If you are a local officer, either elected or appointed, or if you’ve ever thought about serving as a local officer, I hope you will consider registering for South Texas Mensa’s (STM) one-day Leadership Development Workshop scheduled for March 17 in San Antonio. Attendance, including lunch, is free for the day, which starts at 8:30am with remarks by Bob Bevard, American Mensa’s Development Officer, followed by presentations by local member Steve High, national Executive Director Pam Donahoo, and then yours truly. After a catered lunch, the session continues with a presentation on testing by STM Local Secretary and Testing Coordinator Roy Huff and one on conflict resolution by Betsey Garland. The day will end with a wrap-up by Bob Bevard, then you can head either for home or for Bob’s justly famous Party-on-the-Patio at Hills-n-Dales. Although this is sponsored by STM, members of other local groups are cordially invited. For more information, contact coordinator Sherrie Reimers at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Another thing I hope you will consider is to make plans to attend the 2012 version of SynRG, the Regional Gathering of Gulf Coast Mensa, taking place over Memorial Day weekend in Houston. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.

And on another subject altogether, if you’ve ever served on your group’s by-laws committee, you know that American Mensa requires several things to be included in all local by-laws. These provisions are considered so important that they are deemed to be included in all local by-laws whether they are actually adopted by the group or not. One of these is a requirement that all local groups have an Ombudsman, to help resolve disputes between members or between members and local officers. Despite this requirement, over one-third of local groups nationwide have never filled this office, including four here in Region 6. Our national Ombudsman is very concerned about this situation, and has urged all 10 Regional Vice-Chairs to appoint regional Ombudsmen to step in where no local Ombudsman is available.

Consequently, I have appointed Randy Brack, currently Ombudsman of North Texas Mensa, to the post of Regional Ombudsman. If your group does not have a local Ombudsman, please feel free to contact Randy ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you need an impartial third party to help resolve a dispute with another Mensan arising out of Mensa activities. Local group officers can also use his services in the event of a conflict with another group, should such a thing occur. If your local Editor was able to find the space for it, an introductory column by Randy may appear elsewhere in your newsletter.

DON’T FORGET – RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW!
RVC6 REPORT ROGER DURHAM, REGION 6 VICE CHAIR