High Noon Rotary Club of
Durango
District 5470
Club 1161
Meet at Doubletree Hotel
Time: 12:00 Noon
Thursdays
Newsletter:
August 28th, 2008
Fellow
Rotarians:
á
Tami kicked off the meeting today with a brisk rendition of the
ever popular pledge of allegiance and of course guest introductions. Steve Door, CEO of Fast Track has moved here from
Albuquerque. Jim Bray, business consultant, was introduced for the final time
as a guest by Emily Spencer. Ken
Beegles and Mike McGuire, (HNR President, Ret) from the morning club were
introduced and they proceeded to hawk tickets to their major fund raiser a barn
dance. The dance, tickets $25 and children free, is billed as a family event and
will be held on September 13th, 5-10 PM down at Weaselskin about 5
miles south on La Posta Road (CR 213), past the Animas Air Park. Commissioner Kellie Hotter and new
County Manager, Sean Gnau were also introduced as our program.
á
Tami talked about the
recent Board Meeting held last Tuesday where we considered two new members and
accepted the resignation of Loryn Kasten, a great former member who is moving
on to Steamboat Springs. Charlie Albert is looking for more help on the
International Committee and to assist in considering projects in other than
Latin America. Tami then segued into thanking Ted Robson for coordinating the
softball game held on the 23d when only four out of 12 HNR players that signed
up to play showed. Major embarrassment for the club as they had to recruit
players from the opposing side to fill out the lineup. Tami then passed the
baton to Sergeant–at-arms, Tom Galbreath, for some vigorous fining. Bill
Hobson got fined for doing good work with youth by helping them shoot elk with tranquilizers. Bob Salzer paid big bucks for turning
65, and becoming another drain on Medicare. Peter Marshall paid because he had
ice cream while the rest of us chewed on sopapillas. Walt Nowotny paid for his
second grandchild and Ward Holmes paid to announce the United Way Radiothon to
be run on three prestigious local radio stations that have helped in the annual
United Way campaign for the past 7 or 8 years. Dick Sullivan
paid a happy dollar because daughter Molly scored a run and was voted MVP at
the recent softball game. When the
tickets were drawn everyone paid up as they could not answer any of the tough
questions that Tom created as part of his Sgt at arms assignment. Warm fuzzies to Tom for a job well done
in August! Dan McCarthy is gearing up to be September Sergeant-at-Arms.
á
Tami announced that she had tickets to the Kiwanis pancake
breakfast on September 18th a Thursday. Attending the breakfast counts as attending our meeting that
day.
á
New Member, Jim Bray, was introduced by sponsor Sara Olson. Jim was
a HNR member back in 1992 when he managed the Red Lion (currently the
Doubletree). Jim says he is 12
years older than when he left the club, has less hair and weighs 25 pounds
more. Also, he has a couple of teenagers now which probably accounts for the
hair colour change. After leaving
the Strater, Jim has gone into consulting to enable him to spend more time with
his family. Welcome aboard Jim!! We
know you will do great things for Rotary.
á
Tami invited
Commissioner Kellie Hotter to present the program assisted by County Manager,
Sean Gnau. Kellie reminded us of
the work she did on a committee which resulted in legislation that will bring
La Plata County additional severance taxes in the future. LPC was the largest gas producer
for several years but due to a faulty formula for distributing the severance
taxes paid by the gas producers in the county, an inordinate amount of the
monies was being distributed to other counties and communities that were not
producing as much as in LPC.
Kellie then highlighted the very important economic role played by the
oil and gas industry in LPC. As a
consequence, the projection of a future 65% decline in coal bed methane gas production
between 2008 and 2021 means the property tax burden in the county will shift
from the industry to commercial and residential property. Therefore, the county is interested in
diversifying the economic base in LPC by expanding agriculture, technology and
medical research in the county.
Kellie also mentioned that the county government has frozen all
discretionary spending paid for by oil and gas to the 2001 level. Much of the additional monies from oil
and gas property taxes has been invested in County infrastructure such as the
jail addition and transportation system structures. Kellie opened it to questions and many questions were asked.
The Four Way Test in
everything we do and say:
Ÿ
Is it the truth?
Ÿ
Is it fair to all concerned?
Ÿ
Will it build good will and better friendships?
Ÿ
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Yours in Rotary,
Editor
Wayne Bedor
waynebedor@yahoo.com