There is another knock at the door.  We have four new members waiting for the EA degree, and we will vote on another new member in March to make it five.  We had a good increase in membership last year and it is continuing this year.  We also elected four brothers to dual membership (R A V, R B S, L M C & D C P).  We will be voting on Brother J G for dual membership in March.  It is shaping up to be a good year.

Fraternally,

Donald W. Murray, WM Amwell Lodge #12 F&AM

Upcoming Lodge events

OV of the DDGM – Mar 10 HD299 – Mar 15 GF270 – Mar 17 TC5 – Mar 25 HA41

Tuesday April 6 joint 12^th/15^th open reception – Grand Master’s official visit, to honor RWs: Mike Lakat of HA41 (Grand Pursuivant), Jack Smith (DRI) and Earl Reder (DDGM) plus the DDGM and DRI of the 12th district.  RSVP and check by March 19 – $40 per ticket.  It’s a buffet dinner (5:00 social, 6:00 dinner, 7:00 reception) at the Scottish Rite Bordentown; entree selections are carved prime rib, seafood newburg, ham & turkey; cash bar

Upcoming Grand Lodge event

UNITY TABLE LODGE

The Grand Lodge of New Jersey is sponsoring an Open Table Lodge on Friday, March 5, 2010

This event is open to all ladies of our Appendant Organizations as well as the ladies of Master Masons.

The event will be held at Fellowship Hall, Burlington, New Jersey. Social Hour from 6:00PM to 7:00PM. The Table Lodge will follow.  ***$35.00 per person -All Inclusive***

Tickets must be purchased by Friday, February 26, 2010.

Make Check payable to: Grand Lodge of New Jersey and send with a self-address, stamped, envelope to:

Grand Lodge of New Jersey, 1114 Oxmead Road, Burlington, NJ 08016

CHAIRMAN’S BALL

Break out your platform shoes and leisure suits and celebrate the 70’s at this year’s Gala Disco Cruise, the theme of the 2010 Chairman’s Ball. Black tie attire. 70’s style clothing is encouraged.

Saturday, March 20, 2010- 6:00 P.M. Social Hour, Dinner at 7 P.M. Fellowship Center, 1114 Oxmead Rd., Burlington, N.J.

Dancing to The Kenny I Orchestra until 11 P.M.

There will also be an opportunity to win a cruise for two that evening. $20 strips of tickets will be sold and the winner will be drawn that evening. There will be no pre-selling of tickets so you have to attend to have the chance to win the cruise. All profits from the Ball and the cruise raffle will go to the Masonic Home of New Jersey.

This event is always a sellout so send your check for $130 per person, payable to “Masonic Charity Foundation of N.J.” to Charity Foundation Development Office, 902 Jacksonville Rd., Burlington, N.J., 08016 as soon as possible.

Tables for a group of ten people can be reserved by calling 609 239-3940. Tickets can also be charged to your credit card by calling the same phone number.

Masonic Family Hockey Game
Trenton Devils vs Elmira Jackals on Sunday March 28, 2010 4:00PM, Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, NJ

Tickets: $15.00 lower level behind the net,   $18.00 club level, Benefit: Hero Scholarship Fund

Send your check payable to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, along with a self addressed stamped envelope to:

R.W. Glenn E Latshaw, 444 West Avenue, Delanco, NJ 08075

Contact R.W. Brother Latshaw at 856-278-0012 or bigdaddyglenn@aol.com for more information

GRAND MASTER’S OPEN INSTALLATION & RECEPTION & BANQUET
In the event of the election of R. W. Joseph H. Rival, Jr., as Grand Master of Freemasons of the State of New Jersey and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Charity Foundation, at the 223rd Annual Communication of this Grand Lodge and 81st Annual Meeting of the Masonic Charity Foundation on 16 April 2009, the Brethren, their ladies and friends are cordially and fraternally invited to attend the following:

GRAND MASTER’S OPEN INSTALLATION BALLY’S PARK PLACE, ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

*THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010* Installation- 2:00 P.M.

RECEPTION & BANQUET HONORING THE GRAND MASTER AND CHAIRMAN
OF THE MASONIC CHARITY FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Grand Lodge of New Jersey
Fellowship Center, 1114 Oxmead Road, Burlington, New Jersey

Saturday, May 8, 2010 Grand Master’s Prayer Service: 4:00 P.M. (at Chapel)

Reception: 5:15 P.M. Social Period:  6:30 P.M. – Banquet: 7:15 P.M.

Tickets-$50.00

Admission to Banquet by reservation only.  No tickets will be sold at the door.  Deadline for reservations is Friday, May 1, 2010.  For those attending the Reception only, there is no charge and no reservations are necessary.  Upon arrival, all Present and Past Grand Lodge officers attending are requested to check in with the Grand Marshal.

Please make checks payable to Laurel Lodge #237 and mail with self-addressed stamped envelope to: W.B. Robert Kunze

117 21^st Avenue

Monroeville, NJ 08343

Any questions please call (856) 305-3377

Grand Lodge Announcement

RE:  GRAND LODGE BANQUET – ANNUAL COMMUNICATION

The following is to be published in your Trestleboard and read at every regular communication of the lodge between now and the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge in April.

Most Worshipful William H. Berman, Grand Master, extends a cordial invitation to our Brethren and their Ladies to attend the Grand Lodge Banquet at the 223^rd Annual Communication in Atlantic City.  Details are as follows:

Place:  Ocean Ballroom, 6th Floor, Bally’s Park Place Hotel & Casino

Park Place at the Boardwalk

Date:   Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Time:   Social Hour – 6:00 P.M.  (Cash Bar)

Dinner – 7:00 P.M.

