May 3, 2001

Tom opened the meeting by stating that he hoped today would be the last day for long pants. Tom did state that his Tomato plant is thirty inches high and still growing. Ah, the joys of small town life in Durango, Colorado. Speaking of Colorado, how about that wonderful weather we are having. There are few signs of spring this day.

Tom asked Joe Thompson to open with prayer and pledge. With these opening remarks dispatched, we introduced our guests. We had a few returning veterans and a few new guests. Those returning to the group included Tami Coddington, from the Bank of the San Juans, and Ted Robson. Julia Hubble, new to town, but connected with Patty Burkholder through networking joined us for the day. Pat Russell spoke to us about the walk-a-thon for Cancer being held the night of June 8th at Escalante Middle School. They currently have over five hundred people ready to walk the night away to help the Relay for Life. This is an American Cancer Society fund raiser.

Mark Prouty was able to give a final count for the Mexican Food Fiesta. They are as follows:

Proceeds Total Served

Ticket sales 8553 Lunch 435

Door sales 1976 Dinner 686

Total 10529 Total 1121

Expenses Paid 1575

Expenses to be paid 2360

Expected profit 6593

Thanks, Mark for leading this great fund raiser. Let us give ourselves a hand.

Mike McGuire was then asked to speak about the Safety Day at the High School parking lot. The day is May 12th from 10:00am until 2:00pm. There will be checking of infant car seats, a bike safety rodeo, bike helmet give away by the Kiwanas for kids who need them, MADD will be there, as will be our crew who will be giving away gun locks and information on gun safety. Brian and Mike have done a great job with these two projects. Officer Friendly is a great Rotarian as is Brian. Thanks.

Tom asked for a show of hands as to who has attended Leadership La Plata. Mike Matheson, Jim Jennings, and Margaret Grey responded to the call. Tom then asked them what they thought of the program. Mike informed the club that he felt that it was an outstanding program. Mike felt he had learned a lot about the issues in the community and that they focused in depth on these issues. He felt the Leadership skill part was also an excellent experience. Jim Jennings stated that the program has taken steps to improve the quality of the program by developing a professional curriculum and adding professional speakers. Margaret Grey stated that it was an excellent program and the relationships you make last a lifetime. Tom brought up the program as they are seeking a new group of students. To enroll, call Sid Zink at her CPA firm.

Tom needs folks to offer shelter for the GSE Team from Israel. They will be here on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of May. This is a great way to meet folks and have a great time in Rotary. Tom also mentioned that we are planning another Fireside Chat. All Red Badges need to call Jill Bruce to get the calendars fixed for the date of the event.

Kevin attempted to not fine anyone today. His reason was the weather and just getting to the meeting. Kevin did draw a number and it so happened that Judge Lyman was the winner. Kevin said that he would do whatever the Judge wanted but he did offer a question to the Judge. The question was "What does Rotary use the proceeds of the Mexican Food Fiesta for?" The Judge answered correctly "scholarships." Happy dollars flew after this question. Chessa paid for the second RYLA student referred by Pam Moore. Judge Lyman paid for his son Noah making the National Debate Team. John Anderson paid for his daughter graduating with honors at graduate school. Bob Chaput paid for his son qualifying for the X-games in street luge. Margaret announced another auction of those great Playhouses and paid a fine. Paulette paid a fine for the great work Bob Chaput has done teaching computers at Adult Education. Steve Wheeldon paid for his first organizational meeting of his board.

Marsha Porter Norton was our guest speaker for the day. Marsha was speaking about the Community Summit to be held at Fort Lewis College on May 18th from 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. The event is free as Mercy Hospital applied for a grant from Catholic Charities that will under write the cost of the event. The only cost is lunch and that is seven fifty for the box lunch. The event will focus on five specific topics. The first is Health Care-"An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure"- Preventing health problems in La Plata County. The focus is to develop an action plan to expand on what our community is doing to promote health and prevention activities. The second topic is the economy. The focus here is to create a community vision and values framework to present to all relevant entities to use in their growth and workforce housing related decision making. The topic title is "Workforce Housing, Livable Wages, a Healthy Economy: Creating a Roadmap for Community Decision Making." Education will be the subject of a work group. They will focus on "Building Bridges Between Communities and Schools." The focus will be on finding creative, community-based and asset-focused approaches for building partnerships in schools. The idea is to have schools become community centers. Marsha stated that Mental Health Services in the schools was the biggest single issue found in their surveys. The environment will be a subject and the title of the work session is "Finding Common Ground." The focus will be to establish an on-going forum between environmental, agriculture, urban communities, and to work to address open space and sprawl. The issue is growth and loss of open space and scenic corridors. The last workgroup will focus on Social and Family by looking at "What Would our Community do if We Put Children First?" The focus is on building strategies to put youth first in our community. Youth are invited to voice their opinions. This whole event has been in the planning stages since August of last year and over three hundred and ten issues where raised during the surveys, interviews and responses from the Newspaper surveys. The Summit Coordinating Committee intend to continue to monitor the process by doing a newsletter to all the participants, provide minutes of the summit and continue the twenty-six person panel who have lead this process. Thanks, Marsha.

May 10 Bill Masters, Sheriff from Telluride

May 17 Calvin Cook, Brainstorm Industries

May 24 Michael Scannell, County Manager

May 31 Deb Pace, La Plata Youth Services

June 7 Patty Zink, World Cup Mountain

June 13 Will Morris, Mesa Verde Update

June 20 Club Assembly

ONE FINAL NOTE: "Win-win sees life as a cooperative, not a competitive arena."

BEAR