Re: AIS - section membership
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: AIS - section membership
- From: "* L* C* <c*@pipeline.com>
- Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 19:33:37 -0700 (MST)
At 04:06 PM 3/3/98 -0700, Ellen wrote:
> Duane wrote:
>
>>I really think you lose the "organization" if the rules aren't followed
>>by eveyone.
>
> Absolutely you are right but the rules are followed by so few.
> Maybe the rules should be revisited as Claire suggested.
>
>>Again, this is just my own opinion. I believe Claire is correct that
>>this should be a convention topic to discuss change, not a local option.
>
I am pretty new to AIS and probably should not voice an opinion on this
controversy, but it seems to me to boil down to one basic question: Is AIS
the national Iris group, which has some specialized subgroups within it, or
are the specialized groups autonomous and federated under the AIS -- or
maybe autonomous and not federated under the AIS. One doesn't need to go
back to the Federalist Papers to see the difference, which is fundamental
and important, whichever arrangement you believe is appropriate. But IMO
(note no H) AIS is a national society which provides some centralized
services and needs support from all who receive those services. (How well
it provides them, whether you like the Judges' Handbook or agree with this
or that regulation, and similar questions are not relevant to the argument.)
I would hate to see AIS fragmented into many specialized groups and lose its
national character, its broader focus on iris in general rather than one
class of iris, and perhaps some portion of its membership.
This does not prevent a group of people with specialized interests forming a
robin or other communication mechanism OUTSIDE OF THE AIS. First Amendment,
and all that. But I do not believe that groups organized WITHIN THE AIS
should be
open to non-members of the AIS. And I think, perhaps naively, that anyone
in a specialized group would gain from full AIS membership.
Don't mean to hurt any feelings, but I think that the interests of the
central organization take precedence over specialized interests.
elc, speaking only for himself.
Edmund L. Castillo in Loudoun Co., VA
castillo@pipeline.com