[Stargate] Waterbearing proposal request for comments

[Michael Tucker]

On Jun 17, 2008, at 11:50 AM, Maria Buchanan wrote:

> FYI - We may have to discontinue having people walking
> around with water and food.  It looks like we can
> still have a table where the water and food can be
> placed and people can serve themselves.
>
> You know, I'm getting tired of the stupid people who
> want to sue everyone.  They really take the fun out of
> things.
>
> Maria

Maria,

Thanks for forwarding this. It's certainly of interest to anyone who  
attends events in the heat (and that's pretty much all of us),  
whether they fight or not.

However, I don't think I read the proposal the way you did. I  
understand it to say we can continue waterbearing exactly the way we  
are now -- folks on the list field, walking the perimeter, etc. -- if  
we want to. The only difference is that the activity won't be  
"regulated, warranted, organized, controlled, or sanctioned by the  
SCA, Inc.".

I.e. there won't be an official Waterbearer officer. I.e. we'd be  
back to exactly the way we used to do it: volunteers and households  
doing this because they want to, and because it needs doing. We're  
free to continue doing it pretty much any way we want as long as it  
isn't an official office. The new rule "does not either address or  
restrict such volunteer activity or the methods by which it occurs."

In fact, I read it to mean we can still have the same officers,  
training and organization structure that we currently have in place,  
which would be great. Mistress Hillary worked hard to get that ball  
rolling, and it would be nice to see it continue. We just have to  
call them a *guild* instead of *officers*. Big woop. :P

That being said, I agree that living in a litigation-crazed world  
(and having a hobby headquartered in one of the most litigious states  
in the country) can "really take the fun out of things". On the other  
other hand, I'm glad we've got folks thinking ahead like this, so we  
can just publish a rule change and keep on keepin' on. It's a much  
better use of our dues money than paying off some stupid lawsuit.

My 2 coppers.

Michael Silverhands