High Noon
Rotary Club of Durango
District
5470
Club 1161
Meet at
Doubletree Hotel
Time: 12:00 Noon
Thursdays
Newsletter: July 16, 2009
Program July
23, 2009: Ellen Roberts: Topic du Jour from the Capitol
Fellow Rotarians:
- President Mark Prouty announced that he nearly
missed being present at today’s meeting due to some job duty requirements
he had in a place called Coyote Gulch. Then Mark invited Frank Valen to
introduce his guest, Rotarian Laura Price, of the noon club in Fredricksburg, Texas. Peter Marshall introduced his guest,
Boys and Girls Club (B&G) Director, Vaughn Morris who told us about
the B&G’s Torch Club. Program
Chair, Rick Routh introduced us to today’s program presenter, Sally
Suffield, who is the Director of Durango Nature Studies. Angie Beach introduced us to Morning
Rotary Club member, Ken Beegles.
Cathy Crum introduced us to the VOA Director, Sara Leavenworth, who
replaced John Gamble in that position.
Bill Cartwright introduced guest Rotarian, Dale Machet. Kathy Firestone introduced her
granddaughter, Kasha Larson, who is heading back to Utah after a summer in Colorful
Colorado. Marilyn Estes introduced
Rotaractor member, Brittany Hansen, and Lee Ann Hoven introduced her technology
expert daughter to the club.
- Announcements: President Mark announced club
resignations, approved leaves of absences and approved honorary members
for 2009-2010 from the High Noon Board of Directors’ meeting on July 14,
2009. Exchange Student, Boom, was
present and gave us a very detailed report on her recent trip around the
country with her fellow Rotary Exchange students. She summarized it as awesome! It included stops in Washington D.C., Las
Vegas, Disney World, white water rafting in Durango and visits to the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to name a few of the trip’s highlights. It was a very detailed and comprehensive
report. Boom thanked all the
Rotarians that assisted in funding her trip. Peter Marshall explained that the four
Rotary Clubs in La Plata
County would be
sponsoring a Rotary simplified grant to District to receive matching funds
of $1,000 each from the clubs and District. The Boys and Girls Club Torch Club would
be the beneficiary of the funds. It
is a youth leadership development club with opportunities to guide kids
toward involvement in the Interact Club.
Rotaractor Club member, Brittany Hansen, talked about the
Ecuadorian Art Show her club is sponsoring as a fund raiser. Brittany
was looking for suggestions on how to price the art works for their
upcoming fund raiser on 7/31, 8/1 and 8/2.
Mark Donohue announced that he distributed information folders on
applicants for the continuing scholarship funding for students that
received scholarships their first year of college and are requesting assistance
for additional years. A Scholarship
Committee meeting will be held to review and prioritize the applicants
within the next 10 days. Bill Cartwright reports that Dick Sullivan is
feeling better from his golfing injury. Also, Bill said the Rotary Habitat
Build Day was a success with 11 members showing up to work on the project
and to enjoy Samantha Gallants catered lunch. Mike Kane reported that the
annual Rotary/United Way Golf Tournament to be held tomorrow (7/17) at
Dalton Ranch is a “go”. Players and
volunteers are reminded to show up at Dalton between 8:00 and 8:30 AM. Mike was able to fill 21 of the 24 slots
for teams. Mike and Tim have done a
great job of pulling all this together for the event. Mark then presented Paul Harris Fellow
awards to Verne Swanson and Bill Hobson. Bill’s award was from a couple of
years ago. Angie Beach played
interviewer and Mark Prouty, interviewee,
in Mark’s new program to
help us learn about our fellow Rotarians.
We learned that President Mark Prouty: is a Fort Lewis College
graduate, was an Army Criminal Investigator for 20 years, has three
kids, runs SOS temporary staffing
services in SW Colorado, wants to visit Yosemite some day, enjoys reading
and hiking and is a graduate of Leadership La Plata. Bob Geffe will be our next week’s
interviewee.
