May 9, 2008

It seemed like a big crowd today, but that was probably the 25 members of the AHS jazz band, who not only took up 3 tables, but a lot of floor space for instruments. Doesn’t it seem that young people take up more space generally than older people? Has anyone ever done a study about that?

And we had other guests, too. Shell Kellam was the guest of Jaci Betts (Shell is a caterer, d/b/a “Sav-the-flavor,” I’m told). Pamela Vuncannon was visiting with Henry Trollinger. From the Randolph Club we had a full contingent: Tom Barton, Rob Wilkins, Maggie Stevens and Harold Brubaker. Alan Pugh introduced our regular AHS guests Jessica Gage and Clara Lennon (who were mysteriously attracted to Philip Shore, as you see in their photo. Do you think it’s because they both work at Chick-Fil-A?). Jessica is the daughter of Millie and John Gage, spent last summer in Spain, played four years on the AHS tennis team, and will be attending UNCW this fall. Clara is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Yates Lennon. Last year she went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, and her hobbies are cooking, ballet, and playing the piano. She plans to attend Meredith next fall, study nutrition, and own her own restaurant some day.

President HR reminded us of Farm-City Day on May 13th, where we’ll be able to participate in the annual “Farm-City Pig Pickin’” sponsored by the Randolph Livestock and Poultry Improvement Association.  It is Tuesday May 13th at 6PM at Allen’s Dairy Farm on Osborn Mill Road.  DIRECTIONS:  Take NC 42 south about 6 miles and turn right on Olc NC Hwy 13.  Go about one mile and turn left on Kemp Mill Road.  Go about half a mile and turn right on Osborne Mill Road.  Farm is about  a mile on the right.  Watch for signs and bring your lawn chair.  Here’s a map.

Also, TOMORROW is the first outdoor festival on Sunset and Church streets, from 9AM to 6PM. Foster Hughes and the Asheboro Parks and Rec department are sponsoring, so check out their website at www.asheboroparksandrecreation.com .

The Club will meet OFFSITE on May 23rd for a picnic at the Rotary Shell in Bi-Centennial Park. Afterwards we’ll walk over to the “A Statue” beside City Hall (which we helped purchase, with the Randolph Club) for a dedication ceremony.

Tar Wheel History, July 20, 1955: A story about Cherokee Bill, and his hanging, where the punch line was “I came here to be hung, not to make a speech.” Several people asked me if this were true, an Indian hanged in Randolph County. All I can say with certainty is that I assume it’s meant to be a joke, and therefore isn’t really history. The clue is that Red writes that he fears that the story “will not be verified by Dr. Jess Pritchard.” Dr. Pritchard was considered to be one of my predecessors as Randoph County historian in the 1930s and 40s (it’s an inherited title, you see).

Phil Homiller rose to introduce the Asheboro High School Jazz Band, a crew 25 strong who meets at 7:30 each morning (“Zero Period”) to play for 45 minutes. Here’s the roster (first names only- it’s a miracle I could write THAT fast-) On Sax, Kirby, Julia, Matthew, Caleb, Cody and David; Trumpet: Tyler, Taylor and Alex; Clarinet: Kirstin, Corbin, Billy; Trombone: Will, Reuben, Chris (and coming after his AP exam, Nash Dunn); On Piano, Catherine; tuba, A.J.; Guitar, Jesus; Bassoon, Emily; Piccolo, Sarah Elizabeth; Drums: Steve, and last and late but still good enough to solo at a moment’s notice, Richard Trotter.

The crew played (1) “If I Only Had A Brain,” dedicated to the space cadet Miss Teen South Carolina; (2) Harlem Nocturne; (3) Groove Merchant; and (4) some Afro-Cuban Latin Funk, with roots in 70s rock and roll.
Maestro Homiller reminded us that jazz is improvisational, but it’s the solo instruments who improvise. The rest is entirely notated. And he pumped for attendance at their concert “2 weeks from yesterday”, where the band director at UNCA will make a guest solo appearance. Phil says there will be concerts every Tuesday and Thursday night for the next two weeks. That’s part of the run-up to graduation, which one of the band reminded us is in “22 days!”

By the way, the trombonist, Reuben, that Phil introduced as “my son”– that’s because he lives with Phil and Kathy, and in pretty much every way has been raised by Phil. The result: Reuben is president of the student body at AHS, and will be attending NC Central next fall to study in their jazz band program with Branford Marsalis.

