OTTERBEIN LODGE NO. 561
F & AM of INDIANA, USA

WINTER 2002 NEWSLETTER

Greetings Brothers;

Welcome to our second newsletter. The past several meetings have been exciting for our lodge. Beginning shortly after our last newsletter the rear of our lodge building was defaced with graffiti. We arranged to have that painted over and are installing a new light in the rear to attempt to discourage this. I would call this event colorful, but the scrawls were in black and white!

We voted in November to begin offering more diverse meetings. Along with the lectures, now scheduled for every third or fourth meeting, we will be having open discussions on masonic topics. Each topic will be announced at the previous meeting and posted at the web site. These should be fun and enlightening. Our first one at the last meeting in November went well. We are also planning more floor work and talked about including masonic films as part of our meetings.

Brother Larry Willcrout has offered to advertise our lodge's new website: http://mastermason.org/otterbein561 with a sign out front of the lodge hall. He is also completing our new road signs to replace the old ones at the edges of town. If anyone knows of any local/county newspaper(s) that would like to help us out by placing a small ad with just the website address, please let us know.

On the 17^th of this month we are expecting a visit from our grand lodge's area representative and will be opening on the fellowcraft degree. We are expecting to do some floor work in this degree. We had a fun rehearsal preparing for this visit at out first meeting of December and we all looked to be in fine form. Also coming up will be the election of new officers on December 19th, our Feast of St. John held in conjunction with Greenhill lodge on Dec. 27th, and the installation of officers in January. We also have 4 50 year awards coming up next year!

Finally, I would like to extend my own personal good wishes on our newest lodge member: Brother Jon Anderson. He is a product of the new one-day classes and a fine addition to our brotherhood. Please stop by at a meeting and welcome him into the lodge. Regular meetings are scheduled for the first and third Thursdays of each month except July and August.

Very best regards;

Bob Finch, J.W.