[Businessmtg] Funding Int. Conv. Representation

[Elvina]

Please withdraw my name from the Business Meeting.  Reading about all the 
distrust, gripes, accusations, etc. is not contributing to my Serenity..

I love the meetings, but do not think I need to hear all the 'dirty 
linens'... I really don't believe that anyone dissenting with current 
leadership will be heard..

Stating one's opinion is one thing, but REACTING to others' opinions with 
challenges/attacks  is not what I perceive Al-Anon to stand for... Elvina in 
South Texas


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Rankin" <steve at serenitysys.com>
To: <daughters at satx.rr.com>
Cc: "ASP Business" <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:51 AM
Subject: RE: [Businessmtg] Funding Int. Conv. Representation


A number of good points have been raised, although some of them seem to
raise more questions than answers.

1.  WSO staff are employees.  True.

WSO staff are the official representative of the online meetings to the
Al-Anon fellowship.

Interesting.

Every other meeting, group and service entity in Al-Anon elects their
representatives.  Except us.

Every other meeting in Al-Anon has some kind of rotation of leadership with
their representatives.  Except us.

Every other meeting in Al-Anon had some kind of voice in who their
representatives are.  Except us.
Every other meeting, group and service entity in Al-Anon has the right to
participate in the selection of trusted servants beyond in Al-Anon.  Except
us.

Every other meeting in Al-Anon had some avenue of communication to some
larger Al-Anon service entity available to them to discuss problems with
their representative.  Except us.

Every other meeting in Al-Anon has the right to remove a representative from
office if needed.  Except us.

Every other meeting in Al-Anon has the right to participate in the
development of Al-Anon Guidelines.  Except us.

===================================================================

OLA as a "service committee"

OLA-IS was an Al-Anon Intergroup and functioned reasonably well as such for
roughly 10 years - until WSO decreed that OLA was not in Intergroup and
changed its status to 'service committee'.

What is a 'service committee'?  Well, to a large extent it is whatever the
Al-Anon structure that has control of it says it is.  Once upon a time,
OLA-IS was what the members of the online community said it was (an
Intergroup).  Now it is controlled by WSO and reduced to nothing more than a
web site.  Since it is nothing more than a web site, its costs have been
reduced to nearly nothing.  The result is that WSO nets virtually all funds
donated to OLA-IS.  How does this differ from a front that launders money
for an underlying organization?  Not much besides it not being a well kept
secret.

The point is that since WSO has decreed that OLA-IS is no longer an
Intergroup but now a service committee, any donations to OLA-IS are defacto
donations to WSO.

BTW, I downloaded the latest G-39 Guideline from the WSO web site and found
no reference to WSO in the Guideline.  I failed to find a copy of S-60 on
WSO's site so I can't confirm WSO's mention of OLA-IS in that document.
Previous versions did not mention OLA-IS, but instead made several mentions
of the need for online meetings to contribute to WSO.


===================================================================

Does the staff at WSO & our Delegates work hard?  Yes, they do much of the
time.  But, when I was Area Treasurer I got billed for a week's stay at a
resort before a paid conference.  Why?  Because the Delegate needed to rest
with his wife for a week after the long flight to Hawaii before he attended
the convention.  A convention which one of the Trustees told me was really
little more than an annual reunion of Past Delegates.  My point is that
there is definitely stuff going on behind closed doors that the fellowship
doesn't know about.  BTW, Al-Anon paid for that week's vacation in Hawaii.


