iN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT IN AND FOR HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, CIVIL DIVISION ELLENBETH

WACHS, Plaintiff,
V.

CaseNo.: 11-CA-015545 Division: I

EDWARD GOLLOBITH, TRACY THOMAS NAN OWENS, STEVE BROWN, MATT COOPER, GLORIA JULIUS, STEVE MILES, JAMES PETERSON, WALLACE REINHARDT and ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, iNC Defendants.
/

ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC., Plaintiff,

V.

Consolidated with Case No.: 1 l-CA-015707 Division: L

ELLENBETH WACHS and JOHN KIEFFER, Defendants.

/

JOHN W. MCKNIGHT, Plaintiff,

V.

Consolidated with Case No.: 2012-CA-002073

ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, iNC., and ELLENBETH WACHS, Defendants.

/

AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR DEFAMATION DAMAGES AND OTHER RELIEF

I.
1.

Introduction

This action for defamation and other relief is brought by the Plaintiff Ms.

ELLENBETH WACHS against the Defendants, EDWARD GOLLOBITH, TRACY THOMAS, NAN OWENS, STEVE BROWN, MAY]I' COOPER, GLORIA JULIUS, STEVE MILES, JAMES PETERSON, WALLACE RE1NHARDT and ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, iNC. Plaintiff Wachs was the designated acting president of Atheists of Florida, Inc., a Florida Non Profit Corporation ("the A0F"). The Defendants (except AoF) are or were at the time of the subject defamations members of the Board of Directors of the AoF ("the Board"). This action arose from a plan to override corporate bylaws which led to an email ("Writing I") sent on November 6, 2011, by the Defendants to the AoF membership falsely accusing the Plaintiff Wachs of impropriety and criminal behavior. Specifically this email stated that the Plaintiff has "been expelled from the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name, misappropriating the organization's funds, and acting in a way that discredits the organization." This same email directed members to a publicly accessible website which repeated these false claims ("Writing II"). In addition, the Defendants published, disseminated by hand, by postal mail, by email and posted online its Quarterly Newsletter Volume XV No. 1 October-December 2011 which repeated these false claims ("Writing III"). Furthermore, Defendants (except Reinhardt) contacted numerous local and national atheist organizations and repeated these false claims to the leaders and Boards of these organizations leading to Plaintiff Wachs' shunning by the atheist community ("Writings IV, V and VI"). The Defendants (except Cooper and Reinhardt) published, disseminated by hand, by postal mail, by email and posted online its Quarterly Newsletter Volume XV No.

2 January 2012 which repeated these false claims and, further, made new ones ("Writing VII")

II.
2.

Jurisdiction

This Court has jurisdiction and venue is proper because at least one of the

defendants resides in Hillsborough County and because the amount in controversy exceeds
$15,000.

Ill. Parties
3. The Plaintiff Ms. EllenBeth Wachs is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Polk County, Florida. She is a small business owner. She was and asserts that she remains acting president of the AoF. She has served as an AoF Board member, the vice president, and the legal affairs coordinator of the AoF. She resides at 5963 Lake Victoria Drive, Lakeland, FL 33813. 4. Defendant Atheists of Florida, Inc. is a Florida not-for-profit corporation

formed in 1992. 5. Defendant, Mr. Edward Gollobith is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Hilisborough County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides at 4303 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, FL 33611-1940. 6. Defendant, Ms. Tracy Thomas is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Pinellas County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides at 6411 93' Terrace, #490 1, Pinellas Park, FL 33782.

7.

Defendant, Ms. Nan Owens is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Hillsborough County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides at 4704 Lakewood Drive, Seffner, FL 33584. 8. Defendant, Mr. Steve Brown is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Pinellas County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides in Pinellas County, Florida. 9. Defendant, Mr. Matt Cooper is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Hillsborough County, Florida. This party was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writing III. This party resides at 15636 Eastbourn Drive, Odessa, FL 33556. 10. Defendant, Ms. Gloria Julius is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Pinellas County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides at 6382 181h Street NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33702. 11. Defendant, Mr. Steve Miles is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Alachua County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III, IV, V, VI and VII. This party resides at 6308 N.W. 136 t Street, Gainesville, FL 32606. 12. Defendant, Mr. James Peterson is now and at all times mentioned in this

Amended Complaint was a resident of Hillsborough County, Florida. This party is or was a

member of the Board and signed Writings I and II and participated in issuing Writings III and VII. This party resides at 6814 Charlotte Harbor Way, Tampa, FL 33425. 13. Defendant, Mr. Wallace Reinhardt, is now and at all times mentioned in this Amended Complaint was a resident of Pinellas County, Florida. This party is or was a member of the Board, a member of the Financial Oversight Committee, conspired with the other Defendants and gave explicit, written approval of all actions taken on November 6, 2011. He resides at 5910 110 Ave Pinellas Park, FL 33782.

IV. History of Atheists of Florida. Inc.

14. AoF was formed in January 28, 1992. Its mission was to: a. b. promote freedom of thought and expression; to advocate, promote and defend in all lawful ways, the absolute and complete separation of church and state;
C.

to protect the constitutional and civil rights of atheists as members of a free and democratic society.

15.

AoF was originally established with Articles of Incorporation (attached as

Exhibit A) and with a set of Bylaws for the Board of Directors and a separate set of Bylaws

for the Corporation. (Attached as Composite Exhibit B). 16. Among one of the original members was Defendant Gollobith (using the

fictitious name of "Ed Golly") who served as Vice President and a Member of the Board. Defendant Gollobith did not use his legal name Edward Gollobith while serving in the capacity as, an officer and a Board member of AoF, a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization in violation of Florida Statute 817.155. 17. During many years, Defendant Gollobith served as an Officer or Board

member. The organization was loosely run. For example, although the original Bylaws 5

(Exhibit B) called for an annual election and required that the membership vote for Board

Members, proper Member elections were never held which led to a self-perpetuating Board. 18. Under the original Bylaws (Exhibit B), officers were ex-Officio members of

the Board with the same rights and responsibilities as elected Board members. 19. The purported Board Members were never democratically elected. Current

officers would simply re-nominate themselves as officers and re-establish their positions as ex-Officio members of the Board foregoing a proper democratic election. 20. Under the original bylaws (Exhibit B), the membership should have been

notified two months in advance of the Annual Meeting affording it the opportunity to nominate people for the Board and vote for their choice of Directors at the Annual Meeting. 21. Defendant Gollobith was comfortable with the loose and casual

administration of the corporation because it was a significant part of his identity and life. 22. Under the original dual set of Bylaws (attached as Exhibit B), the chairman

functions as an officer of the board and is elected every year by the directors. He/she is not an executive of the organization and has no authority to act on behalf of or bind the corporation. 23. After wrongfully combining the Bylaws, Defendant Gollobith removed the

mechanism for the board to elect the Chairperson due to the fact that the chair is not an officer of the organization and has no executive duties. 24. Under the appropriate governing Florida Statutes for non-profit corporations,

bank accounts and assets of the corporation should be controlled only by the officers. But during the time that Defendant Gollobith was Chairman of the Board he asserted a supposed superior right to run the organization.

on

25.

The combined set of Bylaws (attached as Exhibit B) provided for 24 Board

Members. 26. In June of 2009, the first new chapter was established under the Bylaws and

Plaintiff Wachs was duly elected by the membership to be Chapter Director of the Lakeland Chapter of AoF thus making her the only member-elected board member. 27. In addition to not having elections and being poorly managed, AoF was not

effective in its core mission of defending churchlstate separation. 28. During this time period, according to its original founder and President, AoF

had adopted policies which lowered its image and lost many members throughout the state. "The setback was possible by the support of this unintelligent policy by the majority of the current Board including the present Chair Ed Golly." Some of those policies were so offputting that the Founder was compelled to divorce himself, "Consequently, and although I am the founder of Atheists of Florida, I am compelled to disassociate my name from the embarrassing policies the organization has adopted." (See attached Exhibit C) 29. Defendant Gollobith supported protesting at local churches such as Indian

Rocks Baptist Church holding up signs that read "Insidious Christian Fundamentalism" and "Jesus is Lard." He was so disruptive that the police had to be summoned. 30. Defendant Gollobith encouraged divisive debates between Christians and

Atheists on a local cable access show.

V. EllenBeth Wachs Joins the Board

31. On January 31, 2010, EllenBeth Wachs believed she became a member of the

AoF Board by virtue of her election as the Director of the Lakeland Chapter of AoF. As a courageous woman and a former attorney, she understood that actual legal challenges to

churchlstate violations were essential to the mission of AoF. As stated later by the founder, "The organization returned to a more rational path and started to address the serious issues of state/church violations . . . ." (see attached Exhibit D) Some existing Board members resented Plaintiff's fame and courage which they viewed as interfering with their personal control of the organization. 32. Plaintiff Wachs brought more modern fund raising methods to the

organization and effectively used social media to promote the mission of AoF. She introduced Chip-in widgets, Paypal, using Twitter and petitions to bring awareness. She introduced the concept of utilizing MeetUp.com to facilitate meetings for the organization. She also urged the organization to begin accepting online membership applications used rather than the snail mail currently in use. 33. Upon believing she was joining the Board, Plaintiff Wachs was provided a

2004 set of Bylaws (Exhibit E). 34. Plaintiff Wachs noticed that the Board was not following the organization's

2004 bylaws nor was it following state law regarding not-for-profit corporations and raised these issues on numerous occasions. Only sporadically would her protestations be taken seriously and issues addressed. More often than not, long-term Board members resented her attempts to follow the law and the 2004 bylaws. 35. In October of 2010, at a specially called Board meeting, Plaintiff Wachs

made a motion to amend the supposed 2004 bylaws to change the way members were expelled due to a member misbehaving. She was informed by Defendant Gollobith that bylaws could only be amended at an Annual Meeting by a vote of the membership whereupon she withdrew her motion. (See attached Exhibit F)

(i]

36.

At the January 2011 Board meeting a new set of purported bylaws was

provided by Defendant Gollobith to Plaintiff in which one word had changed but which substantially changed the way the organization ran. The new provision read "These bylaws may be amended at a Board meetig by a majority of those members present and voting" as opposed to the prior iteration, "These bylaws may be amended at an Organization meeting by a majority of those members present and voting." (See Exhibit G) The bylaws were not adopted by the members. 37. At Defendant Gollobith's prompting, Plaintiff Wachs re-introduced the

previously withdrawn motion for expulsion which then was purportedly passed. From that point on, the bylaws would purportedly get amended rather often, but never in compliance with the correct process that required member approval. 38. A set of Bylaws marked "revisions through 2004" included the provision,

"These bylaws may be amended at an Organization meeting by a majority of those members present and voting." (See Exhibit E) However, an earlier set of Bylaws marked "as of 2/9/03" reflect the change "These Bylaws may be amended at a Board Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting." (See attached Exhibit E-l) There is no. record of any annual member meetings having occurred which reflects any action of the membership to change this bylaw yet the minutes of most following Board meetings reflect directors made motions changing or attempting to change these bylaws evidencing a total disregard for the rights of the members. It is also apparent that the bylaws had already been wrongfully altered by 2003. 39. In June of 2011, Defendant Cooper was at the Board meeting when a motion

was called for a vote. He raised his hand to vote on the issue when Plaintiff Wachs informed

An

him that she thought that he was ineligible to vote as he was not a Board member. He began arguing that he was a Board member by virtue of his Chapter Director position but Plaintiff Wachs pointed to a provision in the 2004 bylaws that she had been provided which made him ineligible as there was already a member seated from his area. President Kieffer made a speech about Chapter Directors being the front line of the movement and he and Defendant Cooper asked Plaintiff Wachs to make a motion to change the bylaw to allow all Chapter directors a seat on the Board. The motion purportedly passed. 40. All bylaws changes purportedly instituted from April 1992 forward are null

and void under the original provisions of the AoF Articles of Incorporation (Exhibit A) and its original sets of Bylaws (Exhibit B) because none were adopted by the membership.

VI. Civil Litigation On Behalf of AoF

41. Plaintiff Wachs became a widely known figure within the community very

quickly upon the formation of the Lakeland Chapter of AoF in the summer of 2009. A billboard was erected in Lakeland in November of 2009 to promote the Chapter and grabbed the attention of both the community and the media. 42. A "Meet The Atheists" event was held at the Lakeland Library and Plaintiff

Wachs was thereafter featured on multiple newscasts. 43. In January of 2010, Plaintiff Wachs began advocating publicly for the

organization's mission with the full support of the AoF Board. 44. In March of 2010, Plaintiff Wachs approached her local city commission to

request that it replace its prayer practice with a seated moment of silence to be inclusive of all worldviews. Much media attention was given to this effort.

10

45.

The City of Lakeland refused and a federal civil lawsuit (Lakeland Prayer

Lawsuit) was instituted in July of 2010 by Plaintiff and AoF as co-plaintiffs with much fanfare coinciding with an Independence Day billboard campaign designed by Plaintiff Wachs that was spread throughout the City of Lakeland. Plaintiff Wachs gave a press conference under one of the six "One Nation, Indivisible" billboards to announce the lawsuit with the full support of the Board. 46. In December of 2010, Plaintiff Wachs learned the Sheriff of Polk County

was planning on giving county property to churches so she conferred with AoF's then president and outside legal counsel and sent a cease and desist letter to the Sheriff which he ignored. 47. In December 2010 and January 2011, Plaintiff Wachs then sent multiple

public records request to the Polk County Sheriff seeking information about the transfer of this taxpayer property to these churches. This action was supported by the AoF Board. 48. In March of 2011, just prior to her deposition for the Lakeland prayer

lawsuit, a SWAT team showed up at her home to arrest her for signing the records requests with the honorific "Esq." after her name. She was taken into custody and her home was searched for approximately 5 hours and the records she had sought, among other things, were seized. The affiants on the arrest warrant were Mayor Gow Fields (defendant in the Lakeland Prayer Lawsuit), Sheriff Grady Judd's Legal Affairs Coordinator Ann Gibson and the now Polk County Clerk of Courts, a neighbor, Stacy Butterfield. 49. In May of 2011, again just prior to her now re-scheduled deposition for the

Lakeland lawsuit, she was arrested on an outrageous trumped up charge based on the

11

narrative of her next-door neighbor, a Lakeland City employee, in an attempt to discredit her testimony.

VII. Criminal Defense - Efforts on Behalf of AoF

50. As the result of the civil litigation and the criminal charges and defenses,

Plaintiff Wachs received significant donations and publicity. She was admired for her courage in standing up to government officials who, in the view of AoF and in her view were violating the separation of church and state. 51. Plaintiff Wachs spent hours each day seeking out people who would support

her cause and donate to her defense. Thousands of people from around the world signed a petition on her behalf and donated money for her legal defense. 52. Hundreds of articles, blogs and stories were generated and the AoF website

had close to 250,000 hits. The website had 7200 hits the year prior to Plaintiff Wachs joining AoF. 53. Membership increased from approximately 100 to 180 members due to

Plaintiff Wachs and the high visibility she attained for AoF. The organization went from two Chapters to eight Chapters within a year.

VIII. AoF Support for Legal Expenses

54. On March 8, 2011, Plaintiff Wachs retained legal counsel, Larry Walters,

Esq. to' assist in her criminal defense. She consulted with AoF Board president, John Kieffer, who assured her that AoF would stand behind her. John Kieffer in consultation with Defendant Gollobith, wrote an AoF check for Plaintiff Wachs' attorney's retainer. 55. On March 9, 2011, President John Kieffer and Defendant Gollobith went to

the bank to transfer funds to cover the AoF check for Plaintiff Wachs' attorney and

12

Defendant Gollobith was also informed that she would be hiring local counsel, John Liguori, Esq. in addition to Larry Walters, Esq. Kieffer and Defendant Gollobith transferred forty thousand dollars to AoF' s operating account to cover plaintiff's attorneys' retainers. 56. By April 4, 2011, Defendant Peterson assisted Plaintiff Wachs and President

John Kieffer draft a donation solicitation statement which has been placed on the Atheists of Florida website and attorney Larry Walters' website requesting donations for Plaintiff Wachs and President John Kieffer's legal expenses. 57. On June 24, 2011 on advice of counsel, Plaintiff Wachs filed a federal civil

rights lawsuit against Sheriff Grady Judd seeking an injunction preventing him from arresting her for frivolous charges in retaliation for exercising her constitutional rights. 58. On June 25, 2011, the AoF Board was sent the agenda for the next Board

meeting. In the Board package was the proposed budget which included paying the Plaintiffs legal expenses. 59. The AoF Board approved the proposed budget on June 26, 2011 with over

$70,000 for legal expenses with the addition of another ten thousand dollars for publicity in the event Plaintiff Wachs needed to travel for interviews. The Board was given a full explanation of all legal issues pending and unanimously approved funding for all including reimbursing President John Kieffer $8,500.00 he advanced. 60. After the June 26, 2011 Board meeting, Defendant Cooper stayed behind

with Defendant Gollobith and discussed the lawsuits. Defendant Cooper did not care for Ms. Wachs but she was vigorously defended by Defendant Gollobith that she had not anticipated being arrested and she never did anything illegal. She had not engaged in any wrongful legal representation and that the fact that the Sheriff sent a Swat team to invade

13

her home over a false allegation that she was engaged in the unlicensed practice of law indicated that the Sheriff was engaged in harassment of her simply because she had challenged his right to give County property to religious organizations in violation of the Constitution. He further said that her civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff, in his opinion, was a proper action to take to protect herself from a demonstrably hostile law enforcement officer. He said the lawsuit should be pursued and not abandoned and that AoF should provide financial assistance to the suit. Defendant Cooper resolved to try to persuade Board members to turn against her. 61. In July of 2011, President John Kieffer started a petition on Plaintiff Wachs'

behalf against the unwarranted harassment and linked it to a Chip-in widget seeking donations to aid Plaintiffs legal defense. 62. The AoF Board discussed the issue that as these donations are for Plaintiff

Wachs' benefit it was necessary to remove the notice on the Chip-in that the donations are tax-deductible and President Kieffer did so. The donations for legal costs were to be passed through AoF and would never become AoF's property. 63. Plaintiff Wachs circulated the petition to her friends, family and associates

and garnered over five thousand signatures. All the individual Defendants signed the petition. 64. The publicity and Plaintiffs fundraising efforts from March, 2011 through

September, 2011 raised almost twenty-five thousand dollars in donations in addition to AoF's then resources. 65. In August of 2011, the State Attorney dismissed the charges against Plaintiff

Wachs with a deferred prosecution agreement i.e. the State Attorney would not prosecute as

14

long as she was not re-arrested within 2 years. The Federal civil rights lawsuit was acknowledged as the impetus for the agreement and she was allowed to retain her rights to sue under the Civil Rights lawsuit but not bring any others arising from the previous arrests. 66. President Kieffer scheduled a Financial Oversight Committee ("FOC")

meeting on September 11, 2011, to obtain approval to disburse the funds that had not yet passed through from the funds donated for Plaintiff's benefit in the amount of $18,090.42. 67. The FOC met and reviewed the documentation and approved the

disbursement on September 11, 2011. Defendants Gollobith, Reinhardt and Cooper were members of the FOC and present when the FOC unanimously approved the request. 68. On October 20, 2011, Plaintiff Wachs dismissed the civil rights lawsuit

without prejudice while retaining the right to re-file the litigation in the event the Sheriff instigated further retaliatory arrests due to her activism.

IX. The Attempt by Gollobith to Sell His Building to AoF

69. Throughout the years, Defendant Gollobith was motivated to sell a

commercial property he owned in South Tampa to AoF. AoF members met in this property. 70. In the summer of 2011, some members of the Board seemed poised to follow

through on his proposal. 71. After the charges against Plaintiff Wachs were dropped, Defendant Gollobith

immediately brought to the Board the purchase of his building after sending her congratulations. 72. In advance of the September 4, 2011 Board meeting, Defendant Gollobith

prepared the agenda and included his proposal to have AoF purchase his property at an

15

inflated valuation along with various mortgage options, prepared by Defendant Cooper, all of which had Defendant Gollobith as the Mortgagee. 73. At the Board meeting, Defendant Reinhardt made a motion that AoF

purchase Defendant Gollobith's building without disclosing their prior business relationships and potential of conflict of interest to the Board. Defendant Reinhardt had been involved in previous business transactions with AoF that Plaintiff Wachs had questioned in a Board meeting that appeared to be self-dealing contracts with apparent conflicts of interest. 74. The motion was seconded and discussion ensued. Both the purchase price

and the mortgage proposals were vigorously challenged by Plaintiff Wachs and President John Kieffer. A vote was taken and only Plaintiff Wachs and President John Kieffer voted against the purchase. 75. Subsequently, after consulting with Defendant Julius, Defendant Gollobith,

proposed a scheme whereby Defendant Gollobith would hold the mortgage but no title to the property would be transferred from Defendant Gollobith to AoF. Instead he would use a Contract for Deed mechanism. The contract would then be recorded with the County as being owned by a not-for-profit charity thereby taking it off the County property tax rolls. At the outset Defendants Gollobith and Julius noted that their plan was to never actually complete all the payments under the contract thus simply depriving the County of property tax while diverting the assets of AoF to Defendant Gollobith. Once AoF was out of funds, Defendant Gollobith would still have title to the building. 76. When Plaintiff Wachs learned of this scheme, she vehemently objected and

informed Defendants Gollobith and Julius that she would play no role in it.

16

77.

Defendant Gollobith expressed that he was concerned that too much money

was being spent on legal fees and there would not be enough left over to buy his building. Defendant Cooper's efforts to persuade Defendant Gollobith to turn against Plaintiff Wachs became easier.

X.
78.

Fall of 2011

In August of 2011, Defendant Gollobith and Defendant Cooper distributed an

email motion, (contrary to all the bylaws) seeking to form a Financial Oversight Committee responsible for approving by majority vote within one week the implementation of any lawsuit, legal or expenditure taken on behalf of Atheists of Florida in excess of $1,000.00. Defendant Gollobith wanted to make himself (The Chair) responsible for choosing the participants thereby bestowing executive power upon the Chairperson contrary to the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws. Plaintiff Wachs notified the Board that the motion was out of order and inappropriate. The Founder of AoF emailed the Board reminding the members that organization had two sets of bylaws, one for members' meetings and one for Board meetings and attached both sets to his email. These were the original bylaws,
Exhibit B. It was the first notice Plaintiff had of the original sets of bylaws.

79.

Defendant Gollobith then scheduled a special Board meeting on September

4, 2011, still contrary to the any set of bylaws, to hear his Financial Oversight Committee motion and rule on election changes as well. 80. Defendant Cooper proposed an election plan to be taken up at the supposed

Special Board Meeting which reduced the number of directors from twenty-three to seventeen: ten at large members and up to seven chapter directors of the largest chapters. He advised the current chapter directors to seek an at-large Board seat as well in order to

17

take up slots in his desire to remove Defendant Julius from the Board through the election. Defendant Cooper was then purportedly made the Elections Coordinator prior to the Special Board Meeting by Defendants Gollobith and Cooper. The September 4 meeting occurred and the Motions as to the FOC and the election were passed.

XT. The Reason for the Defamatory Writings

81. Defendant Gollobith wished to be purportedly elected as a member of the

Board of Directors and began an aggressive campaign within the AoF seeking support from other leaders, including the Plaintiff. 82. Defendant Gollobith felt entitled to be on the Board and entitled to use the

organization as his personal club. Other Board members deferred to him simply due to his tenure. 83. In 2010, Defendant Gollobith unilaterally changed the manner in which

officers were elected to the Board of AoF. The bylaws required the officers to be elected by the Board. Prior to 2010, Board members would self-nominate or nominate others for officer positions. Starting with the 2010 Board meeting, Defendant Gollobith began preparing a pre-arranged slate of candidates for office for the Board to accept. 84. Defendant Gollobith wished to have the previously passed motion to

purchase his building fulfilled but only when the newly elected Board was seated. 85. Defendant Cooper wished to be elected as a member of the Board but failed

to submit his nomination on a timely basis. 86. Defendant Julius wished to be elected as a member of the Board but was

unknown to the membership and was insecure about her prospects of being elected. She

18

called membership voting a "boondoggle." She had a history of being disrespectful to the organization's mission, constantly seeking to change its name and purpose. 87. On September 29, 2011 Plaintiff Wachs nominated a roster of candidates to

the Board that, if elected along with her, would give her a controlling block vote and Defendants Gollobith, Peterson and Cooper were keenly aware of this. 88. Beginning in early October it was apparent, especially to Defendants

Gollobith, Cooper and Peterson, that the members would not vote them back into Board positions. The membership had grown substantially and the members were enthusiastic and strongly supportive of Plaintiff Wachs courage and activism. She received sympathy for serving in jail and was considered famous in the Atheists community. 89. On October 4, 2011, Defendant Cooper resigned as Election Coordinator and

began preparing for a conspiratorial effort to subvert and destroy the election process and prevent a democratically elected Board from being seated. 90. By October 18, 2011, Defendant Gollobith reached the conclusion that "All

Matt's convictions are true" and "E.B. is attempting to take over the entire organization." Defendant Cooper, when he resigned from his role as Elections Coordinator, did not send the membership list to the new Elections Committee and attempted to obstruct efforts to complete the election process along with Defendant Gollobith and Defendant Peterson. Defendants Gollobith, Cooper and Peterson viewed the election as an attempt to "seal the deal." These Defendants were oblivious or contemptuous of the right of the new expanded membership to sit whoever they chose on the Board. In essence, these Defendants decided to perpetrate a coup d'&tat.

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91.

On or about October 23-24, 2011, Plaintiff circulated her recommended

Board slate for the AoF and it did not include Defendants Gollobith, Cooper, Thomas, Brown, Julius and Miles. A true and correct copy of the proposed slate of Board members circulated by Plaintiff is attached hereto as Exhibit H. 92. The Defendants panicked at this recommendation by the Plaintiff. Although

he had no authority, on October 24, 2011, Defendant Gollobith changed the lock on the AoF P.O. Box. When John Kieffer was unable to open it, Defendant Gollobith lied and said it was for the safeguarding of the ballots. The P.O. Box was the location where ballots were to be mailed, so the election was now put in jeopardy. It was also the location where all organization mail was received including bills and letters that needed responses. 93. Also on October 24, 2011, Defendant Gollobith changed the locks of the AoF

office in direct violation of landlord/tenant law. When questioned, Defendant Gollobith falsely claimed the lock had broken. 94. When it became apparent that Plaintiff Wachs was continuing with the

democratic election process, Defendants Cooper, Gollobith and Peterson strategized about trying to figure out ways to stop the election. But they were worried that with her fame, a rescheduled election would have the exact same result. So simply rescheduling the election would not be enough. They decided that they had to concoct excuses to expel Plaintiff Wachs. Under the Bylaws, expulsion required significant grounds "seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name or funds or acting in a way that discredits the organization." The Bylaws also provided a formal expulsion process which required a complaint, a selection of Board members at random and so on.

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95.

Having decided to subvert the election and subvert democracy itself in the

organization, the Defendant conspirators decided to concoct some type of after-thefact excuses for an expulsion decision which they had already made. But the excuses were also significant to the long term goal of making sure that Plaintiff could not successfully run in a rescheduled election. This is ultimately what led to the defamation conspiracy. 96. Although Defendant Gollobith was on the Financial Oversight Committee

and was aware and personally involved with the process of transferring funds that were being passed through the AoF bank account from donations specifically made for defense related costs, as a result of his feelings at not being recommended by Plaintiff for election as a Board member and Defendant Cooper's persuasion , Defendant Gollobith conspired with others to organize a defamatory campaign to expel plaintiff from membership of the organization claiming that she was misappropriating the organizations' funds, a statement which all Defendants knew was untrue and absurd. 97. The Defendants knew that they could not succeed in challenging Plaintiff

Wachs' Board recommendations by merely arguing policy differences or AoF priorities due to Plaintiff Wachs' popularity among the membership and her courage in personally putting herself at risk to fight for a separation of church and state. The Plaintiff had achieved a degree of fame among the membership. The only way to overcOme this fame was to "defame" her with an allegation scurrilous enough to reduce her popularity with the membership. Merely arguing policy differences or trying to salvage a campaign to their own seats looked hopeless. Something truly defamatory needed to be found to "de-fame" this famous person. Having already assured that the election they were going to lose was going to be tainted by tampering with the P0 Box, they settled on the explosive allegation

21

that Plaintiff had "misappropriated the organization's funds." This implied that the organization's funds had been diverted from the Board approved support for civil and criminal litigation to some other personal use. This allegation provided a smoke screen to destroy the election and preserve Defendants' control of the organization. 98. Board members, Defendants Thomas, Owens, Brown, Julius, Miles and

Reinhardt fully accepted and parroted Defendants Gollobith's, Peterson's and Cooper's defamatory statements without conducting independent investigations which would have easily revealed that the statements were false. Each defendant took a responsible part in the defamatory publications described herein and each defendant published or assisted either directly or indirectly in the publication of actionable defamatory statements. Furthermore, AoF was commandeered by this group of individual defendants and is vicariously liable for the defamation by its officers and representatives. 99. The individual defendant group secretly plotted to expel plaintiff and John

Kieffer from membership. They schemed to shame, defame and disgrace Plaintiff by uttering words of slanderous character, falsely and maliciously and thereby engaged in a conspiracy to defame.

XLI. The Conspiracy

100. At 11:59 p.m. September 30, 2011, President John Kieffer submitted an

email motion to the Board to extend the nomination period to October 15, 2011. 101. On October 1, 2011, Defendant Cooper realized he had not formally submitted his name for nomination to the Board when President John Kieffer circulated the motion attempting to extend the nominating period along with a motion for a complimentary

22

retroactive membership for those memberships that expired during the previous twelve months if their renewal was received through a grace period ending October 15, 2011 102. At 12:15 a.m. on October 1, 2011, Defendant Cooper submitted his nomination as a Board member, fifteen minutes past the deadline. 103. At 12:18 a.m. on October 1, 2011, Defendant Cooper seconded President Kieffer's motion to extend the nomination period for self-serving reasons having missed the nomination deadline. 104. At 8:45 a.m. on October 1, 2011, Plaintiff Wachs emailed President Kieffer notifying him that his motion was not permitted as bylaws cannot be suspended even if done by unanimous consent. 105. At 12:53 p.m. on October 1, 2011 Plaintiff Wachs emailed the Board and called a Point of Order on the email motion to extend the nomination period noting that, despite the fact that no call for a vote had been issued, votes were being cast on the Motion and further noting: a. b.
C.

