Law and Order Committee reports on community meeting (12/27/81)

Law and Order Committee reports on community meeting

NEW YORK - The executive board of the Committee for Law and Order in the UCCA released a communique about the community conference it convened in New York on December 19 in order to discuss the actual state of affairs within the U.S. Ukrainian community. The communique was dated December 20.

The full text of the communique (translated from the original Ukrainian by The Weekly) follows.

Communique

The community conference convened on Saturday, December 19, in New York by the executive board of the Committee for Law and Order in the UCCA, was attended by 75 persons who represented 30 community institutions. Among those present were delegates of Ukrainian communities in Detroit, Minneapolis, Newark and Trenton, N.J., and Philadelphia; also represented were communities in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

The conference was called to order by the first president of the committee's executive board, John Flis, who presented the agenda and reported on the negotiations with representatives of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. At the conclusion of the report, participants were read the full text of the written reply of the present UCCA (dated November 28) in response to the conditions put forth by the Committee for Law and Order. The participants regretfully noted that the UCCA executive board had rejected all four proposals of the committee which were aimed at attaining a compromise solution to the existing conflict.

Second to report about the activity of the executive board of the Committee for Law and Order was Ivan Oleksyn who, during the past few months, has taken over the duties of its president. In view of the negative conclusion of negotiations with the UCCA executive board, the conference participants were presented two concepts of the structure and activity of a body which would provide opportunity for beneficial and timely activity for member-organizations of the present Committee for Law and Order. These two conceptions were presented by Dr. Bohdan Wytwycky and George Soltys. For these same reasons, the executive board of the Committee for Law and Order, having completed the first phase of activity for which it was established, recommended the election of a new executive board which would implement the decisions made at the community conference.

As a result of a broad discussion, the conference participants decided to, in the coming months, prepare the community for an all-national conference which would determine the feasibility and concrete goals of an association of those organizations and individual community members who cannot accept the uncompromising stand of the present UCCA. With this goal in mind, the following committees were created: organization, program, by-laws, financial and press. Each committee is headed by members of the conference.

The participants called on the outgoing executive board of the Committee for Law and Order to take on the responsibilities of the preparatory committee of the all-national conference.

The December 19 conference was a daylong meeting; it was conducted in a cordial and businesslike atmosphere. The conference was conducted by Vasyl Kolodchyn of Detroit, who served as presidium chairman; Petro Karkoc of Minneapolis, vice chairman; and Dr. Roman Borkowsky of New York and Eugene Pereyma of Newark, N.J., secretaries.

After the conference, the executive board held a brief meeting at which it was decided to reorganize its composition to include liaison persons representing Detroit, Minneapolis, Newark and Philadelphia. Based on a rotational system, the duties of executive board president were taken over by the former second vice-president Dr. Bohdan Shebunchak, while both former presidents, Messrs. Flis and Oleksyn, became vice-presidents.

The participants of the community conference and the executive board affirmed that, with the good will of the present UCCA, they are ready at any moment to resume negotiations which could lead to complete unity in the community life of Ukrainians in the United States.

| Home Page |