The Constitution is not "just a guideline".

The most preposterous thing I ever heard an Aerie officer say is "the Constitution is just a guideline." Over 117 years, the Fraternal Order of Eagles has refined its Constitution and Statutes every year, for the protection of Eagle members from officers who are negligent or worse, and to ensure principles of transparency, accountability and democracy.

No one is perfect. I have visited about 60 Aeries over the past 35 years, and I'm not sure I ever visited one that was 100 per cent compliant. There is a limit, however, to how far we can allow Aerie officers to decide for themselves what is best for Aerie members. For better or worse, the members have the right in general meetings to make informed judgments about anything their officers wish to do - and within the limits of the Statutes, to tell them what they cannot do.

The Grand Aerie is taking a more active role in this regard, and expects the Provincial Officers to do likewise. We have been asked to set our own protocols at this year's OPA Convention in June, to ensure that every Ontario Aerie undertakes a Grand Aerie Survey of its affairs during the fiscal year. The Survey indicates where the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Trustees comply with their sworn duties; and, where they do not, there is room for explanation. Based on that and other information, the Provincial Officer conducting the survey may recommend either that one or more Local Aerie Officers be removed from office; or that the Aerie's Charter be suspended and a Grand Aerie Agent be brought in to run the Aerie until the situation is corrected.

It's a distasteful business but a necessary one. The Ontario Provincial Aerie has not conducted these Surveys very often in the past, at least until it was far too late. In addition to the five Aeries we still have, we have as a result lost an equal number - Aeries in Sudbury, St Catharines, Espanola, Ft Erie and Sarnia. I believe all of them could have been saved had we acted in time. A couple of years ago I declined an opportunity to be trained as a Grand Aerie Agent, certain I wouldn't have the heart for it.

In today's Lawrence Journal-World (Lawrence Kansas) there's a Town Talk blog by reporter Chad Lawhorn describing the suspension of the city's Local Aerie (Aerie 309 Mt Oread). The suspension notice on the Aerie door says it was done due to "at least a half-dozen violations of the by-laws of the organization, including violations of presidential duty, secretarial duty, treasurer duty and auditor duties".

The now-removed Aerie officers will hear April 18 when (or if) the Aerie will be allowed to re-open, and if so who will be allowed to continue in office.

The Statutes are clear. Section 5.2 reads "The Grand Worthy President shall have the power to remove and replace any Local Aerie Officer who neglects the duties of his office or is guilty of conduct injurious to his Aerie or to the Order.....Any Local Aerie Officer removed shall not be allowed to run for election or be appointed to any Local Office until three (3) regular elections have been held."

According to Section 39.4 "(a) The Grand Worthy President shall commission an Agent to represent a suspended Aerie. The agent is vested with all the powers of the Trustees and all other Aerie Officers and members, including but not limited to, the authority to act on behalf of the Aerie in all legal and governmental matters....(b) The Agent shall have the authority to remove and replace any officers of the suspended Aerie....Any officer so removed shall have no right of appeal...."

Members can download a copy of the Grand Aerie Survey form from the members only section of the FOE website.

If you remember Ft Erie Aerie, this will break your heart

Fort Erie Aerie 3155 was, until its charter was surrendered this past year, the second-oldest aerie in Ontario with by far the largest property. The video below gives you a brief look at how spectacular the place was. It's an object lesson to all of us about how much we can lose, how quickly, by putting off whatever is necessary to keep our aeries prosperous and growing.

Toronto 2311 and Ft Erie 3155 were, before the OPA was formed in 1995, part of the New York State Aerie (while all other Ontario aeries were part of Michigan). In the old days, many of us traveled to New York Eagles events. Most times, it was traditional on the return trip, as soon as we crossed the border, to stop in for a beer "at home" in Ft Erie.

Last year, before the charter was surrendered, they had no functioning executive. At an OPA meeting we needed to send a letter to someone responsible advising them what we needed so we could try to help. Having no one, we decided to send the letter to every Ft Erie member on their roster. Nearly half came back as bad addresses. No one replied.

That's why it's such a relief that Toronto, London and Sault Ste Marie all have dedicated Secretaries keeping our records up to date, while new Secretaries in Heyden-Goulais River and Webbwood are eager to learn.

This beautiful property was sold to cover just some of their debts.

Blogger Linda Randall shot the video for her blog Niagara Region Ontario Canada / in September, 2011.

Webbwood gets local press for darts fundraiser

A bit old now, but there was a very nice article in the Mid-North Monitor March 25 about the Webbwood Eagles 4269 Auxiliary on a darts fundraiser to fight breast cancer. It shows the value of publicizing an event through social media.

Nice piece in yesterday's Regina Leader Post

Yesterday's Regina Leader Post  carried a great story about the Regina Eagles. Judging by the photo, they've got a great looking bar too. Can't we dump those dingy Formica-covered beer coolers, Sault Ste Marie and Toronto?

