Today's meeting took place at Baker College's Center for Dental Hygiene Education. Our fearless Leader, President Larry Neal, not even fazed by the challenges an offsite meeting presents, got us underway at 12:15.
Kris Howell led the Pledge of Allegiance while we imagined an American flag somewhere in the room. Jeff Furest must have decided the room needed focus, so he quickly jumped up and crudely drew a flag on the drawing board in the front of the classroom. Jeff Furest then led us in the national anthem without the piano accompaniment of Gary and it actually sounded pretty good: not a common thing for this group. I can't remember who led “The Four-Way Test,” but my theory was right, the banner holding “The Four-Way Test,” albeit a nice decoration in the room, is not really needed as it was recited without issue.
Finally, Tom Davies delivered the invocation.
Lunch was an assortment of sandwiches, potato salad and chips. In the interest of the readership of this bulletin, I made a point of having one of each of the sandwiches offered. I am happy to report that they were all delicious.
PRESIDENT TIME
The meeting started with us presenting a check to the Metropolitan Detroit Chorale in the amount of $8,294 derived from the fundraiser.
We were then brought up to date with a summary of the board meeting from Tuesday evening hosted by Gloria Murray (who was duly thanked by the Prez.)
Incoming members Jeff Furest, Jessie Johnson and Steve Krankota were welcomed onto the board. Julie Huttenlocher and Valerie Miller were thanked for their continued service as treasurer and secretary, respectively.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
Other things that happened at board meeting:
- $700 of bad debt from former member was written off.
- Nancy Dedenbach's offer to fund flower arrangements for Rotarians or spouses who pass away was approved.
- approved $1,000 in lieu of speaker gifts to go to classroom book collections of 1st and 2nd grades handled by CMPL.
- Kayak launch at MacArthur Park will be named after Neil Dempsey per our request.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
Finally, Larry ran down what is ahead
for the remainder of the Rotary year:
- June 13: No meeting due to the President's Party happening at Camp Rotary later that evening.
- June 20: we will be at the YMCA for the ribbon cutting of the Neil Dempsey Kayak launch.
- June 27 wrap up Rotary year with check presentations to our beneficiaries.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
GUESTS
We had two guests join us for the meeting. Candice Miller was one, but I am unsure of the host.
The other was Pat Pascaretti, director of the Metropolitan Detroit Chorale, who was a guest of the club.
FLOWERS
Flower duty was handled by Jeff Furest. It was a slow week in birthdays with only two member birthdays (Margo Baker and Susan Styf) on the list with neither present to serenade. Also absent was Jessica Johnson who has now been a member for four years. This made flower sales a chore, but one Jeff was apparently up to as they went fast. So fast, in fact, I was only able to note a few. I helped in the feat by purchasing one for Glenn Burton, who put together a wonderful afternoon and evening for The Who concert that he, Jeff Furest and I attended a couple weeks back. Glenn in turn bought one for Candice Miller. I know Sam D'Angelo bought one for Gloria Miller, but that is all I got. I mean, when you really think about it, does anyone, who was not in attendance, even care who got flowers? I could go on, but I think most of you have already skipped to the important part of this newsletter. Yes, you guessed it. What songs were sung.
SONGS
Since we had no piano and our pianist Gary Felts was getting a free lunch, so to speak, why not put him to work. So Larry had him lead us in song. With no books he had to think on his feet, as such he picked "God Bless America." So it was back on our feet, with our attention once again focused on the hokey looking flag Jeff drew on the drawing board.
The resulting sound was not so good, but Gary persevered and ordered up another song. This time it was "R-O-T-A-R-Y" and, curiously, we all remained standing with the exception of Tom Davies. While this gave the second song more of a patriotic appearance than normal, the sound was still not so good.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bill Patterson announced that the boat outing would be August 8 this year and he had sign-up sheets, so let him know two things:
1. Do you plan on attending?
2. Can you help?
While I didn't announce it at the meeting, I wanted to remind everyone that the Dick Pierson Golf Outing will be on September 26 this year and will return to Gowanie Golf Club.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
RECOGNITION
Tom Davies led recognition today starting with Joe Casasanta who made the mistake of blurting out how he would be happy to pay $2 rather than be recognized, while sitting next to the recognizer.
Frank Bernabei was then recognized for being so patriotic and was
fined $1 for it. Next, Tom went to Jeff Furest and asked him if he ever took drawing lessons, to which Jeff answered in the affirmative, then Tom remarked how Jeff must be good at drawing Bart Simpson. He then pointed out to a perplexed Jeff that the hokey flag on the drawing board looked just like Bart Simpson laying on his back. This took some time and Tom shared that he could just do his whole program on Jeff. Suffice to say $5 was charged. Before moving on though, the walleye/pickerel/Paul Harris skit/distraction from a few weeks back was resurfaced in order to justify the $4.99 to Jeff and to nail Glenn Burton, a co-conspirator, for $3.
Next, Tom had the pleasure of recognizing Don Oldham as the most 
missed Rotarian and it was then disclosed that Don is the oldest club member to attend a club meeting at 94 years young. This cost Don's table mates $2 each. Sam D'Angelo was one of these table mates, he was fined an extra $1 for something that I wrote in my notes, but is now completely illegible to my eyes.
Tom Davies then had to recognize Gary Felts for what had happened musically at this meeting. It was pointed out that Jeff had led the group in the national anthem without Gary's piano accompaniment and it sounded wonderful; whereas, Gary led us in two songs and it sounded like crap. (of course Tom didn't explain it as eloquently as I did). This resulted in a $1 fine. Finally, in the ultimate cheap shot everyone without a badge was fined $1. This happened to include everyone who put their badge back in the box, since the box never made it to the meeting.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
SPEAKER PRESENTATION
Patty Kaufman introduced our speakers today. They were Karen Bratus, DDS, the program director and Sharon Walby, Dental Hygienist Clinical Coordinator. Karen started out about telling us what they do in the building and Sharon took us on a tour to show us.
In terms of the educational program, students here are either seeking a certificate as a dental assistant or an associate's degree in Dental Hygiene. They are trained with a combination of classroom training and real experience with patients in the clinic under the supervision of a real dentist.
The clinic is very impressive and they offer all the normal services one would get from a private dentist at a fraction of the cost. Students were busy treating patients as we walked through. We were also shown many fancy machines that were beyond my comprehension, but it looked to be better stocked than my dentist's office.
We were also taken to a large classroom where each station was set up like a mini clinic station complete with a dummy patient. This is where the students are taught before they start working on real patients.
>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>
The 50/50 purse of $27 was won by someone besides me. The change in environment threw me off my routine and I failed to spend my normal $5 on tix.
