Minutes of ASFAR General Meeting of Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Location: IRC server irc.webchat.org, channel #asfar
Time: 9:00 pm eastern time

Members Present: Sam A., Tevi A., Aaron B., Camille D., Woty F., Winston F-B, Aaron H., Eric J., Jacob K., Alex K-P, James L., Chandler M., Justin M., Lucas M., David S-J., Oliver T., Susan W.

Visitors Present: Michael L., "Gil M", Charles P.

The meeting was called to order at 9:35 pm eastern time.

Minutes of the annual meeting of 2001 were not available for approval.

Reports of Officers

The President, Justin Mallone, had no report.

The Vice-President, Daniel McGuire, was not present.

The Secretary, Oliver Traldi, reported that the slow procedure for adding members had contributed to his failure to write minutes for most board meetings. Many "join" requests dating back from July had been lost by the system; however, printouts of these requests had been saved and could be entered manually.

The Treasurer, Susan Wishnetsky, reported that the IRS had not received the forms she sent for 501c4 status. The bank account contained $584.34 at the time of the most recent statement. Annual reports had been submitted to the states in which ASFAR was incorporated and registered to conduct business. There were no outstanding bills.

The Webmaster, David Schneider-Joseph, reported that the redesigned web site, completed the previous December, had been well received, and he had been working on an automated member database to reduce the work load for the secretary.

Reports of Committees:

For the Zine Committee, Susan Wishnetsky reported that the Sept./Oct. 2002 issue of Youth Truth was at the printer. The issues for 2002 had been somewhat shorter than usual (8 pages instead of 10 or 12), which made them cheaper to print.

Candidates for Board of Directors:

David S-J moved to place on the ballot: Tevi A., Winston F-B, Camille D., Aaron H., Jacob K., Justin M., Brendan P., David S-J, Oliver T. and Susan W. The motion was seconded. Alex K-P nominated Aaron B. Aaron B. stated that his sole purpose in serving on the board would be to "unite the youth rights movement" by "creating a single national organization," and that he would not take seriously any other business of the board. The motion was not seconded, and David S-J restated his original motion. Alex K-P again nominated Aaron B. Aaron B. nominated Alex K-P and seconded Alex K-P's nomination. Justin M. called the vote on the original ten candidates, allowing additional names to be added to it after the vote; the motion passed 10-0 with 3 abstentions. Alex K-P then seconded Aaron's nomination. Justin M. called the vote on Alex K-P's nomination of Aaron B.; the nomination failed 3-6 with 4 abstentions. Justin M. called the vote on Aaron B's nomination of Alex K-P; the nomination passed 4-3 with 6 abstentions.

David S-J introduced the following ballot proposals:

To add to the Declaration of Principles "3.4. The right of a foreigner to apply for American citizenship should not be denied on the basis of age, and should not require parental consent."

To add to the Declaration of Principles "8.4. The right to own property should not be abridged on the basis of age."

To add to the Declaration of Principles "8.5. The right to work should not be abridged on the basis of age."

To replace section 7 of the Declaration of Principles (currently reading "7.1 As long as laws prohibiting discrimination by businesses on a basis other than age exist, local governments should protect from discrimination by businesses on the basis of age." and "7.2. As long as the federal government protects groups from discrimination in employment on a basis other than age, it should extend complete protection from age discrimination in employment to all ages.") with "7.1. Businesses should not refuse to hire or service people simply by virtue of their age."

There was discussion of the new section 7. Susan W. expressed surprise that David S-J had proposed it, believing it would be less acceptable to Libertarians than the current wording. Other members disagreed. After further discussion of the wording, David S-J moved to place upon the ballot a proposal to replace the current section 7 with "Businesses should not refuse to hire or serve people simply because of their age." The motion was seconded and carried 6-2 with 6 abstentions. David S-J moved to place the new section 3.4 on the ballot; the motion was seconded and passed 11-0 with 3 abstentions. David S-J moved to place on the ballot a proposal to add to the Declaration of Principles "3.5. The right to leave the country or travel between states should not be denied on the basis of age, and should not require parental consent." The motion was seconded and passed 11-0 with 3 abstentions. David S-J moved to place the new section 8.4 on the ballot; the motion was seconded and passed 12-0 with 1 abstention. David S-J moved to place the new section 8.5 on the ballot; the motion was seconded and passed 11-0 with 2 abstentions.

David S-J moved that the unfinished minutes of last year's meeting be added to the ballot for membership approval. The motion was seconded and passed 8-1 with 2 abstentions

Justin M. moved to approve the entire ballot. The motion was seconded and passed 12-0.

The meeting was adjourned at around 12:12 am (exact time missing from secretary's log).

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Wishnetsky
ASFAR Secretary