Menu:  Chicken or Seafood or Beef

Price:   $ 45.00 Per Person

Entertainment

For tickets, please forward your check made payable to the Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of New Jersey for the number of tickets needed and the meal choice, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope, to the Grand Secretary’s Office, 1114 Oxmead Road, Burlington, NJ 08016.  The DEADLINE for reservations is Friday, 19 March 2010.  Tables of 10 can be reserved.

We must have the name and meal choice of every person for whom a ticket is purchased.

Thank you for your interest and support.  We look forward to breaking bread and sharing an evening of Masonic fun and fellowship with you.

Sincerely and fraternally,

Larry S. Plasket, PGM

Grand Secretary

We hit the ground running in 2010, and it looks like it will be a very busy year.  We’re halfway into January and have already had our stated meeting and DLI at Amwell.  The officers performed exceptionally at both.  We have 5 petitions and 4 dual members to vote on at our February meeting.  These new candidates will keep us busy with degree work over the next several months.

On February 1, 2010 we will be having an emergent communication for the FC exam of Brothers N. W., F. P., and D. S.  After the examinations, we will have rehearsal for the MM degree.

Rehearsals are on Monday nights at 7:00PM.  All officers are required to attend, cabletow permitting.

On February 8, 2010, we will be having an emergent communication to confer the MM degree.  The Scottish Rite degree team will be doing the second section in costume.  Three Past Grand Masters are part of the degree team, as well as many Past Masters.  This will be an excellent MM degree, so come out and join us in raising these three brothers.  Dinner is at 6:30PM, Lodge will be opened at 7:15PM and the degree will start at 7:30PM.

The DDGM’s official visit will be an emergent communication on Monday February 22.  Dinner at 6:30, open Lodge at 7:30PM.

Fraternally,

Donald W. Murray, WM Amwell Lodge #12 F&AM

KNOCKING ON THE DOOR

CANDADATES

<names of 4 candidates>

We will be voting on these petitions at our February Stated meeting.

DUAL MEMBERS

<names of 4 dual members>

We will be voting on these petitions at our February Stated meeting.

UPCOMING AMWELL EVENTS

Every Monday night, rehearsal at 7:00PM.

February 1, 2010 – Emergent communication for FC examination of: N. W., D. S. & F. P.

Lodge opened at 7:00PM (No Dinner, casual dress).  Followed by MM degree rehearsal.

February 8, 2010 – MM degree, Amwell officers 1^st section, Scottish Rite degree team 2^nd section.

Dinner at 6:30PM (Pizza), Lodge opens promptly at 7:15PM, MM Degree starts at 7:30PM.

February 10, 2010 – Stated Meeting

Dinner at 6:30PM, Lodge opens promptly at 7:15PM, Lodge business starts at 7:30PM.

February 22, 2010 – DDGM’s official visit, Lodge will be opened at 7:00PM.

UPCOMING GRAND LODGE EVENTS

MASONIC FAMILY HOCKEY GAME

Trenton Devils vs Elmira Jackals on Sunday March 28, 2010 4:00PM

Sovereign Bank Arena, Trenton, NJ

Tickets: $15.00 lower level behind the net,   $18.00 club level

Benefit: Hero Scholarship Fund

Send your check payable to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, along with a self addressed stamped envelope to:

R.W. Glenn E Latshaw, 444 West Avenue, Delanco, NJ 08075

Contact R.W. Brother Latshaw at 856-278-0012 or bigdaddyglenn@aol.com for more information

POLAR BEAR PLUNGE

Join the Grand Master at this fundraiser for the Special Olympics of New Jersey.

Date: Saturday, February 27, 2010, 9am-10:30am Free Breakfast – Harmony Lodge, RT 37W, Toms River, NJ

10:30am Grand Lodge Trolley/Carpool to Seaside Heights, NJ, 12:30pm Staging on Beach, 1:00pm PLUNGE

Register online at www.njpolarplunge.org under our team name: Hiram On Ice

$25 to register, total $100 to plunge. Plungers are encouraged to get sponsors to reach the $100. Plungers receive a nice

Polar Bear Plunge garment.  You do not have to be a Plunger to attend or donate. At the Website you can donate easily to a registered Plunger. If not plunging,

please consider to donate any dollar amount to our Grand Master under: William Berman.

Call R.W. Dieter Hees at 732 300-4860 for information.

UNITY TABLE LODGE

The Grand Lodge of New Jersey is sponsoring an Open Table Lodge on Friday, March 5, 2010

This event is open to all ladies of our Appendant Organizations as well as the ladies of Master Masons.

The event will be held at Fellowship Hall, Burlington, New Jersey.

Social Hour from 6:00PM to 7:00PM. The Table Lodge will follow.

***$35.00 per person -All Inclusive***

Tickets must be purchased by Friday, February 26, 2010.

Make Check payable to: Grand Lodge of New Jersey and send with a self-address, stamped, envelope to:

Grand Lodge of New Jersey

1114 Oxmead Road

Burlington, NJ 08016

CHAIRMAN’S BALL

Break out your platform shoes and leisure suits and celebrate the 70’s at this year’s Gala Disco Cruise, the theme of the 2010 Chairman’s Ball. Black tie attire. 70’s style clothing is encouraged.

