Rotary International Conference

Brad Borne was the Rotarian to give his ten minutes of fame.  We could have listened to his funny antidotes for much longer.  Brad introduced Greg VanLaere.  Greg's program was about the 2012 Rotary International Conference in Thailand.  Greg shared stories about visiting historical locations in Bangkok, the conference itself, and gave us a preview of the Rotary International Conference in Lisbon in 2013.  The ten day trip created a deeper understanding of what Rotary is. 

We had several visitors with us today.  Incoming District Govoner Craig Sherman attended our meeting.  Dusti, Claire and Maggie VanLaere came to listen to Greg's presentation and Rex had a representative from his fraternety at the meeting.  Mr. Love from Tri West schools also was a visitor and is running for Connie Lawson's old seat.


This weekend seen a lot of Rotary teamwork.  Starting Saturday morning, President Rex and his wife held a strawberry and banana dipping party.  The strawberries and bananas were to be sold as a fundraiser that night.  There was a good turnout for the dipping party and then some of the Rotarians migrated to the end of the street to assist in the Park to Park relay. 

Finally, over 1500 people gathered together on the downtown square for Peace Train.  It was a wonderful night of fun and music.  I am pleased to note that we ran out of dipped bananas. Fun and fellowship.  Special thanks to those that volunteered to make Saturday a success.

K9 and other Acronyms

We welcomed Sheriff Dave Galloway and Officer Love to Rotary this week.  Officer Love is a K9 officer and he brought his pawed partner with him.  The Sheriffs Department has 4 of these dogs.  These animals are highly trained to support the officers and to detect drugs.  Sheriff Galloway also reported that crimes against personal property is on the decline, but internet abuse is up.  Our Rotary Club donated $500 to help offset the costs of training those dogs. 

Correction:  We have entered into the last week for our proposed new members.  Colleen Matthews, Jermey VanLue and Carrie Ryland.   They will become members after our next meeting.  They were announced at the Ag day meeting. 

Jayson Marksberry again gave us an update on supplies to the tornado victims. 

This week is the district conference.  Several board members will be attending and I will try to make regular updates as to what fun we will be having during PETS.   I know you will be on the edge of your seats.