."
Thus, ABANA's own statements to chapters asked, but did not demand, that
anvil shoots be discontinued. So, how is FABA "violating bylaws or
disregarding ABANA rules?"
Your letter mentioned that I could go to the ABANA web site to find the
published minutes of the Flagstaff meeting as well as the Financial
Statement of ABANA. I've looked and can't find these items on the web
site...could you share the web address? May I suggest that the agenda for
the November 2000 meeting of the ABANA board also be posted?
You asked me to retract some statements in my letter to the presidents.
My statement about quotas was based on ABANA board member Will Hightower's
8/30/00 e-mail to ABANA board member Scott Lankton, and Scott Lankton's
9/13/00 e-mail to ABANA board member Dorothy Stiegler with copies to the
rest of the ABANA board members, as follows:
To All
Here are some starter ideas on changing ABANA relationship with the
chapters:
<snip>
2. Change the number of required ABANA members from a set number to a percentage of chapter membership.
3. Offer a joint (ABANA/Chapter) membership. Say $10 off the ABANA dues with proof of chapter membership.
Some costs could be offset by doing a bundle mailing of publications for joint members to the chapter address.
Let them sort and deliver.
<snip>
5. Do an annual review of the chapters. Are they meeting our requirements to be a chapter.
Even find out if they are still active. When I was doing phone contacts on the west coast I never did find who to contact for one chapter.
Amazingly, our Central Office, at the time, had no information.
6. All chapter officers be required to be ABANA members, including the newsletter editors.
<snip>
These are some of my ideas. Now, I would like to hear yours.
Later,
Will
I hear what Will is saying too. This needs work. AND, I for one would
rather read a REAL magazine like the Ring with GLOSSY pictures than an
sloppy xerox chapter newsletter. I know there are exceptions, NWBA,CBA,
but anyhow lets work on getting the chapter members into the National,
set a percentage, increase it annually. Example, By the end of 2001, a
chapter that does not have 25% abana members will be dropped. End of
2002, 50%. Onward if/as board policy sees fit? Fair enough.
Scott
Also, I received a copy of the ABANA insurance policy on 10/5/00. In my
letter of 10/2/00 I said I had been refused a copy of the policy because
- I asked for a copy on 9/12/00, along with a copy of the minutes at which the ABANA board voted to prohibit chapters from performing anvil shoots;
- I got a copy of only the minutes on 9/15/00;
- On 9/13/00, Will Hightower wrote to all ABANA board members: "In requesting a copy of ABANA's insurance policy they have gone a step too far"
At that time, Hightower proceeded to make the motion to remove FABA from the ABANA rolls if it went ahead with
the anvil shoot. It was from these circumstances that I thought my request had been refused. My mistake.
I hope this clarifies the items you were concerned about.
Sincerely,
Patty Draper, President
FABA
