-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, TkMz//btX1h9BICiC0bimVbJY1eBidM+Q8fyIrQiRgwiEA5GV8JNT0elJv7OFHV6 cIflpRCM9cGCNlKwwn41+g== 0000791049-96-000003.txt : 19960305 0000791049-96-000003.hdr.sgml : 19960305 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0000791049-96-000003 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: DEF 14A PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 1 CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 19960422 FILED AS OF DATE: 19960304 SROS: NONE FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: CASCADES TRUST CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000791049 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: UNKNOWN SIC - 0000 [0000] IRS NUMBER: 136868231 STATE OF INCORPORATION: MA FISCAL YEAR END: 0930 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: DEF 14A SEC ACT: 1934 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 811-04626 FILM NUMBER: 96530605 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 380 MADISON AVE STE 2300 CITY: NEW YORK STATE: NY ZIP: 10017 BUSINESS PHONE: 2126976666 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 380 MADISON AVENUE STREET 2: # 2300 CITY: NEW YORK STATE: NY ZIP: 10017 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: TAX FREE TRUST OF OREGON DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19890810 DEF 14A 1 IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY AQUILA TAX-FREE TRUST OF OREGON 380 Madison Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, N.Y. 10017 NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS TO BE HELD on April 22, 1996 TO SHAREHOLDERS OF THE TRUST: The purpose of this Notice is to advise you that an Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon (the "Trust"), the only series of The Cascades Trust, will be held Place: (a) at the Oregon Convention Center 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Portland, Oregon 97212 Time: (b) on April 22, 1996, at 2:00 p.m. local time Purposes: (c) for the following purposes: (i) to elect eight Trustees; each Trustee elected will hold office until the next annual meeting of the Trust's shareholders or until his or her successor is duly elected; (ii) to ratify (that is, to approve) or reject the selection of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP as the Trust's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996 (Proposal No. 1); Please Note: If you do not expect to attend the Meeting, you are requested to indicate voting instructions on the enclosed proxy and to date, sign and return it in the accompanying stamped envelope. To avoid unnecessary expense to the Trust, your cooperation is requested in mailing in your proxy no matter how large or small your holding may be. (iii) to act upon any other matters which may properly come before the Meeting at the scheduled time and place or any adjourned meeting or meetings. Who Can Vote What Shares: (d) To vote at the Meeting, you must have been a shareholder on the Trust's records at the close of business on January 31, 1996 (the "record date"). Also, the number of shares held by you according to such records at the close of business on the record date determines the number of shares you may vote at the Meeting (or any adjourned meeting or meetings). By Order of the Board of Trustees EDWARD M. W. HINES Secretary March 1, 1996 (ii) AQUILA TAX-FREE TRUST OF OREGON 380 Madison Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, New York 10017 PROXY STATEMENT INTRODUCTION The purpose of the Notice (the first two pages of this document) is to advise you of the time, place and purposes of an Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of Aquila Tax-Free Trust of Oregon (the "Trust"). The purpose of this Proxy Statement (all the rest of this document) is to give you information on which you may base your decisions as to the choices, if any, you make on the enclosed proxy card. This Notice and Proxy Statement are first being mailed on or about March 1, 1996. A copy of the Trust's most recent annual report and most recent semi-annual report will be sent to you without charge upon written request to the Trust's Distributor, Aquila Distributors, Inc., 380 Madison Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, NY 10017 or by calling 800-872-6734 toll-free or 212-697-6666. The Trust's organizer and administrator (the "Administrator") is Aquila Management Corporation 380 Madison Avenue, Suite 2300, New York, NY 10017. The Trust's investment adviser (the "Adviser") is Qualivest Capital Management, Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp and its subsidiary, U.S. National Bank of Oregon, 111 S.W. Fifth Street, Portland, Oregon 97204. The enclosed proxy card authorizes the persons named (or their substitutes) to vote your shares; the Trust calls these persons the "proxy holders." As to the election of Trustees you may authorize the proxy holders to vote your shares for the entire slate indicated below by marking the appropriate box on the proxy card or by merely signing and returning your proxy card with no instructions. Or, you may withhold the authority of the proxy holders to vote on the election of Trustees by marking the appropriate box. Also, you may withhold that