Fraternity-Testvériség, 1970 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-04-01 / 4-6. szám
NEW BY-LAWS Our new By-Laws were published in our official monthly paper. We also published it in book form. We took care of its Hungarian translation — through my secretary Mr. Bela Toth — and mailed it to our .district, section and branch managers. BETHLEN HOME The Committee appointed by our Board last year to amend the By-Laws of the Bethlen Home completed its work. The drafted plan was presented to the Annual Meeting of the Bethlen Home in September, which was adopted with some minor changes. In accordance with the new By-Laws the Annual Meeting elected the new Superintendent of the Bethlen Home and installed him with solemn oath and stipulation that he has to assume his position by January 1, 1970. The President of the Calvin Synod officially notified me on November 29, 1969 that the new Superintendent should not take his position on January 1, 1970 because the Synodical Council regards the amendment of the By-Laws adopted September 3, and 4, 1969 illegal and it was demanded of me “to convene the proper meeting to invalidate the amendments adopted...” “We request that you, Mr. President, should notify us of these steps taken until December 10 that our Synodical Council should not be forced to take legal steps...” I sent the following reply to this letter: “I acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 29, 1969, in which you challenge the legality of the Superintendent of the Bethlen Home in an election which occurred on September 4,1969, and in which you are also requesting me to call a meeting to void same. Please be advised that I am unable to disturb the determinations of the legally constituted Board of Directors of the Bethlen Home. Any alteration, amendment or deletion must be, by necessity, based upon a further determination by said Board. Upon receipt of the above noted letter, I immediately contacted Alex B. Eger, Jr., legal counsellor of the Federation and Richmond H. Ferguson, Esq., the local counsel of the Bethlen Home and requested that they communicate with me to advise me of their conclusions regarding your challenge. Both of these gentlemen have answered me in writing. I enclose photocopies of their answers for your edification. I respectfully request that a copy of the legal opinion of your attorneys be forwarded to me. Upon receipt thereof, I will immediately canvass the members of the Board of Directors of the Federation to determine whether they, pursuant to Paragraph 27 of the By-laws of the Federation, request a Special Meeting be called to consider this problem. I will keep you advised concerning developments in this matter.” To avoid any further complications, our National Officers had a meeting with the members of the Synodical Council. We agreed that they will send me in writing through their attorney whatever legal objections they have, and I promised to forward their request with the legal opinion of our attorney to the members of this Board for final decision. SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION Our Board meeting in September resolved that we shall offer $3,000 for scholarship competition, which will be distributed in our six districts in grants of $500.00 in connection with recruiting new membership, to young members studying in institutions of higher learning. The plans are ready, the competition will be announced in April, that our youth could prepare for it during the summer vacation. THE SALE OF OUR FEDERATION HOUSES For more than a year we tried to sell our houses in Cleveland and Columbus. So far we have not been successful. THE BETHLEN FREEDOM PRESS Our Press operates as a separate corporation, but it is still the property of our Federation and our Board is also responsible for its operation. The Board of Directors of the Bethlen Freedom Press will report separately. CANADIAN FIELD The last year Board meeting gave permission to continue our Canadian work under the same circumstances. We had to dismiss two workers and we were unable to secure any other replacement. We could bring in a minimum fraction of our quota by sending over one of our section managers in two occasions. Our Board has to deal with the problems of our Canadian work. PERSONNEL CHANGES Mrs. Ferenc Nagy resigned during the past year, who worked in the office of the Controller. We recalled Elizabeth Nagy to replace her. In September 1969 the secretary of the Secretary’s Office Mrs. Martha Marschalko resigned. We have advertised the position, there were two applicants but none of them was willing to accept it for the salary offered. Since then the wife of our Secretary helps out in the Secretary’s office. The personnel of our Home Office is as follows: President’s Office: Mr. Béla Tóth Secretary’s Office: Mr. Dezső Garanyi and Mr. Tibor Baksy Treasurer’s Office: Miss Erzsébet Balázs and Mrs. Paul Harsányi 12
