Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 22 March 2007

President’s Message:

Five of us met and we had an Interclub to the Downtown Club in Jacksonville. Tim, Bob Corson, Dave Thompson, Richard Welty, and I went to represent our club. We saw our hard working Lt. Gov. Rande, as he is the Secretary of the club. The speaker was Dusty Rhodes, who, if you like baseball, is one of those names that has been involved with baseball for years. He played in the majors, and has coached college and Olympic teams over the years. He brought with him an assistant swim coach, and she had been an Olympic swimmer and won two gold medals which she put on and later let you actually handle them (the medals, that is.) She goes around to schools and gives a very inspiring talk to students about hard work and discipline. It was a very good program and we enjoyed out time with other Kiwanians. (Interesting side note to those of you who have been around here for a number of years, our waitress, “Crash,” was the owner of the now defunct JoAnn’s Chili Bordello. Ask Bob, because in our group he is the only one that ever ate there.)

Tonight’s the night, oh you kid! Everyone show up for the Geography Bee tonight at Sebastian Middle School. This would even be a good time for our politicians to show up, since there are more parents there than students.

Our sponsoring club is holding their annual golf tournament. Some details are in the Coming Events section, but if you need more info contact one of the members of the noon club, and I am sure they will have all the details.

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

22 March 2007: Our annual Geography Bee. Again this year it will be held at Sebastian Middle School. Always a great time had by all. Plan to spend the early evening with your fellow members, and Bob will be getting us to fill jobs too.

March 30 - April 1, 2007: The North Midyear Conference for divisions 1-15 to be held in Lake City in conjunction with the Hog Wild Pig Crazy Barbeque festival. See our website for details.

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

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

30 April 2007: The Noon Club is sponsoring their annual golf tournament at Marsh Creek. Shotgun Start is at noon. The price is $100 per person or $375 per foursome. I’m not a golfer, but many in our club are, so go and support another Kiwanis project. You’ll know most of the folks there. Prizes and lunch are included.

Guests: Back for another visit with our club and our fair city is Harry Matteson, from Malone, New York. Snow is melting up there, so he will be leaving us soon.

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

LAST WEEK: Filling in for the intrepid Jerry Saia, I introduced Betsy S. Lee, who brought her friend and dog, Precious Princess, a greyhound (only this one was mostly white). Betsy is an energetic spoken for these noble (and fast) dogs. He has rescued a number of them after their racing days were over. She explained much of their history, some of which is detailed in her recently published book, Off the Track. Betsy mentioned that the book is available at most local bookstores or you can order on line at www.betsyslee.com. (Make certain that you enter the “S” after Betsy, or you’ll wind up somewhere that Betsy does not want you to be.)

THIS WEEK: Otis Mason didn’t even know that Greg Moore was back. He will introduce Charles Ellis, the President of the Fort Mose association. He will be here with a Park Service employee to explain the work being done there

NEXT WEEK: Rudy Xue has the job and he has had a speaker lined up for some time.

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: The winning tickets were drawn and the winners were Doug Hernandez and Ray Quinn. (Great to see Ray at the meeting.) Congrats to both. Remember to mix those tickets well (put mine on top), and to buy your tickets early and often.

Late Breaking News:

March Madness is upon us; and I finally watched a Florida game when they played Purdue. Noah is flashy with his pony tail, but Al is the man. They were lucky that Purdue did so poorly at the free throw line or they would have had to work a little harder to win. Also watch FSU lose in the NIT. The boys from Starkville are like ants and I don’t believe I have seen that many steals in one game ever. One of FSU’s problems was turnovers, but much of that was caused by the swarming play of So. Miss. I still haven’t figured why FSU left Thornton on the bench for most of the first half after he picked up two fouls. Oh well, there is always next year.

The regular baseball season kicks off in a couple of weeks. Anyone want to make a trip as a group to see the Suns play? We did it a time or two in the past when Bart was active in the club. If you are interested I could check and see if there is a smoking area so we can puff cigars while watching. Some stadiums do have a designated smoking area now a days.

Quote(s) of the Week:

More newspaper headlines:

How Does Pushing Turkey Protect Christians?: “Pope Pushes Turkey to Protect Christians” —CBSNews.com

No Wonder We Can’t Figure Out What They’re Saying: “Humpback Whale Vocabulary More Elaborate Than Thought” —LiveScience.com
Our Guess Is He Didn’t Do It Afterward: “Man May Have Killed Cellmate Before Killing Self, Officials Say” —Associated Press
Who Says the Arab World Isn’t Innovative?: “Data Can Now Be Stored on Paper” —Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Bottom Story of the Day: “Kerry Says It’s Time to Move On” —Associated Press

“Everyone is told to expect a recommendation [from the Iraq Study Group] that Iran and Syria be invited to assist the coalition of the willing in extracting the West from Iraq. We won’t be told how the enemy can help, since nobody knows. A pity FDR and Winston Churchill didn’t think about a strategy like this in early 1942. Half of us might be speaking German now (and the other half Japanese).” —Wesley Pruden

“Every time I have to flush a toilet twice, I think of Congress.” —Paul Jacob