Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, March 06, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor

GUESTS:

• Patricia Sharpe, Gwen’s granddaughter and OFA Interact member
• “Nichole”
• Mrinalini’s new host family; Lisa (mom who used to used to be an illustrator for a women’s magazine) and siblings Christian, Angela, and Jonathan
• Ann Lowdermilk and her husband, Dave

A “happy birthday” to Carl

TRIVIA:

Our team did quite well coming in 4th (and one point in front of Kiwanis). Glen and Wanda were a big help. Linda was there, Orv and Carolyn, Robin Harland, Harry, John Spencer, Mrinalini, Suzanne, Jeff Mullin, and Jody and Paul.

MUSIC:

Carl led us in “R-O-T-A-R-Y”

FINES:

Fred fined us on some Rotary Information. Paul Harris’ middle name was Percy. The District Governors used to meet in Lake Placid and they used simultaneous translation before it was used at the UN. Fred also shared that he recommends the movie, “Amazing Grace”.

INDUCTION:

Orv inducted Ann Lowdermilk who was sponsored by Carolyn. Ann will be the greeter at the door for the next four weeks.

Mrinalini and Suzanne had busy weeks – as they always seem to do. Suzanne surprised the people at trivia by knowing the translation of Ahwaga (where the river widens) They enjoyed the St. Patrick’s Parade and Mrinalini moved this weekend.

NEW EXCHANGE STUDENT:

Laura passed around information on Mati Dreier who will be one of our students next year. He is from Germany.

ROTARY RE-RUNS PROGRAM:

Laura also announced the collection of gently used sneakers for distribution to those in need. Interact has already distributed over 20,000 pairs of sneakers. Sneakers that are collected will be taken to the District Conference.

PAUL HARRIS DINNER:

Carolyn Galatzan announced that this year’s Paul Harris Dinner will be on May 15. The committee is looking for suggestions of community people to honor.

FELLOWSHIP:

We enjoyed the opportunity to hear what has been going on in the lives of people at our table. Carl and Wilma were at Fredonia for their daughter’s piano recital. We also found out that Mrinalini has lived in Singapore for 7 years.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS (not reflective of Club policy):

• I would encourage you to read Orv’s book. While I doubt that you will know any of the people (other than Orv), it provides a stimulus for reflection. One challenge that I think is significant in most families I see today is that there are very few things that children have to do. As parents, we can manufacture things to be done and portray them as if they are important, but it is not the same as the process of generating food for the residents of the Tabor Home. How will this “privileged” upbringing affect them in the future?
• The Japanese Prime Minister is refusing to apologize for the comfort women provided to their soldiers during WW II which is being demanded by the US Congress. Without condoning what was done 60+ years ago, I don’t understand that object of our Congress. I would expect that there are other more important and more positive actions they could be taking. And there may be skeletons in our closets of which we would also not be proud (and our form of government was a democracy). The two which come to mind first are the fact that our armed services were segregated at that time and that most of the women alive during WW II did not have the right to vote when they turned 21. And we could find more.
• Aninconvenienttruth: This is an uncomfortable 90 minutes, but something I would recommend watching. While the US may be leaders in some areas, we are not consistently the leader in environmental matters.

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