Taigh Moran Chat
RR 2, Northside Road
Wading River, NY 11792
4 June, 1989

Unto the members of the College of Arms and any others who may read this missive, greetings from Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane, Laurel Queen of Arms!

The primary consideration of the submissions scheduled for June was held on Sunday, June 18. However, since a number of important commentaries reached the Laurel Office after that meeting, virtually every submission was reviewed again over the two weeks since that meeting. The letters considered in that time span included Calontir (3/1), Caid (3/5), West (3/14/), Ansteorra (3/16), East (3/20), Trimaris (3/20), Meridies (3/21), East (3/23) and Calontir (3/31). As previously noted, the March letter from An Tir commented on by a number of the members of the College of Arms is currently unscheduled pending arrival of the paperwork for that letter.

At the Heraldic Symposium in Caid this weekend we will consider the letters from Meridies (4/27) and, if time allows, Calontir (4/30). At the regular meeting on 23 July we will consider the letters from the Middle (4/3), Atlantia (4/15), Ansteorra (4/21), Caid (4/23), East (4/28) and Atenveldt (4/30).

At the August meeting, currently scheduled for August 27 to allow adequate commentary time for those attending Pennsic, we will consider West (4/28), Middle (5/12), Caid (5/14), Ansteorra (5/17), East (5/20), Middle (5/22), Calontir (5/31) and Meridies (5/31).

The tentative dates for the meetings for the remainder of this year are September 17, October 15, November 12 and December 17. As before, these are subject to changes due to evolving Society and mundane travel plans. (House and household goods disposition in New York is not going as smoothly as one would have hoped!)

ROSTER CHANGES

Please note that, due to a change in Schwarzdrachen's mundane employment, mail to the Schwarzdrachen office via APO should be addressed to Wanda Pease and marked "ATTN: College of Heralds". Mail may be sent directly to Schwarzdrachen by foreign air mail: Will Handrich, Sudentenstrasse 12d, D-6080 Gross Gerau, BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND. (Experience of Laurel is the WEST GERMANY may be substituted for the last element and may have a better success rate in areas less accustomed to correspondence with Germany.)

Regina Romsey has now been given the title of Edelweiss Herald Extraordinary. Other information for her on the roster remains the same.

RULES DISCUSSION

As most of you already know, a "tinkered with" draft has been sent out in response to the timetable of the Board. In response to the dynamics of the College another draft will be going out in late July or early August. Several Kingdoms have circulated previous drafts to their local heralds for comment. All Kingdom are encouraged to do so and the Laurel office welcomes commentary pro and con from heralds at all levels. We only ask that all those commenting try to keep it civil!

SUBMISSIONS COMMENTARY

The commentary for the June meeting was as slim as it has ever been in the experience of the Laurel staff. Obviously, a large number of heralds thought that it was more important to comment on rules than to comment on submissions. The normal result of this would be a serious delay in the issuance of this letter as the Laurel staff spent hours "filling in the gaps". On this occasion, neither Laurel nor her staff had the time to do this if this letter was to be complete prior to the Symposium.

A number of heralds and several Board members have suggested that the obvious thing to do in such a situation is to make the rulings on the basis of the commentary at hand not to grieve overly much if the decisions later prove erroneously. While we cannot be entirely happy with the results of this meeting and have a strong feeling that some items that should have been returned have "slipped through the cracks" while some items that should have passed have not been adequately documented as the College should have done, we have no choice.

The ideal solution would be, as Green Anchor pointed out a few months ago, for everyone to focus a bit more on the primary function of the College, which is to serve the submittors. Green Anchor was entirely correct when he noted that some commentors have on occasion used their comments on submissions less as an opportunity to help the submittor or prevent registration of items "illegal" under the current rules and more as a platform on policies, rules discussions or even (alas!) personalities and political discussion.

A major result of this has been a decrease in the level of service to the members of the Society. As we enter several more rounds of discussion, with the prospect of the actual implementation of the new rules in the foreseeable future, the danger of non-functional commentary or time stresses which lead to non-commentary increases proportionally. Please try and remember that a primary function of the College is education and processing of the submissions of the members of the Socierty. We do not exist in a vacuum nor do we exist for ourselves alone.

Your servant,

[Alisoun]