Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 13 August 2009

President’s Message:

Look –a-there, I’m back in the newsletter again. I’m just in time to let all of you know that we have our big fund raiser, the pancake breakfast coming up in September, more specifically on the 19th of September. Last week we handed out the sheets to be used to get the ads for the placemats. Selling tickets is fine, and pays for the costs we incur. However, the sale of the ads is where we make the profit that allows us to do the various projects for the community. So please, please, please, get out there and get your dry cleaner, your meat man, your hair stylist, your whatever to put some bucks up to place an ad on the placemats used at the breakfast. It is up to each and every member to help on this. Do not expect just a few members to do it all. Seriously, all you have to do is ask most of these people, and when they know it is for a good cause, they are happy to do it. It is a write-off for a business.

 

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

29 August 2009: Uptown Saturday Night, check out the local galleries uptown on the last Saturday of each month, and taste their food and wine.

4 September 2009: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries downtown and taste their food and wine.

19 September 2009: Annual Pancake Breakfast held at The Allegro

24 September 2009: Annual installation of Officers to be held at The Allegro

 

Guests: Bill Cook was a guest of our new member, Mitch Hall. Also in attendance was our own Gary Bernstein. Gary gets here when he can find time away from work at one of his many jobs.

 

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

LAST WEEK: Last week we held our monthly Board of Directors meeting. This being the summer, there was not a lot of business to conduct. However, there was one topic that was discussed, that being the Pancake Breakfast. See the President’s Message, supra, for more details and the prod to get out there and sell those ads.

THIS WEEK: This week we are scheduled to have our Human and Spiritual Values tweaked. I do not know who the speaker will be, but Jean has done well at finding speakers each month. (And we all know how much she hates to get up early, so we really do appreciate it Jean,

NEXT WEEK: Charles Myers is scheduled to have the speaker.

 

50/50 DRAWING WINNERS: The big winner last week was Richard Welty. Mix those tickets real good, and make sure mine is on top. (Oops, I guess they did this time. Keep up the good work.)

 

NEWS OF NOTE:

Last week we inducted two new members into our club. First, we met Brent Hall, who is a friend of Mark Shelley, which we won’t hold against him, because he is also known by several others in the club. Second, we met Tom Lawrence who was sponsored by Skeeter Key. Tom is with First Tee at World Golf Village, and Skeeter is hoping that Tom will get him on some good courses at a discount.

                Bob Braden was absent last week, but we still talked about the need to get busy on membership. Who have you invited to attend our meetings? We are making a good showing here toward the end of the administrative year, but we still a few more new members to make up to the attrition we have each year in membership.

                Football is cranking up (or is it creaking up) for the new season. Florida is starting out in the number one spot in the polls. If they go wire to wire, don’t forget that FSU was the first school to ever do that. (Not that they will do that again any time soon.) The Jags appear to have some kinks to work out. More as time reveals it to us.

Quotes You Can Use (or Not):

"I don't know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone." ~ Bill Cosby

 

"National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman." --John Adams

"Barack Obama has made few policy pronouncements since his November election. But he and his wife have made a personal decision that is rich with policy ramifications: the choice of a school for their daughters. During the campaign, Obama said he supports charter schools, which are public schools that are free of some bureaucratic constraints, but that he opposes private school choice, because it doesn't work. Turns out it does work for the Obamas, who determined that no public or charter school in the nation's capital would be the 'best fit' for their daughters. Instead they chose Sidwell Friends, an exclusive private school that counts Chelsea Clinton among its alumni. No one should begrudge the Obamas for choosing the best possible school for their children. But we should begrudge Barack Obama for vowing to deny such choices to low-income parents. As Polly Williams, the state representative who gave birth to Milwaukee's school choice program put it, 'The president shouldn't be the only person who lives in public housing who gets to send his kids to private schools.'" --Hoover Institution research fellow Clint Bolick

"There is no question that we have failed to live up to the dreams of the Founding Fathers many times and in many places. Sometimes we do better than others. But all in all, the one thing we must be on guard against is thinking that because of this, the system has failed. The system has not failed. Some human beings have failed the system." --Ronald Reagan

"Most people on the Left are not opposed to freedom. They are just in favor of all sorts of things that are incompatible with freedom. Freedom ultimately means the right of other people to do things that you do not approve of. Nazis were free to be Nazis under Hitler. It is only when you are able to do things that other people don't approve that you are free. ...[P]eople on the Left want the right to impose their idea of what is good for society on others -- a right that they vehemently deny to those whose idea of what is good for society differs from their own. The essence of bigotry is refusing to others the rights that you demand for yourself. Such bigotry is inherently incompatible with freedom, even though many on the Left would be shocked to be considered opposed to freedom." --Hoover Institution economist Thomas Sowell