That the deadline to nominate had expired and you cannot extend a period that has ended. He included a non-Board member in his email You can't do a "one-time" amendment to the bylaws. You cannot have 2 motions on the table at one time

d.

Having received the original bylaws (Exhibit B) she also notified the Board in that email about the egregious practices that have been utilized in the past by stating the following, "A bylaw change is an incredibly momentous and important undertaking and cannot be done lightly. Changing our bylaws changes the agreement we've made with our membership about how AoF is going to be run. The proper notice for 23

a bylaw change would necessarily contain at least three fundamental components: The proposed amendment precisely worded; The current bylaw; The bylaw as it will read if the amendment is adopted. Additionally, the notice should include the proposers' names and their reasoning for offering the amendment. It should also include other pertinent information such as whether a committee had endorsed or opposed the amendment. (i.e. such as the "Election Committee") The entire membership must have the opportunity to be involved with it thus the need for either the in-person meeting after notice to the membership or the two separate mail ballots to the membership. As [Founder] Christos likes to remind this Board- we are a democratic organization. You cannot cut out the most important people in this process- the members. I was the one that raised the problem of fairness with the renewals not being sent under both the election timetable and for the last year. At this point, even if a "special" meeting were to be convened, it would be too late as the voting period would then be open. Can we do something that complies with our bylaws and affords our membership the maximum opportunity to be involved? I know that when new council people or school Board members are elected, they are required to have training in parliamentary procedure and the rules and regs under which they operate. I am going to make a suggestion that after the new Board is seated, a training session in Robert's Rules of Order coupled with a review of Atheists of Florida's bylaws would be helpful. I would also suggest a standing Bylaw Committee be formed and a Parliamentarian be appointed." (See attached
Exhibit I)

24

106. At 2:21 pm, on October 1, 2011, President Kieffer withdrew his motion declaring it void. 107. On October 2, 2011, Defendant Cooper changed the password on the AoF election gmail account locking Plaintiff Wachs and President Kieffer out of the account. 108. On October 4, 2011, Defendant Cooper resigned as "Election Coordinator" noting that the ballots should go out by mail no later than October 21, 2011. 109. On October 8, President John Kieffer notified the Board that he would appoint the Elections Committee. 110. By October 9, 2011, Defendants, Cooper, Gollobith and Julius (and probably others) had conspired to take action to "preserve the organization" under Defendant's Gollobith's defacto rule and tactics against Plaintiff Wachs and John Kieffer. 111. On October 16, 2011, Defendant Gollobith emailed the Board declaring that President Kieffer was "tardy" with his elections committee appointments and declared that he and Defendant Thomas would make up the committee. He sent out this email through Defendant Peterson's homeowner's association email account. (No set time requirement for appointment is delineated in the bylaws other than the need to be in place to count the ballots.) Defendant Gollobith had no executive authority under the bylaws and no right to make appointments. 112. On October 16, 2011, President Kieffer emailed the Board with his elections committee appointments and stated that the ballots will be mailed no later than October 31, 2011. 113. Defendant Gollobith immediately emailed a motion to reject President Kieffer's election committee and included a second motion declaring that Defendant

25

Gollobith and Defendant Thomas are the Elections Committee. Defendant Gollobith secretly emailed certain Board members specifically ordering them to vote to reject President Kieffer' s election committee. 114. Plaintiff Wachs once again reminded the Board that email motions are out of order to no avail. 115. On October 17, due to personal circumstances, President Kieffer temporarily stepped down as President transferring power to the Vice President, Plaintiff Wachs. She named an election committee and set October 22 for the date to prepare the ballots. She included Defendants Gollobith and Thomas on the Committee in an attempt to keep peace. 116. On October 18, 2011, Defendant Gollobith and Defendant Peterson agreed that all of Defendant Cooper's convictions were true and that Plaintiff Wachs was attempting to "take over" the entire organization despite their efforts to subvert the election process. They complained that the Plaintiff was moving forward with the election which would "seal the deal." 117. On October 22, 2011, Defendant Gollobith conspired with Defendants Cooper, Thomas, Reinhardt, Julius and Peterson at the Festival of Reading event to remove Plaintiff Wachs and John Kieffer at the November 6, 2011 Board meeting. In an email to Defendant Gollobith, Founder and former Board Member Christos Tzanetakos cautioned him that removing Plaintiff Wachs might place the Lakeland Lawsuit in jeopardy. (Attached Exhibit J) 118. On October 22, the Elections Committee met and the ballots were prepared. Defendants Gollobith and Thomas failed to participate. The ballots were mailed October 23, 2011, on time per the original election schedule.

26

119. On October 24, 2011, Defendant Gollobith changed the locks on the AoF P0 Box and the AoF office. 120. By October 27, 2004, Defendant Cooper had conceived hypothetical scenarios in an attempt to circumvent the democratic process underway, stop the election and oust Plaintiff Wachs and John Kieffer acknowledging that even if the current election were halted Plaintiff Wachs would likely be elected in a new election due to her fame among the members. 121. Defendant Gollobith falsely claimed he learned for the first time on October 27, 2011, after retrieving a bank statement from the AoF P0 Box, that John Kieffer wrote a check for $18,040.92 without the knowledge or approval of any other Board members. He circulated this absurd fabrication to certain members of the Board while telling certain others a different version. He did so with the specific intent to undermine their trust in Plaintiff Wachs and secure their vote and support to illegally remove her as an officer and later illegally expel her as a member. 122. On November 2, 2011, Defendants Gollobith, Cooper and Peterson met with Attorney Ryan Carey in an effort to thwart Plaintiff Wachs from holding the legitimately scheduled election and overcome any objections at the Board meeting on November 6, 2011. 123. Defendants Cooper, Peterson and Gollobith hired Attorney Ryan Carey to act on behalf of AoF despite having no authority to do so under the bylaws and acting without approval from the full Board or the newly instituted Financial Oversight Committee. The only person vested with power to act on behalf of AoF is the president who, at the time, was Plaintiff Wachs.

27

124. On November 3, 2011, Sandra Smith, Defendant Gollobith's girlfriend noticed that Plaintiff Wachs had invited the general membership of AoF to the November 6 Board meeting and that Plaintiff's attorney John McKnight had RSVP'd with a "maybe." She emailed Defendants Gollobith, Cooper and Peterson about this and additionally falsely stated that Plaintiff Wachs and her former attorney Larry Walters were engaged in some type of fee splitting arrangement merely because Attorney Walters was hosting a fundraising drive for Plaintiff Wachs on his website. This was a spurious allegation which would later form one of the grounds for the expulsions and defamation. 125. Defendants Gollobith, Cooper and Reinhardt falsely, and intentionally denied the occurrence of the September 11, 2011 FOC meeting where the three of them approved disbursement of the funds donated for Plaintiff Wachs' benefit. 126. Attorney Ryan Carey contacted attorney John McKnight, charged with safeguarding Plaintiff Wachs' legal defense funds and he falsely represented to that attorney that he has been hired on behalf of AoF. 127. On November 2, 2011, Defendants Peterson and Cooper drafted an email to be sent to the AoF membership explaining the expulsion of Plaintiff Wachs and John Kieffer that has taken place "today November 6, 2011." 128. On November 4, 2011, Defendant Gollobith distributed a revised agenda for the November 6 Board meeting which contained only one item: Removal of officers. 129. On November 6, 2011, Defendant Gollobith appeared at the Board meeting with attorney Ryan Carey at his side over the objections of Plaintiff Wachs, President John Kieffer and Board member Rob Curry.

W
.

130. Sandra Smith was stationed at the AoF door at Defendant Gollobith's direction and refused entrance to AoF members. Defendants Gollobith, Reinlhardt, and Cooper had to make certain that Plaintiff's attorney, John McKnight, was not allowed access to the meeting so as not to be available to explain the reasons on the record for the eighteen thousand dollar check and that the funds were safe and not diverted. One AoF member challenged Smith's authority to keep him out and was successful in gaining entry to the meeting. 131. Defendant Gollobith refused to recognize Jessica Parrish as a legitimate Board member but recognized Defendant Cooper as a Board member despite Defendant Cooper having been removed as a Chapter Director thus stripping him of his Board position the week prior. 132. Defendant Gollobith refused to allow Board Director Alan Oravec the right to participate by phone. 133. Defendant Gollobith passed out preprinted cards with a vote to retain or dismiss officers and a motion to vote was made, seconded and Defendant Cooper immediately called the question thereby intentionally disallowing any discussion and ignoring all fair due process. This was the epitome of a Star Chamber, no witnesses, no evidence, no indictments, no discussion. Just a preplanned conspired vote. 134. Plaintiff Wachs, President John Kieffer, and Board Members Rob Curry and Jessica Parrish left the meeting once it became apparent they would not be allowed to talk. 135. Defendants Gollobith Thomas, Cooper and Peterson along with some other Defendants travelled to Defendant Gollobith's home to conspire to illegally expel Plaintiff Wachs from the organization as a member.

29

136. On November 13, 2004, Defendant Gollobith called an improperly scheduled Board meeting wherein: a. Jessica Parrish was recognized as a Board member; b. No reasons were given for the illegal "dismissal" or "expulsion" of Plaintiff Wachs; c. Defendant Owens, the treasurer stated that financial impropriety on the part of Plaintiff Wachs was NOT an issue; d. The election was formally cancelled; e. Defendant Gollobith declared himself as Acting President. 137. Defendants (except Reinhardt) and attorney Ryan Carey were notified at the November 17, 2011 board meeting that Plaintiff Wachs was intending to sue Defendants for defamation. Defendants and attorney Carey had a duty to preserve the returned ballots as both corporate records under Fila. Statute 617.1601 which mandates not-for profit corporations "shall keep the records of actions taken by members without a meeting for the past 3 years" and also as evidence for a potential civil action. 138. Defendant Gollobith scheduled an improperly noticed "emergency" Board meeting on November 30, 2011 due to the fact that Board seats were set to expire on November 30, 2011. The Board purported to amend the bylaws to extend Board terms and voted to have Defendant Gollobith's attorney, Ryan Carey, destroy the ballots of the previously cancelled election in contravention of Fla. Stat. Section 617.1601. 139. On December 6, 2011, Plaintiff Wachs filed this suit for defamation.

30

140.

On December 7, 2011 Defendant Gollobith sought an emergency injunction

to prevent Plaintiff from presenting herself as an officer of AoF or holding herself out as a representative of the organization. The injunction was later denied.

COUNT I - DEFAMATION
141. 142. 140 hereof. This is an action for damages in excess of $15,000. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein paragraphs 1 through

XIII. The Defamatory Writings

143. Writing I, the first defamatory writing, was sent collectively by all the

Defendants via email on November 6, 2011, at 6:05 pm to the mailing list of the AoF, approximately 200 individuals. (A copy is attached as Exhibit K) Writing I stated: "The Board voted to remove EllenBeth Wachs as Vice President. . . of the Organization ...Additionally, [she has] been expelled from the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business, mis appropriating the organization's name, misappropriating the organization's funds, and acting in a way that discredits' the organization . . . Meanwhile, please keep abreast of the latest Atheists of Florida developments on our temporary website at: www.metrodirect.net/aof." Writing I was signed:

The Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida Ed Golly Chair and acting President Tracy Thomas Secretary Nan Owens Treasurer Steve Brown Member of the Board Matt Cooper Member of the Board Gloria Julius Member of the Board Steve Miles Member of the Board James Peterson Member of the Board
"Ed Golly" in the list above is an alias used by the Defendant Ed Gollobith.

31

144. Writing II, the second defamatory writing, was posted on a public website to which Writing I affirmatively directed AoF members. (A copy is attached as Exhibit L) As quoted above that link is http://www.metrodirect.net/aof! . That website repeats the defamation: "EllenBeth Wachs . . . [has] been expelled from the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name, misappropriating the organization's funds, and acting in a way that discredits the organization." Writing II again specifically names each of the Defendants and also calls them "Signatories." It also lists three other Board members as "Non Signatories." Writing II has remained up and available for any Internet users who might search for the AoF. The website www.metrodirect.net and its sub-domains are owned and controlled by the Defendant Peterson. 145. Writing III, the third defamatory writing, was posted online and separately published to the entire membership of this group and other groups. (A copy is attached as
Exhibit M) This writing repeats the defamation:

"She and Kieffer's leadership were tarnished with issues of lack of financial accountability, elections, improprieties, unapproved advents to our state annual report, and unapproved expenditures of organizations funds." *** "On October 27, it came to the notice of Chairman Ed Golly during a bank visit that a check in the amount of $18,040.92 had been drawn on an Atheists of Florida account by John Kieffer October 18, who at that time had no authorization to do so. Our ready cash accounts had been nearly emptied. The check was remitted to John McKnight, an attorney not hitherto part of any AoF-involved or funded matters. No work performed by this attorney had ever been authorized by the Board, nor did any of the Board members know who he was. Acting President Wachs neglected to inform the FOC of the aforementioned check the day after it had been written."

32

"Refusal to provide accountability for some $60,000 in legal expenses they had caused; election discrepancies (see page 6); amending the Annual Report filed with the State of Florida and, in the process, relocating the official address of the organization to Wachs' business address in Lakeland; and spending over $18,000 of the organization's funds absent the required approval of the Financial Oversight Committee. All allegations have survived scrutiny, because all are factually provable." 146. Writing IV, the fourth defamatory writing, was a letter sent by Defendant Gollobith on AoF letterhead to David Silverman, the President of American Atheists, Inc. a national atheist organization with close to eighty-five thousand members, after Mr. Silverman bestowed upon Plaintiff Wachs the honor of being named Florida Atheist Activist of the Year. (A copy is attached as Exhibit N) Defendant Gollobith stated the following: "but much of it stems from improper use of organization funds, as well as a complete failure to provide any documentation to support expenditures totaling scores of thousands of dollars "It is my opinion that had Wachs seized control of Atheists of Florida, she would have spent the treasury of A of F to promote publicity for herself' 147. Writing V, the fifth defamatory writing, was a letter sent by Defendant Gollobith by email to all local Florida Freethought organizations. (A copy is attached as
Exhibit 0) It stated the following:

As you may have heard, Atheists of Florida has experienced considerable trouble lately with some of its fired former administrators. Since we are unable to communicate through the online media we had previously, we must take this opportunity to keep you abreast of what is happening. By the way, there is a lesson here: always make sure your web sites, meet-up pages, PayPal, and Facebook presence is setup under the name of the Organization, not under the name of the individual charged with setting it up. With the present disposition of internet service providers to take down any site or service, new or old, which generates a violation of copyright complaint, whether justified or not, all of our online efforts are in jeopardy if some hostile party wants to remove it. It was the lack of such awareness and detailed oversight that made us vulnerable to much of our present difficulty. Enclosed, you will find our most recent newsletters which will provide you with information about our situation and how we got here. There are matters important to all organizations such as ours that we hope will be helpful to you in the future. Despite the

33

problems, the present Board felt that it was important to go forward with the regularly scheduled election. It has generated interest and nominations from both sides of our membership, most of whom have access only to the interpretation of events from the fired administrators who control our media and wish to regain control of the organization. Nonetheless, we felt that it is important to the principles of democracy imbedded in our bylaws that we carry through. And if nominees loyal to AoF are not elected as a consequence, then we will have given our best effort, and nothing further can be done. 148. Writing VI, the fourth defamatory writing, was an e-mail sent by Defendant Gollobith to Tom Melchiore, the editor of Secular Nation a national atheist magazine and Affiliate coordinator of Atheist Alliance of America, Inc. a national atheist organization with state affiliates and individual members. (A copy is attached as Exhibit P) Defendant Gollobith states the following: Last year, Atheists of Florida contracted cancer in the form of a member who saw that we had a treasury ofjust over $200,000 and decided she would take over the organization, dispose of all the Board members who had built the organization through a corrupt Board election, and use the funds to satisfy her addiction to publicity. One of our Board members caught on to what she was going to attempt, alerted us, and we were able to outmaneuver her and her two cohorts. Unfortunately, before we caught on,, one of her stooges was able to con us out of our web site and take control of it. Having failed to take over the organization, she now is undertaking a campaign to destroy Atheists of Florida and discredit primarily me from the membership. *** We began by setting up a new web site, but they promptly had it taken down claiming some kid of copyright infringement. After all, when you're engaged in a smear campaign, the last thing you want is for your targets to be able to respond to your lies and distortions. 149. Writing VII, the seventh defamatory writing, was posted online and separately published to the entire membership of this group and other groups. (A copy is attached as Exhibit Q) This writing repeats the defamation: "So we see essentially two possible reasons Wachs seems so desperate to gain control of Atheists of Florida. First, so she can control the expenditure of the treasury, filing lawsuits in order to generate publicity for herself, and second, to cover the financial misappropriations she may have engaged in during the course of the expenditure of $60,000 of the organization's funds."

"We have learned, for example, that Larry Walters, Wachs attorney in the suit against Sheriff Grady Judd admitted he did not use the entire $25,000 payment he received from AoF, contrary to Wachs' claim that he had. He is holding in a trust account some of that money, which should have been returned to A ofF. This was likely a scheme hatched by Wachs to gain control of our treasury so as to spend those funds without interference by the board. If this could work with Attorney John McKnight (see previous newsletter, page 3) in which case an additional $18,000 from the A of F treasury could have been transferred to the bank account Wachs has opened in Lakeland and there be under her control. It is a form of legally taking control of our money without technically stealing it."

XIV. Falsity
150. The assertions in Writing I, Writing II, Writing III, Writing IV, Writing V, Writing VI and Writing VII that Plaintiff Wachs including, but not limited to, obstructed the AoF's business, misappropriated its name and funds, and discredited the AoF are entirely false.

XV. Publication to Third Parties

151. Writing I was sent by email from the Defendants to approximately 200 members of the AoF who were also directed to Writing II. 152. Writing II was made and remains publicly available to all Internet users who might seek information regarding the AoF. The Ledger, a prominent newspaper in Plaintiff Wachs' hometown of Lakeland, Polk County, Florida, quoted Writing II in an article written November 7, 2011 publicizing the Defendants' defamatory statement to thousands of readers. The article states: "The action involving . . . Wachs, the vice president, came Sunday morning at a Board meeting. Posted on the website Monday. '[she has] been expelled from the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name, misappropriating the organization's funds and acting in a way that discredits the organization" [emphasis added].

35

153. Writing III was sent by mail to the membership of AoF and to members of other groups. It was also posted online at the AoF website where it was available to the public at large. 154. Writing IV was a letter sent by USPS to the president and legal counsel of a national atheist organization. 155. Writing V was sent by email to all local Florida Freethought organizations who were also directed to Writing II and Writing III. 156. Writing VI was sent by email to the editor of a national atheist magazine, Secular Nation. 157. Writing VII was sent by email and distributed at local events.

XVI.

Injury to Plaintiff and Damages

158. The Defendants engaged in defamation per se when they falsely accused Plaintiff Wachs of misappropriating the AoF's name and funds and obstructing and discrediting the AoF. The Defendants' statements accused Plaintiff Wachs of criminal behavior and behavior incompatible with both her business and her office within the organization. The Defendants' statements amount to defamation per se and Plaintiff Wachs' injury is presumed. 159. Writing I, Writing II and Writing III, IV, V, VI, VII clearly expose Plaintiff Wachs to hatred, contempt, and ridicule from the AoF membership - those over whom she exercised a position of trust - and from the public when they read that the Defendants asserted that she has obstructed organization business, misappropriated its name and funds, and discredited the organization.

36

160.

As a proximate result of the Defendants' defamatory writings, Plaintiff

Wachs has suffered loss of her reputation, shame, mortification, and injury to her feelings. Further, she has expended much time away from tending her business to combat the Defendants' false statements. Damages are in an amount in excess of $15,000. 161. Tn alternative or addition to the negligence, the Defendants published

Writings I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII with malice, with reckless disregard as to whether - or with knowledge that - the defamatory statements were false, with hatred and ill will towards Plaintiff Wachs, and seeking to destroy her reputation. 162. In fact, the defendants' defamation had its intended affect causing Plaintiff to

lose her reputation, standing and position within the Atheist/Humanist community. They were able to then convince the board members of the Humanists of Florida Association (HFA), of which she was still currently president, to seek her forced removal. Defendant Peterson conspired with HFA members and with two of Plaintiff Wachs' executive directors to help orchestrate her removal.

XVII. Joint and Several Liabifity

163. Because the Defendants acted in concert, as is shown by their names listed

at the bottom of Writings I, II and III, and the context shown by the evidence, they are jointly and severally liable for damages. WHEREFORE, the Plaintiff EllenBeth Wachs demands judgment against the Defendants, jointly and severally for: 1. Compensatory damages in the amount in excess of $15,000; 2. Interest as allowed by law; 3. Such other and further relief as this court may deem just and proper.

37

COUNT II DECLARATORY RELIEF

164. This is an action for Declaratory Judgment and for ultra vires review under
Fla. Stat. 617.0304 in which the Plaintiff seeks a declaration of her rights and the right of

the Defendants under the Articles of Incorporation and legally enforceable Bylaws. In addition Plaintiff seeks supplemental relief in accordance with Fla. Stat. 86.061. 165. Plaintiff re-allages and incorporates by reference herein paragraphs 1 through 137 hereof. 166. Plaintiff is entitled to a declaration as follows: (a) That her expulsion from membership and Board membership in AoF was wrongful because Plaintiff was not provided with a fair hearing comporting with the Articles of Incorporation, the applicable Bylaws, due process and was the result of bad faith. The expulsion also violated Fla. Stat. 617.0607 (2011). (b) Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaratory Judgment as to the invalidity of all purported Amendments to the Bylaws. (c) Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaratory Judgment establishing the status of all persons who purport to be Members of the Board of Directors of AoF. (d) Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaratory Judgment establishing of the validity of AoF's purported purchase of real estate from Defendaht Gollobith. (e) Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaratory Judgment establishing what rights, if any, Defendant Gollobith had to change locks on the AoF P.O. Box and offices.

(f)

Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaratory Judgment as to the rights of Defendants Gollobith, Thomas, Owens, Brown, Cooper, Julius, Miles, Peterson and Reinhardt to meet without notice to other Board Members and purport to conduct business of the corporation.

(g)

Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaration of her status as acting President and her status as a Board Member.

(h)

Plaintiff is entitled to a Declaration whether any of the Defendants are authorized to direct the legal position and claims of AoF which is a member-based organization subject exclusively to member control.

Wherefore, Plaintiff seeks a Declaratory Judgment and ruling under Fla. Stat. 617.0304 with respect to the matters and controversy set forth above and further seeks supplemental relief including but not limited to setting aside ultra vires acts and monetary damages for losses suffered by Plaintiff because of unauthorized acts of the Defendants above.
Is! Robert H. Buesing

Robert H. Buesing Florida Bar No. 236535 TRENAM, KEMKER, SCHARF, BARK1N, FRYE, O'NEILL & IVIIULLIS, P.A. 101 E. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 2700 (33602) Post Office Box 1102 Tampa, FL 33601-1102 (813) 223-7474 / (813) 229-6553 Fax Attorney for Plaintiff rbuesing@trenam.com
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Amended Complaint
for Defamation Damages and Other Relief has been furnished via Email to:

R. Gale Porter, Esq. Porter Law Group LLC

John W. McKnight, Esq. The Law Offices of John W. McKnight

39

One Urban Centre 4830W. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 475 Tampa, FL 33609 ga1e(porter1awgroup.net 2Je(petittworre11.com John Kieffer, pro se 3327 Cheviot Drive Tampa, FL 33618 johnkiefferl234@aol.com

4834 W. Gandy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33611-3003 Pub1icrecords1aw.mcknight(ginai1.com

on this 30 day of October, 2013. Is! Robert H. Buesing Attorney

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8019798-vi

EXHIBIT A

IV
00

Page
..

ARTICLES DF INCORPORATIDN FOR "ATHFISTS OF FLORIDA, INC

() t 2;

V actnc as inirporators of a corporation The under.Bi. qned, purEuent t r, chapter 617, Florida Etatutes, adopt the following Articles of incor - porationr ARTTCLE I NANE The name n-F thas corpratiori shai ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. ARTICLE II PRINCIPAL F'LACE OF EIUSINESS AND MAILIN(3 ADDRESS The principal plate M-f business arid mailing addr - ess n-F this rjicrat:iori shall he: 795 N.E. 77th Terrace Miaml,FL 33138
ARTICLE ITT PURPOSES

The spec- ific purposes

or which the corporation is organized are

expression.

1. Ta promote freedom of thoucht and

2.

complete ar)c atiolute separation of state and church Amendment - to - th United-$tates Contitutin mandates

To advocate, promote and dofnd in all lawfi.j ways the as the First

3. To protect -the constitutional and civil rights o-f Atheists as members o-f aree and democratic society. 4 To promote the fol lowing concept:s A. Eccause human bef ngs along with all othor sped os of ani mal and plan -Is, evolved frm a primordial cell Homo sapieri is only a link in the chain of livinc matter. hrai r and. the most manipul ative hands 1
EIcause Homo sapi ens i s the speci es with the most advanced and because we have developed excessively destructive weapons (nuclear and others we are solely, responsible for the well-being of our own species and to a greal: extent the rest of the life on p1 anet Earth. of

and the extinction other ii vi nq -ani mal and p1 ant species must he avoi dod.
C. Global population control is vital, must be encouraged and promoted.

P. Cooperation and equality -- not conflict - among all peop1es

Paqe 2 of4 fecause all humans have a common oriqir,, and becaut the c1ass+ication pf peoples by races and ethnic groups is divisive and detrimen&al to our species and to life itself, all inhahitants. on planet-Earth becalled Homo Sapiens", and the national names to denote the geographical oricin of i-rent peoples apd their distinctive cultures. .ie the bel aevers of any fa th as the product of unfounded dogmas toward whom sympathy and understanding must be ex f ended

5. To perei

To eciur atr t h e,

qenr ilil puhi

c on Athri c'( noi]

.iid oh jnrt i

To promote Atheism s the phaloophy thach accepf. only what

can be veri-fjed by the scientific. method and re:jeCtS supernatural entities, acceptable only as articles o+ +aith ARTICLE IV MANNER OF ELECTION OF DTFEC1ORS

The fpaflner i n which the directors are elected is as followsUltimate authority resides in the Members. The Members elect the The Directors elect the O+ficer. Directors. The O1'+icors manacje the prudential affairs of the organization according with

these articles of incorporation and the adopted bylaws. ARTICLE V LIMITATION, OF CORPORATION POWERS

The corporate powers of the corporation are as provided in sect-ion 6170302, Florida. statutes--subsection 1 to 16, with the follOwing ]imitatthns: Maie donations for the public welfare or scientific, educational, or other si. PurPose, but under no circumstanc:es make donat:t ons. to a n y religious or religic.uly affiHated orqaniation Merge wt.h other corporations both for Subsection 16 to read: Subsection 14 to read:

for charitable,

profit and not for profit., domestic and foreiqn if the surviving corporation is a corporation not for profit and its purpose is as spci+i.d in Article III of these articles cif incorporation or

similar. ARTICLE VI INITIAL REGISTEREr, ASENT AND STREET ADDRESS

The name and street address of the iriit:ial JOHN J. DIAMOND

registered agent is:

795 N.F.

77th Terrace Miami FL 33138

.1

V ..
Page 3 of ARTICLE VII DISSOLUTION the Board the dissolution o-f the corporation, of Upon Directors shall, after paying or making provisions for the payment of all of the liabilities of the corporation, dispose o-f all of the assets of the corporation exclusively for the purposes of the corporation in such manner, or to such orqanization or orgdizations organized and operated exclusively for- charitable, educational, pr scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify an exempt organization or organizations under section as 51 (C) (3) p-F the Internal Revenue Code o-f .1954 ( or the corresponding provis-lon o-F any -Future United States Internal Revenue Law) , as the Board of Directors shall determine, hut in NO ri rrumst anre cli -pce iTh' asetE to any r e) i qi cue reT iqi ous, ov other crqanI7atirm- accepting these af 4A 1ited, called sItpErntura1 or spirtual entities ny 6-F .uch assets not so disposed c-f, shl 1 be di sposd of by Court of Competent ,]urischc- tion o4 the Lounty in which thf prinrpal ofFice of the corporation is thcn located, eclusive1y for such purpo!ee or, to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall detrmine, which are organized arid operated e>c) uiv1y -far such purpose-s. thc

ARIICLE VIII INCORPORATORS The names and street address of the incorporators -for these Articles c-F incorporation are;

I CHRISTOS TZANETAKOS '105 N.E. 114th Street Mirni,FL 33i,1-t,65C)

2- JOHN J. DIAMOND - 795 N.E. 77th Terrace Miami, FL 33138
-.----.-.-.-..-. ------------

. 3. KYOKO EiROGDON 2203 N 45th Ave. Hollywood, FL. 33021

.---.--.-----

The initia] membprE, of this coporat on are the signers o-f the resc)lutior( of independence of the former "SoLith Florida Chapter and o-f the Society of 5e-paration5ts,.. Inc.", which was voted ratified by a majority mail vote. -

STfTE DFFLORIDA COUNTY OF DADE -

me peronally L3efore app rci, Christos Tanetakos, to me well - knwn and knowntc - me tote the indviduaJ descrjbed n and who executed the foregoing instrunjrit.

WITNESS riy hand ancFofficial sal; This tay of 1992.