Saturday, March 20, 2010- 6:00 P.M. Social Hour, Dinner at 7 P.M.

Fellowship Center, 1114 Oxmead Rd., Burlington, N.J.

Dancing to The Kenny I Orchestra until 11 P.M.

There will also be an opportunity to win a cruise for two that evening. $20 strips of tickets will be sold and the winner will be drawn that evening. There will be no pre-selling of tickets so you have to attend to have the chance to win the cruise. All profits from the Ball and the cruise raffle will go to the Masonic Home of New Jersey.

This event is always a sellout so send your check for $130 per person, payable to “Masonic Charity Foundation of N.J.” to Charity Foundation Development Office, 902 Jacksonville Rd., Burlington, N.J., 08016 as soon as possible.

Tables for a group of ten people can be reserved by calling 609 239-3940. Tickets can also be charged to your credit card by calling the same phone number.

I trust you all had a good break, and are ready to get back to business. For me July and August went by far too quickly. But then again it always does every year.  A number of items has come to me by way of Grand Lodge, and have been added to the package you have just received with this Trestle Board.

We have a lot on our “plate” for our September, as you should note below:

District Lodge of Instruction

The District Lodge of Instruction for September is to be held at Hightstown Apollo #41 Lodge at 6 PM on September 10^th. There will be a guest speaker on the subject of the Masonic Home. The topic for ritual work will be “Purging a lodge and Openings.”  All officers are required to attend this DLI.

September Business Meeting

On September 9, we will hold our regular business meeting for the month. Dinner will start at 6:30 PM, and I will open the Lodge at 7:15 PM. We will proceed with business discussions promptly at 7: 30. Based on some of the responses I received from the questionnaire I sent to everyone, I am going to try the following:

1: Dress Code will be business casual. For degree nights and for official visits we will revert to tie and jacket.

2: We will start to close the meeting at 8:45 with the intent of leaving the lodge room at 9 PM.

3: If there are outstanding issues to be covered and we run out of time they will be deferred to the next meeting. We will note in the minutes what those items are so we don’t forget them.

The dinner will consist of Beef Stroganoff (noodles, beef chunks, and sauce) green beans, salad with a roll.  Chef Horton will once again honor us with his cooking.

New Petitions for Membership

We have in process a petition from Brother D. P. for dual membership. Brother P.  is currently a member of Hackenburg Mount Moria No#19 Lodge in Philadelphia Pa.  Brother P.  is recommended by Brother J. R..

New Member Balloting

Assuming the investigation report is favorable, we will be balloting on Mr. R. S.. Mr. S. was recommended by Brother C. B..

Degree Work for September

Our next degree effort will be for the Fellow Craft. We have four candidates in waiting for this degree: Brothers E. D., N. W., F. P., and D. S.. After careful consideration I believe we need 3 practice sessions, which will occur on September 14^th, 21^st, and the 28^th.  All officers are required to attend these practice sessions. The actual degree will occur on October 1^st.  We will schedule their Master Mason degree’s in November.

Board of Trustee’s Fiscal Report for 2009

At the September Meeting Brother R. R. the Board of Trustee’s treasurer will present a 5-minute presentation on the Lodge financial status.

Brother Jay Stryker Presentation

On May 13^th at our regular meeting we had a “Gold Token” presentation. We have some members who have been with us for a long time! For those of you who could not attend the presentation I did send out a package to you, and you should have it by now. If you feel you should have received something in the mail and did not. Please contact me at the Lodge address.

Of particular note Brother Jay Stryker received his 75-year award in June at a special ceremony. Brother Stryker is in a nursing home at the moment (he is 97 years old!) and the presentation was made at his location.  Attending the award presentation were the MW William Berman our present Grand Master, RW Earl Reeder our present DDGM, RW Glen Murray, and myself.

Questionnaire Responses

In June I sent out a questionnaire to the entire membership of Amwell lodge. We currently have around 200 members as a mix of regular members, dual members and honorary members. I received back 59 of the questionnaires, which I am told by people who do stuff like this that a 25% response is pretty good. (For those of you who did not respond I want the stamps back…)  The responses on the questionnaire ran the gambit from not surprising to curiously surprising. Some of the highlights are the following:

1: There was an overwhelming response that indicated paying for a part of a social lodge function is acceptable. (Note that this year’s Fellowship Dinner in November will reflect this.) A very few indicated the Lodge should pay for everything. The truth is we just can’t do this any longer, and there is going to have to be some sharing of cost on some functions. (We have to put a new roof on the building and this is going to run $80,000.00 plus dollars and we will be self-funding this. This project will commence this fall.)

2: We have a lot of members who have been Masons longer that 25 years.

3: It was clear that the reason for becoming a Mason was to be with good men doing good things.

4: Some of the Hopewell members requested some recognition. Please note I have started the “Hopewell Forum” in the Trestle board.

5: A number of the responses requested that we lighten up a bit on the dress code. We will try that and see how it works. I do know some of our members would like us to stay with the tie and jacket dress code. So I know in advance this will not be universally received as a positive move. But let’s see how it works for a month or two.

6:  Many members want the monthly meetings to be shorter. In response to this request we will enforce a time limit of 8:45 to start our closing ritual.  This means we can get out the door by 9 PM sharp.

7: Most of you don’t know how many members we have, or how much money we have. We have around 200 members. There will be presentation on how much money we have this month by Brother Robert Reed our Board of Trustee’s treasurer. (I am dying to find out too..)

