Minutes August 2018 - Called Meeting for Business
Monday, August 20, 2018

Bulls Head –Oswego Monthly Meeting
Called Meeting for Worship with attention to Business
August 19, 2018
Minutes

Present: Leif Anderson, Mary Cadbury, Nettie West, David Kirkpatrick, Mary Anderson, Julia Giordano, Caroline Webster, Larry Underwood, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Margaret Seeley, Scott Daly, Carol Rice, Fred Dettmer, Vonn New; Clerk, Karen Snare; Recording Clerk

Fred Dettmer provided background information about the situation, and answered questions brought by Friends. Friends spoke about their past experiences attending quarterly meetings in Green Haven and Eastern Correctional Facilities. After a period of worshipful discernment, the following minute was approved.

2018-58 MINUTE AUTHORIZING BULLS HEAD – OSWEGO MONTHLY MEETING TO PARTICIPATE IN A LAWSUIT BY GREEN HAVEN PREPARATIVE MEETING TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND COMMUNITY SUPERVISION TO ACCOMMODATE HOLDING QUARTERLY MEETINGS IN GREEN HAVEN CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

Bulls Head - Oswego Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends unites with the concern of worshipers at Green Haven Preparative Meeting, including our member Yohannes “Knowledge” Johnson that the practice of their faith is being impeded by the continuing unwillingness of the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”) to permit resumption of quarterly meetings at Green Haven Correctional Facility. Friends in Bulls Head – Oswego Meeting also suffer by being prohibited from worshiping and meeting with worshippers in Green Haven Preparative Meeting in quarterly meeting sessions. Holding quarterly meetings in correctional facilities is an important practice of our faith because, among other things, it enables incarcerated and outside Friends and attenders to worship, share and conduct business together. Our Book of Discipline, Faith and Practice, (March 2018 ed.) counsels (at 102) that:

“Among the more important services quarterly or equivalent meetings perform are the creation of opportunities for social mingling and better acquaintance of Friends from different meetings and the conduct of special meetings for discussion and consideration of the deeper interest of the Religious Society of Friends.”

We regret that DOCCS has not responded to substantial efforts by Green Haven Preparative Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting and its Prisons Committee, and Friends in Nine Partners Quarter to resolve this concern. Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting concludes that, under these circumstances, Friends’ rights can only be vindicated through a lawsuit under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) for accommodation of Friends’ practice of holding quarterly meetings so that outside and incarcerated Friends and attenders in Nine Partners Quarter can “worship and counsel together and conduct business of common interest and concern.” (Faith and Practice at 91.)

Friends approve having Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting join as a plaintiff the lawsuit against DOCCS under RLUIPA to be initiated by Green Haven Preparative Meeting and participants in that worship group. Friends name Clerk (President) Vonn New and/or Treasurer Leif Anderson to serve as our representatives in connection with the lawsuit, to take all necessary and appropriate actions on our behalf to further the vindication of Friends’ right to conduct quarterly meetings in Green Haven Correctional Facility, and to report regularly to the Meeting regarding developments in the action.

Julia Giordano also expressed willingness to be named as a plaintiff as an individual.

Minuates July 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018

Bulls Head –Oswego Monthly Meeting
 Monthly Meeting for Worship with attention to Business 
July 9, 2018 Minutes

Present: Mary Anderson, Mary Cadbury, Vonn New (clerk), Solange Muller (recording clerk), Leif Anderson, Bill Leicht, Caroline Webster, Julia Giordano, David Kirkpatrick, Margaret Seely, Robert Martin, “Wolf” Joe Horan.

2018-50 Friends approve Solange Muller as Recording Clerk of the Day

2018-51 Treasurer’s Report - Leif Anderson presented the treasurer’s report for the first six months of 2018. Friends accepted the report, as attached. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2H3uspbj7kAVFZ0VTNLdHRqdFZNVDBNOG5oSW9LM2luQzBv/view?usp=sharing

2018 -52 Trustees - Leif Anderson presented the estimate for the costs of painting the inside of the MH and for refinishing the floors in the MH and the GR. Total estimate is 1920.00. Friends approved this proposal and funds will come from the maintenance fund.

2018 -53 Trustees Report - Leif Anderson presented the Trustees’ report. Friends accepted the report, as attached. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2H3uspbj7kAcDctRDFxX2hEU0tOWVpiS2hvT0hmZ1FSLXJF

2018-54 Ministry and Counsel - Solange Muller reported that M&C is not able to make a recommendation to address a childcare plan. Friends recommend that we convene a threshing and information session on August 12th to discern the way forward with welcoming the children who come to our Meeting and where that will lead us in developing a Child Care Proposal. If Friends are led to invite Friends from other Meetings who have children we ask them to do so. Vonn New will clerk find someone to clerk the threshing /information session.

