The Official Newsletter of the Washington Science Fiction
Association -- ISSN 0894-5411
Edited by Joe Mayhew
Lions Day at the Park
WSFA Minutes May 19, 1995 at Ginter's
Update on the Lynch Townhouse
Bylaws of the Washington Science Fiction Association
Wednesday, May 17, 1995
Ed Emsh
Limerick Competition
The Colosseum was full of factually challenged lions from 2:30 until 4:00 PM. But the games went on, because, up in the bleachers, the Holy Committee for the Advancement and/or Prevention of Amateur Emperors were busy smoking orange peel tea.
When they let loose the Christians, A cheer echoed off the scoreboard as several popes gravy-horsed across the parade ground. The largest pope wore fairy brocade and dared anyone to unplug his ornaments. He lectured for hours.
One lion, name of Aethelred, lost his shoes and had to explain why he wasn't ready to be king. So he ran home to get his shoes, but when he got back, his pride were all gone and he saw they had unwrapped his crown and eaten it.
Aethelred the Lion stood there in the sand feeling bewildered and clumsy in his hurry-up shoes.
The popes had all sat down on green picnic tables at the other end of the orchard watching the expository lions trying to look lopsided so their draftboard would understand.
Some of the Christians had taken out their pocket tape measures while others were lining up the lions according to thumb and eye guesses. The rest of the Christians were plucking chickens and dicing for potatoes or garments or counting their blessings one by one on hand-calculators.
After a lot of half-hearted searching and a good bit of pouting, Aethelred the Lion found the picnic. He was wearing a clean tee-shirt and very royal take-your-time shoes. So, the coronation was on again.
The crinkle-foil crown was stuffed with cardboard plus absorbent cotton and stuck right smartly down between Aethelred's ears by a pope who had on some really nice stuff from God's attic. He looked important enough to be an operahouse curtain.
The measuring Christians decided which were the better lions and gave each other good marks for accuracy. They gave bad marks to some of the lions for bad table-manners and dirty claws. Some were sentenced to spanking. But not the Popes. No, they just explained that they had "Popes' X" so that anyone who was mean to them would be anathema. The score was 15 for the popes, 9 for the Christians, 6 for the lions and the rest for the Committee. The popes didn't bother to explain, but the lions did a sad tango to the applause of thousands.
Just about quitting time, Aethelred the Lion looked down to see where someone had stepped on his take-your-time shoes and got a tear on them too.
Attending: Pres.Covert Beach, VP. Terilee Edwards-Hewitt, Sec. Joe Mayhew, Treas. & 96 Chair Bob MacIntosh, Trust. Dan Burgess, Trust. Jim Edwards-Hewitt, Trust. Paula Lewis, 95 Chair Dan Hoey, 97 Chair Mike Nelson, Chris Callahan, F.L. Ettlin, Alexis Gilliland, Erica Ginter, Tracy Henry, Tom Horman, Eric Jablow, Judy Kindell, Samuel Lubell, Keith Marshall, Kit Mason, Winton Matthews, Walter Miles, Lance Oszko, Peggy Rae Pavlat, John Peacock, Evan Phillips, Sam Pierce, John Pomeranz, Dick Roepke, Rachel Russell, John Sapienza, Sue (Who?) Schroeder, Larry Schroeder, George R. Shaner, Steven Smith, T R Smith, William Squire, Colleen Stumbaugh, Michael J. Taylor, Ronald C. Taylor, James Uba, Michael J. Walsh, Madeleine Yeh.
Covert called the meeting to order at 9:22. On the agenda was the amendment to the bylaws as published, proposed and sponsored at the previous meeting.
Mac announced the the treasury stood at $5,639.41. He has paid the insurance. The $1,000 annual storage fee to BSFS will be paid after Disclave.
DISCLAVE '95: The Hotel is sold out. Volunteers to help load the con supplies should show up at the BSFS club house on Thursday at noon.
OLD BUSINESS: The following was unanimously passed by all present voting: WSFA BY-LAWS ARTICLE I, SECTION B, PARAGRAPH 2, is amended to read:
"Associate members are eligible for Charter membership if they attend three meetings, are sponsored by three (3) existing charter members, approved by one (1) Trustee, and pay the differential in dues between those for Associate and Charter members."