authority as to any particular nominee, by striking a line through the nominee's name on the proxy card. As to the other matters listed on the proxy card, you may direct the proxy holders to vote your shares on that proposal by checking the appropriate box "For" or "Against" or instruct them not to vote your shares on that proposal by checking the "Abstain" box. If you return your signed proxy card and do not check any box on a proposal, the proxy holders will vote your shares for that proposal. You may end the power of the proxy holders to vote your shares after you have signed and returned your proxy card and before the power is used by (i) so notifying the Trust in writing; (ii) signing a new and different proxy card (if the Trust receives it before the old one is used); or (iii) voting your shares in person or by your duly appointed agent at the meeting. Shares held by brokers in "street name" and not voted or marked as abstentions will not be counted for purposes of determining a quorum. The Trust is sending you this Notice and Proxy Statement in connection with the solicitation by its Trustees of proxy cards ("proxies") to be used at the Annual Meeting to be held at the time and place and for the purposes indicated in the Notice or any adjourned meeting or meetings. The Trust pays the costs of the solicitation. Proxies are being solicited by the use of the mails; they may also be solicited by telephone, facsimile and personal interviews. Brokerage firms, banks and others may be requested to forward this Notice and Proxy Statement to beneficial owners of the Trust's shares so that these owners may authorize the voting of these shares. The Trust will pay these firms for their out-of-pocket expenses for doing so. All shareholders of the Trust are entitled to vote at the meeting. Each shareholder on the record date is entitled to one (1) vote for each dollar (and a proportionate fractional vote for each fraction of a dollar) of net asset value (determined as of the record date) represented by shares held on the record date. The Trust is the only operating series of The Cascades Trust, a Massachusetts business trust. On the record date, the total number of shares outstanding for the Trust was 29,147,020. Of the shares of the Trust outstanding on the record date, BHC Securities, Inc, 2005 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 held of record 2,805,023 shares (9.6%) and Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith P.O. Box 30561, New Brunswick, NJ 08989-0561 held 2,639,908 shares (9.1%). On the basis of information received from the holders the Trust's management believes that all of the shares indicated are held for the benefit of clients. The Trust's management is not aware of any other person beneficially owning more than 5% of its outstanding shares as of such date. ELECTION OF TRUSTEES At the Meeting, eight Trustees are to be elected. Whenever it is stated in this Proxy Statement that a matter is to be acted on at the Meeting, this means the Meeting held at the scheduled time or any adjourned meeting or meetings. Each Trustee elected will serve until the next annual meeting or until his or her successor is duly elected. The nominees selected by the Trustees are named in the table below. See "Introduction" above for information as to how you can instruct the proxy holders as to the voting of your shares as to the election of Trustees. Each of the nominees is presently a Trustee and was reelected by the shareholders at the last annual meeting on May 1, 1995. Mr. Herrmann, Mr. Coloney, and Ms. Leven have been Trustees since the beginning of the Trust's operations in June 1986. Mr. Gardner has been a Trustee since 1986, Mr. Alden and Mr. Ross have been Trustees since 1988. Mr. Lung has been a Trustee since 1992 and Ms. Herrmann has been a Trustee since 1994. On January 31, 1996, as a group, the Trustees and officers owned less than 1% of the outstanding shares of the Trust. In the information below, the Trust's Administrator, Aquila Management Corporation, is referred to as the "Administrator" and the Trust's Distributor, Aquila Distributors, Inc., is referred to as the "Distributor." The beneficial ownership of shares indicated below includes voting and investment control unless otherwise indicated. Mr. Herrmann is an interested person of the Trust as that term is defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act") as an officer of the Trust and a Director, officer and shareholder of the Distributor. Ms. Herrmann is an interested person as a member of his immediate family. Mr. Lung is an interested person as a security holder of the Adviser's parent. Interested persons are so designated by an asterisk. Described in the following material are the name, positions with the Trust, age as of January 31, 1996, and business experience during at least the past five years (other than with the Trust) of each nominee and all officers of the Trust. LACY B. HERRMANN*, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Age: 66, Shares owned: 180 (Includes 11 shares owned by the Administrator) Founder of the Trust and President and a Director of the Administrator since 1984; Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust since 1984, of Tax- Free Trust of Arizona since 