MEDINA LODGE NO. 58, F. & A. M. CHARTERED JANUARY 31, 1820

Well its been pretty eventful this last month, and I expect the next couple of months to be even more eventful.

First I want to thank all the Past Masters who filled in the chairs on Thursday, February 8^th so my officers could attend the inspection at Cedar Lodge in Orrville. Those fine Worshipful Brothers who helped fill were Jim Gilbert (SW), Roland Seaburn (JW), Roger Edgington (SD), Dave Kurtz (JD), Larry Donovan (SS & JS - hey I did order pizzas), and of course Vaughn Cover (Sec) who is always at our meetings. The effort wasn’t in vain, they won the Traveling Gavel, even without their master. So far we have won the gavel at every inspection this year. Last year we didn’t win the Traveling Gavel twice. I don’t know if we can do that again this year, but we’re on a good pace. Special thanks to my Stewards Earl & Fred who not only rack up those inspection points - but have really been making some outstanding food at our meetings too! For you brothers who haven’t traveled in a while; join us, we have a lot of fun and fellowship and I think its interesting to observe each Lodge’s traditions or customs in the ritual work. Now on with the news.

Degree Work: We’ve had a lull this month, but I don’t expect it to last. We have three EA’s, one of whom I expect to return shortly. Also, we have two investigating committees working on petitions that we have received. Should be busy next month.

De Molay. Had a spaghetti dinner on February 9^th (hmm someone said the 8^th at lodge, but that was a Thursday, hope nobody showed up on the wrong night). Installation of Officers on February 24, 2001 at 7pm. The State Master Counselor will be the Installing Officer.

FREE FOOD!!! Yes, you read correctly. As you may recall, last year we had some free breakfasts where brothers and their families were invited. They were quite popular. Now that winter appears to have abated (Buckeye Chuck was right, to think some people would put faith in a rodent from Pennsylvania), its time to start the breakfasts up again. First breakfast of the new millennium will be Saturday, March 24^th from 9 am to 11am. The cooks won’t mind if you come earlier & put on an apron, as long as it’s a kitchen apron.

Hospitaller: Brother Jim Brown Sr had surgery recently, hope you’re feeling better Jim. WB E. Eugene Gibson, Master in 1953, passed to the Celestial Lodge. Masonic Services were given by the Brethren of this lodge.

Medina Scottish Rite: The 8^th degree was portrayed on Monday, February 5, 2001. Medina SR performed the first second; Ashtabula SR the second. March meeting will be at Seville, entertainment is scheduled; dinner menu to be announced; if you haven’t already - don’t forget to pay your dues.

Rainbow: Had their installation, I know one girl who forgot and missed it, the Master’s daughter, rest assured she will be reminded the rest of the year.

Inspections: Garfield Lodge in Shreve, Ohio - FC Degree on February 23; dinner by reservation due before you read this, so if you didn’t make a reservation, eat first.

Seville on February 27^th. EA degree; Turkey dinner; reservations by February 21.

Ashland on March 8^th; our Grand Master will be there - how could anyone possibly have an appetite?

Litchfield on March 14^th, FC degree; at the Medina Lodge (so you can’t say you don’t know where it is).

MEDINA 58 Inspection; mark your calendars now, Saturday, April 28^th. Lodge will open at 1:30pm (yes, we’re doing things a little different this year). We are being inspected in the MM degree, so of course I could use a couple of people for walking parts on the Fellow Craft team. After the degree work, we will be having a steak dinner (yes steak, not Swiss steak, Salisbury steak, or tube steak but real strip steak - cooked on the barbie - that’s barbecue for those of you who don’t speak Australian). Dinner will be at 5:00 pm - after the degree work - so FAMILIES, FRIENDS, ROMANS, AND COUNTRYMEN are invited for the dinner. Stay tuned next Month for pricing and reservation information. This promises to be quite an event - you won’t want to miss it.