There was no further business conducted. The meeting was adjourned at 9:56.
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A number of people have asked about our townhouse and are surprised to learn we are not back in it. It is still being renovated and very little progress has been made since the fire in January. The reason for the delay is the townhouse next to ours, where the fire started, is still just a foundation. Since the firewall between the townhouses is a common wall, it cannot be rebuilt until there is a wall on the other side.
So, we're waiting for work to start on rebuilding the burned and missing townhouse so ours can also be rebuilt. Until then, we won't be able to move back.
The organization governed by these Bylaws is THE WASHINGTON SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION, INC., abbreviated WSFA.
A. 1. Members shall be admitted and participate in WSFA activities according to these Bylaws.
2. Only members who are in good standing as defined in the Bylaws shall hold office, propose business or vote.
B. 1. There shall be two (2) classes of membership in WSFA, Charter members and Associate members.
2. (a) All persons who are members in good standing of WSFA on December7 31, 1985 are eligible to be Charter members. Associate members are eligible for Charter membership if they attend three meetings, are sponsored by three (3) existing Charter members, are approved by one (1) trustee, and pay the differential in dues between those for Associate and Charter members.
(b) Charter members shall have the right to attend and participate in all meetings of the membership, Disclave, hold office and vote.
3. (a) All persons who subscribe to the goals of WSFA, pay their dues in a timely fashion, and agree to abide by WSFA's Articles of Incorporation and bylaws are eligible to become Associate members of WSFA.
(b) Associate members shall have the right to attend and participate in all meetings of the membership and DISCLAVE; they shall neither vote nor hold office in WSFA.
C. 1. Dues shall be set for each year by December 31 of the previous year. Dues for Charter members shall always exceed those of Associate members by at least $5.00 per year to compensate for voting privileges.
2. Dues shall be due as of the first regular meeting in January. Dues for 1986 shall be prorated.
3. Dues may be paid in advance.
4. Except for 1986, any member must pay the full year's dues regardless of the date of payment.
5. Any member who is delinquent in his dues for an entire year shall be dropped from the membership list.
6. New member's dues shall be prorated to the appropriate portion of the remaining WSFA year.
7. All life memberships awarded prior to December 31, 1985 shall retain all rights and privileges of Charter members in perpetuity. Life members shall pay no dues, and no new life members shall be designated.
8. WSFA shall issue annual membership cards to its paid-up members of both classes.
D. 1. A petition to revoke any membership may be presented in writing at any regular meeting.
2. It must state the grounds and be signed by at least 15 members and be communicated to the member concerned at least 10 days before the presentation of the petition for action.
3. If the petition is approved by a vote of 2/3 of the Charter members present at the second meeting vote to revoke the membership, it is revoked.
4. The revoked member's dues shall be prorated and the appropriate portion shall be refunded.
E. 1. A quorum shall consist of 15 Charter members which includes 2 officers of the Executive Board. Such a quorum must be present at any meeting at which a vote is taken.
2. There shall be no absentee or proxy voting.
A. Except where specifically allocated elsewhere in these bylaws, conduct of WSFA's affairs is controlled by its Board of Directors which shall consist of the following officers:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
3 Trustees
The Chairman of any DISCLAVE until after his
or her DISCLAVE is held.
B. 1. All elections shall be supervised by the Trustees Committee. Any Trustee who is running for office shall appoint a counter for that office who is acceptable to the other 2 Trustees.
2. The election of all Directors (except the DISCLAVE Chairman) shall take place during the first regular meeting in May. Those elected at that meeting shall assume their offices at the first regular meeting in June.
3. The Trustees shall receive seconded nominations from the floor and shall announce all candidates in order nominated.
4. All elections shall be counted by the "Australian" ballot.
5. The order of nomination and election shall be:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Secretary
4. Treasurer
5. Trustee
6. Trustee
7. Trustee
C. The Vice President shall succeed to the Presidency in the event the President cannot fulfill his term.
D. Any other vacancies occurring on the Board shall be filled by a by-election. Those so elected shall serve for the remainder of the term of the officer replaced.
E. 1. A petition for the removal of a member of the Board may be presented to the Board in writing at any time.
2. Such petitions must state the grounds for removal and must be signed by at least 15 members.
3. If the other members of the Board unanimously agree that the removal is justified, they shall suspend the officer and appoint a temporary replacement.
