Club Visitation Results

This last two weeks for the Windsor Rotary Club has been one of introspection and discovery. We skipped the meeting of September 20 with the direction to use that week to visit another club in the area and then come back and report on new ideas and how we can do some things differently. The meeting of last week was devoted to hearing those ideas, listing them and then deciding which ones were applicable to our club.

Two members visited the Eaton Club. Four visited the Cheyenne Club; one person even went so far as to visit a club in Salt Lake City. Two members visited two clubs during the week.

Some of the ideas posted for consideration included:

• Weekly half and half drawing
• Reciting the Four Way Test at each meeting (President Ardin made the executive decision that we will do this each week.)
• Cooperate with other clubs on speakers lists
• Singing (didn’t fare well in the voting)
• Happy Dollars
• More formality in meetings

Each member present was given three colored tabs and told to vote by placing them next to the three ideas they liked best. President Ardin will tally the results and present them to the club.
Although the attendance at the meeting was sparse, the interaction and discussions between the members indicates we have a very energetic and healthy club that is willing to entertain new ideas.

QUIZ
The first geothermal power plant was built in Tuscany, Italy in 1904. Next Question: The Frisbee is now 50 years old. What was it originally called by its inventor?

RI web site off line

Over the past several weeks, Rotary International has been in the process of a much needed redesign and rebuild the RI Data Center. For your information, an organizational outage has been planned to facilitate this upgrade. This outage will begin on Thursday, 27 September 2007 at 5:30 pm (DST) and will last until the morning of 01 October 2007. All systems will be off-line during this time period, including the entire Rotary International website. Please note that this also means members will not be able to log into the Member Access Portal.

In addition, staff will not be able to receive e-mails. Any e-mail sent to RI staff will be delivered when the RI network is back online, Monday 01 October. The RI phone system will also be unavailable during this time period. Anyone placing a call to RI will receive a busy signal.

District RE-4 Needs New Schools

Guests last week (September 13) included Jack Birne from the Windsor Beacon. President Ardin Wright announced that we have committed to working on the Boardwalk Project for the Windsor Parks and Recreation Department. We have also contributed $1,000 toward the cost of the project.

Kristi Benningsdorf announced that the next two Senior Cake Days will be October 10 and December 12. She is lining up volunteers to bake and serve cakes and pies on those days. Please contact Kristi if you wish to help. Chris Leffler announced that the Family Literacy Carnival will be help from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on October 25th at Skyview Elementary School.

PROGRAM
Karen Trussler introduced John Vasquez who is a Board Member for School District RE-4. John presented a compelling case for the need for new schools and additions to existing schools. He showed that the enrollment is growing rapidly with an 85% increase since 1995. The district is averaging 250 new students per year. He pointed out that the Windsor Middle School was designed for 700 students and is currently handling over 800.

To the end of financing new schools, there will be two bond issue questions on the November 7 ballot. These are described as Issue 3A and 3B. By law, they cannot be combined into one issue, but neither stands alone. That is, they must both pass for either to be effective. Issue 3B will provide for capital improvements in the amount of $39.1 million. This money will be spent for the following:

• Addition to Grandview School----$1.8 million
• 600- student Middle School near Severance----$22.9 million
• 600-student Elementary School near Severance----$14.4 million

It should be noted that the land for the middle school has already been acquired and the land for the elementary school is being donated by Stan Everitt as part of the Tailholt Project in Severance.

Issue 3A will provide a mil override to for the “stuff” to fill the new buildings. This mil levy will be phased in as the buildings are constructed and brought on line. The total for the two issues is estimated at $41.5 million. It is projected that the average residential housing unit will pay an additional $5.31/month/$100,000 assessed valuation.

QUIZ
Independence Day was not declared a national holiday until 1941. Next question: What was the first city in the world to use geothermal energy?

Casa Hogar Los Angelitos Children's Home

This is a reminder that next week (Thursday, September 20), we will not have a regular meeting. Instead, everyone is encouraged to attned another club meeting during that week and then come back and report on new ideas the following week. By the way, we will soon have another local club to visit. Tim Fleming is Provisional President of the proposed Greeley After Hours Club. There is an organizational meeting of that proposed new club at Kenny’s Steakhouse at 5:30 pm Tuesday, September 18.

Pete Hyland reported that the club cleared about $5,900 from the $7,600 gross sales of beer during Harvest Fest. Good job Rotarians. Chris Leffler announced that the Literacy Fair at Skyview Elementary will be held in the evening on Thursday, October 25. All members are encouraged to help. President Ardin Wright announced that the Board had voted to donate $500 to the Harvest Fest Committee.

PROGRAM
We were presented an excellent program by our own Dorothy Simmons and Steve Stout, President of the Manzanillo, Mexico Club. Dorothy showed how the $3,300 contribution from our club was leveraged into $11,700 for the Casa Hogar Los Angelitos (Little Angels) Children’s Home. These funds went for the Arts and Music program at the orphanage. Much of the money came from the District, which matched our contribution and The Rotary Foundation which matched $5,000.

Steve Stout said that in addition to what our club has done; contributions have also been made by clubs from West Liberty, Iowa, Roseville, Minnesota, and a club in California. Through these clubs efforts, the program at Casa Hogar now has three buses and would like to have two more to transport children and college students from the surrounding mountains. According to Stout, “The hand of Rotary is everywhere in the world.”

Dorothy told how many of the children (currently 47) carry a lot of emotional baggage as they come from abusive situations, neglect, abandonment, and other situations. One of the primary focus’ of Casa Hogar is to break the cycle of abuse that the children were in. Manzanillo is about five hours by car south of Puerto Vallarta on the West Coast of Mexico.

QUIZ
There are 31 states in Mexico (32 if you count the Federal District of Mexico City). Next Question: Independence Day commemorates the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. What year was it made a national holiday?

State Climatologist Quizzes Rotarians

Two weeks ago, we held the summer picnic at Main Park in Windsor. Although sparsely attended, those present enjoyed a good meal, fellowship, and met some new friends. Thanks to President Ardin for arranging the picnic.

Rotarians and Guests Enjoy the Evening

LAST WEEK
Tim Fleming announced that he will be leaving our club as he is the Provisional President of a new evening club being formed in Greeley. We wish him well with the endeavor. Another chance for a makeup?

PROGRAM
Nolan Doesken, the State Climatologist from CSU was our speaker last week. He has spent 30 years on the job at CSU. He is a native of Royal, Illinois, and said that his favorite hangout when he was a kid was the grain elevator where the main activity was talking about crops and the weather. Doesken said his job is monitoring the climate of Colorado which affects insurance rates, water supply and building design to name just a few.

Doesken asked a series of questions and gave out prizes for the right answer or the answer closest to the right answer.

He passed on some interesting data. For instance, the heaviest 24-hour rainfall in Colorado was on the Republican River in Eastern Colorado in 1935 when 24 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. He discussed a fatal hailstorm which killed a baby in Ft. Collins in 1979. Ironically, Dave Persons covered the story as a young reporter. The coldest recorded temperature in Ft, Collins is -41 degrees F. Based in historical data, we can expect winter long snow cover about once every 20 years.

Doesken urged us to consider becoming CoCoRaHS volunteers. This is the Community Collaborative Rail, Hail, and Snow Network. For additional information visit http://www.cocorahs.org/.

QUIZ
Bollywood, the nickname for the film industry in India produces approximately twice as many feature length films annually than the US does. Next question: How many states are there in Mexico?