New Business: OES would like to plan on another picnic with the blue lodge this summer. Last summer’s was quite a success. It will either be in mid-July or August, waiting to find out the Medina Co. fair schedule; watch the next Trestleboard for the date.

No more Camp Paradise! Every summer members of our lodge would travel to Camp Paradise to spend a day with the residents there. Ironically, one part of our Grand Master’s theme this year is share it; something we have been doing for a long time in Medina; but now we don’t have Camp Paradise to share it with. So, I’m open for suggestions for a summer activity, if you have any ideas, bring it to lodge & share it.

Old Business: Well, no easy way to do this, so we’ll just say it; dues! According to our finance committee our lodge is still running in the red. The current proposal on the table is to raise dues $5.00 per year; affiliations by $5.00 and degrees by $5.00 each. Vote on the dues increase will be held on Thursday, February 22^nd. I know this isn’t popular, so if anyone has any ideas on how to increase revenue, bring it.

Temple Board: Seems this section is always the longest. Of course we have been spoiled, we collected rent from the theater for as long as most of us can remember and that has helped keep the dues down. So we need to start generating revenue again to keep this lodge afloat and healthy.

-Electrical work, almost done. Carpets, we have estimates and should be proceeding shortly. Elevator - WB Kurtz says, and I quote: "the elevator will be fixed in six weeks" - we’ll hold you to that Dave. Trespassers, it appears some kids snuck in through the theater, doors should be secure now. Gas: we had some high utility bills (hasn’t everyone); except without the theater running we would expect a decrease, we are working on getting an actual reading. Façade - waiting for quotes. New hoods: no not the kind that Elliot Ness chased, but the kind that go in kitchens. With the recent closing of Bob’s Big Boy in Brunswick we were able purchase some hoods real CHEAP!!!! Hopefully we can upgrade our kitchen facilities soon. Couldn’t find any hoods for my ex-wife though.

Now for the more controversial stuff. We’ve had a couple of proposals for what to do with the theater. 1) Rent out both theaters (will cost $25,000 to fix roof on back theater) - a possible renter has contacted us; 2) tear down back theater (demolition cost $10,000) and turn it into parking spaces, City is possibly interested in renting spaces or we could rent to public; 3) do nothing & go bankrupt. Well #3 doesn’t sound too good to me! So right now it looks like 1 or 2. However, we aren’t committed to any plan, so if anyone has any plans, ideas, prospective renters, bring it to lodge and put it on the table. Bear in mind that any plan that is a ‘gee this would be great’ isn’t going to cut it unless you can show me someone willing to pay some money into the Temple Company’s treasury. Because more than likely, in the next month or two, we will be making some tough decisions. I have no intention to sit idly by and pass this problem on to the next Master (your welcome Lloyd).

Less controversial, we have a proposal to paint the lodge room. The price is rather substantial and we are awaiting Grand Lodge approval. If anyone has any friends in the painting & plastering business, feel free to bring us a quote. If things go as planned, we may have it completed for our inspection, so if the steak wasn’t enough to tempt you…

See you in lodge.

Fraternally,
 Larry B. Donovan

We recently learned of the passing of the following Brethren. Our heartfelt sympathy is extended to their families and close friends.

Douglas K. Hanshue, Howard E. Jackson, Jeuel E. Guess, E. Eugene Gibson

On January 18^th Mr Nagavedu S Kripakaran received the Entered Apprentice degree and was welcomed into Medina Lodge as our newest Brother.

The Scholarship Committee announced the selection of Alexandrea M Licht and Justin F Taylor as recipients of $500.00 scholarships. The Lodge normally awards one scholarship. This year due to the generosity of an anonymous donor we were able to make a second award by matching his $250.00 contribution.

Thursday, February 22^nd, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 8^th, 7:30 p.m.

MM Degree, Saturday, April 28^th, 1:30 p.m.

By Anon

It's not ornamental, the cost is not great,
There are things far more useful, And yet I state
That of all my possessions, there's none can compare
With that white leathern apron which all masons wear.

As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant,
When Dad hustled around, with much time spent
On shaving and dressing and looking just right,
Until Mother would say "It's masons tonight".

