The annual opening General Session of the Supreme Lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose always means a sea of gold--as more than 500 regalia-clad members of the Pilgrim Degree of Merit take their seats front and center.

Council’s ‘State of the Order’: Improving

> In the 13 months since its last State of the Order Report to the International Convention, in Chicago in May 2006, the Moose fraternity’s Supreme Council oversaw both a massive cleanup of the prematurely-introduced Centralized Dues System by Moose International staff, and significant membership growth in the Loyal Order of Moose, Women of the Moose and Moose Legion.

So during a 2006-07 fiscal year in which the state of the Order could certainly be described as “improving,” the topics to which the Council turned its attention revolved around decisions and consideration of ideas to reinforce the Moose organization’s financial and fraternal health--to strengthen its ability to deliver on its responsibilities to the youth of Mooseheart and seniors of Moosehaven, and to set in place procedures toward promotion of further growth both in membership and positive public image. Components of the Supreme Council’s report, delivered in tag-team fashion, were as follows:

• Ronald Sweetman, Jr. Past Supreme Governor of New Castle, DE , noted with regret the February decision of Supreme Governor William Scott to resign slightly more than halfway through his term, to attend to business and family matters at home in Sault Ste. Marie, ON; and the early accession of Supreme Jr. Governor Eugene Huggins of Batavia, IL, to become the fraternity’s chief presiding officer.
  
  

• James Henderson of East Mesa, AZ , discussed the painstaking work that went into fixing the problems in Centralized Dues: “Thanks to your patience, and your cooperation with Moose International, the number of dues ‘exceptions’--situations in which member dues could not be processed for one or more reasons--has been reduced from more than 18,000 exceptions (involving many more members than that) in March 2006, to less than 500 in any given day . . . Now that this gigantic logjam has been cleared away, we have begun to reap some of the benefits of our Centralized Dues system,” he said referencing the system’s ability to give firm documentation of the year’s across-the-board membership increases.
  
  

• G.W. McCullough III of Charlotte, NC, reported the welcome news that the fraternity’s financial investments performed well, along with the larger equity markets during 2006-07. “Of course, everyone in this room is old enough and wise enough to realize that bull markets don’t last . . . it would be foolhardy for us to act as though the the market’s performance can continue indefinitely,” McCullough said. There are, he added, “only two reasons” why the Moose has been able to operate through every kind of investment climate for more than a century: “First the ongoing generosity and financial support of you, our members . . . and your recognition of the important of constantly transfusing new blood, new energy and new ideas into the Moose, via sponsorship of new members.” While he said that members can expect to see increased efforts toward financial diversification in its operations--likely involving the opening up of new revenue streams using both Mooseheart and Moosehaven real estate--“we will not deviate from our stated missions . . . we need both the continued vibrancy of our Lodge-and-Chapter system, and an improved stream of charitable giving and other revenue streams, to be able to carry out our missions throught the 21st century.”
  
  

• Christopher Perry of Nashville, TN reminded his listeners of the ultimatum that insurers had issued Moose International early in the fiscal year: “Unless we could certify that every beverage server in every Moose Center had received approved alcohol-server training (promoted for 15+ years; mandatory since 2005), they would simply no longer provide insurance coverage . . .but as of January 2007, we still had not achieved 100% compliance, so on Monday, Jan. 15, orders went out to close the Social Quarters doors of some 90 Moose Centers until they could offer documentation of training compliance. By June, all but 19 Moose facilities had done so, and had been allowed to re-open. “This spring, our Lodges and Chapters were notified that as of May 1, Moose International could supply each Moose operation with a total of $2 million in liquor-liability coverage.”
  
  

• Joseph Koons of Danville, PA discussed the creation of a new Corporate Governance Committee within the Supreme Council. “We feel that the management of the Moose fraternity, and we as Supreme Councilmen, have always striven to be ethical in our business dealings,” Koons said. “However, given a society in which the collapse of such corporate giants as Enron and Arthur Andersen has spurred government to enact laws stringently requiring ethical and transparent corporate governance in the for-profit sector, it is only prudent that nonprofits such as Moose International take a proactive look.” Koons noted that in addition, “a separate Audit Committee has also been formed to coordinate annual ethics appraisals of Moose International management and all Boards and Committees.”
  
