Region Minutes 7/21/01

Sue G. opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

Freddie read the Twelve Traditions.
Art read the Twelve Concepts.

A motion was made to accept the minutes from the May meeting with corrections. The motion was seconded and passed.

The Niagara Falls Area will host the next Regional meeting on September 15, 2001. It will be held at St. Joseph's Church at the corner of Pine and Tronolone. The address is 1413 Pine Avenue. Take the I-190 to the city traffic exit. Make a right onto Niagara Street. Take a left onto Portage Road and then a right onto Pine Ave. The second street is one way so you must make a right at the next street, which is Walnut Street. Make a right onto Tronolone.

Treasurer
Opening Balance: $3,892.13

Regional Delegate
The RD and the RD Alternate are returning $140.00 from their budgeted trip expenses. The turnout for the RCM on the off months has been less than encouraging. One suggestion was to get RSVPs from each RCM before the meeting. The next meeting will be on August 18, 2001 at Indian Church.

See attached report.

Area Reports

Alley Cats - Not present, no report submitted. A $25.00 donation was received from the Area.

Chautauqua - Art RCM
The Area now has two noon meetings at the Pendergrast Library on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The We Can Help group NA-NA group has moved from the Common's Mall to the 1st Lutheran Church on Chandler St.

The H&I Chair has been in contact with STEL Programs. Our area Public Information committee has three PSAs on the radio and they are hoping to get more on cable TV. The Literature Chair says that everything is running smooth. The Phoneline Chair had 20 calls last month. The Phoneline bill was $62.00. The Activities Chair has been very busy lately. The next event is from August 17-19, 2001 at Buckaloons Campground in Irvine, PA. The Treasury has a negative balance at this point.

Our Area has motions concerning the website. Our Choice Group gave a $25.00 donation.

Buffalo - Not present, no report submitted.

Niagara-Orleans - Nelson R., RCM
The Ni-O Area would like to thank the Regional committee for allowing our area to host the meeting. We would also like to thank the Convention committee for letting us be a part of the activities.

The 6th Annual Picnic will be held at Krull Park in Olcott on July 29, 2001. Ni-O is also holding their own version on Recovery in the Woods. The Area is in a new electoral process with elections being held in August. Nelson will still be serving as the RCM for at least one more year. Ni-O is nominating Bill T. for Regional Activities Chair.

There is a new meeting on Fridays at 4:30pm at the Beacon Center on East Ave in the Rite-Aid Plaza. The meeting is called Youth in Recovery.

Niagara Falls - James W., RCM & Reggie D., RCM Alt
Keith S., the Area's Chair has resigned. James W. will be acting Vice-Chair of the Niagara Falls Area. Reggie will be acting RCM at the September Regional meeting. The Niagara Falls Area needs some guidance as to how it should be ran. James has attended the Buffalo Area to learn more about the RCM position and to reach out to the more experienced members. The PI Chair could not attend so James will bring information back to the Area. The Phoneline is now up and running. The number is 285-9947. The Area is requesting $75.00 for the church rental for September.

Where are the records from the previous conventions? The archives should be made available to new convention committee members.

Secretary
Melanie was appointed Secretary. The election will be in September. I submitted a receipt for $3.80 for reimbursement for mailings.

Sub-Committee Reports

Convention
See attached report. Requesting $75.00 for this month's meeting and event.

Hospitals & Institutions (H&I)
No committee is formed at this point.

Public Information (PI)
The report was supposed to be emailed but was not received as of August 2, 2001. Discussion ensued about the artwork and layout of the billboard design. More information can be found under new business.

Literature
Not present, the report was supposed to be emailed but was not received as of August 2, 2001.

Website
Not present but the report was emailed. See attached report. A suggestion was made to make the ADHOC committee an actual committee so that they have guidelines.

Chair
It is the end of Term for Sue's position. Sue would like to thank the committee for allowing her to serve as Chair. It was a fulfilling experience and a growth process. There were only a few homicides in her mind and no actual murders so it shows growth in her personal process.

Vice Chair
See attached report. A letter was received from the WSO regarding H&I. A letter was received from a guy in Ogdensburg. This is his second attempt at contact but he is in the Northern NY Region.

Old Business

- Workshop meeting to follow the Regional meeting in September. Requesting $100.00 for supplies for workshop. Jim, Tracy, Nelson, Freddie and Bill will assist in the coordination of the event.
- WS Meeting and Unity Day will cost $730.00 for Tracy and Freddie's expenses. A motion was made to cut a check for $730.00. Motion passed with one opposition.
- A suggestion was made to have Areas bring their minutes to share with the other Areas and the Region. This will be good way for experienced areas to help out new areas.
- The suggestion of dubbing of Convention tapes was withdrawn due to lack of funds and copyright issues.

