WESTERN STATES ZONAL FORUM
Texas Station Hotel and
Casino,
MEETING RECORD
Regions/Members
Present:
Central California Region
George Littleton, RDA Gene
Pesheck, RDA
Rick Travis, RDA
Bryan Walker, RD Jimmy
Lee Provance, RD
Gregory Barnes, RDA Lenny
Russo, RDA
Pacific Cascade Region Region 51
Denise Toomb, RDA
Laura Brown, RDA R.L.
George
Sierra Sage Region
Southern Idaho Region
JB
Morris, RD
Harper K. Nielson, RDA Jack
Hovenier, RDA
Facilitator: Meeting
Reporter:
Regions/Members
Absent:
Deric Whitmore, RDA
Ken Mason, RDA
v The meeting was opened with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity
Prayer at
v Introduction of the facilitator, Vince P., by Rick W. and announcements with
regard to the business center and a planned meeting on Saturday night.
v Introduction of the attendees.
v Reprioritizing of topics/add new topics.
Issue Discussion
Topics
Cooperation
with Courts and Treatment Facilities
HRP/Election/Nominations
Predators
in Meetings
NA
Theft of Funds
CDBM
(Consensus-Based Decision-Making)
Fulfilling
Service Commitments
Retention
of Senior Members
Reaching
Native-Americans and Youth in Recovery
Websites
Taxes
Translations
Insurance
Additional Topics:
Public
Information Having Booths at County Fairs
Sponsorship
Behind the Walls
Incorporation
of Convention Committee/RSC
Licensing
of Vendors to Make Things and Vendors at Conventions and Meetings.
Servicing
Spanish-Speaking Groups
v After a brief discussion, the general consensus was that if the originators
of the new topics were to agree, the additional topics would be put at the end
of the list and be discussed if time permitted.
Regional Reports
Greetings from
Our region's seven areas serve the northern and central
We have more than 400 meetings each week. All areas continue to experience substantial
growth. Our third largest area in 2003
is now our largest and has averaged adding three groups every two months over
this year. We have dances, camp-outs,
retreats, learning days and many other celebrations of recovery.
California Mid-State Region carries a regional insurance
policy that covers every meeting and area or regional event that is held within
the region. Our policy covers all who
attend our functions and meetings. We
pay an annual premium and distribute the cost to the areas based on the number
of meetings in each area. This year, our
$1 million coverage cost
us $8,000. This is an increase of 25
percent and is entirely due to the expansion of events being calendared and
added to the list for coverage. Our cost
for meetings has remained the same for the last three years. If anyone is interested in hearing more about
our coverage, we would be more than happy to share the information with you.
With regard to doing service at the regional level, although
our administrative body is fairly typical, California Mid-State Region operates
with Regional Information Coordinators (RIC's) instead of subcommittees. Our RIC's are to become the best-informed
person in the region on his or her subject and act as a resource to local
subcommittees. We have Hospitals and
Institutions, Public Information, Activities, and Literature RIC's. Our Literature RIC was used to gather our
regional conscience with respect to WSC Motions 1-3, the motions regarding the
Sponsorship book.
Our
region participates with NA as a whole by sending our RIC's to Western
Service Learning Days, our
convention chairmen to the NAWS convention workshops (when we have them), by
participating in the Western States Zonal Forum, Worldwide Workshops, World
Service Meetings (when we have them), and the World Service Conference.
We will hold a regional assembly in November to write our
position papaers on the fellowship-wide discussion topics. We will also hold a three-day assembly in
We continue to make use of regionally sponsored, area hosted
learning days and have bids in for the next round already.
Our Eighth Annual Biennial Convention took place in June in
Central California NA will be celebrating 25 years of NA in
That's all for now,
Bryan W.
v There was a brief discussion about insurance coverage, and several members
discussed exchanging information on the practices in their regions.
An additional report submitted by
the RDA, Greg B., was as follows:
H&I: Sponsorship
by mail; SVGNA hosted a learning day disguised as "A Night of Knowledge
and Titillation" in November 2003 with a play by the Napa/Solano Players
called "The Sponsor."
PI: Drug court influx
continues to swell. Several areas have met
with judges and treatment facilities concerning our Tradition boundaries, i.e.,
the logo on court cards. Four new PSA's
were copied in Beta and Super VHS and given to two areas, with no progress as
of last contact.
National Drug/Alcohol Awareness is September, and the
information arrives in August, not allowing enough time.
Our region is comprised of five areas that are made up of
294 meetings a week. They are:
We
hold our regional assembly in March and elect our delegates at that time; we
have a second alternate. We hold a
single-day assembly in the off-conference years where we workshop the issue
discussion topics and generate additional ones.