Phil said in closing that the musician’s way to damn with faint praise is the compliment “Well, at least your horn is shiny!” I think we all agree they exceeded that in every way.

May 2, 2008

[Thanks to former Zen Master Editor Phil Shore for this haiku report of Friday's meeting. Sorry we don't have pictures of the scholarship winners, but it looks like you either get instant gratification from Philip or pictures, bells and whistles from me, but after a longer wait. Nifty Illustrated Tar Wheels about the GSE team visit and the high school musical are coming up, really, I promise. -Mac]

It was a day of young people and scholarship.

The first order of business was to introduce the student guests. We welcomed Dorothy Wollaber and Kirstyn Harmon from Asheboro High School as well as Jake Routh from Randleman High School. Dorothy’s interests are singing, school musicals (notably Children of Eden which is being performed this weekend), playing tuba and dancing. She plans to attend Appalachian State University to major in secondary English, minoring in opera vocal performance. Kirstyn has similar talents and interests. She participates in the Honors Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the Jazz Ensemble, the Park Street Players and the Art Club. She is off to UNC-Greensboro to study business then transfer to a culinary arts school. Jake Routh plays football, basketball, runs track and is a member of the debate team. He will attend Guilford College on a football scholarship this fall.

Our “real” guests as our unmentionable immediate past president used to term them were Jennifer Smith, guidance counselor at Asheboro High School, Rachel Hayes, guest of Elizabeth Cox, and Randolph Rotarian Jim Campbell.

Before letting Rebecca Redding leave the rostrum, President H.R. read a Red Underwood passage from 1962 about Frank Redding III being the only third generation in the club. Frank III was Rebecca’s father and much applause resulted because she is continuing the line.

District Assembly takes place next Friday on the campus of Guilford Technical Community College. Upcoming officers are encouraged to attend.

President H.R. turned the program over to Past President Jim Rich, Chair of the scholarship committee. Jim began by reminding us that a portion of our dues goes to the Educational Foundation. This year the club is distributing $7600 in scholarships to seniors at Asheboro, Randleman, and Southwestern Randolph High Schools and one scholarship to a second year, full-time student at Randolph Community College. The RCC scholarship pays for two semesters tuition.

By presenting these scholarships Asheboro Rotary emphasizes the importance of further education. The first RCC scholarship was presented in August of 2007 to Charleen (“Sherry”) Holt. The criteria were: (a) Student must be a second year associate degree candidate; (b) Student must have a GPA of 3.0; (c) Student must be enrolled in 12 hours of credit courses; and (d) Financial need must be evident.

Sherry spoke to us of her thanks to Asheboro Rotary and the experiences she has had because of the scholarship. She is preparing to receive her Associate Degree in accounting and business administration this May. She has become a member of a professional organization, Phi Theta Kappa. She works on several community projects including those which involve working to a cleaner environment, volunteering to supplement the food banks at CUOC and the Salvation Army, and working with the compensatory education program at RCC, a program we have supported in the past.

The high school scholarships were awarded on the bases of a. academic achievement b. citizenship and community participation and c. demonstrable financial need.

Bethany Underdonk, guidance counselor (with Jennifer Smith) at AHS spoke of the accomplishments in academics, athletics and community participation. She was especially proud of Zoo School.

AHS recipients were Meleah Faucette who will attend UNC-Chapel Hill as a North Carolina Teaching Fellow this fall to pursue a Spanish major with a minor in dance and Samantha Lovin who will also attend UNC-Chapel Hill to major in Political Science with an eye to law school.

RHS guidance counselor Jill Hayes spoke with pride about her school and its students. RHS received a beautification grant which supported the creation of a nature trail between Randleman High and Randleman Middle School. She introduced the RHS award recipients Ashley Evans and Patricia Pirelli both of whom will be attending UNC-Charlotte.

SWRHS guidance counselor Teresa Burton remarked about Southwestern’s being chosen as one of Newsweek Magazine’s top schools in the nation. She introduced Elton (Dale) Cranford, who will go to North Carolina State University in engineering; and Caroline Sheffield who will also go to State but major in Agricultural Education.

Each of the scholarship recipients spoke to the club briefly and expressed their thanks in a most mannerly way.

President H.R. gave the gong a mighty whack and we were adjourned.