- Billboards
1. There was discussion as to whether the 800 number should be in effect before the billboards are produced. Others feel that we should go ahead with the plan.
2. The Treasurer strongly opposes the go ahead due to the fact that we have very little funds and we are not receiving much in donations.
3. Motion to approve the expenditure for the billboards. Motion passed with 4 in favor, 2 against and 1 abstention.
- Centralized Phoneline/800 number
1. A system can be automated to direct caller to each Area. Each Area would have to retain their number. The installation cost would be $490.00 plus each Area phone line would cost $33.00. A monthly service charge of $70.00 would apply.
2. A centralized voicemail system through one 800 number. Each area would have to call in to retrieve messages, which could incur long distance charges.
3. Hire an operator to direct calls to areas.
4. Consult the WSO or other regions as to how they dealt with this issue.

Sue asked for nominations from each Area to head an ADHOC committee for the Phoneline. Tracy wanted to appoint someone to head it. The ADHOC meeting will be before the Regional meeting on September 15, 2001. All the RCMs should bring Phoneline Chairs to discuss the issues.

New Business
- Do we remove copyright literature from the website? WSO does not want literature posted in its entirety on websites. All copyright information should be removed. Including the symbol?
- Who can send pages to the website? Mark should have the discretion to decide what is acceptable. The issue was tabled until the next meeting.

Nominations

Regional Chair - Rodney M. was voted in with no opposition.

Vice Chair - Dave M. voted in with no opposition.

PI Chair - Bob B. was voted in with no opposition.

H&I - Open

Treasurer - Stacey was nominated.

Activities Chair - Bill T. is acting Chair. He read his resume questions to the committee

Secretary - Melanie was appointed secretary. She read her resume questions to the committee.

Treasurer
Closing Balance: $431.91
See attached report.

Vice Chair Report 7-12-2001

Sorry I was not able to attend our last meeting but as you know I was out of town. Therefore I do
not have much to report. I do have 2 items that I want to bring up.

1.I am still working on the index of minutes and will finish them up as soon as I can get copies of minutes from before 11/99, my preference would to get them on disk or e.mailed to me at dmyers1060@aol.com.

2. I would like for the chair to set aside a half-hour during old business to discuss how the region would like a toll free number set up and what they would like to get out of it. There are many ways to set one up and I need feedback as to how to proceed. I am requesting each RCM to have the topic discussed at your next area and for detailed notes to be brought back here. After discussing the subject with a few members 2 things have become apparent to me.

A.We have to be prepared to pay for it. (Some areas may need or want to keep their existing
number).

B. We will need a regional phoneline chair to at least run the ad-hoc committee after it is set
up.

In Service,

Dave M.

WNYRCNA VI 7/21/01

Treas. Bal. As of today $4029.44, we made our first payment to the convention center for $2,000, we have 2 more payments, 1 in Aug. and 1 in September for $2,000 each.
I am submitting the following as speakers for our convention Dave M. Buffalo Area Friday nights speaker, Phil Pittsburgh area guest speaker Saturday,
Adrienne W. NYC banquet speaker, Jim P. NJ closing speaker,
I signed contracts with the current chair person for the convention center
The region has 3 time slots at the convention Friday 5:15 to 6:45, Saturday 10:45am to 12:15pm and Saturday 5;45 to 7:15 pm
I was instructed to look into insurance for the region, this is what I found out
No company can issue a policy in a blanket type of policy, meaning the carrier must have all information (location of event, number of people attending, which group is having the event, the amount of accident and injury and damage coverage that is requested by the facility that we will have the event at) there is no such policy to cover the entire region and umbrella the areas, each area must carrier there own insurance and supply the information needed to obtain an insurance policy. I contacted two insurance company's The Genesee Agency which supplied the convention with a policy at last years convention, and a local agency which the mustard seed meeting has their policy with (they did not return my phone calls)

I am requesting the attendance of the Chair and Vice Chair of the region at our next meeting (which is 7/22/01) or if you cant make that one, the next one, which will be in 2 weeks as we will start meeting biweekly in August. I am experiencing some difficulty in a certain area on the committee.
I have some flyers to pass out to the areas for Hosp. specifically the Jamestown area a gentleman named Tim requested some flyers from Debbie P.
I had some problems with information that was incorrect on the web page and asked Mark to remove that information and not to post any other information concerning the convention until further notice
I am requesting $75.00 for rent for today for this facility for rent

In service
Paul Nichols
JGB8995@aol.com
716 - 831 - 9847

07-14-01

To: WNYRSCNA
From: Mark T., web site committee chair
Subject: WNYRSC web site report 07-14-01

Hello family:

I am happy to report that that WNY regional web site continues to be up and running without incident.