Notary Pub

ic
-. ---------------..--

St-teo' Florida * I -.My;rnmxa on e<pire

AT CUU Icr F3FE : f'i COUDED ulJ,:U RUCKLLERrY & ASSOCIATES

COMPOSITE EXHIBIT B

BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. ARTICLE I NAME

The name of this organization is: ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA,INC. ARTICLE II PURPOSES The specific purposes for which the corporation is organized are: 1. To promote freedom of thought and expression. 2. To advocate, promote and defend in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution mandates. 3. To protect the constitutional and civil rights of Atheizts as members of a free and democratic society. 4. To promote the following concepts: A. Because human beings, along with all other species of animal and plants, evolved from a primordial cell, Homo Sapien is only a link in the chain of living matter. B. Because Homo Sapiens is the species with the most advanced brain and the most manipulative hands, and because we have developed excessively destructive weapons (nuclear and others), we are solely responsible for the well-being of our own species and to a great extent the rest of the life on planet Earth. C. Global population control is vital, and the extinction of other living animal and plant species must be avoided. D. Cooperation and equality--not conflict -- among all peoples must be encouraged and, promoted. E. Because all humans have a common origin, and because the classification of peoples by races and ethnic groups is divisive and detrimental to our species and to life itself, all inhabitants on planet Earth be called " Homo Sapiens 11 , and the current national names to denote the geographical origin of peoples and their distinctive cultures. 5. To perceive the believers of any faith, as the product of unfounded dogmas toward whom sympathy and understanding must be extended. 6. To educate the general public on Atheist goals and objectives. 7. To promote Atheism as the philosophy which accepts only what can be verified by the scientific method and rejects supernatural entities, acceptable only as articles of faith. -1-

ARTICLE III MOTTO & SYMBOL

The organizationts motto shall be: E PLURIBUS UNUM Our logo ( sybo1 ) shall be:

ARTICLE XV MANNER OF ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

The manner in which the directors are elected is as follows: Ultimate authority resides in the Members. The Members elect the Directors., The Directors elect the Officers. The Officers manage the prudential affairs of the organization according with the articles of incorporation and these bylaws, ARTICLE V MEMBERS Section 1. General. Membership in the organization shall be open to all persons and organizations adherent to the purposes of Article II Types of membership shall be Individual, couple, of these Bylaws Student, Limited income, Life, Organization and Honorary. Dues shall be set by the Board of Directors, and are to be paid annually. Life members shall pay dues only once in an amount set by the BOard. Honorary members pay no dues. Life and Honorary members are for life unless terminated for cause, as specified hereafter. Section 2. Individual Membership. Individual imembership shall be available to all persons adherent to Article II, and entitled to one vote. Section 3. Couple Membership. Couple membership shall be available to - two persons sharing the same mail address. Each person shall have one vote, two (2) mail ballots shall be sent, but only one copy of other organization mailings,. Section 4. Student Membership. Student membership shall he open to any student enrolled in an institution, is less than 25 years old and is adherent to the purposes of Article II of this organization. Section 5. Limited income Membership. Limited income membership shall be available to a person who is living on a limited income. Section 6. Life Membership. Life membership can be conferred on any person who meets the dues set by the Board for life membership, and is adherent to the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws.

Section 7. Honorary Membership. Honorary membership may be conferred on a person who has been nominated by a member and approved by two-thirds of the Directors voting, after having met one or more of the following conditions: a. Openly declared his/her Atheism through the media. b Has made a distinctve contribution to Atheism C Has acted in support of one or more of the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws. Honorary members have the same rights and responsibilities as indivIdual members, but they pay no dues. Section 8 Organization Membeiship Membership of organizations such as Libraries, AssociationS, Corporations, shall be available upon paymenLof dues and approval by the Board Dues shall be higher than a couple and set by the Board Only one copy of the Organizations may not vote or be on the Board organizations mailing shall be sent. section 9. Conditions of Membership. Application for membership shall be made in writing, submitting name, address, and correct amount of dues The Board may refuse an application, in which case the President must notify the applicant within 30 days, stating why the application was turned down. Membership terminates when a member fails to pay dues, resigns, dies, or is expelled. Any member - including Life or Honorary- may be expelled for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name or funds or acting in a way that discredits the organization. The expulsion procedure consists of 5 steps: Step 1 A formal expulsion proposal shall be presented in writing to the Board by any member. Step 2. The Board shall examine the evidence. if a majority of the Board MemberS voting decides, either by mail ballot or at a meeting, that the expulsion may be appropriate, the matter will be submitted to, and decided by, the members. This shall be done by mail, or at an Annual Meeting if one is scheduled within 2 months. If it IS to be done by Mail: Step 3. The case against the member shall be presented in the next newsletter or by a special mailing. Step 4. in the following newsletter, or in a second special mailing, the accused member shallpresent a defense against the charge. A ballot shall be Included in the second newsletter or second special mailing, so that members can vote on whether to expel, If the expulsionprocess takes place at an Annual Meeting: Step 5. The equivalent of Steps 3 & 4 shall be followed, that Is, the case against the member shall be presented, after which the accused shall present his defence: and then the members present shall vote on whether to expel. The president shall notify the accused member as soon as the result of the vote is known. -3-

ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 1. Responsibilities The Board of Directors shall be responsible for the organization' affairs and policy and shall elect the officers. The Board shall be subject to the Articles of incorporation, to these Bylaws and to the Bylaws of the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida 1 Inc. section 2 constitution The Board siall consist of not less than six (6) nor more than - 24 members. The Officers are ex-officlo Members of the Board. Elected and ex-officlo Board Members shall have the same rights and sesponsibllities. Members may nominate candidateS for the Board, or volunteer to be nominated as candidates Directors are elected to 3-year term Directors may be reelected
ARTICLE VII. OFFICERS

Section 1 General The organization shall have the following officers President, VicePresident, Treasurer, and Secretary. There may also be other vicePresidents whose 'dutles shall be specified by the Board officers shall be at least 18 years o1d and shall have been members for at least one year They shall be elected by a majority of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting An officer's teirn of office last until the next election of officers, the following year, No one shall hold more than one Office at a time, except that the same person shall be Secretary of the Organization and Secretary of the Board An Officer may be removed or stipended by a majority of the Board members voting. An OffIcer may resign by notifying the Chairperson of the Board in wilting if an Office becomes vacant, the Board shall elect a successor to fill the unexpired term. Section 2. The President. The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer, coordinating the work of other officers and committees. other officers and Committee chairpersons shall consult the President about their activities, and submit a written report on their activities to him/her one month before the annual Meeting, with a copy to the Chairperson The President shall promptly inform the Chairperson of any major decisions. After the Board has selected the site and time of the next Annual Meeting, or of a special Meeting, the President shall be responsible for making all meeting arrangements, including compiling the Meeting's agenda The President shall chair the Meeting The President shall report regularly, through the organization's newsletter. - 4 -

section 3 The Vice-President The vice -President becomes President if the President's Office becomes vacant, and assumes the office temporarily if the vacancy is temporary. The Vice-President shall President as requested.

Section 4. The Secretary The Secretary shall: (1) record the minutes of the Organization and Board meetings; (2) handle the Organization and Board correspondence; (3) maintain a permanent file of the Organization and Board Bylaws and other corporate documents, including minutes of the organization and Board meetings, Officers and Committee Chairperson's reports, newsletters, correspondence; (4) maintain a permanent record of the Organization and Board decision, rules, motions made and carried; (5) have custody of the Organization's corporate seal. Section 5. The Treasurer. The Treasurer safeguard the appioval, (4) quarterly and newsletter.. shall: (1)Keep records of money received and spent; (2) organization's funds; (3) invest funds with Board siibmit an annual budget to the Board, 5) submit annual reports, for publication in the Organization's

Section 6. Other Vice-Presidents. The Office of "Vice-President! " may be created and filled by the Board. There is no connection between this Office and that of the Vice-President. ARTICLE VIII, LOCAL COMMITTEES- CHAPTERS Section 1. General. Local committees, hereinafter be referred as "chapter" can be formed by at least Ten (10) members of the organization in good standing, before chapter status can be granted Each chapter shall operate under the provisions of these Bylaws Should any question of interpretation arise as to any chapter officer or any chapter Executive Board action orprogram, a final decision as to the validit of the proposal or act shall be determined by the organization's Boar of Directors. Section 2. Name.
A Chapter Shall be identified by its geographical location and shall

1e registered with applicable local governmental offices as required by 1aw.

- 5 -

S:Ion 3. Chapter executive Board. A. cnapter shall have an Executive Board composed of the officers of the chapter: Chapter-Director, Slice-Director, SQaretary, and ?reasurer. The Chapter Board shall be subject to the Articles of incorporation of Atheists of riorida, and to these Bylaws. The rapter Director..shall consult with the President about their activities, and describe them in a written report to the President one month before the Annual Meeting, with a copy to the Chairperson. ARTICLE IX. MEETINGS Section 1. Annual Meeting. Organizatiofi shall hold an Annual Meeting, at a time and site determined by the Board and in time to give the members at least two (2) months's notice of meeting Any member may propose agenda items, n writing, to the president, in advance of the Meeting At Meetings, items may be added to the agenda with approval of the majority of the members present. Section 2. Special Meetings. Any member may write to the chairperson requesting a special meeting, claiming that an emergency exists requiring immediate action Thc Chairperson shall present the request to the Board. If the request merits consideration, the Board shall decide within three (3) weeks, by mail ballot, whether, when and where to Iiolda special meeting. The special meeting shall he held no later than six (6) weeks after the Chairperson the Chairperson's initial receipt of the request shall announce the special meeting to all members by letter, as soon as possible A quorum shall consist of the members present Section 3 Board of Directors Meeting The Board shall hold its Annual Meeting during the organization's Annual Meeting and at the same site The Board may also hold special Meetings, in accordance with its own Bylaws Board Meetings shall be open to the organization's members. ARTICLE X. Section 1. Newsletter.
PUBLICATIONS T-he

The organization shall publish a newsletter at regular intervals. Section 2. other publications. The organization may authorize other publications.

ARTICLE XI. VOTING Section 1. General. All members, other than Organization Members, shall be entitled to vote. All votes shall have, equal value. Members may vote by proxy. In contests of *ore than 2 candidates or choices, a plurality shall be sufficient

Section 2. Voting by Mail. voting say be by mail. Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members, either im the newsletter or by special mailing. The deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three (3) weeks from the date ,bailot5 are sailed by first class mail. Mail ballots shall be tallied .by the elections Committee, and verified by the Secretary. Ballots fo the Board's voting by mail shall be tallied by the Chairman, and erified by the Secretary; the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Secretary. ARTICLE XII. AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS Section 1. voting to Amend at a Meeting. These Bylaws may be amended at an organization Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting. Section 2. \oting to Amend by Mail. These Bylaws may also be amended by mail ballot. The proposed changes, with supporting arguments, will appear in the newsletter or a special mailing. in the following newsletter or second special mailing, other views, including opposing views, will appear, along with a mail ballot. To pass, the Amendment must be approved by a majority of the ballots cast. * -------

-7-

BYLAWS OF THE BOARD OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. ARTICLE I. RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS ;..::. The Board of Directors ( also referred to as tithe Board") bas these responsibilities: (1) to set policy for the organization's affairs, and (2) to elect Officers of the organization and of the Board. The Board shall be governed by the organization's Articles of Incorporation, these Bylaws, and the organization's Bylaws.
ARTICLE II. MEMBERSHIP

Membership shall be in ccord with Article V of the Organization' s Bylaws. ARTICLE III. OFFICERS Section 1. The Chairperson of the Board The Chairperson shall be elected by a majority of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting The Chairperson's term of office shall start as soon as elected, and shall run till the next election, at the AnnUal Board Meeting the following year. The Chairperson may be reelected The Chairperson presides at Board Meetings, and rules on procedure If the Chairperson is absent, the Directors may elect an Acting Chairperson If the office of the Chairperson Is vacant, the Directors shall elect a new Chairperson as soon as possible, at an Annual or special Meeting or by mail ballot The votes shall be tallied by the Acting Chairperson and verified by the Secretary. The Chairperson may be removed from office by a majority of Directors present and voting at a meeting, with the Secretary presiding. Section 2. The Secretary. The Secretary shall be elected by a majority of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting. The Secretary's term shall start as soon as elected, and shall run till the next election, at the Annual Board Meeting the following year. The Secretary may be reelected the Secretary of the Board and the Secretary of the Organization shall be the same person. If the Secretary is absent from a Meeting, the Chairperson shall appoint an Acting Secretary.

- 1 -

ARTICLE IV. VOTING Voting shallbe in accord with Article XI of the organization's Bylaws, except as follows: The Chairperson's vote counts as one except in a tie, when it counts as two. ARTICLE V. COMMITTEES Committees may be created by the Board, to perform Board functions, and shall follow Board instructions. ARTICLE VI. MEETINGS Section 1. Annual Board Meeting. The Board shall meet annual1y, at some time during the organization's Annual Meeting, and at the same site. Organization Members may attend Board Meetings if space is available. Section 2. Special Board Meetings. A Special Board Meeting shall be called by the Chairperson when at least three Directors request it, stating the In choosing the time and site, the Chairperson purpose shall aim to accommodate the largest possible attendance by Directors. Section 3. Agenda. The Agenda for the Board Meeting shall be prepared by the Chairperson Additions to the Agenda may be made by any Director, with the concurrence of the Chairperson Section 4. Quorum. The quorum for any Board Meeting is three (3) Directors. ARTICLE VII AMENDMENTS TO BOARD BYLAWS Any Director may propose an amendment. At an Annual or Special Meeting, a majority vote of the Directors present and voting shall carry the proposed amendment. When an amendment is proposed to the Chairperson, in writing, between Meetings, the Chaiiperson shall decide whether to hold the proposal for the next meeting or put it to an earlier vote by mail For voting by mail, the Chaiperson shall promptly notify the Directors by a special mailing of the proposed amendment, with supporting arguments, requesting opposing arguments by 30 days after the date of mailing. Thereafter, the Chairperson shall mail the opposing arguments, and a ballot, to the Directors, with a voting deadline of 30 days after the date of mailing. The votes shall be tallied by the Chairperson, and verified by the Secretary, who shall notify the Directors of the outcome.

********************************************* ************* -2-

-------* -------

EXHIBIT C

Dedicated to the absolute separation of State and church

A Founding Member Society of the Atheist Alliance International
(The Democratic Alliance of Autonomous Atheist Societies)
Volume XIII No. 7 June 2007

Outreach efforts compromised by threat to Public Access TV

Atheists of Florida continues it sixth year of production of the Atheist Forum in HilisborTALLAHASSEEAS

ough County, a bill signed in to state law this month by Gov. Charlie Crist threatens the very survival of Public Access channels in the state. Ironically dubbed the "Consumer Choice Act of 2007," it is anything but. The truth is that the bill is not consumer friendly and will not produce lower rates. Along with removing local controls over rights of way, HB529 negatively impacts local government revenues and ability to monitor service, requires complaints to go to the Department of Agriculture instead of locals, permits discontinuation of cable service to some residents, does not guarantee service to all residents and marks the beginning of the end of PEG [Public, Education and Government] access cable TV channels and, with that, free speech on the cable-waves in the State of Florida. The bill allows cable and video service providers, rather than a community, to decide the future of existing public, educational and governmental access channels. Existing channels will be subject to utilization criteria the industry intends to use as excuses to eliminate availability of existing public, educational and government access channels. Even worse, public access channels would be severely restricted and local governments would have to find some way to pay for televising their meetings. Currently this public-affairs programming is paid for by cable subscribers, but after 2012 the companies wouldn't be required to provide government access. The governor did release a statement indicating that he remains concerned about public access TV and wants to protect it. Freshman Senator Ronda Storms inserted a provision alleging that public access channels are actually unconstitutional. It was the most tactful way she could conceive to legislate that any criticism on her should be unconstitutional. Her amendment also attempted to eliminate any future channels in communities that presently do not have them and limits PEG channels to only two channels instead of three. In Hillsborough County, Public Access should continue to serve us through at least the year 2012 because the law allowed that present PEG channels could remain in place as long as current local franchise agreements had been established. We should all be writing the governor asking what his intentions are with respect to the survival of this remarkable medium of public expression so voraciously demonized by Storms and despised by the profit-focused providers.
Continuing commitment

be sponsoring the child of one of our own members. Sheridan Scott, the 9-year-old son of member Julia Scott, will be off to camp this summer for the ten day excursion at the original Camp Quest in Ohio. His entire $550 registration fee has been covered by Atheists of Florida. You can learn more about this remarkable camp and it's critical thinking approach to camping at their Web site, www.camD-cluest.com . Have a great experience, Scott. Don't forget to write.
Chapter Meetings

In past years, the Tampa Bay Chapter was able to book meeting space in local libraries for an entire year at a time. With the spaces becoming increasingly popular, the libraries have limited the advanced bookings to three months. Consequently, we are not always able to secure the meeting spaces we want and need to find alternative meeting places. It is very important, therefore, that those who plan to attend any of our meetings verify the locations each month. The best way to accomplish this is to be certain you have your e-mail address in the local database. Then each month, approximately one week prior to the meeting, you will receive an e-mail confirmation of the meeting location, time, and agenda. We never share or sell our database with any other organization, so if you send us your e-dress, you may be assured it will go no further than our database. Those lacking e-mail access may call the Atheists of Florida phone line at (813) 835-1500 or call Chairman Ed Golly direct at (813) 839-7567. We are always committed to holding the meetings on the second Sunday of each month.
Atheist Alliance Convention

Changes within the Alliance are not limited to the presidency of Margaret Downey. The annual convention was not held during the Easter weekend this year, but has been moved to the fall of each year (see page 6 for specifics). We hope to have a large contingency from Florida in attendance this year, and will provide registration forms in upcoming newsletters. They are also available at the Atheist Alliance Web sitewww.AtheistAlliance.org .
Outreach

Remember to come see our stand at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading Saturday, October 27.

At every annual meeting, the board of directors votes to sponsor a camper at Camp Quest. Although we've been rather sporadic about doing so at times, this year it gives us great pleasure to

Fromatific point of view, we can make no distincthe man who eats little and sees heaven, who drinks much and sees snakes.

and Russell (Religion and Science. pg. 188)

Iiiie
www.atheistaiiiance.org/fiorida Chapters: Tampa Bay

P0 Box

130753 Tampa, FL 33681 (813) 835-1500 / (813) 839-7567

ATHALFLE@aol.com
Membership dues

o o o o o o o

Life Member $ 500.00 60.00 yr Sustaining 50.00 yr Couple 40.00 yr Individual Student (under 25 yrs.) 10.00 yr Limited Income (over 65)10.00 yr Newsletter (out of state) 10.00 yr

Published by Atheists of Florida, Inc., a nonprofit, educational corporation founded to heighten public awareness about atheism and monitor state/church separation issues. Letters are published on a spaceavailable basis. Send newsletter correspondence to Tampa Bay Chapter, address above. Articles may be edited for clarity or length. Atheists of Florida, Inc. is a Member Society of the Atheist Alliance International.
Officers

Chairman: President: Vice President Secretary: Treasurer:

Ed Golly Joe Reinhardt Robert Curry James A. Young Ed Golly

State Board of Directors

Christos Tzanetakos Anita Garcia Roberto De Los Rios Nan Owens Jacqueline D. Jordan Steven Miles Alex Giannakoulias Gloria Julius John Kieffer Jim Peterson Steve Brown
Newsletter Production:

Editor:
Staff:

Michael Harvey Jim Strayer, Ed Golly

Web Master

Jim Peterson
Atheist Forum Producer

Ed Golly
Old Time Atheist Hour Producer

Ed Golly

Jim Strayer is a retired biology teacher living with his wife, Bobbe, in Ormond-ByThe-Sea, Florida. He can be reached at

BIOJIMS@aoI.Com .

favorite substance for spontaneous generation). The vegetative force explained many things to both the religious and nonbelievers. The religious said it was a tool which God uses to accomplish his will and the non believers said that if there is a vegetative force there is no need for a God. The non believers were quickly discredited when it was explained that the "vegetative force" THE SOLUTION IS EVOLUTION was a tool, used by God, that turned Adam's rib in to Eve. There was no way to argue a. 36.Intelligent Design and the against such an overwhelming example of Vegetative Force the vegetative force. -fim 5fra5er One hundred years later most of the scientific community still accepted God's wonderful tool. Then in 1861 Louis Pasteur recovering ment peated Spallanzani experiment only to be some jars containtold that he had not proven that the vegeta_____ ing meat with cloth tive for did not exist. and leaving others Pasteur was a different kind of scientist. uncovered. It He improved on Spallanzani experiment by proved that flies .' heating the mutton gravy in a flask with a lay eggs on meat swan neck so that dust could not enter, but and that flies do not arise spontaneously. air could move freely. Even though the air This was an amazing experiment for the could get to the gravy no microbes were time. Very few experiments were done by spontaneously generated, until dust was the scientist of that period. Astronomers introduced. Dust caries microbes, they are made observations, mathematicians did calnot created by culation, physiGod. cists measured this Why is this physical properimportant? It is It is because intelligent deties, and chemists because intellisearched for new sign gent design is elements, but the same idea as experimentation the vegetative was rare. One force. hundred years Very quickly earlier Antonie the religious van Leeuwendiscarded the hoek had proven vecetative force that fleas had for a master designer. The "if there is a parents, but it meant little to the people who watch there must be a watch maker" idea called them selves scientists because they came up about the same time as the vegetadid not deal with living things. That was tive force was discarded. God's domain. Needham had taught the God believers In 1778 when a priest, Father Lazzarno something. That is, don't do experiments to Spallanzani, showed by a brilliant experiprove the supernatural. They learned that ment that microbes do not arise spontanethe existence of God must be established by ously he was challenged by another priest, a force out side of the universe that cannot Father John Needham. Needham did some be tested. experiments that he thought showed that the What a great scheme. God is out side of "wee beasties" do arise by spontaneous genthe universe, but is able to use his great ineration. He showed these experiments to telligence to work miracles inside of the Count Buffon from the Royal Society of universe. London. He and the Royal Society members When I was a boy my father told me that were convinced that Needham was right. if people will believe in Christianity, they When Needham and Buffon were asked would believe anything. People believed in why Spallanzani's experiments were wrong the vegetative force for over 200 years. I am they explained that he had destroyed the sure they will believe in intelligent de"vegetative force" by heating the mutton sign even longer. gravy in a closed flask. (Mutton gravy was a jn the 1600 and 1700's a debate was ragJL ing on spontaneous generation. It was accepted that all manner of living things were spontaneously generated by God or nature. Toads, flies, fleas, and other creatures seemed to appear without having parents. In 1668, Francesco Redi did an experi-

Why is

important?

is the same idea as the vegetative force. Very quickly the religious discarded the vegetative force for a master designerl

June 2007

Atheists of Florida

Wolves in the fold:

-

was embroiled in online forum debates, with Christians on the topic of child and sexual abuse for a period of almost two months during the winter of 2006. This three-part series is a summary of some of the arguments and research references that I used to A of F Feature Article support my position and counter-arguments. The cited reference links are not click-able in PDF to be Sexual abuse by religious able to navigate to the supauthorities, Part 1 of 3 porting articles, you'll have Michael Harvey to re-key them in your web browser, but they are all I valid links.
Above the law, beyond the pale, beneath contempt

claims, e.g., ACLU endorses NAMBLA (a blatant lie). ACLU merely endorses NAMBLA'S right to free speech when in fact, the official ACLU position is that it does not agree with NAMBLA ideology or its political agenda (htti)://www.aclu.orci/freesi eech/
)

Drotest/1 12891rs20000831 .html).

mmmmi
"If, as religionists claim, we need religion, faith, and prayer for morals and ethical guidance, then why are the torchbearers of faith, the very ones who seem to be most prone to 'moral lapses'?"

My consistent proposition has been that religious institutions and environments are fertile soil in which to sow the seeds of child and sexual abuse for two general reasons: Society accords preferred status to religion and its adherents, resulting in taboos on questioning faith/beliefs which discourages open dialog on its value and dangers Religious institutions tend to be authoritarian and absolutist; punitively discouraging open dialog on beliefs, practices, and administration polices; bitterly rejecting outside author ity; attacking or stonewalling critics and reformers. These two characteristics (common to most religions) synergistically create a socio-political vacuum that can foment an above-the-law mentality in religious institutions. Furthermore, a lack of consistent and strident external and internal accountability pressures reinforces a closed orthodoxy, rendering such organizations relatively impervious to naturally shifting paradigms of change and adaptation to evolving social conditions. In spite of overwhelming historical evidence and data, my arguments were ignored or blithely dismissed as absurd, religion bashing, or generalizing. A recurring argument in opposition to mine was that NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) is a grave threat to the safety of children and that the gay community should speak out against NAMBLA. In fact, laws and sanctions politically emasculated the organization long ago (httD:// en.wikiDedia.orp/wiki/NAMBLA - see sections on Ostracism and the 1990's). Gay Christians in the discussion forums pointed out that NAMBLA was/is considered a lunatic fringe within the gay community and is largely considered persona non grata; this obvious truth has yet to be accepted by Fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians who see bogeymen every place except where they really exist, usually right under their noses. Nevertheless, my opponents continually raised the NAMBLA straw-man; or, conflated homosexuality with pedophilia; or, accused anyone who disagreed as supporting pedophilia; or, posted other non sequitur

For the record, as a parent, I abhor what NAMBLA stands for, but at least one knows what to expect from them; unlike various (albeit not all) religious organizations and their representatives that hypocritically assume a moral high ground that they can never seem to attain. NAMBLA does pose a threat to young boys, but that threat pales in comparison to the long-standing shenanigans of institutionalized religion. Religion has been around far longer, the abusers (hiding behind the veneer of probity and righteousness) target prepubescent / post-pubescent boys AND girls. Religious institutions often harbor and protect abusers until legal and political pressures are so great that they are forced to take corrective action.
The least among us

The "official position" of religious organizations is to protect children, and to punish / rehabilitate errant members of the clergy; however, there is clearly a serious disconnect between policy and practice. Religious organizations demonstrably have been and continue to be, a far greater threat to the emotional and sexual health of children. The compilation of articles I shall cite is about sexual and child abuse within, related to, or centered round religious organizations; the abusers are mostly from the clergy but can also be volunteers, teachers, and other employees. The sources of these supporting articles are: news agencies; University studies/papers; other scholarly organizations; activist websites; and even journals from religions organizations. The stark depth and breadth of the abuses are more profound when one considers that these abuses are not isolated (to geography, belief system, sect, diocese, parish, the neighborhood church on the corner) but encompass numerous religious organizations from round the globe. The evidence spans mostly a 50 year period, but stretches back to the beginnings of organized religion itself. The list of articles I cite is but a representative sampling of what we do know; the ugly implications are the same in each piece. I simply could not cite every article because there were just too many of them. The healthy intellect must ask itself: "If, as religionists claim, we need religion, faith, and prayer for morals and ethical guidance, then why are the torchbearers of faith, the very ones who seem to be most prone to 'moral lapses'?" Keep that question in the

forefront of your minds while perusing the evidence I present throughout this series. Although by my reckoning, worshiping other gods, making graven images, or working on a Sabbath seems to be of far greater concern to the gods, then the safety of innocents or the least among us.
In the next two installments, I shall cite numerous refer ences and notes to support my proposition, and wrapupwith some modest proposals to address this ongoing travesty of justice.MRH

June 2007

Atheists of Florida

Bible gets "XXX" rating in Hong Kong?

Sexy scriptures offend Asians
HONG KONG, AFPThe cosmopolitan jewel of the orient, where east meets west, has a problem, an indecency problem. A debate rages in this ancient city of modern capitalism over the morals of Hong Kong and __________ obscenity complaints about the Bible. The Television and Entertainments Licensing Authority (TELA), which Ill oversees the publishing industry, has received 208 complaints that text within the Bible is indecent. "I can confirm that the complaints were received" and "The thrust of the complaints was that the Bible was obscene, that different parts of the Bible were offensive to readers." said a TELA spokeswoman. TELA refused to divulge details of the complaints, but local media reported that they referred to acts of violence, rape and cannibalism reputedly contained in the Old and New Testaments. Reports speculated that the sudden flurry of messages sent to TELA was sparked by a Chinese-language website www.truthbibte.com , which had exhorted readers to pressure TELA to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication. Could this be a godless Communist conspiracy? Perhaps, but what is more likely, is that this media melee is over an indecent classification of a sex survey in a student journal on the ever-dicey topics of bestiality and incest. The Obscene Articles Tribunal (which sounds like a bureau title right out of Stalin's Soviet Union) issued the ruling on Chinese University publication CU Student Press, sparking angry calls from students that authorities were eroding freedom of speech.

AffSl,

loss, also seems to be follow the moral dictates of his own belief system. Tn November 2006, Underwood was indicted by a grand jury on one count of child molestation and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor under 15, from March 21, 1983, through March 21, 1984, and six counts of molestation of a child and one count of sexual conduct with a minor under 15 from Oct. 8, 1983, through Oct. 8, 1984. Old habits are hard to break, prayer notwithstanding. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson is not paying for Underwood's defense, probably because they've already paid out 22.3 million dollars to more than 50 victims in 2005 alone. Underwood, who posted bond in the earlier cases, pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains free on bond, court records show. Hopefully, Underwood will regain his lost moral memory.
....

S SI SIS

Virgin births are possible

Amongst sharks, at least
HENRY DOORLY ZOO, NEBRASKAVirgin births are possible in female sharks, according to a study that found a captive female bonnet-head shark had reproduced without having been near a male in three years. Other captive females, including a white spotted bamboo shark, have accomplished the same feat. Researchers conclude it is likely that all shark species can do so. DNA analysis provided the evidence. "It was a big surprise for us," says zoo director Dr Lee Simmons. "We brought in three female bonnet-heads on 15 December 1998, and on 14 December 2001, bang! One of them gave birth to a 20 centimeter long offspring." The pup unfortunately died the same day from internal injuries caused by a stingray in the exhibit that munched the wiry infant then spat it out. Simmons put the offspring on ice and gave it to the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University; he considered all possibilities including a delayed pregnancy, which is possible in some insects that can store sperm and then give birth later. Dr. Mahmood Shivji, director of the institute collected tissue samples from all of the zoo's female bonnet-heads. DNA analysis, which took several years, identified one female as the mother. Research on the perished pup found that it had no paternal DNA. It also had half of its mother's genetic diversity. The data indicates the mother gave birth via a nonsexual mode of reproduction known as automatic parthenogenesis. involves the female creating an egg that contains 50% of the mother's genes. It is induced to behave as though it has been fertilized by a tiny, genetically similar cell called a sister polar body. Resulting offspring are doubly genetically disadvantaged: no father to provide genetic diversity; and lacks the mother's full genetic make-up. Such births can only occur when females do not have access to males, as in captivity, or in the wild when over-fishing depletes shark populations.

Data indicates the mother gave birth via a nonsexual mode of reproduction known as

._ - .... . .. ... -

automatic parthenogenesis

Pedophile priest has memory problems

He cannot remember to stop molesting kids.

TUSCaN, AZA onetime Tucson priest who was indicted last year on charges of molesting two boys in the 1980s has been indicted on similar charges involving another boy. The Rev. Gary Edward Underwood, 53, a military priest in Bossier City, LA., was indicted by a Pima County grand jury April 24 on one count each of mo lestation of a child and sexual con Atheist Forum duct with a minor Hiflsborou igh County Public Access TV under 15, allegLhie Thursday ...7 PM occurring edly Bright Hc use: Ch 20, Verlzon: Ch 30, Comcast: Ch 20 between Aug. 1, 1985, and Jan. 31, Re run Tuesday .7 PM 1986. Bright H use: Ch 19, Verizon: Ch 36 Father UnderSchedule chan ges every 13 weeks. Next season wood, in addition begins June 2EI with exact same schedule. To be kept Informed 01 all schedule changes, send e-mail to suffering from addre s to AthALFLE@aoLcom selective memory

June 2007

Atheists of Florida

A memo from Atheists of Florida Founder...