2018 -55 Ministry and Counsel - Solange Muller reported on the event that M and C and Hospitality collaborated on with POK Friends Meeting - Mary Foster Cadbury a Quaker Life. An audio recording of her words will be made public soon.

2018 -56 Naming Committee - Wolf Horan provided the second reading of Sybil Perry for Nominating Committee. Friends approved. Naming Committee is in discernment with a second person.

2018 - 57 Sexual Ethics statement below. Friends approved.

“Our Meeting community is a small part of God’s family. Each of us is precious in God’s sight, and each of us in the meeting, whether gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, married, unmarried, celibate, sexually active, or polyamorous, has gifts that can benefit the whole.
We want a meeting where each of us is encouraged and helped to be our best, a place where each person, young and old, feels welcome and accepted. Each adult needs to model a respectful caring attitude, with no inappropriate sexual innuendo or harmful behavior.
We affirm the value of covenant relationships such as marriage; however we recognize that healthy relationships can occur in other contexts. Each of us must be governed by how our sexual behavior affects family or others. We see the importance of sexuality in becoming the people we are. As humans, our experience of the Spirit is necessarily embodied. In our sexual experience some of us have felt the same Spirit that covers us in worship. Not all our sexual experiences fit this pattern, but we all aspire to live our whole lives, including our sexuality, in faithfulness to the leadings of the Spirit.
We affirm that sexual relationships should be loving and respectful, non-coercive, between fully consenting adults where one does not exercise significant power over another. “

Minutes June 2018
Monday, June 11, 2018

Bulls Head –Oswego Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting for Worship with attention to Business
June 10, 2018
Minutes

Present: Mary Cadbury, Julia Giordano, Denise Sherman, Solange Muller, Nettie West, Bill Leicht, Mary Williams, Ramses, Mary Anderson, Leif Anderson, Rob Dweck, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Wolf Horan (recording clerk of the day), Vonn New (clerk)

Meeting opened with silent worship.

2018-42 Wolf Horan is approved as recording clerk of the day.

2018-43 The state of the meeting report for Greenhaven Preparative Meeting was read, it is attached here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2H3uspbj7kAYnpweVYwY2NxV3hsbWtfYmNWVEFCTjhfTHpn The worship group's desire to host Quarterly meeting will require work by Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting and New York Yearly Meeting with DOCS (Department of Corrections) to change the definition that DOCS has of "Quaker".

2018-45 Solange reported for Ministry & Counsel. M & C will be sending money for postage to a member.

2018-46 Wolf Horan reports for the Naming Committee. We bring forward the name of Sybil Perry for first reading the nominating committee. The Naming committee is in discernment with a second person and will report again next month.

2018-47 Wolf Horan reports on Stanfordville Community Day. It will be held on Saturday 9/15/2018. The meeting is invited to place an ad in the program. Friends approve spending $100 or less on an ad. Vonn will provide camera ready copy in collaboration with Wolf.

2018-48 Bill Leicht Reported on AVP and Gaza, attached. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2H3uspbj7kAc2hJcHJPaHU4S0pRLVlFR2R3QTNpRHFIdjNR

2018-49. The proposed Bulls Head-Oswego monthly meeting statement of sexual ethics was read and discussed. Some changes in wording were proposed (see below). The revised statement will be reviewed at the next business meeting.

"Our Meeting community is a small part of God’s family. Each of us is precious in God’s sight, and each of us in the meeting, whether gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, married, unmarried, celibate, sexually active, or polyamorous, has gifts that can benefit the whole.

We want a meeting where each of us is encouraged and helped to be our best, a place where each person, young and old, feels welcome and accepted. Each adult needs to model a respectful caring attitude, with no inappropriate sexual innuendo or harmful behavior.

We affirm the value of covenant relationships, such as marriage and we recognize that healthy relationships can occur in other contexts. Each of us must by guided by how our sexual behavior affects family or others.

We see the importance of sexuality in becoming the people we are. As humans, our experience of the Spirit is necessarily embodied. In our sexual experience some of us have felt the same Spirit that covers us in worship. Not all our sexual experiences fit this pattern, but we all aspire to live our whole lives, including our sexuality, in faithfulness to the leadings of the Spirit.

We affirm that sexual relationships should be loving and respectful, non-coercive, between fully consenting adults where one does not exercise significant power over another."

Minutes February 11, 2018
Sunday, February 11, 2018

Present: Lenore Ridgeway, Mary Anderson, Nettie West, Bill Leicht, Lee Haring, Mary Cadbury, Leif Anderson, Solange Muller, Rob Dweck, Marian Love, Vonn New, Clerk, Karen Snare, Recording Clerk

2018-6 Mary Cadbury reported on last week’s Quarterly Meeting. 17-18 Friends attended the afternoon session of worship sharing. The report was accepted.

