[Artemisia] Missive from Their Majesties and an Update

[Jackman-Brink, Julia]

Their Royal Majesties Ronan and Clare, Their Royal Highnesses, Sean and Nisa, bring Greetings to the Populace, Officers, Landed Baronage bring Greetings;

On Saturday, February 4th, 2012, We participated in a multimedia conference call with the SCA Board of Directors, Society Officers, and Our Kingdom Ombudsman. The purpose of the conference call was to inform the Kingdoms that the Board had settled the longstanding lawsuit by the victims of Benjamin Schragger against the SCA, Inc., its officers and branches. The SCA, Inc. has posted more detailed information, together with an FAQ, related to the settlement at: http://sca.org/BOD/announcements/settlement.html

The short version is that the SCA, Inc., was sued for approximately $7 million dollars, and has reached a pre-trial settlement for a little over one million.  One of our insurance companies is paying $450,000 of those costs.  Given the ongoing costs of these lawsuits, and the need to continue another lawsuit against a second insurer who is refusing to cover us in this situation, SCA Corporate does not have sufficient funds to cover this settlement.  The Board of Directors is therefore requiring the Kingdoms to contribute funds.

What does that mean for Artemisia?  We received an invoice for Artemisia's share on February 06th.  The total came to $23,128 and represents 18% of all Artemisian account balances, including those of local subsidiary branches.  We have elected, at this time, not to bill the Baronies and other local groups to meet this requirement.  As such, we have directed our Exchequer, Duchess Esabell Grant, to remit a check for the full amount from the Kingdom account to SCA, Inc., thus fulfilling our obligation.

By writing this check to SCA, Inc. we are leaving the Kingdom account with a balance of $14,000 in cash assets, and $10,000 in bank certificates of deposits (CD's).  We are fortunate as a kingdom that at this time we have the means to write a check to the SCA, Inc. for the full amount because of the prudent financial policies we have been following. To ensure our continued fiscal soundness the Crown, Coronets, and the Financial Committee will study the Kingdom's financial needs over the coming weeks, and develop a plan to meet our obligations going forward.

Please keep in mind that over the last several years, the Kingdom's budget has been around $17,000 per year, of which $6,000 go to the publication of the Kingdom's newsletter, The Sage Advice.   One way you can help to limit this expense, is to change your personal subscription to the Sage Advice from paper to the electronic format, thus saving the kingdom money on postage and printing. If you choose to do so, you can do that online at:  http://www.sca.org/members/optout.cgi

As always, groups or individuals who wish to fundraise, donate or help the Kingdom in any way, may make direct contributions -- checks should be made out to the SCA, Inc./Kingdom of Artemisia,  and sent to the Kingdom Exchequer, Duchess Esabell.  Please do not send funds directly to the SCA, Inc., as these will not be counted against Artemisia's contribution.

Please direct any questions regarding this process and subsequent decision to The Crown or Our Kingdom Seneschal, Baroness Juliana or our Exchequer, Duchess Esabell.

In Service to Artemisia and signed this 8th day of February;

TRM Ronan and Clare, King and Queen of Artemisia

TRH Sean and Nisa, Crown Prince and Princess

Baroness Juliana nic Lachlainn, Kingdom Seneschal

Duchess Esabell Grant, Kingdom Exchequer