Summary of September Meeting of Northern New England Region
Summary of September Meeting of Northern New England Region
September 9th, 2017
We met in Brewer, Maine hosted for the first time by the relatively new Eastern Maine Area. We enjoyed better representation from our five Areas this time, but still more room for improvement.
Fund flow of $6000 to NAWS was approved after discussion. Consideration is being given to reductions in regional prudent reserve funds, probably through reexamining the need for fully funding both fiscal year one and two, or other reserves.
Regional Delegate Alternate Sam L. led a discussion pertaining to challenges of coming up with a more fair and functional seating formula for future biennial World Conferences, such as the one coming up in spring 2018 in California. Input is sought from Areas pertaining to how to work our way around the grueling sessions that run as many as 18 hours per day, perhaps by moving to a Zonal seating plan. How to get there from here when there seems to be so much resistance from US and Canadian Regions who are highly reluctant to give up seats in order to accommodate those newer regions or zones from other parts of the globe. Region is very interested in ideas for how to proceed beyond what is seen by many as the current gridlock. It would seem urgent in terms of conformity to various Concepts and Traditions for us to work towards resolution of this situation, but there are some vexing problems that sound exceedingly difficult for us to move beyond as a fellowship.
Sam L. also discussed his concerns, shared by many others, that fellowship intellectual property rights have been ignored by an element that has been appearing at zonal forums and major conventions. This small group of people has been making an effort to sell or give away literature that has essentially been pirated from the fellowship, depriving NAWS of a critically needed funding source.