Thursday’s meeting was called to order at 12:15 p.m. by President Valerie Miller. As she was never presented with her own gavel, she made do with Bob Randolph’s 1970 gavel. Kelly Dedenbach lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mashell Carissimi helped us recite “The Four-Way Test.” Tom Davies gave a prayer asking the Lord for safety in these perilous times.
PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
- President Valerie gave special notice to PEOPLE OF ACTION who make our club a success.
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- Examples are Jeff Furest for his phenomenal fund-raising abilities.
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- Bill Patterson bought some ROTARY WHEEL stickers for members to put on the luggage when traveling. That makes it easier to spot your luggage at airport carousels. It also gets you respect when abroad.
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- Nancy Dedenbach noticed some of the Rotary signs around Mount Clemens are missing, while the signs of other clubs are not (is the competition jealous?). So Nancy ordered and paid for replacement signs.
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- Ed Mastry thought our Four-Way Test signs were looking old so he replaced them with new signs.
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- Our club president reminded us that one person alone can only do so much. The help of many gets things done.
GUESTS
Doug Norris introduced our only guest - his fiancee, Susan Paynker from the Halifax Canada club.
FLOWERS
Jessica Johnson handed out the flowers. President Valerie bought flowers for our speakers Scott Chabot and Mary Bednar. Julie Huttenlocher bought one for Bill Patterson. Doug Norris bought a flower for Susan Paynker.
SUNSHINE REPORT
Sarah Lee offered condolences for the Bill Patterson family, who lost their beloved dog Gracie.
GOODWILL
Luca Dedenbach had a birthday last Sunday.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The party at the ANTON ART CENTER is cancelled.
Eric Pierson says the DICK PIERSON GOLF OUTING is still on. Lunch will be free to all members. Meet at Gowanie Golf Club on September 17 at noon.
RECOGNITION
- Eric Pierson took over recognition from absent Larry Neal.
- Sarah Lee was fined for trying to get Eric fined. She didn’t convince him and is out $2.
- Mashell Carissimi was fined $2 for being MOST MISSED ROTARIAN.
- Nancy Dedenbach was fined $2 for setting up a bad picture of Doug Norris and Susan Paynker.
- Nancy was then fined $3 more for not listening to the announcement of Luca Dedenbach's birthday.
- Doug Norris was fined for his long-winded explanation of his fiancee’s reason for departure at this time.
ENGINEERING QUIZ
Members were given the choice of answering engineering questions or deferring the question to our speakers.
Tom Davies refereed the question about what happened in 1900 to keep Lake Michigan clean. Our panel correctly said "reversal of the Chicago River.”
Sarah Lee guessed that the dam that was completed in 1936 was the Hoover dam. It was guessed that the lake behind the dam was Lake Mead.
Paul Woodring was asked what structure was the tallest in the world for 38 centuries. He guessed wrong saying "it was the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING.” He was fined $2 for not knowing it was the pyramids.
Sarah Lee was fined $2 for not listening to the questions.
Amanda Oparka deferred to the engineering panel the question of wherse the great aqueduct of Trajan was built. She didn’t know it was Spain. $1 fine to the experts, $3 fine for Amanda.
Bill Patterson failed to recognize the Brooklyn Bridge and was fined $2.
Stephanie Mirabile deferred the question of "what made the Panama Canal so special?" The panel didn’t say the canal went over a mountain. Fines were $3 and $1 apiece for the engineers.
Dave Gerlach escaped fines by having our panel identify the CHUNNEL as being built in 1994.
Mashell Carissimi guessed the world’s tallest free standing building is in Dubai.
Kelly Dedenbach deferred to the panel on where the longest bridge is located. They correctly guessed China.
Bob Lee was fined $2 for not knowing the building with the greatest leaning was a Hyatt hotel in the United Arab Emirates.
LECTURE
Two of our members, Mary Bednar and Scott Chabot, are civil engineers. They spoke on the development of pathways in Clinton Township and the rest of Macomb County.
There are three kinds of transportation systems built in Macomb County; roads for automobiles, pedestrian walkways, and water paths. Pathways are ten feet wide and paved so that pedestrians can walk on them as opposed to sidewalks, which are six feet wide. Pathways are usually made of asphalt and sidewalks are usually made of cement.
Many citizens complain about the fact that the county is building pathways while the roads are falling apart. However it turns out the pathways being built are funded by special grants from the federal government. These grants can only be used for pathways. The grants provide most of the funding but municipalities have to contribute 20% of the cost.
The various parts of the county pathways have been built over the last 30 years, based on a strategic plan. The first construction started with the pathway at Metropolitan Beach. Many pathways have been added since, with hope they will be united in one large system. Real estate developers are required to build a certain amount of pathways as part of their subdivisions.
50/50: Scott Chabot won $39.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:29 p.m.
