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Information for Members of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, Spring 2010

Meet the Officers of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation

The Constitution of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation establishes 12 officers for the organization: a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, five directors, and three trustees. The five directors comprise the Executive Council and have general charge of the administration of the affairs of the Corporation. The three trustees have general oversight of the affairs of the Corporation and administer the annual election of officers.

The annual election of officers is held on the first Thursday of February of each year. The president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer are up for election each year. Directors serve a two year term, with Place 1 and Place 2 director positions up for election on even-number years, and Places 3, 4 and 5 director positions up for election on odd-numbered years.

Trustees serve a three year term, with one trustee position up for election each year. The Place 2 position was on the ballot in 2010 and the Place 3 position will be on the ballot in February 2011. Listed below are the current officers of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.

President: Lawrence (Larry) Thomas

Lawrence (Larry) Thomas, a native and life long resident of Fairhope, has served as president of FSTC since 2003. He is owner of Thomas Roofing and Thomas Construction in Mobile, and has been active in many professional associations dealing with roofing and construction. He attended Mobile College where he was enrolled in the General Studies program. He served as Chairman of the Thomas Hospital Foundation in 2005 and 2006, and served on the Fairhope Recreation Board for over ten years.

Vice President: John Taratsas

John Taratsas has served as a member of the FSTC Education Committee for over eight years, and was elected to the position of Vice President in 2010. He has had over fifty years experience in the business world working in retail, product distribution, consulting, and in management. While employed in Arkansas he served as State Chairman for SCORE, a group offering counseling services to small business owners.

Secretary: Leslie Steiskal

Leslie Stejskal graduated from Fairhope High School in 1966 and received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University in 1970, after which he worked as a Process Engineer for Dow Chemical Company. Since 1972 he has worked in agribusiness: cows, pecans, and pine trees. He became a member of FSTC in 1979, was elected a Director in 1988, and Secretary in 2008. Between 1994 and 2006 he volunteered as scorekeeper/videographer for Fairhope High School volleyball, basketball and soccer programs.

Treasurer: Colin Keleher

Before retiring, Mr. Keleher worked as an engineer on the design and construction of industrial manufacturing facilities, responsible for estimating, tracking, controlling, and reporting costs and cash flow projections on large-scale projects. He has been active in church committee activities; in a non-profit organization seeking solutions to escalating home owner insurance costs; and in his sub-divisions home owners association.

Director. Place 1: Cliff Pitman

Cliff Pitman has been active in the Home Builders Association of Baldwin County and the Home Builders Association of Alabama, serving as president in 2010. He has served as a director of FSTC for several years, leading the effort to establish an outstanding nature park on Twin Beech Road. He serves as a volunteer with several local organizations such as Ecumenical Ministries, Eastern Shore Affordable Houses and Habitat for Humanity.

Director. Place 2: Carol Saltz

Carol and her husband Leon operate the Eastern Shore

Childhood Center in Fairhope.

Director. Place 3: David Jester

Dave Jester has a B.S. degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland, and studies at the U.S. Army Community Directors School in Arlington Virginia. He served in the U.S. military for 21 years, and as a civil servant held upper level management positions in recreation, family support and transition services. Before being elected FSTC director in 2009 he served as a member of the FSTC Budget and Systems Administration Committees.

Director. Place 4: Fred Watkins Jr.

Fred Watkins Jr. is president of Fairhope Floor Covering &

Interiors. He has a degree in Business Management, Accounting

and Finance from the University of South Alabama, and served

on the FSTC Finance Committee before being elected director in

2009.

Director. Place 5: Mac McCawlev

Mac McCawley, a native of Fairhope, is a certified public account. He has served on the FSTC Rent Study Committee, Finance Committee, and Education Committee. He is Chairman of the Knoll Park restoration project, and has taught the single tax class for several years. His wife Libby serves as a member of the Publicity Committee.

Trustee. Place 1: Ralph Jennings

Ralph Jennings has been a Trustee for over six years.

Trustee. Place 2: Leigh Rogers

Leigh Rogers was born and raised in Fairhope. After graduating from Fairhope High she attended Auburn University where she graduated with a B.S in Education specializing in English Language Arts. She received her Master's from the University of West Alabama in Secondary English/Language Arts, and has been teaching middle school English for 6 years. This is her fourth year serving as Trustee for the FSTC.

Trustee, Place 3: Nancye Jennings

Nancye Jennings has been a member of FSTC since 1966. She has taught elementary school in Baldwin County for over thirty years. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education from Troy State University and a Master's degree from the University of South Alabama. She has served as a member of the Board of Managers of the Marietta Johnson School, on the Alabama Classroom Teacher's Board of Directors, on the Baldwin County Education Association Board, and on the Baldwin County Heritage Museum Board.

