August 3, 2007

AVS was full of Copperheads today; the baseball variety, that is. We hosted our local college-level team thanks to the generosity of Jaci Betts, and used the entire AVS ball room for the first time in a while to house at least several dozen strapping young men. At the scribe table, we interviewed Chris Powell, who happened to be from Randleman (actually, Johnstonville, as he lives just a rock throw from our original county seat). He’s a pitcher for the Copperheads, graduated from AHS, attends ECU, and wants to be a writer and a lawyer. (Hmm. What a great combination!)

Most of the scribe table actually was taken up with babies and proud parents. Phil Shore brought his oldest, Seth, who is finishing up an advanced degree and looking for gainful employment. And Kathy and Phil Homiller were introducing Li Li to the club, soon to be five months old, but only about one month of that has been in the USA. She was passed from hand to hand, and appeared to revel in all the attention, so Your Scribe suggested to both Phils that perhaps she ought to stage a walk-on role in The King and I… After all, the play calls for lots of children, and she’s perfect for the part!

HR got us going early, because we had a full schedule. There were lots of newbies to greet, for starters; then Archie Smith led us in the Four Way Test; HR in the POA; and Maisie Fleetwood in the invocation, asking God to guide us in improving the quality of life for all people.

Rebecca Redding introduced the guests, most of whom were somehow connected to Jaci Betts: Mary Moore of the Courier-Tribune, Add Penfield (making that Duke connection with Jonathan Foreman, the Copperhead who lives with Jaci), Lynn Jones (former president of the Kiwanis Club) and wife Kathy Jones (who are hosting a team member for the first time), David Smith (Asheboro Mayor pro-Tem, past printer/mailer of our Tar Wheels, another Kiwanian and food coordinator for Copperhead games) Tommy McDonald (of Randleman, the game announcer), and Dusty Blake, Coach of the Copperheads. We don’t have a list of the team members in attendance, but the whole team was invited, which would make about 27 The Homillers and the Shores you’ve already met; Patrick Osteen, Lisa Johnson and Stephanie Vaughn you’ll meet in a minute; and Derek Grantham was the sole representative of the Randolph Club. Whew.

While recognizing Copperheads, President HR made special mention of Jordan Nicklebury, who formerly lived with Steve Schmidley and his family until last Tuesday, when Jordan came home, found the house on fire, and rousted the whole family. Thanks to him they were all able to escape before tragedy occured, except to the house, which will take several months to put back into shape.

HR recognized the August birthdays and club anniversaries, which I’ll edit in if Elizabeth sends them to me. But some highlights: Ken Gobel, Shiv Harsh, and Wayne Thomas have birthdays (Wayne’s is tomorrow, so we went ahead and sang happy birthday). Wilbert Hancock has been a club member 35 years this month; Allen Holt, 36 years; and Archie Smith, 61 years!

HR read us the Tar Wheel of September 19, 1945, which recounted VK Day: Asheboro Rotary’s famous softball game victory over the Asheboro Kiwanis and Lion’s Clubs (sorry David and Lyn!). Tar Wheel editor Red Underwood was “Hind Catcher” and another team member was “Death Valley Croom.” The game raised money for the Asheboro High School athletic fund.

John Grey’s membership committee had the program, which started out with member talks from Lynn Dodge (relatively new member) and Allen Holt (surprisingly old member). Lynn spoke about her move from upstate New York, land of snow and ice, to Hanover Court, a/k/a Divorce Court. She was hired to come to Randolph County by Maisie Fleetwood, but knew no one within 500 miles. She and her husband Fred Dodge, an attorney down Sunset Avenue from Yr.Scr., were eventually made to feel very welcome despite numerous trials and tribulations. One reason Lynn joined the club is to give back to the community.

Allen Holt, Editor of the Tar Wheel from 1976 to 2002, next took us back to The Days when Pearl Humble and Omie Kilpatrick were the only female members of the Club (and Honorary members at that; Allen says Pat Kilpatrick was just an Ornery Member). Memorable characters were Tar Wheel Founding Editor Red Underwood (“I feel just like an 18 year old boy,” he said, “With something wrong with him.” J.D. “Joe” Ross, a/k/a “Mr. Rotary,” who once came home from work because he “forgot to take my Rotary pin off my pajamas and put it on my jacket.” Henry Armfield, “who lived life to the fullest, and then settled down.” Allen ended by reading us the manual which HR has so desperately needed: “Instructions for the Proper Sounding of the Gong for Opening and Closing Rotary Meetings.” It was great, and if he emails me a copy, I’ll put the whole thing on the website. Memorable excerpt: “Address the Gong. (Hello, Gong!)”

HR then bravely handed off control of the meeting to Alan Pugh,  who introduced us to certain cast members of the RSVP production of The King and I, opening tonight and running through next weekend. Alan, as if he needed more power around these parts, plays the autocratic King of Siam in that production, and was featured on the front page of today’s Courier-Tribune. With Alan were:

Lisa Johnson, a K-8 teacher at Bonlee school and organist at Church of the Good Shepherd, was introduced as the accompanist whose magic fingers on the piano always make the cast sound good;

Patrick Osteen, he of the “24-pack” (he has the whole case and not just the 6 pack, Y.S. was informed by both Phils, Shore and Homiller), plays Lun Tha – an Emissary from the Court of Burma who has fallen hopelessly in love with Tuptim, a Gift to the King from the ruler of   Burma;

Stephanie Vaughn, a CPA/ internal auditor with United Guaranty Greensboro, playing Anna, the English governessa nd schoolteacher to the children of the King.

