Acting Officers Of Community Club Say Election Will Be On June 13th

In a statement released this week by acting President of the Blowing Rock Community Club, an election that was thought to be scheduled for June 5th has been set for June 13th.
Winnie Donato, who assumed the presidents seat when disagreement about by-laws, library operations and club financing split the membership a number of weeks ago, made the announcement in a statement provided to the Rocket on Tuesday morning.
“This is to let our members know where things stand in our beloved Library and Community Club,” Donato said in her notice to the membership.
Donato and a small group of supporters assumed officer’s position in the club when a majority of long time members, including currently elected officers, and active volunteers became disenchanted with the direction the club was taking under a plan that was not privileged to all members of the club. A subsequent meeting between the two factions only intensified the disagreements, with the members who assumed the officer’s seats refusing to accept nomination from the floor and refusing to conduct an election at that meeting, which had been called by the acting officers for that purpose.
Letters from irate members over the actions of the self-appointed board, and the impact their action has had on Library operations have been written to the Rocket over the past three weeks, and the first comments from those on the other side of the issue came in the form of the statement from Donato on Tuesday.
“With an interim election coming up we have been counciled by the Community Club lawyer that in the matter of the proxy vote we will abide by the North Carolina state law on this subject,” Donato said in her statement. “This means that proxy forms will be available at the Library for members who need a proxy.
There will be nominations from the floor on June 13th as well as a question and answer period directed at the nominees prior to the vote, the statements said.
Donato said that the election covers the period from June 13th to August 31, 2007. “At the annual meeting on August 8th, 2007 the nominating committee will present a slate to be voted on at that meeting and those elected will serve from September 1, 2007 until August 31, 2008,” she said.
“Since there has been so much talk in the town about the ‘library problem’ it seems wise to clear up a couple of facts,” Donato said in her statement. “A former director of the Library has given 30 years of service to the Library as an unpaid volunteer.
“When the paid associate resigned along with the majority of the Board and several of the volunteers it seemed that very little thought had been given to the patrons of the Library,” Donato said. “The remaining two Board members and a small group of volunteers have managed to keep the Library functioning for our patrons. So far the patrons have not been inconvenienced and it is the goal of the committed volunteers who will continue to put the patrons of this library first and foremost.”
A spokeswoman for the other side of the Community Club issue, also spoke to the issue of library patrons, although she asked that her name not be used.
“Our mission was to bring our library into the 20th century,” the members said. “We were seeing great progress in making the library more people friendly - from both an organization level and being more receptive to listening and presenting what our library patrons and club members wanted in a community library.
“We had a major asset in Kathy Whatley in managing our library. She had made a lot of improvements and had proven her value in numerous ways. Sally Page was also a proven asset developing a wonderful children’s program, a program that had suffered a lack of interest prior to her influence.”
While the Community Club did have a book sale during this past Saturday’s Art in the Park, for the first time in many years, there was no hot dog sales.