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Volume XXVII                                    Issue #44                                              June 23, 2008 

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.                                                                         --- Thomas Jefferson 

The final regular Monday meeting of the 2007-2008 Ripon Rotary Club was held Monday at noon at Royal Ridges. The first regular Monday meeting of the 2008-2009 meeting will be held on Monday July 7^th. Everybody should plan on being there to support incoming president Gary Born as he starts his year.  

Pledge of Allegiance led and prayer given by president Lee Prellwitz.

No guests today.

Began the meeting by taking a group photo of those in attendance. Skip and Michelle Wittler will take the pictures, plus signed cards, Ripon Rotary history, and name badges to Germany with them next week, and will give them to previous inbound students, Nils Ziegler and Pascal Rinnert. 

Announcements:

1. First of three summer Sunday brat fries at Pick ‘N Save raised approximately $270. Thanks to David Sakrison for coordinating, and to Lori Pamenter, Ruth White, Jane Schueler, Diane Shady and Blake Waterhouse for helping. A special thanks to recent RHS graduates Anna Jankowski, Aysia Platte and Anna White (two shifts) for working as well. The one question however was why Ms. Jankowski was unable to get Janira out of bed to come and work.
2. We are all invited to Aysia Platte’s graduation party on Saturday June 28^th from 1:00 to 5:00 at N4414 Walnut Street in Poy Sippi. Aysia is celebrating graduation from RHS, her eighteenth birthday, and preparing to leave for Belgium in August as a Rotary outbounder sponsored by Ripon Rotary.
3. A reminder that the Berlin-Ripon golf outing is only one month away, Wednesday June 23^rd at Tuscumbia. Get those foursomes put together. Excuses of being a poor golfer not accepted, especially after Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with problems with the ACL in his left knee and two stress fractures in his left leg.
4. The last Rotary board meeting of the 2007-2008 Rotary year (A joint meeting including the incoming board members for the 2008-2009 Rotary year) was held at 11:00 prior to the regular meeting. The following items were acted upon.

a)      $300 was donated to Engineers without Borders to help with their water projects in Africa.

b)      $500 was donated (to supplement the donations of individual members) to Polio Plus Partners to try and help finish the eradication of Polio. Any individual members wishing to donate prior to June 30^th (when there is still the opportunity for the 3 to 1 match) please get your donation in to Kathy Schwandt as soon as possible. Make checks out to Rotary International Foundation, for Polio Plus Partners.

c)      Given the decision by District #6270 to raise individual member dues $6 annually, the board voted to raise individual dues by $5 every six months to $80 per six months, or $160 annually. This will allow the club to add $228 (based on 57 members) to the treasury annually, rather than have $342 less if dues were not raised and $6 more per member was owed to the district annually.  

Sgt. at Arms Rick Coles conducted a final exam (Thanks to John Rockwood for coming up with that term) of eight questions from previous quizzes he has done during his two year reign. No table got more than six correct, however Mr. Coles waived any fines, given that he had achieved budget for the year. I was not much help to our table as all I had done to prepare was memorize the final Midwest Conference football standings from the past two years.    

Blake Waterhouse presented his annual “State of the Industry” address on the healthcare industry/crisis. He provided information on the tentative healthcare plans of Senator Clinton, Senator McCain, and Senator Obama. Even though health care has been usurped as the number one issue in voter polls, it now usually ranks third behind the economy (think gasoline and food) and the Iraq War, it remains a huge problem, and will only get worse as the Baby Boomers work their way through the system. The best analogy I have heard on this just beginning occurrence is to think of a snake swallowing a gorilla. It isn’t going to work. I did find it interesting that Blake thinks that If Senator Obama wins the election, a lot of Senator Clinton’s healthcare plan will find its way into what will be presented to Congress. Some of her plan is likely to find its way into what Senator McCain proposes should he win the election. The scariest statistic that Blake presented --- healthcare costs have increased by 82% over the past decade, and now average $12,000 per year for a family plan, 27% of the total national median income. If the trend continues, the percentage of income spent on healthcare by a family will reach 50% in another ten years. Something has to give. The system cannot handle that, certainly not as food and gasoline prices continue to rise at a rapid rate.  

Thanks to Blake for his usual informative presentation, but in next year’s presentation we expect feasible and workable solutions to the healthcare crisis.  

Next week --- Monday June 30^th – NO NOON MEETING – Changing of the Guard dinner at CJ’s at the Wayside. Cocktail hour at 5:00 PM. Dinner at 6:00. Recognition and awards to follow dinner. PLEASE contact Lee at 748-2536 or at lprell@charter.net before noon on Tuesday if you have not already done so with your reservation, as CJ’s need a count number on Tuesday.  

A supported once called out, “Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you!” And Adlai Stevenson answered, “That’s not enough. I need a majority.”

                                                                        --- Scott Stevenson 

Respectfully submitted, 

Lee A. Prellwitz

Substitute Scribe for Dr. Carley as he fishes in Canada. (I hope he remembered to take his passport along.)

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