Rotary Wheel, Scottsbluff/Gering

Steve Olsen gave the invocation today. We had no guests or visiting Rotarians. Our student guest was Cathy Wood, a senior at Scottsbluff Senior High School. She is involved in Spanish Club, N.I.K.E., Art club, news editor of the school newspaper 'The Echos' and aspires to become an architectural engineer. Steve Carnes introduced our speaker; Susan Wiedeman, who gave a power point presentation on her trip to Jordan. In December of 2004, Susan, her sister, brother-in law, and their daughter went to visit a relative currently living and working in Jordan. They started in the southern part of the country, Amman, and ended in the north, Allabah. A few facts about the country. It is smaller than the state of Virginia, is 80% desert and has a population of 5.3 million people. It contains many historic sites involved in the teachings of Christianity. King Jordan began to improve the tourist sites in order to bring money into the country.The language is Arabic. High points of the trip included an overnight stay in the Wadi Rum Desert where the group slept in a large tent. Ms. Weideman explained an outhouse was more modern than the facilities they had to use. Petka, a city carved into the cliffs in the year 6 B.C. Here she rode a camel. They floated in the Dead Sea, which is very salty and impossible to sink in. The Dead Sea is 1400 feet below sea level making it the lowest spot on earth. We all had to laugh when Ms. Wiedeman began to talk about the hype leading up to the River Jordan. A big visitors center has been built and information in many languages is posted. When they finally hiked down to the river, it looked more like one of our irrigation canals. They ended their adventure in rainy weather looking at the Roman ruins in Allabah. Here they happened to see Senator John Kerry, who ran for president. She ended by giving her insights on Jordan and answering any questions.

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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The blessing was led by Chip Littlejohn. Club Member introduced Bruce and Heather Lloyd from Australia. Mr. Lloyd was involved in the exchange student program and served in his country's parliament. Visitor Jim Merrigan introduced twelve teachers visiting from our sister city in Afghanistan. This is the sixth group to visit and they will be visiting the U.S.A. for eight weeks studying English. Don Hauge introduced our student guest Melody Cofer. She is a senior at Gering High School, involved in key club, speech, vocal, and band. She hopes to attend the University Of Nebraska at Lincoln, majoring in pre-vet. Currently she works part time at Midtown Animal Hospital. Dr. Roger Luehrs gave an update on fellow club member and his partner, Dr. Jerry Upp. Dr. Upp is currently working with DMET, the disaster medical emergency team, at the site of Hurricane Katrina. He is one of two veterinarians on site and is working mostly with humans. Steve Carnes gave an introduction for Tim Lordino. Mr. Lordino is currently a lieutenant for the Gering police department and spent part of his vacation working for the city of Spearfish South Dakota during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Spearfish has a population of 9,000, but during the rally it jumps to 30,000. It employs 19 officers during the year and hires 6 additional in August. Sturgis, the actual rally town, has a population of 7500 and has 13 officers, they hire 50 plus during the rally. The south Dakota State Patrol has 100 plus in their pool which rotate into the area in August. Mr. Lordino is hired as the 'contact and cover' officer. They patrol in teams of two, and he is the second officer in the car, also known as the safety officer. He covers the first patrolman so there are no surprises. The presentation utilized a power point program and he spoke of the accidents which occur. His real interest is Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. He had pictures of patches which are symbols identifying the gangs. The Hells Angels, Banditos, Outlaws, and Pagans are some of the gangs he spoke of. He also had pictures of concealed weapons; knifes, guns and ball pin hammers, which were found at the rally.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Invocation was by Greg Goerke. Charles Bartlett from South Carolina was a visiting Rotarian. Alan Williams had his brother-in-law Eldon Curry from Huston Texas. Russ Hodge introduced his son Russ and daughter-in-law Jackie, visiting from Ohio. Dawne Wolfe read a thank you letter from district Governor John Patton, thanking us for the framed picture of Scotts Bluff National Monument during his stay here. Our student guest was Alex Dribrie, a senior at Scottsbluff High School. He is involved in DECCA, mock trial, and tennis. He hopes to attend U.N.L. and major in business. Karen Anderson gave a warm introduction for our speaker Mary Furnas with the Nebraska Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs. She began her presentation by explaining Boys & Girls Clubs history and what they do. The organization began 100 years ago. Its mission is to serve young people between the ages of 6 and 18, especially those with disadvantage circumstances. There are currently 4.4 million members and a club in on every military base in the world. The organization has partnerships with housing projects and Native American tribes. Each club has a building which is to stay open six days a week. Sometimes the building stays open until 10:00 P.M. Most have a gym to help kids learn and practice organized sports. Most are close or have access to schools. All children are welcome. This is a place by kids for kids and the site in not shared with adults. Omaha is currently the only community in Nebraska with a club. Money is available for expansion. Ms. Furnas has a steering committee in communities across the panhandle to identify what programs are available and what needs are not being taken care of. Alliance, Chadron and Sidney are possible sites which may be candidates for a club. The thought is one charter with many clubs in the charter. Ms. Furnas was available to answer questions.

Tod Clark said the prayer today. Visiting Rotarian Jim Shaffer from Chadron, a retired teacher joined our club for this meeting. Ryan Asp employed by Fred Lockwood was the guest of Troy Hilyard. Jim Trumbull introduced our program. RYLA is an acronym for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. Junior and senior high school students, who meet the requirements and go through an interview process, spend a week with other potential leaders, at camp in Colorado. Jim thanked Eldon Hubbard, the principle at the Gering Senior High School, Goerge Schlothauer, a teacher at Gering Junior High School, and Jack Baker, fellow club member who helped with interviews. Jim invited each of the four participants to stand and share something about the week. All four are seniors at Gering High School. First to speak was Jason Alverez, who also happened to be our student guest. He is active in football, wrestling, G club, student council and National Honor Society. He spoke of his volleyball team. During RYLA, teams were formed and a tournament was set up. His team did very poorly, winning only the last game. He was surprised how excited everyone got when they won that game. Next was Andrew Preston, who spoke about a speaker which is very involved in the gang problem. Melony Cofer, student guest on September 13, gave a brief overview of the program. RYLA consisted of twenty teams of fourteen students. Speakers, team activities, and hikes filled the day, and each day ended with a rap session to discuss what was learned. She felt the friendships formed were most important. She still keeps in touch via e-mail with many of the people she met. Finally Nathan Nuckebauer gave his impression of the program. RYLA is hard to explain, but everyone meeting for the first time, sharing this experience and becoming friends was what sticks out in his mind. All four thanked the club for sponsoring them.