- Sergeant of Arms, Rick O’Block, was young when
he joined the club 20 years ago but wanted to review what it means to be
old. This included many things
related to physical shortcomings such as not being able to walk up the
stairs and making love but also not
being able to find one’s car in the parking lot after meetings or
shopping. This is usually evident after our lunch meetings when one or two
members can be seen careening around the Doubletree parking lot in a panic
looking for their car(s). Rick
fined Don Freemyer for being late and all singles in the club for simply
being single. Also, Rick pointed
out that Mark Donohue needed to be fined for referring to Angie Beach,
Rotarian of the Year (2008-2009), as “Honey” when Angie was called on to
interview Mark Prouty. It was a
flashback to 1987 when women were not allowed to be Rotary Club
members. Frank Valen paid for his
10 years of club membership. Dan
Morgenstern had a club anniversary but was not present. Ward Holmes paid 5 happy dollars for the
consummation of the Lake
Durango water
deal. Steve Redding paid $5 for
Peter Marshall’s new chef and being witness to Rick O’Block’s single
handed, heroic delegation of firefighting duties to a Mercy employee who
most certainly saved the hospital from burning down from a wood chip fire
started by an errant cigarette butt. Tim Walsworth gave 20 happy $$$ in
appreciation of the Club’s, and in particular, Mike Kane’s efforts in
support of the Rotary/United Way Golf Tournament tomorrow (7/17) as well
as Tom Galbreath’s $500 contribution.
Dan McCarthy had 50 happy $$$ for a telephone call from his son in Casablanca and a
belated birthday fine from 6/29.
Kathy Firestone had happy $$$ for grand daughter, Kasha’s, visit
this summer. Sara Olson was $20
happy to be back from her trip with Chip on the Colorado
River and was appreciative of Chip’s rafting prowess as the
boat stayed upright throughout the trip.
Sara seemed astounded that Chip exasperated her only once during
the week long boat trip. Jill Wark
was happy to see 20 years High Noon Rotarian, Bill Hermesman, after a
lengthy leave of absence. Bill
Hobson paid $20 because he caught a 7.5 pound trout on a recent fishing
trip. Jill Carithers happily
donated to the Boys and Girls Club because she has small children who may
benefit from the B&G’s services some day. Mike Burns happily gave $20 to recognize
Ward Holmes leadership in acquiring private water company, Lake Durango, for the public entity, La
Plata County Water Authority.
Justin Osborne reported that he had gone under the knife for a
surgical procedure for men only that he had scheduled while his wife is
out of town. Justin also reported
that he is anxious for his wife to get back in town to test drive his new
customized equipment. (Justin’s announcement probably falls under the
category of “way to much information”).
Boom apparently had a puzzled expression on her face during
Justin’s announcement. Steve
Osborne, in a show of support for Justin, also paid happy $$$ since Steve
had also opted for this elective surgery.
Bud Deering also contributed to the cause. Cathy Crum, recognizing that the
discussion was going down hill, contributed $20 for the Boys and Girls
Club cause. Jan Measles paid a $5 fine for having been observed kissing
Steve by Rick O’Block. Steve Dorf paid happy $$$ because he believes he
outlasted Howard Wilson at the recent poker competition in Las Vegas.
PROGRAM: Rick
Routh introduced Sally Suffield, Executive Director of Durango Nature Studies
(DNS). DNS has been one of High Noon’s
recipients of funding and hands-on-projects over the 14 years of DNS’
existence. HN made a significant monetary
contribution to the purchase of DNS’ bridge across the Florida River
and did a lot of work planting bushes and shrubs, pulling weeds, building
pathways and other general grunt work around DNS acreage down near Bondad just
off CR 310. Sally explained their lean
three person administrative team and the various programs offered to k-5th
grade in the Durango School System. Some
of these programs are also offered to Farmington
schools as well. The DNS is primarily
focused on teaching children about Nature, Science, and Environmental Education
in the Four Corners but also shares its
resources with other members of the public who are interested in learning more
about nature. The programs are also
integrated with what the children are learning in 9R school system so it is a
way of reinforcing what they learn in the public school system. DNS is making a significant contribution to
the enrichment of local kids’ education.
DNS Board President, Rick Routh, smiled broadly and proudly during
Sally’s presentation.
Mark closed by leading us in “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