Well, take a little vacation from this place and look what happens! The Oddfellows pull the rug out from under the Senior Center in Montesano. To make it clear, THE MONTESANO SENIOR CENTER SAYS IT WILL NOT MISS A DAY OF SERVICE AND OPERATIONS DURING THEIR TRANSITION TO A NEW LOCATION. (read through this entire post to see a surprising report about how the mayor and his senior staff are working to help the senior center) It seems that the Oddfellows own the green, decaying building at First and Marcy in Montesano, not the Senior Center. A lot of people thought the Seniors owned the place, because that is the main activity that happens there. Not so. The ODDFELLOWS own that place. And it turns out they want a boatload of money from the senior center, or else the senior center can just get the @&*L out! WHO ARE THE ODDFELLOWS? If youve never hear of the Oddfellows, youre not alone. According to Catholic, The Odd Fellows was formed in England in 1812 and was brought to America in 1819. Like the Masons, it is a quasi-religious society, which is one of the Churchs chief objections against it. The group has chaplains, altars, high priests, ritual worship, and funeral ceremonies. Also like the Masons, its members are indifferentists and teach the equality of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam before God. A shorter, more dispassionate explanation is that they are a withering semi-secret society with roots in religion and profess a mission of community service. They used to be in every state and the Montesano chapter is the only one in Grays Harbor. The closest other chapters are in Pierce and Thurston counties. To be a member, you must be invited, pass their screening, swear some sort of oath(s) and pass through a ritualistic reciting of their religious and other traditions. They call their local and state leaders Noble Grands and have other such titles for those who ascend up their ranks. Their own description says that at least one of their officers will guard the door from the outside to ensure that no unauthorized person enters their ritualistic meetings. In Montesano, there are little more than a dozen members. A majority of them live in Thurston and Pierce Counties and are listed as Montesano members because so few local people have joined or have dropped their membership upon learning the internal workings that may only be share with members who have gone through the ritual steps. The local Oddfellows have had money embezzled from them (more than once), including hundreds of thousands of dollars left in a will, trusted to the Oddfellows, and earmarked for support of the Senior Center. That money is gone. WHY ARE THE SENIORS MOVING? WHERE? WHEN? The Senior Center is moving to the upstairs of City Hall as they look for a long-term solution. Mayor Ken Estes, Administrator Kristy Powell, Public Works Director Rocky Howard and Chief Brett Vance have all been working on details and to ready the place for the Seniors. The City Council will consider a contract Tuesday night (Jan. 27) at 7:00 PM. The contract would cut in half the costs that were being charged by the Oddfellows in 2014. The Oddfellows almost tripled the Senior Center Costs from 2013-2014, raising it from $400/month to more than $1179/month for rent and utilities. Then on December 29 (2014), the Senior Center received notice that the rent would DOUBLE again in just 3 days, going to $2400/month. They later offered a compromise of only $1950/month for rent and utilities. The Seniors said they could not afford it, so the Oddfellows told them they had to be out by the end of February. NOW MORE PEOPLE IN MONTESANO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THE ODDFELLOWS! As one of our alert readers told us, the Oddfellows have gone from an unknown secret organization to a well-known pariah in just a week! Miriam Webster defines a pariah as one that is despised or rejected : outcast. They have quickly become pariahs not only because they have grossly jacked up costs that have driven the senior center out of their building, but because apparently they are now spreading rumors about whether the senior center can continue operations. To make it clear, the Senior Center says that the MONTESANO SENIOR CENTER WILL NOT MISS A SINGLE DAY OF OPERATION AND SERVICE DUE TO THIS TRANSITION. Not only have they brought some publicity to themselves, they have also united diverse interests in the community who are now on a mission to help save the Montesano Senior Center. There is more back story to this situation, according to sources at the city and in the community. More will likely come out over time. Stand by for more updates as this story unfolds and there are announcements as to how to help the senior center move and pay for equipment costs. thevidette/sections/news/local/monte-senior-center-seeks-new-home.html
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 02:02:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015