A wind-blown crowd arrived at the Roger on a frigid March Thursday, March 12, 2014

New Canaan Rotary Club Bulletin                                         March 13, 2014

A wind-blown crowd arrived at the Roger on a frigid March Thursday eager for the warmth of the fellowship and camaraderie for which our Club is so justly famous.  President Fred did his thing and Pastor Eric set a speed praying record with the blessing which sounded as though it was one long word.  Seemed to do the trick.

We were pleased to welcome from Fairfield Visiting Rotarian Bruce Carter.  Fred once again informed the membership that the combined District Assembly and Conference is scheduled for May 2, 3 and 4 at Mystic.  Currently Fred, Ben and John B. are planning to attend.  All are welcome.  This year's Clean Your Mile extravaganza will be hosted by Head Picker Upper Rob Avery on Saturday morning April 26^th.  Participants are to gather around Rob, who will supply coffee and doughnuts, at 0900 in the NCHS lower parking lot.  From there the treasure hunt will survey both sides of South Avenue from Farm Road to the Parkway.  Treasurer Tom reported that quarterly bills will be issued in about three weeks and therefore, this would be an opportune moment to pay last quarter's assessment if you are one of the deadbeats who has not yet done so.

Ken then invited all Rotarians to this Sunday's Sound Tigers game at 3:00 pm for a ticket price of $20, reduced from $34.  No octopus or fish to be hurled onto the ice.  Keith reported that the dictionaries have been ordered, but will not be shipped until paid for in full, roughly $1,000.  This expense has traditionally been an off-the-books one funded in total by private contributions.  At least $300 is currently in hand.  Checks may be made out to the New Canaan Rotary Club Foundation with "Dictionary Project" on the memo line.  Once received Keith will set up labeling and distribution teams.  Membership Chair Jim reminded everyone that the spring membership drive has officially begun and offered some Rotary boilerplate to anyone planning to recruit a new member.

Scott allowed as how all potential Lobsterfest partner organizations seem to be initially confused by our offer to split any proceeds from tickets sold by them.  This generally leads to months of Board debate before any commitments are forthcoming.  He suggests, therefore, that anyone planning to interest another organization in partnering with us start now.  Fred pointed out, in an unnecessarily harsh rebuke to last week's scribe, that the Annual New Canaan/Stamford Golf Tournament will be held on May 8, not on the date reported in last week's number.  The location is still being negotiated.  Assistant District Governor Ben proposed a joint meeting with the Stamford Club some Thursday evening in the near future, possibly at Sterling Farms, in an effort to prevent the competitive juices from getting out of hand.  More to follow.  At 12:47 Kevin arrived.

Sergeant Scott, prior to amusing us with the clever inscriptions on gravestones from around the globe, noted that Boris had gone to ridiculous lengths to non-verbally communicate with his fellow citizens.  Tom Cronin was the only member who had won a pro-am golf tournament in the Dominican Republic last week and dutifully paid a fine; Eric added a small donation for having survived a PETS meeting at which he discovered that clubs that drink heavily have fewer membership problems than more abstemious ones; Fred contributed on the occasion of his eldest child turning 29; and Amy announced the tragic traffic accident death of the son of a childhood friend.  The only silver lining was that he had checked the organ donor box on his license and that his organs were distributed to 13 individuals .

Program Chair Ken then introduced the speaker, David Walker, candidate for Connecticut Lt. Governor on the Republican ticket.  David has an intimidating C.V., having had a career as Partner and Global Manager for Human Capital Services, Arthur Andersen, LLP, been appointed by Presidents Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to be Comptroller General of the U.S. and Head of the Government Accountability Office [GAO], Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare, and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Health Programs, as well as Founder and CEO of the non-profit The Comeback America Initiative.  He enumerated a "List of Lasts" that distinguish our state, not in a good way.  We have the worst economic growth rate among the 50 states, are the only state to produce no new net jobs since 1990, the worst public fund investment performance, the biggest educational performance gap, the highest per capita debt, highest unfunded pension obligations, and are the second most regulated state, and on it goes.  He is hoping to run a publicly financed campaign [meaning he has to raise $75,000 from individuals only in increments of $100 or less], one that is fact based and solutions oriented, and focused on how to grow the economy, how to grow jobs and how to fix the state's finances.  For more information go to WALKERforCT.com or attend Chris Snyder's reception for David at the Silvermine Golf Club at 95 North Seir Hill Road in Norwalk on Sunday, March 16 from 4-6 [RSVP to jhvb51@gmail.com or call Jennifer Buchanan at 203-984-7422].  Thought-provoking program to say the least.

Dannell