Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 10 May 2007

President’s Message:

I’m not part of the team, but I bet the Gamble Rogers Festival was not as big a success as most had hoped. When you host an outdoor event, you need to be ready for inclement weather. Do hate to complain, because we need the rain!

                Let us not forget, we are going to have a garage sale on the 19th of this month. Tim & Jolande Chiu have graciously agreed to allow us to store the goodies at their location and to hold the sale in their parking lot. Please call them in advance of dropping items off.  Their number is 471-9685. Also, this does not mean that you can just come and dump stuff into a pile. If you have clothes, for example, make sure that they are clean and folded, preferably with the size showing. Try to keep like items together, and if you are donating something with parts to it, keep all of it in a box. The sale will go better if we are neat about displaying the items and we won’t junk-up their place. Neatness counts when you have as much as we did last time.

                The Nominating Committee presented a list of candidates, and Board approved last week. Now it you turn to exercise your franchise this week. You must be present to vote or to nominate from the floor. Come hear who the Nomination Committee has presented.

                We’ll be doing a lot of voting at this week’s meeting, because we are also voting to decide if we will change our By-Laws to match the present ones used by International or to keep our own, often-revised ones.

                In Membership news, Judi Robinson tendered her resignation, and it was with a heavy heart that it was accepted. Judi is having arthritis problems, and has indicated that she will do what she can to help as long as it doesn’t include getting up and going early in the morning. On the positive side, Doug Gibson and John Thompson have applied for membership, and their applications were approved. It would appear that Dave Thompson is attempting to load the club up with supporters to help him rule when he takes over as President. The rest of us better get busy and help to even the numbers a bit.

 

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

17 May 2007: Division Council meeting in Fernandina Beach. More details as they are received.

19 May 2007: Another yard sale will be had by our club. Tim and Jolande Chiu have generously agreed to allow us to hold the sale at their hardware store parking lot as we did last time. Proceeds will go toward our pledge of assistance to the Boys and Girls Club Building Fund. Please call Tim at 471- 9685 to arrange delivery of your items to the site for storage.

22 May 2007: The annual Ag Day at the Ag Center. The service clubs started this some years ago, and the Farmer of the Year is named and honored along with agriculture in the county, of which there is less each year. This will be a luncheon at the Ag Center, and we usually cancel our regular meeting for that week.

26 May 2007: Uptown Saturday Night, check out the local galleries uptown on the last Saturday of each month, and taste their food and wine.

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

 

 

Guests: None last week. Let’s get going youse guys; we need to get a few more members.

 

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

LAST WEEK:  Our monthly committee meeting and Board of Directors meeting, the highlights of which were discussed in the President’s message.

THIS WEEK: Human & Spiritual Values meeting as well as the last Student of the Month for the school year. This month the student will come from SAHS. The scheduled speaker is Keith Cronwell the head football coach at Pedro. He will discuss his first year on the job and how prayer has helped to keep spirits raised.

NEXT WEEK: Doug Hernandez has indicated that he will have the present Key Club President as our speaker, and perhaps you can persuade the faculty adviser to attend as well.

 

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: The winning tickets were drawn and the winners were Bob Corson & Dave Thompson. (Wow!! Two weeks in a row.) Congrats to both. Remember to mix those tickets well (put mine on top), and to buy your tickets early and often.

 

Late Breaking News:

The Republican Presidential hopefuls had their debate, read joint news conference. I really didn’t watch much, it’s too early for me, but I’m wondering if those of you who watched both party’s joint news conferences saw any difference. For the most part, the Dems were served soft ball pitches, while the Reps were hit fairly hard by the interrogators. I think that they, the Republicans, should take a page from the Dems playbook, and refuse to appear on CNBC and CNN just as the Dems refused to appear on Fox News Channel. I have always felt that the Republicans have always been too soft on these people. I know for sure that President Bush has been too nice all these years. He and others in his administration have turned the other cheek far too much. When Harry Reid and the rest of those his ilk, come out with the big lie, you can’t ignore it and act as if you are rising above the fray. In D.C. you had better respond, or the big lie becomes a truth that is imbedded into people’s minds. E.g., “Bush Lied, People Died!” That is the new mantra of the Left and because the administration did not come out to refute it, many people believe it. Of course, there was no “lie.” Everyone thought there were WMD in Iraq, and many of them are on the record saying it. But because Bush said it in his speech, he is a liar now that we know the WMD were removed. There is a big difference between lying and being misinformed, but the Left doesn’t care.

Quote(s) of the Week:
“When the political columnists say ‘Every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘Every intelligent voter’ they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.” —Franklin P. Adams

“Our political elite and chattering classes deserve a stiff rebuke for ignoring—and encouraging the public to ignore—the truth: In a global war for the Free World, there is nowhere to run.” —Frank Gaffney