The meeting was called to order by facilitator Gunnel Clark. Also attending were Fred Miller, Karen Moore, John Bito, Diana Forman, Peggy Hotes, Steve Ludwig, Brenda Collier, Shannon Turner-Covell and Linda York.
John presented a draft version of a new form to be used when we have a request by another organization. It would be used in response to any contact along with the SEA (sponsorship, endorsement, and announcement) policy. This was approved with the recommendation to add a space at the end for our response.
Brenda will file the required report with the state as she is listed as agent of SNOW. Currently Elizabeth Brant is President and Gunnel is the Secretary. We agreed that they will remain in office, rather than elect new officers. These titles are state requirements - the CC does not assign any unique duties to any person serving on the CC.
This was discussed at the last CC meeting - the decision was for no sponsorship and no donation. Brenda will relay this to the organizer. Gunnel will call Marcia to remind her of the "star" system which had previously been agreed upon: announce on SNOWannounce = no stars; endorsement = 1 star; sponsorship = 2 stars.
Shannon presented a "Profit & Loss sheet," a "Balance sheet," the "2004 Budget" and an "Income & Expense Sheet for 2004" chart. This detailed information will be used by Steve and Brenda to prepare the 2005 Budget for the next CC meeting (Feb. 7). Then, pending approval by the CC, it will be presented at the Annual General meeting on Feb. 14. Shannon announced her retirement as Treasurer, having important family issues to attend to. Thank you, Shannon - great job! We will miss you!
Jean Buskin has asked for clarification concerning the procedure for groups who want to join SNOW. Our Bylaws state that a group is to vote at one of their meetings to accept and adhere to the Points of Agreement and provide a statement stating such, before the group can join SNOW. We agreed that it is not feasible to direct other groups on exactly how they make their decisions. We also agreed that we do not need to change our bylaws. We can give Jean the authority to use the old criteria to admit new members: determining their desire to join, their agreement with the PoA and CC approval is not necessary. Also, to relate to the intention of the Bylaws, we will have Jean ask the person representing the prospective new member group: "Is this the will of your organization?," and allow her to make the decision about SNOW membership. Gunnel will let Jean know our decision.
Diana reported about a group that contacted SNOW about their website which helps arrange carpooling for large events. She was not sure if they charge for this service. We should all check it out and see if it is something we might want to use: www.sharespace.org.
Diana said that the cards have sold well, and discovered an interesting phenomenon - when the cards are on the table at some events, more cards appeared! (The lost cards are coming home?) Since we have plenty, please take some to your next tabling event.
Diana spoke about the ACLU State Resolution: House Joint Memorial 4006, which calls on the US Congress to "clean up" the worst parts of the USA PATRIOT Act by adopting S. 1709, the SAFE Act. Diana also provided copies of HJM 4006 to all members of the CC, which we agreed to endorse. We discussed having SNOW members go to Olympia on Friday, Jan. 28, to lobby legislators, but no one from the CC is able to be there.
Gunnel presented the guidelines for the Steering Committee Structure, Sponsors/Endorsers and the Main Principles of March 19th Anniversary Protest as agreed upon at the last meeting. Steering Committee guidelines are still being formulated. Steve proposed that SNOW and the Church Council take financial liability and veto power, and other groups be given veto power (in addition to being a sponsor for a $300 donation) if they agree to share financial liability. This was approved. Fred suggested that we have a fund-raising effort, and all agreed. Brenda proposed that Marcia and Gunnel make the appropriate changes to the current document reflecting our decisions, to be presented at the next M19 meeting, and all agreed.
Fred announced that Peace Action is starting a campaign around nuclear weapons and will be contacting neighborhood groups - the plan is to revitalize some of the defunct groups.
Steve reported that he has donated $50.00 (from SNOW) and would like to give another $50.00. This was approved. JWJ has agreed upon an anti-war stance.
The letter is our current "Action of the Week" and all agreed that we want it to remain for a second week. We should all get the word out to our groups and ask people to sign the letter. Steve is in the process of contacting well-known people and elected officials - Mike Lowry and Jim McDermott have both signed.
Gunnel said that she has three vinyl-covered portraits of injured Iraqi people and is planning to produce poster boards with the same photos to be displayed in churches. Samples were presented. She requested that each of us send church names and the corresponding pastor's names to her at gunnel1@w-link.net, so that she can contact them regarding displaying them inside the church. There is also the possibility of selling them for $5.00 each.
Linda reported on the event which took place on a lawn of the state capitol campus in Olympia on Jan. 15. There were 8 people from SNOW attending - representing West Seattle, Lake City and downtown (that we knew of). We dressed warmly and tried to stay dry (it rained all day) while lying on the ground, each of us representing 100 dead Iraqis. During the hour we were "dead," there were readings of the names of dead Iraqis, prayers, chants and poems to honor the 100 thousand and more. Even though we were cold and wet, most of us felt the significance of our small sacrifice.