Granite Chips May 1, 2013
Pres. Jim called the meeting to order at a minute past 12:00, but it being Primo Maggio all in attendance chose to ignore the tardiness of our start.
Before Pres. Jim could be seated Roy offered two J dollars for the return of snowbirds Bill N. and Ron. However this was quickly followed by a fine of 1 x 4 on both for not greeting Roy with a hug upon their return as Claire did when she returned. Bill noted that while he didn’t hug Roy he did blow him a kiss, which prompted Tom to amend the fine on Bill to 1 x 9. All passed.
Bill offered two J dollars…one for returning to Barre after spending a dreadful winter in sunny, warm Florida, and the other for DG-elect Steve Dates managing to outwit the postal service, which somehow couldn’t seem to locate Bill in Sarasota and get his mail to him, yet Steve managed to get Bill’s new badge for his upcoming presidential year to him in Florida.
Roy reported that Mario is resting at home and feeling better since his hip replacement surgery, and Karl suggested that the club consider holding a meeting (picnic style perhaps) at Mario’s house while he recuperates. Roy said he’d be visiting with Mario and run the suggestion by him.
Tom reminded the club that Saturday is Green Up Day and Rotary will again be cleaning Quarry Hill. The annual super-secret breakfast meeting at 7AM at Soup ‘n Greens between Tom and Joe will take place (and for anyone else who manages to sneak past their sentry) and then the cleaning crew will meet at the Hilltop at 8AM to tidy up Quarry Hill.
Claire reminded everyone of our commitment to assist property owners with placing E-911 address numbers on their homes if needed. However, since Barre City will be re-numbering several hundred properties in the coming weeks, Claire suggested we wait until the first rush of new addresses has passed before we jump into the fray.
Joe passed around the sign-up sheet for Little League concession stand duty. Two people are needed on the nights the club has duty, and a few openings are still available for anyone wishing to help out. Pres. Jim also passed around a list of potential new members and asked club members to call and extend an invitation to join the club.
Our speaker was Ed McCollin, executive director of the VT chapter of Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Ed is also a Waterbury Rotarian, and he offered a J dollar for our singing, which he said was much better than Waterbury’s. Ed noted that the Scouts serve some 4,000 boys in VT and 3.2 million nationwide. VT’s chapter operates two camps…Mt. Norris in Eden and Camp Sunrise in Benson. He also noted that James E. West, who was BSA’s first chief executive officer, was a close friend of Rotary founder Paul Harris, and the two travelled the country starting new Rotary clubs as well as Boy Scout chapters. Ed pointed out that Rotary is BSA’s largest chartering partner.
Ed’s discussion centered on BSA’s controversial stance on gays in the scouting movement. He noted the Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that BSA is a private organization and is thus able to set its own memberships standards. Ed acknowledged the differing views on both sides of the issue and added that a resolution that will permit openly gay youth to become boy scouts, adult leaders who are gay will still be prohibited will be voted on at a national meeting in May. Ed said he’s speaking at service clubs and other gatherings to simply ask that people don’t lose track of the good that BSA does for young people.
The raffle winner this week was Phil Gentile, who also pulled the white marble (for at least the second time). Since Elizabeth wasn’t with us, we have no idea how much Phil won, but we are all certain it’s a vast amount which will likely place him into a higher tax bracket this year.
The program for May 8th will be Ed Rousse (spouse of our own Sandy) discussing the Spaulding High School athletic field improvement project. May 15th our speaker will be Roger Hill, the weatherman.