March 7, 2008

LOTS of GUESTS at today’s Asheboro Rotary meeting! Most of them were here as guests of the Club, honoring Lib Cox, who is the prime mover behind today’s program. At Lib’s table were Eugene Cox, Noralene Cox, son Jeff Cox and daughter Julie Stickler. Sara Beth Gallimore was a guest of Papa President H.R. Gallimore; Lauren Ingold attended with April Thornton; and Anthony Pugh (who made such an impact as a panelist during our Lunch and Learn event on the Mental Health Crisis) came with Mazie Fleetwood. Waving the flag of the Randolph Club were Archie Odell, Vickie Gallimore, and Rob Wilkins.

Gloria Cheek, Randleman High guidance counselor, was here to accompany RHS student guests Frank Magnotto and Kelsey Whatley. Frank is president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a member of the Key Club and the Golf team, and will be attending ASU in the fall to study Business. Kelsey competes on the soccer and cross country teams; is academically ranked #1 in the senior class, is Vice President of the student body, and was elected Homecoming Queen. She is also the daughter of my cousin Danny Whatley, so she obviously comes from good stock. She’ll be attending UNC Chapel Hill this fall.

Michael Smith proudly announced that Adam Glass of Asheboro High, who honored us as a student guest earlier this year, this week was offered both the Morehead-Cain scholarship from UNC-CH and the Parke Scholarship from NC State. Both are full rides plus lots of extras, so Adam has quite the choice to make.

Jaci Betts presented the club with a banner from a club she visited on her recent trip to Guatemala- thanks Jaci!

President HR read us a Tar Wheel Classic from November 15, 1944, where the inimitable Editor Red Underwood described Bob Wood as “the Club’s only real honest-to-stogie cigar smoker– President Vance [Welborn] being classed as a Beaver, or cigar-gnawer.”

Our program today featured Kyle McCleod, speech pathologist of Randolph Hospital, speaking about aphasia (was Your Scribe the only one who noted that as an oxymoron?). April Thornton introduced Kyle, who is a proud graduate of both NC State and App State, and came to Asheboro from Moses Cone hospital last July. The Aphasia Support Group he started at the hospital, at the urging of our own Elizabeth Cox, is the only such program in central NC. Kyle strongly praised Lib and daughter Julie for being such staunch advocates for people with aphasia, which is defined as any interruption in the ability to communicate, especially as it shows up in one-third of all stroke victims. A stroke victim with aphasia usually has his or her intellect and thinking abilities intact, but just can’t communicate effectively, as the stroke has damaged the left hemisphere of the brain. One million people in the US have it, and this is the position Lib found herself in after her stroke two years ago.

Kyle uses the LPA (“Life Participation Approach”) in treating aphasia. Communication involves talking, listening, reading and writing, so an undiminished strength in one category is used to rebuild the patient’s weaknesses in another. He encourages them to communicate in every mode, drawing, writing, gesturing, facial expressions- anything that conveys a message simply and effectively. Kyle used Ed Clayton to demonstrate communication (this was like demonstrating the proverbial shipment of coal to Newcastle). The worst effect of aphasia is the sense of isolation, which results in depression, and a sense of hopelessness. Victims must remain active to stimulate brain activity and help recover their lost abilities. What’s really needed, he says, is patience- give them the time they need to communicate. What victims really want is to regain their simple functioning, rebuild their lives- remember names of friends, go back to Rotary meetings.

The first aphasia treatment program began at the University of Arizona, and patients there agreed with Lib: “We didn’t really start recovery until we became acquainted with other people with aphasia.” The program at Randolph Hospital is free, because insurance coverage has limits on the amount of time and number of visits patients can spend, so his discussion groups and activities are promoted by volunteers like Lib and Julie. In Q&A, Don Allred related that, after his mother’s stroke, she could no longer talk, but could SING very well. Kyle said that’s because the stroke affected the left side of her brain, and singing is controlled by the right side, the nonlinear artistic side.

The Randolph Hospital Aphasia Puzzle Program meets each second Tuesday of the month, starting at 6PM. For more information, call Kyle at (336) 625-5151, extension 5109.

February 22, 2008

Joy Menius was doing double or triple duty today- providing not only our piano accompaniment, but hopping up to the head table and introducing our program by Tonya Hayes and Allison Dark, with the Children’s Home. Not only that, she brought her mother-in-law Henri Menius as a guest (something which actually got John to the meeting early and sitting beside her on the dias). Daughter Amanda was with Dad Dale Lambert. Jim Campbell, visiting from the Randolph club, was our only Rotarian guest.