2018-7 The Clerk encouraged Friends to attend Meeting for Discernment to be held February 17th at 15th Street Meeting. Solange Muller will attend the morning session and serve as our representative.

2018-8 Bulls Head Meeting will host the next session of Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting, to be held May 6. Mary Cadbury, Solange Muller and Vonn New are appointed as a planning committee. Friends are encouraged to suggest program ideas to these Friends.

2018-9 Lenore Ridgeway reported for the Website Committee. They plan to take pictures of Meeting members who consent, and add them to our website and our page on NYYM.org. They also suggest that the Meeting should have a Facebook page. Friends approve asking the committee to create a Facebook page, and to make plans about how it will be administered and maintained. The report was accepted and is attached.

2018-10 Karen Snare reported for Ministry and Counsel. Word has been received of the death of long -time Bulls Head member Harry Hoffman, on December 26, 2017, aged 92. He moved to Maryland a number of years ago, but he still felt a strong connection to our meeting.

2018-11 Karen Snare presented a proposed Travel Minute for Vonn New, which has been approved by Ministry and Counsel. Friends approved the Minute with minor changes.

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting is delighted to introduce our beloved member Vonn New. Vonn joined Bulls Head Friends 11 years ago, has served on a variety of committees and is currently clerk of the Meeting. A deeply spiritual person, Vonn’s ministry is most often expressed through music. Ze* experiences the Spirit with zir whole body. Zir gift of hearing the Spirit in unexpected places has helped us to broaden our experience of connecting with the Divine. Vonn has shown us that there are many doorways into worship, beyond the pattern of silence and sequential speaking which has been the path for most of us.

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting has supported Vonn’s leading to travel with zir particular ministry. At the 2017 FGC Gathering, Vonn led Friends in an interactive/intergenerational plenary experience. Ze has travelled with zir workshop “Sounding the Divine” to various FGC Gatherings and to Friends Meetings around the United States. In sharing zir ministry ze has enriched traditional Quaker experience, sometimes stretching us beyond our comfort zones. Ze has helped us to worship with all our senses, shown enormous kindness, empathy and generosity, and honored whatever each person has brought to the experience.
We commend zir to your loving care,

In Peace, Karen Snare, Clerk Ministry & Counsel,
Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting

*Vonn’s preferred 3rd person singular pronouns are ze & zir.

2018-12 The clerk will not be present for the Meeting for Business in March. In her absence, Karen Snare will serve as presiding Clerk, and Lee Haring as Recording Clerk.

2018-13 Treasurer Lief Anderson requests proper documentation to change the signatures on the bank accounts. Friends approved.

Minutes January 14, 2018
Sunday, January 14, 2018

Present: Leif Anderson, Mary Anderson, Mary Cadbury, Derek Dansko, Rob Dwek, Hera, Bill Leicht, Solange Muller, Marina Orlova, Sybil Perry, John Perry, Karen Snare, Denise Sherman, Karen Snare, Nettie West, Mary Williams

2018-1. Friends approve Karen Snare as presiding clerk pro tem, and Denise Sherman as recording clerk pro tem.

2018-2. Mary Williams presented the Treasurer’s report, which is accepted and attached. At February Monthly Meeting the Finance committee will present a reorganization of the current funds.

2018-3 NOMINATING COMMITTEE: The Meeting approves Leif Anderson to serve as the Monthly Meeting Treasurer for 2018

2018-4 FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE: Leif Anderson, on behalf of the Financial Stewardship Committee, presented the proposed 2018 budget, which is attached. Friends receive the Report, with the above concerns. The Financial Stewardship committee will report back to a subsequent Monthly Meeting.

2018-5 NINE PARTNERS QUARTERLY MEETING is Feb 4. Friends approve Solange Muller as our representative to that Meeting. The Meeting concluded at 1.30 after a brief period of silent worship.

Karen Snare, clerk pro tem
Denise Sherman, recording clerk pro tem

Minutes December 10, 2017
Sunday, December 10, 2017

Present: Mary Anderson, Lee Haring, Leif Anderson, Caroline Webster, Wolf Horan, Bill Leicht, Mary Williams, Denise Sherman, Nettie West, Vonn New, Clerk, Karen Snare, Recording Clerk

2017-76 Leif Anderson reported on the recent session of Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting. Pamela Boyce Simms spoke enthusiastically of recapturing the spirit of early Friends. Friends are invited to view her slideshow at https://buddhistquaker.wordpress.com/quaker-pathways-forward/ and her plenary presentation at FGC Gathering 2017 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTRo-G2JlxQ.

2017-77 Nominating Committee brought the name of Leif Anderson as a first reading for the office of Treasurer. This is a one-year term to begin January, 2018.

