The Rotary Club of Ambler

www.rotary.org – rotary international web site

www.amblerrotary.org – our web site

www.rotarydistrict7430.org – district web site

Vol. 82. Edition 4 July 26, 2006

(Publisher - Eric Faddis)

July 26 MEETING:

The third meeting of the Snyder administration started promptly at 12:15 (probably by accident) with the Pledge of Allegiance, the singing of “God Bless America” and Bob Myers asking for blessings for humble Rotarians to remember the 4 Way Test and blessings upon military personnel who have sacrificed for their country.

President John asked Mark Waltz to come forward to say a few words about the Barbary Coast Dixieland program. Mark showed us the flyer that will be handed out shortly for display in businesses, churches and other shops in the area. Mark also said that we will be distributing 4 tickets and several post cards to members within the next couple weeks (flyers and cards contributed by Bill and Sylvia Strasburg). It is expected that you will either buy or sell at least four tickets (empty seats do us no good at all). The cards are designed for you to send to your friends, if you have any. You’ll have to pay the postage, but that’s a small cost. Once the cards are sent, a simple phone call to follow up will result in people actually saying that they would like to attend – imagine! A team effort in support of Mark will result in a full house and larger scholarships awarded next June.

Jim Kline, chair for our Spring Dinner Dance/Gala, which will be held on April 21, 2007 at the Old York Road CC announced that he is searching for additional committee members. This is a great way for newer members to jump right in and contribute.

President John read a thank you letter from Ann Lisa McKernan from Upper Dublin High School who was one of 4 students who were award $6,000 scholarships from the Shoemaker Scholarship Fund in the name of Ambler Rotary. Ann Lisa will be attending the University of Pittsburgh in the fall.

A Rotary Minute:

Historian, well known Ambler Rotarian and leader in the world of law and letters, a.k.a., George B. Ditter, opened by giving an example of a serious question that could be ask of our members; he knowing that no one would know the answer. To his chagrin, banker Jim Caldwell pulled the rug from under Georges’ size 10 shoe and won $1 for answering correctly. Back to the Rotary Minute, George asked whose photo graced the August issue of the “Rotarian.” Answer: Harry Connick, Jr. (answered by the “better late than never” Jack Gomberg. George also stated that everyone should refer to the insert immediately following page 40 “Rotary Basics.” One can and should save this for further use in understanding what is Rotary and how Rotary works.

INDUCTION OF NEW MEMBER:

Senior President John Snyder used his modified induction program for our newest member, Ann Dunnington. Ann originally joined Springfield Rotary, as their first woman member, in August 1988. Welcome Ann. Remember that you are no longer a visiting Rotarian and will be treated as all other Ambler Rotarians – with love and respect and an occasional insult (so says Dave Roberts).

(File photo)

COMMUNITY IN CELEBRATION: (Happy Dollars)

• Phil Albright - #4 grandson’s team was recently eliminated from the Babe Ruth playoffs after making a valiant run. It was falsely reported last week that it was his granddaughter. Barbara almost fainted upon learning that #4 was now a girl. Another of Phil’s grandson’s American Legion team is advancing in the state tournament.
• Drew Graham was happy to report that his company made their first shipment to Brazil.
• Eric Faddis acknowledged the closing of the Johnson Press as of Friday, the 28^th. He also corrected Ann Dunnington’s assertion that when she joined the Springfield Rotary Club in August of 1988, Ambler had not admitted any women. Actually Nancy Cressman was inducted by Mark Waltz in April 1988.
• John Pugsley thanked Jeff Jacoby for taking care of his 80 lb. dog while he and Maureen drove 6 days and 2400 miles between Detroit and Los Angles.
• Ann Dunnington is proud to finally be an Ambler Rotarian. Her granddaughter’s softball team is in the Eastern Regional Tournament in Albany, NY.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

John Gerhard still has a few openings on our 2006-2007 program schedule. If you have someone you would like to “sponsor”, something of interest to our members, something we should know about or will entertain us, please contact John while speaking slots are still available and let him know.

If you want, he will even make that telephone call for you. Call John at 215-885-1000.

• The Multi District, “Strike out for Hunger” baseball game (Phillies vs. NY Mets) will be held on Wed., August 16^th. See President John for ticket information.
• Barbary Coast Committee will meet on Thursday morning August 24th, 7:15 A.M. at the Pike Restaurant.
• Remember we will be holding a “Guest Day” on Wednesday, September 20^th. So get busy and make plans to bring someone who you feel would do honor to our great club.
• Ken Crest’s annual golf tournament will be held on Tuesday, September 26^th at River Crest Country Club. See Paula Kadel for more details.
• Coming October 7^th: Barbary Coast Dixieland Band. We need a full house, so your support is encouraged. Remember, that the proceeds from this event funds the five scholarships we award each year. The more money we raise, the more we are able to award. Wissahickon H.S. Auditorium seats around 800 people so let’s start talking up among our friends. Mark Waltz wants to stress that the band plays lots of different types of music, not simply Dixieland.
• District 7430 Foundation meeting will beheld in Macungie on November 18^th.
• The 2007 District Conference will be held on in May at the Pocono Manor. Start saving…

PROGRAM:

Our speaker today was Staff Sergeant Ben Kistler of the 101^st Airborne, “The Screaming Eagles”, thanks to Joe Schneider.

