Box 522
Mount Pleasant, SC 29465
24 March, 1990
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 January Laurel meeting was held on Sunday, January 21 and considered the letters under the old rules, with some submissions being also considered under the new rules. The Board of Directors meetings occurred the following weekend and preparation of this letter was interrupted by the need to issue a "special" letter to cover events at the Board meeting and the disposition of items pended as a result of the October Board meeting. As some of you already know, the mundane then intervened with a vengeance: faced with some serious organizational problems in a key department, the senior management at Laurel's firm decided to throw her as a sort of "human bandage" at the problem area. Moving from a department which was just settling down after several months of post-move shock to start an entirely new department from scratch under crisis conditions has been very time-consuming at a particularly unfortunate period. (Why could they not have waited for July?) With the exception of Presidents' Day weekend (spent catching a heavy cold at Estrella), Laurel has been working twelve hour days six days a week since the beginning of February. This impacted on the timeliness of submissions notifications for which I apologize deeply.
In any case, this letter contains the results for those letters scheduled for consideration in January. These include the letters from Antir (6/15), An Tir (9/15), East (10/16), Caid (10/18), Ansteorra (10/21), Meridies (10/26), Outlands (10/26) West (10/28) and Calontir (10/30). For a detailed analysis of the 290 sections, please see the analysis section below.
Due to the mundane circumstances outlined above, the February meeting was held on Sunday, February 25 with parallel processing continuing to the following weekend. Included in this batch were letters from Caid (11/12), Trimaris (11/15), Meridies (11/20), Ansteorra (11/27), West (11/28), Calontir (11/30), and Middle (11/30)
As the builders arrived to install the new roof on the weekend previously scheduled for the March Laurel meeting, it was postponed to the last weekend of the month. (Anyone who has ever tried to work with the patter of large feet and the slam of a power nail driver overhead will understand.) The letters scheduled for that meeting include Atenveldt (12/11), West (12/15), East (12/20), Caid (12/25), Ansteorra (12/26), Meridies (12/28) and Calontir (12/31).
The April Laurel meeting is presently scheduled for Sunday, April 29. At that time we will be considering the letter from Atlantia (1/1), Caid (1/21), Meridies (1/24), Ansteorra (1/25), Eas (1/28), East (1/29) and Calontir (1/31). From commentary received it appears that there was a letter from the West dated January 27. However, as the Laurel Office has not received any paperwork for this letter, it must be postponed from the April meeting when it would normally have been scheduled.
The May meeting is presently scheduled for Sunday, May 20. At that time the following letters will be considered: Outlands (2/15), East (12/25), Meridies (2/27), Calontir (2/28). The letter from Atlantia dated January 23, but posted at the end of February will be treated as if the posting date were February 28. The same is true for the letter from An Tir which bears a month, not a day: we have to assign it a priority for conflict-checking purposes of February 28. If the paperwork for the letter from the West dated January 27 reaches the Laurel Office in time, it will also be considered at this meeting. Please remember that this meeting will be the first one after the "grace period" expires: items which would pass under the old rules but not the new will be returned as of this meeting.
The June Laurel meeting will consider the letters dated in March of this year. At least two of the letters will be considered at the Symposium. As the month is not yet over, Laurel and her successor have not yet been able to determine which letters will be considered at the regular Laurel meeting of Sunday, June 17, and which will be considered at the Symposium.
Letitia des Montagnes Bleues, formerly Principality Herald for Artemisia, is now Aten Principal Herald. Her address is: Cheri Templeton, 500 Monroe #28, Green River, WY 82935. The new Solar Herald for Atenveldt is Sean Na Cergail O'Lachlainn (John Clark), 721 North Crest Drive, Tucson, AZ 85716.
Brigantia asks that you add to your mailing lists as a commentor the Standard Pursuivant, Elbeth Ann Roth (Kathy Van Stone), CMU P.O. Box 229, Pittsburgh, PA 15216; telephone 412-521-8371.
