The USGenWeb Census Project Proclamation and Resolution 18th day of May, 2000

WHEREAS the volunteers of The USGenWeb Census Project, a Special Project of The USGenWeb Project, were entrusted by the members of The USGenWeb Project with the mission of providing census information to be made freely accessible on the Internet; and WHEREAS the volunteers of The USGenWeb Census Project are dedicated to preserving and protecting the integrity, quality, accessibility and use of said information; and WHEREAS the activities, productivity, and progress of The USGenWeb Census Project have, on more than one occasion, been disrupted as a result of its web site having been made unavailable due to redirects to other web sites within The USGenWeb Project; and WHEREAS the volunteers of The USGenWeb Census Project have been denied write "create/update" access to their website, when the write access permissions were removed with no advance warning, thereby creating a situation where the most accurate, up-to-date information for the census transcribers and genealogical researchers was unavailable; and WHEREAS The USGenWeb Census Project has been summarily unlinked from The USGenWeb Project's national web site, in direct violation of The USGenWeb Project's Bylaws; BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT we, the undersigned, in order to Preserve the integrity of The USGenWeb Census Project and its mission, Protect the transcriptions entrusted to us by the volunteers, Ensure the survival, growth and future of The USGenWeb Census Project, For these reasons and no other, have perpetually protected the sanctity and nonprofit status of The USGenWeb Census Project by: Registering a nonprofit domain, http://us-census.org, located on a nonprofit server, Creating a nonprofit repository of census enumerations on the Internet for the free, unrestricted access of the genealogical researchers, Formalizing our nonprofit status by incorporating as a NONPROFIT entity, The USGenWeb Census Project, a Michigan Public Benefit Corporation. By these means, we ensure that the volunteers of The USGenWeb Census Project can move forward with their mission and purpose intact, safe in the knowledge that never will there be a possibility of anyone monetarily gaining from their endeavors. Signed, Ronald E. Eason Connie Burkett Sue Soden Veda Mendoza Jeri Shangle Ellen Horner Wayne Duncan