The Prez Sez
What Goes Around Comes Around, but I never thought it would be me! After 18 months as President of EOLC San Diego chapter of C&C in 2004-2005, I was succeeded by Steve Schanes. Now I find myself back as President of Hemlock Society of San Diego, or HSSD.
I wish to express my sincere appreciation and congratulations to Steve for the leadership he demonstrated these past 12 years during the difficult transition period, from our being a chapter of C&C to establishing ourselves as a self-governing, independent Right-to-Choose- to-Die organization. We still serve San Diego County to where it joins Orange County to the North of us.
We Still Strive to Retain our Hemlock Name- We thought that, by now we would be past the legal issues of the legitimacy of our continued use of the word Hemlock in our title. However, C&C has continued to drag this issue our, claiming that they have an undisputable copyright on the word "hemlock" and that it is their aim to stop us or any other Right-to-Choose-to-Die organization from using the word hemlock in an organizational name. We have challenged their position on this and have made a vigorous defense of our position. We have every belief that we will ultimately prevail, and we have submitted significant evidence to support our position.
Memberships- All memberships, excepting Life Memberships, expire at the end of December each year. If you have not already done so, now is the time to renew your membership. And if you are not yet a member, see our JOIN page for an application form. We will be pleased to welcome you as a new member in our group.
How Our Bequests Have Been Spent
Finances- As an independent organization, all of our income comes from membership dues. Our operating expenses are paid from these dues; thus we need your continued support in order to pay expenses.
During the past 17 years, several former members included HSSD in their estate plans. We have used these bequests to support major, usually one-time activities to further our San Diego. Hemlock Society goals. Among the beneficiaries have been the following:
(1) C&C - We contributed $2,000 to C&C to support the last Client Services/Caring Friends training program here in Southern California.
(2) Contributions to Pass R-T-D Law in California - We gave $5,000 each to those promoting the passing 2005 and AB 347 in 2007.
Although neither effort was successful, we (the movement) were able to "move the ball down the field" farther than ever before and made a lot of converts in the legislature who supported—and presumably will continue to
support—our future efforts to get an Oregon style law passed in California.
(3) Final Exit Network - We also contributed $5,000 to support Final Exit Network in their efforts and programs to provide nation-wide services to anyone who asks for their help in end-of-life situations.