March/April 2013
The North Carolina Mason
Page 5
Encompassing The World
Haas again out of Masonry
By Ric Carter
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA — Past West Virginia Grand
Master Frank Haas is back in the news. Back in 2006 Haas introduced what
became known as the Wheeling Reforms to the Grand Lodge there. The
reforms included allowing the Pledge of Allegiance in lodge meetings and
allowing Masonic youth groups to use lodge facilities. (See NCMason September/October 2010 ).
The reforms were overturned immediately after Haas left office. When
Haas spoke out against the action, he was expelled (apparently without trial) from the Grand Lodge of West Virginia. He eventually moved to Ohio
where a lodge, with the blessing of the Grand Lodge of Ohio's grand master,
GL drama in Big Sky Country
Band camps
Masonic band camps have proven very popular in Kansas and Nebraska as great public relations tools for the grand lodges there.
• The Kansas Masonic All-State Marching Band has attracted cream-of-the-crop high
school musicians for 28 years.
• The Nebraska Masonic All-Star Marching
Band has become an annual drawing card for top
bandsmen in the Cornhusker State for 17 years.
In both cases, the students spend several days
in band camps. It involves many hours of practicing, enjoying evening activities, performing
concerts, and marching in pre-game and halftime shows at a Shrine-sponsored, all-star high
school football bowl game.
Last year, 167 young musicians gathered in
late July at the Fort Hays State University in
Kansas. On May 31, some 265 of the state's best
high school band members converged at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln for band camp.
In addition to the public relations value for
Kansas and Nebraska Freemasonry, the band
camps are vehicles for hundreds of students
from all over their states to come together,
form lifelong friendships, improve their musical skills, and take part in an experience
they'll remember forever. Over the years,
thousands of young men and women have
participated in these opportunities provided
by the Masonic fraternity.
In Kansas, the annual event is sponsored
by the Kansas Masonic Foundation, and the
grand lodge encourages lodges to contrib-
A celebration
of 300 years of
Masonry
NEBRASKA — The Grand Lodge of Nebraska is doing a five-year build up to the 2017
300th birthday of our current form of Freemasonry. The history is based on a family tree they
created looking at the origins and ancestry of
the three grand lodges which signed their first
charters. Different parts of that history will be
celebrated and featured each year at their annual communication through 2017. Their 2014
meeting will feature "Masonry arrives in the
United States and begets the grand lodges of
Virginia in 1778 and North Carolina in 1787."
— The Nebraska Mason
Gibsonville
Huntersville
The 31st Masonic District is holding their
blood drive at Long Creek 205 on April 9.
— News From the West
Kenansville
St. John's 13 was proud of their charity
donations this year. They gave $1,200 each to
WhiteStone (MESH), the Masonic Home for
Children, and the North Carolina Masonic
Foundation.
— Lodge Log
Meadow Branch
When 23-year-old Devin Simpson was installed as master of Meadow Branch 578 in January, he became the youngest master ever in the
lodge. He took the title from his brother Derek.
Said Derek, "If I have to give up my title, I can't
think of anyone better to lose it to."
— Derek Simpson
Warsaw
A kitchen renovation is underway at Warsaw
677. They hope to have completed the project by
Memorial Day.
— Warsaw Lodge
Wilmington
Ten members of Orient 395 visited Pythagoras 249 in January to claim the 12th Masonic
District's traveling gavel.
— Newsletter
and removed from office August 10. The fired
grand secretary was restored to office.
Incoming Grand Master Thom Chisholm,
in a message to his membership regarding the
trauma, said, "I keep considering how profitable
it would be for Montana Masonry if we approached increasing our membership with the
same amount of zeal we have put forth in the
amount of time and energy expended in the previous two months." — The Montana Freemason
ILLINOIS — The 29th Annual Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl took place in 2012, as a
grand lodge program for getting local lodges
more involved in their communities.
Sectional Tournaments were held at 26 sites
across Illinois on February 18, and the State
Tournament occurred in Springfield on March
3. Last year, 271 local high schools participated
in the tournament.
Local lodges are encouraged to sponsor area
high schools. Representatives of the lodges are
urged to attend the tournaments. And this year,
for the first time, young men and women from
DeMolay, Jobs Daughters, and Rainbow Girls
are providing assistance as part of their service
projects for the grand lodge.
Monetary scholastic awards are given to winning schools at the different levels of competition.
According to Chairman Dale Thayer, the
Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl has become
known statewide as being very competitive and
well operated. He says, "The Masons of Illinois
can be very proud that they have had a part… to
help with the scholastic achievements of many
of our high school students."
