DEPT. GENERAL ORDERS No. 1, Series Spring 1998

1. Thank you for placing your trust in me to lead the Department for a 5th term in 1998, as R.I. Department SUVCW Commander. I would also like to thank Sister Mary Mierka for her hard work and assistance in preparing the 110th and 76th Department Encampments for the Sons and Auxiliary and congratulate her on her re-election too. I would also like to thank (SUVCW) CnC Richard Orr of PA. and (AUX) Ntl. Pres. Jackie Johnston of N.H. for attending and performing our installations. Thanks also to Brother and State Rep. Brock Bierman for presenting State Proclaimations to CnC Orr, Pres. Johnston and to Mrs. Vera Harris (the only true Daughter of a Civil War Veteran in our State). Thank you Brother Don Skuce for assisting Mrs. Harris so she could attend to receive her proclamations and her SUVCW certificate. We also thank the Varnum Continentals for the use of the Varnum Armory and James Wilson for his assistance in making the Day a success. Thanks to the men of Battery A, 1st R.I. Light Artillery (SVR) for performing all the color guard duties throughout the day. GREAT JOB FELLOWS! A special thanks go to Brothers Dick Parmenter and Charly Blanchette for helping to prepare the finances of the Department for the Encampment and to Charley for singing the National Anthum. Everyone agrees he has that job sewed up for the future. Congratulations to all Department Officers elected and appointed for 1998. I think we have a great team of Brothers who will move us forward to accomplish more than ever before. (See the election and appointment listings for 1998).

2. ---list of 1998 appointed officers---Refer to encampment election minutes

3. In keeping with past GAR/SUVCW traditions the Department Patriotic Instructor Br. Dennis Kohl is hereby ordered to coordinate with the Department Sr. Vice Commander Br. Robert Bromley to publish a program of all 1998 Memorial Day Ceremonies. All Camp Commanders are hereby ordered to organize at least one Memorial Day Ceremony in their Camp District and forward all pertinent information about such activities planned, to the Dept Patriotic Instructor for publication prior to Memorial Day. Time permitting, the Dept. Sr. Vice Commander will make the program available to the Department, Camps and membership before Memorial Day 1998. It will be distributed after memorial Day as well. Next year all Camps will be ordered to submit their Memorial Day plans to the Dept. by May 1st. Please try to get your Camp information on Memorial Day for this year to Brothers Bromley and Kohl as soon as possible.

4. All Department General Orders issued by the Department Commander from 1993 to the present will remain in effect. Camps and individual members should consult past issues of the Dispatch for an understanding of all orders still in effect. Since the Department has grown and we have a lot of new members, to reinforce and clarify the rules adopted by the Department in the past, I have included a reprint of 2 issues that address questions which continue to be asked on a variety of topics.

5. The first rough draft of the new Department Bylaws has been completed. It includes a combination of recommendations from committee meetings dating back to 1993 added to the current version of the National Constitution and Regulations of the Order. All the Department General Orders issued by me since 1994 and the General Orders issued by PDC Aram Plante since 1993 were issued as a result of the fine work done by several committees who worked on the Bylaws over the past 6 years. Brother Robert Bromley, Dept. Sr. Vice Cmdr. is currently proofing the draft and will be presenting it to the Department periodically throughout the year for further editing so it can be voted on at our next Dept. Encampment. I commend everyone who worked on the Bylaws thus far for a difficult job well done.

6. I am hearing questions about the Camp Districts of the R.I. Dept. SUVCW. This is a system of operations in the State of R.I. that was formed back in the 1920s. The National Organization has been consulted many times over the years as to the legitmacy of R.I. policy on the subject and the system has stood the test. It in no way violates the National SUVCW Constitution and Regulations. As far as we can tell every R.I. Dept. Commander has enforced the system since it was created to coordinate Camp activities in our State and keep the peace within the Department between competing Camps, especially those in close proximity. It is a system that is absolutely necessary do the size (in area and population) of R.I. Today it helps the Department and all its Camps focus activities and better serve the State and the SUVCW. In 1992 a conflict that occurred over the matter, was settled by PCnC Clark Mellor and PCnC Elmer Atkinson and the system was preserved. The current system has been in place for the 2 terms of my predecessor and through my 4 terms as Dept. Commander as well. It has been written into the rough draft of the new Dept. Bylaws and I intend to continue to enforce the policy. All Camps must conduct their Camp activities, recruiting and all Camp related programs within the prescribed District in the State assigned to their Camp. Camps may conduct joint activities within the Camp Districts of the agreeing Camps involved in the joint activity. If a Camp wants to conduct its own activity in another Camp’s Camp District it must secure the permission of the Camp in the other District and the Dept. Commander. Failure by Camps and their Camp Commanders to observe this courtesy and protocol could be considered harmful to another Camp and each Brother of the other Camp if a grievance is filed on the Department level under the rules governing Camps, conduct and discipline in the National C&R. All R.I. Camp Commanders should contact the Department Commander, and/or the Department Secretary prior to committing their Camp to any sort of activity that might come into question concerning this subject.

