(Contrary to an article in The Union August 23, 2008.)

Dear Members:

RE: CONFIDENTIALITY OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT

From time to time, we are asked by the news media, individuals, or even elected officials for our membership.

Please be assured that our policy is to keep our membership list confidential.

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled 50 years ago in the case of NAACP vs the State of Alabama in 1958 and then again in Daisy Bates vs. the City of Little Rock Arkansas in 1960, that no organization in the United States may be required to submit its membership list to public scrutiny under the protection of the First Amendment (freedom of speech) and the Fourteenth Amendment (freedom of assembly) of the U.S. Constitution.