Scholarship Program

I am pleased to announce that all but one scholarship check  have been sent out.  I want to personally thank Brothers G. M. and A. H. for producing the letters and sending the checks out to the scholarship Recipients.

Charity Committee Meeting

It has been a tradition that the Charity Committee meets on the Monday prior to our 2^nd Wednesday business meeting. Since this would place the meeting on Labor Day this month, so the Charity Committee will meet at 6 PM on September 9^th which is before our regular business meeting.  One half hour should be sufficient to cover everything.

Bylaw Changes for Amwell #12

There are a number of Bylaw Changes being proposed. The sponsors are Brother D. M. and myself. I have included with this Trestle Board a document, which shows the proposed changes. The plan is this: We will spend about 10 minutes during the September Meeting briefly discussing the proposed changes to our Bylaws.  At the end of the discussion we can set a date for a Bylaw “mini convention” where any interested lodge member can attend. This event will occur towards the end of the month.  A new printed set of Bylaws will be again sent out with the October Trestle Board and in November we will vote on the modifications.

Hopewell #155 Forum

A number of our members who originally were from the Hopewell lodge in their questionnaire responses asked for a “spot” in the Trestle Board. What I would like to see happen with this is to have a “guest” author who was a member of Hopewell Lodge send me a short story about his experiences there. I will publish a new story with every Trestle Board.  Brother Jay Stryker, who just received his 75-year award, was from Hopewell, and I am sure that many of our members are unaware that I was raised in Hopewell. So for those who made the request (and for those who like the idea) send me a story and you will see it here!

Fellowship Dinner

We will once again have an annual Fellowship dinner for our members. The dinner will be held at the Lambertville Inn on November 14, 2009. Cocktail hour will start at 6:30 PM and Dinner will commence at 7:30 PM. Due to budget modifications this year things will be working a little differently. There will now be a charge of $50.00 per couple, and there will be a “cash” bar as opposed to an “open” bar.  Invitations will go out Mid September, and the RSVP cutoff date will be October 20^th.  A check must be returned with the RSVP coupon to be counted.  The minimum count needs to be 50 couples to meet the budget requirements. The dinner offerings will be comparable to our past Fellowship dinners.

December Installation of New Officers

It is anticipated that for 2010 Brother D. M. our current Senior Warden will be the new Worshipful Master for Amwell Lodge. He is presently planning an open installation with dinner on December 13^th. Brother Don is also planning a Past Masters dinner for sometime in November. An exact date for this event will be published in the October Trestle Board.

Electronic Trestle Board

To date I have received only about a 10% request  for getting the Trestle Board by Email. I know that for some of you electronic delivery is not possible. But for the vast majority of you out there with email addresses, this will be a much more cost-effective way to get the Trestle Board published.  I took it upon myself to improve the content of our Trestle Board and Grand Lodge is now requesting that we include extra materials from them. The problem is the cost. If I cannot get at least a 50% signup for electronic delivery the mailing costs will continue to be prohibitive. It would be a shame I think to go back to the abbreviated format we were using before.

To sign up for an e-Tboard just email me at: protoelec@aol.com and I will add you to the routing list for electronic delivery.

God Bless you all, and I hope to see a good turn out for the September Business meeting.

Jay B. Ross

Worshipful Master, Amwell Lodge #12 F&AM

There is a lot of information that I want to pass on to our membership so for at least for this month I have broken it all down by categories.

Trestle Board

It should be obvious that I have changed the format of the Trestle Board for Amwell Lodge. The reasons are three fold:

1. There is increasingly more information that needs to be passed on to our lodge membership, and the old format makes that difficult.

2. In this electronic age it makes sense for the Trestle Board to be delivered via email. This will keep our expenses down for the Trestle Board and will make reason #1 easier to justify (More details on this concept are found below.)

3. I like how other lodges are doing their Trestle Boards, in particular Trenton/Cyrus 5.

The Trestle Board format for September will go through further changes as we improve the graphics and layout. The plan is also to add in pictures to enhance the content. (These improvements will be a “summer project”, so stay tuned for the September Trestle Board to see them.)

Gold Token Night

On May 13th we had our “Gold Token” presentation. Sadly, a number of the recipients were unable to participate. Every recipient who was not able to attend will receive his in the following way: If you live within a 50 mile radius of Lambertville, I will personally come to your residence and present it to you. If you live beyond the 50-mile radius I will mail it to you. Some recipients have requested special handling and your requests will be honored.

Midyear Reflection

June represents the “mid-year” point of my term as Worshipful Master. I feel somewhat frustrated by the fact that we still have a lot to accomplish before the year is over. I think we have been doing fine with respect to degree activity, but we have been hampered due to the need to take a critical look at the lodge finances. I believe we now have our arms around the issue and can make informed decisions on how to move forward. Pay close attention to the section below on the June Monthly Meeting, subheading Budgets. One of my “pet” projects this year is the Conservatory Room adjacent to our meeting room. Other than finishing the painting, this project has been put on hold due to budget constraints. While the lodge did approve the funding on this project a while ago, I am going to ask for a re-vote on the matter after the entire budget is presented in our June meeting.