7. All Camp Commanders and Camp Treasurers are advised to coordinate with the New Dept. Treasurer Charley Blanchette 397-5538 to get all new Fleet Bank signature cards properly signed by the end of May. This policy was voted in 1993 and is still in effect. I will order an audit of the books with the over site and monthly visitation of the Dept Commander, Dept. Sec., the Dept. Treas., and all 3 members of the Dept. Council of Administration at every monthly Camp meeting for Camps failing to comply with this policy. All Camps are subsidiary nonprofit corporate entities file under the Department with the R.I. Secretary of State. The Department therefore has a duty to the State of R.I., the Federal Government and the National SUVCW to monitor and oversee and verify the finances of all its Camps and other subsidiary Entities. All Camp Treasurers are required to contact Br. Blanchette the new Dept. Treasurer as soon as possible so he can organize the R.I. Department SUVCW, Inc. Treasury system by the end of May.

8. Several members from 4 Camps in the Department have complained that we may have members in our midst who have a felony conviction criminal record. I am very distressed to hear this. If true all Camp Commanders should know and be advised that it is absolutely forbidden under the National Constitution and Regulations of the Order to allow anyone membership to their Camp or to allow the continued membership of anyone who falls in to this category. The great pillar of the SUVCW is its policy of honoring the GAR and Civil War Veterans and its promotion of honesty and citizenship in America. We have made great strides in building up the membership of the Department over the past 6 years, but in our zeal to grow and progress we must not forget the important principals of which the Order is founded and based. While we don’t want to see members and prospective members forced to under go scrutiny intruding on their right to privacy if complaining members can show undisputed proof about members with a conviction record it is incumbent upon them to bring the matter up for action by their Camp Commander at a Camp meeting. Failing in that process they should bring the matter before the Department and/or the National SUVCW.

9. Camps are reminded that the fiscal year begining for the R.I. Department is April 1st and the fiscal year begining for all Camps of the R.I. Dept is January 1st. Camp per capita taxes are due at the end of each per capita tax quarter. The quarters are: January to March; April to June; July to September; and October to December.

REMINDER DEPT. GENERAL ORDERS No. 2, Series Winter 1996:

1. Upon review of the National Constitution and Regulations, and discussions with Br. David Wallace, (in 1996 the National SUVCW Secretary), it came to my attention that our Dept. might have been in error of our interpretation of the rules concerning the roll and function of new membership investigations as re- quired for processing all new applications. At the time to my knowledge the policy we have employed had been the policy of the Department since I have been a member of the Order. In following the past policy I appointed (1996) Br. Alan Gladowski, Dept. Secty/ Qtr. Mstr. to assume the added position of Dept. Investigations Officer. The job of the Investigations Officer was to double check all new applications to make sure that all the information required was filled out properly before forwarding a copy on to the National SUVCW. To verify that the application was inspected, the Dept. Investigations Officer was one of the men who would sign each application on one of the lines of the Investigations Committee, on all approved applications. We changed our policy so that only camp members will constitute the Camp Investigations Committee, and will not include a Dept. official in the future.

This means the title of Dept. Investigations Officer is no longer in effect. The camp Commander is responsible for appointing a 3 man committee to perform this task and complete the new member's appli- cation, then report their findings to the camp for approval. Completed copies of all new member material is then forwarded to the Dept. to officially register each new Camp member with the Dept. so the Dept. can register the new man with the National Organization.

Until further notice the following policy should correct our system of processing in new members. It will still enable our Department to coordinate and compile all necessary information for its accounting and records, and enable it to impart accurate data to the National SUVCW, at all times.

The Dept. oversight officer’s title will be: DEPT. MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR, a post held (first by the 1996/97 Dept. Secretary and now) by Br. Raymond Ferrick, who is hereby re-appointed to hold that position for 1998.