You can see more about Aerie 4126 Regina on their Facebook page.

It's election season for Ontario Eages clubs

Every local aerie and auxiliary everywhere elects new officers with nominations the last meeting in April and voting the first meeting in May. For all of us, that's coming right up. London's aerie nominations are April 1, Heyden-Goulais River's April 17, Webbwood's April 22, Toronto's April 23 and the Sault's April 24.

If this year runs true to form, we'll have plenty of acclamations - technically candidates who have the unanimous support of their members.

That may even be true sometimes. In reality, however, many acclamations are for people pressed into filling vacancies no one else wants to fill. In extreme cases, some aeries will finish nomination night with vacancies unfilled.

The Model Election Rules, available in the Members Only section of the FOE website, there's provision for that: "if there is no candidate nominated for an office(s), nominations for that (those) office(s), nominations may be re-opened at the next meeting upon notice to the membership. Only those offices without a candidate may be reopened."

Vacancies are a shame. If nothing else, elections are great fun. There's no shame in losing either: you've made your point, offered to serve and had the chance to campaign for issues you feel are important.  Even better, even if you lose, you might force the winner to make a real effort to listen to his or her fellow members and to commit himself to getting results.

Go to the nomination meeting to see who's interested. You might decide you want to serve after all. Don't worry if you haven't planned ahead and arranged for someone to nominate you. Again from the Model Election Rules, "a member may nominate himself/herself for an office".

And because nominations start at the top and close for each position before moving on to the next one, you might just nominate yourself for an office higher than the one you planned to run for.

My brother Robert was initiated into the Eagles on a Saturday many years ago that happened to be just before nominations the following Monday. As a joke, a "friend" of mine nominated him for Trustee, which I assumed Robert would decline. He accepted to my surprise, and became a Trustee by acclamation.

"What were you thinking?", I asked him as he sat down. "You don't know anything about being a Trustee!"

"That's OK, you'll show me," he replied (I'd already been a member for years).

"Hey bro, I've never been a Trustee, you're on your own," I replied.

He served his three years and was, by all accounts, a pretty good Trustee.

And the story doesn't end there. Years later I won a hard-fought and very close election for Trustee myself. On hearing that I'd won, I went out to the bar and stood beside the now-departed OPA President and Grand Aerie Hall of Fame member Ian Carry. I lifted a glass to him (basically congratulating myself).

Ian deftly punctured that balloon, loudly saying for all to hear, "congratulations, Steve, it only took you ten years to get your kid brother's old job."

GWP Tice to visit London 4060, Toronto 2311 May 28

David Tice, Grand Worthy President of The Fraternal Order of Eagles and his wife Roberta plan to visit both London Aerie 4060 and Toronto Aerie 2311 on May 28, 2014.

GWP Dave Tice

Current plans are for a luncheon visit to London 4060 and an evening buffet at Toronto 2311, where he will officiate at the installation of aerie officers for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Wednesdays noon to 3:00 pm, as luck would have it, is a busy time at the London Aerie. A large group of new members from the Canadian Auto Workers meet then, having lost their own London clubhouse nearby. Says London past president and OPA President Robert Williams, "If we have time I would like to pop into the Sir Frederick Banting museum and take a few pictures with him and the Banting statue and eternal flame.  When we find a cure for diabetes, the flame will be extinguished."

Sir Frederick Banting was a Canadian medical scientist noted as the first person that used insulin on humans. Banting, who received the Nobel Prize at age 32, remains the youngest Nobel laureate in the area of Physiology/Medicine. Known as “The Birthplace of Insulin”, Banting House is the house where Sir Frederick Banting came up with the idea that led to the discovery of insulin.

Statue of Banting, left, and the Flame of Hope, right, at Banting House.

In the summer of 2008, the Fraternal Order of Eagles made a $25 million pledge to the University of Iowa to fund the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center - a comprehensive research facility dedicated to finding a cure. All Eagles contributions go directly to diabetes research with the University of Iowa funding the construction of research space, recruitment, and core facilities. In addition, the Eagles support will leverage funds from the federal and state level totaling several million dollars more.

Later the same day, Brother Tice will visit Toronto Aerie 2311. Unlike his primarily social visits to local aeries throughout the year, Toronto intends to put him to work. He will install the newly-elected Aerie 2311 officers elected for the 2014-2015 year after elections May 12. Typically the installation ceremony uses a stand-in for the ritual position of Grand Worthy President. Toronto has already been honoured to have the actual GWP officiate in that position by two recent Grand Worthy Presidents, Jim Roberts in 2009 and Mike Lagervall in 2010. A free buffet for all aerie members follows.