Ben, among other notable attributes, is a Wake Forest graduate with undergraduate and graduate degrees (although, editor, David Roberts, insists that Ben’s undergraduate degree was earned at Elizabeth Town U). Ben was motivated to join the Army after the bombing of the Twin Towers and enlisted on September 14, 2001. In spite of the urging of others, he wanted keep “his feet on the ground” as an enlisted soldier instead of going to officer’s school. Ben has served two tours (a total of 810 days) in Iraq and expects a new redeployment in September.

Ben spoke of his daily experiences in Iraq and noted his pride in his troops and also of those who served in WWII (they went into combat and served the duration of the war) and in Vietnam. He is proud to be serving and expects to retire from the Army at age 52.

Although Ben is expecting to redeploy to Iraq in September, he and his physician wife are also expecting their first child that same month.

50/50:

The winner of $12 and a white tee was J. R. Warner

(File Photo)

UP-COMING PROGRAMS: (John Gerhard)

8-2 – Ambler YMCA update

8-9 – Montgomery County Detective - Update

8-16 Rev. Tom Kadel, a report on Hurricane Katrina

8-23 – TBA

8-30 – TBA

9-6 – Jody Richwagen, Webmaster www.amblerrotary.com

9-13 – County Commissioner Jim Matthews

9-20 – Montgomery County Detective – Computer Safety

ASSIGNMENTS: (Chair, Elaine Hubing) Remember that if you can't fulfill your service obligation, please provide a suitable substitute and call Elaine to let her know:

Date – Rotarian

Set-up

Prayer

Greeters

Take-Down

4 Way Test

8-2 – Pugsley	Reinoehl	Reis	Ries & Regan
8-9 – Schneider	Smith	Stranges	Strasburg & Swansen
8-16 – Urban	Waltz	Weber	Warner & M. Johnson
8-23 – W. West	Bass	Zaffarano	Williams & Woody
8-30 – Bhakta	Booth	Costa & Cox	Blumenthal
9-6 – Deragon	Craig	McGonagle	Kim & Gutekunst
9-13 – Fleisher	Geraldino	Holteen	Graham & Howard
9-20 – Hummel	Kadel	Jablokov	Irving & Kim
9-27 – Lawrence	McAuliffe	D. Landis	Marinucci & Miller

ROTARY MINUTE ASSIGNMENTS: (Chair, Elaine Hubing)

8-2 – Douglass	8-9 – Faddis	8-16 – Gessner	8-23 – Gomberg
8-30 – Jacoby	9-6 – King	9-13 – G. Landis	9-20 - Lightkep

AFTERTHOUGHT: (Contributed by George B. Ditter, Esq.)

Not quite five years ago, some of us came into work and started reading mail and stuff like that, only to be told by a co-worker that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. This got a lot of us in front of a TV somewhere, in a lot of cases just in time to see a second plane hit the other tower. As it turned out a group whose aim is to restore the glory of Islam as it was under the Caliphate when it ruled from Spain to India, had decided that it was wasn’t enough to bomb our Embassies or warships, but had brought their war on us right to our shores.

Your correspondent was reminded of this event by the release today, on Al-Jazeera TV, of a video featuring Ayman al-Zawahri, No. 2 in Al-Qaida, calling on Muslims to undertake a holy war against Israel and join the fighting until “Islam rules from Spain to Iraq.” One striking thing about the video was that Mr. Zawahri appeared in front of a background that included among other images, a picture of the burning World Trade Center.

The other day, your correspondent, was talking with someone, who remarked that we seemed to be trying to mind too many other peoples’ problems around the world, just his opinion of course. I let it pass. You might think that if, after all we had been through in the 20^th Century, no one would still think that we could just let those foreign folks do whatever, while we just tend to our own business. Or that that view could survive the reality shown live on TV in the first year of the 21^st Century that some of those people weren’t going let us ignore them. A question was asked of our guest speaker “When are we going to get out of this mess [meaning Iraq]?” Going on three years now, let’s go. Maybe not necessarily the mind set to deal with an adversary carrying a grudge, among others, from 1492 when the Moors were driven from Spain.

So it was good to hear some clarity from our guest speaker.

Thanks for your service, Master Sergeant Kistler.

GBD