The Camp Cmdr. will appoint 3 camp members in good standing to sit the Camp Investigations Committee & should inform the Dept. Mem- bership Coordinator who the men are on their Camp Investigations Committee after every camp election & each time members of the committee change.

Camps will forward a copy of each new approved application to the Dept.Membership Coordinator Br. Ferrick. Check with the 1998 Dept. Secretary Br. Leo Kennedy for Br. Ferrick’s address. Copies of all application forms, transfer forms and dual membership forms must be completed in full or Br. Ferrick will returned them to the Camp and no official action will be taken on the new member’s status as a member of the SUVCW. The applicant's name and the proposed roster change will not be forwarded to the National Organization until the form is forward ed completely and properly filled out and excepted by the Dept. Membership Coordinator. Only the Department Secretary in conjunction with the Membership Coordinator shall continue to report all changes of Camp rosters to National, and this process will occur each quarter when the Department forwards its per capita tax to the National SUVCW.

2. Camps will continue to be required to forward an updated Camp roster each quarter along with their completed per capita tax form (filled out on both sides) and per capita tax payment.

3. Camps will be responsible for the collection of the dues of their own membership and new membership fees as well. The Department will not continue to assist the Camps by sending out their dues notices for them, or help in the collection of Camp membership dues.

4. Camps will continue to forward $3.75 per man, per quarter, plus send a $5.00 new member fee for each new member to the Dept. at the time pre- scribed by the Department, the Dept. Secretary and Treasurer; and pay in advance for all the materials they order from the Dept. Quarter Master.

5. All members must pay their dues on or before the November Camp elections to qualify to vote or run for a camp office.

All members should pay dues by December 31st of each year to be in good standing with their Camp and the RI Dept. SUVCW and should be dropped by their Camp Sec/Treas for nonpayment of dues by the end of the first quarter of the new year (March 31st) if the member still has not paid their dues.

If a Camp continues to carry non dues paying members on their camp roster, the Camp is still responsible for paying a non refundable per capita tax to the Department on that member.

Only members affiliated with a camp in the R.I. Dept. SUVCW, holding a valid dues ID card, are entitled to vote and run for a Dept. office at the Annual Appomattox Day Department Encampment each April.

Camps may run the risk of an IRS and/or RI Bureau of Taxation audit if they pay the dues for a nonpaying member out of their camp treasury, especially if the camp excepts public fund raising donations and/or funding as a nonprofit organization. The Department can not stand behind a Camp that conducts its business in a nonprofessional manner that violates State and Federal Laws and Tax codes and it will take immediate action to correct the matter. It is advisable for Camps who wish to continue carrying delinquent dues paying members on their rosters to take up collections from their Camp membership to cover the cost to the Camp or barter for services rendered by the member to pay his dues. A good record must be kept for possible inspection in such transactions.

7. Currently the RI Dept. SUVCW, does not authorize or carry members at large on its Department or Camp rosters, due to the size of our state. They are carried by the National Member at large program. Therefore, all RI SUVCW members should affiliate with a Camp of origin within the RI Dept. SUVCW. Members at large have no recognized SUVCW privileges beyond that of the rules allowing for visitors.

8. All Dual Camp Members must pay their dues to their Camp of Origin first by the payment deadline to secure membership in the RI Dept.SUVCW or risk being dropped from the Order by their Camp of origin for non- payment of dues even if dues has been paid to the Dual Camp.

If the Camp of origin is forced to drop a dual member for nonpayment of dues, membership in the Dept. is terminated; the dual Camp must re- fund all money it collected from the dropped dual member. The man must then reapply as a new member and pay all new member fees. In this case the Dept. can elect not to allow or block a dropped member's reapplication to one of its Camps, determine an additional fee or delay the reinstatement of the man for a specified period of time.

If the Dual Member neglects to pay his dues into the first quarter of the new year, then tries to transfer to the dual Camp as his new Camp of Origin; and if the previous Camp of Origin is forced to carry the member for a period of time or pay per capita tax to the Department on him, then the member's new Camp of Origin must reimburse the other Camp for the first quarter per capita tax on that member.

9. To comply with the Dept. General Orders, Camps should communicate regularly with the Dept. Secretary to pass along accurate information about their membership. Otherwise mistakes might be made in their membership count and their members might not receive their quarterly publications of the BANNER and THE DISPATCH. All members are entitled to receive these items when they pay their annual dues to their Camp.

Except for certain additions agreed upon by the Dept. in normal session, this information is based on National SUVCW policy. I ask all Camp Com- manders and Camp Secretaries to re- view these general orders and contact the Dept. Secretary before acting upon these matters to avoid any confusion.

