Western Region Hospitaler

[Tim McDaniel]

I have a sinking feeling that this is going to turn into another
"Principality" <strike>flamewar</strike> er, discussion.

On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, DEIDRA L GOUGH <cat_eyes at juno.com> firmly grasps
the can of worms in one hand and the can opener in the other:

> I'd like to stress again the need for memberships-- people, this is
> important to the Region as well as your local group.

The benefits listed before that (and as to whether they ARE benefits
to most people is another can of worms entirely; do let's leave that
aside, please) are entirely personal.  Nowhere in that mail message is
it explained how it helps the local group, the region, or even the
Kingdom in particular.  Specifically:

As long as group minimums are being met (an SCA, Inc. corporate
requirement, and one that AFAIK is being met) and the officers have
paid memberships (ditto), an area can have a million paid memberships
or the minimum and the number *directly* affects it not at all.
Specifically, all the money goes to Milpitas (except for the Black
Star stipend, but that's reasonably close to the publication costs).
In particular, the region and the local groups don't get one bit of
that money.

It can be said that there's an indirect benefit: with more members,
the fixed costs of SCA, Inc., are spread over more people.  However,
that's a benefit to the Corporation and to its paid members, not
"important to the Region as well as your local group" per se.  (Some
of us would rather see certain steps taken to reduce the fixed costs,
but that's a *third* can of worms.)

With some places charging a non-member surcharge (can we leave that
*fourth* can of worms over there, please?), it's to their advantage if
their guests are NOT paid members.

Daniel "I'm gonna go eat worms" de Lincoln
-- 
                             Tim McDaniel
                        Reply-To: tmcd at crl.com
      tmcd at mcdaniel.dallas.tx.us is wrong tool.  Never use this.