Rotations December 2, 2014
“All The News That’s Fit to Print and Some That Isn’t”©
In what was to become a meeting that changed Norfolk Rotary history, our “Rotary Writer in Residence” Pres. Sigur, called the meeting to order at noon and immediately called on Lynne “I’m Not Past My Prime” Berg to lead us in singing. “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” “Sing Out a Song of Rot’ry,” and that famous “bookslapper” “It’s a Grand Old Flag” followed in only the way that Norfolk Rotary can do it. The Pledge of Allegiance and a “thankful prayer” by “Capt. Latin” Keesling followed where she offered thanks for firemen, policemen, our armed forces, the folks who prepared and served our foods, etc.
Our “Rotary Writer in Residence” and Pres. Then announced that our School of the Week is Tanners Creek Elementary School. She then called on “Dr. Ed The Talking Doctor” Lilly for a visitation report. Unfortunately he was at the back of the room, had his hearing aid turned down, and did not hear the summons to come forward for the report. “Rotary Writer in Residence” Sigur reported that “Here Comes The Judge” Massey was back in the saddle ready to ride and present and accounted for today despite the very attractive neck brace – he’d been a pain in the neck recently.
Our “Greeter” and announcer of guests, Laurie Dee “I’m Not Related to Sandra” Harrison called on “Banker Dan” Peterson to introduce Marcus Stevens who is from Ft. Lauderdale which was famous for its Spring Break activities in the youthful days of Rick “High Return” Coradi, Mark “Get a Bird’s Eye View on Your Crane” Shaw, “I’d Rather Be Driving a Golf Ball” Wroton, and “Teddy Bear” Baker.
Madam President then read a list of those aging members of Rotary celebrating birthdays during the month of December. These included Bob Ash (27th), Ted Baker (10th), Mal Branch (15th), Mike Goldsmith (29th), Joel Heaton (20th), Adam Kahrl (23rd), Jack Kavanaugh (3rd), Angela Kerns (20th), Will King (27th), Dick Lammers (30th), Barbara Lifland (15th), Joe Massey (10th), and John McLemore (14th).
They all received a Rotary version of Happy Birthday and were ordered to fork over $2 for the privilege of hearing it sung just for them.
Announcements and Happy Bucks followed. Some are as follows:
- 12/6 Community Service Day at The Food Bank – 9-noon
- 12/16 - Rotary Holiday Party @ Kaufman & Canoles – 21st floor of SunTrust Bank Building in downtown Norfolk – RSVP
- “Just Let Me Have a Hot Dog” Latimer’s Hot Dog Day is December 19th at Doug’s Hot Dogs in Ocean View – Come one come all and see who can beat “High Return” Coradi’s record of 16!!
- John “Mr. Republican” Padgett has been selected as District Governor Nominee for 2017-2018 – Congratulations and best wishes to him.
[N.B.: It is important to note at this point that Collins “I Never Saw a Brick I Didn’t Love” Gooch was seen furtively sneaking out the back door of our meeting room. I wonder if he paid the “Scooter” fine of $2?]
Happy Bucks, which we might now call Fines and Solicitations, ensued and included Barbara “Give Me the Stage and I’ll Have Company” Lipskis paid a few to announce events at The Virginia Stage Company; Steve “I’m The Accountant” Jones announced the rebranding of his company, Jones CPA Group, P.C.; Mal “The Ship Repairer” Branch for his 46th anniversary celebration; “Judge Jerry,” no relation to Judge Judy, Friedman confessed to purchase of a new car; Jennifer “Art Is My Thing” Palestrant reported on several ‘goings on’ at the D’Art Center including d’ARTini Night Friday, December 5th; “Hotdog Latimer” turned over some “Go Monarchs” dough; “Hokie Jim” Baker paid because the Tech Gobblers lost the contest to see who would come in last by winning; Dean “Vote For Me For Director” Rogis paid a few $$ for ODU’s recent wins; and “The Major” Long offered a few $$ for the pleasure of recently getting to affix a Rotary pin to the newly installed “General Connie”, his wife. He reported that the Salvation Army served 2,400 folks Thanksgiving dinner this year and that around 1,200 of these folks were senior citizens.
