[Sca-cooks] Midrealm News regarding royalty OT OP

[Nick Sasso]

-----Original Message-----
> In defense of the BoD, what happens the next time someone has almost the
> same situation----perhaps not quite as severe a medical emergency?  Will
> the BoD have to review every combat to make sure all is as it should be?
> And, most importantly, was it so critical for this couple to be King and
> Queen that they were willing to circumvent this simple and basic SCA
> requirement, that of membership?
>

A while back, the BOD asked what it would take to make people
well-disposed to the SCA.inc and the BOD. Unfortunately, as long as they
consider the SCA.Inc and the BOD a governing body rather than a membership
organization, I think they will have trouble getting loyalty for all but
their direct reports. This is the way it works with governing
organizations -- the people they look after are positive toward them, the
people they enforce things on are negative toward them. > > > > > > >


It does sound on the very surface like picking nits over a 3-day lapse.
But, fighting in a Crown Tournament involves qualifications, regulations and
being granted a priviledge.  It is a sad set of circumstances that I hope
can be resolved, but I have to fall back to a position that no one has an
inherent  "right" to participate in a crown tournament.  It is not the
coporate responsibility to give everyone a chance to participate . . . in my
small little mind, it is their job to interpret the rules and apply them
evenly (and hopefully with a modicum of wisdom and heart) so as to keep the
corporate entity intact, and it is seldom there is a true winner when appeal
is made to a legal appeal entity.

Herein lies a critcal rub in the whole existance of this organization and a
Board of Directors.  The SCA tries to exists in both the legal world and the
casual membership world.  The BoD has a fiduciary responsibility to protect
the Corporation and its members from potential ficscal and legal liabilities
. . . especially in the litigious culture of 2000's.  Unfortunately, that
means they will have to make decisions that are counter to the social and
casual desires of the paying members/subscribers of the SCA.  If the BoD
takes action or decision that is contrary to their responsibilities, or the
policy and procedures of the corporation, they potentially expose themselves
to legal anf financial liability.

Maintaining that 501(c)(3) tax status is crucial to existance of our hobby
group, which means plying the necessary evils of corporate structures.  They
exist PRIMARILY to administer the health of the coporation.  Without the BoD
and corporation, the legal and tax structure gets really hairy.  No one
likes rules when they create sadness, but they also create a structure and
security in our culture.  Maybe this situation leads to a reworking of that
particular rule to include some specific and well-worded exceptions.


niccolo difrancesco