Thanks to the generosity of many members and friends of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, a priceless collection of historic photographs of early Fairhope has been assembled, preserved, and made available for viewing by the public.

In 2007 an old photo album of the Brown / Jennings / Dealy family was discovered in some old storage boxes by Carey J. Killian and Nancye Dealy Jennings. The photographs were brought to the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, and the Executive Council voted to have the photographs digitized.

A few of the photographs can be seen on the FSTC web site at: http://www.fairhopesingletax.com/. More can be seen hanging on the wails of the new addition (the emergency room wing) of Thomas Hospital, Morphy Avenue just west of Greeno Road (U.S. Highway 98). And of course many are on display at the Fairhope Museum of History on Section Street just north of Fairhope Avenue in downtown Fairhope.

In February, 2008, the 100^th anniversary of the incorporation of the municipality of Fairhope, Mobile Bay Monthly Magazine published a special supplement with 63 of these never-before-published photographs. This Fairhope Keepsake Edition, WO'¹' Anniversary Album is available for viewing at the Fairhope Public Library and at the library/conference room of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, 336 Fairhope Avenue. FSTC members may also check out a CD disc with the archived images of the Dealy/Brown/Jennings Family Collection.

Fairhope artist Pinky Bass also made photographs available to the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation for digitizing and preservation. Included in the collection are photographs taken by the Lois Slosson Sundberg, as well as photographs by Frank Stuart, an early Fairhope photographer. Lois learned the craft from Stewart during the years they both lived in Silverhill. The Slossson Family Photographs are available on CD that may be borrowed at the Single Tax office by FSTC members.

The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization established in 2005 to pay tribute to veterans who have served overseas. It honors them by providing, at no cost to the veterans, a trip to Washington D.C. to visit the Memorial to the armed conflict in which they served.

Retired Air Force Captain Earl Morse started the organization in order to make it possible for elderly veterans of World War II to visit the newly opened World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. From his contacts with some of the veterans, he knew that many were not in a financial position to visit the Memorial, and some had a hard time traveling on their own due to health and age.

Captain Morse then asked pilots who were members of the Aero Club at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio if they would be willing to fly veterans to Washington D.C. and escort them to the World War II Memorial. Eleven of the pilots said yes, and in May 2005 six small planes flew 12 veterans to Manassas Virginia, just outside Washington, where vans transported the pilots and the veterans to their Memorial.

Word about the wonderful experience spread, and by the end of the year 137 veterans had been flown to the Memorial from the Dayton Ohio area. The program spread next to Hendersonville North Carolina, where 300 World War II veterans were flown to Washington in 2006, now using commercial flights due to the

increased numbers of veterans that wanted to participate. Other cities joined the program and by the end of the year 891 veterans nation-wide made the trip.

Contributions from citizens and organizations around the country covered all the costs. Southwest Airlines and Pace Airlines have contributed tickets and use of idle airplanes to expand the number of veterans that are able to participate.

Since one thousand veterans from World War II are lost each day, the focus in on bringing the surviving World War II veterans to their Memorial. The program is also open to veterans from the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, and veterans from any other conflict who have a terminal illness. Eventually the program will be expanded to all veterans of these conflicts.

Accompanying the veterans are guardians and volunteers who offer assistance in flight preparation, going through security and to the gate, assist in boarding, etc. In some cases guardians are friends or family members who wish to accompany the veteran on the trip. Guardians and volunteers pay their own expenses for the trip.

A non-profit organization founded by the South Alabama Veterans' Council and developed & hosted by Springhill Medical

Arden Delaware, just north of Wilmington, was established as a single tax colony in 1900, just five years after the founding of Fairhope. Soap manufacturer Joseph Fels was a financial benefactor for both communities, and just as Fairhope had the charismatic E. B. Gaston as founding father, so also Arden had sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price as founding fathers.

The Single Tax Movement in Delaware and Arden The story of the single tax movement in Delaware actually goes back to 1895, when single taxers devised a plan to make Henry George's ideas so compelling that states and the federal government would embrace the plan. They selected Delaware as the first state for their concentrated effort.

Single taxers "invaded" the state, giving speeches, writing articles, and talking to any Delawarean who would listen, attempting to get a governor and state legislators elected who would pass legislation requiring that all land be assessed at its "just and true rental value in money" and making willful underassessment of the rental value a misdemeanor. The Georgists, however, secured only a bit over three percent of the vote in 1896.

When the idea of setting up a statewide demonstration of the single tax failed, Frank Stephens and Will Price decided to set up a smaller demonstration with the purchase of a 162 acre farm, which became the town of Arden.

