Rotary Ramblings - December 16, 2008

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   Normal  0      false  false  false                     MicrosoftInternetExplorer4   Rotary Ramblings –December 16, 2008
 
We were entertained by our own Bruce Williams.  Invocation was given by Leo Phillips.  As we were having musical entertainment, wedid not sing today and there were no birthdays or anniversaries. 
 
Harvey Brown introduced our two visiting Rotarians, FredaMeyerson and Harold Lipovsky, and we had two on-line makeups, Steve Butera andSarah Martin (3 times).  Our guests wereAlton Taylor, Executive Director of the Drug Abuse Foundation (prospectivemember), Jan Shomo, an Americorp Vista volunteer with Habitat for Humanity andPat Robinson’s newest team member.
 
Fred Bonardi gave the stock report – Dow was up 119, S&P500 up 16 and NASDAQ up 16.  90% chancethe Fed will drop interest rates again later today – although this will nothave much impact on the situation.
 
Fred Bonardi – Sergeant at Arms report - $65 raised fromvarious sources including – Happy Holidays!
 
A holiday collection for our servers, Frank and Kim, wastaken up today.
 
Announcements/Opportunities for Service:
Raffle – Next week, December 23rd, is the drawing.  We must have all the money back by then.  If you cannot attend the meeting, get intouch with Alan Kornblau (he can be found at the Delray Beach Library) or another Rotarian andmake arrangements to get your money to the club, so we can have the drawing.
 
Host Families for Exchange Students still needed – for ½year or entire year.  Please contactSteve Bates or Pat Archer if you are able to help with this worthwhile project.
 
Dictionary Project – last school is this Thursday, December19th.  All deliveries arescheduled for 8:15am. It’s a lot of fun. Contact Candace Etzler if you want to participate on Friday.
 
Adopt-a-Family – We are once again collecting a minimum of$10 from each Rotarian to purchase Christmas presents for a family designatedby the Achievement Center for Children andFamilies.  The family is a single mom andher two children.  If you have notalready made your donation – please make sure to see one of the following atnext week’s meeting:  Craig Hammett, LoriGarland, Steve Butera or Linda Parker.  
 
Holiday Party was held last Thursday.  Per Steve Bates, a great and unusual time washad by all.  All of you who missed theparty need to make sure to be there next year.
 
Steve Alexander, a local Chiropractor, was inducted into ourranks today.
 
Jimmy Weatherspoon introduced our entertainment – theAtlantic Community High School Chorus. They sang the National Anthem and numerous holiday melodies.
 
Sue Miller introduced the student of the month, GraceMaybee, a high school senior who is very involved in the Atlantic High Criminal Justice Academy, where she is thecaptain.  In this leadership role, shesupervises the other 30 ranking officers of the academy.  She is going to college (not sure where) tomajor in criminal justice with a minor in psychology or linguistics and hopesto pursue the field of drug enforcement or ATF. She introduced her teacher of the month, Officer Jeff Rasor, the Directorof the Criminal Justice Academy.  He wasa police officer in Miami.  He has been in Delray for 7 years, and whenhe first joined the Delray Beach Police Force, his sergeant told him about thisidea they had for a Criminal Justice Academy. Officer Rasor was not interested in participating or teaching.  However, the sergeant (our own Rotarian andnow Major Joseph Milenkovic) was very persuasive.  The first year they had 12 students – thisyear there are 300.  They take highschool and college level courses in criminal justice and law enforcement.  Recruiting for the police force is verydifficult, so they have found by getting the students interested early, theycan help them fulfill this goal. However, if there are any blemishes on theirrecord – even in high school – they are not permitted in the program.  Grace exhibited leadership qualitiesimmediately during her freshman year, which is why Officer Rasor encouraged herto seek promotions.  The best training isdoing.  She was a sergeant in herfreshman year and is now captain. Officer Rasor also indicated - in order for our country to move forward,we need great leaders, and the place to start to find them is in high school.
 
The green hat is up to $1,633.50 – there were 7 cardsremaining and our newest member, Steve Alexander, did not pull the ace.  6 cards remain next week.
 
Note:  Dues noticesneed to be picked up.
 
First posting prospective new member, Alton Taylor,Executive Director, Drug Abuse Foundation. 
 
 
 
 
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