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Northeast Region Happenings

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Northeast Region Happenings
Submitted by Steve Balke, General Grand Recorder, Cryptic Masons International

\"Charles
Charles McCollum
Northeast South Regional Deputy General Grand Master

 

On June 3, a combined regional conference call was held wih the Northeast North and Northeast South Region Grand Recorders. These calls will be mentioned in the Decryption as a way to nofify every Companion of what is happening with each Region. The Jurisdictional Highlights of the call are below. Other Regional Calls will be covered in the upcoming weeks.

  1. General Grand is working on alternatives and recommendations for how to navigate electronic meetings.
    1. Triennial
      1. Information from the Triennial Committee is forthcoming.
      2. Activities September 22-30, 2020
      3. Meetings September 28-29
    2. The Triennial alternative plans.
    3. Providing platforms for electronic means.
    4. If electronic, Special GG Assembly at earliest opportunity (where many members will also be).
    5. Discussion – Bound by the edict – Grand Master’s Edicts have been made in response to COVID, and the question of being able to vote if under Edict came up. Each of the Grand Councils operates by grant of the Grand Lodge(s) of their jurisdiction.
  2. General Grand Resources
    1. Electronic Conferencing
      1. Zoom – Used for the last two years, no malware apparent.
        1. Upgraded to 500 users
      2. FreeConferenceCall.com – Not recommending due to experienced bandwidth issues.
    2. Voting
      1. Article prepared by Companion Len Roughgarden for New Mexico: https://www.crypticmasons.org/9-news/290-getting-the-job-done-new-mexico-style
      2. Review by measures.
    3. Avoid chat discussion on votes.
    4. Business vs. Work (Document from Grand Lodge of New Mexico): https://www.crypticmasons.org/pdf/Business_vs_Work_of_the_Lodge.pdf
  3. CMMRF Update
    1. Feedback – Dr. Murphy – All the research is on hold for now except for actual ongoing trials – still doing some research for non-human contact projects.
    2. Specific stem cells designated for a project so they were retasked to do COVID research – preliminary success for threating systems.
    3. Seeking people who are interested in running for the Board of Trustees for the At-Large positions – deadline for submission 15 July. Ensure people are ready to be a part of an active working Board.
    4. We have a 4th board space open to those who are outside the United States, specifically put in place to encourage participation outside the USA.
    5. We had our first electronic board meeting, another one is scheduled for 15 July.
  4. Events
    1. Regional Conference
      1. Sept 11, 12 2020.
        1. Hotel is Closed – and cancelled.
        2. Electronic meeting is being discussed.
        3. York Rite Leadership Program is planning to do 101 and 201.
  5. Jurisdiction Events
    1. CT – Virtual
      1. Grand Chapter 0900.
      2. Grand Council 1030.
      3. Link on the website.
    2. DC – Touch base with Sylvanus – Fall scheduling.
    3. DE – GM allowing small groups
      1. YR HOBs – cancelled until September and then will re-evaluate.
      2. Appendant bodies are meeting electronically.
    4. ME – Grand Master’s Edict – Social Distancing to 50
      1. Sessions already happened April – officers advanced.
        1. Saturday 18 July – tentative for part II
      2. People still are not showing up.
      3. Ensuring that they are in accordance with Grand Master’s Edict.
      4. Working on developing training sessions on Zoom for individual Councils – use of the electronics data and resources.
    5. MA – October – Working on planning.
    6. MD – Governor issuing a statement today – will be learning what the new meets and bounds will be and Grand Master will be applying to Masonry
      1. October 23 24
      2. Wed evening meetings weekly with Grand York Rite over Zoom
      3. Zoom meetings are cropping up at the local level.
      4. Multijurisdictional Festival (October 17)  – Still planned but being reviewed.
    7. NH – Successful Virtual Meeting for Grand Sessions!
      1. Goto Meeting – good lessons learned about video participation limitation to 25.
    8. NJ – Touch base with Bill. Update – Contacts
    9. NY – New York Calendar is up to date with IC Dan Pushee’s updates.
      1. Edict to June 7, 2020 currently. Likely to go until or past July 4, 2020. Still limited to 10 people gathering. Phase 4 (NY) likely happening at the same time, optimistically based upon cases and deaths associated with COVID.
      2. No Grand Assembly – Officers staying in position.
      3. Meeting once per month with York Rite Grand Officers.
      4. Using Zoom socially – check ups. Councils are being encouraged to hold meetings.
      5. New training course being implemented.
        1. Solomon Council No. 1 will hold the first Zoom Conference for the new training course. Testing and trial phase.
      6. Google Meet and WebEX being used by local/district bodies.
      7. Yes, the Cryptic Mason of the Year and Adult Youth Leadership Awards are based upon the Cryptic Year of the Grand Council, not on the term of the Most Illustrious Grand Master.
      8. Tri-State Festival cancelled
    10. PA – August 1, 2020 – Zoom Meeting – Planning stage
    11. RI – Grand Sessions (Chapter and Council).
      1. June 13, 2020 – 1:00 PM EDT Grand Chapter
      2. Grand Council following (approximately 2:00, may be early)
      3. Zoom for Installation of Officers.
      4. Grand Commandery semi annual usually with the Sessions.
      5. Grand Master said up to 15, but curfew issues – use Zoom to get together so that not breaking it.
      6. No in person meetings until September.
      7. 3 state festival cancelled.
    12. VT – June 13 – 9, 10, 11  KT/CH/CO
      1. Zoom for Installation of Officers.
  6. Decryption Contributions
    1. Please keep a lookout for any ideas or projects or events that have worked in your jurisdiction and might help others
  7. Feedback
    1. Good platform for us to work with – become the leaders in adopting two-way communication hubs. Officers and local Councils and GGC.
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