High Noon Rotary Club of Durango

District 5470

Club 1161

Meet at Doubletree Hotel

Time: 12:00 Noon

Thursdays

Newsletter: March 5, 2009

Program March 12, 2009: Mary Barter: Educational Systems - Reflections

Fellow Rotarians:

• Tami led the pledge and introduced Jim Dukes from the morning club and Robert McDaniel the Executive Director of the Animas Museum. Melissa Caskey introduced Bill Lambert the mortgage division director at the Bank of Colorado. David Downs introduced his friend, David Fontenot, from Louisiana who is an authentic “coon ass” which is not a pejorative term in that neck of the woods but apparently proudly defines ones lineage according to the two Davids. The things we learn at Rotary! Fontenot is now a Durango resident and runs his salvage business out of his home over the internet and by cell phone.

• Announcements: Boom reported that she did some rock climbing with Jim Dukes and skinned her knee while having some fun on the rocks. She also got her hair cut and made something in her film class that would be shown on cable TV and also did some recycling of cans. Tami reported that the next board meeting would be on Tuesday, March 10^th at the Bank of the San Juans at 3:00 PM. Everyone is welcome, not just Board Members. Dick Sullivan reminded everyone of the Dave Spencer Ski Classic this Saturday. There will be three Rotary teams with Steve Redding, Tom Brossia and a third person to be named to captain the teams. HNR contributed $750 for one of the teams and Dick Sullivan raised an additional $3,000 and funneled it through Rotary to fund the other two teams. This makes HNR look good so kudos to Dick for the extra effort. Dick would like all team members to ski together and to be at DMR by 8:30 AM to pick up their numbers, etc. Chip Lile apologized for being late which he attributes to his girlfriend’s bad habits rubbing off on him (some of the over 60 crowd twittered that Chip was bragging). At this point she walked in about 10 minutes late and Chip was exonerated. Chip then announced a program whereby all the community Rotary Clubs can become more familiar with each others activities by attending each others weekly meetings. That was Daybreak Member Jim Dukes’ purpose for being a guest at our meeting today. Chip is trying to recruit HNers to join him at the next Daybreak meeting. There was a buzz of enthusiasm and some grumbling over the 6:45 AM start time of Daybreak’s meetings. Sounds like a great idea for some cross fertilization of Rotary ideas and improved communication. Chip also announced that he had a medal for all who raced in the Red Ball Express Day’s races. Earning an atta girl was Jill Carithers who garnered a gold medal and everyone else won a silver or bronze earning those warm fuzzies. Justin Osborne reminded everyone that the Monte Carlo night would be on March 28^th at the Fort Lewis College Ballroom. Justin has secured sponsorships of the event from 1^st National Bank, Alpine Bank, the El Rancho, Bank of the San Juans and La Plata Electric. Good on ya Justin! Everyone is encouraged to pick up their tickets to the event.

• Happy $$$ and Fines: Newly commissioned Sergeant of Arms, Moni Helling, announced that she would continue Jill Carithers’ idea of having us play games to generate revenue for Rotary. Moni’s game is based on the board game “Clue”. She gave us each a slip of paper with 4 ?s on it. Each member had an opportunity to answer the questions and then Moni asked for the answers from the group. Each of us had to contribute a dollar for each wrong answer. No one had correct answers to all four questions, a couple had three correct many had two correct and a couple of our underachievers didn’t get any correct. All the contributions will go toward the Big Brothers’ and Big Sisters’ bowlathon. Everyone cheerfully contributed for their wrong answers. Jeannie Wheeldon had her 11th Club anniversary. Happy Dollars: Moni kicked in $20 happy dollars when she won $165 by drawing three queens in three card poker at the Casino. Nancy Vanderwal had happy $$$ because she has closed her Silver Threads shop and is now doing what she really likes which is interior decorating and she doesn’t have to do any of that “corporate crap paperwork.” Nancy also had a sad dollar because her good friend and former HNer, Bart Cross, recently died in Arizona. Wayne Bedor had three happy dollars because Leanna Jaworsky did such a fine job of filling in on the newsletter last week and two dollars for learning two very good safety lessons at DMR yesterday. Ski speed should be determined by conditions and always wear your helmet. Bob Chaput had happy dollars for plugging copies of the “Down in Flames” book authored by a former HNer again this week. Jill Carithers paid for talking up her outfitter husband, Aaron’s recent innovations in fly fishing gear.

Ø PROGRAM: Robert McDaniel, Animas Museum Director, talked about history and its preservation. In light of current economic conditions, Robert indicated that unlike during the great Depression, historians are making an effort to preserve what is occurring during these trying times. In the 1930s, people were preoccupied with survival and did not place any priority on historical preservation. Some of the major projects that occurred in La Plata County during the 1930s were: the construction of Smiley Jr. High, the construction of the Lion’s Den near the golf course, expansion of the Durango Public Library and the unearthing of archaeological finds in the Falls Creek area. Robert then discussed some of the Museum’s efforts during this tough fund raising environment. The completion of the “hip roof” repair at the museum and the expansion of the storage area which will better enable them to store their 35,000 items. The Animas Museum is one of the low profile but very interesting attractions in our community. Robert said that the Museum needs another $18,500 to complete it’s nearly $700,000 fund raising goal and hoped that Rotary would consider making a donation to the cause.

Ø Since the program was shorter than normal, Tami requested a volunteer from each table to briefly talk about their reasons for joining Rotary and remaining a member. Mike Burns joined for the good food and wonderful company he enjoys at lunch. Burt Coleman joined because in his life as an orthodontist, he was tired of going to all their conferences and he wanted to join a group which had topics he could really sink his teeth into. Steve Wheeldon joined 25 years ago so he could give back to the community. Dan McCarthy was introduced to High Noon Rotary by a beautiful banker member and was ultimately sponsored by Tom Crabbe. Dan then asked to squeeze a one minute announcement on the film festival into four minutes and was able to accomplish the feat. Tom Crabbe joined because his grandfather and father were Rotarians and it is a good thing to be a member. Red Badger Mark Tucker had been a volunteer firefighter and his father had been a Kiwanian so Mark wanted to continue being involved in the community in which he lives.

Ø Other Notes: Justin Osborne still needs door prizes for the Red Ball Event so please help him out.

Ø Next Weeks Program: Mary Barter: Educational Systems - Reflections

The Four Way Test in everything we do and say:

ü Is it the truth?

ü Is it fair to all concerned?

ü Will it build good will and better friendships?

ü Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Yours in Rotary,

Editor

Wayne Bedor

waynebedor@yahoo.com