Sons of the American
Revolution
Meeting Notice, February
2010
Compatriot,
The next
meeting of the Tampa Chapter will be held this Saturday, February 20th in the private meeting room of
the Piccadilly Cafeteria, located at
Our program this month will be provided by Helen Arnold of Southeastern
Guide Dogs. She’ll speak on their Paws for Patriots program that provides
trained guide dogs to veterans with visual impairments.
We hope you’ll join us. Guests and those working on their applications
are most welcome.
Regards,
Kevin Yarnell
Secretary,
The 2009 Chapter Challenge – a new Record
Each year the Florida Society sponsors a “Chapter Challenge” contest wherein the local chapters compete with each other based on the activities completed in the previous calendar year. Various activities are assigned point values and a score sheet determines the total number of points earned by the chapter in the given year. Prizes are awarded for the top scorers at the state annual meeting held each May.
We’re very pleased to report that for 2009 the Tampa Chapter set a chapter best with 550 points surpassing our previous best score of 473. Among many other items, meeting attendance contributed to the higher score. We had an average attendance of 9.5 members per meeting in 2008. That increased to 12.4 in 2009. Thanks for your help!
Upcoming Meetings
Speaking of attendance we hope you’ll keep our meeting dates clear on your calendar for the next few months.
- In March we’ll award our annual Fire Safety medal and hear the story of Captain Tracy MacDonald’s heroic efforts to rescue an elderly woman after her car fell into a pond.
- April will be our 11th annual JROTC Luncheon where we honor the cadets chosen by their commanders to receive the SAR award.
- In May our speaker will be Jim Schnur who will speak on early Florida History – 1763 to the end of the Revolution
FLSSAR Archives
The state secretary is charged, amongst other things, with
the society archives. In 2003 the archives consisted of a bunch of boxes and a
large amount of paper. At that time it was nearly impossible to locate any
meaningful information about the society’s past. In the fall of 2003 the
secretary started on a long term project to organize this data in what has
become an extensive database that contains membership and other information for
past and present members. At the recent Board of Management meeting (BOM) he
reported on the status of the project. We thought you’d be interested in the
stats.
- We’ve identified 95.6% of all the men who were ever members of the Florida Society
-
All BOM motions since Fall 2000 have been cataloged
and entered into the database
-
Scanning of BOM reports, programs, and
documents: 2002 to present
-
-
-
Just over 1000 membership applications have been
scanned. The scans allow for easy access but also provide protection for these
documents in the event the paper copies are destroyed.
-
Membership data from past annual reports: 14
chapters completed for all years; and all chapters for the reports filed in the
1970’s and since 2006
-
The total amount of data is well over one half a
gigabyte.
Minutes
of the January 16, 2010 meeting of the Tampa Chapter SAR
President Bell called the meeting to order at
Members present: Jack Bolen, Marty Miller, Allen,
Welcome guests:
Wives: June Bolen, Jeanne Lloyd, Judy
Copeland, and Lissette Young,
Other guests: Catherine Szydlowski
and son Thomas; Doug Brown and wife Emily (Doug’s application is pending at
National)
The President introduced the guests.
The minutes of the December meeting were approved.
At the request of the Treasurer, who was delayed in arriving at the
meeting, Vice President Yarnell asked the membership to approved Marty Miller
as the auditor of the chapter accounts in preparation for turning the books
over to the new Treasurer Chuck Copeland. The motion passed.
Luke Lloyd reported that the chapter currently has two applications
pending at national.
President Bell announced a genealogical workshop that will be conducted
at the
With regard to the color guard, Alan is looking into a Massing of the
Colors Ceremony on March 7th in which our group might participate.
The chapter received a recorded message from the president general on CD
that we had hoped to play for the membership. Unfortunately, the sound produced
by the computer was not loud enough and it was agreed to make another attempt
next month.
The meeting recessed for lunch.
The Secretary / Treasurer arrived during lunch and thus was able to offer his reports. He reported a balance of
$2808.46 and petty cash $33.26. There was nothing of crucial importance to
report from the state Board of Management meeting from which he had just
returned.
The Treasurer asked the membership to approve Chuck Copeland, Treasurer,
Luke Lloyd, President, and Kevin Yarnell, Secretary as new signers on the
chapter checking account. Terrell Sessums moved,
seconded by Cy Gamber that
these men be authorized to be signers on the chapter checking account. The
motion passed
President Bell called on Jack Bolen who inducted the new officers.
Following the induction, Jack took a moment of personal privilege to
acknowledge Luke’s efforts as chapter Registrar over the past four years. Many
of the current members were approved on his watch. The members joined Jack in
his sentiments.
Luke Lloyd assumed the Presidency and chaired the meeting from this
point on and proceeded into his presentation, “Islamic Doctrines and
Consequences”. He provided some personal background on his military experience
in the
Secretary’s Note: This is
another time when my notes will likely not be adequate to convey the excellent
talk provided by Compatriot Lloyd. I offer them primarily as a reminder for
those in attendance but hope they may provide some sense of the presentation to
those not present.
The speaker first observed that Islam is more than just a religion.
Instead it is a religion, a fully developed political system, and a culture.
Each of these areas was discussed in turn.
Next Luke discussed the sources required to understand Islam: While most
people might think the Koran is the authoritative source it is actually one of
three necessary texts. The others are the Sira which
contains a biography of Mohammad and the Hadith which
details the traditions of Mohammad. Each book is both religious and political
and directs humanity to do as Mohammed did.
With this background President Lloyd examined reasons that make Islam so
hard for westerners to comprehend. First, an explanation of the term “dualistic
Faith” was provided. Specifically, it was noted that the religion is not based
solely on Allah but rather requires both Mohammed and Allah. Seventeen percent
of the total number of pages in the 3 books mentioned above
are about Allah and 83% are about Mohammad. This dualism also plays out
in areas such as believers vs. non-believers and women vs. men.
Additionally, Westerner’s have trouble with the ethics of Islam. We have
a unitary ethics as illustrated by the golden role. Islam does not have the
golden role. Duality is present here. There is one set of ethics for Muslims
and another for non-Muslims. Further, in Islam two things can contradict each
other and be true at the same time. This is not how western logic works and
makes an understanding of Islam very difficult for westerners. One can’t simply
pick up a Koran and learn the religion. What will appear to a Westerner as
contradictory statements are not held to be so by Islam.
Since we have trouble understanding Islam we have relied on Muslims to tell us
of their faith and they have told us what we want to hear. This leads us into
believing that Islam is harmless and peaceful.
Luke spent some time detailing the consequences of Islamic dualist
beliefs especially as it relates to Jihad and terrorism. He concluded by
pointing out that a thorough understanding of Islam by our leaders is essential
as they determine
A time of questions followed allowing Luke to clarify and expand on key
points.
Ed Neugaard won the 50/50 drawing. The
treasury was enriched by $9.50.
The President led the recessional, Jack Bolen gave the benediction, and
the meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Yarnell
Chapter Secretary