Our student guests were both from Asheboro High: Elizabeth Blakely, daughter of Kelly and James Chriscoe, is in the band and on the tennis team, and plans to attend ASU and become a nurse. Joe Boyle, son of Michael and Gayle Boyle, is also on the tennis team, runs cross country, and is in the band. He plans to attend NCSU and study engineering.

Richard Garkalns was at the back table hawking the Human Race sponsored by the Volunteer Center. Register with Richard and win a a 19″ HDTV.

Condolences to James Gouty on the passing of his mother. Break a leg to Phil Shore, starring this week at the Sunset Theater in Harvey.

Carol Matney introduced new member Christy Smith, who lives with her husband Greg on an 80-acre produce farm near Ramseur. She is the daughter of Allen nad Brenda Flow ers, attended UNC-G, and runs Horizon Consulting Services. President HR welcomed her to the club and awarded her our usual bundle of paraphenalia.

Tar Wheels Past: Red wrote on September 23, 1965, about John Bunch’s four boys. Ed was leaving the scene, and Bill’s response to “Who Started the Fight?” was “the nearest one.”

Joy Menius rose to introduce our speaker Tonya Hayes of the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, who lives in Level Cross with her family. Allison Dark, their Director of Development, ran the powerpoint show. Joy noted with emotion that both of the Meius children were adopted through the Children’s Home.

The Children’s Home is 105 years old. It was started by Greensboro businessmen (the same ones who founded the Chamber of Commerce) in order to keep orphans off the streets. Child Abuse and neglect is still a big problem in North Carolina, says Tonya, with children under age 4 the most vulnerable. A child dies every 9 days in North Carolina from abuse and maltreatment. The state has 100,000 children in foster care, with 3,000 of them having been permanently separated from the biological parents. Most of these kids are between the ages of 6 and 16, and most of them wait an average of 3 years for adoption. Of the kids older than 16 who age out of foster care on their 18th birthday, 70% end up homeless, and 76% end up in prison.

Since its founding in 1902 the Children’s Home has placed more than 13,500 children for adoption. In FY 2007 they served more than 6200 families and children, providing more than 40,000 total days of foster care. But even at that level, Children’s Home Society could find homes for just 36% of the children referred for foster care. Between 1940 and 1970, CHS placed an average of 350 kids per year with adoptive parents, but in 2007 they placed just 200 (46%) in adoptive homes. The reason for the decline in placements is that they receive fewer infants– most available children are “older”– more than 5 years old.

CHS spends about $15,000 per adoption in finding and preparing the families and counseling the children. Their annual budget is over $8 million, of which more than 85% goes to client services. They are a United Way agency, too!

[Editorial note: the good-looking couple who flashed past in the CHS video were Eric and Christy Luckenbach of Asheboro, who have adopted their two children through CHS. Your Scribe would point out that CHS (while top quality service) is not the only provider of foster care or adoption coordination in the Piedmont. I am actually now licensed as a foster parent through the Randolph County Department of Social Services, and there are other options even beyond that.]

February 15, 2008

[The Scribe apologizes for the quality of today's pictures, but he forgot the real camera.  This is what a cell phone camera can do...]

Joy welcomed the packed house at Asheboro Rotary today with poundy Broadway hits like Strike Up the Band . Guests decorated nearly every table, along with red balloons and candy hearts, courtesy of Jaci B, and tasty little chocolate bon-bons at each place, courtesy of our speaker. Quite Upscale! Phil Shore caught the theme by using the invocation to seek Divine intervention to make the world a sweeter place.

We were covered up with guests today, and Rebecca Redding introduced Kim Newsome, with Talmadge Baker; Mimi and Chris Cooper, parents of the speaker, with Linda Cranford; Dr. Christine Giarmo, with Jaci B; Christie Smith with Carol Matney; Darren Allen with partner Alan Pugh; Elizabeth Mason with husband Rodney; Emily Ledwell with Jerry Hill; and Jill Hayes, guidance counselor with Randleman High. Visiting Rotarians were Jim Campbell, from the Randolph Club; former District Governor Henry Brown, from Pinehurst, and Jeannine Thompson, from the Bakersfield, CA. club.

