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Archived Newsletter Messages
11/16/09 Rotary Newsletter
Sent: November 18, 2009
As Indian Summer continues in the Hocking Valley, Logan Rotary continues to meet for fun and fellowship, too.
Guests today were Bill Boone from the Lancaster Rotary Club and Geoff Grimes, soon to be new member of our Club! Also with us was Cathy Roszell, our speaker for the day.
LOTTERY
Lottery Master Doug Wells was, indeed, playing with a "full deck" this week, and was happy to award Lee Ann Helber with the small pot of $12. She did not, however, manage to find the new winning card (3 of diamonds). We were all relieved!
SGT. AT ARMS
Larry Kienzle did the honors today, still smiling ear-to-ear and thoroughly enjoying his retirement. Since he no longer has to wear one, he took great joy in fining all those Rotarians that had the audacity to show up with a neck tie: Jim Robinson, Steve Stirn, Jason Quier, Doug Wells and Mark Harmon (Bob Lilley was in a sweater!)
Next on his list was Lee Ann, who donated most of her $12 win back to the Club (Many thanks, Lee Ann!). Marion Riggs was retroactively fine for his big lottery win and for making Valery arrange his speaker and write her intro. Valery was tapped for a buck, and we won't even discuss why ( I think I need to sit at a different table - I keep getting myself in trouble with the Sgt. at Arms sitting right next to me!)
Happy Bucks came from Damon for his daughter's 9 pt. buck kill; Christy Bosch for her daughter's "button buck"; Kathy K. for her husband's birthday and Doug Wells for a great Logan and OSU football season!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
MEMBERS!!! Attention please! There are still 5 members who have not paid for Shrimp Dinner tickets/pies! You know who you are !!! Please clear this IMMEDIATELY so we can close out this project!
December 7 is our Rotary Christmas Party at Lee's Banquet Haus. Remember to bring your donations of hats/gloves/mittens as well as an unwrapped toy for Toys to Share. Also, bring a "brown bag" gift for a Club fundraising auction. We will take a roll call reservation on the next two meetings, so if you aren't at one of those meetings and are planning to come to the party, please call Dave Snipes and let him know.
Next Monday is the food distribution at Smith Chapel Food Bank. Volunteers are being solicited because November and December are always the largest volume demands each year. Smith Chapel currently has 900 families approved for food assistance. If you are free or can get free on Monday, please report early (8 am) to the Smith Chapel Food Bank parking lot and help out!
Dave announced that he and Jason Quier were working on expanding our planned drive for items for Veterans and service personnel early next year to become a joint project with Kiwanis. Watch for more information!
The Rotary sponsorship of the December 17 Bowen House Night has been scrapped, but we are still being encouraged to support the Bowen House by attending the Festival of Trees throughout the holiday season. There are always some amazing decorations and lovely music. Make this a traditional part of your celebration of the Christmas season!
PROGRAM
Today's program was introduced by Marion Riggs. Cathy Roszell is a Logan resident who has spent many years traveling extensively with an emphasis on travel to and study of Cuba. She is currently working on her masters degree in Political Science that will center on her Cuba studies.
Cathy's father was a career Navy man and often traveled to Cuba before the blockade. He would bring home many lovely gifts for his wife and daughters when he returned. This was the beginning of Cathy's interest in the country of Cuba. Building on her father's desire to understand the USA embargo of Cuba, Cathy began studying the history, beginning with a professor's recommendation of a book entitled "The Closest of Enemies". There are apparently many contradictions in our treatment of Cuba vs. our treatment of other socialist and communist countries, and there are current bills in the House and Senate that have been introduced to remove the Cuban embargos.
Cathy was fortunate to travel to Cuba this year with a group called "Witness for Peace" that were Mennonites working in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Center. She states that there is much beauty in the country, but people are literally starving. Food is rationed to subsistence levels, and there is basically no fresh milk available to citizens. She says that Raoul Castro is better than Fidel was, allowing some aspects of capitalism creep in, but that there are both still "The Devils" in her eyes.
Cathy shared her pictures from her trip with us and it was very interesting to see how they are living. There was, indeed, many beautiful sites, and many interesting sites, such as the 1950's era vehicles still being driven by people there. Many thanks to Cathy for sharing this experience with us.
