Minutes of the
President Bolen called the
meeting to order at
Members present: Jack Bolen,
Luke Lloyd, Rodney Stebbins, Alan Bell, Marty Miller,
Ken Skillman, Dan Stutzman,
Welcome guests: June Bolen,
Jeanne Lloyd, Dr. John Sessums, and Chuck Sheldon two
prospective members, seven cadets, two JROTC instructors, and seven other
guests.
The president introduced the
members and guests.
The SAR membership approved
the minutes of the March meeting as published in the newsletter.
The secretary briefly
reported on the status of presenting the JROTC medals to local high schools and
asked for volunteers willing to do so.
The treasurer reported a
current balance of $2,336.13.
Chaplain Lloyd reported that
he had contacted Ted Dickerson and Elwin Thrasher. Both are not in good health.
Dwight Tetrick,
registrar, reported on the status of several new and prospective new members.
The list was significant.
Dwight also reported on the
status of the Liberty Tree. The dedication will be on May 7th at
President Bolen reported
that the potential joint meeting with St. Petersburg SAR is on track. Next
month we will discuss in greater detail the specifics of what we’d like the
meeting to be.
Under old business the
secretary reported that the current balance of the genealogy fund is $175 and
asked if the members might consider a donation of $100 to Dr. Philip Levy. Dr.
Levy is a professor at USF who spoke at our February meeting on an
archeological dig of the early home of George Washington in
The president presented
Dwight Tetrick with a certificate of appreciation for
all his work as past president. He also presented Janett
Tetrick with the George Washington Medal for her work
with the members in helping with their membership applications.
There being no other
business the meeting recessed for lunch.
President Bolen called the
meeting to order.
He
began with some introductory remarks for the benefit of the guests where in he
gave some background of the SAR and the JROTC award.
The
first section of the presentation gave a definition of the term ‘separation of
powers’ and then examined how this played out in our government. For example,
the executive branch appoints federal judges, but they must be confirmed by the
senate. Further, judges effectively receive life appointments. This avoids a
situation where a judge must continually win favor with the executive branch in
order to retain the appointment.
The
presentation then moved to the questions: Why did the framers include the
concept of separation of powers and how did they arrive at the specific mix of
powers outlined in the constitution. The answer to the first question is simply
fear. They did not trust that the consolidation of power would always yield
effective, non-tyrannical government, and they had plenty of historical
examples to back up their fears. The framers arrived at the specific mix of
powers in large measure due to compromise. The separation of the legislature
into two houses is an example where comprise, in this case over equal
representation of large and small states, created a check on power.
A
look at the Federalist Papers gave additional insight into the thinking of the
framers. The speaker pointed out to the cadets how the development of the
argument in numbers 47 and 48 is a fine example of FCAT writing.
The
speaker then moved to the Terrie Schiavo case as a
recent example where the application of the separation of powers played out.
The specific issue examined was the federal law that allowed the Federal courts
to hear the case. Quoting first from the federal district court and then from
the eleventh circuit court, the speaker showed how the judges deemed the law
unconstitutional and discussed how, regardless of a persons moral views of the
case, the system worked as intended and as we need it to work.
In
concluding, he reminded the cadets that they share attributes that the
membership values in our ancestors and encouraged them to continue to exhibit
these character traits.
President Bolen then
presented the SAR JROTC awards to the following outstanding cadets:
Joshua Pratts,
Daniel Ruiz,
Timothy Lee,
Donald Dyer,
Justin Downs,
Christopher Baughman,
Chris Reiff,
The 50/50 drawing was won by
Janett Tetrick and the treasury thus enriched by
$3.00.
Vice President Bolen led the
recessional and Chaplain Lloyd gave the benediction. The meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Yarnell
Chapter Secretary