Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Today we celebrate the many musical stylings that the Danville Rotary is connected with. It seems like every time you turn around there's a rotarian talking about what concert he or she is going to or has just attended. Our meetings have a musical flavor even when it's not intentional. This week's presentation was brought to you by Hendricks Regional Health and was about being active. It led me to do the insane action of signing up for a ballroom dancing class at the Hospital (where I will undoutdedly find myself staying)... so would anyone like to take my wife to a ballroom dancing class?

Honestly though our rotarians are very passionate about their music. We go to the Royal Theater concerts, Symphony on the Prairie, the County Fair concerts, etc... and we're so diverse in our interests. Take for instance the difference in tastes from two of our own. Terry TeaKay-Kessinger is big on the Beatles music being played at Conner Prairie. The lyrics of one of their most famous songs: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”. Contrast that with Stephenie LeMay-Luken's favorite "musician" Brett Michaels: "Unskinny bop, just blows me away. Unskinny bop bop, all night and day. Unskinny bop bop bop bop, she just loves to play. Unskinny bop nothin' more to say". If only that were true.

I'm not here to judge which is better, but I will give you pause for our future. The lyrics to my daughter's current favorite song are "Fire up your loud, another round of shots..... TURN DOWN FOR WHAT. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT." Those are literally the only words to the song. 

Hopefully the band tonight at Summer Sounds on the Square will not cover that song. Stop by the rotary booth and buy some pizza & pepperoni breadsticks. If you can find Tracie TraiNer-Shearer she will buy the first round of shots. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?

Seth Crommissioner-Cromer

The King is Dead. Long Live the Queen!

Yes another Rotary Year has passed, and with it the reign of Bockstahler. Beginning with the formation of 237 different committees to ease the burden of Presidency, it was certainly a year of changes and accomplishment. Due in part to so many people lending a hand the Danville Rotary was able to go on trips together, have drinks at precisely 5:31 in the afternoon, award scholarships, create a secondary corps of volunteers, and single-handedly prevent a polio outbreak in Hendricks County. 

While those are all significant accomplishments, the Bockstahler era's lasting impression will undoubtedly be this.

Sad as it may be to see the fastest talking President in recent memory go (hopefully not literally if home listings are to be believed), a new era is rising. The year of the hyphen is upon us. No official word yet on the rumors about LeMay-Luken demanding all rotarians hyphenate their names for at least this year just to see how things go. A little background on our new Prez that I'm sure you were not aware of. Did you know she's a judge? Did you know she's excited about Brett Michaels coming to town? That's pretty much all the background that's necessary. Looking forward to a great year, and let's make sure we keep the streak alive and keep polio out of Hendricks County again this year!

Seth CroMmissioner-Cromer

Fantasy Football Update

Fantasy Football Rotary Style heads into the final regular season matchup with serious playoff implications.

Health Allen has locked up the #1 seed and it is rumored he is going to rest his starters.  Interesting side note, league commissioners are considering fining Heath for naming his team after a player he didn't keep on the roster.

The current #2 and #3 seeds, Seth Cromer and Amy Elliot respectively, have a head to head matchup this week.  Both clubs are 9-4 with Seth holding the tiebreaker, with an insurmountable lead in points.  While it is possible for this to be nothing more than a game to determine home field advantage in the playoffs, it could be possible that the loser is booted from the playoffs.

Kevin currently holds the last spot, but Marcia and Greg are poised to take playoff spots if others falter.  The full scenarios for each of these six teams are:

Seth Cromer
Clinches the #2 Seed with a win
OR
Clinches a playoff spot with a loss AND Marcia doesn't outscore him by 41 points or more
OR
Clinches a playoff spot with a loss AND a loss by Marcia or Kevin

Amy Elliot
Clinches the #2 Seed with a win
OR
Clinches a playoff spot with a loss AND outscores Marcia by 142 points
OR
Clinches a playoff spot with a loss AND a loss by Marcia or Kevin

Kevin
Clinches the #3 seed with a win
OR
Clinches a playoff spot with a loss AND a loss by Greg & Marcia

Marcia clinches a playoff spot with
a win AND a loss by Kevin
OR
a win AND a loss by Amy (unless Amy outscores Marcia by 142 points)
OR
a win AND a loss by Seth AND she outscores Seth by 41 points

Greg clinches a playoff spot with
a win AND a loss by Kevin & Marcia

The Roving Rotarian

I have been a Rotarian only since June 27th.  I live in Danville, but work at an office in Crawfordsville.  I also travel quite a bit in central Indiana during the day.  That means I have missed my fair share of Rotary meetings.  I have tried to make them up through our 531 club, board meetings, and other opportunities.

With my office in Crawfordsville, and a client on the board of the Crawfordsville Rotary Club, I have attended their meeting a couple times.  At first I thought that would be the extent of my visits to other clubs.

Then I received an invitation to a special meeting of the Attica Williamsport Rotary Club.   It was being held at the Beef House with Gary Varvel speaking.  How could I say no?  I had such a good time meeting even more Rotarians, that I decided this may be my calling in Rotary.

Our youth exchange program says that if every child spent a year abroad, there would be no more wars.  Well, maybe visiting other Rotary Clubs can help us further our understanding of other communities and gain knowledge and understanding that we can share in our own community.