On
the conference years, we hold a 2-1/2-day assembly where we do the same, in
addition to addressing the CAR. This
last year we held pre-assembly CAR workshops at each area.
We
are in the process of revising our guidelines.
There is still some direction to be sought as to our nomination process
and the length or terms for our delegates.
All in all, the conscience of the members of our region is being carried
through the service structure.
In
the area of subcommittees, we are proud to report that our Hospitals &
Institutions committees carry over 100 panels monthly. Their current challenge is in
finding a more timely
process for answering letters written by persons on the inside. Our outgoing H&I chair, Roxan T., is in
the process of starting an additional subcommittee to further our primary
purpose in this area.
We
have a website for the dissemination of our regional and area events, meetings,
and contact information, www.ccrna.org.
It is updated regularly and has become part of the Public Information
subcommittee. Our Public Information
subcommittee is struggling a bit with only a chair right now. Meanwhile, our area PI efforts are
continuing. We also have no regional
activities, literature development or literature distribution at this time.
Our
last convention was in February 2004 in
Respectfully submitted in grateful service
by the delegates of the Central California Region:
Rick T., RDA2; George L., RDA; Steve F, RD
Discussion ensued as follows:
v Steve S. passed around a flyer about service created by a member of his region.
v Discussion on convention transportation and venue.
v Coordinator as opposed to committees at regional level
v Regional website and maintaining services
v Incorporation of convention pros and cons; Jack H. from
v Website links caution about content, maybe a disclaimer.
v Chat room not a good experience for the San Diego Region.
Greetings, Western States
Zonal Forum:
The Northern California Region consists of 20 areas and
approximately 1,200 meetings. The RSC meets monthly at the Regional Service
Office (RSO) in
The H&I committee meets bimonthly at the RSO before the
RSC meeting. Our PI committee is no
longer a subcommittee. It still has a
bimonthly sharing session, similar to this Forum, at the RSO, but Regional Coordinators
(RC's) now coordinate the Regional PI services.
We
have a working group to host WSLD in
NCCNA 26 was held in
The RSO Board meets monthly at the RSO. The RSO supplies insurance that is paid for
by the RSC for all meetings in our region.
After an increase in area and
multi-area events asking for RSO Board oversight, we have hit a wall, so
to speak. After asking not to be given
any more events to oversee -- the ultimate decision is made at the RSC -- the
RSC gave the RSO Board one more event and put in place a moratorium on RSO's
overseeing events. The RSO Board has
also created a working group to look into the solution. The RSO Board is doing much more than was
ever envisioned when its current structure was developed.
Most of our areas have functioning PI and H&I
subcommittees, phone lines, monthly ASC's and dance or activities
committees. Some of our areas in the
more rural part of the state are experiencing problems common to us in NA: More work to be done with too few people to
do it.
We did pre-CAR assemblies in the four zones within the
region. Attendance at these assemblies
was better than in the last Conference cycle.
We are encouraged, and the region sees to like the way we bring them
information. We may need to create a new
zone in the very northern part or our region to make the assemblies more
accessible. We have decided that they do
not attend the post-CAR assemblies because they receive the information about
what happened at the WSC from the reports that the RD's give at the RSC.
In loving service,
Jimmy Lee Provance, RD
Discussion ensued as follows:
v In order for the Board to be fiduciary, they have a criteria for the committee to meet in
order for them to accept responsibility;
v Tax returns two paid employees: one office manager and part-time office.
v $250,000 budget for convention, 1200 meetings, 20 areas.
Pacific Cascades
Region:
Hello all from the Pacific
Cascades Region:
We are located in the beautiful state of
Our RSC meets quarterly on a rotating basis around the
state. The longest drive is about six
hours. We have two areas that have
missed the last two RSC's. As we have no
outreach committee, it is given to the delegates to contact the areas and find
out how they are, et cetera.
We have two assemblies every year, one in January and one in
July. We do a mixture of stuff,
presentations about World stuff and small group discussion sessions. The feedback is consistent that they enjoy
the small group discussions.
Denise is our new alternate delegate, and we have no second
at this time. Michael M. and Marie P.
have moved to the Delaware Free State Region.
"Mole"
Bryan W. was our Saturday night speaker at our regional convention in May;
small but fun celebration, cleared about $3,000.
We
are moving towards consensus-based decision making.
Our
region still doesn't have a website. We
have an ad hoc person starting to work on it.
The Portland Area is considering starting a men's convention.