To: Atheists of Florida Board Members, and the newsletter Editor. Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 From: Christos Tzanetakos

Letter to the St. Pete TimesLet God pay His own bills!
In her letter of May 27, Eleanor Nicholas states, "To tax churches would certainly cause many to close their doors." That's exactly what ought to occur! Does Ms. Nicholas suppose that the omnipotent creator and ruler of the universe is unwilling or unable to provide the necessary funds to sustain His houses of worship without taxpayer assistance? In any case, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for imposing the burden of supporting anyone's religion upon the taxpayers of the state of Florida. The Florida Constitution, in Article 1, Section 3, specifically states, "No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." 1Joe Reinhardt, President Atheists of Florida, Inc.
LI

11TIN

After the February board meeting, it became clear that Atheists of Florida with the acquiescence and support of Ed Golly and the majority of the current board mem______________________ bers has adopted Jim Young's policy for incessant discussions and debates on the absurdi-________________________ ties of religious books, (in particular the bible) and therefore, changed the course of the organization of promoting the philosophy of atheism and supporting the state-church separation. This has been manifested by the TV programs that in my opinion are unprofessional and most probably are a "To tax turn-off for any prospective intelligent atheist from churches becoming a member. Then, in the January, 2007 newsletter (it was issued would after the February meeting), I read of Jim Young's letcertainly ter to the Pastor and congregation of the Hopewell Bapcause tist church, in response to their ludicrous sign referring many to to Free Thinkers. Unfortunately, Jim Young as well as Ed Golly and close their the majority of the current board members who voted doors." against my motion (We agree that the minutia of Bible That's ex- criticism should not be encouraged because it is childactly what ish and unprofessional. It is far better to engage phiought to losophically and analytically in principle. Those who occur! do engage in biblical debate should make it clear they speak for themselves and do not represent the official position of Atheists of Florida, Inc.) at the board meeting cannot comprehend that actions such as these degrade atheism and lowers the organization to the stupidity of religion. I wonder if you can recognize that signs such as "JESUS IS LARD" or similar are equally ludicrous as those of the ones exhibited by the Baptists. Also, amending the Bylaws at the last minute at the board meeting to re-elect the president for a third term was another travesty. Consequently, and although I am the founder of Atheists of Florida, I am compelled to disassociate my name from the embarrassing policies the organization has adopted under the apparent domination of Jim Young, unless and until the organization returns to its original purpose and poliWe welcome cies. nnrrnonnndanrn JuIIopJvIIuwIvu Christos Tzanetakos readers. Address mall to: Founder, Atheists of Florida, Inc. Atheists of Florida P.O. Box 130753 Editors note: A of F is a democratic orTampa, FL 33681 ganization; the opinions and suggestions

"1

CNN beginning to smell like Fox News

Following is part of a letter penned to Paula Zahn in response to her January 31st show on 'atheist discrimi nation'.

IIJIII

Or email us at: AtheistForum@aol.com

of ALL members are highly valued. Dobate and self-expression are encouraged. Everyone should weigh in on Christos' memo and these topics in general. MRH

Dear Ms. Zahn: Thank you for the January 31st piece on atheist discrimination in our 'shining city on the hill'. Most of all, thank you for proving beyond ALL reasonable doubt that atheists are indeed a misunderstood and reviled group. American theists are hysterically projecting their own 'sins' onto a group of people (atheists) who are only calling for reason, justice, scientific integrity, and that our Constitution be observed. The imbalanced perspective segment of your piece (comprised of THREE theists, two of whom were Christians) that followed the actual reporting segment, demonstrated the irrational hostility that atheists must face nearly every day, in numerous contexts here in the 'land of the free'. I will not dwell on the irony of three theists (all members of protected minorities themselves) implying that atheists 'need to shut up'; nor shall I dwell on their abject denial of an obvious problem. However, it is impossible to overstate the absurdity of Christians claiming that atheists are the problem, or have no reason to complain. Christians enjoy tax-free control over vast tracts of real estate, media, other forms of wealth; they influence Congress, and have a direct line to the White House. If you would like two historical examples of the inherent danger of intertwining State and Church, look no further than: The Inquisition; and Fascist Italy, Spain, and Germanyall of which were 'Christian Nations'. Michael R. Harvey Atheists of Florida, Inc.

June 2007

Atheists of Florida

Atheist-Friendly Pledge of Allegiance

Special Events!
2007 Atheist Alliance International Convention in Washington, DC September 28 to 30, 2007
With a "get SAVED" (Secular Activist Voices to Educate Day) pre-convention event on Thursday, September 27, 2007 hosted by Lori Lipman Brown of the Secular Coalition Early bird specials available Great events Some of greatest minds of Atheism will be presenting, signing books, and available for intimate chats

j robotically mouth the words to a ioyI alty oath / was forced to memorize
during government-sponsored childhood indoctrination out of fear of being ostracized to a multi-colored cloth representing territories acquired through warfare and genocide and to the corporate plu- tocracy for which it stands. One arbitrarily bordered land mass, occupied by racially diverse people, ruled by an entrenched white elite under a mythical being with super natural powers, believed in by humans in order to ease the fear that they are insignificant specks hurdling toward eternal obilvion in a cold, uncaring universe, indivisible except during the Civil War, with liberty and justice for those who can afford the vastly expensive legal advice and assistance required to guarantee it.
- From some place in cyberspace

PIeIi tI1I&1

Contact:
(pre-convention event) Lori@)secular.org www.athelstalliance.org (online registration) 1-866-HERETIC (call AM for more info)

We will provide more detail in subsequent issues along with a printable registration form!
Special Mid-Year Meeting?
Still shooting for a mid-year meeting. We'd like to reserve space at Banquet Masters, 2nd Sunday in July, at $15.00 per person.. If we can get the minimum of 30 folks to confirm, we'll book the room. Contact Gloria Julius at gloiuliusmsncom, or Joe Reinhardt at joereintamgabav.rr.com .

CLASSIFIEDS
Send your ad information to mharvey7itampabay.rr.com ; or AthAIFLE(iaoI.com .
Godless In America: conversations with an atheist by George A. Ricker is now available at most book retailers and online book sellers. For more information about the book and its author, go to www.podlessinamerica.com .

Fine American-made, Hand-crafted jewelry (great gifts for any occasionSecular, Pagan or otherwise!: If you're looking for that special one-of-a-kind piece for yourself or that special someone, take a look at the Swarovski crystal, pearl, amethyst, turquoise, jade and other gorgeous gemstone bracelets, necklaces, and earrings available from TRACY'S TRES CHIC. Tracy Thomas, 727-235-3220, Jewelry Artisan, mschaphaflamoabpy.rr.com .

St. Pete-Atheists//Free-Thought Group

IN REASON WE TRUST

Photography/Videography Services: Artistry In Motion, IncSpecializes In wedding and event photography and videography - and we would LOVE to do a few weddings where no one blathered on about how their god would make the marriage betterl Find out more at www.aimzoom.com
CFI 2007 Florida conference still photos and videos!

Get together with other freethinkers at the St. Pete Atheist / Free-thought every third Tuesday of each month for good food, good drink, good conversation, and lotto ticketsi

Atheists of Florida CHAPTER MEETINGS

TAMPA BAY: PIneIIas Park Public LlbraiySecond Sunday of each odd-numbered month (Jan., Mar., etc.), 1 :30-4:30. 78th Ave
North & 52nd Street.

Photos are available at www.pictacie.com/293552 and can be ordered in various sizes via Pictage, one of the world's premier professIonal photo labspayment can be made via Paypal or by sending a check/MO. Each video Is $10 plus tax or the entire set of 11 can be ordered for $107 (including tax) on DVD or VHS. Individual videos ($10.70 Including tax) should be ordered by last name of the speaker. The original list Is available at bil.iiL www.cfiflorida.orp/events/florida-conference-soeakinp2007.odf) For additional information contact Brent: Phone-352-21 7-3578 Email www.aimzopm.com Guitar I Music Lessons: College-trained musician with many years performance experience In numerous styles of playing. Contact Michael at (813) 545-1071 or via email OrplieusObieckhotmaiI.com

TampaSecond Sunday of each even-numbered month,

1:30-

4:30, various locations in Northwest Tampa area. Social dinners follow all meetings at nearby cafeterias. Call or email for venue Information. FMI: Ed Golly, 813/835-1500, AthALFLE@aol.com .

June 2007

Atheists of Florida

EXHIBIT D

From: Athalflc@aol.com [mailto:Athalflc@aol .com] Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2011 11:32 AM To: athalflc@aol.com Cc: rob6452@gmail.com ; Edgollystudio@aol.com ; brownsteve@verizon.net ; matt.progress@gmail.com ; glojulius@msn.com ; johnkieffer@atheistsofflorida.org ; alan@srqlawyers.com ; nanowens@ix.netcom.com ; JamesTP@metrodirect.net ; joerein@tampabay.rr.com ; tthoma9@tampabay.rr.com ; ebwachs@atheistsofflorida.org ; portiap@tampabay.rr.com ; smiles@chem.ufl.edu Subject: Board meeting As founder of Atheists of Florida, Inc. I am disappointed, to say the least, with the present state of affairs. A few years ago the organization was set backwards by the absurd posters or signs likes "Jesus is not coming" or similar and the obsession in debating the absurdities of the "holy books". I stated then and I am restating now that the above policies lower the image of AOF and lost many members throughout the state. This setback was possible by the support of this unintelligent policy by the majority of the current board including the present Chair, Ed Golly. Now, when finally the organization returned to a more rational path and started to address the serious issues of state/church violations, the organization is facing the most pernicious situation of infighting. Apparently Chairman Ed Golly took the position of the guardian of AOF, and in spite of my urging for cooperation, he is recalcitrant. I hope and advice the board to exercise prudence, and most of all to uphold the democratic principles of the organization and its Bylaws. Ch ristos

EXHIBIT E

BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC.

Revisions through 2004

ARTiCLE I NAME The name of this organii.ation is: ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA. INC. ARTICLE II PURPOSES The specific purposes for which the corporation is organii.ed are: 1. To promote freedom of thought and expression. 2. To advocate, promote and defend in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution mandates. 3. To protect the constitutional and eMI rights of Atheists as menther; of a free and democratic society. 4. To promote the following concepts: A. Because human beings. along with all other species of animal and plants. evolved from a primordial cell. Homo Sapien is only a link in the chain of living matter. B. Because Honio Sapiens is the species with the most, advanced brain and the most nianipulative hands. and because we have developed excessivel y destructive weapons (nuclear and others). ie are solely responsible for the well-being of our own species and to a great extent the rest of the life on planet Earth. C. Global population control is vital, and the extinction of other living animal and plant species must be avoided. D. Cooperation and cqualit-iiot conflict-among all peoples must be encouraged and promoted. E. Because all humans have a common origin, and because the classilication of peoples by races and ethnic groups is divisive and detrimental to our species and to life itsclti all inhabitants on planet Earth should be called "J-lomo Sapiens'. and the current national nanies should only denote the geographical origin of peoples and their distinctive cultures.
5. Topercehethebelieversofan% Ibith. as the product of unfounded dogmas toward \%hom sympathy and understanding

must be extended. 6. To educate the general public on Atheist goals and objectives. 7. To promote Atheism as the philosophy which accepts only what can be verified by the scientific method and rejects supernatural entities, acceptable only as articles of faith. ARTICLE ill MOTTO & SYMBOL The organization's motto shall be: "E PLURIBUS
IJNUM"

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13ytas.do.rtI

Our logo (s mbol) shall be:

ARTICLE IV MANNER OF ELECTION OF DIRECTORS The maimer in which the directors are elected is as follows: Ultimate authority resides in the Members. The Members elect the Directors. The Directors elect the Officers. The Officers manage the prudential affairs of the organization according with the articles of incorporation and these Bylaws. ARTICLE V MEMUERS Section 1. General. Membership in the organization shall be open to all persons and organizations adherent to (lie purposes of Article Ii of these BN. Iaws.T%pes of membership shall be: individual. Couple. Student. Limited Income. Life. Organization and Honorary. Dues shall be set by the Board of Directors. and are to be paid annually. Life members shall pay dues only once in an amount set by the Board. Honorary members pay no dues. Life and Honorary members are for life unless terminated for cause. as specified hereafter. Section 2. Indiidual Membership. Individual membership shall be available to all persons adherent to Article II. and entitled to one vote. Section 3. Couple Membership. Couple membership shall be available to two persons sharing the same mail address. Each person shall have one vote: two (2) mail ballots shall be sent. but only one cops of other organization mailings. Section 4. Student Membership. Student membership shall be open to any student enrolled in an institution who is less than 25 years of age and is adherent to the Purposes of Article It of this organization. Section 5. Limited Income Membership. Limited income membership shall be available to a person ho is living on a limited income. Section 6. Life Membership. Life membership can be conferred on an person who meets the dues set bN the Board for life membership. and is adherent to the purposes of Anicle H of these Bylaws. Section 7. Honorary Membership. Honorary membership may be conferred on a person rho has been nominated bN a member and approved by two-thirds of the Directors %oting. after having met one or more of the following conditions: a. Openly declared his/her Atheism through the media. b. Has made a distinctive contribution to Atheism.
A oil BvLas.do..rtI 2

c. 1-las acted in support of one or more of the purposes of Article II of these B\ laws. Honorary members have the same rights and responsibilities as individual members. but tlie pay no dues. Section S. Organization Membership. Membership of organizations such as Libraries. Associations. Corporations, shall be available upon payment of dues and approval by the Board. Dues shalt be higher than a couple and set b the Board. Organizations may not vote or be on the Board. Only one cops of the organizations mailing shall be sent. Section 9. Conditions of Membership. Application for membership shall be made in writing. submitttng name, address, and correct amount of dues. The Board may reject an application within the first 90 days of membership. in which case the President must notify the applicant within 30 days. stating why the application was turned down. Membership terminates when a member fails to pay dues, resigns. dies. or is expelled. Any member-including Life or Honorary-may be expelled for serioush obstructing the organizations business. misapproprialing the organization's name or funds or acting in a wa that discredits the orgaiiii.ation. The expulsion procedure consists of 5 steps: Step I. A formal expulsion proposal shall be presented in writing to the Board by any member. Step 2. The Board shall examine the evidence. If a majority of the Board Members voting decides, either by mail ballot or at a meeting. that the eNpulsion may be appropriate, the matter will be submitted to. and decided by. the members. This shall be done by mail, or at an Annual Meeting if one is scheduled ithin 2 months. If it is to be done by Mail: Step 3. The case against the member shall be presented in the next nesletter or by a special mailing. Step 4. In the following nesletter. or in a second special mailing, the accused member shall present a defense against the charge. A ballot shall be included in the second newsletter or second special mailing, so that members can vote on whether to expel. lithe expulsion process lakes place at an Annual Meeting: Step 5. The equivalent of Steps 3 & 4 shall be followed, that is, the case against the member shall be presented. after vhich the accused shall present his defense: and then the members present shall vote on whether to expel. The president shall notify the accused member as soon as the result of the vote is known. ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Section 1. Responsibilities. The Board of l)irectors shall be responsible for the organization's affairs and policy, and shall elect the officers. The Board shall be subject to the Articles of Incorporation, to these Blaws and to the Bylaws of the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida. Inc. Section 2. Constitution. The Board shall consist of not less than six (6) nor more than twenty-four (24) members. The Officers arc cx-oflicio Members of the Board. Elected and cx-oflicio Board Members shall have the same rights and responsibilities. Members may nominate candidates for the Boar& or volunteer to be nominated as candidates. Directors are elected to a three (3) year term. Directors inaN be re-elected. Nominations for the Board vill open on September 11 and close on September 30Ih, Voting by mail ballot will only be necessary if tIme nwnber of nominations exceeds the allowable number of Board seats. If voting is necessary, it will begin November I" and close. (postmarked by). November 21. Ballots must be opened and counted in the presence of the Chairman and a minimum of two other Elections Committee members to be alid. Chapter Directors are automnaticall elected to the Board and will not be included on Board voting ballots. Upon absence from two (2) consecutive board of directors meetings without a valid reason any Board Member will be dismissed for the Board of Directors. The Board will ealuaie each individual consideration and determine whether or not to retain the member.

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Section 3. The Chairman The President shall select the site and time of the next board meeting, or ofa special meeting. Thc Chairman shall be responsible for making all meeting arrangements, including compiling the meeting agenda. The Chairman shall preside over the Board of Directors meeting. Section 4. The Executive Director An Executive Director may be appointed by and shall report to the President. Salary for the Executive Director shalt be

subject to approval of the Board. The Executive Directors duties shall include, but not be limited to performing and/or
supervising the administrative day-to-day functions of this organization and any other duties as defined in writing by the President and/or the Board. Compensation to the Executive Director may be made in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars a month. ARTICLE VII Section 1. General. The organization shall have the following officers: President. Vice-President. Treasurer. and Secretar. There may also be other Vice-Presidents whose duties shall be specified by the Board. Officers shall be at least 18 years old and shall have been members for at least one year. Thes shall be elected by a iiiajorit% of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting. An officer's term of oflice lasts until the next election of officers the following sear. No one shall hold more than one office at a time. except that the same person shall be Secretary of the Organization and Secretary of the Board. An officer may be removed or suspended bs a majority of the board members voting. An officer may resign by noti'ing the Chairman of the Board in writing. The President may nominate with approval by the Board a successor to serve the un-expired term of any Officer or Director who vacates a position on the Board. The Vice President automatically succeeds to serve the un-expired term of the President. Section 2. The President. The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer. coordinating the work of other officers and committees. The President is empowered to act on behalf of the board in making decisions. resolving issues and setting policy. The power of the President to fully manage the business affairs of the organization shall only be limited to the framework of the bylaws and policies of the organization. All policies and appointments put in place by Presidential decree will be communicated in writing to all Board members and will be in full force until the Board has a chaiice to review and formally reject the action. Other officers and committee chairpersons shall consult the President about their activities. and submit a written report on their activities to him/her one month before the annual meeting. with a cops to the Chairman. The President shall promptly inform the Chairman of any major decisions. The President shall report regularly. through the organization's newsletter. The President shall be limited to two (2) consecutive terms in office. Section 3. The Vice-President. The Vice-President becomes President if the President' s office becomes vacant: and assumes the office temporarily if the vacancy is temporary. The Vice-President shall assist the President as requested. Section 4. The Secretary. The Secretary shall: (I) record the minutes of the Organization and Board meetings: (2) handle the Organization and Board correspondence: (3) maintain a permanent file of the Organization and Board Bylaws and other corporate documents. including minutes of the Organization and Board meetings. Officers and Committee Chairman's reports. newsletters. and correspondence: (4) maintain a permanent record of the Organization and Board decision, rules. motions made and carried: (5) have custody of the Organization's corporate seal. Section 5. The Treasurer. The Treasurer shall: (I) Keep records of muone) received and spent: (2) safeguard the Organizations funds: (3) invest 4inds. with Board approval: (4) submit an annual budget to the Board: (5) subniit quarterly and annual reports. for publication in the Organizations newsletter. Section 6. Other Vice-Presidents. OFFICERS

The Office of "Vice-President!

that of the Vice-President.

.......

may be created and filled by the Board. There is no connection between this office and

..\ ofF 11vIa.doe.r1J' 4

ARTICLE Vill

LOCAL COMMIT'FEES / PROJECTS

SECTION 1. General.
Standing CommitteeslPrqiects shall include: Chapter Formation. Audit. Budget and Finance. Publications, Fund Raising. Organizational Manual Project. Outreach. Advertising. Public Access TV/Radio. Website. Final Bequests. Annual Conference. Other committees may be appointed by the President. subject to approval by the Board. as the need arises. Project Managers will ensure that electronic reports are submitted to the Board Secretary prior to the annual Board of Directors meeting.

SECTION 2. Chapter Formation.

A Chapter Formation Project Manager shall be appointed bs the President. subject to approval by the Board. The Prqject Manager shall encourage the formation of new Chapters and/or recruit other Florida groups to join the Atheists of Florida.

SECTION 3. Financial Audit.

A Financial Audit Committee shall be appointed by the President. subject to approval by the Board. whose duty shall be to audit the Treasurers accounts and records at the close of the fiscal year. and report to the Board at the next meeting.

SECTION 4. Budget and Finance.

A Budget and Finance Committee shall be appointed by the President. subject to approval by the Board, to prepare a budget for the fiscal vcar. The Treasurer is automatically a member of this committee.

SECTION 5. Publications.
A Publications Committee shall screen and control all printed publications and or venues bearing the name and/or seal of Atheists of Florida. This will include \Veb site content The Web site Project Manager will automatically be a member of this committee. Newsletters will not be sub cci to screening. A Publications Project Manager. appointed by the Board. ilI report directly to the Board and will have full control. authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida.

SECTION 6. Fund Raising.

A Fund Raising Committee shall solicit funding for the organization and/or its projects. This effort is not intended to include membership dues or final bequests. A Fund Raising Project Manager. appointed by the Board. will report directly to the Board on the success of these efforts on behalf of Atheists of Florida. All Project Managers of projects requiring financial assistance are automatically members of this committee and ma coordinate with the Project Manager to engage in fundraising efforts to meet their financial needs.

SECTION 7. Organizational Manual.

An Organizational Manual Project Manager. appointed by the President. shall be responsible for updating (he Organization Manuar to reflect new policies and changes. A revised Organizational Manual will be published and available within one month of the close of the annual Board of Directors meeting.

SECTION 8. Outreach.
An Outreach Project Manager. appointed by the President. subject to approval by the Board. shall coordinate with members as needed to plan and execute educational outreach actiities on behalf of Atheists of Florida.

SECTION 9. Advertising.
An Advertising Project Manager. appointed by the President. subject to approval by the Board, shall plan. coordinate and execute advertising for the organization and its projects in accordance with the advertising budget.

SECTION 10. Public Access Television/Radio

Public Access Television and/or Radio programs shall be encouraged iii several areas throughout Florida. The Board of Directors shall appoint a Project Managerts) for each Public Access Television and/or Radio project. The Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control. authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida.

\ ofF Uhis.do.rtI' 5

SECTION 11. Web site. Atheists of Florida shall maintain a Web site. The Board of Directors sha'l appoint a Project Manager to plan. coordinate. execute and maintain the Web site project. The Web site Project Manager will report directl to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida. The Web site Project Manager will automatically be a menther of the Publications Committee. SECTION 12. Final Bequests. Atheists of Florida shall actively solicit final bequests for its Endowment Fund. The Board of Directors shall appoint a Project Manager to plan. coordinate, execute and maintain this project. The Bequests Project Manager vill report directly to the Board and have full control. authorii and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project oil behalf of Atheists of Florida. SECTION 13. Annual Conference/Meeting. Atheists of Florida shall strive to hold an annual confcrence/meeting. The Board of Directors shall annually appoint a Project Manager to plan. coordinate and execute all aspects of this project for the following year. The Annual Conference Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida. The date and location ol' the conference will normally be selected by the President in accord with Article X. Section 1 & Section 3 of these Bylaws. The Annual Conference meeting must be scheduled to occur during the Iirst two months of the calendar year in order to acconiinodate the Board of Directors meeting. ARTICLE IX MEETiNGS Section 1. Annual Meeting The Organization shall hold an Annual Meeting within the first two months of each calendar %car. The President shall set the time, date and site. 11 by December l' of the preceding year. the President has failed to set this date. the Chairman will immediately intervene to do so. Every effort will be made to give Board members two months advance notice of this meeting. Any member nia propose agenda items, in writing, to the President. in advance of the Meeting. At Meetings. items may be added to the agenda with approval of the majority of the members present. Section 2. Special Meetings. Am' member may write to the Chairman requesting a special meeting. claiming that an emergency exists requiring immediate action. The Chairman shall present the request to the Board. If the request merits consideration. the Board shall decide, within three (3) weeks, by mail ballot, whether, when and where to hold a special meeting. The special meeting shall be held no later than six (6) weeks after the Chairman's initial receipt of the request. The Chairman shall announce the special meeting to all members by letter. as soon as possible. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members. Section 3. Board of Directors Meeting. The Board shall hold its Annual Meeting during the organization's Annual Meeting and at the same site. The Board may also hold Special Meetings, in accordance with its own Bylaws. Board Meetings shall be open to the organization's members. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members.
ARTICLE X PUBLICATIONS

Section 1. Newsletter. The organization shall publish a newsletter at regular intervals. Section 2. Other publications. The organization may auihorii.c other publications.

A oFF F3v1as.doe.rt1' o

ARTICLE Xl PERPETUAL ENDOWMENT FUND

Section 1. Purpose And Uses

The purpose of the fund is to endo the orgmiiation with a perpetual source of funding for operational expenses. The intent of the contributors is to ensure that Atheists of Florida. inc.. will ahsavs have sufficient income to fund its endeavors.

Section 2. Approved Uses

Income derived from earnings of this fund may be used for anN Board approved expense of Atheists of Florida not specifically prohibited herein.

Section 3. Prohibited Uses

Money derived from this fund may not be used to grant any type of educational scholarships. Grants, using money from this fund may not be made to individuals. Depletion of assets is restricted to earnings only. Depleting the value of donor contributions, other than for broker transaction fees, during the process of reallocating investments is prohibited.

Section 4. Donor Contributions

Money is contributed to the fund b) the organization and/or its iueiubers. In making contributions to this fund. the donor releases Atheists of Florida's Board from all liability, except for fraud_ in its investment policies. All contributions to this fund must actualIN be deposited into ii. All final bequests made to Atheists of Florida. unless otherwise stipulated in the bequest. shall be deemed a contribution to this endowment fund. Initial purchases made with donor contributions should reflect the total amount contributed. Subsequently, if Atheists of Florida's Board decides to reallocate the investment, the value of donor contributions is the price received, minus brokerage fees. ihen investments are sold. The purchase costs for new investments, including brokerage fees, during reallocation, should always equal the same amount received upon the sale of the old investments.

Section S. Investment Holdings

Monies deposited into the account may be invested as directed b) Atheists of Florida's Board of Directors. Investments will be chosen by Atheists of Florida's Board of Dircctors from a list of funds meeting its investment criteria. Review and reallocation of investments may not occur more oflen than once every five vears unless forced by the dissolution of a fund/trust. Atheists of Florida's Board of Directors cannot be held liable for the lack of prudence iii its investment choices. Small amounts of deposited monies may be held iii the account as cash until sufficient amounts are accumulated tojustift the expenses incurred in a purchase of investments.

Section 6. Dividends And Earnings

Dividends and earnings of this fund ma) be automatically re-invested to purchase additional shares of stock or may be taken in cash b' Atheists of Florida.

Section 7. Security 01 Assets

The earnings of this fund may not be obligated to an) other purpose oilier thaii providing income to Atheists of Florida. Its assets may not be used as collateral for an, financial obligation. Atheists of Florida juay not divest itself of this endowment fund at any time. Margin trading. option purchases. market timing and other high risk trading practices are strictly prohibited. Atheists of Florida's Board and/or its members may and should pursue all legal remedies necessary to recover any loss of assets due to fraudulent or prohibited management of this fund. Atheists of Florida's Board is not liable for losses incurred to the value of this fund due to investment choices or market performance.

Section 8. Stock Sales To Redeem Earnings

Atheists of Florida's Board of Directors may elect to autornaticalli reinvest earnings of this fund in the purchase of additional shares of stock. Shares purchased with earnings ma) be later redeemed for cash if within twelve months of purchase. This money may then be removed from the fund and placed in an other Atheists of Florida operating account. If these shares arc not redeemed during the twelve month period, the shares ill autoinaticall) become a permanent part of donor contributions. the donor being Atheists of Florida. and treated as such. Atheists of Florida's Board of Directors must approve all stock transactions prior to execution.

.- ofF l3v1aws.doe.rtf 7

Section 9. Income Withdrawals \Vithdrawals from the lund account are hunted to the net earnings of the funds investments. All withdrawals from the account must have Board approval. ARTICLE Xli VOTING Section 1. General. All members. other than Organization Members. shall be entitled to vole. All votes shall have equal value. Members may vote by proxy. In contests of more than two (2) candidates or choices. a plurality shall be sufficient. Section 2. Voting by Mail. \'oting may be by mail. Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members, either in the newsletter or by special mailing. Thc deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three 3) weeks from the date ballots arc mailed by first class mail. Mail ballots shall be tallied by the Elections Committee, and verified by the Secretary. Ballots for the Board's voting by mail shall be tallied by the Chairman, and verified bN the Secretary: the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Sccretan. ARTICLE XIII Section 1. Voting to Amend at a Meeting. These Bylaws may be amended at an Organization Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting. Section 2. Voting to Amend by Mail. These Bylaws ma also be amended b mail ballot. The proposed changes. with supporting arguments, will appear in the newsletter or a special mailing. In the following new sleuer or second special mailing. other views. including opposing views, will appear. along with a mail ballot. To pass. the Amendment must be approved by a majority of the ballots cast.

AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS

.\IF ItIaws.dortt 8

EXHIBIT E-1

BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC.

ARTICLE I NAME The name of this organization is: ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. ARTICLE II PURPOSES The specific purposes for which the corporation is organized are:

1. To promote freedom of thought and expression.

2. To advocate, promote and defend in all lawful ways the complete and absolute separation of state and church as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution mandates. 3. To protect the constitutional and civil rights of Atheists as members of a free and democratic society. 4. To promote the following concepts: A. Because human beings, along with all other species of animal and plants, evolved from a primordial cell, Homo Sapiens is only a link in the chain of living matter. B. Because Homo Sapiens is the species with the most advanced brain and the most manipulative hands, and because we have developed excessively destructive weapons (nuclear and others), we are solely responsible for the well-being of our own species and to a great extent the rest of the life on planet Earth. C. Global population control is vital, and the extinction of other living animal and plant species must be avoided. D. Cooperation and equality-not conflict-among all peoples must be encouraged and promoted. E. Because all humans have a common origin, and because the classification of peoples by races and ethnic groups is divisive and detrimental to our species and to life itself, all inhabitants on planet Earth should be called "Homo Sapiens", and the current national names should only denote the geographical origin of peoples and their distinctive cultures. 5. To promote the concept that believers of any faith, are the product of unfounded dogmas toward whom sympathy and understanding should be extended. 6. To educate the general public on Atheist goals and objectives. 7. To promote Atheism as the philosophy which accepts only what can be verified by the scientific method and rejects supernatural entities, acceptable only as articles of faith. 8. ARTICLE Ill MOTTO & SYMBOL The organization's motto shall be: "E PLURIBUS UNUM"

Our logo ( symbol) shall be:

ARTICLE IV MANNER OF ELECTION OF DIRECTORS The manner in which the directors are elected is as follows: Ultimate authority resides in the Members. The Members elect the Directors. The Directors elect the Officers. The Officers manage the prudential affairs of the organization according with the articles of incorporation and these Bylaws. ARTICLE V MEMBERS
Section 1. General.