The Rogers and Hammerstein musical is set in the 1860s, but opened on Broadway in 1951. It ran for 1,246 productions, and won the Tony for Best Musical. It was made into a film in 1956 with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in the lead parts. To wet our whistles, Patrick sang “We Kiss in a Shadow,” part of his duet with Tuptim. (Alan says Patrick has a dynamite dance number, too.) Then Stephanie sang part of “Hello, Young Lovers,” then joined Alan in part of “Shall We Dance?”

Alan  evidently has been asked whether it is morally-correct for him to star in an amateur theatrical production. (One might that Religious Right conservatives would recall that the English Puritans tore down Shakespeare’s Globe and banned the unholy Theatre in 1642. (They also banned Wrestling, Bear-baiting, Cockfighting, Horse-racing and Ale-houses, while they were at it). Not at all, says Alan. “My participation is merely an attempt by the Chairman of the Randolph County Republican Party to reach out to traditionally Democratic interest groups.” (An answer that would play well on Fox News!)

As Randolph County Democratic Party Chairman, Your Scribe certainly feels the need to support my base, so I’ve already got my ticket, in fact, to the Sunday matinee.

June 8, 2007

It was graduation day in Asheboro, so many of the club were sweltering on the football field in the 90+ degree heat, while the rest of us ate chicken in the AC at AVS. At the Scribe Table Richard Garkalns and Phil Shore argued over movie song trivia (Phil has a shocking depth of knowledge, there), and Steve Cofer and Owen George discussed the state of Chinese skyscraper architecture.  

Foster Hughes led the Four Way Test; Prithi the Pledge, Everett Thomas the Prayer. H.R. Gallimore welcomed Miss Nikki, god-daughter of Elizabeth Mitchell; Jeannine Thompson, of Bakersfield, CA and soon to be permanently Asheboro; Sheriff Maynard Reid, of the Randolph Club; and Roman Bogdanov, once and future resident of Orenburg, Russia. H.R. congratulated Roman on graduating from Eastern Randolph High School last night (Thursday June 7^th)  and had his diploma along to prove it. Roman will be returning to Russia on Tuesday morning, June 19^th, and yes, Your Scribe has been told by virtually everyone that he can look forward to some Empty Nest Angst soon thereafter. [It has been an honor and a privilege to be entrusted with such a wonderful boy for the past 10 months, and I’ve learned lots about being a parent. I wish it could continue, but Uncle Sam wants him to leave, and his mother Tatyana wants him back!]  

The inaugural meeting of H.R. and his committee chairs will take place next Wednesday night at ReMax. Next week’s program is the responsibility of Gale Thomas and the Food Committee. Volunteers are needed to drive Elizabeth Cox home after the meetings. Prithi has received our Gold Club Medallion which will soon go up on our banner. Carole Gilliam, he announced, donated her corneas for implantation in two patients who now have the gift of sight, thanks to her. And Prithi read a note from Rose Patterson, thanking the club for the wreath sent in honor of Hassell.

Vegetarian Times: Only 3 weeks left, Prithi announced to general acclaim. There are ethical reasons to be vegetarian, he says. Other creatures have feelings just like ours. Many people refuse to eat meat out of empathy, in a desire to save other fellow creatures from suffering.

Foster Hughes introduced Copperhead Head Honchos Aaron Pugh and William Davison for our program. Thanks to Pugh Lubricants for picking up the paychecks for these guys and letting them manage a baseball team, to boot! Aaron announced that for the first time since the beginning of the Copperheads, there are no Pughs actually playing on the team (they’ve all aged out). But they’ve recruited players from all over- 18 different schools, 13 different states from coast to coast. (We already met Jonathan last week, the Duke player who lives with Jaci Betts. William says he must have scared all the other ACC prospects away.) Six more players from 3 more states will arrive next week. There are 10 freshmen, 8 sophomores and 8 juniors on the team- making it one of the oldest teams ever (seniors aren’t eligible, and most juniors are tired of playing and want to take a break in the summer).

Dusty Blake is the head coach. A native of Troy, Dusty is 26, graduated from ASU and is currently the pitching coach at Catawba College. Jonathan Reeder, a recent ASU grad, is his assistant. The team’s best MLB prospects are Chris Taylor of UNC-C, a good hitter; and Cody Vincent, of St. Bonaventure, a pitcher. Players must have at least a 2.3 GPA, be in good academic standing, play on their school’s baseball team, and have at least 1 year of college eligibility remaining.

William’s job is to work with sponsors to develop attendance. Chamber Night is Wednesday June 14^th: George Gusler says this will be the bigger than the 4^th of July (when the City’s fireworks show draws a big crowd). Harley Davidson night is June 22; Little League night is July 24, when players in uniform get in free. The most elaborate promotion is set for Father’s Day, June 17^th, when the Copperheads play the Military All-Star Team. The Black Daggers jump team will start the game by parachuting into the stadium (they got rained out last summer when they were scheduled).

Though the team’s big loss last night might not predict much for the post-season, the Tournament this year is set for Florence, SC, and the All-Star Game will be in Columbia. William thanked all the host families for the team, as well as the volunteers who staff the games- they couldn’t do without them!