That brought us to our numerous student guests, introduced by Mini Singh. From AHS, we had Kori Chriscoe and Julia Apoian. Kori is the daughter of Keith and Julie Chriscoe (not our Keith, but doubtless distantly related). She’s in the National Honor society and volunteers with Big Brothers/ Big Sisters, and plans to attend UNC-W and become a physician’s assistant in dermatology. Julie is the daughter of Sue and Steve Poe Apoian. She plays saxaphone with the “Zero Period” (i.e., 7:30 AM) jazz band, flute in the marching band and wind ensemble, and plans to major in chemistry and spanish at ASU, then attend Emory for medical school.

Also today we were pleased to have Patricia Fiorelli and Matt Johnson, seniors at Randleman High. Patricia is a varsity cheerleader and the key club secretary. Her father Joe is Kyle Petty’s car chief at Petty Enterprises, and her mother is a Randolph County School dropout prevention counselor. She plans to attend ASU or Chapel Hill and become a physical therapist. Matt Johnson is the grandson of Richard Earl Johnson, past District Governor and former member of this club. He plays football and basketball and plans to attend ASU. But he came prepared for a talent show, as he proceeded to show off his senior project: a guitar that he built himself, over the course of 61 hours of work, under the guidance of his mentor Gerald Hampton. Just to show that it works, Matt played and sang the Kenny Chesney song, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem.” And he wins this week’s compulsive overacheiver award, hands down!

Past President Prithi temporarily replaced President HR at the podium this week. There was no revived Vegetarian Time, but Prithi did point out that research has shown that passionate love-making was the aerobic equivalent of a four-mile walk. No shoes are required, piped up George Bain, in homage to Matt’s song. And if you can’t walk four miles, come see me professionally, says urologist Dr. Prithi. Hmm.

At last we came to the real program, sponsored by Linda Cranford and the Social Committee. Did You Know, asked Linda, that 300 years ago chocolate was thought to be an aphrodisiac, and was only served as a liquid, and only to men? [Hey, it hasn't even been 300 years, and people are already swallowing Viagra and Levitra like candy!]

Leslie Cooper, daughter of County Health Department Director Mimi Cooper (and grand-daughter of retired AHS typing teacher Anne Moore), is a 2000 graduate of Asheboro High, who majored in nutrition and restaurant management at UNC-G. She received a Grande Plume at the French Culinary Institute, worked in a number of restaurants, and finally returned to Randolph County to start her own business, Love Chocolate (www.eatlovechocolate.com), based in her grandmother’s kitchen outside Ramseur.

Leslie says that she is a custom maker of hand-made chocolate truffles and caramels, and can make about 500 pieces per day. The big chocolate gift times are Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Weddings, so she’s coming off one of her peak periods. She sells at Weaver Street Market in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and exhibits at Bridal Shows, such as one coming up soon at Castle McCulloch, near High Point. She started her own business so she could be a leader in something in the culinary field. Commercial chocolate has a one-year package life because of added vegetable fat; her chocolate only has a one month shelf life because she uses only the most natural ingredients.

She had a power point show about the making of chocolate. Cocoa pods come from South American trees in the “chocolate belt” around the equator; seeds ferment in the sun until “nibs” (the actual raw chocolate) are produced. The nibs are ground to separate out the cocoa butter from the cocoa solids; then “conking” adds sugar and vanilla and emulsifiers to make the smooth creamy chocolate first invented by the Swiss. (Dutch-processed chocolate is much darker; the original beverage chocolate was very bitter, as sugar wasn’t added until Europeans started drinking it).

Leslie brought some of her bon-bons for everyone, and told us how she’d made them. Chocolate is delicate to cook with, and must be tempered like steel to be stronger, harder and more durable. Well-tempered chocolate is shiny, hard, snaps when you break it, and should not melt at body termperature. She melts the raw chocolate at 120 degrees, then cools it to 80, then tempers it to about 90. She pours that into a mold, then shakes and beats and bangs it to get the air bubbles out. The she flips the mold upside down and pours the excess chocolate out, creating the outside shell in the mold. When that cools she call fill it with “ganoche,” a truffle filling. The tempered chocolate will gradually cool and shrink and pop right out of the mold.

Chocolate has caffeine in it, and a chemical called theobromide which is poisonous to dogs. It hits them like a mega-dose of caffeine, but a 60-pound dog (she accidently experimented on one of her greyhounds) must eat a whole pound of chocolate to have a heart attack.