Membership in the organization shall be open to all persons and organizations adherent to the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws. Types of membership shall be: Individual, Couple, Student, Limited Income, Life, Organization and Honorary. Dues shall be set by the Board of Directors, and are to be paid annually. Life members shall pay dues only once in an amount set by the Board. Honorary members pay no dues. Life and Honorary members are for life unless terminated for cause, as specified hereafter.
Section 2. Individual Membership.

Individual membership shall be available to all persons adherent to Article II, and entitled to one vote.
Section 3. Couple Membership.

Couple membership shall be available to two persons sharing the same mail address. Each person shall have one vote; two (2) mail ballots shall be sent, but only one copy of other organization mailings.
Section 4. Student Membership.

Student membership shall be open to any student enrolled in an institution who is less than 25 years of age and is adherent to the purposes of Article II of this organization.
Section 5. Limited Income Membership.

Limited income membership shall be available to a person who is living on a limited income.
Section 6. Life Membership.

Life membership can be conferred on any person who meets the dues set by the Board for life membership, and is adherent to the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws.
Section 7. Honorary Membership.

Honorary membership may be conferred on a person who has been nominated by a member and approved by two-thirds of the Directors voting, after having met one or more of the following conditions: a. Openly declared his/her Atheism through the media. b. Has made a distinctive contribution to Atheism. c. Has acted in support of one or more of the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws. Honorary members have the same rights and responsibilities as individual members, but they pay no dues. Section 8. Organization Membership. Membership of organizations such as Libraries, Associations, Corporations, shall be available upon payment of dues and approval by the Board. Dues shall be higher than a couple and set by the Board. Organizations may not vote or be on the Board. Only one copy of the organizations mailing shall be sent. E-mail may be used for communicating with members when deemed appropriate by the President.

Section 9. Conditions of Membership.

Application for membership shall be made in writing, submitting name, address, and correct amount of dues. The Board may reject an application within the first 90 days of membership, in which case the President must notify the applicant within 30 days, stating why the application was turned down. Membership terminates when a member fails to pay dues, resigns, dies, or is expelled. Any member-including Life or Honorary-may be expelled for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name or funds or acting in a way that discredits the organization. The expulsion procedure consists of 5 steps: Step 1. A formal expulsion proposal shall be presented in writing to the Board by any member. Step 2. The Board shall examine the evidence. If a majority of the Board Members voting decides, either by mail ballot or at a meeting, that the expulsion may be appropriate, the matter will be submitted to, and decided by, the members. This shall be done by mail, or at an Annual Meeting if one is scheduled within 2 months. If it is to be done by Mail: Step 3. The case against the member shall be presented in the next newsletter or by a special mailing. Step 4. In the following newsletter, or in a second special mailing, the accused member shall present a defense against the charge. A ballot shall be included in the second newsletter or second special mailing, so that members can vote on whether to expel. If the expulsion process takes place at an Annual Meeting: Step 5. The equivalent of Steps 3 & 4 shall be followed, that is, the case against the member shall be presented, after which the accused shall present his defense: and then the members present shall vote on whether to expel. The president shall notify the accused member as soon as the result of the vote is known. ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Section 1. Responsibilities.

The Board of Directors shall be responsible for the organization's affairs and policy, and shall elect the officers. The Board shall be subject to the Articles of Incorporation, to these Bylaws and to the Bylaws of the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida, Inc.
Section 2. Constitution.

The Board shall consist of not less than six (6) nor more than twenty-four (24) members. The regular election shall be limited to four fewer than the maximum allowed Board members. The Officers are ex-officio Members of the Board. Elected and ex-officio Board Members shall have the same rights and responsibilities. Elected Board members shall be at least 18 years old and shall have been members for at least six months. Members may nominate candidates for the Board, or volunteer to be nominated as candidates. Directors are elected to a three (3) year term. Directors may be re-elected. Nominations for the Board will open on September 30th Voting by mail ballot will only be necessary if the number of nominations 1st and close on September 1st and close, exceeds the allowable number of Board seats. If voting is necessary, it will begin November 218t Ballots must be opened and counted in the presence of the Chairman and a (postmarked by), November minimum of two other Elections Committee members to be valid. Chapter Directors are automatically elected to the Board and will not be included on Board voting ballots. Board vacancies which remain after the regular election process is completed may be treated as un-expired terms and filled by election by the Board, up to four fewer than the maximum allowed Board members.

Following regular election, the term of office for Board members begins on December l and ends three years 31St Those later elected by the Board to fill an un-expired term will begin their term later on November immediately upon announcement of election results by the President, their term ending on November 31' in the same year as regularly elected Board members. Upon absence from two (2) consecutive board of directors meetings without a valid reason any Board Member will be dismissed for the Board of Directors. The Board will evaluate each individual consideration and determine whether or not to retain the member.
Section 3. The Chairman

The President shall select the site and time of the next board meeting, or of a special meeting. The Chairman shall be responsible for making all meeting arrangements, including compiling the meeting agenda. The Chairman shall preside over the Board of Directors meeting.
Section 4. The Executive Director

An Executive Director may be appointed by and shall report to the President. Salary for the Executive Director shall be subject to approval of the Board. The Executive Directors duties shall include, but not be limited to performing and/or supervising the administrative day-to-day functions of this organization and any other duties as defined in writing by the President and/or the Board. ARTICLE VII OFFICERS
Section 1. General.

The organization shall have the following officers: President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary. There may also be other Vice-Presidents whose duties shall be specified by the Board. Officers shall be at least 18 years old and shall have been members for at least one year. They shall be elected by a majority of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting. An officer's term of office lasts until the next election of officers the following year. No one shall hold more than one office at a time, except that the same person shall be Secretary of the Organization and Secretary of the Board. An officer may be removed or suspended by a majority of the board members voting. An officer may resign by notifying the Chairman of the Board in writing. The President may open nominations to fill the un-expired term of any Officer or Director who vacates a position on the Board. The Vice President automatically succeeds to serve the un-expired term of the President.
Section 2. The President.

The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer, coordinating the work of other officers and committees. The President is empowered to act on behalf of the board in making decisions, resolving issues and setting policy. The power of the President to fully manage the business affairs of the organization shall only be limited to the framework of the bylaws and policies of the organization. All policies and appointments put in place by Presidential decree will be communicated in writing to all Board members and will be in full force until the Board has a chance to review and formally reject the action. Other officers and committee chairpersons shall consult the President about their activities, and submit a written report on their activities to him/her one month before the annual meeting, with a copy to the Chairman. The President shall promptly inform the Chairman of any major decisions. The President shall report regularly, through the organization's newsletter. The President shall be limited to two (2) consecutive terms in office.
Section 3. The Vice-President.

The Vice-President becomes President if the President's office becomes vacant; and assumes the office temporarily if the vacancy is temporary. The Vice-President shall assist the President as requested.
Section 4. The Secretary.

The Secretary shall: (1) record the minutes of the Organization and Board meetings; (2) handle the Organization and Board correspondence; (3) maintain a permanent file of the Organization and Board Bylaws and other corporate documents, including minutes of the Organization and Board meetings, Officers and Committee

Chairman's reports, newsletters, and correspondence; (4) maintain a permanent record of the Organization and Board decision, rules, motions made and carried; (5) have custody of the Organization's corporate seal.
Section 5. The Treasurer.

The Treasurer shall: (I) Keep records of money received and spent; (2) safeguard the Organization's funds; (3) invest funds, with Board approval; (4) submit an annual budget to the Board; (5) submit quarterly and annual reports, for publication in the Organization's newsletter.
Section 6. Other Vice-Presidents.

The Office of "Vice-President!....' may be created and filled by the Board. There is no connection between this office and that of the Vice-President. ARTICLE VIII LOCAL COMMITTEES - CHAPTERS
Section 1. General.

Local committees, hereinafter be referred as "Chapter," may be formed by a single active member of Atheists of Florida. Upon reaching a quantity of ten (10) members, the Chapter shall appoint one member to serve on the Board of Atheists of Florida unless at least one member of that chapter already serves on the Board. Directors of chapters of fewer than ten (10) members may attend Board meetings as guests. Each chapter shall operate under the provisions of these Bylaws. Should any question of interpretation arise as to any chapter officer or any chapter Executive Board action or program, a final decision as to the validity of the proposal or act shall be determined by the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida.
Section 2. Name.

A Chapter shall be identified by its geographical location and shall be registered with applicable local governmental offices as required by law.
Section 3. Chapter executive Board.

A Chapter shall have an Executive Board composed of the officers of the chapter: Chapter-Director, Vice-Director, and Secretary. The Chapter Board shall be subject to the Articles of Incorporation of Atheists of Florida, and to these Bylaws. The Chapter Director shall consult with the President about their activities, and describe them in a written report to the President one month before the Annual Meeting, with a copy to the Chairman. ARTICLE IX MEETINGS
Section 1. Annual Meeting.

The Organization shall hold an Annual Meeting within the first two months of each calendar year. The President shall set the time, date and site. If by December 18t of the preceding year, the President has failed to set this date, the Chairman will immediately intervene to do so. Every effort will be made to give Board members two months advance notice of this meeting. Any member may propose agenda items, in writing, to the President, in advance of the Meeting. At Meetings, items may be added to the agenda with approval of the majority of the members present.
Section 2. Special Meetings.

Any member may write to the Chairman requesting a special meeting, claiming that an emergency exists requiring immediate action. The Chairman shall present the request to the Board. If the request merits consideration, the Board shall decide, within three (3) weeks, by mail ballot, whether, when and where to hold a special meeting. The special meeting shall be held no later than six (6) weeks after the Chairman's initial receipt of the request. The Chairman shall announce the special meeting to all members by letter, as soon as possible. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members.
Section 3. Board of Directors Meeting.

The Board shall hold its Annual Meeting during the organization's Annual Meeting and at the same site. The Board may also hold Special Meetings, in accordance with its own Bylaws. Board Meetings shall be open to the organization's members. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members. ARTICLE X PUBLICATIONS
Section 1. Newsletter.

The organization shall publish a newsletter at regular intervals.

Section 2. Other publications.

The organization may authorize other publications. ARTICLE XI PERPETUAL ENDOWMENT FUND
Section 1. Purpose And Uses The purpose of the fund is to endow the organization with a perpetual source of funding for operational expenses. The intent of the contributors is to ensure that Atheists of Florida, Inc., (Aof), will always have sufficient income to fund its endeavors. Section 2. Approved Uses

Income derived from earnings of this fund may be used for any Board approved expense of Atheists of Florida not specifically prohibited herein.
Section 3. Prohibited Uses

Money derived from this fund may not be used to grant any type of educational scholarships. Grants, using money from this fund may not be made to individuals. Depletion of assets is restricted to earnings only. Depleting the value of donor contributions, other than for broker transaction fees, during the process of reallocating investments is prohibited.
Section 4. Donor Contributions

Money is contributed to the fund by the organization and/or its members. In making contributions to this fund, the donor releases AoF's Board from all liability, except for fraud, in its investment policies. All contributions to this fund must actually be deposited into it. All final bequests made to AoF, unless otherwise stipulated in the bequest, shall be deemed a contribution to this endowment fund. Initial purchases made with donor contributions should reflect the total amount contributed. Subsequently, if AoF's Board decides to reallocate the investment, the value of donor contributions is the price received, minus brokerage fees, when investments are sold. The purchase costs for new investments, including brokerage fees, during reallocation, should always equal the same amount received upon the sale of the old investments.
Section 5. Investment Holdings

Monies deposited into the account may be invested as directed by AoF's Board of Directors. Investments will be chosen by AoF's Board of Directors from a list of funds meeting its investment criteria. Review and reallocation of investments may not occur more often than once every five years unless forced by the dissolution of a fund/trust. AoF's Board of Directors cannot be held liable for the lack of prudence in its investment choices. Small amounts of deposited monies may be held in the account as cash until sufficient amounts are accumulated to justify the expenses incurred in a purchase of investments.
Section 6. Dividends And Earnings

Dividends and earnings of this fund may be automatically re-invested to purchase additional shares of stock or may be taken in cash by AoF.
Section 7. Security Of Assets

The earnings of this fund may not be obligated to any other purpose other than providing income to AoF. Its assets may not be used as collateral for any financial obligation. AoF may not divest itself of this endowment fund at any time. Margin trading, option purchases, market timing and other high risk trading practices are strictly prohibited. AoF's Board and/or its members may and should pursue all legal remedies necessary to recover any loss of assets due to fraudulent or prohibited management of this fund. AoF's Board is not liable for losses incurred to the value of this fund due to investment choices or market performance.

Section 8. Stock Sales To Redeem Earnings A0F's Board of Directors may elect to automatically reinvest earnings of this fund in the purchase of additional shares of stock. Shares purchased with earnings may be later redeemed for cash if within twelve months of purchase. This money may then be removed from the fund and placed in any other AoF operating account. If these shares are not redeemed during the twelve month period, the shares will automatically become a permanent part of donor contributions, the donor being AoF, and treated as such. AoF's Board of Directors must approve all stock transactions prior to execution. Section 9. Income Withdrawals Withdrawals from the fund account are limited to the net earnings of the funds investments. All withdrawals from the account must have Board approval.

ARTICLE XII VOTING

Section 1. General.

All members, other than Organization Members, shall be entitled to vote. All votes shall have equal value. Members may vote by proxy. In contests of more than two (2) candidates or choices, a plurality shall be sufficient.
Section 2. Voting by Mail.

Voting will be by mail, except the President may, in certain circumstances, stipulate e-mail voting to be acceptable by the Board. Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members, either in the newsletter or by special mailing. The deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three (3) weeks from the date ballots are mailed by first class mail. Mail ballots shall be tallied by the Elections Committee, and verified by the Secretary. Ballots for the Board's voting by mail or e-mail shall be tallied by the Chairman, and verified by the Secretary; the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Secretary. ARTICLE XIII AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS
Section 1. Voting to Amend at a Meeting.

These Bylaws may be amended at a Board Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting.
Section 2. Voting to Amend by Mail.

These Bylaws may also be amended by mail ballot. The proposed changes, with supporting arguments, will appear in the newsletter or a special mailing. In the following newsletter or second special mailing, other views, including opposing views, will appear, along with a mail ballot. To pass, the Amendment must be approved by a majority of the ballots cast.

EXHIBIT F

Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida, Inc. October 23, 2010
INTRODUCTION. A special meeting of the Directors of ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, 1NC., a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit Florida Corporation, was held on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at the Atheists of Florida office, 3614 S. Manhattan Avenue, Tampa. The chairman noted that this was a special board meeting called by the directors of the above named corporation pursuant to the Bylaws of said corporation for the purpose of discussing items specified on the agenda which had been delivered to all board members prior to the meeting. 1. CALL TO ORDER. Chairman Ed Golly called the meeting to order at 12:15 P.M. Steve Brown proposed an addition to the agenda to discuss the Coalition of Reason. This will be item 1.1 13 on the agenda. Ellenbeth Wachs proposed an addition to the agenda to discuss short term and long term goals. This will be item will be item 3 on the agenda. Gloria Julius would like to add historical accuracy to the agenda. This will be item 6.10 on the agenda. Gloria Julius would like to add the incorporation of an umbrella nonprofit organization. This will be item 6.11 on the agenda 2. ROLL CALL. Roll was called by the Chairman and the following directors were present: John Kieffer, President Jack Basart James Peterson Steve Brown, J1ice President Joe Reinhardt Robert Curry, Executive Director Christos Tzanetakos Ed Golly, Chairman EllenBeth Wachs Tracy Thomas, Secretary Nan Owens, Treasurer Gloria Julius Golly noted that a quorum was present and proceeded with the meeting. 3. SHORT TERM AND LONG TERM GOALS. 3.1 MOTION was made by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by John Kieffer that the organization establish short term and long term goals. A discussion ensued as to whether the board should set the goals or should open the discussion to the general membership. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION was made by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by James Peterson that a goal be set for A of F to own its own building by 2015. Discussion centered around researching costs of properties, potentially purchasing a church or strip mall, location of the building, including space for other free thought organizations. Concerns were raised about the manpower to maintain the building. MOTION CARRIED.

3.2

3.2.1 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Nan Owens to amend the motion that a goal be set for A ofF to own a building by October 2012 and that A ofF will select the AMMENDMENT TO THE MOTION CARRIED. building. MOTION was made by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by Steve Brown A ofF set a goal to acquire 3.3 500 paid members per year. MOTION CARRIED. 4. CREATING BOARD MEMBER COMMITTEES. 4.1 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Ellenbeth Wachs to create board member committees with a minimum of 2 board members per committee. A motion was made by Ed Golly and seconded by Jack Basart to allow general membership and nonmember committee members. MOTION FAILED.
Atheists of Florida, Inc. 10/23/10 Special Board of Directors Meeting Page 1

4.1.1 MOTION was made by Ed Golly, SECONDED by Jack Basart to allow general membership and nonmember committee members. AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION CARRIED.

5. CHANGING PROTOCAL FOR REMOVING ORGANIZATION MEMBERS.

5.1

MOTION was made by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by John Kieffer to remove organization members based on a decision by the President and approval of the Chairman unless the issue involved concerns either of them in which case the decision will be made by another board member based on chain of command. It was brought to the attention of the board that an amendment to the bylaws requires a majority vote of the membership present at an organizational meeting. MOTION WITHDRAWN by Ellenbeth Wachs.

6. ADOPTING AN ORGANIZATION PLATFORM.

6.1

MOTION was made by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by John Kieffer to adopt an organization platform to include: against misogyny, pro-homosexual civil rights, pro-science vs creationism, prodialogue vs debate, pro-end of life choice (doctor assisted suicide), pro-medical marijuana, proreproductive rights, pro-free speech, opposition to 12 steps recovery models (pro-self empowerment and personal responsibility approach), historical accuracy. Discussion centered around the religious origination of these subjects and the potential problems in deviating from the main focus of atheism/separation of church and state. MOTION FAILED.

7. JOB DESCRIPTIONS.

7.1

MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by James Peterson to review and expand as necessary the job descriptions for board of director officers and the executive director. It was brought to the attention of the board that the job descriptions for officers are included in the bylaws and that an amendment to the bylaws requires a majority vote of the membership present at an organizational meeting. MOTION WITHDRAWN by John Kieffer. MOTION was made by Ed Golly, SECONDED by James Peterson to amend the compensation for the executive director. Discussion included increasing the compensation by the amount saved from not having to pay rent on the building, increasing compensation based solely on performance, requesting a report from the executive director, the need for fund raising. MOTION CARRIED. MOTION was made by Ed Golly, SECONDED by James Peterson to increase the executive director compensation by $250/month. Discussion included increasing compensation based solely on performance, concerns about work being completed on areas not specifically rewarded by performance based compensation, concerns about the number of hours being worked by the current executive director, the need for written reports from the executive director, job performance accountability. MOTION CARRIED AS AMENDED. 7.3.1 MOTION was made by Gloria Julius, SECONDED by Ellenbeth Wachs to table the motion until the next Board Meeting to allow the president to create a job description and to meet with the executive director about position needs. AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION FAILED. 7.3.2 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Steve Brown to amend the motion to allow the president to offer a bonus of $250/month to the executive director based on performance from now until the next board meeting. AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION CARRIED.

7.2

7.3

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8. VOTE ON OCCUPATION OFA OF F OFFICE BUILDING 8.1 MOTION was made by James Peterson, SECONDED by John Kieffer to occupy the building at 3614 S. Manhattan, Tampa, FL without compensation to the landlord. MOTION CARRIED with Ed Golly excused from voting.

9. CREATING AWARDS. MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Ellenbeth Wachs to create annual awards for 9.1 "Atheist of the Year" and "Lifetime Achievement for Atheism" for members of Atheists of Florida. Discussion included providing a plaque as an award, limiting the awards to members of Atheists of Florida. MOTION CARRIED 9.1.1 MOTION made by Gloria Julius to open the award to any atheist. No second. 9.1.2 MOTION made by James Peterson, SECONDED by Steve Brown to open the "Lifetime Achievement for Atheism" award to any atheist in Florida. AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION CARRIED. 10. CHANGING FORMAT FROM MONTHLY MEETINGS TO QUARTERLY EVENTS/ANNUAL CONVENTIONS. 10.1 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Ellenbeth Wachs to change the chapter monthly meetings to quarterly events. Discussion included questions about what a quarterly event would include, local chapters can still hold monthly meet-ups. MOTION CARRIED. 11. BOARD MEMBERS MUST JOIN MEETUP.COM . 11.1 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Joe Reinhardt to require the board members to join the Tampa meet-up.com . MOTION CARRIED. 12. INCREASING BOARD MEETINGS FROM ANNUAL TO QUARTERLY. 12.1 MOTION was made by John Kieffer, SECONDED by Gloria Julius to increase the board of dirrector meetings from annual to quarterly. Discussion included the possibility of holding the quarterly board meetings on the same day as the quarterly events, the possibility of holding the board meetings 3 times per year. MOTION CARRIED. 12.1.1 MOTION was amended by James Peterson, SECONDED by Steve Miles to hold 3 board of directors meetings per year. Discussion included the possibility of holding the board meetings quarterly and then reducing to 3 times per year dependents on needs. AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION FAILED. 13. COALTITION OF REASONReport by Robert Curry Coalition of Reason's purpose is cooperation among free thought organizations. Goal to have one event annually to bring the group together. Currently there are groups in Tampa Bay, Tallahassee and NE Florida.

14. UMBRELLA NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. Tabled until next meeting.

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15. CONCLUDING BUSINESS.

15.1 No Tabled Items were resumed for action. 15.2 Committee assignments: ANNUAL REPORT Ed Golly Steve Brown FUND RAISING Gloria Julius Joe Reinhardt NEWSLETTER Nan Owens Ed Golly MEMBERSHIP LEGAL AFFAIRS BUTLDING Ellenbeth Wachs Ellenbeth Wachs John Kieffer James Peterson Gloria Julius
15.3 15.4

Adoption of adjournment motion MOVED to adjourn by Ellenbeth Wachs, SECONDED by Nan Owens. By vote of the board, the MOTION CARRIED. Ed Golly ADJOURNED the meeting at 6:07 P.M.

Tracy A. Thomas, Secretary

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EXHIBIT G

BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC.

ARTICLE I NAME The name of this organization is: ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. ARTICLE II PURPOSES The purposes for which this corporation is organized are: 1. To advocate for social acceptance of the essential fact that there is no reason or evidence that supports the proposition that gods or supernatural phenomena exist. 2. To offer the Atheist position as a foundation for a truly free and fulfilling life. 3. To advance Atheism as a necessary premise of any social or ethical philosophy which accepts as valid, only propositions verifiable by sound logic and the scientific method, and rejects supernatural or other explanations contingent on non-rational ideologies. 4. To educate the general public about Atheist ideas, history, methods, and objectives. 5. To defend freedom of thought and expression as well as the complete and absolute separation of state and church as guaranteed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. 6. To vigorously campaign for higher educational standards that fully embrace scientific discipline in acquiring reliable knowledge, and emphasize the development of critical thinking skills in every person. 7. We welcome all whose concern is to positively contribute to the advancement of human well-being through clarity of thought and the application of rational principals. ARTICLE Ill MOTTO & SYMBOL The organization's motto shall be: "E PLURIBUS UNUM" Our logo (symbol) shall be:

BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. Updated June 2011

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ARTICLE IV MANNER OF ELECTION OF DIRECTORS The manner in which the directors are elected is as follows: Ultimate authority resides in the Members. The Members elect the Directors. The Directors elect the Officers. The Officers manage the prudential affairs of the organization according with the articles of incorporation and these Bylaws. ARTICLE V MEMBERS
Section 1. General.

Membership in the organization shall be open to all persons and organizations adherent to the purposes of Article II of these Bylaws. Membership shall be limited to General and Life Memberships. Dues shall be set by the Board of Directors, and are to be paid annually. Life members shall pay dues only once in an amount set by the Board. The Life Membership fee may include a significant other. Life members are for life unless terminated for cause, as specified hereafter.
Section 2. Conditions of Membership.

Application for membership shall be made in writing, submitting name, address, and correct amount of dues. The Board may reject an application within the first 90 days of membership, in which case the President must notify the applicant within 30 days, stating why the application was turned down. Membership terminates when a member fails to pay dues, resigns, dies, or is expelled. Any memberincluding Life Membersmay be expelled for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name or funds or acting in a way that discredits the organization. The expulsion procedure consists of three steps: Step 1. A formal expulsion proposal by any member shall be presented in writing to the president and two board members, selected at random by the president, where there is no conflict of interest, who will decide whether or not to expel the member. Step 2. The expelled member will be allowed ninety (90) days to appeal to the entire board to have membership reinstated. Step 3. If expelled, the membership fees from the current year shall be refunded to the expelled member. The president shall notify the accused member as soon as the result of the appeal is known. ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Section 1. Responsibilities.

The Board of Directors shall be responsible for the organization's affairs and policy, and shall elect the officers. The Board shall be subject to the Articles of Incorporation, to these Bylaws and to the Bylaws of the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida, Inc.
Section 2. Constitution.

The Board shall consist of not less than six (6) nor more than twenty-four (24) members. The regular election shall be limited to four fewer than the maximum allowed Board members. The Officers are ex-officio Members of the Board. Elected and ex-officio Board Members shall have the same rights and responsibilities. Elected Board members shall be at least 18 years old and shall have been members for at least six months. Members may nominate candidates for the Board, or volunteer to be nominated as candidates. Directors are elected to a three (3) year term. Directors may be re-elected. Nominations for the Board will open on September
BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. Updated June 2011 Page 2

1st and close on September 30th Voting by mail ballot will only be necessary if the number of nominations 1st and close, exceeds the allowable number of Board seats. If voting is necessary, it will begin November 21st Ballots must be opened and counted in the presence of the Chairman and a (postmarked by), November minimum of two other Elections Committee members to be valid. Chapter Directors are automatically elected to the Board and will not be included on Board voting ballots. Chapter Director seats on the Board are limited to the current Chapter Director of an active Chapter. Board vacancies which remain after the regular election process is completed may be treated as un-expired terms and filled by election by the Board, up to four fewer than the maximum allowed Board members. Following regular election, the term of office for Board members begins on December 1st and ends three years 31st Those later elected by the Board to fill an un-expired term will begin their term later on November immediately upon announcement of election results by the President, their term ending on November 31st in the same year as regularly elected Board members. Upon absence from two (2) consecutive board of directors meetings without a valid reason, any Board Member will be dismissed from the Board of Directors. The Board will evaluate each individual consideration and determine whether or not to retain the member. All board members are indemnified and held harmless except for purposeful and gross negligence.
Section 3. The Chairman

The President shall select the site and time of the next board meeting, or of a special meeting. The Chairman shall be responsible for making all meeting arrangements, including compiling the meeting agenda. The Chairman shall preside over the Board of Directors meeting.
Section 4. The Executive Director

An Executive Director may be appointed by and shall report to the President. Salary for the Executive Director shall be subject to approval of the Board. The Executive Directors duties shall include, but not be limited to performing and/or supervising the administrative day-to-day functions of this organization and any other duties as defined in writing by the President and/or the Board. ARTICLE VII OFFICERS
Section 1. General.

The organization shall have the following officers: President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary. There may also be other Vice-Presidents whose duties shall be specified by the Board. Officers shall be at least 18 years old and shall have been members for at least one year. They shall be elected by a majority of the Directors present and voting at the Board's Annual Meeting. An officer's term of office lasts until the next election of officers the following year. An officer may be removed or suspended by a majority of the board members voting. An officer may resign by notifying the Chairman of the Board in writing. The President may open nominations to fill the un-expired term of any Officer or Director who vacates a position on the Board. The Vice President automatically succeeds to serve the un-expired term of the President.
Section 2. The President.

The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer, coordinating the work of other officers and committees. The President is empowered to act on behalf of the board in making decisions, resolving issues and setting policy. The power of the President to fully manage the business affairs of the organization shall only be limited to the framework of the bylaws and policies of the organization. All policies and appointments put in place by Presidential decree will be communicated in writing to all Board members and will be in full force until the Board has a chance to review and formally reject the action. Other officers and committee chairpersons shall consult the President about their activities, and submit a written report on their activities to him/her one month before the annual meeting, with a copy to the Chairman. The President shall promptly inform the Chairman of any major

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decisions. The President shall report regularly, through the organization's newsletter. The President shall be limited to three (3) consecutive terms in office.
Section 3. The Vice-President.

The Vice-President becomes President if the President's office becomes vacant; and assumes the office temporarily if the vacancy is temporary. The Vice-President shall assist the President as requested.
Section 4. The Secretary.

The Secretary shall: (1) record the minutes of the Organization and Board meetings; (2) handle the Organization and Board correspondence; (3) maintain a permanent file of the Organization and Board Bylaws and other corporate documents, including minutes of the Organization and Board meetings, Officers and Committee Chairman's reports, newsletters, and correspondence; (4) maintain a permanent record of the Organization and Board decision, rules, motions made and carried; (5) have custody of the Organization's corporate seal.
Section 5. The Treasurer.

The Treasurer shall: (1) Keep records of money received and spent; (2) safeguard the Organization's funds; (3) invest funds, with Board approval; (4) submit an annual budget to the Board; (5) submit quarterly and annual reports, for publication in the Organization's newsletter.
Section 6. Other Vice-Presidents.

The Office of "VicePresident/...." may be created and filled by the Board. There is no connection between this office and that of the Vice-President. ARTICLE VIII COMMITTEES I PROJECTS
SECTION 1. General.

Standing Committees/Projects shall include: Chapter Formation, Audit, Budget and Finance, Publications, Fund Raising, Organizational Manual Project, Outreach, Advertising, Public Access TV/Radio, Website, Final Bequests, Annual Conference. Other committees may be appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board, as the need arises. Project Managers will ensure that electronic reports are submitted to the Board Secretary prior to the annual Board of Directors meeting.
SECTION 2. Chapter Formation.

