Unfortunately, the Christmas weekend was not a joyful one for all of the Masons in Arkansas.





Alice and I have been traveling a lot over the last six weeks due to family obligations and the holidays, and it has been difficult for me to get to much of anything besides an iPhone keyboard for extended periods. So, I am a little behind in posting up to date information here. However, it seems that on Christmas Eve last Saturday, the Grand Lodge of Arkansas F&AM delivered up several suspension letters perfectly timed to drive a sprig of holly straight through the hearts of members preparing to celebrate the birth of the Light of Man with their families.





Merry Christmas.





The letters contained the traditional (in Arkansas) opportunity to self-expel before any sort of Masonic trial even takes place, but a slightly new wrinkle has been added lately. If a member has any property in his possession at the time of his suspension belonging to his lodge, he is now ordered to turn said property over to the Grand Lodge, which will presumably then pass it along to the lodge, in due time. This includes any access to the lodge's tangible assets. The question immediately springs to mind as to why Little Rock is to now be the intermediary between the suspended member and the property's rightful owners. But I'm sure it's just a technical issue.





As has been pointed out previously, official punishments were at a record high there in 2015: 12 suspensions and a whopping 43 expulsions (in addition to 245 NPD suspensions). I'm sure many are related to now impermissible Shrine membership. But they continue to be doled out for offenses as petty as merely "liking" a Facebook post, and it will be of a certain morbid interest to see what 2016's statistics will be.





(Click image to enlarge.)





Arkansas' annual communication takes place in February, and the usual end-of-year mailing to lodges that has traditionally included texts of proposed resolutions, allowing voting delegates the opportunity to read them and discuss them in open lodge with the members they represent, failed to include them this year. Instead, a packet with the resolutions will be handed to delegates as they file into the auditorium, which will prevent any prior chance of careful consideration by delegates, or any input from non-voting lodge members. (One wag online compared it to a famous political reference that they will have to 'vote on it to find out what's in it.')





Another notable item missing from the packet was any provision for a representative "proxy" voter. Some grand lodges have a more complex list of eligible voters at their grand lodge sessions than others. In Arkansas, in addition to the elected, sitting Worshipful Master and the two lodge Wardens, a lodge's immediate Past Master also has a vote for twelve months after the expiration of his term, along with the lodge Secretary. However, Masters and Wardens may send proxies in their stead if they cannot attend in person.





From Section 1.4 of the Arkansas Grand Lodge Constitution:

Sec. 2. Every Master and Warden ought to attend the Annual Communication with the jewel of his office, but if he cannot personally attend, he may send a brother of his Lodge as a proxy, or the Lodge may send one or more of its members as a Representative; each Master and Warden, when present, shall have one vote.

Sec. 3. If only one Representative appears at any meeting of the Grand Lodge of the State of Arkansas, he shall have power to cast the full vote of the Lodge of which he may be the Representative; and if only two attend, the elective officer highest in rank shall cast two votes, and a proxy shall cast the votes only of the officers he represents.

From Section 3.2:

3.2.2 The Worshipful Master of the Subordinate Lodges is, by virtue of his office, a member of the Grand Lodge, and should attend it in person, if not prevented by urgent business or necessity. And if he can not personally attend he may send any Master Mason in good standing of the lodge for which the proxy or proxies are being issued. -Pro. 1911, Pro.2006, p. 24.



3.2.3 Every Subordinate Lodge shall be represented in the Grand Lodge by its officers, representatives or proxies, who must be Master Masons and members of the Lodge which they represent; and such appointment, whether of representatives or proxy, must be certified by the Secretary, and the seal of the Lodge affixed thereto . -Pro. 1856, p. 46.



3.2.4 The Master and Wardens of the Subordinate Lodges, being the proper representatives thereof in the Grand Lodge, should attend in person, if not prevented by urgent business or necessity. If they can not attend, they may appoint proxies to attend in their stead, from among the members of their respective Lodges. -Pro. 1852, p. 6.

3.2.10 If only one representative appears at any meeting of the Grand Lodge of the State of Arkansas, he shall have power to cast the full vote of the Lodge of which he may be the Representative; and if only two attend, the elective officer highest in rank shall cast two votes, and a proxy shall cast the votes only of the officers he represents. Art. 1, Sec. 3, Constitution.

3.2.11 Any Master Mason, in good standing, of the lodge for which the proxy or proxies are being issued, is entitled to represent that lodge as a voting delegate. Pro. 2006, p.24.

Past practice has been that the Grand Lodge office has included proxy forms in the December mailing to permit the assignment by the lodge of proxy representatives. However, this year no such forms were included for the lodge Secretaries to properly sign and seal (as required by their code). The accompanying letter in the packet further stated there would be no further mailings forthcoming prior to the annual meeting. This prevents anyone unable to attend in person from assigning anyone else to cast their vote. (It should be noted that the Grand Secretary has reportedly told several Secretaries who enquired about the lack of forms that they would subsequently be mailed out sometime in the coming weeks before the meeting. To date, no one has reported receiving theirs.)





Word is also coming that the balloting for grand line officers at the annual communication will not be secret this year, but will be done as an open roll call. If true, this will be a major shift from prior practice in previous sessions, and is especially important this year, given that both the Deputy Grand Master and the Grand Senior Warden were suspended earlier in the year, along with a recent Past Grand Master. (Requiring roll call votes instead of secret ones has happened as recently as 2011 , so it is not without precedent.) The high profile suspensions, and the enormous number of them within rank and file members as well, have had a chilling effect on any open dissension or discussions.





It should be noted that over the summer, former Deputy Grand Master Patrick Carr was suspended for 25 years, Past Grand Master Jarrod Adkisson for 30 years, and most recently at the beginning of December, former Grand Senior Warden Aaron South has just received a 27 year suspension. By suspending these brethren for definite time periods, they are precluded by their Code from appealing their sentences at the annual communication. Over the centuries, grand lodges have become very adroit at preventing palace coups attempts of any kind. And Arkansas is especially good at it. If "good" is the proper word.





A pre-formatted document is currently being circulated among Arkansas lodges to begin the process of seceding from their Grand Lodge if the annual communication goes as badly as most believe it will. Meanwhile, the Masonic world outside of Arkansas' own borders continues to watch events unfold with interest similar to the viewing of a car accident. As the very brief event with the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma amply demonstrated in November, it doesn't appear that there will be any outside assistance or pressure brought to bear on the Grand Lodge of Arkansas by other jurisdictions anytime soon. It is ultimately up to their own membership to solve what are seen as their internal troubles.





Unless a calming presence manages to make his way into the Grand East and cooler heads prevail, that leaves either open insurrection at the annual communication, or another year of turmoil.