And some winter's nights she'd say "What makes you go
Way up there tonight, in the sleet and the snow
To see the same things every month of the year?"

Then Dad would reply "Yes, I know it, my dear."

"Forty years have I seen the same things, it is true,
And although they are old, they always seem new,
For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet
Seem a little bit closer each time that we meet."

Years later I stood at the very same door,
With good men and true, who have entered before,
I knelt at the altar, and there I was taught
That virtue and honour can never be bought.

That the spotless white apron that masons revere
If worthily worn, grows more precious each year,
That service to others brings blessings untold,
That man may be poor 'tho surrounded by gold.

I learned that true brotherhood flourishes there,
That enmities fade 'neath compass and square,
That wealth and position are all thrust aside
As there on the level men meet and abide.

So honour the lambskin, may it always remain
Forever unblemished and free from all stain,
And when we are called to the Great Father's Love
May we all take our place in the Grand Lodge above.

Courtesy of http://www.msu.edu/~benyouss/fmason3.htm

By 1700 the number of Speculative (or Accepted) members had become so preponderant in most of the lodges in Britain that when the first Grand Lodge of the world was set up in London, England, in 1717, the whole Fraternity ceased to draw any distinction between Operative and Speculative Masons. Any man, otherwise qualified, and regardless of his means of livelihood, could become a Mason. That has been true ever since.

The history of Freemasonry therefore falls into three periods. In the first period all Freemasons, with very few exceptions, were Operatives, by which is meant that they made architecture their means of livelihood. In the second period the membership of the lodges was a mixture of Operatives and Speculatives. In the third period, beginning in 1717, it has been wholly Speculative. The one principle that unites the three periods is the fact that throughout its history Freemasonry has always been a fraternity: a fraternity, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing other.

The form of Freemasonry which thus descended directly from the Operative lodges of a thousand or so years ago is known as Ancient Craft Freemasonry; it is organized in Grand Lodges and local lodges. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century a number of branches grew out of that parent trunk, and in the course of time each one developed an independent form of organization of its own. Each of these appendant bodies is called a Rite.

In the United States there are four such appendant Rites in addition to Ancient Craft Freemasonry. The Cryptic Rite is organized in the form of a General Grand Council and a Grand Council for each of the larger number of state, and local councils. The Capitular Rite, which is better known as the Royal Arch, is organized in the form of a General Grand Chapter and a Grand Chapter for each of the larger number of state, and local chapters. Knight Templarism is organized in the form of a Grand Encampment for the nation, and a Grand Commandery for each of the larger number of state, and local commanderies. The Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite has a system of four local bodies which are under the general government of two Supreme Councils. One of these, called the Southern Jurisdiction, has in it the states west of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio River. The other, called the Northern Jurisdiction, has in it the states east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio.

Thus, that which is sometimes called the American system of Freemasonry consists of five Rites, each of which is separately organized, enacts its own laws, has its own officers, and its own treasuries. A Mason may join one of these other four Rites, or all of them together. But to do so he must be, and continue to be, a member in good standing of an Ancient Craft lodge, and in each instance must pay the fees and dues of the other Rite(s) after he has been elected to its membership, in addition to his lodge dues. (More perusals next issue, Ed.)

Early Speculative Masons

The earliest record of a "speculative Mason" being admitted to a lodge is the record of the Lodge of Edinburgh, June 8, 1600, when John Boswell, the Laird of Auchenleck, attested his presence with his mark.

One of the most prominent of Masonic historical landmarks is contained in the diary of Elias Ashmole, a celebrated antiquary and founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, when he wrote: "1646, October 16, 4:30 p.m. I was made a Freemason at Warrington, in Lancashire, with Col. Henry Mainwaring," etc. Brother N. Rylands conducted exhaustive research into the records of the lodge into which Elias Ashmole was initiated, finding that there was probably not a single member of the lodge at that time who was an operative mason.

(Courtesy of http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/Masonry )