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| Fred Whitney |
And now for the reality of fall/winter in the Pacific Northwest!! Have had the
good fortune of experiencing a "second spring" with all the beauty and "rebirth" of
the flora and fauna of New Zealand. This dosage should see us through whatever
our Northern Hemisphere winter brings in the months ahead (including the significant
rain while we were gone).
The New Zealand Rhododendron Association Conference was held in Geraldine on the
South Island with 295 in attendance. For the rural area and the Woodbury Domain,
what an outstanding feat to handle this event both for the NZRA and particularly
the 18 North Americans who were in attendance. Wonderful large (huge) country and
intimate city gardens with all of the luscious plants which can be grown in that
moderate climate were the venue. (Should acknowledge the existence of unseasonably
late spring snowstorms before and after the conference, but the conference committee
had ordered favorable weather during their event!) It was our joy to show a companion
couple from our chapter some of the highlights which have caused us to return to New
Zealand for the 12th time - we still have areas "unexplored" and people to visit which
calls for further trips in the future. The NZRA conference will be focused in North
Shore, above Auckland, 3-6 November 2009 with the 2010 conference in Cromwell. The
Australian Rhododendron Society is planning for their 50th Anniversary in 2010
"dove-tailed" with the NZRA conference (they are another ARS!). Both groups
extend hearty invitations to experience the hospitality of their members at these
conferences.
This "down under" activity only whets the appetite for our next convention hosted
by District 2 in Everett, Washington, 30 April-3 May 2009. The host chapters have
organized an outstanding program of both tours and speakers and have "ordered
favorable (albeit spring NW) weather" for the event. They are hoping to entice
first-timers and welcome the many loyal returnees to this Mecca for rhododendron
growing.
Several actions were taken at the Board of Directors' meeting in Hilo on 25
September 2008. These are enumerated in June Walsh's report in this Journal.
1) Journal distribution: Members of the Board felt the negative reaction to
the previous practice (and Policy of the Board) of not sending the winter edition if
renewal was not received by 1 November was not a reasonable offset to the late
renewals. 2) Dues: The Society's Bylaws recognize Annual, Commercial/Corporate,
Sustaining, Sponsoring, Life, Honorary and Associate classes of membership
(Article II, Section B). Policy 2.1.4 further delineates the Individual and Family
classes as breakdown of the Annual class. The listing of couples and individuals in
each of these categories confuses the intent of the membership listing and the
Board felt simplification to a Regular class was a reasonable approach to achieve
consistency. This would be a Bylaws change and will have further action at the
Everett Board meeting. To address the chapters' petitioning for return of more
dues dollars to them, the dues change was passed with the increase of the chapters'
portion now being $10 of Regular class; $20 of the Sustaining class; and $24 of
the Sponsoring class. It is the intent of this action to encourage membership at
the higher-class rates as a way of further support to the Society in executing support
of our members. 3) Insurance: With continuing advisement of the insurance
specialist who has/is reviewing our coverage/premiums, the Board moved forward
renewing the policy which covers all US chapters for their normal activities/meetings.
With our increasing/continuing litigious society, the ARS cannot be "hung out"
without protection, something akin to "go after the deep pockets" attitude. Therefore,
unless a chapter has insurance coverage equal to that of the umbrella policy and
includes/provides to ARS a rider which names the ARS as an additionally insured,
all chapters must carry this insurance at a prorated cost per paid up member. The
feeling is this policy/premium is better than those available to individual chapters.
This is a change to previous allocations with the result being each chapter's cost
reflects the members covered - no subsidizing/transfer of cost between chapters based
on size. 4) Officers: The Nominations Committee, after extensive search,
recommended the following: Society Secretary: Kath Collier; Eastern Vice-President:
Bruce Feller. The Board unanimously passed those nominations. We are grateful to
the Nominations Committee for these candidates and heartily welcome Kath and
Bruce to their positions at the 2 May 2009 banquet/meeting.
Paul Anderson, District 5 Director, advised the Board of his intent to resign
that position effective 1 December with Tim Walsh, currently Alternate Director,
to assume those duties. I appreciate the significant/untiring support Paul has given
to the chapters in his district and to the Society and Paul has agreed to continue
support to the ARS in the capacity of chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee -
a fit which I think will be of significant benefit to ARS!
May your winter be short and mild and your spring be abundant and bright - looking
forward to seeing you in Everett, WA, 30 April 2009!