I got clean in Dallas, Texas and the requirments for chairing a meeting there was 90 days consecutive clean time and a chairpersons workshop. This is regardless of if you had just relapsed and came back....you needed to obtain 90 days and this workshop.
In Omaha, there is no clean-time requirement for chairing. Last night, I attended the meeting and the chair person picked up a white key-tag. This is not the first time I have seen this in this area. I haven't really been so bothered by this before, because I am happy these folks make it back. What bothered me last night was the chair person's admittance that he had just shot up the night before. In Dallas, if you had used in the last 24 hours you weren't supposed to share let alone chair a meeting.
I'd have to question the secretary for asking this person to Chair the meeting. You can't give away what you don't have, everyone in a NA meeting already knows how to get loaded. Here in Cal people that are asked to Chair meetings have some recovery or the secretary wouldn't have asked them.
Hi Heathermarie & CCBob, That does sound a little scary. In the SE Nebr. area the same issue has shown up from time to time. Bob, I don't know about Omaha, but in Lincoln the chair and secretary are often combined into one service position, mainly because of a lack of people willing to make a service commitment. Our meetings are pretty small, about 30-40 is a big meeting. There is also the issue of drug court flooding the meetings. Sometimes the supply of old timers dwindles pretty low in a particular meeting, leading to all sorts of"unusual" situations. Usually the matter is left to the autonomy of the meetings, but when things start to get out of hand people who have been around a while will start attending the meeting in question regularly and attempt to make some suggestions for the good of NA as a whole. Usually it comes down to the regulars of the meeting being in denial of the unhealthiness of the situation, and members of that home group being too "shy" to suggest that things need to be done differently. (Not wanting to be the "Bad" guy, ect.)
It is "suggested" in our ASC guidelines that a chair have 30 days clean, but sometimes that is waived at the group level. I guess what it comes down to is the willingness to tell others in that group how the situation makes you feel. The same issue has has been brought up during open floor in our area service committee meeting too. It does take a lot of courage and tact to bring this before a group without causing resentments, but it is necessary to address the problem. It does effect NA as a whole! What impression does it leave on someone who is attending their first meeting?
Heathermarie, if it is bothering you and you don't know quite how to handle it, send me an email (click on my name where it is underlined on the post) and I will put you in touch with an old timer in Omaha who might be willing to help out.
Lon
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Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.----Alice Mackenzie Swaim
Your right Lon, here in Northern Calif we have meetings where there is a lack of people willing to do the service work and those that do sometimes let things sometime get off track. If this gets brought up at Area Service some members with time will start to attend these meetings (especially the bussiness meetings) to get things back on track. In one very rare case a meeting was shut down, not only from getting off track but it was poorly attended and there were other meetings at same time. Sometimes an area will grow too fast and have too many meetings and there will be a shortage of people willing to do the service work.
Bob, I put Heathermarie in touch with an old timer who was VERY interested to hear about this issue, she said that if it the meeting she's thinking of, the old timer who chairs it was not there last week. He's ENNA's RCM, so he isn't gonna like that going down, so I will bet something will be happening. Somebody has to stand up and say that "this ain't right"; I'm glad Heathermarie talked about it.
What a wonderful problem-growing too fast-a bunch of dopers doing positive stuff! Lon
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Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.----Alice Mackenzie Swaim
We had another case where 2 small meetings were taking place at the same time on a Thurs night and both were strong at first then attendence started to suffer. It came up at Area that one of the meeting which was being held at an outpatient treatment center was violating Tradition 6 and possibly 7. So the trusted servants of the 2 meeting got together merged the meetings and moved out of the treatment center to the Church where the other meeting was held. So instead of 2 weak meetings we ended up with a stronger larger group and the conflict with the Traditions was ended.
Bob, It can be pretty hard to do what is right. Just like sometimes it seems easier to lie than to tell the truth. We have had a situation in our area where after a couple of individuals brought the idea for a clubhouse before the ASC and it was voted down, they went ahead and set it up in a storefront 30 feet from a liquor store. The money spent supporting this,(rent, utilities, ect.) would have been far better spent carrying the message in my opinion. Several treatment centers will not send the clients to the facility because of the proximity of the liquor store. The place has never been self-supporting, and now is being kept open with donations from one of the addicts parent. While it is not NA, there are a lot of hard feelings about the whole situation. I sure struggle to understand Gods will, and also to do my part without assuming I have a direct line to God.
Dealing with life on life's terms requires adaptation, and examination of my motives before acting, something that was never very comfortable for me. It's good that the 2 meetings were able to work it out and make themselves into one strong meeting. Personal recovery does depend on NA unity, and personalities can sometimes make that difficult.
Lon
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Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.----Alice Mackenzie Swaim
Well, I did talk to that old-timer you sent my way Lon. But, in the funniests of coincidences. By Sunday afternoon, I had not called her and was going to head to a 4:30 meeting. I figured I'd call her when I got back that night. Well, when we went around the room and introduced ourselves, someone by that name was sitting in front of me! I asked if her last initial was W and she said yes! I told her that I was the one that had been talking to Lon online. So, we met that night at the meeting! She had told me that the GSR for the meeting in question had no clue regarding the chairpersons relapse or even the fact that he had used less than 24 hrs before chairing because had he known he would've stopped him from chairing.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
