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I.-RAI\ITA
URANTIAFOUNDATION
533W DIVERSEY
PARIOv/AY
CHICAGO,lL 60514U,S.A,
TELEPHONE:
(773) 525-33t9Ft'x: (773) 575-7739
WEBSITE:httpi//wwwurantia.org
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ruEWSTLASH
October/I{ovember1998
Issue6
A monthly NewsButletinfrom (JrantiaFoundationto IUA Officers,
Foundation O/fice Managers,CoordinatingCommitteemembers,
FoundationRepresentatives, Translators, and other r eaders
for thepurposeof disseminatingthis informationto readersin local areas.
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Apologies
ChristmasOpenHouseat 533
NovemberWeekendEvent
for theUSA, 1999
NationalConference
NevadaUrantia AssociationChartered
- Lithuania
New FoundationRepresentative
Intemet Copyright ProtectionStrengthened
Copyright Extension
New ZipperBook
ProductPrice Changes
University Library Program
PrisonBooks
FamilyDay in L.A.
New Booklets
Apologles
If you havebeenwonderingwhy you did not
receiveaNewsflashforthe monthof
September,it is becausewe were unableto
produceone.Pleaseacceptour apologiesif
you were waiting but we had staffshortages
dueto vacationleave.We arealso
combiningthis one to cover both October
andNovemberaswe will havemorestaff
shortagesduring December.We will do our
bestto keepthis newslettermonthly but
whenthe work piles up and our resources
arelimitedwe will just do the bestwe can.
This yearhasbeena busyandfruitful year
for the Foundationandwe feel positive
aboutthe future of the revelationthanksto
- FPANCE- SpAtN
oTHEROFFICES:
AUSrReLte- eNCreN{- FTNLAND
the efforts of all who havededicatedtheir
time andenergiesto serve.We'd like to take
this opportunrtyto sendyou our bestwishes
for Christrnasandthe New Year and look
forwardto continuingon togethernext year.
Ghrl,stmas Open Ifouee at 566
Therewill be an openhouseatthe
Foundationon December12,1998from
3:00to 8:00pm.The GreaterLakeMichigan
UrantiaAssociationwill be assistingthe
Foundationwith preparationsand
decorating.A brief programwill be
presentedby the First Societyof Chicago.
All arewelcome.
November TlleekendEvent
For those of you who were unabe to attend
the recent event here in Chicago over the
weekend ofNovember 6-8, we will give you
a preliminary report here. A comprehensive
report to let you know the results of the
workshops will be mailed as soon as it is
complete.
The weekend was a tremendous success
with approximately 120 people in
attendance. The purpose of the weekend was
explained in the intoduction letter, a portion
of which follows:
Deu Friends,
Welcome to Urwttia Foundation and thank
youfor taking the time to come and
participate in the planning sessionsfor the
dissemination of the teachings of The
Urotia Book Your presence is encouraging
and greatly appreciated.
The weelrend will consist of a combination
of worlrshop sessionsand social time. The
overall objective of the weekend is to
explore together practical and ffictive
wrys of doing that whichwe have been
asked to do: spread the teachings of thefifth
epochal revelation to all the peoples of the
world.
The early leaders were asked toform
thousands of study groups to enlunce
readers' understanding of the teachings.
Tlrcywere asked to develop leaders and
teachers who could assist sndents of the
book in their study, as well as to takc the
messageof the book to owfellow mortals.
They were asked to translate the book into
other langaages so that peoplefrom all
cultures could hove the oplnrtunity to read
the book in their native tongue.
Traditionally Urantia Fowrdation and
reader groups havefocwed a lot of their
group efforts to achieve these ends- Events
wer the past decade havefragmented the
movementand stalled much of the work that
needsto be done. The Trustees of Wantia
Foundationfeel that it is time to heal the
wowtdsfrom the past and to gather teams of
committedmen andwomenwho are willing
to work on programs and projects to ensure
a safe and effective delivery of the fifih
epochal revelation to the world. We hope
theseworkshop sessionswill be the
beginningof anew surge of teanmvorkand
service...
The weekendbegan on Friday evening with
registration and social time at the
Foundation.All of Saturday's activities were
held atthe Dewes Mansion which is only
one block from the Foundation and it
accommodatedeveryone comfortably.
Saturday morning began with an
intoduction to the weekend by Richard
Keeler and Tonia Baney, who introduced the
new leather zipper book, followed by an
inspiringkey notespeechby JeffreyWattles
on the principlesandteachingsof The
(JrantiaBookthatneedto be spreadto the
world. The restof the daywas spentin
workshops.
