Brethren, as the snow continues to fall, I am reminded once again that Earth alone of all the elements has never proved unfriendly to man.

Our annual inspection is behind us. As usual, all of us had to pull together to make the event a success. Several brethren worked without being credited directly for their roles. For instance, Worshipful Brothers Stacoffe and Wellman got the dining room ready. Also, Worshipful Brothers Cohen, Thomas and Hess prepared the brethren
for the ritual work itself. There were obviously many other brethren who contributed to the evening but whose fraternal actions were quite
generous yet unrecognized. To all of you a big thank you.

There are some gastronomical feasts coming in the near future. The first stated meeting in March is the annual wild game night. March 13th is the annual spaghetti dinner. Bring your appetites and your friends.

John Wronski, PM

Senior Warden

First of all, I wish to thank each and every brother who helped us perform the Master Mason degree at our inspection on January 21. RW Bro Savage announced we had a very good inspection before over 100 members. Brethren, we could never do it without you.

I am in the process of suspending 20 of our members for non-payment of dues. My brethren, this hurts, not only financially but emotionally. Financially we are now expected to operate the lodge with $1000 less in our budget. It’s already a shoe-string budget at that. All the fluff has been eliminated so we can make ends meet. We will all feel the effects of this deficit. Emotionally, we are losing contact with 20 brothers. For reasons known only to them, they have decided to drop their membership from the fraternity. We have made numerous attempts to avoid this situation but to no avail. I will be sending a Petition for Restoration to each brother being suspended in hopes of getting them back someday soon.

Brothers,

Last year Worshipful Brother George Godfrey made a request of all members of our lodge to assist with the maintenance and repairs of our facilities. A maintenance and repair fund was started with a donation of $10,000 from Brother Godfrey. By contributing to this fund, it would relieve the budget of using membership dues for
this responsibility. Although contributions have been received, the total is far short of the anticipated assistance.