1986, of Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since 1987 and of Tax-Free Fund For Utah and Narragansett Insured Tax-Free Income Fund since 1992, all of which are tax-free municipal bond funds, and an equity fund, Aquila Rocky Mountain Equity Fund since 1993, to all of which the Administrator is administrator and which are referred to as the "Bond and Equity Funds"; Chairman and President, Chief Executive Officer (Chairman of the Board of Trustees and/or President) and Trustee of Capital Cash Management Trust ("CCMT"), since 1981 and Founder and executive officer (since 1974) of CCMT and its predecessor; Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Prime Cash Fund since 1982, of Short Term Asset Reserves and Pacific Capital Cash Assets Trust since 1984, of Churchill Cash Reserves Trust since 1985, of Pacific Capital Tax- Free Cash Assets Trust and of Pacific Capital U.S. Treasuries Cash Assets Trust since 1988 and of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994, all of which are money market funds to which the Administrator is administrator and which are referred to as the "Money Funds"; Vice President, a Director and Secretary since 1981 (formerly Treasurer) of the Distributor, which is distributor (i.e., principal underwriter) for the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds; President and a Director of STCM Management Company, Inc., Adviser to CCMT; Chairman, President and a Director since 1984 of InCap Management Corporation, formerly sub-adviser and administrator of Prime Cash Fund and Short Term Asset Reserves; Director or Trustee of the various Quest for Value Funds, a group of stock, bond and money market mutual funds, since 1983; Director of Saratoga Advantage Trust, a group of mutual funds, since 1994; Trustee of Brown University since 1990; actively involved for many years in leadership roles with university, school and charitable organizations. VERNON R. ALDEN, Trustee, Age: 72, Shares owned: 1,056 Director of Augat Inc., a manufacturing corporation, since 1979, Colgate Palmolive Company since 1974, Digital Equipment Corporation, a computer manufacturing corporation, since 1959, Intermet Corporation, an independent foundry, since 1986, and Sonesta International Hotels Corporation since 1978; Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee of The Boston Company, Inc., a financial services company, 1969-1978; Trustee of Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust, Pacific Capital Cash Assets Trust, Pacific Capital Tax-Free Cash Assets Trust and Pacific Capital U.S. Treasuries Cash Assets Trust since 1989, of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994 and of Narragansett Insured Tax-Free Income Fund since 1992; Associate Dean and member of the faculty of Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, 1951-1962; member of the faculty and Program Director of Harvard Business School - University of Hawaii Advanced Management Program, summer of 1959 and 1960; President of Ohio University, 1962-1969; Chairman of The Japan Society of Boston, Inc., and member of several Japan-related advisory councils; Chairman of the Massachusetts Business Development Council and the Massachusetts Foreign Business Council, 1978-1983; Trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1975; Chairman of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1972-1984; Member of the Board of Fellows of Brown University, 1969-1986; Trustee and member of the Executive Committee, Plymouth Plantation; trustee of various other cultural and educational organizations; Honorary Consul General of the Royal Kingdom of Thailand. WARREN C. COLONEY, Trustee, Age: 66, Shares owned: 906 (Shares held jointly with his wife) Consultant to top management and governing boards on issues of corporate governance, strategy, organization and human resource management; Director of the Washington, D.C. office of Management Practice, Inc., since 1992; President of Coloney & Company, Inc., since 1984; Managing Director-Europe of Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc., 1974-1984; President of Coloney, Cannon, Main & Pursell, Inc., 1968-1974; Registered Professional Engineer; Founding Member of the Institute of Management Consultants; Trustee of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994; active in a number of professional, social, church, and community service organizations in England and the United States. JAMES A. GARDNER, Trustee, Age: 52, Shares owned: 338 (Shares held jointly with his wife) President of Gardner Associates, an investment and real estate firm, since 1970; President Emeritus of Lewis and Clark College and Law School since 1989 and President, 1981-1989; affiliated with the Ford Foundation, 1969-1981; Lecturer and Assistant Director of Admissions of Harvard College, 1968-1969; Member of the Oregon Young Presidents Organization since 1983; Director of Stanley Investment & Management Inc., an international business brokerage, since 1987; Member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1988; Trustee of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994; Director of the Oregon High Desert Museum since 1989; active in civic, business, educational and church organizations in Oregon. DIANA