Granite Chips May 8, 2013

Granite Chips May 8, 2013

The Quarry Grill & Tavern, 210 No Main Street, Barre, VT
by Karen Lane

Pres. Jim called the meeting to order at noon and brought the Stars and Stripes to the front of the room just in time for the Pledge of Allegiance. Joe Preddy asked the blessing.

Bill Noyes passed around photos from Homer Fitts taken about 15 years ago of club members and other Barre folks. He said for us to keep any that we want. [Never got to my table – what did I miss?]

Bob Pope proposed a fine of 1 & 9 on Tom Babic for being self-centered on Green Up Day this past Saturday, May 4. Karl Rinker offered a second. Bob called for the fine because he said the invitation to all Barre Rotarians to have breakfast at Soup ’n’ Greens was issued by Tom and himself – a tradition now going on 10 years – before heading out to “Green Up” Quarry Hill. Tom and Bob had offered to pick up the tab for everyone’s breakfast, but Joe Preddy got stuck with the bill instead, so Tom only paid for himself. The fine of 1 & 9 on Tom is for being too cheap to pay for breakfast for all the hard-working Rotarians who showed up for Green Up Day at Tom’s invitation.

Tom’s defense was that he ran after the bill but failed to catch it and since he was supervising Green Up Day for Barre Rotary, he really should not have to pay! Bill Noyes claimed he was sick in bed and couldn’t come so missed all the excitement which he would have gotten out of bed to enjoy if he’d only known. Bob said he’d gladly extend the fine to include Bill, but decided not to. Instead he told Tom to be sure that he will never again “Make Your Men Pay” when you are Supervisor. The fine passed.

To show his appreciation for Tom however, Bob Pope offered him a token of appreciation in the form of a $50 bill found during the clean-up on Quarry Hill. It was the only monetary Green Up Day reward in memory. Noticing that the $50 bill would not buy Tom very much except for Boardwalk or Park Place if he could pass ”GO,” Bob indicated that there was another treasure found on the Hill, a pair of men’s underwear. At that point a fine of 1 & 9 on Bob for not sharing that particular reward with the club was proposed and passed easily.

Joe Preddy, still chewing his sandwich, rose to announce that the first night running concessions for the Little League turned out to be very pleasant. He asked for volunteers to take over tomorrow and on a couple more upcoming dates. Arrival time is 5:30 - 5:45 pm and volunteers can leave about 8:30 or 8:45 pm. This past week, Roy handled the grill while Joe handed out food. They didn’t even have to stay for clean-up.

President Jim passed on a message from Claire, announcing that Jeff Bergeron wants the club to schedule a clean-up of the Rotary Park picnic shelter before we begin repairs.

Dick Shadroui announced that the Rotabarians will rehearse at 4:30 pm on May 16 at his house.

Karl Rinker, the Chair of Chairs for the Rotary Breakfast, asked for help to set them up on the library lawn at 11 am on Friday morning July 26. Help is also needed before 11 to load the chairs onto the truck.

Ron Parnigoni, Breakfast Chair, announced that the Ball is Rolling. He is preparing a sign-in sheet for prep, cooks & clean-up. He’d like to find a sponsor for the cost of renting the tents which is $2,500.

Before Pres. Jim could overlook the Secretary’s Report, Sue cleared her throat, ready to announce the birthdays and anniversaries for the month of May but discovered she had the April not the May report. Stay tuned for details in a week or two . . .

Karl introduced today’s guest speakers: Ed Rousse, Giuliano Cecchinelli II and Paul Malone. Their subject was the Lighting Project for the Spaulding High School Athletic Fields. Ed, whose wife Sandy is our own club member, while Ed – who has his office in Montpelier -- belongs to Montpelier Rotary. He explained that Spaulding High School now has a tax-exempt Foundation for fundraising. It is modeled on a similar foundation in South Burlington. Ed is the president, Giuliano is the treasurer and Paul is a trustee of the foundation. Visit the foundation’s website at http://www.spauldinghsfoundation.org/ .

Ed mentioned the leadership role played by Fran Pinard, with help from his late wife, Doreen. The Lighting Project is Phase I of a comprehensive plan for improvements to the SHS Athletic Fields developed by the engineering firm DuBois & King. Phase I will consist of four poles on which lights will be mounted: 3 are 60’ high and the 4^th will be 80’ high. Having lights for the athletic field will provide an additional 200 hours of game time for football, baseball, softball and soccer. The goal for Phase I is $180,000, of which $90,000 has been set aside from the bequest of Charles Semprebon if matching funds are raised by July 2013. So far, the group has raised half the needed matching funds. Volunteers with grantwriting skills are needed, and with the help of Mike Gilbert, President of the SHS Alumni Association, who has a contact person for each SHS Class since 1935, SHS grads will be asked to include the project in their estate plans.

Ed explained that Phase II of the project will fund artificial turf and a rubberized track, Phase III will convert the Little League ballfield adjacent to Spaulding High to a high school athletic field in 2015, and Phase IV will fund improvements to the SHS Auditorium. Total projected cost of all phases is $2.5 million.

Giuliano spoke next, providing further details about Phase I. Once in place the lights will be used at 50% power for practice and 100% during games. The cost of electricity will be paid for out of the SHS budget. Having heard that one of the four poles will be 80’ high, Karl recommended the organizers consider installing communications on the pole as well as lights; could be a source of revenue.

Paul answered questions about the phases of the project, pointing out the plans are 7 years in the making and are carefully phased to avoid having to redo any aspect of the project. He mentioned that there will be a perimeter walking track for public use. Another aspect of the project is riverbank stabilization due to the May 2011 and other floods.

Joe had the winning raffle ticket, but your recorder did not see whether he found the white marble . . .

See you on May 15^th when our speaker will be Roger Hill, the weatherman.