Included with the latest issue of the Club magazine, Casino Chips & Token News, are several additional pieces of paper. One of these pieces of paper, mine is colored blue, is an Official Ballot for CC>CC members to vote either for or against an amendment to the CC>CC constitution. The amendment seeks to limit individual membership in a chapter of the CC>CC to only members of the CC>CC. I agree with the author that in theory members of a chapter should be members of the larger organization. However, the CC>CC, as an educational hobby organization, should not be subject to restrictive membership rules. As President of the NY Metro chapter I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST the amendment. There are my reasons:

1) All the candidates for the next CC>CC board of directors have stated that they are against restrictive chapter membership rules. So even if this amendment passes, it will likely be reversed by the incoming board.
2) This is a hobby, not a business, and it should be open to all regardless of their personal level of commitment to the hobby.
3) We should be opening new doors to seek new members, not closing them.
4) The amendment makes no provision for enforcement. How are chapters to know who is a current member of the CC>CC? How are the chapters to keep up with those who are chapter members but let their CC>CC membership lapse?
5) The amendment makes no provision for non-compliance. If there is no "penalty" for non-compliance, why have the amendment in the first place?
6) The amendment makes no provision for associate or lifetime memberships. Can an associate member of the CC>CC be a full member of a chapter? And as a well, can a regular member of the CC>CC be an associate member of a chapter. The same questions are valid for lifetime memberships.

The amendment is flawed and not well thought out. I understand the nature of what the author is seeking to do, but I think there is a better way to go about this. I believe that the real issue is only one of semantics. If instead of "chapters" if the CC>CC had "member clubs" this would resolve the problem. The ANA is the largest coin hobby organization. The ANA does not have "chapters", it does have "member clubs". In fact the CC>CC is the largest "member club" of the ANA. Members of the CC>CC are not required to be members of the ANA. If we changed the CC>CC constitution to say "member club" instead of "chapter", the problem would be resolved. I pledge that I will devote the effort necessary to have the CC>CC constitution amended to change "chapter" to "member club".

Please understand that I am 100% in favor that everyone associated with the gaming collectible hobby should be a member of the CC>CC. I cannot begin to praise the CC>CC for the outstanding job that has been done to organize and grow this hobby. And I will preach this message wherever there is a doubting ear. However, I, in good conscience, do not wish to dictate to anyone my personal beliefs. I believe that you can educate, but you have to let people make up their own mind. And yes, not everyone will make the right decision, but rather that than taking away someone's right to make a decision.

Finally, should this amendment pass, I will not comply. I will not close the door to the NY Metro Chapter to anyone for reason of membership in the CC>CC. Instead I will ask the membership if they would like to remain a chapter of the CC>CC and elect a new president or if we wish to drop our chapter membership and become the NY Metro Gaming Collecting Club.