Arkansas Grand Lodge resignations confirmed

Below is a recent email from Doug Simmons, Past Deputy Grand Lecturer and Past District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, published with his permission:

Your post referencing the resignations of the Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer of the Arkansas Grand Lodge has all the trappings of the best of the "Tabloids," taken completely out of context, and devoid of any facts researched before publication...

Grand Secretary James Weatherall has been carefully planning his retirement for the last 4 years, due to culminate in the Spring of this year;

Grand Treasurer Garry Jones has been urged by his doctors to permanently curtail his activities due to on-going and increasing health problems. Knowing he would not want his medical history discussed with strangers, I will not elaborate.

I have known both of these honorable gentlemen for over 20 years, and have spent many, many hours in pleasant conversations with both of them, on personal and Masonic levels. Their resignations have nothing whatever to do with any current dealings of the Grand Lodge or any of its officers.

Doug Simmons

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Arkansas Grand Lodge officers said to have resigned

Update, May 5: The resignations of Bros. Weatherall and Jones have been confirmed by an officer of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. I am awaiting his permission to publish his email on The Taper.

The Masonic backchannels are buzzing with unconfirmed reports that the Grand Secretary James Weatherall and Grand Treasurer Gary Jones of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, F&AM, both tendered their resignations on Saturday, effective June 1. Both men have served in their respective capacities since the early 1990s, my sources say.

If true, this is a most interesting development in light of the recent brouhaha over the Prince Hall license plates, the upcoming trial of Bro. Derek Gordon, and the many stories over the years that have alleged a general sense of vindictiveness and overt racism in the Grand Lodge.

If you have more information or official documentation, please post it in the comments section, or contact The Burning Taper via email. Your identity will not be disclosed.

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