Grand Lodge AF&AM of Montana THE LEVEL Special Points of Interest: Grand Master’s Message From the Grand Secretary Montana Masonic News Membership Changes 50 Year Award Bikes for Books Celestial Lodge Program of the Month Events • Master Builder Award JULY 2006 NO. 423 Greetings From The Grand East My Brothers: please check the Grand Lodge calendar to avoid conflicts with other events. The Grand I want to express my gratitude for the honor Lodge website is you have bestowed on me by electing me as your www.grandlodgemontana.org Grand Master. I promise my best efforts in serving you and our great fraternity. the link to the calendar is in the lower right corner of the web page. If you are planning an event such as a 100th anniversary celebra- Although much is said concerning the pow- tion, ask the Grand Secretary to add your ers, prerogatives, and programs of the Grand event to the calendar. Appendent bodies may Lodge or a Grand Master, they are not what drive also request addition of their special events to our Craft. The Grand Lodge Officers and I can pro- the calendar. If you desire my presence at pose, recommend, persuade, and even cajole, but your special event, check the Grand Lodge your Lodges accomplish the real work of Freema- calendar and, if I am available, ask early. sonry. The Worshipful Masters are the ones who set the craft to work and give them good and wholesome instructions for their labor. They are The M.A.S.O.N. (Masonic Assistance the ones who must plan interesting programs to Supporting Our Neighbors) program will con- attract their membership to the meetings. They are tinue, but will be revised. Last year, there the ones who must organize and lead the effort to were some misunderstandings of the match attract new members. The lodge officers are the formula and the intent of the program. The ones who must insure that they mentor and edu- match formula will be simplified, and the guid- cate the new members so they fully understand ance concerning what types of charity will what it means to live the life of a Mason and be a qualify for a match will be revised and clari- Freemason in deed as well as in name. The Lodge fied. New guidelines will be published shortly. members must provide the effort through programs such as M.A.S.O.N. and Bikes-for-Books to involve themselves in their communities and make Free- My predecessors had some difficulties masonry a well-known vital presence in our home- answering requests for dispensations. Please towns. Your Grand Lodge Officers and I will do all be aware that a Worshipful Master normally that we can to assist you in these endeavors, but may not request a dispensation. The request success or failure is determined at the lodge level. must come from a lodge after a required vote. Likewise, the power of a Grand Master to When you are planning special events, Grand Lodge Web Site www.grandlodgemontana.org Page 2 THE LEVEL grant dispensations is limited. There are only MULLAN PASS HISTORIC LODGE eleven types of dispensation that may be ANNUAL MEETING granted. Please see Sections 1030 and 1040 of the Code prior to requesting a dispensation. Use SATURDAY, AUGUST 19TH the Dispensation Request Form, not a letter, to make the request. We are fast approaching the time of the annual communication on Mullan Pass. Thank you again for showing your confidence in me There will be a light brunch on the pass at by electing me Grand Master. It 11: 00 a.m. and the meeting will follow. You will is my intent to attend as many of note that this is a change from previous years your events as possible and ex- when we met for this, then had Saturday tend to each of you my hand in our meal. Also, a review of token of my friendship and August 19th our books shows we actually brotherly love. See you soon. 11:00 a.m. lost money the past two years on the meals, so as with eve- Mullan Pass rything else lately, the price Sincerely and Fraternally, has to go up. We are going to try and hold the price as close to $5 or $6 as possible, but we ask that you be prepared to spend up to $10.00. One of the problems is that we never know how many we are going to serve, and we don’t want to turn anyone away. We will have to work on that problem. Also, if any of you can assist in the logis- tics of setting up, and taking down, other prepa- ration for the meeting, please contact: Brother Jim DeBree at (406) 822-3041 - [email protected], or Brother Gary Ellestad at (406) 439-1994 - [email protected] We hope by now everyone has received their certificates, dues card and pins. We know there are a couple certificates that needed cor- rection and they are