Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 14:38:45 -0500 (EST)
From: John A Cross <jcross@world.std.com>
Subject: A letter to the BoD
To: carolingia@world.std.com
Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9403171429.A25505-0100000@world.std.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

				John A. Cross
				jcross@world.std.com

Board of Directors, Society for Creative Anachronism
cc: Tony Provine
    everyone else

Dear Sirs:
    I am opposed to your choice to require paid membership to attend 
events. But that is not why I have written to you today.
    I am shocked and outraged that Mr. Provine and your attorneys are 
blocking the access to our corporation's financial reocrds by Monica 
Cellio. By Mr. Rose's account, California law, and our by-laws provide 
that she should have such access. I want to know by what body of law Mr. 
Provine and your attorney feel that they can ignore these statutes.
    If the answer is, "There is no such body of law, but the horrible  
secret hidden in our financial records is so bad that it is worth 
handling this suit, simply to delay that fearful day of reckoning", I say 
he is wrong, and a spendthrift.
    I recommend that you, the board of directors, make it clear that this 
is his fight, and not yours. Do this by ordering your retained lawyers to 
give in to the demands of this suit, and if Mr. Provine wants to fight 
it, let him pay for his own lawyers, and save our coffers from unneeded 
depletion.
    This whole affair is upsetting to everyone who thinks about it. The 
worst aspect of all is that you are abandoning respectability to hide 
some secret. I request that you tell us whether you believe there is now 
any sequence of events by which this secret will not eventually come out.
    If it is a forgone conclusion, why waste whole annual salaries trying 
to delay it? Why take such an adversarial position to those who want to 
know what the law clearly states that they are entitled to know?
    This mess looks ugly right now, but even so, right now, with this 
transition, you have a chance to make responsible choices that will 
substantially change the relationship between the board and the 
membership in very positive ways. Some of these choices are supported by 
the 'Save-Our-Society' committee, others by less organized individuals 
such as myself. Please take the time to develop a non-contentious frame 
of mind and think about these options.
    The fact is that we are your friends, and you are fortunate to be on 
the board at this time of great change. You are in a position to 
formulate and edit the new Corpora and By-Laws. You are in a position to 
fashion the corporation to reflect the need for honesty, cooperation, and 
ethics that our society is based on. Do this and win the kind of 
admiration we give Thos. Jefferson; or continue and you will look like 
your highest priorities are getting more perks, and hiding a dirty little 
secret.

Anton of Winteroak, OL, membership #23038