2017-78 Mary Williams presented the Treasurer’s report, as of November 30. She raised the question of whether we will make a donation to Friends United Meeting for this year. Friends approved making the budgeted donations to Dutchess Interfaith Council, and to Friends General Conference, and to hold back the FUM donation as we continue to discern. Friends accepted the report, which is attached. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2H3uspbj7kAU2pvOGUyQTIyN0s2WHZlUkRJMGdJUlVXanRr

2017-79 Karen Snare reported for the ad hoc committee on requesting funds from the Meeting, attached. Friends approved combining the Thorne and Ricketson Funds into the Support Fund, and combining the Community Outreach and Memorial Funds into the Community Memorial Fund. The Witness and Ministry Fund would remain unchanged.

2017-80 The ad hoc committee is asked to further season the document that describes the process of requesting money from these funds, and to bring it to Meeting for Business in January.

2017-81 Leif Anderson brought a report from Ad Hoc Committee on how to spend our budget line item for Prison Ministry. (The ad-hoc committee was comprised of Mary Cadbury, Leif Anderson and Yohannes ‘Knowledge’ Johnson.) The committee recommends sending the budgeted $200 to the Exodus Program. This money would support a house Exodus is renovating at 97 Cannon Street, Poughkeepsie to house newly released people.

MONTHLY MEETING FOR BUSINESS APRIL 10, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Present: Mary Cadbury, Vonn New, Julia Giordano, Kathie Scanlon, Denise Sherman, Karen
Snare, Val Suter, Bob West, Nettie West.

Monthly Meeting began with a brief period of silent worship.

2011-12 Julia Giordano presents Ministry & Counsel’s recommendation that Bulls Head Monthly
Meeting ask the Quarter to sponsor a weeknight Meeting for Worship in the name of Jesus on a
monthly basis. They also recommend that Bulls Head serve as host for some of these meetings.

Friends are not prepared at this time to make this recommendation to the Quarter. Friends return
the recommendation to Ministry & Counsel for further seasoning, and ask them to bring forward
a recommendation at May Monthly Meeting. We ask Ministry & Counsel to labor with various
concerns that are brought to light by this recommendation. Some of the concerns voiced include:
the unspoken constraint against Christ centered ministry that some Friends have expressed, the
concern of exclusivity (in various ways) that some Friends have expressed, a general concern
about the nature of Jesus/Christ on which Friends have varying perspectives, the need for mid-
week Meeting for Worship in some form.

2011-13 Val Suter report as follows for Ministry & Counsel: Friends thank those who worked
closely with this issue and accept the report.

Report on our attempts at Restorative Justice with our teenage neighbor.

Following a session at the Dutchess Mediation Center between two
representatives from our Meeting and the neighbor who admitted to stealing the
Meeting’s Cell phone, that neighbor agreed to perform 12 hours of community
service at our Bulls Head site by March 31. The young man completed two hours of
community service on January 21, 2011. He did not fulfill his agreement to complete
more shoveling by Feb. 21, nor did he respond to several phone messages and a
card delivered to the family’s mailbox.

After clarifying with Dutchess Mediation that the report should go directly
to the Assistant District Attorney, our representatives, Kathie Scanlon and William
Leicht, in consultation with Valerie Suter, clerk of Ministry and Counsel and with
Karen Snare, Monthly Meeting Clerk, sent a letter to the Assistant District Attorney
reporting the outcome.

2011-14. NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Nettie West presents the attached list of 2011
nominations for a first reading: (see attached)

Friends receive the report, and ask Nominating to confirm that all the dates of service are correct,
and to fill in blank dates. The final report will be presented at May Monthly Meeting.

2011-15. Kathie Scanlon has requested release from service on the Committee for Ministry and
Counsel. Friends approve releasing Kathie from this service.

2011-16. At this time our cell phone has run out of minutes. Friends direct the Treasurer to
purchase more minutes for the time being.

2011-17. MINISTRY & COUNSEL Upcoming events:
April potluck – April 24 - Easter breakfast, a potluck at 9 am hosted by the hospitality
committee
May & June potlucks – May 15 we will formally welcome the Connolly family;
June 19 – program on the meaning of membership.
Spiritual Nurture – May 22 at 9 am; Julia Giordano will facilitate a session on the
Passion Narrative as set out in Mark 8 – 16. At the May meeting Julia will
work with others to ensure the continuation of this important group.

2011-18. TREASURER’S REPORT: Val Suter submitted the following report:

(see attached)

Friends accept the report.

2011-19. Friends accept Karen Snare’s determination that, due to her involvement with the
issue, she should not clerk the 4/17 threshing session about Oswego Meeting house. She is
directed to attempt to find someone to take on this duty.

Meeting closed with a brief period of worship, to adjourn again on May 8, 2011 at 12.30.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Snare,
Clerk

Denise Sherman
recording clerk

MONTHLY MEETING FOR BUSINESS MARCH 13, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Present: Leif Anderson, Mary Cadbury, Lee Haring, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Karen Snare, Bob Suter, Valerie Suter, Caroline Webster, Denise Sherman


Meeting began at 12.40 with a brief period of silence.