P. HERRMANN*, Trustee, Age: 37, Shares owned: 526 Senior Vice President and Secretary and formerly Vice President of the Administrator since 1986 and Director since 1984; Trustee of Tax-Free Trust of Arizona since 1994 and of Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Churchill Cash Reserves Trust since 1995; Vice President of InCap Management Corporation since 1986 and Director since 1983; Vice President and formerly Assistant Vice President of the Money Funds since 1986; Assistant Vice President of Oxford Cash Management Fund, 1986-1988; Assistant Vice President and formerly Loan Officer of European American Bank, 1981-1986; daughter of the Trust's President; Trustee of the Leopold Schepp Foundation (academic scholarships) since 1995; actively involved in mutual fund and trade associations and in college and other volunteer organizations. ANN R. LEVEN, Trustee, Age: 55, Shares owned: 989 Treasurer of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., since 1994, Deputy Treasurer, 1990-1994; Treasurer of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1984-1990; President of ARL Associates, strategic consultants, since 1983; Vice President/Senior Corporate Planning Officer of The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., 1979-1983; Treasurer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972-1979; Trustee of Short Term Asset Reserves, 1984-1993, of Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky since 1987, of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994, and of Churchill Cash Reserves Trust since 1995; Trustee of Oxford Cash Management Fund, 1987-1988; Director of the Delaware Group of mutual funds since 1989; Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business Administration since 1975; Trustee of the American Red Cross Endowment Fund, 1985- 1990; Member of the Visiting Committee of Harvard Business School, 1979-1985; Member of the Board of Overseers of The Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College, 1978-1984; Staff Director of the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities, 1981; Director of Alliance Capital Reserves Fund, a money market fund, 1978-1979. RAYMOND H. LUNG*, Trustee, Age: 69, Shares owned: 23,600 (Beneficially owned: held of record by a Trust of which he is a Trustee) Retired; Trustee of Qualivest Group of Funds since 1994; Executive Vice President and Executive Trust Officer of U.S. National Bank of Oregon, 1989-1991; Senior Vice President and Executive Trust Officer, 1980-1989; various other management positions, 1954-1980; Member of Executive Committee, Trust Division, American Bankers Association, 1986-1988; Director of Pacific Securities Depository Trust Company and Pacific Clearing Corporation (subsidiaries of the Pacific Stock Exchange), 1980-1987; Director of Collins Pine Company and Ostrander Companies (lumber and oil), 1980-1990; Trustee of Cascades Cash Fund, 1992-1994. RICHARD C. ROSS, Trustee, Age: 74, Shares owned: 4,210 (Shares held jointly with his wife) President of Richard Ross Communications, a consulting firm, since 1986; Senior communications consultant to Pihas, Schmidt, Westerdahl, advertising and public relations, 1986-1988; Executive News Director of KATU Television, 1975-1986; News Director of KGW- TV, 1956-1975; Trustee of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994; Director of the Portland Rose Festival since 1972; Director of the Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Association, 1982-1985; Director of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, 1971-1980; President of the Oregon chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 1984- 1986; Director of the Meridian Park Hospital Foundation, 1984-1987; Chairman of the Broadcasters Group of the Bar-Press-Broadcasters professional relations committee, 1964-1984; Former President of the Rotary Club of East Portland and currently a Director of Goodwill Industries, Metropolitan Youth Symphony and the Lake Oswego Community Theatre. W. DENNIS CHEROUTES, Senior Vice President, Age: 54 Investment Executive, Dain Bosworth, Inc., 1986-1995; and branch office mutual fund co-ordinator, 1990-1995; owner of special order clothing business, 1976-1986. SALLY WILSON CHURCH, Vice President, Age: 47 Vice President of Cascades Cash Fund, 1989-1994; Corporate Vice President of Shearson Lehman Hutton and Senior Marketing Coordinator of its Northwest Region, 1985-1989 and an employee in various capacities at that firm, 1978-1985. NANCY L. KAYANI, Vice President, Age: 38 Assistant Vice President of Cascades Cash Fund, 1992-1994; Customer Service Representative of U.S. National Bank of Oregon, 1990-1991; Securities Trader of Bidwell & Co., 1988-1989; Securities Trader and Mutual Fund Regional Representative of Fidelity Investments Southwest, 1985-1987; Stockbroker of Dean Witter Reynolds, 1983- 1984; Mutual Regional Representative of Columbia Management Company, 1980-1983; WILLIAM C. WALLACE, Vice President, Age: 60 Vice President of Capital Cash Management Trust and Pacific Capital Cash Assets Trust since 1984; Senior Vice President of Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust since 1985 and Vice President, 1984-1985; Senior Vice President of Tax-Free Trust of Arizona since 1989 and Vice