On Tuesday, we spend the morning talking about the proposed bylaws which the board had adopted, pending approval by the teams. That afternoon, about half the attendees boarded a bus and headed for the Wisconsin Dells. The photo to the right shows Harry Hawkins of Saginaw, Michigan, riding the Wisconsin Ducks, the first stop on our special fun trip.

But first a bit about the new bylaws. Charlie Land of Travis County REACT in Texas was the moderator for this session. (See photo on left) The proposed bylaws have been adopted by the board of directors with unanimous recommendation from the convention delegates (15 councils and 40 teams listed in attendance with delegates). The new bylaws would provide for nine elected directors, eight from the USA and one from teams outside the USA (Canada, UK, Germany, West Indies and Puerto Rico). These directors would serve rotating three (3) year elected terms after being elected by the teams in their region. There is a recall provision in place allowing for 25% of the teams in a given region to initiate such action. In accordance with Illinois Law, only those elegible to vote for a director may vote to remove the director. There will be slots for two outside directors (non REACT) to allow bringing in of any needed special expertise or contacts within the communications industry or other purposes.

A few things have been hard coded into the bylaws to prevent tampering later and avoid misinterpretation. (Photo: Ron McCracken of Canada addresses bylaws session)

The requirements for being a director are fixed as being a member for at least three years and be at least 21 years of age. An elected director must be a registered member of a local team in his/her region, but if regions are changed due to shifts in REACT population, that director does not loose their seat on the board until the end of their normal term. All board meetings are now required to be open to our membership, other than those matters involving personnel or potential/pending litigation. If a future Board wants to change this, they would have to amend the bylaws and put it before the teams for approval.

The process of approving changes will be altered a bit to save costs for REACT International, and that has drawn some controversy and discussion. If adopted as written, future changes will be posted in the REACTer magazine or mailed via first class mail to the teams, and UNLESS a number of teams file objections within 60 days, the amendment takes affect. If objections are filed, the board has the option to amend their proposal, or to take it 'as is' to the teams in the form of a ballot vote. Ballot votes require 2/3 approval to pass. The reasoning behind this change, is to keep us from spending thousands of dollars everytime a change is required, but yet keep team approval a necessity in the process.

A full copy of the proposed bylaws, a cover letter to explain the differences, plus copies of all board minutes for the year of 1998 (to date) will be mailed to all teams and councils, hopefully no later than the end of August 1998.

The bus ride was so smooth, that Henry Sahler of REACT Services Diversified (WI) was not disturbed in the least while he snored peacefully away on the way to the Dells. Even though it rained back at the hotel, and on the bus on the way to the Dells, our driver promised us no rain at any of our stops, and for once, he was right! The weather was great at all of the places that we stopped to visit. And the temperature was a lot cooler than it was down in Texas that week also.

We boarded the Wisconsin Ducks, WWII amphibious vehicles that our guide told us could drive 55 MPH on land, paddle 6mph on water, and 270mph if he drove off the edge of a cliff (not confirmed).

The ducks take to the water, and our driver let those under 16 years of age take a spin at the wheel while on the lake.



George & Jackie McDonald (convention hosts) paddle by in their own duck. (Trust us, this was them!)


George & Jackie McDonald entertain a few of our Canadian members in the Dells outside a convenient Dairy Queen. Other tour group members wandered thru the numerous t-shirt shops, restaurants and gift stores. The driver of a stalled vehicle in traffic was startled when the call came over the GMRS radio asking for help in pushing it out of traffic. Can you imagine the look on the driver's face when 30-40 REACT members converged from blocks around to push their car out of traffic? Fortunately for them, the car got restarted before we all arrived.


Charlie & Pattie Land (Texas), Alf Fronefield (Bosnia) look out over the river. Alf traveled from Bosnia to attend his first convention. Alf is serving on active duty in the US Army, currently stationed in Bosnia, but his home team is in Pennsylvania.

After playing tourist in the Dells, we went to the American Club Buffet to chow down, and then over to the Tommy Bartlett Thrill Show for some entertaining ski shows, juggling acts, and Wes Harrison's sound effects (all by his voice). The show lasted several hours and was well worth the trip by itself. Following are some photos taken during the show of our group and of the show. I won't try to put captions or names with all of them, but all of them will have captions if you move your mouse over the photo.









We boarded the bus after the show, around 10:30pm, and arrived back in Janesville at the Holiday Inn after midnight.



[Back to Previous Day's Photos] [Forward to Next Day's Photos]