2011-08 The Meeting approved Valerie Suter to serve as recording clerk pro tem.

2011-09 Bob Suter, clerk of the trustees, presented a written report (attached) of options for disposition of the Oswego Meeting House. Members made suggestions and raised questions which the trustees will address prior to a threshing session to be held at 12:30 on April 17, 2011. Members approved these two requests from the trustees:

1. That Jonathan Boice, President of the Oswego Cemetery Association, be encouraged to explore the possibility of establishing a group to maintain the Oswego Meeting House as an historic site.

2. To allow the trustees to attempt to find an attorney who can help with find answers to legal questions regarding the property.

2011-10 The Meeting received a report from Lee Haring on the NYYM Meeting for discernment held February 26, 2011. This was a rich and rewarding extended Meeting for Worship focused on the query, “What concrete things have you (Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups) been doing to realize that which God is calling forth?”

2011-11 The Meeting had intended to continue our discussion of how to move forward as a Meeting to address our visibility, diminishing numbers, lack of funds, outreach, etc. . Because the queries for the March 20 potluck address the same concerns, Friends agreed to hold this discussion over until March 20.

The following queries are offered as a guide for this year’s State of Society reports.

1. Meetings are living bodies and thus experience cycles of growth and dormancy. What new growth do you greet in your meeting? What losses do you mourn?

2. Many meetings struggle with issues of the world such as racism, class inequality, and discrimination by sexual orientation. With what issues does your meeting struggle? How does your meeting labor with difficult issues?

For the March 20 potluck and discussion the Meeting approved to start the potluck at the rise of Meeting and schedule the discussion to begin at 12:45 and end at 2:15.

The meeting ended at 2:20 with a brief period of silent worship.

Karen Snare, clerk

Valerie Suter, recording clerk pro tem


Oswego Meeting House — Consideration of Options 13 March 2011

Bulls Head-Oswego Friends Meeting considered the fate of the Oswego meeting house several years ago. The meeting decided to discuss with Oakwood Friends School their interest in moving the building itself to the school, at the school’s expense, for use as a meeting house. Oakwood has since decided not to pursue that course of action.

At its January meeting for business, Bulls Head-Oswego Friends requested that the Trustees consider this issue anew, assembling information that would be useful in a subsequent threshing session about the fate of the Oswego meeting house.

Below is an annotated outline of the Trustees’ current information and deliberations.

(1) Significance of the meeting house’s designation as an historic site — Oswego meeting house was listed on the state and national registers of historic sites in April, 1989. Listing in the registers allows the site to apply for federal grants and matching state grants for historic preservation. Private foundations that could serve as sources of grant funds also look favorably on sites that are on the national and state registers.

The listing of the meeting house on the national and state registers does not, in itself, restrict our use of the property and does not prohibit demolition of the building. The only restrictions would be those imposed by grants, and we have not received any grants directed at the Oswego meeting house. There could also be restrictions based on local codes and ordinances, but Union Vale has none that apply in this case.

[These two paragraphs repeat information that was collected and reported in the consideration of the fate of the meeting house that took place several years ago.]

(2) Legal status of the property — The Oswego site is listed as a single parcel of 1.9 acres (see attached map) that includes both the meeting house and the cemetery. The parcel is listed as being owned by “Oswego Friends.” Because it is listed as a single parcel, we could not sell or give away the part on which the meeting house sits without either (a) including the cemetery in the exchange or (b) subdividing the parcel into a building part and a cemetery part or (c) demonstrating to the satisfaction of the town that the listing of the parcel is incorrect and should, perhaps from the beginning, have been listed as two separate parcels.

(3) Assessment of property value — The 1.9-acre parcel is assessed at $224,400 in total, with the meeting house assessed at $114,400 and the land assessed at $110,000. Land in the immediate vicinity of the meeting house is assessed at an average of about $71,000 per acre, with actual assessed value per acre decreasing with increasing parcel size (e.g., a 4.1-acre parcel is assessed at only $25,365 per acre).


(4) Zoning — The 1.9-acre parcel is in a Residential Agricultural 3 (RA3) District. RA3 implies the following:

Text Box:  RA3 Minimum lot area 3 acres Minimum lot frontage 225 feet Minimum setback (front) 75 feet Minimum setback (side) 35 feet Minimum setback (rear) 50 feet

Other zoning restrictions would also be applicable if the meeting were to decide to subdivide the parcel into a meeting house part and a cemetery part. For example, subdivision would probably mean that the meeting house part would be on a “flag lot,” a main area (the flag) and a narrow access area (the flagstaff), a shape that is explicitly discouraged in the zoning code and that must have at least 50 feet of frontage.