A Chapter Formation Project Manager shall be appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board. The Project Manager shall encourage the formation of new Chapters and/or recruit other Florida groups to join the Atheists of Florida.
SECTION 3. Financial Audit.

A Financial Audit Committee shall be appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board, whose duty shall be to audit the Treasurer's accounts and records at the close of the fiscal year, and report to the Board at the next meeting.
SECTION 4. Budget and Finance.

A Budget and Finance Committee, appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board, to prepare a budget for the fiscal year. The Treasurer is automatically a member of this committee.
SECTION 5. Publications.

A Publications Committee shall screen and control all printed publications and or venues bearing the name and/or seal of Atheists of Florida. This will include website content. The Website Project Manager will
BYLAWS OF ATHEISTS OF FLORIDA, INC. Updated June 2011 Page 4

automatically be a member of this committee. Newsletters will not be subject to screening. A Publications Project Manager, appointed by the Board, will report directly to the Board and will have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida.
SECTION 6. Fund Raising.

A Fund Raising Committee shall solicit funding for the organization and/or its projects. This effort is not intended to include membership dues or final bequests. A Fund Raising Project Manager, appointed by the Board, will report directly to the Board on the success of these efforts on behalf of Atheists of Florida. All Project Managers of projects requiring financial assistance are automatically members of this committee and may coordinate with the Project Manager to engage in fundraising efforts to meet their financial needs.
SECTION 7. Organizational Manual.

An Organizational Manual Project Manager, appointed by the President, shall be responsible for updating the "Organization Manual" to reflect new policies and changes. A revised Organizational Manual will be published and available within one month of the close of the annual Board of Directors meeting.
SECTION 8. Outreach.

An Outreach Project Manager, appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board, shall coordinate with members as needed to plan and execute educational outreach activities on behalf of Atheists of Florida.
SECTION 9. Advertising.

An Advertising Project Manager, appointed by the President, subject to approval by the Board, shall plan, coordinate and execute advertising for the organization and its projects in accordance with the advertising budget.
SECTION 10. Public Access Television/Radio

Public Access Television and/or Radio programs shall be encouraged in several areas throughout Florida. The Board of Directors shall appoint a Project Manager(s) for each Public Access Television and/or Radio project. The Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida.
SECTION 11. Website.

Atheists of Florida shall maintain a website. The Board of Directors shall appoint a Project Manager to plan, coordinate, execute and maintain the website project. The Website Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida. The Website Project Manager will automatically be a member of the Publications Committee.
SECTION 12. Final Bequests.

Atheists of Florida shall actively solicit final bequests for its Endowment Fund. The Board of Directors shall appoint a Project Manager to plan, coordinate, execute and maintain this project. The Bequests Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida.
SECTION 13. Annual Conference/Meeting.

Atheists of Florida shall strive to hold an annual conference/meeting. The Board of Directors shall annually appoint a Project Manager to plan, coordinate and execute all aspects of this project for the following year. The Annual Conference Project Manager will report directly to the Board and have full control, authority and responsibility in managing the affairs of the project on behalf of Atheists of Florida. The date and location of the conference will normally be selected by the President in accord with Article X, Section 1 & Section 3 of these

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Bylaws. The Annual Conference meeting must be scheduled to occur during the first two months of the calendar year in order to accommodate the Board of Directors meeting. ARTICLE IX CHAPTERS
Section 1. General.

Local "Chapters," may be formed by a single active member of Atheists of Florida. Upon reaching a quantity of ten (10) members, the Chapter shall appoint one member to serve on the Board of Atheists of Florida unless at least one member of that chapter already serves on the Board. Directors of chapters of fewer than ten (10) members may attend Board meetings as guests. Each chapter shall operate under the provisions of these Bylaws. Should any question of interpretation arise as to any chapter officer or any chapter Executive Board action or program, a final decision as to the validity of the proposal or act shall be determined by the Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida.
Section 2. Name.

A Chapter shall be identified by its geographical location and shall be registered with applicable local governmental offices as required by law.
Section 3. Chapter executive Board.

A Chapter shall have an Executive Board composed of the officers of the chapter: Chapter-Director, Vice-Director, and Secretary. The Chapter Board shall be subject to the Articles of Incorporation of Atheists of Florida, and to these Bylaws. The Chapter Director shall consult with the President about their activities, and describe them in a written report to the President one month before the Annual Meeting, with a copy to the Chairman. ARTICLE X MEETINGS
Section 1. Annual Meeting.

The Organization shall hold an Annual Meeting within the first two months of each calendar year. The President shall set the time, date and site. If by December 181 of the preceding year, the President has failed to set this date, the Chairman will immediately intervene to do so. Every effort will be made to give Board members two months advance notice of this meeting. Any member may propose agenda items, in writing, to the President, in advance of the Meeting. At Meetings, items may be added to the agenda with approval of the majority of the members present.
Section 2. Special Meetings.

Any member may write to the Chairman requesting a special meeting, claiming that an emergency exists requiring immediate action. The Chairman shall present the request to the Board. If the request merits consideration, the Board shall decide, within three (3) weeks, by mail ballot, whether, when and where to hold a special meeting. The special meeting shall be held no later than six (6) weeks after the Chairman's initial receipt of the request. The Chairman shall announce the special meeting to all members by letter, as soon as possible. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members.
Section 3. Board of Directors Meeting.

The Board shall hold its Annual Meeting during the organization's Annual Meeting and at the same site. The Board may also hold Special Meetings, in accordance with its own Bylaws. Board Meetings shall be open to the organization's members. A quorum shall be constituted by 50% of the standing number of Board Members. ARTICLE Xl PUBLICATIONS
Section 1. Newsletter.

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The organization shall publish a newsletter as often as possible, at least quarterly but not later than the first day of each quarter. The newsletter editor shall be a dues paying member of Atheists of Florida. The editor shall be responsible for all aspects of production and distribution including the writing or gathering of articles from members or from sources in the Internet. All A of F members with e-mail shall receive the newsletter via e-mail in pdf format. The editor will e-mail the newsletter to the Webmaster for posting to the Web site. All A of F members without e-mail shall receive a hard copy of the newsletter via US Mail. The editor shall not be required to produce a surplus of hard copies. The editor shall be provided an up to date copy of A of F's database to facilitate distribution. The editor shall report to the President and may be hired or fired at the President's pleasure. The editor shall be compensated a flat rate of $100.00 for each issue produced and distributed.
Section 2. Other publications.

The organization may authorize other publications. ARTICLE XII PERPETUAL ENDOWMENT FUND
Section 1. Purpose and Uses

The purpose of the fund is to endow the organization with a perpetual source of funding for operational expenses. The intent of the contributors is to ensure that Atheists of Florida, Inc., (A of F), will always have sufficient income to fund its endeavors.
Section 2. Approved Uses

Income derived from earnings of this fund may be used for any Board approved expense of Atheists of Florida not specifically prohibited herein.
Section 3. Prohibited Uses

Money derived from this fund may not be used to grant any type of educational scholarships. Grants, using money from this fund may not be made to individuals. Depletion of assets is restricted to earnings only. Depleting the value of donor contributions, other than for broker transaction fees, during the process of reallocating investments is prohibited.
Section 4. Donor Contributions

Money is contributed to the fund by the organization and/or its members. In making contributions to this fund, the donor releases A of F's Board from all liability, except for fraud, in its investment policies. All contributions to this fund must actually be deposited into it. All final bequests made to A of F, unless otherwise stipulated in the bequest, shall be deemed a contribution to this endowment fund. Initial purchases made with donor contributions should reflect the total amount contributed. Subsequently, if A of F's Board decides to reallocate the investment, the value of donor contributions is the price received, minus brokerage fees, when investments are sold. The purchase costs for new investments, including brokerage fees, during reallocation, should always equal the same amount received upon the sale of the old investments.
Section 5. Investment Holdings

Monies deposited into the account may be invested as directed by A of F's Board of Directors. Investments will be chosen by A of F's Board of Directors from a list of funds meeting its investment criteria. Review and reallocation of investments may not occur more often than once every five years unless forced by the dissolution of a fund/trust. A of F's Board of Directors cannot be held liable for the lack of prudence in its investment choices. Small amounts of deposited monies may be held in the account as cash until sufficient amounts are accumulated to justify the expenses incurred in a purchase of investments.
Section 6. Dividends and Earnings

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Dividends and earnings of this fund may be automatically re-invested to purchase additional shares of stock or may be taken in cash by A of F.
Section 7. Security of Assets

The earnings of this fund may not be obligated to any other purpose other than providing income to A of F. Its assets may not be used as collateral for any financial obligation. A of F may not divest itself of this endowment fund at any time. Margin trading, option purchases, market timing and other high risk trading practices are strictly prohibited. A of F's Board and/or its members may and should pursue all legal remedies necessary to recover any loss of assets due to fraudulent or prohibited management of this fund. A of F's Board is not liable for losses incurred to the value of this fund due to investment choices or market performance.
Section 8. Stock Sales to Redeem Earnings

A of F's Board of Directors may elect to automatically reinvest earnings of this fund in the purchase of additional shares of stock. Shares purchased with earnings may be later redeemed for cash if within twelve months of purchase. This money may then be removed from the fund and placed in any other A of F operating account. If these shares are not redeemed during the twelve month period, the shares will automatically become a permanent part of donor contributions, the donor being A of F, and treated as such. A of F's Board of Directors must approve all stock transactions prior to execution.
Section 9. Income Withdrawals

Withdrawals from the fund account are limited to the net earnings of the funds investments. All withdrawals from the account must have Board approval. ARTICLE XIII VOTING
Section 1. General.

All members, other than Organization Members, shall be entitled to vote. All votes shall have equal value. Members may vote by proxy. In contests of more than two (2) candidates or choices, a plurality shall be sufficient.
Section 2. Voting by Mail.

Voting will be by mail, except the President may, in certain circumstances, stipulate e-mail voting to be acceptable by the Board. Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members, either in the newsletter or by special mailing. The deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three (3) weeks from the date ballots are mailed by first class mail. Mail ballots shall be tallied by the Elections Committee, and verified by the Secretary. Ballots for the Board's voting by mail or e-mail shall be tallied by the Chairman, and verified by the Secretary; the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Secretary. ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS
Section 1. Voting to Amend at a Meeting.

These Bylaws may be amended at a Board Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting.
Section 2. Voting to Amend by Mail.

These Bylaws may also be amended by mail ballot. The proposed changes, with supporting arguments, will appear in the newsletter or a special mailing. In the following newsletter or second special mailing, other views, including opposing views, will appear, along with a mail ballot. To pass, the Amendment must be approved by a majority of the ballots cast. END-

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EXHIBIT H

OCTOBER24

EllenBeth updated her status

"My state for the Board of Directors election for Atheists of Florida- EltenBeth Wachs; John Kieffer; Alan Sczcepak; Eric Husby; Benjamin Geiger; Jessica Parrish; Rob Curry; Portia Westerfield; Joe Reinhardt; Write In! Nan Owenst'

JA

OCUOBER 23

EllenBeth updated her status.

"My slate for the Board of Directors election for Atheists of JA FloridaEllenBeth Wachs; John Kieffer; Alan Sczcepak; Eric Husby; Benjamin Geiger; Jessica Parrish; Rob Curry; Portia Westerfield; Jim Peterson; Write In! Nan Owens"

EXHIBIT I

-Original Message From: EllenBeth Wachs {mailto:ebwachs@atheistsoffIorida.org] Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2011 12:53 PM To: 'John Kieffer'; AthAlFICaol .com; portiaptampabay. rr.com ; rob6452cgmail.com ; matt.Drogressc1mail .com ; Edgollystudioaol .com; glojulius@msn.com ; smileschem .ufl.edu; nanowens@yix.netcom.com ; joerein@tamDabay. rr.com ; Tthoma9(tampabay.rr.com ; brownsteve@verizon.net Cc: 'Eric Husby' Subject: RE: *URGENT* Your email response needed for 2 Bylaw motions

Point of OrderNumber one The call for a vote has not been issuedAnd number two, even if it had, it would be irrelevant becauseas they say, "here we go again" If you all recall, we just recently had a "special" board meeting to amend the bylaws specifically because they cannot be amended by email. I had numerous discussions with John yesterday about this but he decided to go ahead anyway and send these motions out. He has incorrectly cited the bylaws to support his position. There are numerous issues that need to be dealt with. 1. Matt as "Election Coordinator" and EllenBeth as "Legal Affairs Coordinator" Under the bylaws"All policies and appointments put in place by Presidential decree will be communicated in writing to all Board members and will be in full force until the Board has a chance to review and formally reject the action." We had a board meeting after his appointment. Remember my appt as Legal Affairs Coordinator was disseminated and then approved at the next board meeting. Which begs the question, there is no provision for either position in the bylaws. There is an option for the creation of special committees which then must get board approval, and a reference to an "elections committee." If John wants to create an Elections Committee, he can do that. If he wants to create a Legal Affairs Committee, he can do that. Both would then be subject to board approval but this didn't happen. These committees can then have a "chair" It might be said that I was a Legal Affairs Committee of one after the board approved my appointment, but that is stretching it. We need to have an "Elections Committee" and it needs to be approved at the next board meeting. This, in and of itself, is a problem as the voting period will be open prior to the approval of the Elections Committee as thirty days notice must go out for a board meeting to be called and voting by email IS acceptable for board elections 2. The deadline to nominate is expired. You cannot extend a period that has ended. 3. He included Eric Husby, a non-board member in his email. This is internal business. I have kept Eric in this conversation at this point because he was included in the original email and because I have submitted his nomination as a board member and believe he has the right to know the situation. Non board members do not have the right to attend board meetings. They may be invited as guests.

 Do nonmembers have a right to attend or speak at meetings?

No, nonmembers have no rights to the proceedings. iowever., a request can be granted to attend by a majority vote or unanimous consent, but it requires a twothirds vote to suspend the rules to allow a nonmember to speak in debate. For more information, refer to RONR 10th ed. pp. 255, 625. Do members who are not members of the Board of Directors have a right to be present or speak at board meetings? No. See the answer to #17, as nonmembers have no rights to the proceedings of the Board.

4. You can't do a "one-time" amendment to the bylaws. 5. You cannot have 2 motions on the table at one time. 6. Invalid Motions- The entire sections of the two provisions of the bylaws that John is quoting from are below. He is utilizing two separate and distinct Articles to support his position. It is entirely inappropriate. One has to do with voting in elections and the other has to do with bylaw changes. I told him this yesterday and he went ahead anyway. The motions are invalid as the bylaws cannot be changed by email.

ARTICLE XIII VOTING

Section 1. General.

All members, other than Organization Members, shall be entitled to vote. All votes shall have equal value. Members may vote by proxy. In contests of more than two (2) candidates or choices, a plurality shall be sufficient.
Section 2. Voting by Mail.

Voting will be by mail, except the President may, in certain circumstances, stipulate e-mail voting to be acceptable by the Board. Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members, either in the newsletter or by special mailing. The deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three (3) weeks from the date ballots are mailed by first class mail. Mail ballots shall be tallied by the Elections Committee, and verified by the Secretary. Ballots for the Board's voting by mail or email shall be tallied by the Chairman, and verified by the Secretary; the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Secretary. ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS
Section 1. Voting to Amend at a Meeting.

These Bylaws may be amended at a Board Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting.
Section 2. Voting to Amend by Mail.

These Bylaws may also be amended by mail ballot. The proposed changes, with supporting arguments, will appear in the newsletter or a special mailing. In the following newsletter or second

special mailing, other views, including opposing views, will appear, along with a mail ballot. To pass, the Amendment must be approved by a majority of the ballots cast.

A bylaw change is an incredibly momentous and important undertaking and cannot be done lightly. Changing our bylaws changes the agreement we've made with our membership about how AoF is going to be run. The proper notice for a bylaw change would necessarily contain at least three fundamental components: 1. The proposed amendment, precisely worded 2. The current bylaw 3. The bylaw as it will read if the amendment is adopted Additionally, the notice should include the proposers' names and their reasoning for offering the amendment. It should also include other pertinent information such as whether a committee had endorsed or opposed the amendment. (i.e such as the "Election Committee") The entire membership must have the opportunity to be involved with it thus the need for either the in-person meeting after notice to the membership or the two separate mail ballots to the membership. As Christos likes to remind this board- we are a democratic organization. You cannot cut out the most important people in this process- the members. I was the one that raised the problem of fairness with the renewals not being sent under both the election timetable and for the last year. At this point, even if a "special" meeting were to be convened, it would be too late as the voting period would then be open. Can we do something that complies with our bylaws and affords our membership the maximum opportunity to be involved? I know that when new council people or school board members are elected, they are required to have training in parliamentary procedure and the rules and regs under which they operate. I am going to make a suggestion that after the new board is seated, a training session in Robert's Rules of Order coupled with a review of Atheists of Florida's bylaws would be helpful. I would also suggest a standing Bylaw Committee be formed and a Parliamentarian be appointed.

EllenBeth

EXHIBIT J

From C Tzanetakos 10/31/2011 Hello Ed:

I am afraid that your explanation of omitting my name from the list of the AOF board is poor and totally unjustified. Since the founding of AOF I tried to cooperate with you and I spent many hours trying to pointout the futility of debating the absurdities of the Bible or any other religious books. Again doing so (in my opinion) an organization such as AOF is degrading itself to the level of the religious superstition. Yet, as recently as last week you was peddling Jim's pamphlet. Incidentally, to my knowledge it was never authorized by the board. Your meeting with other board members in private to address violations or grievances is perfectly OK, but it does not make it "Executive Committee". As I stated in my previous email addressed only to you, after our conversation at the book fare, I thought about your plan to request the removal of John Kiefer and Elenbeth, and after careful consideration I advise you to try at the Nov. 6, meeting to use restrain and reconciliation. My concern is the very important law suit in which Elenbeth is the plaintiff for AOF. The outcome of this suit is paramount and it should not be jeopardized. Coming now to my name, I withdrew my name from the candidates for the next board. I did not resign from the current board. As for the "board member emeritus" I never made such request. This is strictly a board's decision. Again, this email is addressed only to you. I hope that you would rethink the whole matter and act in prudence. Ch ristos

EXHIBIT K

From: Atheists Board <atheistsoffloridaboardtqmail.com > To: AtheistsOfFloridaBoard(nmaiI.com Sent: Sunday, November 6, 2011 6:05 PM Subject: Change of Leadership at Atheists of Florida

Dear Atheists of Florida Supporter, This message is to inform you that the Board of Directors of the Atheists of Florida met earlier today. As a result of recent developments, the Board voted to remove EllenBeth Wachs as Vice President, and to remove John Kieffer as President of the Organization. Please be aware that they no longer speak for the Atheists of Florida, and are not authorized to use Atheists of Florida mailing lists. Additionally, both have been expelled from the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business, misappropriating the organization's name, misappropriating the organization's funds, and acting in a way that discredits the organization. Please note that the only authorized mailing address for Atheists of Florida continues to be: Atheists of Florida, P0 Box 130753, Tampa FL 33681 No other mailing address is valid. More urgently, we expect control of the PayPal, meetup.com sites and our website to return promptly to control of the Board of Directors from the removed and expelled officers. Meanwhile, please keep abreast of the latest Atheists of Florida developments on our temporary website at: www.metrodirect.net/aof Despite this temporary setback, the Atheists of Florida will promptly re-right our ship and forge ahead advancing the real issues of Atheism. There will be multiple new opportunities to serve on the Board and within the organization. This is an exhilarating time in the life of our country and culture when dissenters from centuries-old standards of belief and expectation are becoming the pioneers of a new society. You are an important part of this advance. Atheism is the door of personal discovery, wherein we might glimpse a reality unburdened by fantasy, one which is the entry to new ways of thinking and imagining, conditioned by genuine knowledge of our universe and ourselves. Our goal is to get the liberating word out; that the Atheist proposition is the most logical and consistent way to deal with reality. This is why we are the Atheists of Florida. As always, thank you for your continued support and participation.

The Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida Chair and acting President Ed Golly, Tracy Thomas, Secretary Treasurer Nan Owens, Steve Brown, Member of the board Member of the board Matt Cooper, Member of the board Gloria Julius, Member of the board Steve Miles, James Peterson, Member of the board

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The Board of Directors of the Atheists of Florida met at its Tampa Headquarters on November 6th 2011. As a result of recent developments, the Board majority voted to remove ElfrnBcth Wadis as Vice President, and to remove JoIs,i ,ffier as President of the Organization. Please be aware that they no longer speak for the Atheists of Florida, and nt-a not authorized to use Atheists of Florida mailing lists, Additionally, both have been expilled freon the membership for seriously obstructing the organization's business by blacking channels of communicatioii, and other irregularities and improprieties.

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No other mailing addreso Is valid. More urgently, we expect control of the PayPal, meetup.com sites and our website to return promptly, to control of the Board of Directors from the removed and expelled officers. Meanwhile, please keep abreast of the lateit Atheists of Florida developments on this temporary website. Despise this setback, the Atheisis of Florida will promptly re-right our ship and forge ahead advancing she real Issues of Atheism. There will be multiple new opportunIties to son-, on the board and within the organization. This Is an exhilarating time In the life of our country and culture when those who dissent from, what has for centurieS been the standards of belief and expectation, are becoming the plobeers of a new society. You are an important part of this advanc,. Atheism it the door of personal discovery, wherein we might glimpse a reality smburdenad by fantasy, one which Is the entry to new ways of thinking and imagining, conditioned by genuine knowledg, of our universe and ourselves. Our goal Is to get die liberatIng word out; that the ,thtlst proposition is the most logical and Consistent way to deal with reality. This it why we are the Atheists of Florida. As always, thankyou for your support of and participation. SfgiL atones The Board olDirecton at Athelisa of Florida, November 6th 2011 Li Coils; Chair aid acting President flacy Thomas, Secretary Xe,. Ow,n, Treasurer lust Coopir, Member si the board Slstvlhln, Member of the beard SresvBrouu. Member of the board diane Julius, Member of the beard J,x,naaPetsnon, Member of the board ..j'on SigsiaiorIas Portia bl'esterfelsL Member of the Board Rob Corn; Member of the Board Chriaioi Tsanerakot, Member of the Board &Pomider Watch this website For further information as It developa.

EXHIBIT M

Athel'sts of Floric'la
Dedicated to the absolute separation of State and church
A Founding Member Society of the Atheist Alliance

QuLLrrthrrlly PlewoleftuT
Volume XV No. 1 OctoberDecember 2011

President and V P voted out by board

Both expelled from organization following board meeting
TAMPAON NOVEMBER 6, AT THE

quarterly board meeting that had been called approximately six weeks earlier by President Kieffer, the Board was presented with an opportunity to vote to retain or reject each of the four officers and the Chairman.
President John Kieffer, who had temporarily transferred his executive authority to Vice President EllenBeth Wachs on October 17 in preparation for his criminal trial, had immediately reinstated himself as president following roll call. It should be noted that during the brief time Wachs had assumed the role of Acting President, she had adopted a totalitarian, bullying attitude toward the board, leading to immediate infighting between herself, the board and general members. Her attitude convinced most board members that she was unsuitable to preside over the organization. In addition, some members felt her simultaneous presidency of the Humanists of Florida created a conflict of interest with her acting presidency of Atheists of Florida. She and Kieffer's leadership were tarnished with issues of lack of financial accounta-

bility, elections improprieties, unapproved amendments to our state annual report, and unapproved expenditures of organization funds. Consequently, the first order of business at the Nov. 6 meeting was to provide an opportunity for the Board to vote to approve or reject each of the five officers including the Chairman. ARTICLE VII OFFICERS Section 1 General
...An officer may be removed or suspended by a majority of the board members voting

A of F bylaws, Pg 3

Wachs became so incensed that the board would be given an opportunity to express this vote that she stormed out of the meeting, along with Kieffer and Board Member Rob Curry. Remaining members voted as follows:
OFFICER

GOLLY Chairman KIEFFER President WACHS VP THOMAS Secreta,y OWENS Treasurer

RETAIN REMOVE ABSTAIN 8 1 8 1 8 1 8 1 8 1

Following the Board Meeting, Kieffer and Wachs were expelled from A of F for

No stories.. .just the facts

Primarily four issues led the board to vote to remove Kieffer and Wachs from their executive positions:
1. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITYWachs and Kieffer were responsible for $60,000 in criminal and civil legal fees, yet they refused to provide the board with any documentation of those expenses whatsoever (see page 5). ELECTION IMPROPRIETIESNumerous discrepancies plagued the election process for the new board of directors (see page 6). ANNUAL REPORT AMENDMENTSWachs amended the A of F Annual Report filed with the State of Florida naming herself the official contact person for the organization, and a P.O. Box in Lakeland as the official address of A of F, all without board consultation or approval (see page 5). UNAPPROVED EXPENDITURESA check in excess of $18,000 was written to a Tampa attorney unknown to any of the board members without approval of, or mention to, the Financial Oversight Committee, or knowledge of any of the board members (see page 3),

2, 3.

reasons outlined in this newsletter. Each has 90 days to appeal, at which time they will be given an opportunity to address the issues leading to their expulsion. As of this printing, neither has filed an appeal. The Board of Directors of Atheists of Florida sent a single e-mail to the membership following the Nov. 6 expulsion. We felt this matter should be limited to the A of F membership, but Wachs seemed to seek all the publicity she could muster, as well as sending a barrage of repeated e-mails to the membership. In a series of actions that in our judgment indicated that Wachs and Kieffer had anticipated taking complete control of A of F, they had taken control of the A of F Web site, Meet-up sites, Facebook page, free2think.org site, Paypal accounts, and the Twitter page. Following several days of publicizing their removal from A of F, they then changed tactics to instead announce that, inexplicably, they were now the official officers of the organization. When Kieffer became president of A ofF Jan. 31, 2010, our treasury held just over $202,000. The Board strongly supported the lawsuit filed by A ofF, including Wachs as Co-Plaintiff, against the City of Lakeland seeking to put a stop to invocations at the City Council meetings. However, in addition to this action came criminal defenses on behalf of Wachs and Kieffer, plus a suit filed by Wachs against Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. Collectively, the three actions had now cost A ofF $60,000. By November 2011, our treasury had been reduced to less than $90,000. This newsletter contains the details of the specific issues that led to the removal of Wachs and Kieffer from A of F. The back page reports an update on the subsequent actions of the Board. A

4.

HE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF ATHEISTS of Florida takes seriously the trust placed in it by the members. In turn the board expects the officers it elects to take just as seriously the trust placed in them by the board.
What occurred during October is a serious breach of the trust placed by the board in both our former president, John Kieffer, and our former vice president, EllenBeth Wachs, who, in the period immediately prior to our Nov. 6 action, served as acting president. ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Section 2. Constitution. Members may nominate candidates for the at-large seats on the Board, or volunteer to be nominated as candidates. Directors are elected to a three (3) year term. Directors may be re-elected. Nominations for the Board will open on September 1st and close on September 30. Voting by mail ballot will only be necessary if the number of nominations exceeds the allowable number of at-large Board seats. If voting is necessary, it will begin November l Ot and close, (postmarked by), November 21'. Ballots must be opened and counted in the presence of the Chairman and a minimum of two other Elections Committee members to be valid. Any ballots which had been previously been opened will be considered spoiled ballots. At-large vacancies which remain after the regular election process is completed may be treated as un-expired terms and filled by election by the Board. The concerns of the board majority first arose in the aftermath of a federal lawsuit against Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, launched solely in her own name by the vice president. That is, to be absolutely clear, without the named participation of Atheists of Florida and without prior consultation with the board or notification to it. After filing that personal suit, which by normal practice immediately became public knowledge, she then asked the board at its June 26 meeting to fund it. We consented, providing an Atheists of Florida check in the amount of $25,000 as retamer to the attorney she had selected and hired and who had already launched the suit. The suit had been filed only one business day earlier, on Friday, June 24. By delaying the filing only one business day, the board could have been afforded the opportunity to compare the cost versus the potential value of this suit before committing any funds to the suit.
Membership dues
$ 300.00 01-ife Member 20.00 yr DGeneral Published four times a year by Atheists of Florida, Inc., a nonprofit, educational corporation founded to heighten public awareness about atheism and monitor state/church separation issues. Newsletter is posted on our Web site and a printed copy is mailed to all active members. Classified advertising free to mem-

The Judd retainer oo k a major chunk out of an already dep ie e treasury.

7 lAgg
.metrodirect.neUaof Mailing Address

We certainly didn't want to disavow the vice president in her effort to fight her victimization by Polk County officials, following her efforts to check religious intrusion into governmental processes. Albeit Atheists of Florida was not a named party in the suit, as funders we may have had more than some little cause to believe we were participating in it. It's easy to see that the lack of consultation could breed a degree of both resentment and unease. The Judd-suit retainer followed other substantial legal expenditures. They involved three matters, only one of which was deliberate and planned: the "prayer" suit against the Lakeland City Council. Other previous legal costs arose from the well-publicized arrests of the former president and former vice president. The Judd retainer, on our part as either silent participant or sympathetic donor, took a major chunk out of an already depleted treasury. It should be known that membership dues and occasional small gifts during each year barely fund normal day-to-day operations, or fall slightly short. The funds in our treasury are basically the results of two substantial bequests on the death of former members, preferably to be applied to operating expenses only through interest payments generated by their investment (in other words they've been regarded previously as, effectively, "endowments"). As interest rates maintained unusually low levels, we chose this year to break precedent in order to pursue the Lakeland City Council matter. Subsequently, substantial unexpected emergency legal expenses arose from the Polk County arrests of Kieffer and Wachs and the after-the-fact solicitation of our backing for the Judd suit. In the light of these unforeseen costs, and our fastdwindling treasury resourceswithout which we would be unable to initiate any further planned litigation, and, in fact, become unable adequately to defend against any action brought against us as individuals or as an organization without seeking outside helpthe board decided to institute a review and advance approval process for any expenditures, legal and otherwise, over $1,000. At the board's Sept. 4 meeting we set up and appointed a five-director Financial Oversight Committee (FOC), with three positive votes within one week required in order to approve any such expenditure. Without such a majority vote, including a failure to vote within the required period, the expenditure under consideration would be prohibited. On October 27, it came to the notice of Chairman Ed Christos Tzanetakos, Founder
Chapter Directors

bers. Send newsletter corresponddence to P0 Box address. Articles may be edited for clarity or length.
Officers Chairman/Acting Pms.:

Vice President:
Secretary:

Treasurer:

Ed Golly Vacant Tracy Thomas Nan Owens

Newsletter Production: Ed Golly Editor: Steve Brown Staff Web Master

I
I

Jim Peterson
Atheist Forum Producer

P0 Box 130753 TAMPA, FL 33681

(813) 902-2420 3614 S MANHATTAN AVENUE
TAMPA,

State Board of Directors

FL

33629

Stephen Brown Rob Curry Gloria Julius Steven Miles Jessica Parrish James Peterson Joe Reinhardt David Williamson*

Ed Golly
Legal Affairs Advisor

II I

Eric Husby, Esq.