Cathy Klupenger, RD; Denise Toomb, RDA
Discussion ensued as follows:
v CAR assemblies done by delegate team in the small discussion groups, when local people are
doing them attendees are more responsive;
v Duties of area office not known at this time, maybe office services and
meeting space. It was noted that WSO
will not recognize an area service office, only regional service office.
v Feedback for men's convention idea: Concerns
about public image and attracting new members and they see the separation;
violates Third Tradition, that any member regardless of age, race, sex, creed,
religion or lack of religion; groups of this kind's ultimate goal is to perpetuate
themselves. It was noted that the region
can't tell the area what to do, but they can give a suggestion.
Fran J. gave an oral report as follows: There is a
new RDA, Jack H.; the convention corporation is going to be a regional
corporation, and the region has recovered from the embezzlement episode.
Ó
20-minute recess to finish reports,
v Michael M. reported as follows: We have
four areas spread over a large
geographic area, including
most of
Last
year we funded a learning/unity activity day in each area. We do fund a PI booth at the San Bernardino
County Fair and have done so for the past nine years; the cost is $75 to
$100. We just held our CIRCNA 7
convention in
Our region is comprised of 20 areas that are made up of
1,315 meetings a week. We meet once a
month on the third Sunday of the month.
We hold one regional assembly a year in the month of February where we
go over the CAR. On the off year, we
hold an assembly fashioned over the World Wide Workshop, going over the topic
discussion issue and anything that the areas would like to bring forward.
Our subcommittees are comprised of: PI, PL, H&I, Activities, Convention,
Cruise, and Spring Gathering.
Our
H&I committee currently serves 57 regional panels and 618 area panels for a
total of 675 panels.
Our
Activities committee just had the annual NA birthday, and it was a great
success. They also host an annual New
Year's Eve event and H&I learning day along with the Southern California
Regional Assembly. They co-host two
annual campouts with the California Inland Region.
PL
is a 24-hour live addict service answering the phone that is maintained by
seven areas.
The
Cruise committee is gearing up for their third annual cruise in September. The Cruise committee donated $14,700 in
January.
The
Convention committee is getting ready for the 25th convention over
the Thanksgiving weekend. They donated
$15,352.60 in March from last year's convention.
We
have a Regional Service Office which is run by a board of directors made up of
members of NA. We had a theft last year
in the office that is currently under investigation by the local law
enforcement agency. They (RSO) provide
insurance for all the groups in Southern California Region and all events.
One
of our areas is a Spanish-speaking area that has grown by leaps and bounds over
the past year in providing services to the Spanish-speaking groups. They recently formed a convention committee
to host a Spanish-speaking convention opened to everybody in the fellowship.
Respectfully yours,
Ruben A., RD; Ken M., RDA
Discussion ensued as follows:
v PSA's come from the WSO and are tailored for the region.
v RSO accountable to RSC? No.
v It was noted that the RCM position on the board is voice without a vote.
v
v Nothing written down yet that it's a language area as opposed to a
geographic area; Spanish members went to English-speaking areas and could not
participate so they formed their own area.
v It was noted that a language entity that goes to Region needing services when there is
a need to provide those services to its member groups is technically an area.
v Too spread out in Mid-California; other areas struggling with the geographic
constraints.
The Rio Grande Region now has six areas with two of those
being inactive. There are around 160
meetings a week in the region.
Our convention incorporated two years ago and now has a full
board of directors. The board has
started work on a budgeting process for the region and has made advances on
bringing consistency to our regional convention. We do not have any insurance as of yet but
are looking into this in the future. Our
2004 convention was held in
Our regional delegate and alternate delegate are elected at
the RSC following the final WSC of the delegate's term; we do not have a second
alternate. The terms of our delegates
are four years as alternate and four years as delegate. Our region does not have subcommittees and
has resource persons that coordinate the services between the area committees.
We held two regional assemblies prior to the WSC, and
attendance was limited; however, there was a lot of interest from our groups
across the border. We dedicated half of
the time to a discussion topic prioritization similar to what we do here, but
there was no interest to have a post-assembly from our areas as of yet.
In service,
Jim W., RD; Laura B., RDA
Discussion ensued as follows:
v Four-year term as RCM and four-year term as delegate is working and is a good thing.
v Spanish-speaking meetings, region sent money to buy literature but are not
attending RSC; need to be
self-supporting.
v Baja peninsula still has San Diego groups trying to service them, not working.
v Group can have several meetings, but a meeting cannot have several groups;
v Good that WSO is involved in the Development Day for the Spanish-speaking
areas;
v It was noted that there is no need for a geographical boundary for an area.
Ó
POINT OF INFORMATION: Zonal Forum map needs to be updated.
Our region is comprised of five areas that cover all of
southern
The region meets on a quarterly basis that rotates between
the five areas. We hold a regional
assembly and do a topic discussion on the years that the WSC does not
meet. The other year we do a CAR
workshop that has stirred support and controversy.
Our region has a problem with area support at the
subcommittee meetings. We presently do
not have a literature committee and activities committee. We have had some problems with our regional
convention that moves around the region.
