President: Doug Spencer -has a forceful intellect, and his USCF rating reflects it. That, combined with his steady, unflappable personality, will make him a fine president.
Vice-President: Don Stubblebine -whom I have known for more than forty years, is a strong, level-headed, wise leader. He has a sharp and eclectic style of play.
Secretary-Treasurer: Mike Lionti -appreciated and respected for his hard work, honesty, pleasant disposition, and good manners. He does the bulk of the heavy lifting for both the RCC and the CCCR, directing tournaments, event planning and organizing, and serving the digital data needs of the community in his post as webmaster. Possesses a technologically indispensible familiarity with computer procedures for filing USCF rated tournament reports.
These three have shown an ability to work together, cooperating effectively, and bring much to the table that benefits the Community Chess Club. God willing, they will all be re-elected.
Update: Fewer than ten people attended the annual CCCR meeting. Doug Spencer did a first rate job of moderating the meeting and outlining areas of concern to the CCCR. The CCCR holds formal elections only when club officers retire, or die. Don't confuse these methods with Haiti's policies under President-for-Life Papa Doc. CCCR elections are few and far between because there simply isn't enough interest. After all, it's just a board game. Nothing to get serious about.
verlager 12/30/2008) Mail theft of United States Postal Service (USPS) mail is a serious federal offense. The United States Postal Inspection Service has a complaint form in the event that your mail goes missing from your local chess center.
verlager 12/30/2008) Definition of Fraud: All multifarious means which human ingenuity can devise, and which are resorted to by one individual to get an advantage over another by false suggestions or suppression of the truth. It includes all surprises, tricks, cunning or dissembling, and any unfair way which another is cheated. Source: Black's Law Dictionary, 5th ed., by Henry Campbell Black, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1979. Here is an easier to understand definition of fraud.
verlager 11/10/2008) The Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary is a high security prison housing male inmates in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and houses approximately 1,500 inmates. An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum security male offenders. The Lewisburg Penitentiary was opened in 1932. This penitentiary is one of four federal prisons in the county and ten prisons within Union County and the adjacent counties.
In July of 2008, the Correctional Officers at Lewisburg Federal expressed concerns about underfunding. Over the past four years, union leaders and other officials have been lobbying in an attempt to quell staff reductions and cutting costs. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has proposed $143 million in possible spending cuts, including not replacing vehicles and equipment, eliminating overtime, reducing corrections officer training and a possible cut in officer staff positions. Under such conditions, many of the Correctional Officers expressed concerns about their own safety.
Lewisburg Penitentiary has housed many infamous criminals, such as Jimmy Hoffa, John Gotti, Whitey Bulger, Leonard Peltier, Alger Hiss, Robert Lee Johnson, John Wojtowicz, Henry Hill, Angelo Sepe, Paul Vario, Thomas DeSimone, Robert Thompson, Wilhelm Reich, Samuel Roth, Carl Upchurch, and Bayard Rustin. The prison is known for its "Mafia row," or the G Block, a maximum security wing which houses many Mafiosi.
(The facility also lacks a chess club. Could we consider donating $100.00 worth of chess sets and boards from the Rochester Chess Center to inmates in various Lewisburg prisons for inmates interested in forming a chess club?)
501(c)(7) status for CCCR? "If your club is organized for pleasure, recreation, and other similar nonprofitable purposes and substantially all of its activities are for these purposes, it should file Form 1024 to apply for recognition of exemption from federal income tax." -Uncle Fed.
Incorporating under IRS code 503(c)(7) as a Social & Recreation Club would allow the CCCR to handle monetary transactions in a bank account specifically for that purpose. (addendum). Running the finances through an officer's personal checking account is unacceptable. The IRS doesn't like organizations paying out monies to individual members ("private inurement" or "private benefit") unless that is their charter. But there is a way out. CCCR Officers should read and understand IRS Publication #557, page 48 and file the proper forms. Failure to comply means that we don't have a chess club.
- Obtain an employee id number (ein)
- Create and sign an organizational document (bylaws)
- Seek status as an unincorporated association under IRS 503(c)(7)
The local IRS Office is located at 255 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14604. Hours are Monday - Friday 8:30am-4:30pm. Telephone (585) 263-5840. They take walk-ins, but they don't give tax advice over the telephone. For IRS tax advice: Personal: 1-800-829-1040. Business: 1-800-829-4933.
If a chess club meets at a public library and collects no membership dues or fees, then a club constitution or bylaws is not required. But once such a group starts taking in money, things change. That group must be run openly and the members are entitled to have a say in its affairs. This includes having and adhering to a set of bylaws.
verlager 11/17/2008)CCCR Treasurer ceases communication. I am advised via email that the treasurer is refusing discourse through email or telephone, with me outside of regular CCCR meetings. He has reportedly notified the CCCR membership and officers of this fact. I will abide by his request not to contact him. I don't want to cause anybody any grief or annoyance. Change is coming, the present path is unsustainable. How we adjust to the inevitable changes is entirely our own choice.
verlager 11/13/2008) To his credit, the CCCR Treasurer has publicly stated that CCCR will investigate the feasibility of 501(c)(7) status for CCCR by contacting an attorney and/or an accountant for some professional advice. Please see the official CCCR website for more info on this matter. While I am generally precluded from contacting Mr. Lionti, I can offer my public encouragement for this correct and legal course of action for the CCCR treasurer in this 501(c)(7) matter.
verlager 1/21/2009) The present method of pro-rating CCCR memberships to expire at a fixed calendar date is awkward and overly complex. Example: If annual dues are $25.00, and all memberships expire on Jan. 1, 2009, paying dues on Dec. 15, 2008 costs: (15/365) * 25.00 = $1.02. Most organizations find it easier to calculate the expiration date from the date of payment. Memberships may extend for six months or one year. Paying annual CCCR club dues on Jan. 1, 2007 would result in a membership which expires Jan. 1, 2008. This method involves little thought, and only basic arithmetic. It involves some record keeping. We're a hobby club; keeping membership dues current is important to funding chess promotion and paying our expenses.
verlager 9/28/2008) 
Why doesn't the Community Chess Club of Rochester merge with the Rochester Chess Center? Much of the CCCR member dues are used to pay rent directly to the RCC. Streamlining would eliminate the organizational baggage, including the burden of the rent transaction, the postage, bank accounts, checkbooks, figurehead club officers, club by-laws, annual USCF affiliation fees, legal risks, the whole kit 'n kaboodle. Everything else would be the same. We'd still have a great place to play USCF rated chess, free parking, good location, and we could still, conveniently, buy chess equipment locally from Shelby. Also, the RCC sponsors many more, and bigger, tournaments than the CCCR.
If the Rochester Chess Center didn't exist, or its facilities didn't meet our needs, then we'd survive as an independent, autonomous legal entity. But assimilation by a business like RCC wouldn't impose any constraints on CCCR's members. It would just save us money and effort. The RCC owners work hard and run a successful and legitimate business. That same dedication would ensure that chess promotion and events in Rochester would continue unabated.
verlager 9/28/2008) 