10/18/05 Thescorre Business Meeting
Adams Street Center
Steffan, Seneschal
28 Thescorreans present

1. Return of the Son of College of Three Ravens Bid
Eldjarn reported that he had researched his proposed fees for the bid approved at the last business meeting, as requested. He proposed modifying his bid to charge for $8 for offboard adults & $16 for onboard adults, and $2 for offboard children aged six to 17 & $6 for onboard children, with toddlers attending the event free of charge. He also suggested charging half-price for senior citizens (65 and older).
Steffan asked how the price changes affected the profit margin; Eldjarn said he didn’t think it would be very much – he expects a $200 profit if 150 gentles attend the event – but he thought it would make a huge different in how many kids attend and in how many parents don’t need to get sitters.
Those present approved the new event fees 23-1-3. Spyke asked Eldjarn if there could be fighting classes; when Eldjarn said there would be, Spyke asked him to include that in the event announcement since people don’t expect those.

2. Coronation Report
Pleasance reported that 273 gentles attended Coronation, with 107 pre-registering. We made a profit of $773, half of which goes to the kingdom. We get to keep $386. She noted that the firehouse was a very nice site, and that we cleaned up and were out an hour earlier than expected, so the site reps were very happy with us. She recommended using it for future events and offered to give the contact information to any prospective autocrats.

3. Baronial Curia November 22
Steffan reminded everyone that we’ll have the last of our three-a-year Curias next month, and we need to vote on the policies.
He handed out copies of the proposed updates to Barony policies encompassing changes to comply with kingdom baronial election procedures, plus some further suggested changes by Orianna on the election and some from Katja on various grammar, typographical, and duplication corrections to the policies.
Steffan noted that the recently corrected policies are on the Thescorre webpage as PDF and Word formats, but the HTML version is not updated. He will post these new proposed changes to the listgroup.

4. Baronial Election Nominations Open
Steffan opened the floor to nominations for the next Baron & Baroness:
• Caradawc nominated Eric & Katja.
• Spyke nominated Boldo & Noelle.
• Mairghread nominated Raibert & Nivah.
All nominations were seconded by other members of the Barony and were accepted by the nominees. All are and will be members of the SCA at the time of the election.
The nominations will remain open for the next two Barony meetings (November’s social and business), and will close at the business meeting.
Steffan noted that it was a good news/bad news situation if Eric & Katja won, since she couldn’t be his drop-dead deputy if she were Baroness. Katja suggested that it was a good excuse for finding a deputy who could be trained into the job and *succeed* him as deputies normally are. 

5. Voting Age Discussion
Carlo asked for comments on the issue he’d raised recently on the Barony list: whether folks are concerned about a 2003 kingdom law change raising the voting age in baronial elections from our existing age requirement of 14 to a kingdom-wide one of 17, and whether we should fight for baronial autonomy over our elections. He wanted to know if enough folks care enough about this to pursue it, whether we want to attempt to change Æ law.
Spyke said that his son was all excited about voting when the election was first mentioned, and then was upset when he found out he couldn’t due to the policy change. He said he felt that teenagers can make intelligent decisions about things like elections. “This is our barony. We should be able to make our own laws.”
Boldo asked whether there was a procedure to verify that under-aged citizens don’t vote? Steffan replied that he’d have to talk to Milpitas, but he didn’t think there was such a procedure. “There are 150 paid members of Thescorre according to Corporate, and we don’t see all of them here (at the meetings), so I don’t know all of them.”
Several people asked if the mailing labels from Milpitas that are used for mailing the election ballots include the member’s age; Katja explained that, no, the labels simply include the member’s name, not the date of birth.
Carlo noted that then there was no way to prevent someone from handing their ballot to a non-Barony member and letting them vote, and that there was no way we could ensure only adult members of the Barony voted in the election.
Mairghread asked to clarify what appeared to be the two issues: should we pursue seeking autonomy in our election procedures, and can we fix this before the election? Several gentles stated that no, this could not be resolved before the election since kingdom law would need to be changed at Æ Curia, and Their Majesties had Their Curia two weeks ago.
Matilda said she’d like to see the law changed. Honnoria pointed out that even if we get the Royalty to change it, a future Royalty could change it right back.
Boldo noted that if there’s no procedural way to check the ages, “it’s toothless.” No matter what the kingdom has decided, he added, it’s superfluous if the seneschal has no clear and definite way of checking the voters’ ages. “It’s an impossible divination task… you’ll have to get out your runes,” and there would be no way to honestly tell whether a 14-year-old voted or not.
Bronwyn said she thought that Milpitas or the kingdom would investigate the election if there seemed to be voting irregularities. Katja noted that after counting the ballots the seneschal must send both the stamped return envelopes and the ballots to the archivist, because if the number of envelopes and ballots don’t match, the vote is invalid.
Caradawc asked about the amount of work versus the gain: how many 14- to 17-year-olds are in the Barony? No one knew, but some estimated a dozen or so.
Mairghread restated that she felt there were two issues on the table: the election has a ballot-validation loophole that needs to be closed, and does the Barony want autonomy over the age of its voters in its elections? She asked if we could ask the corporate office to close the loophole.
Philippe noted that you gain certain rights when you become a member of the SCA. If kids can become members but not vote, what’s the point of becoming a member? Matilda said: It means we know that there is a signed waiver on file and that the parent or guardian has agreed to take responsibility if any thing should happen while their child is participating.
“If I send out labels to people I don’t know,” Steffan said, “it’s up to them to be honorable and not vote if they’re underage.” Katja added that previous ballots included a statement that if the voter were under 14 (the age restriction in the previous elections), that you couldn’t vote and the voter was expected to be honest in voting or not.
Steffan said he’d seek some answers from the kingdom seneschal and to the corporate offices.
Sigvaldi suggested that Milpitas needed some way to track the voter’s ages, such as including the date of birth on the mailing labels. Honnoria suggested adding a requirement that all voters sign and add their DOBs to their ballot envelope, and that ones that weren’t signed would be invalid. There was some discussion on whether asking for names in a voluntary organization was legal.
Spyke said he felt we should pursue this, and he added that he thought 14 and older was fine to vote.
Carlo summarized the issues on the table:
• Do we want to ask Milpitas to close the loophole on ballot verification to ensure compliance?
• Do we want autonomy over our elections?
• What should the age restriction be?
Spyke suggested that the loophole was a good argument for the other two, and thought we should get that cleared up first; “We have an election coming up, and you messed us up.” Bronwyn feared get the loophole closed before getting the other two issues resolved.
Carlo reminded that he’d talked to both the kingdom seneschal and Duke Rurik – who passed the 17-and-older law – and learned the reasoning was that His Grace felt kids under 17 were too dependent on their parents to make their own decisions. Katja said she felt that way of thinking insulted teenagers.
So, what’s the process to fix this, Mairghread asked.
Create a proposal, then bring it to kingdom Curia, Honnoria replied. Anyone can attend Curia. Some people have seats on Curia – all landed Baron & Baronesses, all baronial seneschals, all kingdom officers, and Peers – and can help you present it. So, she suggested, draw up a proposal and present it to both Their Majesties and Their Highnesses so that if there isn’t another Curia this reign you can try to get it considered at the next reign’s Curia. She cautioned that depending upon where the Curia is scheduled, you’ll get different support, the Crown will hear different advice, and you’ll get different results. For example, she said, she didn’t expect to attend a Curia in West Virginia.
Honnoria proposed having Carlo head up a group to write a proposal on these subjects, then having the group or individuals present it to Æ Curia. She also proposed having Steffan contact Milpitas about how we can’t verify our upcoming election under the current procedures and how can that be fixed. Alina recommended that Carlo talk to Fridrikr and Orianna, who were not present but are very interested in the issue. Katja puckishly noted that it was a good idea since “they have a little bit of experience in writing laws.”
Steffan asked for “all in favor of nominating Carlo to get stuck writing this proposal”; it passed 20-0-3.
“Congratulations, you have a project,” he said while Dubheasa and others chanted “Go Carlo, Go Carlo!”