(5) Text Box:  Core idea Comments  1 Maintain meeting house as we have in the past Seek outside funding (grants, interested neighbors) for maintenance projects. Otherwise, no financial relief for meeting    2 Move meeting house to a location where it would be used well No known interested recipients    3 Demolish meeting house Costly. Fails to preserve a building of historic value    4 Sell meeting house part of the property Requires survey, subdivision, possible legal fees.  Not necessarily permissible given zoning requirements.    5 Deed meeting house part of property to Historic Preservation Association or other suitable group Same as above.  No current HPA is available, but some interest has been expressed by a meeting member and some neighbors of the property. Funding of maintenance still an issue    6 Deed entire property to Historic Preservation Association or other suitable group No subdivision required. May put cemetery oversight at risk unless the "other suitable group" is the current Oswego Cemetery Association. Funding of maintenance still an issueThe Trustees identified six ways we might proceed:


Friends are encouraged to consider the information in this report in preparation for a threshing session later this spring, possibly in mid-April.


Text Box:

MONTHLY MEETING FOR BUSINESS FEBRUARY 13, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011

BULLS HEAD-OSWEGO

Present: Mary Cadbury, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Denise Sherman, Karen Snare, Valerie Suter, Bob West,
Nettie West

Meeting began at 12.30 with a brief period of silence.

2011-05. A. MINISTRY & COUNSEL: Friends received a Memorial Minute for Chris Cadbury, which
was approved as attached with minor changes. The clerk will forward the minute to the QM with the
recommendation that it be forwarded to the YM.

B. Friends receive a report about the theft of the cell phone. Bill Leicht and Kathie Scanlon met with the
young man involved and his mother for a RestorativeJustice session at the Dutchess Mediation Center. They
determined that he would perform 12 hours of community service for the Meeting, which Leif Anderson has
been facilitating to this point. When his service has been completed, Kathie, Bill and Leif will meet with him and
send him a note to document the successful completion of his service.

2011-06. TREASURER’S REPORT:
Val submitted the attached 2010 end of year report:

The funds over which we have control without restriction (Checking account, General Fund and Maintenance
fund) have been depleted by almost half: In 12/2006 the combined funds were $44,568; in 12/2010 they were
$22,846. During that time, approximately $7000 was spent to maintain the Bulls Head Meeting house, and
$9000 was spent to maintain Oswego Meeting house.

2011-07. Laid over from January Monthly Meeting, we enter a consideration of how to move forward as a
Meeting to address our visibility, diminishing numbers, lack of funds, outreach, etc. Friends float various ideas
about how to reach out, as well as different ways of looking at the concern:

Engage (and invite the community, the quarter) in some kind of Quaker education like Quaker quest.

Explore as a quarter doing an ‘information push’ to let the surrounding community know about us and about
Friends in general.

Use community bulletin boards, local restaurants, motels, libraries, periodicals, etc, to alert the community and
visitors to our presence.

Offer community suppers, soup or breakfasts to invite others to get to know us.

If new people do come, what will they find? Have we been thoughtful about how we welcome or inform
newcomers about Friends. Is our physical environment inviting or helpful?

Find a way to help people who are supported by the food bank come together to make food with Meeting
members.

Have informal work mornings on Saturdays to work on various aspects of the building.

A concern is expressed that people do not know how much Friends have to offer spiritually.

The issue of worship vs silence vs meditation needs to be explored.

It is noted that there are 8 people today at Monthly Meeting, which is a very small number of people to tackle so
large a question. Our ‘people resources’ seem to be used up. What have we got to deploy?

Queries for each of us to ask ourselves: How could each of us personally be engaged in addressing the larger
concern. Is there something that I am doing now that I could omit to open up more time for the Meeting?

Val will write something for the newsletter expressing her concerns.

Friends who are present today are asked to let at least 1 other Friend know about this discussion and ask that
others come to Monthly Meeting next month so that more people can engage the conversation.

Friends agree to continue this discussion at next Monthly Meeting.

Monthly Meeting ended at 2.40 with a brief period of silent worship.

Karen Snare, clerk

Denise Sherman, recording clerk

ATTACHMENTS:

Memorial Minute
Christopher Joel Cadbury
September 5, 1921 – October 1, 2010

Christopher Joel Cadbury, 89, died on Friday, October 1, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York. Born
September 5, 1921 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he was the son of Henry Joel and Lydia Caroline (Brown)
Cadbury. He was the second oldest and last surviving member of a close group of siblings: a brother, Warder
Henry Cadbury, and two sisters, Elizabeth C. Musgrave and Winifred C. Beer. In addition to his wife Mary of
Rhinebeck, New York, he is survived by a daughter, Vivian C. Cadbury of Rhinebeck, two grandsons, Anatole
Christopher and Maksim William Malukoff, and several nieces and nephews.

