The great thing about technology is that we can take advantage of it to improve communications. I’m sitting at the back of the convention floor this morning ready to give the results of the elections. Before the elections, we had an excellent presentation by a seminarian on vocations. (I wish we had recorded it. Hopefully, he will present to us again.)

By the way, if someone can give us the proposed by-law changes and the results, that would be great!

There are 8 circles here, each with 4 votes, for a total of 32 circle votes. There are also 7 votes for the State Board. There are a grand total of 39 votes, with 20 votes needed to win.

Here we go! The first election is for State Chief Squire. We have Kevin Hernandez (current State Marshal Squire) and James Kubinski (current State Bursar Squire), both nominated last night. After one ballot, the State Chief Squire for 2006-07 is KEVIN HERNANDEZ. Congratulations, Kevin!

During the counting of the ballots, State Chief Squire Jacob Boyce gave the State of the State Circle report.

The next election is for State Deputy Chief Squire. John Stawasz was nominated last night for SDCS. This morning, Kris VanOcker was nominated and accepted the nomination. After one ballot, the State Deputy Chief Squire for 2006-07 is KRIS VANOCKER. Congratulations, Kris!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the area reports from Saginaw, Detroit-South, and Grand Rapids.

The next election is for State Notary Squire. Sean Roland was nominated last night. John Stawasz and James Kubinski were nominated and accepted the nominations. After one ballot, the State Notary Squire for 2006-07 is from my own circle, Circle 801, SEAN ROLAND!!!. Congratulations, ‘Sugar’ Sean!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the area reports from Lansing and Detroit-North.

The next election is for State Bursar Squire. Thomas Gatchell was nominated last night. John Stawasz was nominated and accepted the nomination. After one ballot, the State Bursar Squire for 2006-07 is THOMAS GATCHELL. Congratulations, Thomas!

During the counting of the ballots, we heard the Bursar’s Report from a class act, State Bursar Squire James Kubinski. He could have ran for one more year at that position (since he was appointed for the position during his first of two years at it), but when nominated, turned it down. I wished that he would have ran again. He’s been doing a great job! Hope that he stays on somehow…

The next election is for State Marshal Squire. Sam Touqan (from Circle 758, a friend of Circle 801) was nominated last night. John Harrington was nominated and accepted the nomination. The first ballot was a dead tie, with one person abstaining (the rumor is that it was the State Father Prior). So, after a total of two ballots, the State Marshal Squire for 2006-07 is SAM TOUQAN. Congratulations, Skunk!

Brief information was brought up about Banquet Committee, the rock-climbing wall here at the hotel, and the Squires Scholarship testing. Also, there were apologies given between SCS Jacob ‘Cake’ Boyce and SMS Kevin ‘K-Dez’ Hernandez. It was something about things mentioned during the by-laws voting last night.

The next election is for State Sentry Squire. Kurt Fraser and John Stawasz were nominated and accepted the nomination. (I don’t know when…) After one ballot, the State Sentry Squire for 2006-07 is KURT FRASER. Congratulations, Kurt!

During the counting of the ballots, State Squires Director Fred Mainville had a couple of door prizes to give away… 2 backpacks filled with ‘crap’ (his words, not mine).

We next had comments from Past State Chief Squire, Former State Squires Director, State Warden and State Advocate-Elect, Michael Malinowski. Then, there were comments from the State Board.

The meeting closed at 11:18AM. ‘Nuff said!