6. New Barony Signs
Honnoria asked for $100 so that we can make four replacement directional signs; the motion passed 28-0-1.

7. Scribal/Drum & Dance Schedule Conflict
Colette said that some of the scribes and dancers wanted to reschedule things so that Middle Eastern practice and scriptorium don’t conflict on the first Wednesday of each month. Carlo and Katja explained that the reason the dance/drum practice was on the first and third Wednesdays was so that it could alternate with Western dance practice, but “it isn’t written in stone. It can move.” Several other days were mentioned (the fourth Tuesday? Sundays? Thursdays?) for either dance or scribal. There isn’t enough room in the Center on Mondays to add another practice there, Spyke said. After some more discussion, Colette said that most of the scribes didn’t seem to mind moving the scribal practice rather than moving dance/drum, so they’ll discuss it on the scribal list and announce what they decide later.

8. Officer Reports
Exchequer: Alina said we have $3,582 in checking and $1,056 in savings – a surplus of $1,186!!
A&S: Kadlin asked for a deputy, since she’s now a mommy. Please contact her offlist if you’d like the job.
Chatelaines: Sigvaldi said he and Dubheasa didn’t really need a deputy since they were sharing the job, but they asked for one if anyone was interested. He added that they will post soon to the Barony list their “wish list” for the demo box; if anyone has any suggestions on things that should be added, deleted, or changed, please let them know. They also plan on creating a demo pamphlet soon, and similarly welcome input.
Dubheasa reminded that the DePaul demo has been moved to Nov. 29 from 5:30 to 8 p.m., and they would love to have help. Siggy added that there is an archery demo with his Boy Scout troupe this weekend, but he and Cedric don’t need any help.
After checking out the Gold Key, Dubheasa said, she had to throw out some moldy(!) garb and asked the Threadworkers Guild for help in mending loaner garb that needs repair. She and Siggy also plan to update the catalog of loaner gear.
On a similar subject, Katja noted that she’d found only three aprons in the Barony kitchen gear (there used to be at least six and maybe up to a dozen). Could the Guild or a group of folks get together to sew some new aprons? It’s going on the list of stuff to do, Dubheasa or Kadlin replied. <ed. Note: Sorry! I didn’t catch exactly who said this.>
Heavy Weapons: The latest news in Knight Marshal Land, Spyke said, is that we have a new adult fighter authorized. Plus, Donald came back from Iraq! Mairghread added that we have four new youth fighters – one is female!
“Give us a few years, we’ll give you another one,” Siggy said, looking at his newborn daughter.

9. Miscellaneous
Steffan noted that the Board of Directors is meeting in Syracuse this weekend...