4. Such action and the grounds for it shall be mailed to all Charter members.
5. At the first regular meeting held at least 10 days after such notice, removal from the Board shall be come permanent if approved by a 3/4 majority of the Charter members voting.
6. Any office so vacated shall be filled as prescribed in Article II, section D.
A. The President shall:
1. Preside at all meetings.
2. Exercise general supervision over the properties and activities of WSFA.
3. Appoint members to committees.
4. When he or she wishes to participate in debate, yield the chair to (a) the Vice President, or (b) another member.
B. The Vice President shall assume the duties of the President during the absence of the President.
C. The Secretary shall:
1. Keep the minutes of all meetings of the club.
2. Be Custodian of all club records and archives.
D. The Treasurer shall:
1. Receive all WSFA funds and maintain them in an account separate from his own.
2. Maintain the official membership list.
3. Pay out funds only when approved by the board or the membership by vote.
4. Submit his records for audit whenever requested by the Board or by a petition of 1/3 of the membership.
E. The Trustees shall serve on the Trustee Committee.
F. The DISCLAVE Chairman shall:
1. Be elected by Charter members at a regular meeting designated by the membership.
2. Be authorized to transact all necessary business and set necessary rules pertaining to the DISCLAVE and to appoint all its officers.
3. Serve on the Board until his DISCLAVE has been held.
A. The standing committees of the Board of Directors shall be:
1. Trustee Committee
2. Entertainment Committee
3. Publications Committee
B. The Trustee Committee shall:
1. Vote on all applications for Charter membership.
2. Supervise all elections.
3. Prepare a slate of nominations for all club offices scheduled to be voted upon.
4. Announce that slate at the regular meeting just previous to that of the election.
C. 1. It is appropriate for WSFA to sponsor publications serving its needs and interests.
2. All such publications shall be under the jurisdiction of the Publications committee. The Secretary shall serve as the chairman ex-officio; the other members shall be appointed by the President and may be removed by the unanimous vote of the Trustees.
3. THE WSFA JOURNAL shall be scheduled for monthly publication and shall include the Secretary's minutes, committee reports and other records and information pertaining to club business as well as other suitable material of interest to the membership. Material specifically critical of any club member shall be submitted to the publications committee for approval before being published. The Editor of the JOURNAL shall be selected by the Secretary with the advise and consent of the Committee, and may be removed from office by the Secretary, or, after the intention to do so is publicly announced at a prior meeting, by a majority of those voting.
4. The existence of THE WSFA JOURNAL shall not preclude other publications being sponsored by WSFA, but none shall be sponsored without the consent of the Publications Committee. Such publications need not be governed by the rules which apply to the official publication.
D. Special committees shall be formed by the President at such times as deemed necessary.
E. None of the committees shall have the full authority of the Board to conduct activities unless authorized as provided by Maryland law.
F. Appointed WSFA officials may be removed by those who appoint them, by a simple majority vote of the voting WSFA membership at the business meeting following the introduction of a resolution for that purpose, or by a unanimous vote of the WSFA Trustees.
A. 1. WSFA's regular meetings shall occur on the first and third Fridays of each month.
2. Special meetings can be called by the President.
B. The place and time for the next meeting shall be designated by the Chair before the meeting adjourns.
C. The order of business of all regular meetings shall be:
1. Call to order
2. Reading of previous minutes.
3. Reports of officers.
4. Reports of committees.
5. Old business.
6. New Business.
7. Announcements.
8. Adjournment.
All procedural questions not covered by the Articles and Bylaws shall be decided by reference to Robert's Rules of Order, Revised, 75th Anniversary Edition (1951).
