Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor

BIRTHDAYS:

Tim Lounsbury and Mike Slavetskas

MUSIC:

Carl and Carolyn led us in “Vive le Rotary”

FINES:

All those who have not yet touched a snow shovel this year.

TREADWAY HOLIDAY PARTY:

I did not get the list of all those who volunteered. John Spencer reported that our share of the tips was $79.

Mrinalini and Suzanne helped at the party and enjoyed the dancing. Suzanne had her first “skiing experience”.

Highlights of the January 18, 2007 Owego Rotary Board Meeting

• December attendance 68%, 19 with 100% attendance, ending December with 56 members.
• Received thank you letters from Pathfinder Village for individual contributions, and from Water for People for the $500 for a water well in Malawi.
• A committee will form to consider Owego Rotary’s effort at the Relay for Life
• the board authorized payment for meal costs associated with the PETS, President Elect training, for Matt Adler.
• The board authorized tuition funding for up to 10 past participants and club members in good standing, that is current in dues and at least 50% attendance, to attend the multi-district Leadership conference to be held in March at the Owego Treadway.
• Merlin reminds everyone of the membership committee special program day next Tuesday, January 30th. Let Laura know if you have a guest coming so the tables can be set properly.

Question from Paul: Anyone have any 2-part tickets on a roll to get rid of? They would be used for the weekly 50/50 drawing.

PROGRAM:

Maria introduced Charles Hill who career is pyrotechnics. (His start with a chemistry set reminds my of Bill Bryson’s newest book, The Thunderbolt Kid. While I am sure that it is good to read, we listening to it while driving the car and, at times, I was laughing so hard it was difficult to see. He was born in Iowa in 1951 and tells about growing up in the 50’s with his usual humor. I recommend it highly!)

Charles’ presentation was interesting. I certainly knew little about fireworks before his presentation. He spoke about black powder, the origin of fireworks, and the two kinds of contemporary fireworks which are the Japanese and the Italian. He explained how they are made, what makes the patterns and colors, and how they are set off. It involves applied chemistry and the companies carefully guard their secrets.

BOOKS:

I haven’t put much about reading in the bulletin for months, but I will mention two books. One is Nelson’s Trafalgar: The Battle that Changed the World, by Roy Adkins which was lent to me by John Jones. While it may have contained more about one battle than most of us want to read, some of the personal accounts he includes are very interesting. It is well-written and tells about the period, which is what I found to be most interesting. Naval battles had great concentration of gore. The size of the crews on what seem to us to be small ships was huge. The weight of the masts, sails , and rigging was many tons, which fell on the deck during battles. The largest ships had masts which were 100 feet tall. From the top of the mast, a sailor (if he could open his eyes) could see 20 miles to the mast of another tall ship.

Miracles on the Water was recommended to me by Bill Moon. It is about a ship which was torpedoed in September 1940. Among the passengers were 90 children being sent to Canada from England to ensure their safety. The blitz had just started and most people in England were concerned that they were going to be invaded. The death toll in London and other cities was very high and nights had to be spent in shelters. What to do with the children was a very difficult decision. This book shares what it was like to live in England at the time. There were many heroes in these strained conditions and I highly recommend this book also.

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