Change of Officers

Brother Floyd E. Eckard JR as secretary, Brother Wayne A. Eckard as Blue Lodge treasurer, and Brother Patrick T. Eckard as Junior Warden have elected to resign their positions as officers in Amwell Lodge, as well as all committees they sat on. The resignations of Brothers Floyd E. Eckard JR and Patrick T. Eckard are immediate, while as Blue Lodge Treasurer Brother Wayne A. Eckard’s resignation will take effect on June 30th. On an interim basis Brother Allen Horton is acting secretary, Brother James Fry SR. is acting Junior Warden, and after June 30th Brother Ralph Wooden will be acting Blue Lodge treasurer.

June Monthly Meeting

Our Monthly business meeting will be on June 10th. For those who will be attending expect this meeting to go longer than usual. I will do my best to hold the closing time to 10 PM. We will open the lodge at 7:15 PM to get a jump on things, but as our by laws state: We will not do any business until 7:30 PM. There are key reasons for potentially running longer than usual; we were not able to perform any “normal” business in April and May, and we are going to spend some time on Lodge budgeting, as well as where we are going into the future. Early in the year it was decided by the Board of Trustees, and myself, that we must work within the framework of a balanced overall budget. Historically the lodge has been operating in a deficit spending mode.

Here are some key issues to be resolved during the June meeting:

Lodge Budgets

It has taken a while to pin down the yearly budget for both the Board of Trustee’s and the Blue Lodge. However, I am pleased to announce that project is now complete. I have heard from a number of our lodge members they wanted a greater say in how Amwell #12 spends its money, as well as knowing how our money has been invested. For those of you that are interested in these matters, here is your chance. All will be explained at the June meeting, and I will call for a vote from the lodge body in attendance to approve both budgets.

Of particular interest will be a decision for replacing the roof on the building. Along with the roof, will be the refurbishment of the upper front facade. It makes sense to do both together since scaffolding will have to be put in place for both jobs. We have received professional opinions and quotations to repair the roof and front facade. It is of some interest to note that the coating job done some 6 years ago over the existing roof is apparently not holding up. Rather than do another patch it is the consensus of the Board of Trustee’s and myself to replace it appropriately. From my personal point of view, I could defer this decision to a future Master. I think that would be cowardly on my part, and believe all of us should support the financially tough decision the Board has made. We will debate the details of this decision and vote on the outcome at the June meeting.

Scholarship Program

I have intentionally delayed the process of issuing scholarship money until we could define the overall lodge budget. Candidly, until we knew how much we could or needed to spend on all issues it was unclear as to what would be available for the scholarship program. After discussing the matter with past members of the Scholarship Committee, we all believe that it was a moral imperative to support those students that we have already committed to with the scholarship program, but at least for this year we will not add any new names to the program. The current number is now nine and we provide $1,000.00 per student.

The Scholarship fund originated from a wonderful donation the lodge received some years ago. It is specifically stated in the bylaws that the principle of the fund can never be spent. Only the interest produced as an investment can be spent. Presently the Stryker fund is conservatively invested, and as such only produces enough money to provide one or at most two scholarships at $1000.00 each. The balance of the scholarship money comes from the Blue Lodge budget. As already noted the Blue Lodge budget will be voted on at the June meeting, and the Scholarship Program is a line item in this budget.

Conservatory Room

The Conservatory Room was one of my pet projects for the year. Its the unused room next to the lodge meeting room, and served at one time as an eating area (still has dishes, cups and stuff in glass windowed cabinets.) My reasons for developing the room are the following:

• It is a room that we cannot rent out.

• We need another space where members can relax, study and enjoy themselves.

• It would serve us well as place to meet with degree candidates to instruct and educate them.

• The second floor “Fellowship Room” has and will continue to work well for dinner and similar gatherings, but lacks the isolated aspect that we sometimes need for our “work”.

• It has a gorgeous view of the river and part of the town, and it seems a crime to waste it.

• It will provide a place for historical artifacts and a Masonic library.

• Would be a great place to invite speakers in on non-meeting nights.

• Would provide a unique space for off hour meetings for such activities such as card games, TV sports watching to further develop fellowship among the lodge members.

• Would be a place to “park” the kids when we do the Christmas parties. (The little scamps go nuts in our meeting room. I know because I was the “babysitter” last December……)

So, ok, its not essential to have any of this, but it would be a nice enhancement to the lodge. When we started the project (actually last year) we were far less clear on budget needs and requirements for the lodge. If we want to finish what we have started it seems clear that we will have to dip into a “buffer” fund that we have for the building. Once again this should be a decision made by the membership. If the vote is no, I might sniffle a little bit, but the will of the lodge is important on such matters.

Discussion on Fellowship Activities

We have, over the course of the year, held a number of fellowship activities such as the summer picnic and the November Fellowship dinner. Historically the lodge has covered the cost of these events. I would like to see a situation where some fees are charged for these events. However, I do plan on hearing other opinions on this matter, and so we will spend a few minutes discussing this during the June meeting.

Charity

The Charity committee will meet June 1 and catch up on things. The outcome of this meeting will be presented to the lodge and a request for a vote on the outcome will be called.

Catching up on Expenses

There are numerous expenses that have accrued over the last 60 days. The lodge will be asked to approve the bills after an explanation is provided.

Vote on Dual and Honorary Membership

We will have two separate ballots at the June meeting. The first is to make the Most Worshipful Ray Vandenburg an honorary member. The second is to make W. H. T. a dual member. The reason for separate balloting is that the ballot results are handled differently.

Brick Program

On May 26, the Most Worshipful Grand Master William H. Berman sent to all the New Jersey Lodges a unique request to assist our Masonic Home using a “Brick Purchase” program (see attached letter). We will discuss at the June meeting how we should participate in this program.