===================================================================

A couple of days ago, Beth stated that she has "had many positive experience
as a GR to another online group; WSO has been quite prompt and helpful with
all of my requests to them."  I'd like to ask Beth to tell us some more
about this.

a. How long have you been a GR to this other online group?  Since there has
been considerable innuendo about our (Dawn's & mine) history with WSO, this
might be informative.

b. Could you give us 2 or 3 examples of what issues or questions you raised
with WSO?  Again, the nature of the issue seems to have a direct bearing on
the response or lack thereof by WSO.

c. Could you explain how you became a GR of another online group when it is
our understanding that there are no online groups and therefore no online
GRs?  Perhaps there is something we've missed entirely and that's the root
of the problem.

d. You stated that Dawn & I "have had little success communicating
effectively with WSO, and because their history with and attitude toward WSO
is negative at best".  Could you explain how our negative attitude towards
WSO has an impact on WSO's lack of response to our submitting completed
forms to WSO?  Or how our attitude is a part of the problem when WSO informs
us that they have updated the data base and when we check sometime later we
find it has not been updated.

e. Who ever said or implied that we would not consider sending someone
outside of the US to the Pittsburg Convention?  It is common for an Al-Anon
meeting to offer a 'scholarship' for a member to an event.  Such a
scholarship is typically a fixed amount intended to help a member defray
their costs in attending the event.  BTW, such scholarships are often used
to help fund members to 'fun' events; I have seen meetings, Districts and
Areas do exactly that.

f. IMHO, quoting the Treasurer's data is acceptable when stating your
opinion on an issue with financial implications.  However, quoting the
Treasurer's opinion on the issue comes across as personalities over
principles.  The Treasurer's opinion and recommendation is just that, his
opinion.  You certainly wouldn't like it if someone said "Steve knows best
because he's been here longer."

g. Yes, there certainly has been some flaming going on in this meeting. It's
a sad fact that some folks in this meeting have been talking about other
members attitudes, alleged griping, etc which is all quite personal.  It's
OK for us to have different opinions and experiences to bring to the table,
but it is not OK to make or imply personal attributes to what someone else
has said.

===================================================================

References to online meetings in our Service Manual, Guidelines, etc. has
less to do with serving the online meetings than it does with controlling
them.  A little blurb in an Al-Anon pamphlet about how wonderful online
meetings are is undone when you try to get a schedule of online meetings
from WSO and WSO responds with "On-line Al-Anon meetings cannot replace the
human companionship and warmth provided by regular attendance at
face-to-face  Al-Anon meetings.  We hope that you find this supplement to be
a source of support when it is impossible or impractical to attend regular
meetings."

I'm sure that some of you still think the 'attitude problem' belongs to Dawn
or myself, even though Ric made it clear before I even started this meeting
that the online meetings would never be a part of the fellowship & service
structure, and the 3-year trial period would be renewed at the end of 3
years for another 3 years, and when that one expired, it would be renewed
again.

As for the 'communication problem' between us and WSO?  Well, it all depends
on what we're asking them to do.  I can send Ric B. a note asking him about
some technical thing in Al-Anon and be confident that he'll get the answer
to me the next day.  They're really good at that, and my personal connection
with Ric is something I use from time to time for things like that.
However, when we ask WSO to DO something as a service to the meeting, it
falls flat.  And we've already mentioned how WSO doesn't include the online
meetings in developing guidelines for the online meetings, etc.  How can WSO
really know how to run on online meeting if they have no personal ES&H doing
so?

But, there's another thing that bothers me from time to time.  See, a f2f
AFG friend of mine started another online meeting.  It was very successful
and did some great stuff in its effort to carry the message world wide.
But, WSO wasn't entirely happy with what they were doing.  So, WSO sued my
friend.  And when WSO lost that case, they sued him again.  This went on for
years and eventually WSO did prevail.  True, my friend wasn't exactly a
saint in all of this, but neither was WSO--he got started doing what he was
doing because they asked him to!  Doesn't this say something about WSO when
it doesn't like something one of our members is doing?  It has something to
do with the Executive Director being an activist attorney.  If you read the
3-page contract that Dawn & I are required to sign every year so that the
rest of you can do your shares in ASP you might agree that it seems pretty
litigious.

The really interesting thing is that I'm not alone in thinking that we have
a big problem in the fellowship.  A while back I ran across an article in an
area newsletter that talked about "the tyranny of the Past Delegates".
Frankly, while I wasn't surprised at what the article said, I was amazed
that it got printed in an official newsletter.

Hugs,
Steve




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