With rituals completed, fourteen Rotarians helped themselves to a lunch of sliced meat, peas, mashed potatoes, salad and cookies. Bob was first on his feet to propose a fine of one-and-nine on Caroline for advertising Rusty Valsangiacomo’s law firm during a religious moment. Caroline corrected Bob and told him that it was a moment of gratitude and meant to be neutral. Without a stronger defense, the fine passed. Caroline gave a Happy Dollar because her daughter, after discussing stress in a kinesiology class, told her that she should have been more helpful during times in the past when her mother had been under stress. President Eddie announced that Interact at Spaulding needs an in-house advisor or it won’t be able to operate as a club. He then introduced Fred Bashara, a member of the Montpelier Rotary Club, who was visiting today. Karl introduced his guest Rusty Valsangiacomo.  Bob rose again to propose a fine of one-and-nine on George for making us (him) look bad. He went on to recount two instances as evidence of his assertion. According to Bob, last week George went on a tirade about sidewalks and unpainted crosswalks in Barre City and now they are going to be attended to. At a Barre Opera House event last weekend Bob’s wife commented on George’s good posture, implying Bob’s was not so good. Bob opined that if you want to get things done, call on George. No defense was offered and the fine passed. President Eddie called on Bruce to give an update on the storage closet project. He said that the closet needs to be cleaned and painted, but they did not have a key. John said that he has asked for one several times. Other approaches for obtaining a key were suggested.

 

 

Bruce announced that Joe Preddy had a birthday. President Eddie ruled that there would be no singing of Happy Birthday since “Joe was not here.”

 

 

Caroline reported on a Rotary meeting that she attended where she heard interesting speakers and learned about some of Rotary International’s projects. She also announced that she will be the district governor in 2022-2023.

 

 

Karl gave a Sad Dollar in linking the name (Bob) POPE with religion. President Eddie gave two Happy Dollars: one for a successful family golf tournament in Mystic, CT and one for his daughter’s field hockey winning a game. President asked Caroline to clarify Barre Rotary Club’s role in the fund raising event on New Year’s Eve at Moruzzi’s.  She said that our club would host or sponsor the event in collaboration with the Washington County Family Center. President Eddie asked that a motion be made so stating that arrangement. The motion was made and seconded and it passed with a unanimous vote.  George gave a Happy Dollar noting that Caroline’s becoming district governor is also a positive reflection on the club. John tossed a

Happy Dollar into the basket and announced that he won several prizes at a recent show of the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. (See the evidence in the photo provided by John.)

 

 

President Eddie introduced our speaker, Dennis Jensen.

Dennis was born in Orange, N.J., in 1947. He was drafted into the army at the age of 19, joined the paratroopers and served with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam in 1967-68. Married to Vermont native Kathleen Jensen, the couple moved to Castleton, Vermont, in 1978, where he felled about 90 hemlock trees and built his own log home and where Kathy ran a pre-school for many years. They have three sons and six grandchildren. He graduated from Trenton State College with an English-Liberal Arts degree in 1973 and was the news editor, sports reporter and editor for 37 years, with 33 years at the Rutland Herald. He retired in 2010 and continues to write a weekly outdoors column for the Herald and the Barre Times Argus and is a freelance writer for magazines in Maine, New Hampshire and New York. He is an avid fisherman and is a passionate turkey and deer hunter.

Dennis began his presentation by thanking Rotary for providing his son the opportunity to be an exchange student to Belgium, an experience which profoundly influenced his life. He then went on to discuss the publicized title of his talk, Musings of a Life in Print and the Outdoors, which had been suggested by Caroline. He chided her for the arrogance of titling his talk and admitting that he didn’t know “what the hell it meant.” Delivered with good humor and received in the same vein, he went on to talk about growing up in a large family; six siblings, with only two graduating from high school, and being poor. After serving in the military for two years and attending college, he became a night manager of a newspaper in New Jersey. Dennis told us about interviews that he had conducted over the years, starting with Larry Benoit, one of the world’s most famous deer hunters who lived and died in Duxbury, Vermont. He learned to have no perceived ideas or to make no judgments about those he was about to interview. He applied these principles to interviews with Muhammed Ali, Ted Williams, Mike Tyson, and Ben Rogers Lee, a world renowned turkey hunter. He pointed out that those who take hunting, hiking and fishing seriously have a generational history of outdoor activities. He has killed deer and turkeys in five different states. He rails against illegal activity in the outdoors, such as poaching. He told one story when he was invited to a hunting camp in the Northeast Kingdom and five hunters had not seen one deer for several days and he finally spotted one, but it turned out to be a doe and so he didn’t shoot it. When he got back to camp and told them, they asked him why he didn’t shoot and he told them that it was against the law. They didn’t seem to matter to them. On another occasion he saw two guys kneeling over a doe, but he didn’t report it. He would today.

Regarding writing, he said perseverance was key. Ask yourself what do the readers want to read, not what is going to satisfy your ego. To continue to improve one must write, write, write and read, read, read.

Rotarians enjoyed Dennis’ talk and show their appreciation with a warm round of applause.