It would have been perfect . . . 10-16-06

ROTARY BULLETIN- October 16, 2006

It would have been perfect; an opening bell at 12:15, except, that as Nancy looked around, there was no flag to salute. In the time it took to locate it at the South wall, Bill Walbert forgot his well crafted blessing, though what he did say was mercifully short. Visiting Rotarians this week included Roy Hannaby, of Southport, England, visiting family in New Canaan, Rick Kellam, of Nokomis, FL, visiting family in New Canaan, and Paul Burnham, of Wilton, CT, just visiting. Art Duel was back with us, and he brought as his guest, Laura Rubinfeld, the Executive Officer of our local Board of Realtors.

If you can believe it, although both were technically tardy, Dr. McLaughlin actually slipped in ahead of Sgt@Arms Scott Hobbs. This happened moments before Nancy stood behind the bell and commenced with the meeting. Unfortunately, nobody saw Nancy until she sashayed in front of the bell. The first order of business was to reintroduce two former speakers who had just addressed the AAUW with an update on their AIDS in Africa program. The Sisters of Mercy thanked us when it should be us thanking them for their dedication. As a result of Kathleen’s first presentation, the allocations committee dispensed an alms offering and Nancy Belon organized a clothing drive, for which they remain eternally grateful. New member Fred Baker received accolades for accomplishing the 2006 equal of “Clean Your Mile”. Fred tackled a yard at 16 Whitney Ave, with willing hands offered by Mike and Bea, Mike H., a Kerchoff and our resident Elf. The results were spectacular. Just proves “new broom sweeps clean”. By now, Nancy was on a roll, and she had to compliment the Lund group for enticing TV coverage of the Shays visit last week. The Rotary banner was prominently displayed over and over the rest of the day on the “local as local news gets” Channel 12. At this point, the arm twisting really got serious. David Reed and the Town Health Dept. have set up a town wide drill for Saturday, October 28th to prepare for a pandemic flu outbreak. With the help of 56 volunteers, we will give 1,000 flu shots at Saxe Middle School in a six hour period. The morning session runs from 8 to noon and afternoon is from 11:30 to 3:30. Uncle Nancy needs you, and alert her immediately (by Oct.18) if you will help. Email featured@aol.com and let her know when you can work.

Sgt@Arms Scott finally took over and dropped a sad $5 for Joe Torre. Scott Cluett donated a bundle because he and Lorna had made it through 37 years and one day. Steve Sovich threw another $5 and was matched by Der Field Marshall. It seems Tom arrived back at the Sherman late one night to discover a Republican operative had used the cover of darkness to plant a Chris Shays yard sign on the front lawn of the Inn.

David Bryant introduced our old friend of the last five years, Nigel Robinson, of the HALO Trust, a humanitarian mine clearing partnership. Nigel brought us up to date on the results of HALO’s efforts in northwest Cambodia to return the land to the people. Long fallow because of the landmines, the area is gradually being cleared. In the village of Boeng Trakoen, the job is half done, with about 14 acres now considered safe, some 444 mines removed in the process. These people raise about $2,000,000 a year and manage to keep overhead at 7%. They operate around the world and have the support of almost a dozen Rotary Clubs, as well as a matching grant from Colin Powell. We were glad to be kept in the loop and Nigel’s information did not fall on deaf ears. Tom Weilenmann used the occasion to present HALO with a check for $2,000, from funds collected in memory of Tom’s father.

Tom Flynn