Degree work in June

On June 22 we will be providing another Entered Apprentice degree for 3 of our candidates. This will of course be an emergent meeting. The candidates are: Mr E. M. D., Mr. N. B. W., and Mr. F. R. P.. Mr D. missed the degree in May due to a personal issue, so this will work out well for him

Electronic Trestle Board

Its time for Amwell Lodge to embrace the idea of sending out the Trestle Board by Email. It would dramatically cut down on labor to print stuff and mail, cut mailing costs and would get it to the membership faster. Other lodges such as Trenton/Cyrus 5 post their Trestle Board on their web site. I propose we do both, post on our web site (you know we have one right?) and email to the membership. For those members that still want a hard copy sent to them by snail mail, we will of course continue to do so. If you want your future Trestle Boards to come by email send your request to: protoelec@aol.com (that is me your WM….)

Pistol Shoot

The Grand Lodge has come up with an interesting activity for all of us involving a “Pistol Shoot”. The details are the following:

Grand Lodge of New Jersey,Free and Accepted Masons’
Pistol Shoot
All Proceeds Will Benefit The Hero Scholarship Fund
Open to All Masons, Police Officers, and Their Families
Saturday, June 13. 2009
10 A.M. to 2 P.M.
Square Circle Sportsmen Inc.
97 Clementon Rd. West
Gibbsboro, NJ. 08062

Lunch is Included- Trophy Awards
Shooters Must Be 16 years of Age or Older
A Pellet Gun Course will be available for 8 to 15 year olds to enjoy

16 yrs old and older- $50.00 with pre-registration; $60 at the door
8yrs to 15 years old- $25.00 with pre-registration; $30 at the door
All shooters will bring their own handgun & ammunition.
45 cal. and smaller only. NO Magnum Loads !

Questions? Please call Rich 973-417-7980 and Joe 973-476-2117
or e-mail- rgoldrick@yahoo.com

Going “Dark” for the Summer

As is our custom we will not have any lodge meetings for the months of July and August. But! Don’t forget the lodge picnic on July 19 at the Valley Picnic Grounds starting at 12 noon.

Oktoberfest Table Lodge At Amwell Lodge

Brother Don Murray is heading the Oktoberfest Table lodge committee. The plan is to use the Conservatory room as it exists. We will have a quick discussion at the June meeting on the status and likelihood of this event occurring. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

District Lodge of Instruction

On June 11th there will be a District Lodge of Instruction at Gothic Fraternal Lodge 270. This DLI is also a steak cookout and the social hour will start at 6 PM. The dinner will start at 7 PM. A presentation by WM Ric Fernandez on: “More light in Masonry: The Lighter Side of Life”. Ric is a cool guy and this should be fun to hear.

Bylaw Committee Meetings

The membership for the Bylaw Committee will be expanded upon at the June meeting. It is planned that there will be at least 2 meetings over the summer to provide the lodge with suggested bylaw revisions in September. The actual dates will be discussed in the June meeting.

Charity Committee Meeting

The Charity Committee will meet on June 1st at 8:00 PM in the lodge Fellowship room. The committee members are Jay Ross, Donald Murray, Allen Horton and Maxie Rivers.

Scholarship Committee Meeting

The Scholarship Committee will meet on June 24th at 6:00 PM in the lodge Fellowship room. The committee members are Jay Ross (acting chairman), Glen B Murray (acting secretary), Maxie Rivers, John J. Rivera and Allen Horton.

As duly noted above we want to support the existing group of students that existed for 2008.

Questionnaire

Finally, as I noted in the May Trestle Board, I was going to produce a “questionnaire” that I wanted everyone to fill out. I have created the questionnaire and it is part of the package for this Trestle Board. Please fill it out and send it back using the self addressed and stamped envelope provided. I am looking forward to the responses.

Take Care, and God Bless you all,

Jay B. Ross
Worshipful Master
Amwell Lodge #12 F.&A.M.

May 11 is our Grand Lodge of Instruction for the 15^th district. ALL Amwell officers must be in attendance. Those members of the lodge who are not officers are most welcome to attend this function (and should). The GLI will be held at Gothic Lodge 270. If anyone needs directions to Gothic give me a call. If possible we should try to car pool from Lambertville. Let’s try to reduce our carbon footprint. We need to leave this planet in better shape for our children’s children…

There will be two key activities occurring for our May 13^th business meeting. First it will be our “Gold Token” event for 25, 50 and 75 year members.  We will offer a meal to our members, their family and friends who will be attending the presentations. Secondly we will be balloting on two new petitions.

Dinner will start at 6:30, and we will open the lodge around 7:10 PM. At 7:30 PM we will proceed with the balloting on our two petitioners.  Once Balloting is completed, we will put the lodge on refreshment, and invite our guests into the lodge room. I would normally delay the balloting but I think it’s important we get it done. It will also allow some of our members who do not attend lodge meetings regularly to participate in the balloting process (which I hope they will enjoy).

The Right Worshipful District Deputy Grand Master, Brother Earl Reeder assures me that he will have a wonderful program set up for the Gold Token presentations. We will also take pictures for the recipients, which when printed will be sent to them as a memento of the evening.  Of considerable note is that Brother Jay Stryker has achieved the 75 year milestone. Unfortunately due to Brother Stryker’s heath issues he will not be attending the presentation on May 13^th. I am however arranging it so that if possible the District Deputy and myself (plus anyone else who wants to go) will visit Brother Stryker and we will present his award to him for his 75 years as a Freemason.