President, 1986-1988; Vice President of Churchill Tax-Free Fund of Kentucky and Tax-Free Fund of Colorado since 1987, of Pacific Capital Tax-Free Cash Assets Trust and Pacific Capital U.S. Treasuries Cash Assets Trust since 1988 and of Narragansett Insured Tax-Free Income Fund since 1992; Secretary and Director of STCM Management Company, Inc. since 1974; President of the Distributor since 1995 and formerly Vice President of the Distributor, 1986- 1992; Member of the Panel of Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association, since 1978; Assistant Vice President, American Stock Exchange, Market Development Division, and Director of Marketing, American Gold Coin Exchange, a subsidiary of the American Stock Exchange, 1976-1984. ROSE F. MAROTTA, Chief Financial Officer, Age: 71 Chief Financial Officer of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds since 1991; Treasurer of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds, 1981-1991; formerly Treasurer of the predecessor of CCMT; Treasurer and Director of STCM Management Company, Inc., since 1974; Treasurer of Trinity Liquid Assets Trust, 1982-1986 and of Oxford Cash Management Fund, 1982-1988; Treasurer of InCap Management Corporation since 1982, of the Administrator since 1984 and of the Distributor since 1985. RICHARD F. WEST, Treasurer, Age: 60 Treasurer of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds and of Aquila Distributors, Inc. since 1992; Associate Director of Furman Selz Incorporated, 1991-1992; Vice President of Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Inc. and Treasurer of Scudder Institutional Funds, 1989- 1991; Vice President of Lazard Freres Institutional Funds Group, Treasurer of Lazard Freres Group of Investment Companies and HT Insight Funds, Inc., 1986-1988; Vice President of Lehman Management Co., Inc. and Assistant Treasurer of Lehman Money Market Funds, 1981-1985; Controller of Seligman Group of Investment Companies, 1960-1980. EDWARD M. W. HINES, Secretary, Age: 56 Partner of Hollyer Brady Smith Troxell Barrett Rockett Hines & Mone LLP, attorneys, since 1989 and counsel, 1987-1989; Secretary of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds since 1982; Secretary of Trinity Liquid Assets Trust, 1982-1985 and Trustee of that Trust, 1985-1986; Secretary of Oxford Cash Management Fund, 1982-1988. JOHN M. HERNDON, Assistant Secretary, Age: 56 Assistant Secretary of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds since 1995; Vice President of the Money Funds since 1990; Vice President of the Administrator since 1990; Investment Services Consultant and Bank Services Executive of Wright Investors' Service, a registered investment adviser, 1983-1989; Member of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association and the Society of Quantitative Analysts. PATRICIA A. CRAVEN, Assistant Secretary & Compliance Officer, Age: 29 Assistant Secretary of the Money Funds and the Bond and Equity Funds since 1995; Counsel to the Administrator and the Distributor since 1995; formerly a Legal Associate for Oppenheimer Management Corporation, 1993-1995. Compensation of Trustees The Trust does not pay fees to Trustees affiliated with the Administrator or Adviser or to any of the Trust's officers. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 1995, the Trust paid $69,415 in fees and reimbursement of expenses to its other Trustees. The Trust is one of the 14 funds in the Aquilasm Group of Funds, which consist of tax-free municipal bond funds, money market funds and an equity fund. The following table lists the compensation of all Trustees who received compensation from the Trust and the compensation each received during the Trust's fiscal year from all funds in the Aquilasm Group of Funds and the number of such funds. None of such Trustees has any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust or any of the other funds in the Aquila group.
Compensation Number of from all boards on Compensation funds in the which the from the Aquilasm Trustee Name Trust Group serves Vernon R. Alden $8,427 $30,638 6 Warren C. Coloney $8,654 $8,654 1 James A. Gardner $6,675 $6,675 1 Ann R. Leven $6,350 $14,300 3 Raymond H. Lung $7,886 $7,886 1 Richard C. Ross $7,885 $7,885 1
Other Information on Trustees The Trustees have appointed an Audit Committee consisting of all of the Trustees (the "Independent Trustees") who are not "interested persons" of the Trust, as that term is defined in the 1940 Act. The Committee (i) recommends to the Board of Trustees which firm of independent auditors will be selected by the Board of Trustees (subject to shareholder ratification); (ii) reviews the methods, scope and result of audits and the fees charged; and (iii) reviews the adequacy of the Trust's internal accounting procedures and controls. The Committee held one meeting during the Trust's last fiscal year. The Board of Trustees does not have a nominating committee. During the Trust's last fiscal year, the Board of Trustees held seven meetings. Each Trustee was present at at least 75% of the total number of Board and (if such Trustee was a member of that Committee) Audit Committee meetings. The Trust's Administrator is founder and administrator to the Aquilasm Group of Funds, which consists