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What obligation does masonry have to Masons in Arkansas?

sands67

Premium Member
Brother...it isnt even the Shrine decision, but how it treated masons who werent even in strick compliance with seemingly harsh judgements of the grand master. Expulsions without trial. How long can that be able to go on. What do you feel should happen. From what i hear the grand line in arkansas has a group of similarly minded masons to cover the next 10 years. Should regular masons be subjected to this? Your input is most certainly appreciated.

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Bro_Vick

Moderator
Premium Member
Brother...it isnt even the Shrine decision, but how it treated masons who werent even in strick compliance with seemingly harsh judgements of the grand master. Expulsions without trial. How long can that be able to go on. What do you feel should happen. From what i hear the grand line in arkansas has a group of similarly minded masons to cover the next 10 years. Should regular masons be subjected to this? Your input is most certainly appreciated.

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Do you honestly believe that this is the only time this has happened, even in the last ten years? Arizona was burning down last year, the Grand Master fired his deputy, indef suspended a rival of his, and fired his legal council, (I will copy and paste the letter from the legal council below for your review). In March when this was all coming ahead, not once did someone call for removal of recognition, you know why? Bad leadership while potentially is a Masonic offence, isn't a cause for irregularity, or removal of recognition, unless said bad leadership leads to irregularity (ala GLNF). It is up to the constituency of said Grand Lodge to invoke, change, which later did happen in Arizona, lodges brought charges up against their Grand Master. Threatening the removal of recognition is usually counterproductive in getting any type of change out of a body. Embargo's that the US has enacted has shown (according to researchers from Yale), actually fortifiy a group, and cause moderates to go extreme.

Read if you wish:

Dear Grand Master,

Because you have relieved me of my duties on the Grand Lodge
Jurisprudence Committee, I can now freely express what my judgments
are regarding your actions of late. My obligations as a Grand Lodge
Committeeman, including my obligation to act in the best interest of
the Grand Lodge – at your service – ahead of the interests and
information of my Brothers, have ceased.

In case, however, you have forgotten who I am, let me remind you that
you appointed me to the Jurisprudence Committee this year after I
successfully re-organized the entire Arizona Masonic Code, a two-year
long project almost unanimously approved by the Grand Lodge. I have
taught countless classes on Arizona Jurisprudence and I am one of
about three men in this State who can be counted as an expert in this
area. I have advised you and several Grand Masters on issues regarding
Arizona Jurisprudence and will do so as long as there is breath in my
body. I continue to practice law and teach US Constitution classes. I
was instrumental in forming a Lodge recently, and currently serve as a
Warden in two Lodges while personally coaching candidates in the
old-fashioned mouth-to-ear form. I am frequently invited to speak to
Lodges on these types of issues, and I am, usually, an all-around nice
guy.

First, your decision to arrest the Charter of Hiram Daylight was
technically justified. The Master failed to hold the June 2011
meeting, which was a technical violation of the Code and Lodge
By-Laws. The problem I had with this action is that this particular
Lodge traditionally failed to meet in June as their meetings are on
the first Saturday of the Month. Sometimes they got dispensations to
miss a meeting, and sometimes they did not. So, while numerous Past
Grand Masters simply turned the other cheek on this merely technical
violation (because the Lodge Officers were usually at the Grand
Communication on the first Saturday in June), you chose to lower the
boom. This was an excessively harsh exercise of your power, but
nothing technically wrong here.

Second, I address your suspension of Lodge membership on the
arrestment of that Charter. While I must concede that this is the
technically appropriate thing to do (which is also harsh, but within
the four corners of the Code), it is highly unusual for any
suspensions to accompany the arrestment of a charter. As I understand
from a review of the Grand Lodge Proceedings, since the year 2000
about five or six charters have been arrested…but in none of those
other cases did any suspensions occur. Additionally, the arrestments
usually happened very near the end of the Grand Lodge year. So your
suspension of some members was unusual, but not, in my mind, illegal
(you actually should have suspended the entire membership…if you were
going to follow the Code to the letter for consistency). But again, I
saw no technical violation, even in the targeted suspension of a few
members. (I could, however, pretty easily be swayed otherwise.)