NEWS FLASH – In a dramatic change of Norfolk Rotary tradition and policy, the Chair and sole member of the Nominating Committee (Webster’s defines “committee” as follows: a body of persons delegated to consider, investigate, take action on, or report on some matter), Immediate Past President Donn, announced the names of the officers who are, in effect, being appointed to serve next year as the leaders of our Club and the names of the directors who would be running for office. The change is that there are no contested elections as there have been in the past with the exception of the directors. Regrettably, she was unable to locate members interested in or willing to commit the time necessary to run for office. That is truly a shame. It was suggested by some after the meeting that perhaps the Nominating Committee should (1) start its work earlier in the year and (2) be composed of a cross section of the membership and be composed of no less than three Rotarians. Thirteen directors have been nominated to fill seven slots. Here is the slate as it currently stands:
President Sally Hartman
Pres. Elect Bryce Burton
VP Programs Gary Boswick
Sec/Treas Dean Thomasson
Sgt-at-Arms Jennifer Palestrant
Board Ted Baker, Joe Boone, Jim Clary, Lauren Delp,
Joel Heaton, Dr. Steve C. Jones, Steven M. Jones,
Lois Kercher, Barbara Lipskis, Bob Lockery,
Colin McKinnon, Dean Rogis, and Ann Sullivan
Following the meeting, and even during the meeting, many of the more seasoned members expressed shock that the “Committee” was composed of only one person and that the Committee was unable, after much effort, to find more individuals interested in and willing to commit to the time and effort necessary to take the Club into the future. It made some wonder what our members were expecting and why many of our newer members were unwilling to make the required commitment to insure good leadership into the future. A special “Thank You” is extended to those who have expressed a willingness to serve. The publication by “The Committee” of the names and bio information about those being designated as well as those running for Director was a great idea in the opinion of this editor and is a policy to be followed in the future.
“Hot Lips” Kercher (I am confident that most of you are old enough to remember Major Margaret J "Hot Lips" Houlihan from “Mash”) was introduced as the Rotarian of the Day and she, after confessing to bidding to be Coach of the Day at the ODU Ladies Golf outing fund raiser, introduced Karen Barefoot, the first player in NCAA history, male or female, to score over 2,000 points and have over 1,000 assists.
[N.B.: It is important to note at this point that Ann “Ask Ann” Sullivan was seen also furtively sneaking out the back door of our meeting room. She had seen Gooch earlier pull this caper and now she was doing the same. It should be noted that Steve “I Am Now Rebranded” Jones and Dean “Vote For Me” Rogis, both candidates for Director, suggested that “Ask Ann” be reported since she is running against them. I suspect they were hoping to influence the vote.]
Coach Barefoot accomplished this as a player at Christopher Newport. At age 22 and with no coaching experience, she started the first WBB program at the Apprentice School in Newport News and won the first ever National Championship. It was interesting that she only had 6 players. In the championship game 2 of her players fouled out with two minutes left in the game. Her team finished the game with 4 players but, nevertheless won the championship by one point. Now in her 20th year of coaching she is the CEO (Chief Energy Officer) for the Lady Monarchs.
Championship DNA, she said is composed of 5 elements:
Great Leadership
Talent
A Winning Culture
Sticking to the Standards We Live By
Promoting a Family Atmosphere
She discussed these with the enthusiasm with which she leads the Lady Monarchs. It was easy to see why she has 1 national Championship under her belt, was 2X National Coach of the Year, has 2x Hall of Fame Inductions, took Lenoir-Rhyne to its first ever NCAA tournament, took Elon to it first ever Division I post-season tournament, etc., etc.
It was announced that Tables 2, 12, 14, & 16 (and one more that I missed) were 100%. Coach Barefoot expanded our raffle with three shirts – “Cherubic Chuck” Spence, “Hotdog” Latimer, and “Sailor Tim” Lawrence were the three lucky winners. With $18 in the daily pot, $940 in the big pot and only 34 cards remaining, Coach Barefoot pulled Linwood “You Gotta Know When To Fold ‘Em - Always” Beckner’s folded ticket out of the bag. He walked away with the $18 but the Queen of Hearts left the big pot intact for another day.
And with that, the show ended and the meeting adjourned with the announcement that Sonal Rastogi, Director of Libraries, Norfolk, VA will be our guest speaker with the topic “Slover Library, Library of the Future.”
“Scoops” Powell