September 15, 2004

This week’s Bulletin was written by Sandee Rugg.

this week’s meeting

President Ron Erbetta called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. The invocation was given by Ron (The Senility Prayer); we pledged the flag; and Jim Mulvaney and Linda Jalving then led us in a rousing rendition of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.

Sgt.-At-Arms

Ø      Not to be outdone by Oprah, Mike Gilligan arranged for our Rotary Club to give away a car, which went to Jerri Malana, under whose seat was stuck the winning ticket. 

Ø      This week’s FREE DRAWING put Lynn Hamilton (Buffalo), Tom Sayer (Packers) and Dan Fissori (Bears) in an interesting competition.  Whoever scores the most points in this weekend’s game will net half of the FREE DRAWING bank.  Gary Green saw the ROI opportunities in this competition and offered to purchase Tom’s ticket for $40.00.  No sale!!!!

Ø      Bitches, brags and faux pas were offered and the kitty grew! 

Announcements

Ø      Jeff Miller reported that the club’s first Rotaract/Rotary volleyball picnic and beach party was a huge success and awarded “The Jug” to Martin Blair, insisting they had “tossed” the volleyball game just to keep the club members interested in future competitions. 

Ø      Ron gave a report on the recently held District meeting during which there was some focus on statistics involving women in Rotary.  Women were first admitted to Rotary in 1989.  Women make up 15 - 20% of the total Rotarian population.  Women make up 52% of the world’s population.  A goal of Rotary is to have its women population match that of the world’s!

Ø      Warren Potts presented Ron with a Rotary flag from Colorado and the various committee and activity reports were made. 

Ø      Scott Carr will be the new Website Chair and Jerri Malana will serve as Fundraiser Co-Chair as Tim Montague is taking a leave of absence.

Ø      Mary Engles has taken over for Michael Clarkson as one of our Club Services Co-Chairs, as Michael has taken a leave of absence.

Ø      Carol Jensen is also taking a one year deferral of her presidency due to surgery, and Maureen Eberle now steps in as President-Elect.

Centennial Minute

President Ron gave the anxiously awaited Centennial Minute which focused on Fellowship which is a prime force in Rotary.

This Week’s Speaker

Nancy Vaughan introduced Jeff Miller who introduced Tim Seamens the featured speaker.  Tim is a member of the 2004 U. S. Olympic team and shared his “Olympic Experience”.  Tim is a champion race walker who has won the National Championship 19 times!  He also leads and mentors a youth group in Texas to encourage and perpetuate race walking as a sport. 

Race walking is done in two distances, 20 kilometers and 50 kilometers.  Interestingly, race walking has been around as long as Rotary.  In 1904 this event was added to the Track & Field events at the Olympics.  The 50 kilometer race is the longest event in the Olympics.

Tim trained at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, in Flagstaff to improve his altitude tolerance and then went to Europe (Copenhagen) to compete with the best in the sport and improve his speed.  He qualified for two Olympic teams and went to Greece.

Tim told us that security was very present in Athens and that helicopters were used to monitor cell phone conversations.  During team processing he was issued uniforms and then was transported to the Olympic Village where he shared an apartment with 7 other competitors.  While the other countries flew flags at their apartments the absence of American flags was very noticeable.  Additionally, there was an absence of American identity in the clothing worn by competitors as they walked around Athens. 

Tim’s most memorable race in his life was also the first race walking event ever televised in the U.S. Tim and Kevin Eastler decided to walk together and compete against the other countries rather than against each other.  Despite a start that found them in last and next to last place these two valiant men overcame heat, exhaustion, and fatigue to finish 20th (Tim) and 21st (Kevin) which are the best finishes for Americans ever in the Olympics!   Here is a photo of Tim and Kevin during the race.  This photo is reprinted with the permission of Jeff Salvage of Racewalk.com. 

Tim answered questions and Ron adjourned the meeting at 8:30 a.m.

Home - Calendar of Events - Getting Involved - Member Info

Service Committees - Bulletin - Links

Created by David Tereschuck of:

Copyright © 2000