Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 20 July 2006

President’s Message:

Last week we passed the hat to help fund the District Governor and her husband’s annual project, which is to have each Kiwanis member raise/donate a roll of dimes to the March of Dimes. (For those of you in Rio Linda, a roll of dimes is $10.) For our club that would be $400 total, which is 40 times $10 (again for Rio Linda). We collected some funds and we will pass the hat one more time this week, so bring your rolls of dimes to donate.

                Sam Dee Thomas’ wife died last Wednesday evening just before our meeting on Thursday. This has been a rather bad year for our former member, and our prayers go out to Sammy and his family. We passed a condolence card around and everyone present signed it. If you were not present, you might want to try to contact Sammy on your own.

                We are also planning a Peanut Day or two in the future, but that shouldn’t take as much of your time as the Pancake Breakfast, and will be after that event, so just keep your eyes peeled here for word about that fund raiser.

                We were pleased to see an interclub contingent from the noon club present at our meeting. Barry Kass showed up first, and was sweating bullets hoping he would not be the only one to show up from his club as has happened once or twice before. However, this is not one of those times, as Brad Davis, Marty Martin, Greg Greiner, and Micah Clukely showed up to keep him company. Always good to see you guys, and we will return the visit soon.

                               

Coming Events: [Advise the editor of events of interest at 797-4332]

4 August 2006: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries and taste the food and wine.

7 August 2006: Regular monthly board meeting to be held at The Allegro. The meeting will start at 1700 hours. There is much to discuss, so be prompt and be prepared to share some ideas. (Delayed because of July 4th weekend.)

28 September 2006: Our annual installation of officers’ banquet. Details to follow, but we know for certain that the new Lt. Gov. Randa Le Fevre will be present to handle the installation chores.

30 September 2006: Our first annual Pancake Breakfast from 8-11am at The Allegro.

 

Guests: Judy Mazes from The Allegro was present with her boss, Judi Robinson. They are doing a lot of the leg work for the Pancake Breakfast. Still haven’t seen Gary B.  He must be avoiding the belt line.

 

Programs: (Check the website for your speaker assignment date.)

LAST WEEK: Lance Conner was not present and e-mailed me this week that he had been out of town. Our thanks to Steve Fricke for giving us a synopsis of the goings and comings of crime in the city. The traffic on the bridge has improved since the DOT added a lane at the foot of the bridge so that those turning left could have their own lane.

THIS WEEK: Tim Chiu will introduce Carol Gospodarski (would you like to buy a vowel?) who is associated with a charity known as Because I Care.

NEXT WEEK: Bob Corson is on my list for being responsible for the program.

 

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: Bob Corson did NOT win for an unprecedented third week in a row, but Art Liepold won and indicated he really needed it since he got back from one of his gambling junkets, and our guest, Judy Mazes, were the big winners. Congrats and mix those tickets up better next time. Buy your tickets early and often.

 

Late Breaking News:

In Sports: What is it about those British golf courses? Tiger Woods doesn’t use his wood on a single shot and wins going away! Wow, that guy is good, probably the best ever. Landis wins the Tour de France, and what a come back. Another American right on the heels of Lance, but, of course, he wasn’t riding for the American team. And this guy is now going in for a hip replacement. Of course, some of the stiffest competition was disqualified and went home early, but that comeback in one day when all had ruled him out was spectacular.

                Speaking of the Middle East, butts have to be kicked. A cease fire now in Lebanon will do no good. It will only give Hezbollah time to regroup and reinforce their locations. We need to go back to fighting a war the way a war is supposed to be fought. Ever since Korea we have fought our wars with one hand tied behind our back and one eye covered. We have the force to go in and finish the job. Just going in and hurting the enemy a little and waiting to see if he wants to yell, “Uncle,” is dumb. I don’t mean just wanton destruction, but if the civilians will not clear out, then I’m sorry. If these guys hide themselves and their munitions in a mosque, too bad for that mosque. If we were to go in and use all of our power, it would be over before the nay-sayers could mobilize and make us “feel bad.” As I believe MacArthur said, “There is no substitute for victory.” (If it wasn’t him is was somebody that knew of what they were speaking.)

                               

Quote(s) of the Week:
"One reason Bush is down in the polls is that he's giving the impression that he's trying to change the subject from 'our mistaken invasion' to 'building democracy in Iraq.' Building democracy in Iraq is vital... But he would serve himself and the county better if he simply explained that he's been right all along." —Jonah Goldberg

 

"Perhaps the most fundamentally flawed idea [of the NEA] is this all-too-common one: 'Public schools were created to provide a "public good": education for all, regardless of a family's ability to pay... By contrast, under a voucher system that gives public dollars to completely unmonitored private schools, there is no such right to expect or demand accountability for student performance or how tax dollars are spent.' They don't get it. Competition brings accountability. Private schools may be 'unmonitored' by bureaucrats, but they face the most demanding kind of supervision our society provides: a market full of freely choosing individuals. Parents' desire for a good education for their children is a much more powerful check on schools than any politician's law or union rule. The people who want to control every young American's education like to talk about accountability, but what they want is to make schools accountable to anointed bureaucrats who think they know what's best for all of us. They evade real accountability—the kind of accountability where if a student or parent realizes a school isn't doing its job, he can find another one... If public schools are good, they have nothing to fear from school choice. Students and parents will choose them." —John Stossel