Spokes May 30, 2017

Posted by Dene Hadden
 
SPOKES VOL. LXIII NO. 46                                                                                May 30, 2017
 
 
Only 62% of our members read Spokes last week (one of the 18 who didn’t open it was me).
 
We were greeted by Bob Straits this week.
 
We opened the meeting with “America the Beautiful” and another of Art Ayers’ inspiring invocations.
 
Guests:
Our guests this morning included our friend from the Paw Paw Lake Rotary Club Ron Clarke and our speaker, Mayor Bob Burr.
 
Music:
Jim Davis got to be our leader this morning as we sang a very nice rendition of all three songs, including one of the oldest in our repertory, the 1892 “Daisy Bell”.  This song has a bit of off color history as the song is said to have been inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, one of the many mistresses of King Edward VII.  Next up was "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is an American folk song. The first published version appeared as "Levee Song" in Carmina Princetonia, a book of Princeton University songs published in 1894.[1] The earliest known recording is by the Sandhills Sixteen, released by Victor Records in 1927.  We finished the same way we did last week with the exhilarating “Sing! Everyone, Sing!”
 
Spotlight:
No Spotlight this week.
 
Announcements:
  • Don’t forget the Club Runner App for your phones, it’s a great resource!
  • An updated list of speaker assignments was passed out.  Please make sure you have your date covered!
  • Our Induction dinner will be June 27th and Steve Larsen will organize a golf tournament.
  • Don’t forget the hospital’s annual golf outing on June 9th.
  • We are in charge of staging the 4th of July parade this summer so volunteers are needed on the evening of the 3rd and the morning of the 4th to make sure this event runs smoothly.
  • If you did not attend the LMC/SHPS Foundation fundraiser in April and have not made your donation to that fundraiser ($100) please get it to Rhonda as soon as possible so we can finalize that event.
  • The last Blessings in a Backpack work session is scheduled for this Friday at 1:45 at Lincoln School.
50/50
Bob Stickland had the lucky ticket this morning and was hoping to walk home with the whole pot.  He missed, but di draw the “2”, thereby going off, in the words of Don Hixson, “half-potted”.  Paul Hemmeter won the $2 prize.
 
Fines:
  • Barbara Craig sadly reported that the Niles Rotary Club had folded.
  • Mark Odland had an interesting quote from Sec. of Defense Matthis.
  • Don Hixson had a huge birthday list this week, including his oldest son, his Daughter-in-law, his grandson, and his daughter.  We rewarded him with a very good rendition of “Happy Birthday”, Ludington style.
  • Bob Copping – at least we think that’s the badge he had on this week – thanked Bill Burr for his service to our community.
  • Tom Renner said his family got plenty of use out of the city’s bike paths this weekend.
  • Jerry Gruber celebrated his daughter’s wedding this weekend.
  • Ron Clarke and Larry Wittkop traded barb’s across the room and Ron celebrated his son’s birthday.
  • Jerry Portman was pleased to announce that his grandson has completed his first year of Med School.
 
Our Program today was Mayor Bob Burr.
 
In addition to a plethora of printed material from the City and the Visitor’s Bureau, Bob provided each of us with a South Haven pen that includes a light house on each pen.
 
Bob began by talking about the fireworks display.There will be an extra $4,000 worth of pyrotechnics in this year’s display, which is being put on by the same company that does the displays at Soldier Field and downtown Chicago.He told us that there is an unwritten rule that fireworks displays should last 28 minutes.After that, folks become bored, so more money goes into more rockets!There were 113 donors last year, with Entergy one of the top donors and our own Fleming Oil the #3 donor.
 
Mayor Burr said that the city is finishing up on a million dollar improvement to North Beach and the surrounding area that includes a Kayak refuge at the concession stand.
 
He also talked about the Black River Park improvements that include a handicap fishing ramp and a bridge over the celery pond stream donated by SHOUT.The park around the bridge will be renamed Shout Park in honor of the group that has provide so many improvements to the city.Bob talked about the fish planting project that takes place in conjunction with local school children.
 
Also about to open is the bicycle pump track near the fire department building.
 
Bob spent several minutes talking about the Visitor and Convention Bureau information, including the fact that South Haven lodging establishments generate $16.6 million in revenue each year, which generates another $20 million in local revenue, mostly in the summer.The bureau is working hard to establish events in the “off-season”.
 
He mentioned that there have been 14 housing starts in the city so far this year, up from the five per year that has been the average the past few years. He also explained that the project at the old Save-a-Lot store would include 4 retail spots and 30 apartments of various sizes.The goal is to get more residences in the downtown area, a goal that has been stifled by a lack of parking for these residences.
 
President Ayers thanked Mayor Burr for his interesting program and presented him with one of our speaker’s pens.
 
Next week’s program: TBA
 
Next week’s Greeters:  Bill Roberts and Bob Stickland.
 
Editarian:  Dene Hadden