Third, I find your suspension of the Secretary of that Lodge
particularly troubling. It is no secret that you have “had it in†for
W:.Bro:. John Ruth for a long time. But not only was he NOT
responsible for calling Hiram Daylight’s Lodge meetings (which was the
reason for the arrestment and suspension), but his net worth to the
Lodge and the Fraternity is far higher than most knew. By suspending
him, two other Lodges (where he was the Secretary) and the Brothers in
those Lodges lost a significant human resource. So, your decision was
rash and particularly sinister (he suffered a stroke as a result of
the suspension, a loss of income and other significant problems that
your decision put on his household), it remains, technically legal.

Fourth, the return of the Charter to Hiram Daylight was clearly
illegal (but from a warm-and-fuzzy point of view, it was the right
thing to do). Regardless of the tortured reading your hired lawyer put
forth, his argument is without merit. In his mind, and presumably
yours, the Grand Master has some mysterious mythical power to do
whatever he wants whenever he wants to whomever he wants in any way he
feels is ok. This is the attitude that has, very wrongly, laid under
foot the powers of the Sovereign and Constituent Lodges of this Grand
Jurisdiction. The only way your authority to return the Charter to
Hiram Daylight after arrestment would exist is if we ignore two
clearly written sections of the Constitution. These sections, which
you and your lawyer seems to omit when reading the Code, explicitly
forbid the return of an arrested Charter prior to the next Annual
Communication. In a vote of the Jurisprudence Committee taken on
January 26, 2012, your action was determined to be illegal and a
violation of the Constitution. I cast a vote agreeing with that
outcome.

So the score so far is Grand Master 3, his Detractors (including me) 1.

Fifth, reasonable minds can differ on what makes a good subordinate
officer. You, apparently, cannot tolerate even a slight deviation in
neckwear. It is then time to put to the test your three letters
regarding the Deputy Grand Master (I omit the details here because
most of the readers of this letter are tired of the details). To begin
with, the Jurisprudence Committee couldn’t exactly figure-out if you
had fired the DGM or not. This is what led the committee to ask the
critical question: “If the Grand Master dies, who becomes the Grand
Master?â€

Sometime after that January 26, 2012 meeting (where the above question
was formulated by the committee and directed to you) I called you
because you had avoided answering the committee’s question for three
weeks. (Which I found very interesting, since you were the one to call
that meeting in the first place, specifically intending to get an
answer from us about your actions.) You told me during that call that
Michael A. Meier was still the Deputy Grand Master, and if you died he
would ascend to the Grand East.

My problem is (as I told you) and still remains; you have never
communicated this clearly in writing to the Craft! Most of the Men
that I know think you fired the Deputy Grand Master, Michael A. Meier.
In support of this assertion, the evidence is clear…you have been
charged by at least three Lodges with un-Masonic Conduct and at least
eight Lodges are demanding a Special Communication of the Grand Lodge
because of this intentional misunderstanding.

You are clearly not communicating well with the Craft, and it looks
like you want the confusion to continue.

The legal analysis becomes quite simple on these facts: a) you have
the power to manage and administer the Craft, b) you have removed the
DGM’s duties and responsibilities, including his ceremonial duties,
and c) Michael Meier remains the Deputy Grand Master…first in line to
the Grand East when you die.

It is, therefore, my reasoned judgment that you are acting and have
acted within your technical power to manage the Craft and its
Officers. Michael A. Meier will succeed to the Grand East if you die
and/or when he gets elected in June. Of course, had you not fired me
from my post on the Jurisprudence Committee, I would have had no
choice but to make the same argument I make here, and submit, that you
have made technically legal decisions in this case (as I understand
the facts in my description above).

Grand Master 4, Detractors 1.

So why are you making no effort to clarify to the Craft the correct
state of affairs? Why are you continuing (see the latest issue of
Arizona Masonry) to perpetuate the damage you are doing to the DGM by
republishing your January 2, 2012 letter in our statewide publication
that goes all around the World? …and this after you and your allies
have quashed all discussion of these same issues at Lodge Meetings all
around the State? Oh hypocrisy!

I’ll make my argument to answer these questions below, but I must
mention a few things first…in fairness…

I am writing this as an open letter to you because you removed my gag.
When you appointed me to the Jurisprudence Committee, I felt that my
first responsibility was to maintain the integrity of the process and
make certain that the Grand Lodge was well represented and well
served. I maintained relatively quiet and conversed only with a few
Brothers in confidence. This I did at the expense of being able to
defend a friend who was under attack. However, you have now released
me from that responsibility and as all true men of character should
do, I am speaking-up for my friend and brother in a sincere effort to
right what I consider the great wrong you continue to do to him.
Michael Meier deserves much more than I have been able to give.

