The North Carolina Mason

Page 8 The North Carolina Mason July/August 2016 SIXTH, from page 1 Ric Car ter photos packhouse. e table serving as altar was more than 100 years old. Staffs, col- umns, and gavels were hewn from tree limbs and burned with the emblems of master and wardens. e bell was an old mule plow sweep from the early 1900s. For the second section, a costumed degree team composed of members from around the district took over. at team included Sixth District Deputy Grand Master Dennis Campbell as King Solomon and Charles Sumerlin as senior grand warden. e fellow craft were performed by Tom Jones, Ste- phen Natale, and Fred Kirkland. Scott McLaurin, Doug Stocks, and Bennie Heath were the ruffians. Each candidate was delivered by golf cart from the preparation camper down the lane. As the degree progressed, the skies darkened. Citronella torches lit the lodge. They were supplemented by a rising nearly full moon as the evening wore on. Charlie Hall, Charles Chapman, and Leroy Whitfield teamed up to do the lecture. Tom Jones gave the charge. In honor of his long service as lodge secretary and his 60+ years as a certified lecturer, Leroy Whitfield was seated in the East where he closed the lodge. J. K. Hall did the closing charge. before teleconferencing. Easier travel and electronic media allow men from around the world to readily hold real time meetings. Besides, there are North Carolina Masons in other states who live closer to our meeting sites than NC resident Masons (Virginia is closer to Raleigh than Asheville). Don't waste talent based on the location of a Mason's bedroom or mailbox. Group 3 is related to minimum fees for the degrees. It would set the fee to three times the annual dues of the lodge. A substitute amendment which will reach the floor first would set the minimum fee to $300 and be adjusted for inflation every five years. ose wanting the increase say that the cost of the degrees has not kept pace with the cost of living; if we adjusted for inflation to the cost of the degrees during World War II, they would now be $400 to $500. Opponents say their con- stituent community could not afford the higher cost. Group 4 addresses the responsibilities of the Lodge Service Commission. e Commission is charged to prevent lodges from falling into legal and financial problems because of real estate holdings. Building, buy- ing, and borrowing on property have long been covered. But, lodges are now facing tax threats on selling or ex- panding commercial rental portions of their property. Legal or tax problems arising from such issues can affect the status of other lodges and the Grand Lodge. is change would require that the Commission approve an expanded range of potentially encumbering actions. Group 5 would explicitly remove the blue lodge chaplain from the list of officers required to pass off their ird Degree proficiency. Group 6 would allow current members in good standing to buy back service years missed while ex- cluded for nonpayment of dues. To have his record ex- punged of the missing years, the member would have to pay for all the missed years by paying for each year at the lodge's current rate of dues and per capita. Group 7 would allow Masons to conduct corner- stone ceremonies for churches on Sunday. We are cur- rently forbidden to conduct most ceremonies on Sun- days. is amendment would make an exception for churches which request our assistance. Group 8 would end sales of endowed memberships. e endowed membership was introduced to allow lodges to continue to collect dues from a member even after his death. Several lodges, though, especially those with heavy participation, say they are falling behind so rapidly that it will take years to earn back the lost income from the lower dues that are locked in when the endowed membership was bought. ere are no hard figures known at this point that would summa- rize the threat, or account for the endowed members who might have otherwise gone NPD or demitted after dues increases. Current valid endowed member- ships would continue in force as before. Warden's station King Solomon Campbell A moon lodge at its finest. Hundreds have heard a Whitfield lecture. A ruffian in our midst. AMEND, from page 4 H I G H L A N D S — The first Charles E. Cathey Scholar- ship for 2016 was presented to McK- ayla D. Hensley, right, of Highlands High School. Miss Hens- ley is the daughter of Ron and Tonya Hens- ley. She will be at- tending UNC Chapel Hill in the fall. Blue Ridge 435's Dave Cashion is seen here making the presentation.

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