Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor

GUEST:

Hannah Barnhart who gave a concise report about OFA Interact

It was very nice to have Gary Hollister break bread with us. He is working on a hotel which is being constructed at Greek Peak and part time in Binghamton.

Mrinalini and Suzanne were both with us (and healthier)

MUSIC:

Carl and Carolyn led us in “This is Rotary”

FINES:

Orv fined those who did not know the year of Rotary’s organization, the year of Owego Rotary organization, or our sponsoring club.

TASTE FOR READING:

Maria told us 12 desserts at the Treadway on Wednesday, April 18 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. All proceeds will go to Adult Literacy.

HARD KNOCK LIFE:

There will be a book discussion at the Tioga Trails on Sunday at 4:00 PM

RYLA:

Carolyn announced that there were excellent candidates for RYLA this year and that the following were chosen; Gene Nolis, Colin Lounsberry, and Evan Rogers

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

We will be voting for the next two weeks.

SUNSHINE:

I saw Tom Milligan yesterday. While he is not in top health, he is alert and cheerful and it was great to see him.

LEADERSHIP:

There will be 8 members attending the leadership forum this Saturday.

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE:

John Spencer announced that the team from France will be here on April 13. He will be looking for people to contribute food and to welcome them. He will have a reception for the team at the end of the day at his home.

NEW MEMBER:

Carolyn announced that William Russell, the Superintendent of Schools in Owego has been proposed for membership by Steve Lounsberry. We are looking forward to welcoming Bill into our Club.

PAUL HARRIS:

Carolyn Galatzan announced that Gail Barton will be our community recipient. Carl Betcher and a surprise honoree will also receive recognition. The dinner will be held on May 15.

Mrinalini could not be in the play on Friday due to the flu, but did participate on Saturday.

Suzanne had a busy week and visited Hamilton.

CALENDAR:

John Spencer announced that our upcoming speakers are posted on our Club’s website. That is wonderful. I have never been successful at getting them in the bulletin. John introduced Bill Cadwallader who is a Past District Governor and was also on the Board of RI. In 1978 he was in Mrinalini’s home town leading a GSE team and he has also been in Holland. (It was interesting to hear that he biked to dinner in Holland and rode around in a car in Nigeria.) He complemented our Club for having our Interact student present. He would like to see Interact expanded to include younger children.

Bill spoke about AIDS and VCT, a program of voluntary consoling and testing and encouraged us to earmark our Paul Harris funds for this cause. There are 40 million people believed to be infected with HIV. There are 1 million in the US. This was stable for awhile, but has spread into the heterosexual community and there are now more females with AIDS than males. In some parts of Africa 30 – 50% of those between 15 and 45 are infected. Funerals are so disruptive to work in South Africa that they passed a law to only have funerals on weekends.

Vaccines for HIV have been unsuccessful for HIV as they have been unsuccessful for the common cold. The virus mutates too often to have an effective vaccine. We have to overcome the stigma of people having AIDS. Every woman who becomes pregnant in the US is tested for AIDS. There is now a test which swabs someone’s mouth, gives results in 20 minutes and is 99.8% accurate. If the test is positive, a test can be done to confirm it with a drop of blood. If this is negative, a third test can be done to be conclusive and all of this can be done in ½ hour.

15% of babies develop AIDS in utero, 15% develop AIDS from breast feeding. The rest get the virus during delivery. An injection to the mother and to the child can eliminate AIDS almost 100%.

As always, Bill had an informative and convincing presentation.

Schopenhauer’s Porcupines by Deborah Anna Luepnitz is a book about psychotherapy and includes case studies. The title is taken from a fable by Arthur Schopenhauer paraphrased as follows:

Luepnitz emphasizes that this is the normal state, not an aberration. It is well-written and recommend it for those who have an interest in this area or are in the mood for some introspection.

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