1. Any proposed amendment must be signed by at least 15 members and be submitted in writing at a regular meeting.
2. Such proposals must be read at that meeting.
3. A vote shall be taken at the next regular meeting after the proposal is submitted and read.
4. Passage shall require a 2/3 majority of those Charter members voting.
[END as of 5-19-95]
At the May 2, 1986 meeting the following procedure statement was adopted for use in the club elections:
WSFA ELECTION PROCEDURES
The Trustees take over the meeting and conduct the elections. Each of seven officers is elected by separate nomination and written ballot. The Trustees distribute ballots after the room has been cleared of those ineligible to vote and then take nominations from the floor. When nominations are closed, all valid nominations (of those candidates who: 1] are not behind in their dues, 2] have accepted the nomination, and 3) have been seconded) are displayed and read while the voters fill in their ballots. Each voter should lost the candidates he would accept for the office in order of his preference, starting at the top of the ballot and numbering those he lists. The Trustees will then count the ballots. IF there is no candidate who receives enough votes to be elected, the ballots cast for the candidate receiving the fewest votes will be assigned to the second candidate listed on them. If there still are not enough votes to elect, the ballots cast for the lowest remaining candidate will be reassigned to the next preference and the procedure will be continued until one candidate has a majority. Thus there will be only ballot for each office: a total of seven conducted in this order: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Trustee, Trustee, and Trustee (The Trustees are elected one at a time).
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Michael J. Walsh provided the following item from THE BOOKSELLER 28 April 1995:
My thanks to the guardian for an interesting little item about copyright. EMAP, it says, appears to have discovered an intergalactic market for its magazines: it recently issued a new contract for its contributors which takes into account the new electronic media. THe contract requires freelances to 'assign to us exclusively the entire present copyright, throughout the universe.'"
We just flew back from Los Angeles and my arms are tired. We flew the friendly skies of United, so why are my arms tired when we took a plane? Because I was holding Lee a lot of the time, trying to comfort her; she gave new meaning to the red-eye flight. Her younger sister, Robin Freed, died on the 15th after surgery. Well, they turned her life support off on the 15th. The surgery was on the 13th. involving the insertion of a catheter to administer chemotherapy, and the inadvertent puncturing of one of the veins in the heart, followed by brain death shortly afterwards.
Lee got the call from her older sister, Heddie Swanson, on the 13th, and both Heddie and Lee's father, Peter Swanson, asked Lee to come, so, of course, she had to go out to Los Angeles. I sincerely didn't want to (figuring out later that waiting around the intensive care unit for an unsupported heart to stop beating was painfully close to what happened to Dolly) but there was no arguing with Lee's necessity, so we went, she and I, arriving Monday afternoon, and leaving Tuesday night. We left Jim at home; he hardly knew Robin. and didn't want to miss school. This also gave us an acceptable excuse to go back home promptly, so we didn't have to hang around LA for the funeral, which was, in the event, set for Saturday.
Robin was 40, and in reasonably good health. The initial surgery was to remove cysts on her ovaries, the cysts proved to be malignant, but appeared not to have spread, and the chemotherapy was a routine precaution. An autopsy will determine the cause of death, eventually, although it isn't a coroner's case. That should do. WSFA doesn't need to know that Heddie, formally Hedwig, is short, seriously overweight, and a bully. She is making the funeral arrangements (pardon, memorial service arrangements; you can't have a proper funeral without the body which isn't going to be timelily available) and refuses to accept help from anyone, especially Lee. So we did the right thing coming home, instead of hanging suspended in Los Angeles until Saturday. With the advantage of hindsight, we could have flown home Tuesday morning instead of waiting until nearly midnight, so I don't begrudge it. That should do for now.
Alex Eisenstein, Editorial Director of Signature Books is putting together a book of the art of Edmund A. Emshwiller, or "Emsh" (or, occasionally, "Willer"-- and by other noms de brush) well known SF cover artist of the 50's and 60's. His wife Carol and daughter Susan have given him an exclusive Grant of Permission to produce a book of his non-cinematic works within the period of 18 months following Sept 19, 1994 with a renewal option of 6 more months.
While ownership of a work does not include the right to sell reproductions of such works, for the present, Alex Eisenstein has the go for a fine Emsh book. While such a book would be of great interest to the Fannish community, it probably would never be done by the mundane press.
If you know the whereabouts of any Emsh artwork, and wish to help Alex out, write to him at:
Alex & Phyllis Eisenstein
[ Address censored ]
Phone (312) 274-7064
Here's two of mine:
Hippocratically, said Doctor Fell
I.V.ing doomed felons for Hell
"I swab 'gainst infections
at lethal injections
I'm not here to make them
unwell."
They tell me the Serbs and the Croats
are slitting the Bosnians' throats
Their reason, I fear,
is ethnically clear:
to make the world safe for the goats.
--Joe Mayhew
