A small but jovial group gathered for lunch on 7/19.  We welcomed Lindsey Barnhouse as a returning guest, Ken Wilson, our speaker, and Glen Scott from Nixa, MO, a visiting Rotarian.

 

We had a stand in for the invocation today -- Mike was "out of the area" and Steve Stirn did a great stand in. 

 

Doug Wells was up for lottery this week and awarded the$12 small pot to Valery Junge!  Unfortunately, I was unable to find the Queen of Spades, so the BIG POT of $393 still grows.

 

Larry Kienzle had to start the day by fining himself for being on the phone!  It was okay -- he found out his son just got a job!   Late fines were levied against Kathy Krumlauf and John Smith; Val donated $5 from the lottery win back to the Club; Larry Willard got the fine for unseemly display of legs (he just like to flaunt the fact that he CAN where shorts every day!); Doug Wells paid for wearing his tie.  Kienzle then had to take a personal turn and hit Lee Ann Helber for her poor attendance, and the fact that the entire article about her husband being hired as basketball coach had no mention of LeeAnn's affiliation with Rotary!  Kienzle turned on Steve Stirn then, just because he didn't like the color of his shirt and he laughed too loud!  Watch out -- Kienzle's out for blood!

 

Happy Bucks:  Kienzle contributed another dollar for his son's good fortune in finding a job; Val contributed another buck for her lottery win; Kathy Krumlauf had a BIG HAPPY BUCK for the $30,000+ result for the HVCH Foundation auction;  Glen Scott was happy to be verticle and eating; Lindsey Barnhouse contributed a dollar to promote her Business After Hours on Thursday at the Atomic Credit Union; Jon Mesarch gave a buck to celebrate his successful completion of his first flight lesson in Lancaster; and Doug Wells contributed $1 in honor of his wife's birthday this month and his vacation last week.

 

The next Highway Clean Up has been scheduled for August 16th.  Same plan as usual - Kachelmacher Park at 5:15 for Clean Up and pizza at Pizza Crossing at 6pm afterwards.

 

Next Programs:  July 26 - Doug Wells; August 2 - Kathy Krumlauf; August 9 - Marion Riggs

 

T-shirts:  See Joe Murtha or call him to give him your t-shirt size!  If you do not, you will be assigned a size!  The club is paying for these t-shirts.  If you want the fancy polo, Jim Robinson has the catalog, but the cost is on you!

 

We had an excellent program, planned by Bill Rinehart and given by Ken Wilson, regarding efforts to bring broadband service to Hocking County.  As Ken pointed out, our biggest challenges are geography and tree coverage!

 

Ken explained what has been happening with the Broadband Advisory Committee.  One of the biggest challenges was surveying the "verticle assets" of the county.  Ken had maps to show the locations of all of the towers in the county that could possibly be used as sights for broadcast dishes for broadband service.  The tallest towers in the county are the M.A.R.C.S. towers, which are owned by the state and used for communication for law enforcement.   The County has to negotiate with the state for the right to put broadcast equipment on these towers, and it looks as if that is close to being accomplished.

 

The Comittee is also looking at a possible grant through the Appalachian Regional Council to subsidize the cost of the rental agreements for private companies to put broadcast equipment on these MARCS towers for one or more years, while they are building their business to the point where it could be self-sustaining.

 

All in all, the information was well explained and many questions were answered for all of us.  Unfortunately, the big question of "When will it happen" is still waiting for an answer.  Many thanks to Ken for the program and keeping us all informed!