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REMINDER DEPARTMENT ORDERS

NO. 3, Series Fall 1997:

1. A reminder to all Camps: As voted in regular meeting session of the R.I. Department SUVCW, in 1996, all Camp Secretaries or Secretary/ Treasurers are instructed to submit a "current copy" of their "Camp Roster" with every Quarterly Camp Per Capita Tax Report and payment. Each Camp Roster must reflect the exact number of men accounted for in the per capita tax report. The Department shall reserve the option of refusing reports submitted without an updated Camp Roster. The Department Secretary will return insufficient or incomplete Quarterly reports to the Camp. If the delay causes the Department to be late in submitting its Quarterly Percapita Tax Report and payment to the National SUVCW, the Department shall reserve a further option to turn the Camp in to the National Organization as being delinquent; or file the overdue per capita tax report for the Camp not in compliance with this order, and base the report on the previous quarter report on file at the Department, withdraw the necessary funds to cover the per capita tax payment from the Camp account and determine a late penalty charged to the delinquent Camp not to exceed $10.00. Membership drop and add information must also be listed on the reverse side of the quarterly per capita tax form and must be filled out when necessary and forwarded on time to the Department Secretary.

2. Any Camp or individual member wishing to apply for a grant or project funding from an outside agency in the name of the SUVCW in R.I. must first receive the full approval of the Department. Camps or individual members must submit their proposals each year in September, to the Department or 30 days in advance to the next Department meeting for Department consideration. This is to avoid the possibility of duplicate or competing grant proposals being submitted by 2 or more camps or members to the same funding agency for the same purpose. Since the Department currently receives Legislated funding from the State of R.I., Camps and individuals are prohibited from applying to the State Legislature for any reason. Approval of grant proposals shall not be a part of the Annual Department Encampment agenda.

3. The Department has re-designed the official Department letter head stationary. Camps can obtain a master copy of the official Camp letterhead to be kept on file in the Camp, from the Department Secretary/ Quartermaster. The master shall be used by each Camp to print up Camp stationary. Camp Stationary shall be printed in blue and the Department in red. Official letter head stationary shall be used for all official written correspondence. 5. All Camp requests for veterans flags for Memorial Day "MUST" be submitted through the Department Patriotic Instructor (until the Dept. votes to change this process to become the job descriptions of the Dept. Graves Registration Officer). Camps or individual members are NOT allowed to order flags from the Exeter Veterans Cemetery on their own with out the knowledge of the Department, because in doing so, it may ruin SUVCW credibility with the State Flagging Program and could cause the SUVCW to be eliminated from the program. All veterans flags received MUST be distributed on veterans graves, preferably Civil War Veterans, since it is the mission of the R.I. Department SUVCW to care for the GAR and perpetuate the memory of all of America’s Union Civil War Veterans. All camps MUST submit a report to the Department Patriotic Instructor in writing accounting for the placement of all flags distributed by no later than June 30th after the Memorial Day of each year. Camps or individuals who do not follow this procedure may face disciplinary actions under the rules of the C&R as conduct harmful to the Order.

6. The Department liability insurance policy shall not cover the uses of black powder and therefore the Department shall not support, engage, or sponsor activities that involve the use of black powder. In R.I., SUVCW members who participate in such activities do so at their own risk outside the Order. All R.I. Sons of Veterans (SVR) uniformed units under the non profit corporations sponsorship and control of the R.I. Department SUVCW, Inc., as filed under R.I. Law with the R.I. Secretary of State shall be required to comply with this order. All R.I. Dept. SUVCW recognized SVR units must be covered by insurance, incorporated in the State of R.I. under the Department and be designed to conduct ceremonies and educational programs only, and must exclude the handling or firing of black powder weapons.

7. A call for the return of all Department property, except that which has been assigned to the Camps, has been issued. All members or past members of the R.I. Department SUVCW who have SUVCW/GAR property in their possession are instructed to turn over all such property to Br. Raymond Ferrick, the Department Archivist, by September, 1997, so it may be re inventoried and properly stored in the R.I. Department SUVCW climate controlled storage facility. Everything of a historical nature 8 years or older must be turned over to the Department. Call the Department Archivist for details at 245-7743 (office) 247-9146 (church) 886-5341 (home).

1998 Dept. General Orders By Order of:

Gregg A. Mierka, Dept Cmdr

Attested By:

Leo F. Kennedy, Dept. Secretary

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