LLG 2000 Annual Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the 2000 Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

The twelfth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was called to order on August 6, 2000 at 11:58 AM EDT.

Shawn Lasseter was appointed Sergeant-at-Arms to gather/inform members of beginning of meeting.

Non-members in attendance at the annual meeting were:

• Ethan Fremen voted in as member during the meeting
• Jake Berglund voted in as member during the meeting

• David Crowell voted in as member during the meeting
• xod

• Olivia

Roll call was taken of the members.

Members attending (14) were:

• Dave Barton
• Gary Burgess

• John Cowan
• John Hodges

• Shawn Lasseter
• Nora LeChevalier

• Robert (Bob) LeChevalier
• Keith Lynch

• Alex (Alexandra) Miles-Lasseter
• Nick Nicholas

• Paul Francis O'Sullivan
• Mark Shoulson

• David Twery
• Tommy Whitlock

Members "present" (5) by proxy:

• Athelstan proxy to Nora LeChevalier, with instructions to abstain on all votes
• John Clifford proxy to Nora LeChevalier

• Guy Garnett proxy to Nora LeChevalier
• Jorge Llambias proxy to Bob LeChevalier

• Veijo Vilva proxy to Bob LeChevalier

Members not in attendance (3) were:

• Karen Stein
• Colin Fine

• David Young

No proper notice of meeting by Secretary/Treasurer was given (per Article 3, Section 4 of the Bylaws)., therefore no bylaw amendments may be made.

Reading of the Minutes:

• MOVED: To waive reading of minutes. - PASSED.

Report of officers: Secretary/Treasurer, by President:

Organization delinquent 2 quarters in state sales tax ($30 penalty)

Book orders caught up

Other orders not done

Estimated 5-6 thousand in liability for balances.

Expenses:

• CAIS (internet site) account $800 per year
• Phone $30-35 per month

• Visa/Mastercard/Amex service $30 per month, plus extra charges
• $1550 so far

• Income: net negative

• • Repaid $2000 of book loan (to LeChevalier balance)
  • $3000 left on book loan

• • $2000 in bank

Book Sales: 322

Report of officers - President:

Settled with printer: Asked $4400, settled with offer of $2400.

• Possible options for handling of people with bad books:
• PDF of book for download

• PDF of bad page
• Send good book

There was a suggestion that we get the bad book back so we can insert a print of the good page and use it to send to those of limited funds who wanted the book.

Commendation to Yvgeny Sklyanin for building a net community in Russia, including translating stuff into Russian and setting up a Russian language web site. (Here it was also noted that xod had set up a lojban web ring and is encouraging us to get the lojban web page set up).

Production of Dictionary: not advanced.

Note that World Con is in Philadelphia next year.

Project on new words (lujvo): We would like to find a way to get people to create/check even just the English keywords for the words on the list of new words (5000-10000).

Report of Committees:

• Level 0 package committee (1998,99: John Cowan, chairman; David Twery; Tommy Whitlock; Bob LeChevalier):Nothing done.Internet site committee (1999: David Twery, Chairman; Shawn Lasseter; Nick Nicholas):Nothing done.
• Finance (aka Poverty) Committee: Nothing done because no extra moneys. John Hodges and Bob LeChevalier have, separate from this committee, have 5-6 copies reserved for indigent.

• On-line ordering (1997: Mark Shoulson, chairman):no change reported.
• WorldCon committee (1998: Keith Lynch, chairman; David Bowen; Bob LeChevalier):nothing to report.Meeting notice (1994: Bob LeChevalier and John Cowan):no report.

• Grant proposal: (1996: Dave Barton, chairman; Dave Twery; and Bob LeChevalier):no report.Streamlining meeting procedures (1999: John Cowan, chairman):no report.

Consideration of new members or removal of old members:

Discussion: concern about too much emphasis given to the local people who can come to Logfest, and not enough consideration of foreign contributors. Led to discussion of what it means to be a member and how it would affect ability to do bylaw amendments and other business at the annual meeting.

• MOVED: That all 3 prospective members (Ethan Fremen, Jake Berglund, David Crowell) be accepted as new members. - PASSED.
• MOVED: To offer membership to Ivan Derzhanski. - PASSED.

