Condensed Account of the March 15, 2013 GEC Meeting

The GEC met beginning at 11 am on Friday, March 15 in the Board Room of the New Jefferson Davis Presidential Library at Beauvoir, Biloxi, MS

Items Covered:

1. Meeting opened with Prayer, Pledge, Salute to Confederate Flag and reading of The Charge.

2. AIC Ritchie Called the roll - Quroum present.

3. CIC Introduces Rick Forte of the Beauvoir Board who welcomes the GEC to Beauvoir.

4. Minutes of the Fall GEC meeting and a GEC teleconference approved.

5. Convention Planning Committee Report on recommendation of the Committee for the 2016 Reunion given by Chairman Ringhoffer. Committee recommended the 2016 Reunion be held in Richardson, TX. GEC accepted the recommendation of the committee which will be presented to the Convention in Vicksburg for final decision by the Confederation.

6. Executive Director Report: Director Sewell spoke on the following.

     A. Currently there are 27,854 members, of which 3445 are Life Members
     B.  Only 8 remaning Real Sons in the Sons of Confederate Veterans
     C.  Elm Springs in good condition needing only minor repairs
     D.  Arkansas Division has aquired a piece of property for the installation of a flag. GEC voted to accept the property from the AR Division.
    
 7.  CIC Givens made comments to the GEC regarding the Sesquicentennial Event and the current Heritage fight in Memphis regarding the attempt to change the names of Forrest Park, Jefferson Davis Park and Confederate Park. CIC attended monument dedication in Monroe, NC for black Confederates. CIC Givens stated the Vision Program is moving ahead.  Update given to having the Veteran distributed  in electronic format.  CIC stated that every member of the SCV should visit Beauvoir and make it a point to see SCV owned / operated attractions and monuments. He also noted that he has visited many camps and SCV events since the Fall 2012 GEC Meeting. One event of special note was the recent S.D. Lee Institute held in St. Augustine, Florida.   

 8. Compatriot Kevin Stone, head of the Mechanized Calvary (MC), spoke briefly to the GEC. Mentioned recent fundraiser held for treatment of childhood cancer. Mechanized Calvary recently held a meeting at Elm Springs. Currently approximately 1830 members of the MC.    

 9. Lt. Commander Kelly Barrow gave his report.

 A.  SCV Leadership Workshop was recently held in Richmond, VA.  
 B.  SCV had ad in American History Magazine- special edition showing Gen. George Picket on the cover and highlighting events of the year 1863.  
C. SCV Recruiting Tent is now available for use by Division, Brigades etc..
D. Proration of Dues helps members rejoin and to get new members to join late in the dues year. GHQ can assist camps with proration questions.
E. April 20, Leadership Workship to be held in Paducah, KY,  June 2 another will be held in Arizona. On July 6 a Leadership workshop will be held in Gettysburg, PA along with the Culp Brothers Monument Dedication . Possible future workshops in KS, TX and FL.   

10. Chief of Heritage Defense Hogan reported to the GEC. Recommends efforts muct be made to give the truth about General Forrest needs to be given to the public. Victory in Colorado to get school board to reverse its anti-Confederate flag policy. 

11. Compatriot Lee Millar spoke on the heritage fight now taking place in Memphis regarding the attempt to rename Forrest Park, Confederate Park and Jefferson Davis Park. City Council passed resolution to rename parks. TN Legislature appears soon to pass act to protect monuments, parks etc.. act would protect park name in Memphis. Compatriot Millar states the Memphis public is on the side of keeping the parks' Confederate themed names.  

12. Compatriot Greg Stewart spoke regarding preparations for the 2013 Vicksburg Reunion.

13. Compatriot Ed Ray spoke about preparation for the reunion to be held in Richmond in 2015.

14. Compatriot Gene Hogan spoke about the 2014 Charleston Reunion.

15. Chief of Protocol Lee Millar discussed the proposed change to the Debutant Guidelines to modify the requirements who may be an approved to be an escort for the debutant at the reunion ball.  GEC approved the change. Chief of Protocol to approve the selection of an escort in the event the escort is not a relative of the debutant. The GEC also gave a special waiver to allow a 15 year old to be a debutant, one year less than the usual requirement that the debutant be 16 years old. This waiver was granted due to illness of a family member and the family's wish that all three of their daughters be presented at the same reunion.      

16. Compatriot Carl Ford addressed the GEC on the topic of education. Recommends the information for teachers on the CD produced in Georgia be made available on SCV.org.  Also states the scv needs to use social media and other internet venues to get information to the public.

17. Chief of Heritage Defense Gene Hogan spoke about the possibility of the SCV divisions and camps developing better relations and contacts with local law enforcement to show that the SCV is a local service organization. It is also recommended that local law enforcement be included in SCV events when possible. Developments on this inititive will be posted to the Telegraph and Blog.  

18. Past CIC McMichael gave a report on the Presidential Library building dedication slated for Saturday,  March 16, 2013.

19. AIC Steve Ritchie reported that he has been sending a monthly report to the division adjutants. He also presented the report of the Budget and Finance Committee. The committee has established a policy regarding notification of those applying for funding. The Office of the AIC will communicate to those making a request the action taken by the GEC regarding their funding request. Seven funding requests were submitted to the Budget and Finance Committee.  

20. Army Commanders Earnest, Strain and Owens gave reports on the activities in their armies.

21. GEC held an executive session.

22. CIC Givens made closing comments.

Meeting ended at 5: 45 PM with prayer and the singing of Dixie!.