Due to some regional boundary changes, there are some new regional heralds in the East. Kwelland Njal Kolskeggsson is now Blue Tyger Herald (David James, 4202 Province Line Road, Princeton, JN 08540). His predecessor as Blue Tyger, Arnulf Adler, remains is now Southwestern Regional Herald. (His address remains unchanged.) The heralld for Aethelmearc has changed his given name from Friedrich to Fridrikr and is now using the title of Silver Buccle Herald. Eastern Crown Herald is now in the process of changing his name from Damon de la Main to Lyle Fitzwilliam. (Both these gentlemen's mundane information remains unchanged since the last roster.) There is now a herald for the new northern regions, using the title of Pantheon Herald: Lyanna of Kerneough (Elizabeth Crux), 33 Spikenard St., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2W 3B4 CANADA; telephone: 902-435-2541).
The results of the January meeting continued the trends set in the two previous meetings run under parallel processing. Note that we have not calculated overall acceptance rates for this meeting and will not for the next couple of meetings since the percentages would be seriously skewed since items that pass under either set of rules will be accepted.
Please note that the Administrative Handbook is now in effect. In particular, reporting requirements for Principal Heralds and Laurel deputies are now fully in effect.
Submissions requirements are also in effect and Laurel is minded to do her successor a major favour by being somewhat strict about these in the months to come. As noted in the past, submissions have frequently been forwarded without proper paperwork in the past which has required the soft-hearted Laurel staff to generate required paperwork or return the submission to the submittor on technical grounds. (This is particularly common with appeals: a statement of "The paperwork went with the original submission is not adequate documentation or grounds for appeal!).
Loathe though we are to penalize individuals for the faults of their representative heralds (and wroth though those heralds occasionally get), in future we will be rather hard-nosed on the subject of proper paperwork. If you do not have a packet which meets the standards laid down in the Administrative Handbook (including the standards for payment), you can expect that Laurel or her Designated Successor will return any submissions which flagrantly violate the procedural rules.
As part of the transition process, I am handing over supervisory jurisdiction of the Kingdoms and Principal Heralds to my Designated Successor as of April 1, 1990.
From that point forward, all reports and general administrative correspondence should be sent to Da'ud, although it would be a courtesy to send a copy to Laurel. Da'ud will be performing all appropriate supervisory functions, including monitoring compliance requirements for reporting, submissions regularity, etc. Questions requiring immediate policy decisions should be addressed to Laurel, but long term issues should be raised with Da'ud.
Please note that, should a warrant be required for a Principal Herald or other officer who must have national authorization, Laurel must be consulted through the end of June. While she would cheerfully delegate this task as well, only her signature is valid on such warrants until July 1.
It will not have escaped the notice of the college that all submissions packets to be considered after July 1 will be under the jurisdiction of the new Laurel. Therefore, I am asking all Principal Heralds and submissions deputies to send their packets directly to Da'ud. (A copy of the letter itself should be sent to Laurel at the time it is circulated to the College.) Laurel and her designate will be in constant touch to make certain that each letter is appropriately scheduled on Letters of Acceptance and Return appearing prior to the Symposium.
The third volume of the Precedents of Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane are now available from the Laurel Designate, Da'ud ibn Auda. The cost is $3.00 including postage.
The first and second volumes of Precedents for the current Laurel's tenure are still available from the same source. Volume One is $3.00 including postage while Volume Two is $5.00 with postage. We are reliably informed that all three volumes together are currently being offered as a special clearance package at $10.00 for the lot, postage included.
While still in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the site for the Heraldic Symposium has changed. (It is anticipated that the site change will result in significant savings for those attending.)
Many of you will already have received mailings detailing the site change and current plans for the Symposium. If you have not and are interested in attending or contributing to the Proceedings, please contact your Principal Herald or the Laurel Designate, Da'ud ibn Auda.
Your servant,
[Alisoun]
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