The dinner for May 13^th will be ham, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, (because I like cranberry sauce, and its good to be king) a side salad and for dessert apple pie and a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream on the side.  (Yum!) Did you know that Thomas Edison ate apple pie almost every night for dinner?

May 19^th we will be performing an Entered Apprentice degree for 3 or 4 candidates as an emergent meeting. Two of the candidates are Amwell’s, one will be from Trenton/Cyrus 5, and possibly one other will be from Mercer 50 (I do not have a confirmation on Mercer 50’s candidate at the time of this writing.)

For the lodge officers, April 27th, and May 4^th we will be practicing for GLI and the EA degree. On May 18^th there will be a final practice for the EA degree (yes it is the day before the actual degree night, just get over it…)

Sometime during the Month of May I will be sending out a questionnaire to every Amwell member requesting his feedback on the lodge. I will enclose a self-addressed envelope so that everyone can mail the questionnaire back to me. I will be the only one reading the answers. What I will be looking for are comments, suggestions, and any frustration members might have regarding Amwell 12. I want candid responses. I hope everyone will respond, so I can develop some ideas on what we need to be doing to better serve the lodge brethren.

As a heads up, for our June 10th business meeting, we will have a lot to do. By then we would have deferred two months of business activities, and I will be calling on an important vote for both the Blue Lodge and Board of Trustee budgets. A number of the lodge members have indicated they want to be more involved with the financial decisions being made. Well, here is your chance! I will have some handouts at the meeting to help understand what we are doing with our lodge funds and why. Your right as a lodge member to vote is a precious right, so please plan on attending in June and exercise it.

Finally, I am planning a Fellow Craft Degree also in June. Stay tuned for more details on this and other exciting Masonic stuff in the next “Message from the East”!

Its almost spring weather! Yea!

As always take care and may the God of love and peace bless you and your family.

Jay B. Ross

We have been doing well in terms of attracting new membership to the
Lodge. We have so far 2 candidates working through their degrees from last
year, 2 new petitions accepted for membership, 2 petitions with
investigation committees, and potentially 3 more petitions to be submitted
by May. Not bad! It also means a lot of degree work coming up for us. This
will be a good time for the current officers to take a much larger role in
the degree work, and give our “veterans” a breather for a change. Lets talk
about this during our up coming ritual practices. As I see it at the moment,
the degree work breaks out in the following manner:

. April 6th Master Mason Degree for 4 candidates (1 from our
lodge)
. May 13, Our regular business meeting we will ballot on 2
new petitions
. May 25 We will do the Entered Apprentice Degree for 2 of our
candidates
. June 10 Our regular business meeting we will ballot on 1
to 3 new Petitions
. June 22 We will do a Fellow Craft Degree with 3
candidates
. September 21st Entered Apprentice degree for up to 5 of our new
candidates.
. October 19th Master Mason Degree for 3 candidates.
. November 16th Fellow Craft degree for up to 5 candidates
. December 14th Master Mason Degree We will try for the Kiltes for
second section again.

Note that each month has a degree in it. (The lodge is “dark” for July and
August.) What will make this schedule challenging is if we receive further
petitions over the balance of the year. We may have to double up in some of
the months forthcoming. As it stands now we will be asking the candidates to
be patient with our ability to process them as it is.

The key dates to remember for April are the following:

. April 1st (Wednesday) District Lodge of Instruction at Lodge
HA41 (This is for GLI in May…)
. April 6th Master Mason degree. Dinner Starts at 6:30 PM (Its Meat
Loaf) and the lodge will promptly open at 7:30 PM.
. April 8th Our regular business meeting, and our Official Visit from
RW DDGM Bruce R Conley, and RW DRI Earl H. Reeder
. April 14th, 15th, and 16th is the Grand Lodge Communication in
Atlantic City New Jersey

Important note for our meeting on April 8th:

Because there is a conflict between our regular meeting night this April
with the Scottish Rite Feast of the Pascal Lamb we will open the Lodge at
6:00 PM. I will entertain a motion to suspend all business until our next
business meeting in May. The objective is to allow our members to be able to
attend the Feast of the Pascal Lamb. Since it is also our official visit all
officers must be present for the lodge business meeting. The meeting will be
kept as short as possible. I wish to thank all of you in advance for your
cooperation on this, especially the lodge officers. If you are a lodge
officer and you cannot attend the April 8th business meeting it is
absolutely imperative that you let me know as soon as possible!

Take care,

Jay B. Ross

In March everyone should take note of the following dates and activities:
Sunday, March 1st
Its Amwell’s turn to assist with wheelchairs at the Masonic Home.
Monday, March 2nd
The officers will start practicing for the Master Mason degree to be given
on April 6. We are going to move the start times for practice to 7 PM. This
gives the various committees some time prior to practice if they want to
also meet on a Monday evening.
Thursday, March 5th
We are hosting the District Lodge of Instruction. Everyone needs to come out
for this.

Saturday March 7th
Brother Rivera would like us to have a “painting party” for the
recreational room. I will personally spring for the cost of the pizza and
beer. Let Brother Rivera know if you are available to help on that date.

Monday, March 9th
Charity Committee meets at 6 PM.

