| Greetings: I hope that everyone is geared up for the upcoming state meeting. (click here if you need info) I would like to remind everyone about the Auction on Friday night and hope that you will bring plenty of stuff to raise money for the home. In the silent auction, we will have several things again this year, including a special Jr.OUAM pin from about the 1930's, of a man riding a goat. Starting bid will be $12. We will also have the golf tournament Saturday morning and the Good Fellowship Banquet that evening. LAST, but not least, remember to send in your nominations for Jr. of The Year!!!!! The state officers reports were mailed out and I will enclose my report below. Again, if I can do anything for you, please do not hesitate to ask. LET ME SEE YOU AT THE MEETING! Michael F. Marley NC State Councilor & American Children's Home Chairman PS If you need me, please feel free to contact me! mmarley@jrouam.com |
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| State Councilor's Corner |
| July 2006 |
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| REPORT OF THE STATE COUNCILOR To the Officers and Members of the State Council, Jr.O.U.A.M., assembled in the 116th Regular Session in Winston Salem, NC, August 11th, 12th, & 13th, 2006 Dear Brothers and Sisters: “When a State Councilor is first installed and assumes the duties of his office, he is more optimistic than at any other time during his administration. He looks out upon the field and immediately has a sense of the tremendous force of a powerful organization.” Past Councilor D.W. Sorrell (1928-29) Let me say that it has been a GREAT honor and privilege to serve as your State Councilor. Thank you for your confidence and I hope that you realize, that the tough decisions that I made were done to further the cause of the Order. I worried about how my tenure was starting off. When you get a call at midnight telling you that the administration building is on fire, you wonder what you got yourself into. I do believe that this was a blessing instead of a downfall. The building is better off now. Its standards are up in places like the offices with PC support and the HVAC system is meeting the demands to cool and heat a building of its size. I am glad that I was able to attend most of the fall and spring district meetings. Each one that I attended had a great turnout and good questions. I hope that my answers were to your satisfaction and that you will use this information to build your confidence in the Order and recruit new members. Again, I am appreciative to have attended my second car show at the Children’s Home. If you have not attended one, I would encourage you to do so. It is always a terrific experience and I would like to thank all of the people that helped to put it on. Without these volunteers we would not be able to put on such a great show. I believe that this year it raised the most money ever. It continues to get bigger and better every year, let’s continue that trend. The Children’s Home this year had some good and bad news. First the good, the standards are up; we have a spotless daycare center; we have laid the groundwork to hire a new CEO and President. Let us continue down this positive path. The right person will come along to lead the Home with our help. I’ll briefly mention the bad news – The fire destruction of the Administration building and of course, our search for a new CEO and President has been a long process but we now have a foundation to build upon. I hope that we will continue to support the Home, whether it is monetary, time, prayers or even bringing in new members to our great Order. I give my sincerest appreciation to Mr. Gene Duckworth, who has done an outstanding job as interim President. He has made a difficult job look easy. Furthermore, I would like to thank the staff at the Home. They do a wonderful job and without them it would be impossible to make the strides that we are achieving. If some of you have read the Jr. American from March 2006, you may have seen the article about the WV museum. We hope to open our own Jr. Order and Children’s Home museum at the American Children’s Home here in Lexington very soon. I intend to donate over 200 + items. If you have anything that you might have and would like to donate, please contact Mr. Duckworth at the Home. Again to let you know, we have several local websites up and running. Our main website is www.jrouam.com and now Brother Jim Wolfe has set up the National website at www.jrouam.org. (Just remember .com is ours and .org is National) I encourage you to check these out as they always have valuable information. Also if your Council would like a website starter, please feel free to ask me. I still believe that this is our key to communication and our future. I believe that we have made some good strides this year in gaining new members. Let us continue working towards that goal. New members are a welcoming addition and they sustain our charter. The publicity this year was numerous. We have increased websites hits; the annual Car Show; we went back to our roots and presented a Bible and Flag to the Pasquotank County School Board; our own Jim Wolfe made the front page of the local newspaper. Events like these spark inquires which lead to new membership. So to keep our Order in the public eye, we need to continue doing these sorts of things. I would like to thank our Jr. Past State Councilor Harold Hyatt, Vice Councilor Charles Riehs, Secretary Gene Duckworth, and Treasurer Craig Burris, for all their hard work and support. Once again I would like to thank all of our members. It is members like you that believe in our worthy cause and without you we would not exist. I would like to implore you to bring in more members to make this Order grow. If you can bring in one or two maybe they can bring in one or two. Before you know it, we will be in the thousands. I do KNOW that we can do this. It just takes noble members like you to find people to build it up! I would like to share with you what I found in the January 1926 issue of the Jr. American. “Who