Billy D., Mike B., and Pat G. continue to be helpful with graphics, BASC pages and the CASC pages. For those of you have been to the site lately, you will notice that all of the areas in our region have new logos and backgrounds. Additionally, the pages for the Chautauqua area and the Buffalo area are continually updated. Dave C., from the Ni-O area, has expressed interest in becoming part of this committee and becoming a representative from the Ni-O area.

As many of you know, I will not be present for today's RSC meeting. I have family here who are visiting from Argentina and I will be with them. You will all be receiving this report in advance of the meeting and Art B. (CASC RCM) will read this report in my absence. I will be present for the September meeting.

There are two issues that I need direction from this body on. They are as follows:

1. Who has the authority to send pages to me, or other web servants on this committee, for uploading to our web site and who has the authority to tell me or other web servants to remove pages from our web site?

2. What does this body what me to do with the PI section of the web site? The materials in this section of the site are all copyright protected and come under the FIPT guidelines. World Service has asked that NA copyrighted materials not be posted on websites. The request not to post copyrighted materials on web sites has not been made to us directly nor has World Service asked that we remove copyrighted materials from our web site but the request not to post copyrighted materials on web sites is very clearly stated on the World Service NA.ORG web site. Below my closing signature is a copy of an e-mail that was sent to someone I know who maintains a personal recovery web site.

Submitted in loving service

Mark T.

"We noticed that your web site has a lot of copyrighted literature on it, and we'd like to ask your cooperation in removing it. The World Board has asked that the fellowship's copyrighted literature not be posted on the Internet at this time --
including quotes, IPs, the steps and traditions and concepts. For more information about this, see the January 22 article titled "NAWS Position on Posting Copyrighted Literature on the Internet" (under "new additions" at www.na.org), by viewing the following link at;

http://www.na.org/pdf/fipt-update_internet.pdf

NA World Services requests and appreciates your assistance in protecting the fellowship's intellectual property in this way. Thanks for your help in this important matter, and thanks for writing to NA World Services.

In fellowship,
Steve Sigman WSO Fellowship Services

Here is the information from that link that is referenced above.

Recovery Material on the Internet

In spite of many requests not to post our recovery literature on the Internet, some of our members are still using this medium to post our fellowship's properties electronically without the fellowship's permission to do so. While the courts are beginning to address this worldwide problem for all copyrighted material, there seems at present to be no effective way to adequately guarantee the protection of our copyrights for material posted on the Internet. In plain terms, until the courts make some definite decisions about the relationship of current copyright laws to electronic media, we simply can't afford to take the chance of jeopardizing our fellowship's right to control its intellectual properties by making it available electronically. We, here at the WSO, believe so strongly in this position that we ourselves post no recovery literature on the Internet.

Is illegally posting our recovery literature on the Internet the kind of activity our members support? Actions at the World Service Conference do not suggest that we do. Each and every vote ever taken at the World Service Conference on the issue of a low-cost Basic Text and on the issue of world services' responsibility to care for our fellowship's intellectual properties flatly declares that the overwhelming majority of our members do not support activities that could compromise our fellowship's ability to protect its literature and other intellectual properties. In fact, these decisions indicate that our membership trusts world services to be fair and equitable in its protection of our properties and in the sale of our literature.

What we have come to realize, with the dawning of this new avenue of communication and information technology, is that much of the regulation that is required to protect our literature rests on our shoulders-the members of NA worldwide. While an unauthorized copy made electronically by downloading from a website is subject to a charge of copyright infringement, just as it would be if photocopied or reprinted without permission, protecting our copyrights and trademarks still requires legal actions that are neither simple nor inexpensive. This is a situation we hope to not find ourselves confronting. What is important for us all to remember is that we, the World Board and NAWS, have been entrusted by the fellowship to protect our literature and its trademarks. Posting our copyrighted literature on the Internet in any form increases the danger of unauthorized alterations being made to those electronic copies. We have a responsibility to the fellowship to uphold the FIPT, and we can suffer serious adverse consequences if we fail to do this. Furthermore, such failure can lead to our losing the legal right to protect our copyrights and trademarks against use by others.