Here's the crop of incoming Toronto Aerie 2311 officers installed by Grand Worthy President Jim Roberts (lower right) in 2009. I'm the guy who's completely blocked out in the back row,

David Tice joined Two Rivers, Wis. Aerie #2433 in 1956 and has been a dedicated and heavily involved Eagle ever since. He has held every office in his local Aerie except Treasurer, served as Secretary of the Wisconsin State Aerie from 1974-1986, was elected State President in 1978 and a year later was appointed Great Lakes Regional President.

In 1988, Brother Tice was inducted into the Wisconsin State Eagles Hall of Fame and has held the position of Wisconsin State Treasurer since 1989. He spent four years as a Grand Trustee before being elected Grand Worthy Vice President in July 2011 in Orlando, Fla.

His motto for the year is “One More For The F.O.E.” in an effort to encourage Eagles to push harder to sign one more member or raise one more dollar for charity. His official charity for the year is The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center.

A retired Facilities Manager, Brother Tice and his wife, Roberta, have three children and 13 grandchildren.  Two sons and one son-in-law are members of The Fraternal Order of Eagles.

The membership year so far

The Eagles’ fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31, so we’re just weeks away from the close of the current fiscal year. Here’s where we stand.

Grand Aerie quotas: The Grand aerie sets new member quotas based on the previous year’s aerie size. That means Toronto 2311 has an annual quota of 24, and all other Ontario aeries have a quota of 12.

The quota doesn't mean much: Toronto, with a population catchment area of five million people, easily signs up two or three times that many most years, but sees almost as many dropped from the rolls each year. Webbwood, with a local population of 600 and an aerie building that’s the most visible landmark in town, is expected to pony up half as many as Toronto – or the same number as London, with its 750,000 population.

Current standings: As of the end of March we’re at 83 per cent of our annual quota of 72, with 60 new members, down 23 from last year. It doesn't look like we’ll make it.

Here are the Ontario Provincial Aerie's membership standings

Toronto 2311 has reported 21 new members so far (88 % of quota), but had signed up 45 last year, more than twice as many. Toronto has reported 24 fewer than last year, just about matching the total Provincial new member decline. London 4060, our brightest spot, has signed up 18 (150% of quota) and one more than last year. Heyden-Goulais River 4061 is having problems with membership reporting, so has no new members reported. Webbwood 4269, with 14 new members, is at 117% of its year to date quota and has reported twice as many new members as last year.

The revolving door: If new members were indicative of growth things would be pretty good, with more than 10 per cent more members than last year. The problem, though, we lose quite a few. Toronto 2311 has dropped 14 members this year. Four are deceased, but 10 others are classified as “failure to pay dues”. Some of them might also have died, some others may have moved away.

Sault Ste Marie 3991 dropped 13, three as deceased. London 4060 dropped eight, one of whom died. Heyden-Goulais River 4061 again has reporting problems. Webbwood 4269 dropped five, all for failure to pay dues.

With two months to go, there won’t be many more new members signed up. But local Secretaries will make sure they drop all delinquent members before May 31, simply to make sure they aren’t billed per capita fees by the Grand Aerie for inactive members. That means things are more likely to get worse than they are to get better.

But for right now, we stand at 247 members in good standing for Toronto 2311, 65 members for Sault Ste Marie 3991, 134 members for London 4060, 29 members for Heyden-Goulais River 4061 and 55 members for Webbwood 4269.

First post: What’s this all for?

This is me, though not as grumpy as I look.

On Saturday, June 7, I’ll begin my fourth term as membership chairman for the Ontario Provincial Aerie, Fraternal Order of Eagles. My primary responsibility is to promote membership growth in the five remaining aeries, in Toronto (Aerie 2311), Sault Ste Marie (Aerie 3991), London (Aerie 4060), Heyden-Goulais River (Aerie 4061) and Webbwood (Aerie 4269).

So far, I haven’t done well. I've witnessed charter surrenders of aeries in Espanola, Fort Erie and Sarnia – the three largest properties owned by Eagles in Ontario. At the beginning of my first year as membership chairman in 2010, Ontario had 651 aerie members in the Province. Today we have 595 on the books, but once the now-defunct Sarnia membership is dropped the real number is 530.

My goal is to bring total membership back to what it was when I started. That’s what this blog is for.

I blame much of our membership decline on lack of information. Members didn’t know their annual dues were due until they were dropped from the rolls. Members didn’t know their own aeries were in trouble until it was too late. Provincial officers didn't know local aeries were in trouble until it was too late to intervene. Local aeries didn't appoint their own membership chairmen, or those that did serve didn’t have enough information. Local Secretaries didn’t understand the importance of keeping membership rosters up to date or didn't know how to do that.

At a more basic level, Eagles did not (and do not) know or understand their own rights and obligations as members; the fascinating history of the Fraternal Order of Eagles; or the tremendous opportunities presented by charity fundraising.

So I’m going to start with myself. I’m often overwhelmed with useful information that goes nowhere, as I wait for “the right opportunity” to pass it on, and that opportunity never seems to arise. Instead, I’m going to pass it on as it becomes available. So here goes.