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

Acting President Wachs neglected to inform the FOC of the $18,040.92 check the day after it had been written

Golly during a bank visit that a check in the amount of $18,040.92 had been drawn on an Atheists of Florida account by John Kieffer October 18, who at that time had no authorization to do so. Our ready cash accounts had been nearly emptied. The check was remitted to John McKnight, an attorney not hitherto part of any A of F-involved or funded matters. No work performed by this attorney had ever been authorized by the board, nor did any of the board members know who he was. Acting President Wachs neglected to inform the FOC of the aforementioned check the day after it had been written. Wachs placed the call to request an additional $10,000 for Kieffer's criminal defense since he had decided to change attorneys. The FOC agreed to supply the $10,000, but it first wanted to see invoices representing the expenditures of $25,000 for the Judd suit paid to Larry Walters, and the $22,500 paid to John Liguori for Wachs' criminal defense. Wachs agreed to send the documentation to the treasurer (a member of the FOC and a participant in the conference call) seven days later, which would have been October 26. No documentation arrived on that date, and the $10,000 request was neither approved nor ever again discussed. Efforts are currently underway by the board to have the unauthorized $18,040.92 payment returned to Atheists of Florida. The board had a responsibility to obtain the documentation of legal expenses, and a legal obligation to retain them for our records in event any government agency ever audits our organization. Therefore, the chairman set "Financial Accountability" as the first item of business for the November 6 board meeting. Chairman Golly sent a memo to Wachs via Certified Mail noting the Financial Accountability issue on the agenda and asked that she provide the documentation at the board meeting (see page 7). In response, Acting President Wachs created an entire new agenda for that meeting which allowed no provision for financial accountability, and sent an email to Golly flatly refusing to provide any of the requested documentation at the meeting (see page 7). It seemed that communications between the acting president and the board had devolved into nothing more than argumentative interpretations of the bylaws and infighting.

An election goes awry

ARTICLE VI THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 3 The Chairman
The President shall select the site and time of the next board meeting or of a special meeting The Chairman shall be responsible for making all meeting arrangements including compiling the meeting agenda The Chairman shall preside over the Board of Directors meeting.

As a result, Golly prepared a new agenda limited to a single item of businessa vote by the board to retain or remove each of the officers, including himself as chairman, after which the board could then place any items it wanted on the agenda. The results of that vote are covered on page one of this newsletter.
OctDec 2011

In the previous 20 years of its history, A of F had held only one contested election, that is to say an election where the number of candidates for the board of directors exceeded the open seats. It was a simple, smoothly run, unchallenged process. As the 2011 election approached, the board decided to reconfigure the composition of the board by reducing the number of "at-large" directors from 20 to 10 so it could without bloat include the directors of chapters with over ten dues-paying members (or if more than seven qualifying chapters were formed, the seven largest of those chapters). The thinking was that these chapter directors were engaging in the work of the organization and should be involved in the business of the board. Tampa Chapter Director Matt Cooper, noting that the organization was facing an election process toward the end of this year, offered to compile an outline of how the election would be run. President Kieffer agreed to appoint Cooper Election Coordinator. Cooper prepared a timetable of election processes that would comply with the bylaws and submitted it to the board of directors at its September 4 meeting, where it was approved. On October 21, Cooper issued a call for nominations to the board. By the September 30 nomination cut-off date, all but two current directors had nominated themselves for re-election. Vice President Wachs had nominated six candidates. Candidates were asked to submit a biography of not more that 100 words to be included with the ballots. Cooper, who was responsible for collecting both nominations and bios, did not e-mail his bio to himself. Treasurer Nan Owens nominated herself on a timely basis, but c-mailed her bio 15 minutes past the deadline for nominations (at 12:15 am on October 1). There was no specification that the bios be submitted along with the nominations or at a later time, but prior to the nomination deadline. However, Vice President Wachs insisted that neither Cooper nor Owens were eligible candidates. (See page 6 for contrary requirements for Wachs-favored candidates). Discourse between Wachs and Cooper led to his resignation as Elections Coordinator. The bylaws required the president to appoint an Elections Committee to prepare and mail the ballots. Cooper reminded Kieffer of this at the Oct. 9th Tampa Chapter meeting, and Golly did so the following Tuesday. On Friday, the 14th, in a telephone conversation with the chairman Kieffer claimed he would name the committee that afternoon, or no later than the following morning. By Sunday morning, Oct. 16, he still had not announced the committee. Time was running out. The ballots were due to be in the hands of the members by November 1, by then only 16 days away. A full week had passed with no appointments. The chairman finally intervened to announce that, lacking the timely appointment of an Elections Committee, he and the secretary, according to the bylaws already dc-facto cornContinued next page

Atheists of Florida

mittee members, would comprise the committee and appoint others to assist. This action prompted Kieffer to finally appoint a committee on Sunday, Oct. 16. Kieffer appointed Wachs, Rob Curry, and Nan Owens to the Elections Committee. Kieffer, disregarding the bylaws, offered the board no opportunity to approve or disapprove his appointments. Wachs, acting president as of earlier that day, immediately appointed Kieffer chairman of the Elections Committee. ARTICLE VII OFFICERS
Section 2. The President

Ballot preparations improprieties

Atheists of Florida had become a regular participant

in the annual St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading,

All policies and appointments put in place by Presidential decree will be communicated in writing to all Board members and will be in full force until the Board has a chance to review and formally reject the action. Since Wachs had nominated six of the 14 candidates to the board and rejected two arguably eligible candidates (Cooper and Owens) on grounds she ignored to approve, rather than reject, two of her own nominees, she might be considered the most inappropriate member to serve on the committee. This was clear indication of bias toward her nominations. When questioned about this several times by the board chairman, Committee Chairman Kieffer offered no explanation. After about a week, with no effort by Kieffer to fulfill his obligation to offer the board an opportunity to approve his Elections Committee appointments, the chairman initiated an approval process by e-mail. Wachs immediately intervened, making every effort to delay or invalidate the voting process. Nonetheless, the board voted 8 to 2 to reject the Kieffer-Wachs Elections Committee. In response, that Committee rushed the election process so as to complete the mailing of ballots in the midst of the board's ongoing vote that ultimately rejected the committee's authority to conduct the election. ARTICLE XIII VOTING
Section 1 General

All members other than Organization Members * shall be entitled to vote All votes shall have equal value Members may vote by proxy. In contests of more than two (2) candidates or choices a plurality shall be sufficient
Section 2 Voting by Mail

Voting will be by mall except the President may, In certain circum stances stipulate e mail voting to be acceptable by the Board Ballots shall be sent to all eligible members either in the newsletter or by special mailing The deadline for the return of ballots shall be not less than three (3) weeks from the date ballots are mailed by first class mall Mail ballots shall be tallied by the Elections Committee and verified by the Secretary, Ballots for the Boards voting by mail or e mail shall be tallied by the Chairman and verified by the Secretary the Chairman may designate a substitute for the Secretary.
* Organization Members refers to Member Societies of the Atheist Alliance.

although we had skipped it in 2010. When the Festival contacted us regarding registration for the 2011 Festival, Chairman Golly and President Kieffer agreed on A of F participation this year. Our application was submitted with the $150 registration fee for the Oct. 22 event. When Golly asked Kieffer several weeks prior if he would assist with the Festival, Kieffer declined, claiming he would be too preoccupied with family and criminal defense preparations. He suggested that A of F Secretary Tracy Thomas assist Golly at the event. Less than 24 hours before the Festival, Wachs set the date of the Festival for the Elections Committee to meet at the A of F office to prepare ballots. Golly, trav eling home from out of state and making last-minute preparations for the Festival, did not even receive the notice until Oct. 23, the day after the Festival. Suddenly, Kieffer had time on his hands to spend on ballot preparations rather than assisting at the Festival. Later, Golly and Thomas were accused of "ignoring" the notice to work on the ballots, even though they had committed weeks earlier to attend the Festival, setting up and running the outreach table. Rob Curry, another Elections Committee member, called in sick and was absent from the ballot preparations. Committee member (and treasurer) Owens reported that she spent the majority of her time at the Elections Committee meeting watching Kieffer and Wachs rewrite their biographies, which had been due on Sept. 30. (Owens had been disqualified from the ballot for submitting her bio 15 minutes late. One of Wachs' nominees did not submit her bio until Oct. 21, yet Wachs determined that candidate was qualified to appear on the ballot, according to eyewitness Owens). On October 8, Kieffer called an Executive Committee conference call, nowhere identified in the bylaws, and determined that the ballots would be mailed two to three days prior to the Nov. 1 commencement of the elections. However, as the board was voting to reject the Elections Committee, it rushed the mailing so the election could proceed without regard to the consensus of the board. The ballots were reported to have been mailed on Sunday, Oct. 23, nine days before Nov. 1. Wachs and Kieffer clearly held the board in contempt. Owens, who as treasurer was responsible for the membership list, had delivered about 136 mailing addresses to the Committee. Yet Kieffer announced that 234 ballots had been mailed. Who were the recipients of those ballots? They were not members or former members of A ofF, as recorded by Owens. Finally, every A of F member who voted was required to sign and date their ballot in order for it to be counted, even though several alternate methods were available to prevent forged ballots. Signed ballots are virtually unheard of in any election anywhere in the world, since they are vulnerable to the development of "favorites" and "enemies" by any interested party

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

privy to them. Wachs and Kieffer, absent the involvement of the rest of the Elections Committee, decided they must be signed to be valid. Several members contacted Chairman Golly to inform him they would not participate in an election in which their ballots were required to be signed. Arguably, the potential intimidation factor of the signed ballot alone would be sufficient to nullify the election.
ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS TO THESE BYLAWS Section 1. Voting to Amend at a Meeting.
These Bylaws may be amended at a Board Meeting by a majority vote of those members present and voting.

believe" elections committee, the election was thoroughly compromised. The election had devolved into a complete sham. Responsibly, the board voted at its Nov. 13 meeting to nullify the botched election and start over.
Lawsuit dropped

Ballots Safeguarded

One way of looking at the lawsuit is that it cost us roughly $1,000 for each page of the Legal filing

As the commencement of voting on Nov. 1 approached, Chairman Golly, recognizing that there was no board-approved Elections Committee to receive and tally ballots, secured the ballots by placing a hold on the mail from the A of F P.O. Box until the Monday following Thanksgiving (Nov. 28) and had a lock placed on the P.O. Box. Kieffer, having temporarily resigned the presidency and the Elections Committee he chaired having been rejected by the board, had no authority to remove the ballots, yet tried to do so with the P.O. Box key he held as president. He contacted Golly, who explained that the ballots as of that time would be released only to a board-approved elections committee. Kieffer, with no authority to do so, then placed a forwarding order to direct A of F mail (which would, of course, include ballots) to a Lakeland P.O. Box used by Wachs for her personal business enterprise, which could have immediately compromised the election. Golly discovered the forwarding attempt and was able to cancel it. Wachs then filed an unauthorized amendment to A of F's Annual Report to the State of Florida on Oct. 29 naming her Lakeland P.O. Box as the official address of Atheists of Florida. The previous year she had filed the 2010 Annual Report naming herself the contact person for the organization when she discovered that Rob Curry, then paid Executive Director of A ofF, had neglected to file the report. Meanwhile, Wachs sent an e-mail to the membership directing them to send any unmailed ballots to that same personal business P.O. Box in Lakeland. Subsequently, with some ballots in Tampa and some, supposedly, on their way to Lakeland, to be removed there by a member or representative of a discharged thus "make

On Oct. 20, the Acting President announced without prior consultation with the board or notification to it, that she had withdrawn her personal suit, financed by A of F, against the Polk County Sheriff, which could have, if successfully concluded, resulted in reimbursement of all her court costs and legal fees (with the possibility, albeit unpledged, that she might see fit to repay Atheists of Florida for all or part of its $25,000 payment to her attorney). The suit had been in effect less than four months. The legal document filed to present the suit was about 24 pages in length. It required no response from the Defendant(s). No depositions were taken. No judge ever read it. The only subsequent action was dismissal of the suit without prejudice when Wachs negotiated dismissal of the criminal charges against her. One way of looking at A of F's funding of the suit is that it cost us roughly $1,000 for each page of the legal filing. To board members, as to several independent attorneys apprised of the nature of the litigation, the $25,000 fee seemed excessive. Yet Wachs adamantly and consistently refused to provide documentation that would qualify the payment of this apparently excessive cost.
Where we are

On Dec. 5, Wachs filed a defamation lawsuit in Hillsborough County Court seeking $200,000 damages against seven of the board members of Atheists of Florida. Wachs asserts that she legally remains the acting president of Atheists of Florida. Members should know that none ofAtheists of Florida's funds will be used to defend against this suit. The chairman has obtained counsel at his own expense who will represent all members of the board named as defendants. It should go without saying that the actions the board has recently taken have been preceded and accompanied with sadness, great reluctance, and regret. But we are committed to orderly, responsible leadership and will accept no less. We are full of admiration for the energy and commitment to state/church separation issues demonstrated by the dismissed leadership. Other organizations like ours have survived similar ruptures, splits and even the deaths of leading figures. And so will Atheists of Florida. A

At the Special Meeting of the Board held Nov. 30, 2011, the bylaws were amended by this addition ARTICLE VI, Section 2
In an emergency situation or one in which an election was judged by the board to be improper or unsuccessful for any reason the board member's terms shall be extended until such time as a successful election is completed and the first meeting of the new board is called to order. Such new elections shall be called within ninety (90) days of a determination by the board that an election has been unsuccessful Success shall be determined by the absence of significant provable corruption of the process as provided in these bylaws and whatever administrative particulars are adopted prior to the election

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

Election Irreg ularities

Board members ofAtheists ofFlorida have been routinely accused ofcompromising the board election. Yet no specifics have ever been cited. At a special meeting of the Board of birectors held November 13, the Board considered al/the improprieties that had occurred during the voting process, and voted 9-0 to nuiif,' the election These are the facts concerning the conduct of the election.
Board-approved Election Coordinator obstructed in overseeing open and fair election U Vice President Wachs nominated six of the 14 candidates on the final ballot (six of 13 remaining after one withdrew with his name already on the printed ballot). The other seven were all selfnominated, including Kieffer, who was in an Intimate relationship with Wachs. U Wachs insisted one of her nominees remain on the ballot although that persons membership had been expired for the full length of the sb(-month membership requirement. U President Kieffer changed the password on the election e-mail account twice, then deleted the entire account, which contained evidence of nomination acceptances, correspondence, etc. without notice or Justification. U Following the above incidents, the President and Vice President began a series of challenges to the legitimacy of the Election Coordinator's role, prompting the Coordinator to resign Oct. 13, 19 days before the election start date of Nov. 1. U The Coordinator at the time of his resignation pledged to turn over all election materials he had prepared only to a Boardapproved Elections Committee, as per the A of F bylaws. President Kieffer Preempts the Election Process U On Oct. 8, PresIdent Kieffer created an unauthorized "Executive Committee" of the officers of A of F (himself, the vice president, the secretary and the treasurer) for the purpose of carrying out a conference call, in which he Issued rulings concerning the electlon, Such a committee had never existed in the history of A of F and Is not provided for in the bylaws. Minutes of the conference call meeting were distributed to the board. U On Oct. 9, PresIdent Kieffer outlined plans for the election at the Tampa Chapter meeting. He made no mention of the need for board approval of his plans or for him to nominate an Elections Committee, which also would be subject to board approval, U Also on Oct. 9, prior to the Tampa Chapter meetIng, Kieffer threatened to dismiss the Elections Coordinator and to remove him as director of the Tampa Chapter. U On Oct. 16, President Kieffer named three Individuals to the Elections Committee, without asking Board approval. U One of the Individuals named to the Elections Committee, Vice President Wachs, entrusted with supervising the election, had nominated six candidates while simultaneously rejecting three candidates she did not nominate. U On Oct, 17, following his Elections Committee appointments, Kieffer temporarily resigned his office, citing preparation for his upcoming criminal trial, handing all executive authority to Vice President Wachs as acting President as per the bylaws. U Wachs immediately appointed Kieffer chairman of the Elections Committee. U The Elections Committee now consisted of Kleffer (Chairman), Acting President Wachs, Treasurer Nan Owens (keeper of the membership list), and St. Petersburg Chapter Director Rob Curry as well as de-facto members Chairman Ed Golly and Secretary Tracy Thomas (per bylaws).

Committee on Saturday, October 22. This was the same day as the Festival ofReading, which Committee members Golly and Thomas were obligated to attend. U Other than Kieffer and Wachs, the only other Committee Member present was Owens, who was assigned no tasks. U Kieffer and Wachs alone vetted the nominees for ballot inclusion and prepared the final ballots. U Kieffer and Wachs had rejected two nominees after timely submission of their nominations, for failing to submit a required biography by the nomination deadline of Sept. 30 (one late by only 15 minutes), yet approved a Wachs nominee whose biography was received Oct. 21, and placed her name on the ballot. U On Oct. 22, Kieffer and Wachs were observed, after having access to the biographies of competing candidates, rewriting their own biographies, similarly contravening Committee Chairman Kieffer's ad-hoc requirement that completed bios be submitted by Sept. 30. U At this meeting, Kieffer and Wachs altered on the ballot without permission or consultation the name by which nominee and Chairman Ed Golly had been known In his association with A of F throughout the entire life of the Tampa Chapter, and by which he nominated himself, to his unfamiliar legal name, "Edward Gollobith." The chairman was not one of Wachs' recommendations for election to the board, U Kieffer and Wachs imposed the requirement that voting members must sign their ballots In order for them to be counted, thus potentially Intimidating members reluctant to be known as voting agaInst leaders who, in this case, also are personally conducting the election. Numerous other methods were available to ensure that ballots were both anonymous and valid. U On Oct. 23, Kleffer and Wachs completed the entire elections process absent Involvement of any other Committee members, effectively canceling supervision of the process by an "Elections Committee." U Kieffer reported that nearly 100 ballots had been mailed in excess of the labels supplied by, Owens. Those ballots went to persons who had never been members of A of F, known only to Kieffer and Wachs.

Board oversight blocked

U During the course of the Board's e-mail.votlng to approve or reject the KiefferflNachs appointed Elections Committee, Kieffer and Wachs mailed the election ballots in advance of their own announced mailing date of 2-3 days before Nov. 1 which circumvented the board's approval process. U Acting President Wachs, prior to the mailing, had attempted to obstruct the board's e-mail approval process by online pariiamentary maneuvers. U The board's e-mail vote rejected 8-2 the Klefferlwachs appointed Elections Committee. U After the board rejected the Committee, Acting President Wachs simply renamed the exact same committee and denied any approval process by the board. U Kieffer, now merely a board member and former member of the rejected Elections Committee, sought to take possession of baliots from the Post Officebox. The chairman, acknowledging the absence of a board-approved Committee, had placed a Hold" order on all mail until a board approved Committee was established, or Nov. 28, which would allow time to receive all properly postmarked ballots. LI Kieffer then attempted to have all A of F mail forwarded to a P.O. Box in Lakeland maintained by Wachs as the address of her own personal private business enterprise, thereby compromising the election, U Wachs distributed an e-mail to all ballot recipients instructing them to mall their election ballots to her personal business P.O. Box address.

Ballot preparation compromised

U Wachs, rather than Committee Chairman Kieffer, on less than two days notice, scheduled the Initial meeting of the Elections

A new election has been scheduled. Details can be found on the back page of this newsletter.

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

Commua catu of a Ieaa er.

infighting that developed the moment Wachs became Acting President of the organization. Although Wachs had alleged through e-mails that numerous insults had been leveled at her, she has made no substantiation of this claim. As board members sought to have the bylaws followed to ensure a fair, democratic election, they were thwarted by the efforts of Wachs over the mere 14 days she had served as Acting President before the scheduled ii 0 flS election start date to personally

OST MEMBERS ARE UNAWARE OF THE LEVEL OF

manage eveiy aspect of the elec(ion process.

A sampling of unedited e-mail correspondence demonstrates just how the simplest communication was twisted into toxic, vile, acidic responses clearly opposing the order of business required by the bylaws. As the Nov. 6 board meeting approached, the agenda was prepared, as specified in the bylaws, by the chairman. He asked for production of invoices from the attorneys who had handled Wachs' criminal defense, now settled, and, more significantly, the attorney who had been paid $25,000 to file the lawsuit against Sheriff Judd, dropped less than four months later. The request was sent by registered mail to Wachs: EllenBeth Wachs, Acting President Atheists of Florida, Inc Ed Golly, Chairman, Atheists of Florida Inc Date 10129/2011 Subject Financial Disclosure Ms Wadis, Compliant with the bylaws of Atheists of Florida, Inc I have prepam ed the agenda for the Quarterly Board of Director s meeting schedtiled for November 6, 2011 1 have taken care to include the items pro posed in the A ofF Executive Committee Conference of 10/08/20 11 (Items 6.1 and 6.2). Enclosed please find a printed copy for your re view. The agenda will be e-mailed to all board members on Sunday, 10/30/20 11. Please note Item 2 of the agenda, FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY. I consider this issue to be of paramount importance to the board. Please be prepared to deliver all original invoices plus four copies of each pertaining to all legal and associated expenses incurred this calen dar year. Pursuant to Item 7 1 1 of our Quarterly Board Meeting held 6/26/2011 all documents related to ongoing lawsuits will be stored in the office of Eric Husby, If I may be of assistance to you, Iwould be glad to recover those documents prior to the meeting to insure they will be available for review and consideration by the board of directors I look forward to seeing you on Nov. 6 Warmest regards, To Ft oni

Ed Golly
Chairman Atheists of Flonda, Inc Many members are not convinced that Wachs would have refused to provide the documentation requested. Here is her exact, unedited e-mail response: Dear Board Members, I have been thoroughly and disgusted with the tenor of the atmosphere that has pervaded the organization. Ed's original call to vote down John Kieffer's election committee for being presented "tardily' was entirely disingenuous as he has freely admitted this to another board member. I have

appointed an election committee myself so even this disingenuous vote down has NO effect. You can vote my committee down as well. It does NOT invalidate the election that is currently taking place. Nowhere in the bylaws is it required that the election committee are the ones that send out the ballots. It seems Ed has a problem that we are having an election rather than that we have an election committee. Furthermore, Ed has apparently decided he has the right to order me to act as his step and fetch and get him documents he has the right to review himself. I received a certified letter from Mr. Gollobith yesterday demanding that I go to Eric Husby's office and make four copies of the legal documents and bring them to the board meeting. The board voted to store these at Mr. Husby's for safekeeping. If anyone wants to review them, you are free to do so but no copies are to be made. Mr Gollobith seems to be upset that we are having a real election and that our members are finally going to be voting for the board. I think this is a good thing. He apparently does not and has done everything he can to stop it including locking John Kieffer out of the Post Office Box. All Golly (referred to as "Gollobith" in the e-mails) had done was to offer to get the documents from Husby's office. As it turned out, when Husby returned from an overseas trip, he was contacted by the chairman about the documents. Husby reported that no documents had ever been delivered to his office. Another e-mail from Acting President Wachs demonstrates her contempt for the board's responsibility to approve presidential appointments and her repeated insistence that no financial documentation would be provided for the board. You were notified on the 26 about my elections committee appointments. The entire board was notified on the 25 of my elections committee appointments and no rejection was forthcoming. Indeed you were invited to participate and elected not to even after accessing the poll- Therefore, my appointed elections committee stands. There is no process for approval. The board only has to have a chance to review and then reject it. The board has had ample opportunity and has not done so. There will be no documentation needed for financial oversight as I have yet to appoint an audit committee. I shall do so when the new board sits. Any questions you had about the previous financial transactions were covered at great length and even with flow charts in the June board meeting when all expenditures were approved. John covered these items in minute detail. You are free to review the minutes. Please release the P0 BOX immediately. You have no right to block off access and hijack Atheists of Florida mail. It is highly inappropriate and certainly suspect that you have locked the Executive authority out of the mail especially when you state outright that you want this election halted. I will take possession of the key and any and all mail that comes in. The Election chair shall safeguard the ballots. I have invited the general membership to sit in on this board meeting. The elections committee has proudly put together a fair and impartial election and no personality conflict should derail it. Most notable in this e-mail is the second paragraph. How did Wachs know she would be elected to the board, and then be elected president so that she would appoint the audit committee? And how is mail hijacked by securing it at the Post Office? Our board had never engaged in such hostile A communications. Nor should it ever occur again.

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

A of F board member Rob Cuny has requested, and was granted, an opportunity to express his appraisal of the events that have led to the crisis affecting the board of directors. This submission is dated Nov. 12, 2011. Chairman Golly's response appears on the following page.

Overview
To THE EMBARRASSMENT of so many Atheists of Flori______________________________ da leaders, volunteers, supporters Summary of current A of F and rank-and-file members, a crisis board crisis was precipitated -. CUKrLI by some board members attempting to seize control of the group by sidestepping the bylaws and disenfranchising members in the middle of an election. This involved both a failed attempt to eject the group's two most effective officers, fund raisers and activists, and also the regrettable disruption of ongoing board elections. These illegitimate actions not only give the appearance of impropriety, but involve actual improprieties such as interference with a contested election, a failure to follow due process, and numerous defamatory accusations. A deliberate and aggressive campaign of character assassination has also been uncovered. Serious allegations were made against John Kieffer and EllenBeth Wachs in the process. None of these

actions at these unofficial meetings, open or secret, have legal effect. John Kieffer remains a member in good standing, Tampa Chapter Director, and Atheists of Florida President. EllenBeth Wachs remains a member in good standing, Lakeland Chapter Director, and Atheists of Florida Vice President (temporarily Acting President). Aside from a small group of individuals who were engaged in attempting to act outside of the bylaws, the membership at large is broadly opposed to such illconceived, damaging and divisive actions. Support for the President and Vice President is widespread. Fierce opposition to the unlawful circumvention of organization bylaws, the unheard of canceling of elections, and other illicit activities also comes from regional Chapter Directors for Orlando (Jessica Parrish), St. Petersburg (Rob Curry), Sarasota (David Williamson), and Port Richey (Lauren Podolak). The office of Chapter Director is vacant as of this date for the remaining chapters in Gainesville and Cape Coral.

Crisis Resolution
The most immediate fact of consequence for Atheists of Florida is that the term of office for all directors on the present board is set to expire at the end of November. Due to the unprecedented interruption of an ongoing board election, the only directors who will be seated for the new board term beginning on December 1, 2011, will be those who are automatically elected per the official organization bylaws. In other words, the chapter directors of up to the seven largest Atheists of Florida chapters will constitute the new board. Note: None of the directors whose hasty, illegitimate actions precipitated the current crisis for Atheists of Florida are chapter directors. They will therefore no longer be eligible to participate in Board of Directors Meetings once their terms expire. The new board will meet on Sunday, December 18. Atheists of Florida members will be properly notified in advance and strongly encouraged to attend this meeting, because a final resolution must rely on the active involvement and ultimate authority of informed members. All reasonable steps, up to and including legal action, can be taken if necessary to ensure that expired board members do not further act to impede the effective functioning of Atheists of Florida as a democratic organization. Recovery from this unfortunate situation will be complete only after the membership can vote in a free, fair, transparent and truly impartial election. This can be accomplished when the bylaws are followed with a strong commitment to maintaining Atheists of Florida as a growing, effective membership-based community of activists.

"Recovery from this unfortunate situation will be complete only after the membership can vote in a free, fair, transparent and truly impartial election"

allegations has survived scrutiny.

In fact, the accusations have never been clear to begin with. They shifted from general, cut-and-paste passages included in an inappropriate mass e-mail dated November 6, to inconsistent variations since that date. This incoherent mixture of ignorance of parliamentary procedure, policy and bylaw disagreements, misunderstandings, and some outright lies have been transmitted by e-mail, by telephone, and in person. No opportunity to respond to allegations was presented to the accused. Instead, the allegations were widely distributed to the general membership of Atheists of Florida, to non-members, and the press. Nan Owens, Atheists of Florida Treasurer, clearly stated on November 13 that, "Financial impropriety was not an issue" with regard to John or EllenBeth. This vital acknowledgement because one of the earliest versions of these constantly-shifting charges included the ludicrous accusation of financial misconduct.

Current Status
The most recent legitimate Atheists of Florida Board of Directors meeting was held on September 4, 2011. Subsequent meetings (including those communicated to all board members, and those withheld or hidden from the rest of the board by a faction who met in secret) were not called in accordance with the organizations' bylaws. Nor were they conducted in accordance with applicable state law. Therefore no decisions or OctDec 2011

A
Atheists of Florida

Chairma n responds

"The board, not the officers, runs the organ ization. Otherwise, why even have a board?"

HE MOST NOTABLE ASPECT OF MR. CuRRY'S diaJL tribe on the preceding page is its absolute lack of citation of any of the charges he brings against the board of Atheists of Florida. He begins by charging board members with precipitating the crisis. Why, exactly? Simply because an absolute majority of the board sensed its responsibility to verify that funds appropriated from our treasury for the criminal defenses of Wachs and Kieffer, and the astronomical fees paid to Larry Walters, Esq. to prepare a 24-page suit - ga' qotl/j against Sheriff Grady Judd, which was ultimately dropped less than four months later, were reasonable, responsible expenditures of the organizations treasury. Since we questioned these fees, amounting to some $60,000 of A ofF funds, and were told in no uncertain terms we would not see any accountability of them, we are then somehow held responsible for the turmoil among the board. Not only does the board have a responsibility to the membership to insure that our funds are spent responsibly, but if audited, we have a duty to substantiate all expenses with corresponding invoices. It's inconceivable that any established organization, such as Americans United, FFRF, or American Atheists would condone such expenditures without documentation. Curry charges bylaws violations, yet nowhere does he cite any actual bylaws violated. In fact, the bylaws state quite simply, as quoted on the first page of this newsletter, that the board may vote to remove any officer of the organization. This is because the board, not the officers, runs the organization. Otherwise, why even have a board? We would simply elect a president every year who would run A ofF as they see fit. So the removal of the officers was hardly "a failed attempt." In fact, Wachs and Kieffer were removed because all but one of the board members who voted were dissatisfied with their actions. That other member abstained. Another board member who was out of the country at the time claims he would also have voted for removal. Curry charges interference with an election. But, as demonstrated on page 6, the election was botched exclusively by Wachs and Kieffer. All I did was to secure the ballots at the Post Office since there was no elections committee to turn them over to. How, exactly, is this translated into interference? Curry offers no explanation. He then charges unwarranted allegations against Wachs and Kieffer. What were they? Refusal to provide accountability for some $60,000 in legal expenses they had caused; elections discrepancies (see page 6); amending the Annual Report filed with the State of Florida and, in the process, relocating the official address of the organization to Wachs' business address in Lakeland; and spending over $18,000 of the organization's funds absent the required approval of the Financial Oversight Committee. All allegations have survived scrutiny, because all are factually provable.

