Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 14 December 2006

President’s Message:

Thanks to all those that showed up for their volunteer duty to ring the bell for the Salvation Army last Saturday. I hope that Nick will have a total of what we collected on our assigned day. I trust you had as enjoyable a time as I did. You get to meet a lot of interesting people there, and you even get to see people that you don’t see as much as you once did. This is a true Win-Win project.

Be advised that since Christmas and New Years days are on a Monday this year, the club voted to meet each Thursday this month, and not skip any meeting. If you are in town, make sure you get your breakfast here on Thursday so the attendance will be above average.

During the board meeting, we approved a contribution of $250 to purchase a brick for the Splash Park on the Beach. After a final accounting, our hard working Treasurer reported that we made $5,673.01 on our Pancake Breakfast. I had hoped for $6K, so for our first effort we did very well. Thanks again to all who helped.

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

5 January 2007: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries downtown and taste their food and wine.

6 January 2007: Uptown Saturday Night, check out the local galleries uptown on the first Saturday of each month, and taste their food and wine.

16 February 2007: Division Council Meeting at Westside Club. This will also be the official Governor's visit to our division. 

Guests: None last week.

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

LAST WEEK: We had our committee meetings followed by the Board meeting.

THIS WEEK: Our Human and Spiritual Values monthly meeting which includes our Student of the Month award. This month the student is from Nease High School.

NEXT WEEK: Next week Doug Hernandez has the speaker.

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: Winning last meeting were Otis Mason, and Otis Mason. (He drew his own tickets twice!) Mix those tickets well. Buy your tickets early and often.

Late Breaking News:

Don’t forget that we have our annual Christmas giving for a needy family. The sizes are reprinted below, so bring in a toy or clothing to match, and add to the amount the club donates to make a needy family happy for Christmas.

	D.O.B.	Age	Wt.	Ht.	Pants	Shirts	Shoes
M	8/13/1993	13	70 #	56"	10 slim	M / 8-10	4½
F	2/15/1995	11	97#	57"	14-16	14-16	8
M	3/28/2000	6	45#	45"	6 slim	5	12½
M	3/5/2002	4	42#	38"	4	4	8½
M	5/13/2005	18m	27#	30"	18 months	18 months	5½

I saw an article in the paper concerning changing the county government to a charter county form of government. I thought I read the paper pretty closely, and this was news to me. What’s going on? I noticed that the constitutional officers, including our own Dennis Hollingsworth and Sharon Outland spoke out against it. Personally, I am not enthralled with Ben Rich and therefore, look at anything he is pushing with a jaundiced eye, and I feel much the same about Jim Bryant. I always feel that they have an agenda that they don’t want to reveal, and I tend to go the other way. If any of our members know any proponent of this idea, let’s see if we can get them to tell us what this is all about, and then we can get someone who is opposed to come tell us why they feel the other way. I’m not sure how I would lean, so I am all ears and willing to listen to both sides.
As everyone knows by now, Nease did NOT repeat as state champion in football. They came mighty close, so we congratulate them on a great season and an excellent effort. Did you see where the great Tebow’s records were broken this year? The ideal situation would be for FSU to sign this quarterback and then they could play against each other for a game or two.

Quote(s) of the Week:
"This month, papers all around America reported that according to the U.S. Department of Education, 'children in public schools generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable children in private schools.' The New York Times put the study on its front page, along with a quote from teachers' union president Reg Weaver, who claimed it showed 'public schools were doing an outstanding job.' Please. Most public schools are far from outstanding. America's government schools have rigid one-size-fits-all rules that reward mediocrity. Despite raising per-student spending to more than $10,000 (at least $200,000 per classroom!), test scores have stayed flat. On international tests, Americans now lag behind students from less developed nations like Poland and Korea that spend a fraction as much money on education. The people who run the international tests told us, 'the biggest predictor of student success is choice.' Nations that 'attach the money to the kids' and thereby allow parents to choose between different public and private schools have higher test scores. This should be no surprise; competition makes us better. It's true in America, too, as we know from the few tiny choice experiments that have squeaked past the restrictions of the unions and the education bureaucrats. There are now eight studies from some of the places where choice has been tried. All show that when parents are given choices, kids' performance improves. But those studies didn't make the front page of The Times." —John Stossel

"When I left this building 10 years ago, I said it was up to the electorate to decide my future address. In their wisdom, they decided they would rather see me in commercials than in the Oval Office." —Bob Dole