  

• James Gallagher, Supreme Jr. Governor from Vallejo, CA, reviewed the Council’s three meetings since the Chicago Convention: First, the normal October meeting was delayed until mid-November so that it could be held in conjunction with the “Building a Better Moosetrap” meeting of more than 700 fraternal unit and Association leaders in Reno; then, the mid-February meeting at Mooseheart (during an unfortunate single-digit cold snap in the Chicago area); and finally, the late-May meeting, again at Mooseheart, in conjunction with that week’s Commencement ceremony for the Mooseheart Class of 2007 and the annual conferral of the Pilgrim Degree of Merit.
  
  

• Terry Walls, of Tulsa, OK, reviewed the difficult decision the Councilmen had made concerning the enrollment of new members in the fraternity: Effective Aug. 1, an “alternative enrollment” option will be open to Lodges and Chapters, Walls announced. “This enrollment will take place utilizing a signed obligation. Upon the approval of a candidate by the Lodge’s or Chapter’s Application Review Committee, and after receiving a favorable vote by the Lodge or Chapter, (a candidate’s) membership will be activated.” Walls noted that almost all the Supreme Councilmen are former or current Moose Ritualists, so it was a difficult decision. But, he said, “in an era when people are accustomed to instant communication and swift customer service, it’s unreasonable to expect a candidate to sign an application, submit his fee, then have to wait for more than a month to be enrolled and enjoy the privileges of Moose membership.”
  
  Walls stressed, though, that Lodges wishing to continue conducting enrollment Rituals may continue to do so.
  
  

• Liguori Saladin, Supreme Prelate from St. Petersburg, FL, went on to explain that, in connection with that change, while Chapter Ritual Competition ends in 2007, Lodge Ritual Competition will continue as is for the International Conventions of 2008 and 2009. Then, he said, a completely new Loyal Order of Moose Ritual will be introduced at the Nashville Convention in 2010--in conjunction with the Moose Legion Degree. “We believe this is the way to return positive lessons to the Moose Ritual--and in fact, strengthen it, not end it,” Saladin said.
  
  

• Wesley Crowder, of Bedford, VA, reviewed proposed amendments to the fraternity’s General Laws (see below), which later in the week were approved in their entirety.

• Danny Albert, of Mansfield, OH, listed other notable actions of the Council--among them that as of Aug. 31, the per-capita amount of each male Moose member’s dues going to headquarters for operation of Mooseheart, Moosehaven and Moose International would rise from $14 to $16. “Before you groan, please note that if, over the last 50 years, this amount had kept pace with inflation, the amount would not be $16; it would be $33.67,” Albert noted.

A complete text of the Supreme Council’s report is available at www.mooseintl.org/portal/Convention/ 2007Orlando/2007_Orlando-reports.asp

> “We hear the complaint that all Moose International ever wants is members and money,” Director General Bill Airey related to roughly 500 gold-jacketed Pilgrims at the luncheon preceding the opening session. “Well, that’s right! Every fiscal year, we need $32 million; $20 million to run Mooseheart and $12 million to run Moosehaven...I need your help to lead, to set an example, to be a mentor...to urge others to sponsor members, and to give of their substance!”

Johnston

O’Connor

> Though it fell to the Judiciary Committee’s Harry Johnston (left) of Greeley, CO, in place of ailing Chairman Philip Morse PSG, to formally present the motion Saturday morning (which was approved overwhelmingly from the floor), it was Interim General Governor Jerry O’Connor (right) who in late May, after the resignation of David Chambers, formally presented the 2007 Amendments to the General Laws and Constitution of the fraternity. Many of the 32 amendments were perfunctory housekeeping matters, but among the more significant changes:

• To officially establish the Moose Legion as a Higher Degree of the Order.
  
  
• Revival of the requirement for Lodges to conduct two regular meetings per month; and that “proxy” or absentee votes at Lodge meetings are invalid.
  
  
• Removal of Moose International’s ceiling of $26/day for per-diem expenses to be paid out of Lodge funds to officers attending either Association Conventions or Midyear meetings, or the International Convention. Setting such rates is now up to the Lodge Board of Officers, limited only by allowable government guidelines.

For full text of the approved 2007 Amendments to the fraternity’s General Laws, visit www.mooseintl.org/portal/ GeneralGovernor/
pdf/ProposedAmendments2007.pdf.

In his Friday afternoon report during the opening General Session of the Supreme Lodge, O’Connor reinforced an ongoing message of Director of Risk Management Brad Costello on the necessity that every server in every Moose facility must have proper alcohol-server training, so that the fraternity can keep what has become a precarious hold on its ability to obtain liquor-liability insurance.