is Who in The Order?” It requires some push to get up a good start and a whole lot of pushing and teamwork to keep a big thing like the Junior Order moving along at a lively clip, and especially when it is making a hard grade. The fellows who are on hand at each Council meeting knows this is true. The casual lodge census taker can tell Who is Who in the Juniors! Let’s use this as a recruiting tool for us. It held true then and it holds true today!! On a personal note, if you feel left out of the flock you need to attend the state meeting! What an outstanding time everyone has there! You find more than information, you find old and new Brothers and Sisters along with great fraternal fun! I have always loved the Jr. Order because of my father, Past State Councilor and now National Representative, Joseph F. Marley. But when I attended my first state meeting, I had the most superb time and was hooked. I have made so many new friends and I have not missed one in 7 years. Lord willing, this Order will strive and flourish and I will be able to attend many more for years to come. One of my favorite memories of the State Meeting is getting the State Degree with two members that I consider some of my true Brothers, Richie Armstrong and Cliff Ayscue. I can remember that all of us wondered what was in store for us. Recommendations: There are several items that I would like for our State Council to consider going into the future. Some have been started on and I hope that they continue. 1. STATE CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS- Amend and rewrite our State Constitution and By-Laws to make them current for today’s member. Each subordinate council should do the rewriting of their local By-Laws also. 2. MEMORIAL DAY- Sec. 97 of the state by-laws state “The State Councilor shall designate one day in each year to be known as “Memorial Day” at which time due respect and fitting tribute shall be paid to deceased members of this Order.” We should pay more respect to the memory of our dear departed brother or sister. I would propose that every council have a typed list of the names (of all that can be found), which is framed, of the departed fraternal members in a conspicuous place. To give further honor to our deceased members, it is recommended that we set aside the month of May (when ever the 1st meeting is held) each year for local councils to honor our dear departed members with a memorial service. I also recommend that the State Councilor send out letters in advance to remind the subordinate councils of this. 3. PUBLICITY AGENT- Sec. 90 of the state by-laws state “A Publicity Agent, whose duty it shall be to keep the Order prominently before the public, may be appointed each year by the State Council Board of Officers, and his salary shall be such sum as may be prescribed by the State Council.” I do feel that we need this position, again to let the great state of North Carolina know that we exist. I feel that there are many that have connections to state wide papers and would be willing to do articles for them as well as the Jr. American. We again need to tap into this resource of free public press. 4. CHILDCARE- The cost of childcare increasing and government support decreasing. I would like to increase local council dues by $5 per year with all proceeds going to the American Children’s Home. Making quarterly dues 75 cents to the National Council and $2.00 going to the American Children’s Home. I believe that this will also be a motivator in bringing in new members in which you can say, “Almost half of the yearly dues goes to fund the American Children’s Home.” (Depending on how much Councils charge per year) Who can refuse a child in need? 5. TRAVEL EXPENSES- Fuel is becoming so expensive I would propose a sharp increase in mileage reimbursement. 6. MUSUEM- To give proper homage to our past I would like to continue to work for the opening of a museum with American Children’s Home and Jr. OUAM artifacts. I realize that I have spoke on this earlier but I propose that we continue on this project with 100% backing. It will give memories to our dear brothers and sisters already in this great Order and will inspire our newest members to continue to preserve our heritage. Also I would propose that we open this museum on the ACH campus and name this room the Gene Duckworth room for the outstanding contribution that he has made as Secretary to our Order and for his inspiration for this museum. 7. REWARDS – It was discussed in our Children’s Home Board meeting to give rewards to our givers. I would like to see a program in place like universities have with giving to the Home. Help promote it and get more donors. 8. JUNIOR OF THE YEAR – I would like to see the local councils give an award to its deserving member for Junior of the local council. This person then would be nominated for Junior of the Year for North Carolina. This would give each deserving member a chance to become Junior of the Year. 9. TERM LIMITS – I would like to propose a term limit in our by-laws to our Treasurer and Secretary. With the problems that we have had by having people in this position for 20 plus years, we need a change. Let us not let someone die in this office. We have capable members and there should be someone that would like to take the challenge. This does not mean that we do not have GREAT members in that position, it simply keeps a checks and balance like our United States President can only serve eight years so a dictatorship does not occur. Again, I thank you for entrusting me to be your State Councilor. I considered it an honor and a privilege. To quote Past Councilor E.V. Harris from 75 years ago “ I am willing to take my place along with the others in the ranks and offer to my successor the same cooperation that he gave to me and I bespeak for him and the others to follow, years of successful endeavor.” I will not be in the shadows. Whenever I can be of service, just ask me; you will find me willing and ready to assist. Yours in Virtue, Liberty and Patriotism, Michael F. Marley State Councilor |