Chris graduated from Westtown School and Haverford College. As a student at Westtown he
experienced what he described as the "dense social network of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting," and he later
found similar networks among Midwestern Friends in Chicago and again in New York Yearly Meeting. On the
occasion of his 50th reunion at Westtown, Chris wrote:

“I recently saw a report about me that had come to my parents from Westtown that said I was
democratic. Were they referring to my packing sixty boys in my room (to see if it could be done), or the
dates I had (to the consternation of my friends) with girls three classes below me?
Westtown was good for me. In the years before and after I did some stagnating, but at boarding school
l did some growing and defining of myself. It might simply have been my internal timetable, but l am
impressed looking back at how specific the school’s philosophy was, and how it matched my upbringing.
l certainly could not have articulated this then, but it included how to think, when to be unselfish, what is
a lie, what to share with others, how to marry.” (His uncle, Master Carroll told him to marry a Westtown
girl if he wanted it to last. He married a Barnesville girl and it lasted.)

Immediately following his graduation from Haverford College in 1943, he entered Civilian Public Service
as a Conscientious Objector. He wrote of this experience: "l was somewhat cowed by the nation's hostility to
conscientious objectors, but on the other hand I was being tremendously stimulated by the fantastic collection
of idiosyncratic but principled men. They had little in common but their objection to war. My assignments
were forestry in New Hampshire, the care of the mentally retarded in Delaware, and finally a trip with cows to
Bremerhaven for UNRRA."

After he finished his CPS assignments, Chris taught for three years at Friends Boarding School
(now Olney Friends School) in Barnesville Ohio. Of teaching he wrote: "I became discontented with trying to
persuade students to adapt to group goals, and developed more interest in motivation and psychotherapy.”

In 1949 he moved to Chicago, where he studied client-centered psychotherapy under Carl Rogers and
received his Master’s Degree in Human Development from the University of Chicago. He worked as a counselor
for three years but, as he later wrote, “drifted away from that and worked at a number of jobs of a mechanical or
technical nature. Some of them were making equipment for research in animal psychology, and some were in
the building trades."

On June 17, 1950, he married Mary Charlotte Foster under the care of Providence Meeting in Rhode
Island. Mary's three years as a teacher at Friends Boarding School had overlapped his by two years. Their
daughter, Vivian, was born in 1956. The family was active in 57th Street Meeting in Chicago, Chris serving at
one point as Clerk of the Meeting. He also played a large part in the renovation and ongoing care of Quaker
House, which the Meeting purchased in 1952. He worked with the regional office of the American Friends
Service Committee, including supervising work on Project House and responding to the political turmoil of 1968.

In 1970, Chris and his family moved to Clinton Corners, New York. He worked as a clinical psychologist
at Hudson River Psychiatric Center until his retirement in 1990. For his 50th reunion at Haverford College, Chris
wrote the following in reference to his 20 years as psychologist at Hudson River Psychiatric Center:

“I tend to like mentally ill people. Of the many patients I have liked, I definitely have helped a few, and
of course with many it is impossible to evaluate what effect one has had. I weathered the coming and
then going of behavior modification, and when I would eventually start hearing questions from the staff
like, ‘Who was this Freud person?’, I felt I had lived a long time.”

Living on a small dairy farm with several other Quaker families and across the road from Bulls Head-
Oswego Meeting house also gave him full opportunity for agricultural, mechanical, and building work. Inventing
a solution in a crisis was a specialty, and often involved a new use for baling twine.

Throughout his life Chris worked at and enjoyed the family-run resort, Back Log Camp, in the
Adirondack Mountains, which offered another dense social network, this one of extended family, and another
venue for fixing things that needed fixing. Even after moving from the farm to the village of Rhinebeck in 1997,
Chris kept a big collection of objects that might be useful someday. He had to leave many projects undone, but
he remained fully present in his "dense social network" of Friends and family.

The Cadbury family was very active in Bulls Head Meeting. Chris and Mary were unfailingly faithful in
attendance at Meeting for Worship, for business, quarterly Meeting, Yearly Meeting, and most other Meeting
functions. Both served on a number of committees over the years, and each served as Clerk of the Meeting.

Bulls Head Friends were the beneficiaries of the wide range of Chris’s talents. Among his concrete gifts
to the Meeting was contributing to the preparation in the Bentley Farm carriage house of a space for the Sunday
school when it was no longer feasible to hold it in members’ homes. He was deeply involved in the decisions
to build the “new building” and then to expand it, and was one of the most dedicated workers during the two
construction phases.

All who knew Chris knew that they could count on him to be fully present in every conversation, to ask
insightful questions, and to respond thoughtfully. Many Friends particularly valued Chris’s ability to bring a novel
perspective to most topics. He had a remarkable talent for being simultaneously forthright and compassionate.
At least one Friend remembers Chris as the individual who reached out with a warm welcome on her first visit to
Bulls Head.