Therewere five workshopsrunning
simultaneouslyand everyoneattendedthree
out of the five. The workshoPswere:
LeadersandTeachersleadby Dorothy Elder
andCarriePrentice,Study Groupslead by
CarolynKendallandJanePloetz,Education
leadby PatGoodsonand Betty Zehr, The
Roleof ServiceGroupsleadby Lee
ArmstrongandNancy Shaffer,and
Translationsleadby SeppoKanerva"
andMichael
GerogesMichelson-Dupont,
job
Hanian.All the leadersdid a tremendous
in preparingand presentingtheir workshops
andvigor.
with intelligententhusiasm
Saturdayeveningbeganwith a socialon the
first floor of the DewesMansion,then
everyonewas usheredup to the third floor
ballroomwherethe atmospherehad been
tastefullypreparedfor remembranceand
worshipbeforedinner.We weretreatedto a
surpriseperformanceby Joel Barr5r,an
Italianoperasingerwho broughtthe house
downwith his soulful,heartrendering
performance.
After dinnertherewere presentationsby
GeorgesMichelson-DupontGardJameson,
andToniaBaney.Georgespresenteda
wonderfrrlnew information brochureon the
translationproject.The presentationswere
followedby music,dancing,and general
socializing.
A displayof samplesof possiblenew book
coverdesignsforThe Urantia Bookwete
spreadaroundthe walls of the ballroom and
peoplewereaskedto fill out a survey/ballot
form expressingtheir three favorite choices.
Everyonegatheredagainat the Foundation
on Sundaymorningfor a continental
breakfastandmore socializing.The
atnospherewashigh spirited and peoplefelt
thattheweekendwaswell spent.The
leadersof theworkshopswill be analyzing
theresultsof the discussionsand
with thosewho volunteered
communicating
to participatein this work.
Natlonal Conference for the UgA 1999
The SouthernKindred Spirits(SKS) will be
producingnextyear'snationalconference
April
for the USA in Nashville,Tennessee,
29 throughMay 2,1999. The conference
will takeplaceat the Scanitt-BennettCenter
adjacentto VanderbiltUniversity.
Registrationwill commencein the
aftemoon,Thursday,April29. The teamis
working diligently to producea conference
commensuratewith the SKS' reputation for
sponsoring conferences with great
presentationsand in-depth research and
study. Additional information and
registrationforms will be mailed early
January.
We look forward to seeing you there.
NevradaUrarrtla Assoclatlon Charbered.
Catfilrclones
On SundayOctober4, 1998the Nevada
UrantiaAssociationbecamea reality. As
"it
onemembercommented, finallY
happened!"
Themeetingwasheld in BoulderCity. If
onewere not awareof the contrasting
spirit of the LasVegasstrip,you would
neverguessits existencejust a few miles
away. Gard and FlorenceJameson
graciouslyopenedtheir spaciousand
exquisitelydecoratedhome,overlooking
LakeMead,for the occasion.
an instantrecognitionof kindredspirits.
TheNevadaUrantiaAssociationis bound
togetherwith the commongoal of striving
to do the Father'swill, disseminating
the
teachingsof The Urmttia Book, and
focusingon service.
Thetotal membershipis2l; 14regular
and7 "Friendsof IUA" who havemetall
the membershiprequirementswith the
exceptionof readingThe Urortia Bookin
its entirety.Officers are:PresidentMargaretCanpinar,Vice-President- Jan
Bemard,and Secretary- ChuckFallon.
Membersaremostly from Nevadawith
two from the Arizona border. Therpis a
beautifulblendof personalityanddiversity
of background.The main ingredient
permeatingthe day was love. Few of the
peoplehad met previously,but therewas
IVew Foundatlon Eepresentatlve - Llthtranfa
Thanks to devoted readers who are
spreading the information, interest in The
Urnttia Book and the number of its readers
have increased tangibly in Lithuania this
year. Therefore we are pleased to announce
that Algimantas Jokub6nas,from Lithuani4
hasjoined the corps of Urantia Foundation
Representatives.
This brings the number of Foundation
Representativesto a total of ten. Urantia
Foundation now has offrcial representation
in Colombi4 Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Peru,
Venezuela, Estonia, Belgium, Norway, and
Lithuania.
Internet Copyrlght Protectlon Strengthened
bill alsoaddresses
to what extentlnternet'
serviceproviderscanbe held liablefor
copyright infringementfor actscommitted
by their subscribers.Underthe legislation,
the providersare not strictly liable, but they
arerequiredto removeinfringingmaterialif
the copyrightholder informs themthat a
subscriberhaspostedit.
