For the fourth year
in a row CERA held its' annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with
Alliance for America's Fly In For Freedom - a fifty state network of
independent, grassroots organizations. CERA had two days of very productive
meetings which were attended by thirty-six representatives of organizations from
Washington, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho,
Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York and Maine
We
welcomed the new organizations with excitement, and after our annual business
reports, discussed ways CERA can improve our organization. The new attendees
expressed the desire to have a clearer picture of CERA's mission and goals so
nine of the directors present had a meeting Friday evening. Several points of
agreement were worked out, one of the most important of which is not cooperating
with any organization which promotes racial hatred.
We
decided CERA's national policy must be flexible and we will not micro-manage
local groups. Individuals and organizations that agree to CERA's mission and
objectives and pay their dues will be members of CERA. Local groups may use the
CERA name and bylaws if they wish.
Development
of an advisory board with representatives from each organization to have input
to the board of directors was moved and passed. These representatives can
nominate directors as well as vote for them at annual meetings. Directors terms
are for three years so each year the directors ending their third year will have
to go through the re-nomination process to continue on the board.