God forbid that I should ever feel as abandoned as he has probably
felt these last few weeks.

Like I told you in the February 27, 2012 Jurisprudence Committee
meeting – when you demanded my resignation and I refused to resign – I
will not be intimidated by you.

So here is the argument I promised above...I have reasoned that you
now find yourself between a political rock and a political hard-place.
By not outwardly firing the DGM and replacing him (or bringing charges
against him for his “outrageous†conduct), you have acknowledged quite
clearly that none of his acts were truly bad enough to actually
warrant his removal from office. You have not installed a replacement,
because you know you simply cannot legally do so, nor is there any
evidence that would support such an action. So Michael, for all
intents and purposes, outside of his duties, remains the DGM and will
likely be elected as the Grand Master this June. That is your rock.

I further reason that your unwillingness to acknowledge this clear
fact (above) in writing is also incredibly problematic from a
political standpoint...for if you do write it down and clarify the
confusion, you would undermine the damage your January 2, 2012 letter
is intended to inflict upon Michael and his reputation. You cannot
sign a statement that clarifies what needs clarification because you
must continue to make Michael's behavior look worse than it actually
is. This is your hard place.

So, instead of making the clarification and bringing peace and harmony
to your Brothers, you have chosen to perpetuate the misunderstanding
in order to make Michael look bad in your cynical attempt to
manipulate the Grand Lodge into not advancing the Grand Line’s normal
course. Nice work.

You have injured my friend and my fraternity, you perpetuate the
damage caused in an attempt to manipulate an election in June...and as
explained above, the truth is now crystal clear…the Emperor has no
clothes.

I truly love this Craft and I only want the best for our Brotherhood.
While I have remained relatively quiet, I now choose to make my voice
heard because you have seriously injured a good friend of mine, and
you fired one of the most qualified guys in the State from a job he
should be executing (and you will probably make-up some bull-$#!t
excuse for that also). I take that personally, and I don’t give a hoot
if you’re the Grand Master or the President of the United States. I
won’t let you treat my friend and Brother that way without standing
up.

You, Grand Master, cannot handle dissent or disagreement. You cannot
fathom that any Man can think for himself if that thought is different
from yours. You have proven yourself unworthy of your Office.

But, let me be clear…I don’t think you have violated the Code
regarding Michael's legal standing as the DGM. I also have indicated
above why many of your Detractors are mostly wrong in their several
LEGAL (from a Masonic perspective) accusations against you.

You were just too afraid of me and my judgment to let me explain my
position to you in person. You just can’t handle differing
points-of-view. And while I am no longer in your direct service, the
chair you occupy, temporarily, still deserves and has my continuing
respect.

To that end, I must close on this positive note; that, if called-upon
to serve my Brothers, I will serve. If asked for advice or counsel,
where my experience and know-how have value, I will give it honestly
and openly. However, if you feel that this is far too harsh of a
criticism of your actions, if you feel that I have insulted you and
caused you some injury because I am telling you what my reasoned
judgment happens to be, then I suggest you treat this forthright
criticism with the same value you have treated my continuing
dedication and service to the Craft…you can just throw it away.

Fraternally, Sincerely, with just a few sour grapes and All Due Respect...

Adrian P. Fontes, PM
 

sands67

Premium Member
Thank you Brother Vic. You have opened my eyes on this and I appreciate it.

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Rauchbier1987

Registered User
My brothers, who can understand the hearts of men. None are perfect though we strive to be so. I am as appalled by all the things I am hearing as any and incidents like this where there is mud slinging and we as a whole allow ourselves to be overcome with emotion are a true stain on that symbol of purity we try to be worthy to wear. I think all of us no matter how high up the metaphorical chain to the newly initiated need to keep in mind our oaths and all we stand for. Brothers, take up your working tools and all they mean to us! pray that the divine architect will aid our leaders and help them do likewise.

Brother Morris


Brother Morris
 

4thGenMason

Registered User
Re: What obligation does masonry have to Masons in

Well put brother! I am an Arkansas Mason, granted I was initiated, passed and raised in Oklahoma. But I would like to point out that the number of masons of whom are causing the problems, are fewer than you think. My lodge is small, but we all disagree with what is going on in our own GL. Please do not condemn the whole state because of the few.

Like my brother (biological AND fraternal) just stated, sometimes people tend to lose sight of their working tools. Each tool has an important lesson that seems to be forgotten.

Rather than criticize the brothers, pray that the great architect will help us to find a solution and return peace to our fraternity.
 
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