[SCA-AE] ANNOUNCE: FW: [Announcements] Waterbearing proposal request for comments

[Taranach McLeod]

My only problem with this whole scenario is where it is coming from?
If there are questions for something as innocuous as water, what about
something as complex as feast? especially with allergies and
preparation issues? If we are going to dissolve offices and have
"illness outbreak issues" for carrying something as simple as water,
then what about our feasts? I would think this would be a far more
dangerous possibility than water. What about our "liability" if
someone gets food poisoning? Does this not also fall upon the
shoulders of the SCA?

I don't think this has been thought out at all and the ramifications
and precedent we would be setting with this proposal may just be one
more thing to tear apart the fabric of the society. Are we planning on
having a 'food waiver' to sign at feasts?

Taranach

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:09 PM, Ireland-delfs, Orilee
<Orilee.Ireland-delfs at xerox.com> wrote:
> Keywords: AEnnouncements
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Announcements at aethelmearc.org for announcements only.
> Replies and questions are sent to discussion at aethelmearc.org
> or directly to the person making the announcement.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> -----Original Message-----
> From: announcements-bounces at lists.sca.org
> [mailto:announcements-bounces at lists.sca.org] On Behalf Of Patrick
> Anderson
> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:58 AM
> To: announcements at sca.org
> Subject: [Announcements] Waterbearing proposal request for comments
>
> >From the President, Patrick Anderson:
>
> Earlier this year, I was asked by several people in the waterbearing
> community to examine the various laws of states and countries related to
> waterbearing as an organized and official activity of the SCA, Inc.
> Various states have informed officers of the SCA, Inc. that while our
> activity does not directly violate the food codes or health regulations
> of their states, if there were to be an outbreak of illness, the SCA,
> Inc. could be held liable for that outbreak. Several health care
> professionals and attorneys have reviewed this topic and agree with this
> assessment.
>
> I was asked to examine the best way to both ensure a safe fighting
> environment for our fighters, and to comply with the various state and
> country laws. The relevant laws vary from state by state, county by
> county and country by country. I determined that the best way to do this
> would be to make "waterbearing" unofficial and unsanctioned by the SCA,
> Inc. and proposed this change to the Board. The only other option would
> be to regulate waterbearing, and to regulate it such that it follows the
> various food safety codes of the various states and countries the SCA
> participates in. This would be unwieldy, impractical and expensive for
> the SCA to do. Further, it is likely that waterbearers would not be able
> to continue to serve our fighters using any of the current methods of
> waterbearing.
>
> The proposal put before the membership for comment would stop
> waterbearing by any SCA branch or other official group. The SCA would
> not have an office of waterbearer at any level. Marshals would still be
> permitted to allow waterbearers on the field, but any waterbearing must
> not be done by any officially sanctioned or regulated groups of the SCA.
> Households are welcome to provide water to fighters, as are unofficial
> and unrecognized "guilds". This does not bar groups from putting out the
> "serve yourself water coolers" at events. (In my Kingdom they are
> usually the big orange cylinders.)
>
> The Board and Corporate officers understand that many people have spent
> time waterbearing within the official framework, and now hope that you
> continue to volunteer unofficially. This proposal has been brought to
> enable fighters to continue to have a waterbearing service provided to
> them, without the extremely strict governance that official waterbearing
> will require.
>
> The actual text of the proposed rule is below. This rule has not yet
> been approved by the Board, and is being sent out for comment here. The
> Directors request comments from the membership regarding this proposed
> revision no later than October 1st, 2008. Please send them to:
> Corpora Revision
> SCA Inc.
> Box 360789
> Milpitas CA, 95036
> email: comments at sca.org
>
> Thank you for commenting.
>
> Patrick Anderson
> President, Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
>
> Proposed language to be added to Corpora:
> The activity of providing beverages to combatants and spectators at SCA
> Combat activities is not regulated, warranted, organized, controlled, or
> sanctioned by the SCA, Inc. or any affiliate or subsidiary entity. All
> warrants, authorizations, or other formal recognition of this activity
> are by publication of this change revoked. This document does not either
> address or restrict such volunteer activity or the methods by which it
> occurs.
> --
> Patrick Anderson
> President
> Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
> president at sca.org
> 952-412-4112
>
>
> Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:
> SCA Inc.
> Box 360789
> Milpitas,  CA 95036
>
> You may also email comments at lists.sca.org.
>
> This announcement is an official informational release by the Society
> for Creative Anachronism , Inc.  Permission is granted to reproduce this
> announcement in its entirety in newsletters, websites and electronic
> mailing lists.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Announcements mailing list
> To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit:
> http://lists.sca.org/listinfo/announcements
>
> To change the email address you receive these messages at, visit the URL
> listed above, subscribe to with your new email address.  Once this is
> completed, return to the URL listed above and unsubscribe your old email
> address.
> _________________________________________________________________________
> Sca-aethelmearc mailing list
> Send general discussion email to discussion at aethelmearc.org to post to the list.
> Email Official announcements to announcements at aethelmearc.org .
> Visit https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sca-aethelmearc for:
>  more info, archives, subscription changes, etc.
> When replying to posts, you should remove excess quotage.
> _________________________________________________________________________
>