ROTARY FLASHES

07/24/2008

Greeter:  None

Presiding:  Eric Liggett

Invocation:  Offered by Dale Delong, with a special blessing for Monty Kirkwood “as he seems to be in his last days.”

Visiting Rotarians:  (Read by ?- Sorry, I missed who it was) Circleville Sunrise – Steve Gary, Rich Elsea, & Jayne Barr; Jackson – Fred Mavis; Dublin Worthington – Jerry Speakman; Logan – Damon Kuhn.

Guests:  Dale Delong re-introduced a former member of our Rotary club (and a current Methodist minister), Charles Hemming; Dan Fouts brought along Brian Druley; Todd Stevens had Ike Stage as a guest.

Absentees:  Campbell, Canfield, Catlos, Dean, Dutton, Eitel, Elsea, Feeley, Fluhart, Ford, Gaugh, Hill, Holbrook, Jack Hooks, Imboden, Bob Liggett, Lucas, Mabe, Messick, Metzler, Patrick, Queen, Riegel, River, Scherer, Smith, Steve Stevenson, Theller, Vickers, Wellman, Wilson, Wippel, Woodward.

Make-ups:  Circleville Sunrise – Harry Canfield; eClubOne – Roger May, John Prince, Hayes Wilcox.

Birthdays: (July) 10^th – Earl Palm; 11^th – Jason Eitel, Tim Tener; 14^th – Joe Brown, Rojanne Woodward; 23^rd – Emily Lutz.

Anniversaries:  (July) 4^th – Eric Liggett, Judy Wolford; 6^th - Chuck Wellman; 14^th – Ian Webb; 15^th – Dale Delong, Nelson Stevens, Barry Burns; 21^st – Jim Hill; 24^th – Mike Fluhart; 27^th – Roy Huffer, Glenn Reeser; 31^st – Joe Brown.

June Attendance:  80.41%; in 2007: 82.43%; in 2006: 84.38%.

Piano:  Ellery Elick

Songs:  Mark Taylor chose “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Rotary Will Go Around.”

Student Guests:  None.  (Summer vacation.)

Announcements:   

• Tim Tener gave a last reminder about the Community Kitchen on July 28^th (Mon.) at 3:00 pm at Presbyterian Church.

• Glenn Reeser distributed flyers & gave a reminder that Circle of Caring’s annual golf tournament is scheduled for Aug. 16^th at Cook’s Creek.  They are still in need of sponsors & players.  If interested, call 474-7844.

• Ian Webb gave another reminder that Rotary’s Annual Golf Tournament is set for Sept. 11^th at Cooks Creek.  Sue Pairan is selling raffle tickets again.  Also, they are still in need of volunteers for the event.  If interested, call Ian (474-4400) or Amy Elsea (474-4923).

 SAA:  Bill Stout served as a substitute, on behalf of Jim River.

Bill began by fining our program speaker, Steve Davies, who is the Publisher of The Circleville Herald.  Bill stated that he knew his (Bill’s) info for today’s fines  “is the absolute truth because it was in the Herald.”  The fine actually came from when Bill stated, “it took $1 worth of soap just to get the (newspaper’s) ink off of my hands.”

Bill then took aim at one of our guests, Charles Hemming, for being a “good old Methodist minister who is still working, which is an oxymoron.”

Dick Gerhardt got fined for his photo in the paper of when he attended the Chamber’s recent Blues, Brews, & B-B-Q event.

Cindy Ritter took a hit, on behalf of Sam Lucas, for the “shake-up that was in the paper.”  When Bill asked where Sam was, Cindy stated she thought he was at a conference in Vegas.  Someone in the room then commented that Sam “must be there fixing the school budget!”

Chris Mullins received multiple fines for the articles on the county’s roadwork that is underway, and for bridgework & inspections.

Lottery:  Dave Moss had the lucky ticket for $29, but the lucky bean was nowhere to be seen. The pot has grown to $2,672.

Program:  Jim Hooks introduced today’s program speaker, Steve Davies, Publisher of The Circleville Herald.

Steve Davies stepped to the podium and made a prompt good-natured response, to his fine from the SAA, by stating that he could “feel the love immediately in the room!”

Steve gave a brief bio, and summed it up by saying that he has been “in this business almost my whole life.”  He stated that he had always dreamt of being a publisher of a small-town newspaper, and after a brief pause, he added with a smile “I just didn’t know it would be in Circleville…I was thinking more of somewhere on the east coast.”

After explaining that he felt very strongly about maintaining an open-door policy with his employees and his readers, he proclaimed that his first order of business & his on-going mission is “to keep it local.”  By providing local news to a small-town community, the newspaper creates interest, which in turn creates readership, which then leads to increased advertising revenue, which allows the continuation of the newspaper’s publication.  Besides local news, the Herald strives to inform the public on a wider scope as well.  By informing the public, they are also “promoting thinking.”

Steve stated that his main goals are to: 1) always give local news, 2) give a good balance of information, 3) be objective, and 4) give a relevant opinion.  Even though electronic versions of newspapers are becoming more popular, Steve stated that he felt “the printed versions will probably not go extinct in our lifetimes.”  But due to the increase in computer-savvy readers, The Herald is “ramping up” its on-line advertising and increasing the level of viewable details by offering a pdf form of each page.

Steve concluded his presentation by taking many questions, and then followed with a reading of the poem “The Man in the Glass,” which he claimed was “like a legacy from my father.”

Contact info: 

Steve Davies

c/o The Circleville Herald

210 N. Court St.

Circleville, OH 43113

(740) 474-3131

e-mail: sdavies@circlevilleherald.com

Eric regained the podium to inform Steve that a donation will be made in his name to the Community Park fund. 

Meeting adjourned.

July’s program schedule: (as submitted by Bob Johnson)

• 31^st:  Rockies Express Pipeline – Allen Fore

August’s program schedule: (as submitted by Vince Yaniga)

• 7^th:  Digitalization of television broadcasting – David Dunham from WOSU

• 14^th:  Live demo of a massage – Patricia Walen-Shaw, Medical Massage Therapist

• 21^st:  Rotary GSE – Anthony Neff & the 2008 American GSE Team

• 28^th:  Update on Berger Health System – Larry Thornhill

Until next week…,

Patty Rothe,

Editor

E-mail: pjrothe@rpjohnson.net