Wednesday March 11th
We will have our normal business meeting. If everything goes well with the
investigation committee we will be balloting on Mr. D. S. S.
Brother Eissing will be giving a 5-minute history lesson on Brother George
Washington’s inauguration as President of the United States and the role a
Masonic Lodge Bible played in that event. (We did not have time in our
February meeting for this and I would like him to give this presentation.)

Page3 of 3
Regular Commutation
March 11, 2009 @ 7:30 P.M.
General business- see Master’s notes.

Monday March 30th
The Board of Trustees will have a meeting starting at 6 PM.

We will also have an emergent meeting to examine our Fellow Craft
candidates. Since this is a normal practice night for the officers. I
believe we should do the examination prior to our big night April 6 so this
is a good time to do this. (April 6 we will raise our candidates to Master
Mason status.) We will start the emergent meeting at 7:30, and once examined
we will immediately close the meeting.
April
In April we have an issue with our “regular” meeting night scheduled for the
8th. That is the same night as the Feast of the Pascal Lamb at the Scottish
Rite. We have rescheduled our business meeting for Monday April 13. This
will also be our “Official Visit” with RW DDGM Bruce R. Conley, and RW DRI
Earl H. Reeder. All officers must be in attendance! Lets also not forget the
Grand Communication is happening on April 15th, 16th in Atlantic City.

Take care, and God bless,

Jay B. Ross WM Amwell #12

GRAND MASTER’S OPEN INSTALLATION
BALLY’S PARK PLACE, ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

*THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009*
Installation- 2:00 P.M.

RECEPTION & BANQUET HONORING THE GRAND MASTER AND CHAIRMAN
OF THE
MASONIC CHARITY FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Grand Lodge of New Jersey
Fellowship Center, 1114 Oxmead Road, Burlington, New Jersey
Saturday, May 16, 2009 Grand Master’s Prayer Service: 4:00 P.M. (at Chapel)
Reception: 5:15 P.M. Social Hour: 6:30 P.M. – Banquet: 7:30 P.M.
Tickets-$50.00

Admission to Banquet by reservation only. No tickets will be sold at the door. Deadline for reservations is Friday, May 8, 2009. For those attending the Reception only, there is no charge and no reservations are necessary. Upon arrival, all Present and Past Grand Lodge officers attending are requested to check in with the Grand Marshal.

Please make checks payable to U.S.S. New Jersey Lodge #62 and mail with self-addressed stamped envelope to: R.W. John L. Reader, III
107 LaFayette Drive
Mullica Hill, NJ 08831-1225
Any questions please call (856) 981-5225

Larry S. Plasket, PGM
Grand Secretary

On the 5th of March (Thursday) WE, US, YOU of Amwell #12 will be hosting the District lodge of instruction. All officers MUST be in attendance for this. If you are not an officer, come in and watch. We will be practicing opening, closing, balloting, and the EA degree.

The Kilties
I have made progress on the MM degree being done with the Kilties at our lodge. This effort is in anticipation of our 2 candidates completing their Fellow Craft Degrees. The date for MM degree has been shifted back to April 6. This was due to a request from the Kilties to give them some breather space with respect to another Lodge’s request for their services. We are tentatively talking now about doing 5 candidates, 2 from our lodge, 2 from Stockton, and 1 from Frenchtown. It should be a busy and fun night for everyone.

Recreation Room
Lets also get behind Brother Rivera, and help him get the recreational room painted. This is a project that we can keep the costs down with volunteerism. Contact Brother Rivera about the time and date he wants to do this.

Research
If we have time at the February meeting, Brother Eissing will be giving a 5 minute history lesson on Brother George Washington’s inauguration as President of the United States and the role a Masonic Lodge Bible played in that event.

Business Meeting Dinner
Several Lodge members have asked me to give everyone a “heads up” on our dinner menus for each monthly meeting.

So, for February’s dinner we are going to have meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. Green string beans will also be provided as a vegetable. There will be some kind of yummy desert as always.

New Membership Activity
One key item we want to get out of the way in our February meeting is to vote on the “election or rejection” of Mr. E. M. D. for membership in Amwell #12. I have checked with his petition committee and the results are favorable.

I have also heard rumblings of other men interested in join us at Amwell #12. Let’s get the Petitions out there for them to fill out. I know several of you chuckled about my goal of 12 new members this year. Hey! it could happen!

Taking Care of Our Own
One forum I would like to open up at the February meeting is how we can do a better job of keeping track of our older members, which for various reasons can’t make the monthly meetings. For example, Brother Horton and I (along with my wife Joni) went to see Brother Everett May in the NJ Masonic Home on February 17. Our objective was to give Brother May his 25-year pin (which we did). Brother May is facing so real challenges. He still has difficulty speaking due to the stroke he had years ago, and he has also lost one leg and that has confined him to a wheel chair. While he wife (who is very dedicated to him) visits often, it was easy to see that Brother May could use some further companionship and Masonic support once in a while.

Brother Bacon took the time out to check on G. J. one of our widows. Brother Bacon states: “I visited with G. and I’m happy to report all is well. She is 86 partially paralyzed on the right side and lives alone on a seven-acre farm. She has trouble speaking and walking. Her son lives close by and visits regularly handling all financial matters.” It was great that Brother Bacon took time to do this. Lets all start checking to see if maybe other elderly members or their widows could use some support and attention from us.

The Four Cardinal Virtues of a Freemason
Remember, we are all Freemason’s and are subject to the Four Cardinal Virtues: Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice. These are not just words, but actions we must persevere to achieve.

God bless all of you