Welcome!

To all of you reading this, greetings. I feel I should start by introducing myself, as many of you may not be familiar with me. For those of you who were atJerichon '08, I was the MC for the weekend and chaired the AGM. My name is Fox Whitworth, and I have occasionally gone by Anubis on boards or in chats. For both those who do and don't know me, it is appropriate at this point for me to expand upon myself a little. When Keith Combs, our previous Chairman, stepped down, the Board asked me to join them and fill the position. I can assure you this was as much of a surprise to me as it probably is to you. Having been active as a member of my local political party when I was living in the United Kingdom, as well as served within small corporations previously, I felt able to fulfill the requirements of this position and thus accepted.

While you're going to be hearing a lot from me, on a wide variety of subjects, between now and Jerichon '09, there were two things in particular I wanted to address in this letter. The first is to reassure you all that it really is business as usual for the Guardians of Jericho Board of Directors. As I'm sure you've all experienced, the requirements of the real world can sometimes become extremely overwhelming. Unfortunately in the past month, we have lost several Directors to changes in their lives that leave them unable to continue to hold their seats. Keith, Rachel, Diane, and Carrie have all left our number, and I'd like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Guardians of Jericho, to thank them for their past service and wish them the very best of luck in their future endeavors.

I'm sure by now you are wondering 'Where exactly does this leave us?' It's a reasonable question, and one I hope I will be able to answer to your satisfaction in this letter. Shortly before I was asked to join the Board, the Board voted to appoint Stacey Adams to replace our outgoing Treasurer. This was done because the Board felt it was critical to get someone in place who had experience with the position and who our bank was familiar with. Stacey, having previously served as deputy treasurer, fitted these requirements and was kind enough to agree to step in. At present, therefore, the Board is composed of the following: Fox Whitworth, Chairman; Marilyn Morey, Vice-Chairman; Valerie Shearer, Secretary; Stacey Adams, Treasurer; and Mary Arlington, Director-at-Large.

Going forward, it is our desire to appoint several new Board members to fill vacant seats and round out our numbers. You'll be hearing more about the process for applying to fill one of these seats shortly, so I won't go into it herein. Once we've accomplished this, the process of preparing for next years convention will truly begin. One thing we really hope to accomplish this year is to separate out the business aspect of running a Corporation and convention from the details of deciding what we want to happen at said convention. Once we get the ball rolling, we'll therefore be looking to solicit fan input about what you would like to see at your convention. Obviously there will be constraints, as there always are when dealing with financial and bureaucratic matters. But within those constraints, we hope the fans will help shape the convention as much as possible as it is, ultimately, yours.

In closing, it really is business as usual for us and Jerichon 09 is definitely an achievable reality and one we fully intend to realize. My email address is gojchair@gmail.com and I invite you all to use it as often as you feel necessary. Questions, comments, or anything you feel relevant can be sent there and will be read. I will try and reply to everyone, though depending on the volume of mail and the demands of my other duties it may take some time and may not always be possible. I look forward to working with you all over the coming year, and hope to see as many of you as possible at Jerichon '09.

Fox Whitworth                                                             Chairman, Guardians of Jericho Incorporated.