Just as Fairhope had attracted many artists, Utopians, writers, and actors, so also did Arden. Many moved to Arden from Philadelphia and some from Wilmington, attracted by the surrounding woodlands and fields, and the attraction of renting land for $6.00 per year.

In establishing Arden, Frank Stevens drafted a deed of trust that prohibited private ownership of land - the land in Arden would be owned by three trustees who would grant 99 year renewable leases to residents. Each parcel would be appraised and the land rent calculated based on an appropriate capitalization rate, and the land rent paid annually.

A major controversy over the years has been whether land rent should be based on the full rental value of the land, as Henry George's theory would dictate, or whether the land rent should be based on securing the revenues to pay taxes due to the various levels of government plus what is required to provide village public services.

Arden comes closer to meeting Henry George's single tax concept than Fairhope does. In Fairhope the rent paid by lessees reflects the county assessment which is based on the value of land and improvements. This assessment is used to calculate the city, county, and state property tax, which is gathered through the rent collections of FSTC. In addition to these taxes, and a small administration fee, the FSTC rent includes the demonstration fee which is based only on land value, not on the value of improvements. In Arden the money raised to pay the taxes to various levels of governments is raised in proportion to the value of land only, not the value of the houses.

As a result of following the Georgist idea that assessments should be based on land but not improvements, lots of equal size pay equal rent & taxes, regardless of the value of the size of the house on the site. This situation has generated strong comment, presumably initiated by those with small houses on a large lot.

Two Other Movements Affecting Arden

The first decade of the Twentieth Century was a time of activism and enlightenment. In addition to the Single Tax Movement, two other social reform movements were underway, and both had an impact on Arden. The first was the Garden Cities Movement propounded by Ebenezer Howard of England, and the second was the Arts & Crafts Movement, initiated by William Morris of England but brought to this country by Elbert Hubbard, Gustav Stickley, and many others.

The influence of the Garden Cities Movement is seen in the walking trails, woodlands and parks; about fifty percent of the community is public open space. The influence of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement is seen in the facilities for arts & crafts activities to be pursued in a beautiful environment. These facilities included the craft shop, a forge for producing hand-wrought iron furniture and decorative items, art studios, and a weaving shop. The William Morris philosophy that one should "...have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..." continues as a part of life in Arden, according to the brochure of the Arden Craft Shop Museum.

As The Arden Book, published by the Arden Community Planning Committee in 1992 states: "With the influence of William Morris and Henry George still very much in evidence,

Arden is one of the few Utopian colonies to survive with the essence of its original ideas still functioning."

Arden was named after the enchanted forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and the presentation of Shakespeare's plays has been a vital part of Arden life. The Arden Club, established in 1909, has a Shakespeare Gild, a String Quartet, a Concert Gild, the Arden Singers (which performs Gilbert and Sullivan operettas), a Dinner Gild, a Gild for folk dancing, a Gardeners Gild, Swim Guild, Library Gild, and of course a Georgist Gild.

Arden Expands

In 1922 about 109 acres adjacent to the village of Arden was acquired by single tax supporters, and the village of Ardentown was formed as a separate single tax community. The third contiguous single tax community, Ardencroft, was established through the efforts of Frank Stephens' son: Donald Stephens. Although both Arden and Ardentown were open to anyone who cared to apply for a lease, only a few African Americans settled there. Don Stephens made a successful effort to create an integrated community in Ardencroft.

Additional information about Arden is available on line at the village web site: http://www.arden.delaware.gov/, and at The Arden Club web site: http://www.ardenclub.org/.

Announcing a unique opportunity for those concerned about Henry George and the Single Tax

(Andfor those interested in history, art, the Arts & Crafts Movement, and the Garden City Movement.)

The Education Committee of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation is organizing an Educational Exchange with the Georgist Gild of Arden, Delaware.

Those in Fairhope who are interested in learning about other single tax colonies will travel (at their own expense) to Arden Delaware, where members of the Arden Georgist Gild will provide tours and lectures on the history of Arden and its single tax heritage. We will ask the Arden Georgist Gild to also include presentations on the role of the Arts & Crafts Movement and the Garden Cities Movement on the evolution of Arden At some point, residents of Arden will visit Fairhope, and we will provide tours and lectures for them.

Plans are for Fairhope people to travel to Arden in mid-September 2010, the exact dates to be determined. It is expected that the Educational Exchange will include a lodging exchange, and that members of the Arden Georgist Gild will be able to make guest rooms available for us, and when the Arden people come to Fairhope that we will be able to put them up for a couple nights.

If you would like to join us on the visit to Arden in September, or if you want more information, please contact Edward Lawrence at edfairhope@bellsouth.net, or Holly Couret at 928-1010.