Then today I attended the Downtown Danville Rotary Club.  For clarification, that is one of two Rotary clubs in Danville, ILLINOIS.  I happen to have grown up in Danville, IL but now live in Danville, IN.  I had an appointment in west central Indiana this morning, so it tied in well to visit today.

I plan to continue my efforts to visit a Rotary Club whenever possible during my travels.  I would encourage you to try it as well.  You don't have to visit as often as I do, but expand your horizons once in a while.

Gas supply at highest levels in 21 years!

The good news is prices at the pump will be coming down so it will be less expensive to drive to Rotary meetings each week; and we have some great meetings in store over the next few weeks.

We will start with this weeks club assembly, where each committee chair will be bringing their committee together to discuss ideas, goals and strategy for this Rotary year. If you have not selected the committee you would like to serve on this year, this is the perfect time to do so. If you are unable to attend this weeks meeting please contact the committee chair for the committee you would like to participate in so they can get you up to date with what they have going on. As a reminder, this years committee chairs are listed below:

Membership committee - Neal Pearcy
Sgt-at-Arms (administration committee) - Don Dodson
Public Relations committee - Seth Cromer
Rotary Foundation & DRCF committee - Greg VanLaere
Social committee - Jenny Pearcy
Fundraising committee - Heath Allen
Vocational committee - Michael Petrunich
Community Services committee - Flora Phillips
New Generation committee (formerly Interact) - Sue Rempert
International committee - Eric Oliver
Scholarship committee - Bill Barfield

Many thanks go out to everyone that helped make our year-end celebration a great success. We enjoyed great music from our very own Charles Green and ate like Kings and Queens thanks to all the delicious food Rotarians brought, as well as the pork steaks the ladies of the Shared Blessings Food Bank cooked for us.


Finally, many thanks go out to Rotarian Greg VanLaere for leading our club this past year. He has brought us to the forefront of technology by teaching us how to communicate more effectively each week and by getting our club involved in the District with his volunteer work at that level throughout the year. Now it appears he has taken a page out of the Dugan book and left to go sailing this week so he can relax before he has to fly all the way to Hawaii on Saturday for a vacation.


Enjoy Greg, you deserve it.

Upcoming meetings:

July 18 - Program is Seth Cromer; Greeter is Jenny Pearcy
July 25 - Program is Don Dodson; Greeter is Jeremy VanLue
August 1 - Program is Chelsea Singleton; Greeter is Kevin Hill





I leave you with our very own Kevin Speer learning about Rotary in Ireland. Thanks for sharing the picture Marcia.

Year End Celebration

What a whirlwind of activity last Thursday.  It was a great day to be a Rotarian.   We started things off at noon, on the square, for the clock dedication.  Over 25 Rotarians were present and we had about another 25 guests.  Straight up noon the clock started to chime and Greg prepared to dedicate the click and thank the  people who made it possible. Ron, Henry and Betty Bartly took photos.  Recognition was given to the contractors, town employees and county employees helped erect the clock.  Things were wrapped up at the square in short order and preparation for the year end party was soon to commence.  

At 4pm Jenny, Flory and Suzanne started to orchestrate other Rotarians in setting up for the year end party.   Blowup palm trees needed air, tables needed set up, and beer that needed chilled.  Jenny,  Flory and Suzanne make it all look easy. Rotarians and spouses started to gather a little before 6pm bring side dishes and desserts to share. The Blanton House is an ideal backdrop for our party.  Members mingled on the back patio while Chas played music.  Shared Blessings cooked our pork steaks for us and were given $1000 for their Food Pantry along with donated items from the Rotarians.   Amy Elliott kicked things off at 7:45.  Neal inducted two new members and received the Lois J Arnold award for his work this year on the Membership Committee.   Ron and the new board were installed for the 2013-2014 year and Greg was thanked to his service to the club.  Ron recognized his new committee chairs and the meeting was adjourned back to the patio to clean up the left over beer and wine.

It was a good time for all until someone broke the bottle opener. But, like a good neighbor, Mike P. was there with his shoe.  I wish I had a picture of him in action. Folks, that is just something you will have to see for yourselves.

A President Signs Off

This is the last newsletter that I will be pulling double duty on, as Club President.  Next week I will slip into the comfortable roll of Past President and continue as one of the many Rotarians that plug along and do the work that needs done to have a successful rotary club.  As this week ends our Rotary year, it is filled with activity.   We have the the clock dedication this Thursday at noon. We have our year end party Thursday evening. There are committee meetings with the new President and this blog to write.

Clock Dedication.  We will be meeting at the clock at noon to dedicate the clock and recognize those who made this project happen.  The media will be attending.  Please make it a point to join us for this event.

Year End Party.  
There is a meat rubbing party Wednesday night at Ron's house. If you would like to join us,  be at Ron's house at 7pm.  Helping Hands food pantry will be cooking the steaks for us. Please bring a case of food to donate at the door. They are very low right now and there are many in our community in need. As we celebrate the end of a great year, we will be doing so in Hawaiian fashion.  Make sure you are styling with your Hawaiian gear. Drinks start to flow at 6pm, dinner at 7pm followed by recognition and induction of the new board and president.  This is one of the best meetings if the year and you don't want to miss out.  

I want to thank you for making this year a great year for me.   It is a great pleasure to lead the best club in Rotary.  I am very proud of each of you for your dedication to service and to our community. Thank you!