Kiwanis Club of Historic
Newsletter –
15 May 2008
President’s
Message:
We had an Interclub to the Division
Council Meeting. Accompanying me were Paul
Linser, Tim Chiu, Lou Nester, David Thompson, and Richard Welty. A special thank you to David for doing the driving.
Only one club had more members present than we did. Much of this meeting
centered around next year. Brad Davis,
our incoming Lt. Gov., gave a synopsis of his plans. Also present was the
District chair of membership growth, Eddie
Lee, who discussed, what else, membership growth and retention. Kiwanis,
and most “community service” clubs, are losing membership at a rather alarming
rate. The average age of members keeps going up. Eddie had some good ideas, and
we should look at implementing one or two. (But that’s for next year’s crew to
worry about.) As compared to other clubs in our Division, we are doing very
well. When we meet to goal of 50 members by the end of my term, we will have
done an excellent job.
The
garage sale has been moved to May 24. We still need items which can be
delivered to Tim Chiu’s on A1A.
Please give Tim a call in advance so he will know you are coming. (471-9685).
We
had a quick board meeting after our regular meeting and approved Tim Forsen for membership as well as
approving the return of Brent Fonner,
who is returning after trying out the noon club. Our meeting time is obviously
more to his liking. Welcome, you guys.
In
addition, the Board moved to not award our scholarship this year, as the only
applicant did not meet the criteria for the award.
Coming Events: [Advise the
editor of events of interest at 797-4332]
24 May 2008: Our next Garage Sale is planned. We need items to
sell, so get your closets and storage units emptied and get the stuff to Tim
Chiu. Once again, Tim and Jolande are gracious enough to host the event at
their business (A1A Hardware) and even store the stuff for us. Please call Tim
prior to delivering the stuff to make sure he will be there and available to
direct you to the place to store the stuff. Also, it would be helpful to give
us an idea of what you think the stuff is worth.
31 May 2008: Uptown Saturday Night, check out the local galleries
uptown on the last Saturday of each month, and taste their food and wine.
6 June 2008: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries
downtown and taste their food and wine.
Guests: David Thompson
had another out of town guest and
Programs:
(Check the website for your speaker assignment date.)
LAST WEEK:
This was our Human and Spiritual Aims meeting, and the final Student of the
Month until school starts again.
THIS WEEK:
Doug Gibson, has the program, and according
to Dave Thompson it will be very revealing. This speaker will let us know where
Doug’s head has been for a while.
NEXT WEEK:
We have a problem for next week, in that the member assigned has left the club.
(Some people will do anything to keep from getting a speaker.) Do we have a
volunteer who knows of someone that would like to talk to us on a subject of
interest to all?
50/50 DRAWING WINNERS: Last week’s winner was one of the guests; I believe
it was Dave’s friend. That ensures that he will come to visit Dave more often. Mix
those tickets real good, and make sure mine is on top.
NEWS OF NOTE:
Paul Linser reported
that the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival was a success, and he thanked those
members who had come out to volunteer their time to help out. Don’t forget to
let Bob know who was there so that
we get credit for the work on the monthly report.
Skeeter
reported that the Apples for Teachers went off smoothly. We took care of
Bartram Trail, and our Key Club there helped out.
Last week we honored Ben Greco, our Student of the Month, this time from Pedro. Ben is
obviously a very popular guy as he had the largest contingent of friends and
family accompanying him of any other student we have had. As usual, one wonders
how a kid could have that high of a grade point average and still do all the
other things that our honorees seem to be able to do.
Our speaker last week was Walter West, the new pastor at
Quotes You Can Use (or Not):
“The denial of annual [pay]
increases, [Chief Justice John] Roberts wrote, ‘has left federal trial
judges—the backbone of our system of justice—earning about the same as (and in
some cases less than) first-year lawyers at firms in major cities, where many
of the judges are located.’ The cost of rectifying this would be less than
0.004% of the federal budget. The cost of not doing so will be a decrease in
the quality of an increasingly important judiciary—and a change in its
perspective. Fifty years ago, about 65 percent of the federal judiciary came
from the private sector—from the practicing bar—and 35 percent from the public
sector. Today 60 percent come from government jobs, less than 40 percent from
private practice. This tends to produce a judiciary that is not only more
important than ever but also is more of an extension of the bureaucracy than a
check on it... The enlargement of the judiciary’s role by the regulatory state
requires compensation of the judiciary commensurate with its ever-expanding
importance. That importance, although regrettable, is a fact, and so is this:
You get the quality—and the perspective—you pay for.” —George Will
“The most unresolved problem of the day is precisely the problem that
concerned the founders of this nation: how to limit the scope and power of
government. Tyranny, restrictions on human freedom, come primarily from
governmental restrictions that we ourselves have set up.” —Milton Friedman
“The public
cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.” —Samuel Adams