• MOVED: To offer membership to Yvgeny Sklyanin. - PASSED.
• MOVED: To offer membership to Robin Turner and Arnt Johansen. - PASSED.

• MOVED: To offer membership to And Rosta. - PASSED as AMENDED.
• FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: That John Cowan be among the drafters of the offer - ACCEPTED.

Election of Board of Directors:

Current Board includes: David Barton, John Clifford, John Cowan, Bob LeChevalier, Nora LeChevalier, Alex Miles-Lasseter, David Twery. Maximum of 7 allowed.

Discussion of what it is to be on the Board of Directors.

• MOVED: To elect John Cowan, Shawn Lasseter, Bob LeChevalier, Nora LeChevalier, Alex Miles-Lasseter and David Twery - PASSED as AMENDED.
• MOVED: Offer Board membership to John Clifford as well - PASSED.

• MOVED: To thank David Barton for his participation on the board. - PASSED.

Old/Unfinished Business:

Marketing and Promotion: Put off plan for future year except for World Con, though Ethan had volunteered to be put in charge of contact form for Web.

New Business:

• MOVED: To recess for 20 minutes for lunch break - PASSED. (Recessed until 1:15)

Discussion of James Cook Brown's death and relationship with The Loglan Institute (TLI)

• MOVED: As an organization, to extend our regrets at his death, our condolences to his family, and our appreciation for his contributions to the logical language community. - PASSED
• MOVED: To adopt a formal position welcoming members of TLI or any community of logical language, and affirm a position in favor of rapprochement with TLI at such time as they ... - AMENDED

Discussion: This may be seen as insulting. Discussion of importance of rapprochement, including reading from proxy comments.

• MOVED: To divide the motion into:

• Welcome members, and
• LLG position on TLI - PASSED. - PASSED

• MOTION: To adopt a formal position welcoming members of TLI or any community of logical language - FAILED, despite friendly amendment
• FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: "reaffirm commitment to" - ACCEPTED

• MOTION: To affirm a position in favor of rapprochement with TLI at such time as they... - WITHDRAWN

Ethan presented a proposal: an offer of real-time on-line credit-card processing and on-demand publishing (printed and sent out) as a donation.

Much discussion: mechanics, check processing, etc.

Initially to be fulfillment of orders for the book ((The Complete Lojban Language he Complete Grammar), so LLG wouldn't need credit card processing. Trail for 1 month, then talk to Board.

Possibly also web hosting: $15/year to maintain name.

• MOVED: To accept the proposal in principal, subject to ratification by the Board of written proposal in 1 month. - PASSED as AMENDED.
• FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: "with gratitude and great thanks" - PASSED.

(Note: at this point, Mark Shoulson leaves, proxy to Nick)

Talk of future ideas: Live, interactive conferencing for meetings; farming out Dictionary and work-proposal via web-form.

Hartmut Pilch asked again about his proposal for use in patents:

• He'd like a page on the site promoting his proposal
• He's gotten support in that France has proposed it.

• Bob's suggestions: a sample translation or perhaps direct support

(Note: at this point, Tommy Whitlock leaves, proxy to John Cowan)

• MOVED: That LLG say that we fully support and encourage use of Lojban in the European patent system - PASSED.

Discussion of priority of resumption of Ju'i Lobypli and Lojbo Karni (JL and LK)

• MOVED: That priority of JL/LK resumption be moved up, subject to discretion of Board - PASSED.

Policy on bug in grammar (formal grammar disagrees with write-up):

• MOVED: That the grammar be changed to match the prose - PASSED.
• MOVED: That the question of 20001 WorldCon be delegate to the Board - PASSED.

• MOVED: To adjourn meeting. - PASSED.

The twelfth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc. was adjourned at approximately 2:50 PM EDT.

I certify that the above motions were presented to all members present for discussion and approval, and that all motions were approved as noted. I further certify that these minutes are an accurate representation of the twelfth Annual Meeting of the Members of The Logical Language Group, Inc.

Nora LeChevalier

Secretary/Treasurer