about ready. We are con- cerned we may have inadvertently missed someone; if so please contact the new Secre- tary, Blake Gardiner at (406) 443-6394 – [email protected]. Thomas E. Valente, Jr. Grand Master Page 3 NO. 423 THE MONTANA MASONIC NEWS Articles are subject to editing and, when published, become the property of the Grand As you are aware, MW Brother Bill Brass Lodge AF&AM of Montana. No compensation is has retired as Editor of the Montana Masonic allowed for any articles, photographs, or other News after 22 years of service. During the 140th materials submitted for publication. Annual Communication, MW Bro. Bill was pre- sented an Award for his years of dedicated ser- vice as Editor. Permission to reprint articles will be granted upon written request to the Editor from recognized Masonic Publications and others. The Montana Masonic News will continue When reprinted the articles should note: production. However, it will have a new look and “Reprinted with permission of the Montana Ma- format, a new Editor, a new printing company, sonic News.” and a more frequent distribution Schedule . For those who wish to contribute information please review the information below. Financial gifts will Please direct all correspondence still be accepted. and changes of address to: The Montana Masonic News is an official Editor: Montana Masonic News publication of the Grand Lodge Ancient Fee and c/o Grand Secretary Accepted Masons of Montana and the Montana PO Box 1158 Masonic Foundation, Corporation. Unless other- Helena, Montana 59624 wise noted, articles appearing in this publication express only the private opinion or assertions of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the offi- or e-mail to [email protected]. cial position of the Grand Lodge. The jurisdiction Please provide full given name, Lodge or affilia- speaks only through the Grand Master and the tion and US Mailing address. Executive Board, when attested to as official, in writing, by the Grand Secretary. Article and Photo submissions The editorial staff invites contributions in Articles Pieces submitted should be typed, the form of informative articles, reports, news double-spaced and preferably ac and other timely information (of about 500 to companied by a computer disk in 1000 words in length) that broadly relate to Mon- neutral PC format (MSWord pre- tana Masonry, Masonic law, lore, customs, his- ferred with formatting off. tory, symbolism, philosophy, responsibility of membership, etiquette, current events, and/or Photo Black and white or color, preferably general public interest. When possible, photo- accompanied by a computer disk graphs that illustrate these informative articles with photo image in .jpg, .bmp, .tff. should accompany the submission. Pieces sub- Include who took the photo, when mitted should be typed, double-spaced and pref- and where. erably accompanied by a computer disk in neu- tral PC format (MSWord preferred with format- Advertising Anyone interested in advertising in ting off) or via e-mail to: the paper will need to initiate a new [email protected] Agreement. Page 4 THE LEVEL 50 YEAR MEMBERS Thomas M. Battershell Morning Star No.5 09 June Thomas Beaver Mystic Tie Riverside No. 17 14 June Clyde Pl Peale, Jr Mount Moriah No. 24 20 June Thomas L. Larson Stevensville No. 28 07 June William O. Bradford Ashlar No. 29 09 June Stone E. Paulson, Jr Cascade No. 34 13 June Richard C. Thompson Cascade No. 34 02 June Jack B. Thompson Cascade No. 34 02 June Vernon Christensen Plentywood No. 91 28 June Wilber L. Anderson Ekalaka No. 120 04 June Dean B. Fisher Pryor Mountain NO. 151 6 May LODGEiCAL SECRETARY SOFTWARE Just a reminder that to use the Lodgeical Software the original program disk must be in- which will enable you to download the Patch. stalled first then the patch can be downloaded. Within the next couple months we do The “current” patch can be found by anticipate that the second Patch will be avail- going to http://www.lodgeical.com/ able. Keep watching for more information. then change the address to read as follows We would also like to hear from all the lodges/Secretaries who are using the Lodgei- http://www.lodgeical.com/montana cal Software program. Please e-mail, write or You will then be directed to enter a Username call and let us know if you are using or plan to and a Password. For the username you will use the Lodgeical system. need to enter montana for the password enter hiram and then enter. You will then be prompted to select enter. You will then be prompted to enter your Lodge Name and Number and then select Submit this will lead you to the section Page 5 NO.