Friends remember Chris for his integrity, which was remarkable, even among Quakers. His presence
was a gift and he is deeply missed.

TREASURER’S REPORT WILL BE ATTACHED AS 3 SEPARATE DOCUMENTS

MONTHLY MEETING For Business January 9, 2010
Thursday, April 28, 2011

BULLSHEAD OSWEGO MONTHLY MEETING
JANUARY 9, 2010

Meeting began at 12.40 with a brief period of silent worship.

Present: Leif Anderson, Nancy Angell, Mary Foster Cadbury, Julia Giordano,
Vonn New, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Denise Sherman, Karen Snare, Bob West
and Nettie West.

1. MEMBERSHIP: Friends receive a letter of transfer from Uwchlan Monthly
Meeting for Robert Connelly, Virginia Connelly and Candace Connelly.
This transfer comes with the approval of Ministry & Counsel. Friends
accept the transfer.

2. NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Nettie West reports as follows for the
Nominating Committee: Val Suter has accepted service as treasurer for
the year 2011. Nancy Angell has agreed to serve as assistant treasurer.
Virginia Connelly has agreed to serve as a member of Ministry & Counsel
in the class of 2013. Friends approve these nominations.

3. TRUSTEES REPORT: Trustees submit the following report:

I have consulted with the other members of Trustees about the advisability of discontinuing our
electrical service at Oswego Meeting House. We are all in agreement that discontinuing the
electrical service is a sound idea, so this message conveys our recommendation to the Monthly
Meeting that we do so.

We note that, in recent years, the only consumption of electricity at the site was to provide power
to a vacuum cleaner in preparation for the annual meeting for worship, and that Jonathan Boice
has an electrical generator that we can use to provide power as needed in the future.
Bob Suter

Friends approve the recommendation.

4. FINANCE COMMITTEE: John Perry submitted the following report for the
Finance Committee.

Minutes of Bulls Head Finance Committee – January 2, 2011

The meeting was held in the gathering room after rise of meeting. In attendance: John
Perry, Nancy Angell, Valerie Suter, and Mary Williams.

The meeting began with silent worship.

1. Val Suter reported that contributions are significantly lower for 2010 than at any time
in the past several years. Depending on the amount of the cash flow in the checking
account, we may need to transfer funds from the general reserve to cover the deficit.

2. In recognition of this financial situation, the committee agreed to recommend an
austerity budget. The budget eliminates discretionary expenses and contributions.

The Yearly Meeting amount was reduced from $12,000 in 2010 and has already
been committed to the Yearly Meeting budget. We do not recommend reducing
this further for 2011.
The fire department is an offering in recognition of our tax exempt status and we
recommend continuing this contribution.
Assuming the trustees stop the electric at Oswego Meeting, there is a $300 saving
in utilities.

3. Even with the austerity budget, if contributions do not increase in 2011, we will need
to use our general reserve to cover expenses. We may find ourselves with a decimated
general reserve fund as we start 2012.

4. We recommend that the Meeting form an ad-hoc committee to explore ways of raising
additional funds. We feel it would be best to form this committee from volunteers rather
than from the Nominating committee process.

5. Although the expense of maintaining Oswego is not part of the operating budget, the
expense has strained our maintenance reserves and may require additional repair and
maintenance in the future. The Oakwood option is unlikely to happen as Oakwood is
struggling with the capital campaign that would have funded the move. We recommend
that the Meeting reactivate the Oswego committee to consider the sale of the property as
a way to build up our reserves and minimize our maintenance expenses.

The meeting ended with a period of silent worship.

Friends approve the recommended austerity budget with changes to the
following budget lines:
Ministry & Counsel
$200
Publications
50
Religious Education
50

Friends ask trustees to initiate a process by which the Meeting can discuss the
future of the Oswego Meeting House, including its possible sale. Trustees are
further asked to be able to present to the Meeting all the relevant practical (legal,
financial, etc) ramifications that are part of the ownership of the Meeting House.

The trustees recommendation to form an ad hoc committee to raise additional
funds sparks a discussion of the larger issue of the long-standing problem
(shared by many Meetings) of dwindling numbers. We recognize that our
financial concerns are only a symptom of many larger and deeper issues.
Friends comment with some distress of about the diminished visibility of Friends,
lack of outreach, as well as feelings on the part of some that Bulls Head MM
could be more welcoming to newcomers. A suggestion is made to conduct a
year long Meeting-wide effort to address these concerns, but there is not unity
at this time as to how to proceed. We agree to lay over further discussion to the

next Monthly Meeting. Friends are encouraged to hold these concerns in the
light and be prepared for a prayerful consideration at the next Monthly Meeting of
how we are led to move forward in addressing these concerns.

Meeting closes at 2.25 with a brief period of silent worship, to reconvene on
February 13, 2011.

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