None have been explained by Wachs or Kieffer, even though an appeals process available following expulsion allows them to do so. Not only have these issues remained constant, but since the removal of Kieffer and Wachs from office and A of F membership, we have learned of additional obstructions to the organization's business. Our Web master learned that nearly a year ago, Kieffer registered the domain names for our Web site in his personal name. A of F pays for and administers the site. Why would he have taken control of our Web site? This alone could be plausible cause for expulsion. Curry charges that illegal meetings were conducted by members of the board, but fails to specify when or where any such meetings ever took place. Kieffer, as president, called all the meetings of 2011 prior to his expulsion. If they were illegal, why did he call them? Or why did he not point out at the meetings that he had called illegal meetings and cancel them? Kieffer also called a meeting defined as an "A of F Executive Committee Conference Call" conducted on 10/8/2011. No allowance is made in our bylaws for any Executive Committee, wherein policy is made by the officers absent participation by the board. That's illegal. None of the other board members had ever done anything like this. Curry's irresponsible allegation is simply a way to attempt to discredit the actions of the legitimate board. Curry's contention that board members impeded the democratic process is laughable. In fact, the election personally run by Wachs shunning participation by the rest of the elections committee violated numerous standards of the democratic process to such a significant extent that the board voted to nullify the election and restart the entire process utilizing a properly Board -approved Elections Committee. Finally, in his last paragraph, he gets something right. A ofF will indeed conduct a fair, impartial, democratic election for the board (see back page). This is because it will not involve the bias and circumvention of the bylaws executed by Wachs and Kieffer. I have never considered Atheists of Florida to be my personal organization. Rather, I simply recognize that it is required to be run by a board of directors. As it became increasingly clear that Wachs sought to secure dictatorial control of A ofF by packing the ballot with her supporters and removing those who would ever question her authority, I sought legal counsel to represent the organization and each of the board members at my own expense. To the surprise of none of the board members, Wachs has brought suit against us. The defense of the board members will not cost the organization one dime. This is because I respect the dues and contributions of every single member who joins or donates money to us, and will not see those funds squandered by legal entanglements. We have far better things to accomplish with our money. Our treasury has been relocated to a bank that will protect the funds. The board of directors will not cease our effort to obtain a full accounting of how our funds have been spent, and will keep the membership fully informed of our findings. A

OctDec 2011

Atheists of Florida

The non ;ense of the Nov. 11 V achspress release

Beth Wachs becoming an officer of Atheists of Florida (stepping down as vice presidential candidate in the single slate nominated by the 2011 directors, recommending her in my place), and favoring her as well the year before, I must here express my remorse for an intended beneficial act gone wrong. I qualify that remark only with appreciation for her courage and fortitude in facing up to the persecution she suffered from the Polk County sheriff and her zeal, fully supported by the board, in challenging flaI grant state/church violations The arrant nonsense of S -ei/e grOWK her claims in the press reDt re&or, 200'-2011 lease that "SOME board members" attempted "to seize control of Atheists of Florida" and that "the trust our members placed in Atheists of Florida could be betrayed by a SMALL CLIQUE" defies fact. [Capital letters reflect my own emphasis].
S WEBMASTER FOR A OF F, I WAS CHARGED WITH 1. developing and maintaining the website, our principal window to the world. On October 5th, John Kieffer requested that I assist him in understanding and using the program with which the site is updated. We previously had a friendly and cordial relationship, and I had accepted and posted all the information he had sent me. I agreed that it is always good to have at least one additional person who is knowledgeable about this skill in the organization. ~ gm PetifrSon I gave him a copy of the program and a book explaining its use, and spent 4 to 5 hours in helping him understand the process. How surprised was I then, when on October 20th, I could no longer get into the FTP function of the site. When I looked at it online, I discovered that the ad,

S THE PERSON DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ELLEN-

I urge readers to ponder the likelihood that the 8-0 absolute board majority that removed Wachs and John Kieffer from office needed to "seize control" (a niiiiii member traveling abroad e-mailed all directors of his sympathy with the board majority). On that date the board consisted of 13 members. NINE supported the action taken, including an absent member. Another absent member did not participate owing to family illness. ONE member abstained from the entire vote (the written blind vote allowed each director to choose whether, one by one, to keep or remove each of four officers plus the chairman). The only opposition other than that from the ousted officers was that of Rob Curry, who along with Wachs and Kieffer, fled the meeting without voting. In summary the sentiment of the board, excluding the officers who were removed, was 9-1. I urge readers to employ their critical faculties and judge who comprised a clique, if a "clique" existed, and who had any need to seize control. Clue: there is no need for a 9-0 or 9-imajority to seize it.

A of F channels of communication

blocked by former
leaders

dress on the bottom of every page had been changed from our Tampa P.O. Box to Ms. Wachs' business P.O. Box in Lakeland. This was more than a clue that something was up. After the November 6th meeting in which the two former officers were dismissed, it was discovered that the Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and all the Meet -up pages were now controlled by the former members and on all these media, they created and courted an unrelenting barrage of decidedly antagonistic comments from themselves and a growing number of members, who, while properly respectful of her contributions in the Lakeland events, were entirely unaware of the situation surrounding the dismissal of these two officers. They could not know of the financial and reporting irregularities described elsewhere in this issue. As a board member, it is my hope that members will be able to learn the truth, reconcile their doubts, and join together to make Atheism a powerful liberating force in Florida.

Special Meeting of the Board of Directors

On November 30, 2011 the board of directors of Atheists of Florida, Inc. held a special meeting to address the nullified election. In order to follow the bylaws to the letter, board members mailed ballots to the chairman voting to hold the meeting. Upon receipt of a majority of votes from the board the membership was notified by mail again as specified by the bylaws For this reason many members received their notification the day of the meeting or even days later. The need to hold the meeting on that day was due to the fact that the bylaws specified that the terms of the board members expire after Nov. 30 The bylaws were amended to extend the terms of the board through the completion of another election (see page 5), A new Elections Committee had been nominated and approved at the previous board meeting (Nov. 13). The board established a schedule for a new election which will be implemented if more than ten qualified nominations are submitted. NOMINATIONS Open DEC. 15,201 1Close JAN. 5,2012 VOTING Opens JAN. 15, 2012Close FEB. 5,2012

RESULTS of the election will be announced FEB. 12, 2012. The newly elected board will meet on FEB. 19, 2012. Any member current as of November30 is eligible to be nominated. Members may nominate themselves. Both nominees and voters must maintain such membership past the qualifying dates and through the election period in order, respectively, for their election to the board and their votes to be counted. NomInations may be made by mail to our P.O. Box or by e-mail to AoFElection201 2(gmaiI.com . Nominees should submit a biography including age and hometown in no more than 150 words including background and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. Quarterly board meetings for 2012 are scheduled for May 20, August 19, and November 18.

10

OctDec

Atheists of Florida

EXHIBIT N

January 1, 2012 David Silverman President, American Atheists P.O. Box 158 Cranford, NJ 07016 Dear Mr. Silverman;
3614 S MANHAUAN AVE. TAMPA, FL 33629

P0 Box 130753 TAMPA, FL 33681

Chairman Ed Golly Officers President: Ed Golly Vice President: Vacant Secretary: Tracy Thomas Treasurer: Nan Owens Directors Stephen Brown Gloria Julius Steven Miles Jessica Parrish Jim Peterson Lauren Podolak Joe Relnhardt David Williamson Director Emeritus Christos Tzanetakos, founder Atheist Forum Producer Ed Golly Web Master Jim Peterson

I think you and I have never met, even though I am a life member of American Atheists going back to the days of the O'Hair dynasty. By this letter I would like you to be informed of some of the issues that have affected Atheists of Florida over the past two months. On November 6 of this year, by a vote of 8 to 0 with one abstention, our board of directors removed both EllenBeth Wachs and John Kieffer from their executive positions on our board (vice president and president, respectively). That same day, both were expelled from the organization. The expulsion process allows ninety days to appeal. So far, no appeal has been forthcoming by either party. I won't get into extreme specifics as to the reasons for their removal from our organization, but much of it stems from improper use of organization funds, as well as a complete failure to provide any documentation to support expenditures totaling scores of thousands of dollars. Immediately following their removal, Wachs and Kieffer began engaging in tactics designed to completely ruin Atheists of Florida. Among other things, they have bombarded the membership list with claims that they are the legitimate officers of the organization, and that the entire Board of Directors is no longer in control. Also, since Wachs and Kieffer once had access to our accounts and passwords, all our electronic mediums have been hijacked by them, including the Atheists of Florida Website, Facebook and Meet-Up sites, Paypal, Twitter, etc. They have also begun to file copyright infringement complaints whenever we set up a new website in order to force the server to take down any new iteration of the organization Webs ite. EllenBeth Wachs has also recently filed a lawsuit for defamation against each of the Atheists of Florida Board Members that voted to remove her. In order to preserve our dwindling funds, I have personally hired counsel to defend all of the board members from this frivolous defamation lawsuit, and filed a separate lawsuit seeking to regain complete control of the organization and to prevent Wachs and Kieffer from continuing to hold themselves out as representatives of A of F. I anticipate a long and costly legal conflict. Isn't it ironic that the so-awarded Florida Atheist Activist of the Year will force us to expend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars protecting our organization instead

A non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the freedom of thought and expression and to the mandate of the First Amendment for complete and absolute separation of state and church.

of focusing our resources addressing the state/church separation struggles we face? Nevertheless, I will absorb all legal fees out of my own pocket so we don't end up wasting organization funds on such matters. Regarding that award you presented Wachs with at the Dec. 17-18 Ft. Lauderdale conference, the fact is that she actually has accomplished very little for the atheist movement. Indeed, we did need a plaintiff with standing for the lawsuit we filed against the City of Lakeland in an effort to bring a stop to invocations at City Council meetings, and she filled that role (A of F paid all the legal fees). Otherwise, nothing has been done in response to the Polk County Sheriff's distribution of county property, the basketball backstops, to local churches. She was arrested for including the term "Esq." with her signature on public information requests regarding that issue, and we paid all her legal fees to defend her from criminal charges stemming from that request, as well as an arrest involving a dispute with her neighbor. Although all charges against her were subsequently dismissed with two years probation, we still have not been presented with invoices from her criminal defense attorney. Her argument that we "approved the expenditures" is wholly inadequate. Would this conduct be tolerated by the board of American Atheists? Meanwhile, Kieffer was arrested for disturbing a public meeting when he and Wachs interrupted the invocation being given prior to a Polk County School Board meeting being called to order. The rather significant cost of his pending criminal defense was also borne by Atheists of Florida, but whether convicted or acquitted, his actions will not have brought an end to the invocations. It is my opinion that had Wachs seized control of Atheists of Florida, she would have spent the treasury of A of F to promote publicity for herself. Considering herself a public figure of world wide reputation, Kieffer projected she would generate $100,000 in donations to A of F by the end of the year. So far, about 4% of that figure has been realized, not nearly enough to recover the staggering sums expended on her and Kieffer's criminal defenses and a frivolous lawsuit filed, then dropped, against the Polk County Sheriff. With the story now cold, donations have dried up completely. I recently discovered that Atheists of Florida is listed as an affiliate of American Atheists. None of the legitimate board members have ever considered or approved this affiliation, so I can only presume this was accomplished by Wacha acting as a faux officer of our organization. As chairman of A of F, I became acting president following the expulsion of Wachs and Kieffer and will hold the position pending the results of a new election of board members currently in progress. If you are interested in having A of F affiliate with you, I recommend you make your presentation to the new board in February, which could be accomplished by letter to me at the above address, outlining the reasons we should consider this action. Until then please see to it that we are de-affiliated with American Atheists. Warmest regards,

Ed Golly Chairman and Actiing President, Atheists of Florida, Inc. cc: Edwin Kagin, Esq.

A non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the freedom of thought and expression and to the mandate of the First Amendment for complete and absolute separation of state and church.

EXHIBIT 0

From: Jim Peterson [mailto:jamestp@metrodirect.net] Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 3:17 PM To: Edgollystudio@aol.com Subject: FW: Proposed letter to Florida Humanist/Atheist leaders. - Amended

Dear Freethought leader, As you may have heard, Atheists of Florida has experienced considerable trouble lately with some of its fired former administrators. Since we are unable to communicate through the online media we had previously, we must take this opportunity to keep you abreast of what is happening. By the way, there is a lesson here: always make sure your web sites, meet-up pages, PayPal, and Facebook presence is setup under the name of the Organization, not under the name of the individual charged with setting it up. With the present disposition of internet service providers to take down any site or service, new or old, which generates a violation of copyright complaint, whether justified or not, all of our online efforts are in jeopardy if some hostile party wants to remove it. It was the lack of such awareness and detailed oversight that made us vulnerable to much of our present difficulty. Enclosed, you will find our most recent newsletters which will provide you with information about our situation and how we got here. There are matters important to all organizations such as ours that we hope will be helpful to you in the future. Despite the problems, the present board felt that it was important to go forward with the regularly scheduled election. It has generated interest and nominations from both sides of our membership, most of whom have access only to the interpretation of events from the fired administrators who control our media and wish to regain control of the organization. Nonetheless, we felt that it is important to the principles of democracy imbedded in our bylaws that we carry through. And if nominees loyal to A0F are not elected as a consequence, then we will have given our best effort, and nothing further can be done. But if a majority of those elected are principled supporters of A0F, then you can be assured that we will continue in our determination to restore a meaningful Atheist presence in the Florida community, and press to bring the present court cases to a successful conclusion. It is of course, disheartening that a vital organization associated with the most noble aims of our movement has produced such disappointing results, but it well illustrates the weakness to which our humanity is still heir, and for which we must all be vigilant. The Board of Atheists of Florida Ed Golly, President.

EXHIBIT P

From: Edgollvstudioaol.com [mailto : Edaollvstudip@aol .com] Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 11:20 AM

To: SecularNationTomMelchiorre.com Subject: Atheists of Florida

I-li, Torn,

Last year, Atheists of Florida contracted cancer in the form of a member who saw that we had a treasury of just over $200,000 and decided she would take over the organization, dispose of all the board members who had built the organization through a corrupt board election, and use the funds to satisfy her addiction to publicity. One of our board members caught on to what she was going to attempt, alerted us, and we were able to outmaneuver her and her two cohorts. Unfortunately, before we caught on, one of her stooges was able to con us out of our web site and take control of it. Having failed to take over the organization, she now is undertaking a campaign to destroy Atheists of Florida and discredit primarily me from the membership. We began by setting up a new web site, but they promptly had it taken down claiming some kid of copyright infringement. After all, when you're engaged in a smear campaign, the last thing you waiit is for your targets to be able to respond to your lies and distortions. Our webmaster has, however, recently created a new site, and it appears they are unsuccessful in getting it taken down for the present. Therefore, we want that site reflected in the affiliate listing for AAJ. Incidentally, we also moved a few months ago into a new building. So our listing should now read as follows:

Atheists of Florida, Inc.

5103 S Westshore Blvd. P0 Box 130753 / Tampa, FL 33681-0753 813-839-7567 www.AtheistsofFloridalnc.org

Unfortunately, we remain bogged down in litigation which will probably require another year to resolve. Cancer, whether infecting a human or an organization, is au extremely expensive disease to eradicate, and, in the case of non-profits like ours, usually fatal. I think we can survive, and anticipate the junta will end up facing charges of Grand Theft if we can secure the evidence of misappropriation of our funds that happened last year just before the attempted coup. If you are interested in more details, they were documented in our Oct-Dec newsletter from last year, and I can send you a .PDF if you care to read it. Otherwise, know that the Defendants have started a new organization called Atheists and 1-lumanists of Florida while spreading the rumor that Atheists of Florida is now defunct in an attempt to draw our members into joining their new organization (atheists and humanists mix like oil and water--I could have told them that). If they contact you regarding affiliation with the Alliance, I would urge you in the strongest terms possible to deny them any association whatsoever with the Alliance. You know how it is, Tom. A little money can cause a lot of trouble, dishonesty, backstabbing, and problems. One question. We are preparing to resume production of theAtheist Forum, which was the title of our public access TV program which we produced up until about four years ago. When funding for public access in or county was cut and the channel changed from 19 to 941, we converted the program to a Podcast. Now we will broadcast it as a webcast. I know other affiliate organizations already have webcasts or podcasts in production. Does the Alliance have any plans to list these programs so others will know about them and be able to avail themselves of them? Thanks for updating our information. Best regards,

-Ed Golly
President, Atheists of Florida, Inc.

EXHIBIT Q

Atheis . ts of- loricla

Dedicated to the absolUte separation
of State and church
A Founding Member Society of the Atheist Alliance

(QMMTI!
Lakeland prayer lawsuit update
TAMPAIN JULY 2010,

NllcthkT
XV 0.2 Januani 2012

Election under way

New board to meet Feb. 19
NEWSLEUER EXPLAtNED

Arimrsrs

OF

Florida flied a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Lakeland and Mayor Gow Fields, seeking to end the unconstitutional practice of conducting a prayer ritual at the beginning of evezy City Commission meeting. Efforts by the defendants to dismiss the suit were all denied by the judge. By this time, all evidence has been submitted, all depositions have been taken, and all testimony presented. Judge
--

Elizabeth Kovachevich is now in the process of evaluating hundreds of pages of docwnents submitted by both sides, after which she will render her decision. Due to the sheer volume of evidence she has to consider, this process may require several more months. We anticipate a decision in April or May of this year. Whichever way she rules, an appeal will very likely be forthcoming. A

in great detail the numerous and substantial reasons our election conducted in November 2011 needed to be nullified. With a new elections committee named, an impartial election baa begun. Seventeen candidates have been qualified to appear on the ballot, which was mailed to members prior to January 15. Ballots postmarked later than Februaiy 6 will not be accepted. Results will be announced Feb. 12. A
I

A scheme has its day in court

Ed Golly This editorial represents my own personal
views, based on extensive and Intensive examination of the conduct of fanner officers John Kieffer and EllenBeth Wachs over much of the past year.

a copy of the program and a book cxplaining its use, and spent half a day teaching him the process, Kieffer immediately changed the password required to access the site and effectively stole it from us. Since he had also taken control

(119

___ kvts,siwii

__ ____ _____________ __ 4 _________________________

TAMPATHE

7JI

State of Florida (at our expense until Kiffer's name was removed from the bank account and his A of F credit card canceled), and held what they asserted were official A ofF chapter meetings. Atheists of Florida filed suit against Kieffer and Wachs seeking return of our properties and to have the court order them to cease and desist from misrepresenting themselves as officers or as members of A ofF. Due to our increased reliance on our Web site to communicate with our memhers and the Meetup sites to notifij members of our chapter meetings, we 7 wanted to recover our properties as soon as possible. A of F.sought an emergency court
...Jw.Lm.
fl&IU J

PLAN, ThEIR PLAN,

must have been Inking shape for nearly a year.

The first step was for then-president of Atheists of Florida (A of F) John Kieffer to register the domain name of Atheists of Florida, including the extensions .org, .net, and .com, in his personal name. Clearly, those names belong to A of 1', which pays for the Web site that uses the name. Realizing there was vejy little likelihood anyone would check, Kieffer became what veiy much looks to me like a proverbial "confidence-man." He next played into our confidence in him by asking to learn how to use A of F's Web site so he could assist in updating infbrniation in a timely manner. In fact, as soon as our Web master gave him

of our Meetup sites, he could and did, following his expulsion from A of F, remove board members from participation on the sites and notification of most chapter meetings. This also played on our confidence in him, as fonner president, in setting up Meetup sites as the basic organizing method for new chapters and communications medium for them and preexisting chapters as well. Following her expulsion from A of F, EllenBeth Wachs instigated her own campaign of dirty tricks by copyrighting in her name A of F's name, logo, and other properties we have used, in some cases, for 20 years. Kieffer and Wachs then began to misrepresent themselves as legitimate officers of A of F, amended the Annual Report we must file with the

PW 1JASP1flfl -

ties immediately in order to avoid the lengthy process of a civil lawsuit. A of F Counsel Ryan Carey obtained time on a judge's calendar for the afternoon of Monday, Dec. 12. Wachs had been served, the preceding Friday, and although Kieffer was present at her residence, he hid from the process server so he could avoid being present in court. There are apparently a lot of questions which Kieffer understandably does not want to answer. Continued next page

The me rgency n injunctic . eang

Carey, arrived with Chairman Ed Golly for the hearing, Judge Nielsen presiding. Wachs announced that she would represent herslf "pro se," and that Kieffer bad not been served. After she was sworn in, she affirmed that Kieft'er did not live with her and never had. She admitted that Kieflr had been present at her residence during service of process and that his notice as well as her own were served to her. Golly was sworn in and took the stand. Mr. Carey entered )fl the bylaws into evidence. Wadis objected, but was overruled Carey established that Wachs and Kieffer had called the Nov. 6 board meeting and actively participated in it until the board called for a vote of confidence for all officers and the chairman. He also confirmed that according to the bylaws, there was no requirement to define any reason for the vote. As the ballots were being distributed, Wachs announced her resignation and. stormed out of the meeting, followed by. Kieffer and Board Member Rob Cuny. Golly confirmed that e-mail and Internet information was circulated regarding her resignation after which Wachs began to misrepresent herself as Acting President of A ofF. He also testified that Wachs had scheduled meetings and sent out e-rnails on behalf ofA ofF. A of F member. Jamie Delgado then appeared as a witness for Wachs. He testified that Wadis was the Lakeland Chapter Director. On cross examination by Carey, Delgado testified that he had not attended the board meetings, nor had he reviewed the minutes of any board meetings. Golly then returned to the stand for cross examination by Wachs. She attempted, but failed, to get Golly toadmit that the vote to remove her from her executive position (vice president as of Nov. 6, after 19 days as acting president) in A of F was invalid.. The defense she constructed essentially amounted to introducing the original bylaws of A ofF in an attempt to convince the judge that those rules should have governed the board, in spite of having been amended numerous times over the course of our 20-ear existence. She also intro. duced the issue of public availability of the membership list, arguing that state law required disclosure, in contrast to our commitment to the membership that the list remain confi4ential. She continued with questions about board membership, the power of the president to Membership dues
OLife Member
$ 300.00

OUNSEL FOR ATHEISTS OF

FLORIDA, RYAN

fire chapter directors, and the presence of Atheists of Florida's counsel at board meetings. After an hour, the judge grew impatient with her questioning. Wachs simply bad exhausted her ammunition, so the judge began to repeatedly admonish her questioning with, "Asked and answered. Next question." or, "Move on." As Wachs introduced a line of questioning about the bank account being closed and transferred to another bank, the judge shut her down. Then he asked Golly several direct questions regarding the prpcess by which the bylaws had been amended over the years, and who maintains the official copy of them. He seemed satisfied that the process had been attended to properly. Since it was now late in the day, the judge offered to reconvene at 8:00 the lbllowing morning, and all parties agreed. The next day, Wachs took the stand to testify on her behalf followed by Carey's questioning. Carey wanted to keep the issues confined to simply two factsthe legality of the 8-0 vote to remove Wchs and Kieffer from their executive positions, and the fact that the organization's bylaws allowed for the process. Carey submitted the minutes of the November 6, 2011 board of directors meeting as Exhibit A, and the A of F bylaws as amended in September 2011 as Exhibit B. Having established the appropriateness of the board's actions, be sought the judge's order to return control of Atheists of Florida's Web site, Meetup sites, Paypal accounts,. Twitter, Free2think, and Facebook accounts to the Webmaster of A ofF. Upon conclusion of testimony, the judge denied closing statements. He determined that Atheists of Florida had failed to hapress him with the urgency of the demand, very:proba. bly because he realized the organization's Ireasuiy had been secured from Wacbs and lieffer, and allowed that the lawsuit filed by AofF against Wadis and Kieffer wouli take its fill course including interrogatories, depositions, Introduction of other evidence, and finally, a hearing in court. This was neither a win nor loss for eIther side. It simply left the lawsuit at the be. ginning of the process. But the significant conclusion drawn by the judge after hearing three hours of testimony over both days was that the current bylaws of the organization, in spite of frequent amendments; should be the governing bylaws to be followed. Upon hearing this, it seems that Wacbs must have realized her case would ultimately be lost. John Kieffer has by now been, officially served and may no longer hide from justice.
James Peterson
er1cee

4iJ
Mailing Address
P0 Box 130753

20.00 yr OGeneral Published four tines a year by Atheists of Florida, Inc., a non-

Classified advertising free to members. Send newsletter corresponddefoe to P0 Box address. Aiticles may be edited for clarity or length.
Officers

Joe Relnhardt

David Willlamson Christos Tzanetakos, Founder Newsletter Production Edhor Ed Golly Steve Brown SISIF
Web Master
,

profit, educational corporation

ChaIVmWVA cling P,ea: Seoutaiy T,eeswer

Ed Golly

TAMPA, FL 33681 (813) 839-7567 3614 $ MANHATTAN AVENUE TAMPA, FL 33629

founded to heighten public awarenesS about atheism and monItor statelchurch separation issues. Newsletter IS posted on our Web site and a printed copy is mailed to all active members.

Vice President

Tracy Thomas

Vacant

Nan Owens

State BOand of Directors Stephen Brown Gloria Julius Steven Miles Jessica Pamsh*

Atheist Fonam Producer

Ed Golly

January 2012

Atheists ofFlorida

Dirty

JL it respects the validity of our bylaws, Wachs ramped up the dirty tricks against Atheists of Florida. The dethmation suit filed against eight board members was intended to compel them to seek to be removed horn the lawsuit Very probably Wachs must have anticipated successive calls from each of the board members asking that they be dropped from the suit, and that she would have agreed provided they would beforehand resign from the board. tricks Even if a few held out, she figured she could get enough of her sympathizers voted on the board to establish a majority that would vote her back in power. Not a single board member called to ask to be removed from the suit. Stymied, she threatened to double thedamages to
44nfl000 Still
nn calls The
diM

T NFUIUATED DY THE OUFCOME OP THE HEARING AS

Fields, "You got your lawsuit, Kay!" Such lawsuits filed against government officials are very expensive propositions. Without Atheists of Florida's treasury to bankroll such a seemingly unnecessary sui4 considering that we have already sued the City of Lakeland over the exact same Issue of invocations at government meetings in what could become a landmark case that sets precedent, Wadis came off as nothing but a blowhard who may simply be removed from the meetings andultimately ignored. So we see essentially two possible reasons Wachs seems desperate to gain control of Atheists of Florida. First, so she can control the expenditure of the treasury, filing lawsuits in order to generate publicity for herself and second, to cover the financial misappropriations she may have engaged in during the course of
the pyripnfIitI,re of tIA flAfl ofthe
nroini,i,tinn"z fiurviu

hnird memherd

Kieffer predicted

we would bring in
$100,000

in donations for their

legal

expenses by the end

of 2011.

To date the amount collected has been approxi mately 4%. of that amount

know they have a responsibility to stand for the. integWe have learned, for example, that Larry Walters, rity of A ofF. Wadis attorney in the suit against Sheriff Grady Judd, She then placed a telephone call to counsel for A of admitted he did not use the entire $25,000 payment he F, Mr. Carey, arguing that he must recuse himelf from received from A ofF, contrary to Wadis' claim that he representing more than a single board member, due to, had. He is holding in a trust account some of that she insisted, "conflict of interest." This way, each money, which should have been returned to A of F. board member would be required to retain separate This was likely part of a s heme hatched by Wachs to counsel at their own expense. Surely that would drive gain control of our treasury so as to spend those funds them oft But Carey refused, allowing that since all without interference by the board. If this could work board members are being named in the same suit theyj&jth Walters, surely ft could als work with Attorney may all be defended by the same attorney. Carey hai John McKnight (see previous newsleller, page 3) in filed a motion to dismiss the suit and we are awaiting a which case an additional $18,000 from the A of F response from the court. treasury could have been transferred to the bank account Wadis has opened in Lakeland and there be unWhat this is really all about der her control. it is a form of legally jjng control of our money without technically stealing it Why did Wadis appear so willing to freely spend Even though the board was not consulted and so down our treasury? Last summer, Kieffer announced could neither approve nor disavow Kieffer's stuntthat the suit against the Polk County sherift coupled provocation at the Polk County School Board meeting with the arrests of himself and Wachs, had brought Atheists of Florida worldwide attention. He predicted that brought criminal charges against him, the board certainly wanted.to help him avoid jail time. But Kiefour Web site would bring in an estimated $100,000 in fur's legal defense was also another avenue for him (or donations for their legal expenses bythe end of 2011. Wadis) to remove the flmds from the A of F bank ac To date, the amount collected has been approximately count, which Wachs could not do since she had not 40/a of that figure, all or most of which was generated been listed as a signatory on the account I-Ic removed within the first week of the story gaining national atthe funds under her direction, while also helping her tention. After the story went cold, the donations.dried control the botched election single-handedly, and conup completely. fling us out of our electronic media. Since then, we've When Wachs and KietTer were being removed from taken the key to our treasury from his hands. the Polk County School Board meeting at which Kieffer was arrested, she shouted back to Chairwoman Kay

Florida Legislature attempts to strike down wall of separatio

.I
I
3

___________

The Amendment 7 catasimphe

TALLAHAsSEEWhen government

wants to pay off political donors by allowing them to pump more pollutants into the atmosphere, what do they do? Pass the "Clean Air Act," of course. Want to clear cut another million acres of old growth forest? Introduce the "Healthy For-

eats Act." How about giving taxpayer's dollars to religion? It's the "Religious Freedom" amendment, intended to dupe an unintbnnd public into believing that somehow it will enhance freedom of religion. Who would be opposed to that? The disaster known as Amendment 7 is intended to strip the no-aid provision, from thC Florida Constitution and allow the state to support religious organizations and schools, some of which actively discriminate. If passed, the measure, HJR 1471, would insert language into the state constitution that the government

Turn page Atheists ofFlorida

January 2012