LegislationpassedCongressandhasbeen
sentfor Presidentialsignaturethat
implementstwo treatiesadoptedin 1996by
the UN World Intellectual Property
Organization.The measurestrengthens
protectionfor copyrightedworks transmitted
on line while ensuringthe public still has
accessto information on the Internet. The
Copyrlght Extenglon
The SonnyBono CopyrightExtensionAct,
5505,becamelaw last week.Copyrightsof
thetype which subsistin TheUrmtia Book
(a compositework) will now havea life of
ninety-five(95) yearsfrom the dateof initial
issuance.Sincethe copyrightof The
UrantiaBookwasinitially secured
in 1955,
the initial copyrightwill now remainin
effecttill2050.
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New Zlpper Book
S69.95 unttl December 5I, 1998
The Foundationis proud to announceits
newestproduc! The Urantia Bookleathercd
zipperedition.This book is smallenough
andthin enoughto accommodatetravel and
fits comfortablyinto an averagesize
handbag.It comesin a choiceof two colors
- royal blue or brown. A special
intoductory price of $39.95is beingoffered
until December31, 1998.After that it will
be soldfor $49.95.Readerswho haveseenit
considerit a "must have" for travel
purposes.
Produc't Prl.eeGb.anges
Beginningin January1999,the pice of The
(Jrantia Bookhardcover English edition
to $34.95.In addition,the
will be increased
pric,eof The Urantia BookConcordance will
be lowered from $65.00 to $34.95.Please
call our office for more details.
Unlverslt5r Llbrarlr Pro gra.m
For many years the Foundation has
sponsored a general Library Placement
Program in which individual readers may
request a free copy of The Urantia Book and
The (Jrantia Book Concordorce to be placed
in a library of their choice.
A few years ago, Liz Engstrom undertook a
leadership role in an exceedingly successful
project ofplacing the book, at $5.00 per
copy, in prison libraries within the United
States.
To date no one has targeted University
libraries so we are presently seeking
someone to assume leadership of this project
to place the book in College and University
Libraries around the world. If you or
someone you know would be interested in
this project pleaselet us know.
PrC.sonBookg
The programto providecopiesof The
(JrantiaBookto individualprisonersfor a
$5.00feehasbeentemporarilysuspended.
of our damagedbooks,(the
The exhaustion
sourceof the prisonbooks)hascreatedthis
situation.This, howeverhasnot affectedthe
placementof booksin prisonlibraries.
l'amrty DeJrln L.A
(Editor'snote:We receivedthe following e-mailfrom DorothyElder andcouldnot resistpassingalongits
to you.)
delightfulmessage
Wantto readsomethingthat'stotally good
news? Wantto be refueledby the energyof
the fruits of service?Want to hearaboutthe
resultsof cooperativeeffortsof individuals
who happily removedtheir organizational
hatsandturned an idea into an inspiring
Thenreadmy postabout
experience?
"FamilyDay in L.A."
Families,friends,new readers,long-time
readers,non readers,toddlers,teenagers,
grandparents,
singles,extendedfamilies,and
neighborsjoinedhandsto experience,
learn
andcelebratethe universalityof family
during a day-longprogramthis past
weekendin Los Angeles. My friends,
wordscannotdescribethe essenceof the
experience.
It was simplya perfectday.All
the elementsrverethere:threeshort
presentations,
skits,music,postermaking,
"family
creatinga
crestT-shirt", greatfood
andfellowshipall blendedto honor,
demonstrate,and makereal the final
sentence
of our wonderfulbook "Whenall
is saidanddone,the Fatherideais still the
highesthumanconceptof God."Grateful
appreciationgoesto the teachersand leaders
from SanFrancisco,Los Angeles,andSan
Diego who cametogetherin the spirit of
love and serviceto demonstratethe meaning
of Family underthe loving watch careof the
Fatherhood
of God.
Friends,the URANTIA BROTHERHOOD
is out there,aliveandwell.
Love,
Dorothy
New Booklets
You will find enclosedtwo new booklets
recently produced by the Foundation. The
one titled "Introduction to The Urantia Book
and Urantia Foundation" is a view-book that
gives a brief overview of what The Urantia
Book and Urantia Foundation is all about for
the benefit of new readers who contact the
Foundation.This booklet will be usedby the
Reader Service Department as part of the
information packet we send out to thousands
of inquirers every year.
lncreasingly, people are wanting more
inforrration about the origrn and history of
The Urqrtia Book and the Foundation, as
well as what it is we stand for. This brochure
is light and cost only .54c to produce. We
hope this booklet will answer most initial
questions.
The secondbooklet is on "Planned Giving,"
which is an information piece about various
ways people can gain tax benefits from
donating funds and assetsto non-profit
organizations.Again this piece is in
responseto individuals' needsto plan their
estates.
Until now information sent to new readers
has been scanty and did not say very much
about who we are or what we do.
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