We ask that all of our members stay vigilant in protecting what is ours-the wonderfully simple, powerful, and heartfelt words that have helped to bring recovery to hundreds of thousands of suffering addicts around the world. We cannot do this alone. The adage, "together we can," rings true, especially here. In our zeal to get our message "out there," let's not resort to "old ways using new means." There are a number of ways that we can make sure that our message is communicated-ways that have worked long before the advent of the Internet-and ways that still work today.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can protect our literature and the "do's" and "don'ts" of the Internet regarding Narcotics Anonymous and the FIPT, you may contact the World Service Office in Chatsworth.

This page is taken from the 2000 NAWS Annual Report

WESTERN NEW YORK REGIONAL SERVICE
COMMITTEE/RD REPORT
July 21, 2001

Information from world services continues to be somewhat sparse. Here are major highlights, many of which were announced at our last meeting.

Major World Service Issues:

-The Worldwide Workshop System is beginning. 5 workshops will be held throughout the world between now and 2002. The first workshop was held in British Columbia, June 29 - July 1, 2001. The purpose of the workshops are to facilitate communication between world services and the local fellowship in non-conference years.

-World Pool - Application can be found at www.na.org. They continue to look for
people to serve on special projects.

-Sponsorship Project is moving forward. The workgroup received thousands of pages of input and now must determine how to proceed.

-Literature Distribution & Convention Workshops will be held on August 3 & 4, 2001 in
Woodland Hills, California.

-World Service Meeting and Unity Day will be held August 31 - September 2, 2001 in Vienna, Virginia. Issues that will be discussed are the literature development project, the Communications Task Force and motions to be presented in the 2002 Conference Agenda Report. Today we must discuss Freddy and my attendance at this event. We should also discuss having a Unity Day event.

-Issue Discussion Topics - Our region has already held a workshop on one topic: "How can we continue to provide services to our fellowship and at the same time decrease our reliance on funds from events and conventions?" and needs to hold another workshop on this topic: "How can we create a bridge that builds and maintains a connection to service for home group members?" before October. We need to set a date on this today!!!

RD/RCM Meeting-June 16, 2001
Attendance: Freddy-RD Alternate

FREDDY--FILL in here

NEZF

As we say here, don't leave before the miracle happens. This definitely applies to my feelings about the NEZF. I went with trepidation, loathing and dread but amazingly left with a spirit of optimism and hope. It actually felt like we were progressing out of gridlock and moving forward!

13 regions were present, with another-Freestate-seeking admission. By way of history, the NEZF has been struggling in its evolution. In January, an Ad Hoc committee was established and charged with the task of bringing guidelines to the June NEZF meeting. At the time-and until this NEZF meeting-I was upset that I was not included in the Ad Hoc. Well, I was finally able to let go!!! We also got some $$$ back!

Guidelines were presented and were the fodder for much of the weekend's discussion (these were e-mailed to my entire list in early June; I received no feedback). The overriding message-we are a body in progress! After much dialogue, a new Ad Hoc was formed to further hone the guidelines. The draft guidelines included a mission statement, funding and rotation proposals and the potential creation of an outreach committee. We'll all have another chance soon to review the new draft which will be sent out this Fall.

The Issue Discussion Topic-Improving Communicdations-generated a lot of positive ideas, including:

· Online meeting directories
· Meeting list coordinated between regions in the same state/neighboring regions
· 800 numbers
· Fliers sent out to groups seeking input
· Simple guidelines for business meetings
· Multiple copies of reports given to RCMs
· Multi-regional learning days
· Personal contact between region and areas
· Continuity of service positions
· Fun Days/NA Jeopardy
· Put a face on service people/work
· Surveys/Inventories
· Interaction/Personal Touch
· Open House
· Committees are required to bring one new person to each meeting
· Have GSRs present talk to those not present
· Regional Inventory
· H&I should explain service work more during their in-house presentations
· Use color, eye catching fliers

The next NEZF will be in Cleveland, Ohio--January 4-6, 2002. Guidelines will once again be discussed as well as the following scintillating topic J Regional & Area Implementation of the Guide To Local Service. PLEASE PROVIDE INPUT!!! We should also conduct a workshop…I was also elected as the new Vice Chair!

World Service Meeting

August 31-September 2nd in Vienna, Virginia. The meat of the 2002 CAR will be discussed with literature development most likely a key topic.

FREDDY--PLEASE FILL IN BUDGET ETC.

Other Ideas

-Annual Report to our groups
--Events calendar