We have discussed the idea of having the regional activities committee
oversee the convention.
We have been talking about the region incorporating, but
that's about as far as it has gotten.
We
are looking at guideline amendments that will reduce our regional finances to
only one quarter's operating expenses.
We
have a website with an elected webmaster.
In grateful service,
JB, RD
Discussion ensued as follows:
v
It was
noted that if a region is looking
to scaling down budgets, new guidelines were presented at most recent assembly.
v
The RD
stressed that they need input on
an operating expense plan; areas feel they're holding back too much, should be
passing on to the World.
v
It was
suggested by
v
Pacific
Cascades has the whole budgeted amount
in bank and lets it go in little bits at a time
v
There was a
general discussion about how the regions
do their budgets.
Ó
ADJOURNED AT
v The meeting was opened by the facilitator with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity
Prayer at
v
REGIONAL REPORTS
Region 51:
Greetings from Region 51:
Region 51 is currently comprised of three member areas with
approximately 100 meetings per week. The
RSC meets quarterly. An assembly is held
in March of the Conference year to obtain the regional conscience of the CAR
through discussion and straw polls. At
this assembly, the RD and RDA are elected. A June assembly is scheduled to
present the information obtained from the World Service Conference.
Region 51 functions primarily as a resource committee for
its member areas. Our guidelines are
based on the Guide to Local Service. We
implement consensus-based decision-making at our RSC. We have no formal committees at this level of
service. We hold quarterly sharing
sessions for PI and H&I. These
sharing sessions are facilitated by a member RCM to encourage an exchange of
ideas and discuss concerns. The region
is used as a resource to be supportive and offer guidance when needed.
We
have made progress with implementing consensus-based decision-making. Many of our members still find it difficult
to let go of formal voting procedures.
We hope to once again receive input and experience of other regions that
currently operate in this manner.
Currently,
our groups have been discussing an issue brought at our last assembly. While we are a resource committee with no
formal standing committees, there are members that would like to see one PI
committee and one H&I committee for the entire region with no area
committees. It was decided that the
groups should make the final decision on the issue so, after a lengthy
discussion, one question was asked of them:
Do you want your PI and H&I services to be provided by your area or
the region? This will be decided at a special
assembly in September.
In loving service,
Rick Whitman, RD
Discussion ensued as follows:
v There are no boundaries of the areas.
v People involved want things the way they were.
San
Diego/Imperial Valley:
DW (RD) gave an oral report as
follows:
v
Discussions
in the region over site of
upcoming convention, i.e., venue and providing transportation.
v
Looking into
having a policy review entity.
v
Literature
drives in Mexico not going to Baja
but to a group that is disbursing them, concerns with the fund flow structure.
v
Region
versus area activities and
coordination problems.
v
DW feels
that structure in place works well
and dialogue is free-flowing.
v
Working on fine-tuning website.
v
Separate
funds for newcomer supplies and
accountability.
v
Principle
of self-support needs to be
taught.
v
Region
needs to be responsive to the
desires of the member areas.
Sierra Sage
Region:
Sierra Sage Region recently acquired insurance to cover all
meetings on the regional schedule and riders are available for individual
events.
We
have had an active outreach committee for the past year that has helped us touch
base with the geographically challenged portions of our region. We have had some problems in one of our areas
with gang members wearing colors to meetings and brandishing weapons.
We
have a lack of people showing up at Region for service; was asked to gather
information about moving towards consensus-based decision-making.
Our biannual convention is changing to annual starting this
year. The convention dates are
In loving service,
Isabel L.
Discussion ensued as follows:
v "Dreamcatcher" is a company and the logo is copyrighted;
v Concern that it is slanted to one spiritual belief and a violation of the
Traditions.
v Tax situation has been resolved with the IRS and the region is up to speed.
Ó
Morning recess,
Issue Discussion Topics
The following is a compilation of the input given
by the Zonal Forum participants on the discussion topics gathered at the World
Service Conference.
Cooperation with Courts and
Treatment Facilities:
v Some regions suggested a newcomer orientation meeting, 70-80 newcomers a
big impact or a 6-hour presentation forum with parties involved.
v Issue
on anonymity.
v Treatment centers provide a service and recovery is spiritual based.
v Need to provide information to drug courts like is done with schools or other
public entities; i.e., learning day and all participants attending.
v Need to educate court officials, and it needs to be discussed in NA before
presented to the public.
v Difference between government funded and private treatment centers,
private more vigorous in pursuing recovery.
v To get this to work, it needs to come from RD down to the groups and to
the addicts.
v Some groups do a head count of attendees and drug court pays registration; others
will do service work to pay for free admission at events.