of tax-free municipal bond funds, money market funds and an equity fund. As of December 31, 1995, these funds had aggregate assets of approximately $2.7 billion, of which approximately $1.9 billion consisted of assets of tax-free municipal bond funds. The Administrator, which was founded in 1984, is controlled by Mr. Lacy B. Herrmann (directly, through a trust and through share ownership by his wife). See the Additional Statement for information on Mr. Herrmann. For the fiscal year of the Trust ended September 30, 1995, fees of $729,908 were paid or accrued to each of the Adviser and the Administrator. RATIFICATION OR REJECTION OF SELECTION OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS (Proposal No. 1) KPMG Peat Marwick LLP has been selected by the Trust's Board of Trustees, including a majority of the Independent Trustees, as the Trust's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996; such selection is submitted to the shareholders for ratification or rejection. The firm has no direct or indirect financial interest in the Trust, the Trust's Adviser or the Trust's Administrator. It is expected that representatives of the firm will not be present at the meeting but will be available should any matter arise requiring their presence. RECEIPT OF SHAREHOLDER PROPOSALS Under the proxy rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, shareholder proposals meeting tests contained in those rules may, under certain conditions, be included in the Trust's proxy statement and proxy card for a particular annual meeting. One of these conditions relates to the timely receipt by the Trust of any such proposal. Under these rules, proposals submitted for inclusion in the proxy material for the Trust's next annual meeting after the meeting to which this Proxy Statement relates must be received by the Trust not less than 120 days before the anniversary of the date stated on the first page of this Proxy Statement relating to the first mailing of this Proxy Statement. The date for such submission could change, depending on the scheduled date for the next annual meeting; if so, the Trust will so advise you. The fact that the Trust receives a shareholder proposal in a timely manner does not insure its inclusion in the Trust's proxy material, since there are other requirements in the proxy rules relating to such inclusion. OTHER BUSINESS The Trust does not know of any other matter which will come up for action at the Meeting. If any other matter or matters properly come up for action at the Meeting, including any adjournment of the Meeting, the proxy holders will vote the shares which the proxy cards entitle them to vote in accordance with their judgment on such matter or matters. That is, by signing and returning your proxy card, you give the proxy holders discretionary authority as to any such matter or matters. AQUILA TAX-FREE TRUST OF OREGON PROXY FOR SHAREHOLDERS MEETING APRIL 22, 1996 PROXY SOLICITED ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES The undersigned shareholder of TAX-FREE TRUST OF OREGON (the "Trust") does hereby appoint LACY B. HERRMANN and EDWARD M. W. HINES, or either of them, as attorneys and proxies of the undersigned, with full power of substitution, to attend the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Trust to be held on April 22, 1996, at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97212 at 2:00 p.m. local time, and at all adjournments thereof, and thereat to vote the shares held in the name of the undersigned on the record date for said meeting on the matters listed below. Such shares are entitled to one vote for every dollar of net asset value represented by the share balance printed on the other side of this card. Please mark your proxy, date and sign it below and return it promptly in the accompanying envelope which requires no postage if mailed in the United States. MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDS A VOTE FOR ALL NOMINEES LISTED BELOW AND FOR THE PROPOSALS LISTED BELOW. THE SHARES REPRESENTED HEREBY WILL BE VOTED AS INDICATED BELOW OR FOR IF NO CHOICE IS INDICATED. As to any other matter said attorneys shall vote in accordance with their best judgment. Please indicate your vote by an "X" in the appropriate box below. Election of Trustees---. __ [__] FOR all nominees listed below __ [__] VOTE WITHHELD for all nominees listed below (Instructions: To withhold authority to vote for any one or more of the nominees, strike a line through the name of that nominee or the names of such nominees in the list below.) LACY B. HERRMANN, VERNON R. ALDEN, WARREN C. COLONEY, JAMES A. GARDNER, ANN R. LEVEN, DIANA P. HERRMANN, RAYMOND H. LUNG, RICHARD C. ROSS Action on selection of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP as independent auditors __ __ __ (Proposal No. 1) FOR [__] AGAINST [__] ABSTAIN [__] Dated: ____________ ______, 1996 Month Day __________________________________ SIGNATURE(S) __________________________________ SIGNATURE(S) PLEASE SIGN EXACTLY AS YOUR NAME(S) APPEAR HEREON. When signing as a custodian, attorney, executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, etc., please sign your full title as such. Joint owners should each sign.
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