114 associations continued to plan and prepare a constitution, bylaws and name for the new organization to be submitted to the entire membership for voting by mail ballot. The Executive Directors of both organizations (Nicholas Pohlit, NAS; and H.L. "Red" Thomasson, IAMFES), however, had some concerns over the financial status of the two groups, the number of members in each that were not members of the other organization, and the details of job protection for the two executive directors. ''Turf' problems developed to the point that after a seventh draft of the proposed bylaws much of the progress made by the several unification committees of both organizations was subdued. In August 1968, Dr. Myhr (IAMFES) in correspondence with NAS Presi dent Roger Lewis said, "It was originally thought that this draft (the seventh) which was a culmination of two years of cooperative effort by our respective committees would serve as the basis upon which our members could judge whether they favored the merger.'' He further expressed disappointment in an effort by the NAS Executive Com mittee to redo the seventh draft into a document that was almost identical to the existing NAS bylaws. From that date through 1976, there were several committees that worked on jointure. NAS committee chairmen included William Walter, John Todd, and John McHugh. Others who worked with purpose on the merger included Verne Reierson, V. Harry Adrounie, Charles Gillham and Joseph Martin. Memberships were polled with positive reactions, but in 1976, the IAMFES president Dr. Henry Atherton questioned whether merger was feasible or whether there were actually two separate organizations with two separate purposes. Plans proceeded, nevertheless, to hold a joint annual meeting, and this came to be when the NEHA and IAMFES scheduled their annual meetings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 1980. The original intent was to hold a bona fide "joint meeting" at one hotel and withjoint educational sessions. This was not to be, however, and even though both organizations met at the same time in Milwaukee, and some joint sessions were held, the IAMFES moved their meeting to a hotel more than five miles from the originally scheduled hotel. NEHA bowed to IAMFES in not scheduling separate sessions on Food Protection, so many NEHA conference attendees attended the IAMFES food sessions. A number of spouse activities were held jointly. In 1982, an IAMFES representative expressed the opinion to the NEHA Board of Directors meeting that talks of merger were fruitless. Since that time, there has been no activity toward one organization for all sanitarians.
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