— EMESSAY Notes
WISCONSIN — Middle schoolers here are
learning the art of saving lives thanks to a partnership of the Wisconsin Masonic Foundation
Medical Fund and the American Heart Association. The groups are placing CPR Anytime
Kits in middle schools around the state. The kits
give programmed teaching of CPR life saving to
kids. The Foundation provides matching funds
for lodges to place the kits in their neighborhood schools.
— Wisconsin Masonic Journal
FALLS CITY, OREGON — The SalemKeizer Outdoor Communication celebrated its
67th anniversary last summer. The degree is held
each July in an acacia grove on the Jack Turner
Ranch. The first section of the third degree is
held before dinner. During the break before the
second section, a special ceremony is held for the
burning of aprons belonging to brothers who
passed away during the previous year.
— Oregon Masonic News
lodge is going to be set! We haven't had the first
negative comment."
Work, as you can see, has already begun. The
lodge room is getting the first attention. Work
should be completed in a few months.
Academic bowls
Middle school
CPR training
Oregon outdoor degree
GRIMESLAND, from page 1
tarian. In 1962, he founded St. Jude's at the suggestion of his friend, Cardinal Samuel Stritch, of
Chicago. Thomas died in 1991 at the age of 79.
The Philatelic Freemason, March-April, 2012
STATE, from page 3
Tabasco 271 is planning their spring cooking
fundraiser for April 12–13 and a golf tournament for April 27.
— Trestle Board
HELENA, MONTANA — On June 29 of
last year, the grand master here fired the elected
grand secretary following an innuendo campaign. During the following week, nine sitting
masters filed charges against the grand master
accusing him of abuse of his powers, violation
of statutes, and unmasonic conduct. Pursuant
to their regulations, a tribunal of five past grand
masters was convened in August. Grand Master
Thomas Duffy was found guilty on all counts
couple of widows, responded with a pledge.
Grimesland Lodge Master Mickey Bullock
says, "We've got these young guys coming up
who want to be connected to the history of this
lodge. When this generation leaves here, this
ute and help sponsor the participants from
their community. Each year, one member of
the All-State Band is selected as the annual
Outstanding Musician and receives a $1,000
grant for college.
In Nebraska, the long-standing high school
band tradition is administered by the grand
lodge, with lodges and all the appendant bodies contributing "scholarships" which allow the
students to attend. Many participants come
back when they are in college to be volunteer
music assistants or chaperones for the teenage
band members.
— EMESSAY Notes
Thomas honored with stamp
Last year, the United States Postal
Service issued a tribute to the 100th birthday of the late entertainer Danny Thomas
and the 50th anniversary of the hospital
he founded, St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Thomas was born in Deerfield, Michigan, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He received his three Masonic degrees in Gothic
Lodge in Hamilton Square, New Jersey, as
a courtesy for his mother lodge, Palisades
Lodge, in Santa Monica, California.
As an entertainer, he was perhaps best
known for starring in Make Room for
Daddy, a popular television comedy that
aired from 1953 to 1964.
Behind the jokes and anecdotes he told to
sellout crowds across the country, including
many Masonic groups, he was a serious humani-
elected Haas to membership and conferred all three degrees. As a result, the
Grand Lodge of West Virginia withdrew recognition of Ohio in 2010.
On January 30 of this year, Ohio Grand Master James F. Easterling Jr.
ruled that the raising of Haas was not proper and declared it null and void.
Less than ten days later, the Grand Lodge of West Virginia restored fraternal
communication (recognition) with the Grand Lodge of Ohio.
In fraternal tradition, grand jurisdictions respect the membership actions
of other jurisdictions. For instance, if a dual member is expelled in North
Carolina, he is removed from the rolls of any other lodge in which he may be
a member, no matter in which state the membership.
Jacksonville
The recent raffle of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle was Semper Fidelis 680's most successful fundraiser ever. They made $14,650.
The lodge gave $7,000 to each of the Masonic
Homes, and bought a pallet of bottled water for
the victims of Hurricane Sandy. — Trestle Board
Thomasville
A Brunswick Stew fundraiser for Thomasville
214 was scheduled for February 16.
— Trestle Board
Roanoke Rapids
Widow's Son 519 sponsored a blood drive
January 30.
— Wes Tripp-Older
Garner
May 15 is the date set for the Fifth Annual
Mark Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament. They
tee off at noon May 15 at Riverwood Golf Club
in Clayton. The $65 entry fee includes prizes and
a grilled chicken meal after the play. Contact Wilson Ferrell at
to details and entry forms.
— Wilson Ferrell
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