White chocolate technically has no cocoa in it; it is made of cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder and vanilla. Cocoa butter is light colored; cocoa powder is dark, and chocolate is normally dark because the powder suspends in the fat. That’s why melted chocolate sometimes looks clear or yellow- because the fat is separating from the cocoa. Dutch-processed chocolate is much darker, and it’s dark chocolate that has the antioxidants that doctors now recommend. Drink red wine and eat chocolate every day, and live to be 100! Leslie says. (And it’s all vegetarian, says Prithi).

January 25, 2008

[The management is happy to reinstate Tar Wheel Publisher Cooper Thornton into the writing rotation.  The following is all his fault.  Now he just has to learn to take pictures like Yours Truly.  Besides the  generic crowd scene, the mug shot of our speaker is from his blog, which can be found here: http://community.myfoxwghp.com/blogs/Neill_McNeill/ ] 

Well, well, well. And so we meet again. Scribing for the first time in many months, I am reminded of the Pearl Jam lyrics, “I just wanna scream, ‘HELLO! My gosh it’s been so long, never dreamed you’d return, but now here you are and here I am. Hearts and thoughts, they fade away…’” Maybe they do, but I’m happy to report that mine have never drifted too far from yours, Rabid Readers, and it feels good to tickle the keys once more.

Your Scribe sat with the formidable table of Steve Eblin, David Renfro, Diane Frost, April Thornton, Rodney Mason, Elizabeth Cox, and Phil Koonce. Someone complimented Diane’s red overcoat, which Diane has coined her Marlo Thomas coat. “I just think it looks like something she’d wear,” explained Diane, and it did. April was also cloaked in red, but I was too busy scribing (scribbling?) to ask if her coat has a namesake. No one else was brightly lit, although Rodney was still wearing the purple and yellow bruises of his healing black eye. “No more bar fights,” I teased Rodney.

“Bang!” went the bell, calling our meeting to order. President H.R. Gallimore began by thanking Joy for tickling the keys of a different sort. We took time to greet one another, exchanging smiles, handshakes, and other pleasantries. Russ Williams led the 4-Way Test, and H.R. the Pledge. Don Allred said a simple, but thoughtful prayer for nourishment, sustenance, and hope. Amen to that.

Mini Singh introduced Alan Pugh who introduced his own guests, the only guests of the day. His was a political round table consisting of N.C. Senators, Jerry Tillman and Fred Smith, and Smith’s Chief of Staff, DeVan Barbour. Alan joked that Jerry attended college at Elon for two reasons: He could throw a baseball 93 mph and could spell Elon. Whether he could do both at the same time wasn’t addressed, and with no student guests on hand, our introductions were concluded.

Back at the podium, H.R. bragged on some of our members for their recent recognition at the annual Chamber meeting, held last weekend. It was a red-letter day for Duffy Johnson who was inducted into the Chamber’s Red Jacket Club, and whose company, Carolina Bank, was awarded Business of the Year. Harold Holmes was named Citizen of the Year, and Kaye Bryant is this year’s Chamber President Elect. Congrats, hats (off), and pats (on the back) to you all.

“Won’t You be Mine Sweet” Valentine’s Day is just around the bend, and Russ Williams invited all of us to attend the Family of Rotary’s “Valentine’s Night” in Greensboro, fittingly held on Valentine’s night. That’s February 14^th to me and thee. Festivities to be the Greensboro Symphony’s Pops Concert, and Club members can purchase tickets from Russ for the discounted price of $15. Reception and dinner tickets are also available for $25, but you’ll have to ask Russ for more details about that.

Linda Cranford and the Social Committee are still taking-up surveys regarding your personal preferences about social meetings and activities attended by spouses. “I’m against them,” quipped someone from the table over, but I couldn’t tell who over my own chuckles. If you haven’t filled one out, pick-up your survey at the Back Table or see Miss Linda.

H.R. concluded the business end of our meeting with a stroll down Tarwheel Memory Lane. The year was 1943, the clever-as-ever Red Underwood was scribing, but Your “out-of-practice” Scribe missed the rest of the best while looking back through his notes for clarification on another subject. Pitiful. No excuses and no disrespect intended to the late, great Mr. Underwood or to our esteemed President. Red could play a tall, cool typewriter (or maybe he liked to write by longhand like me) and reminds us that it’s not always the tale, but he who tells it.

Mr. Leo Derrick provided an introduction of our Guest Speaker that belonged in lights. Neill McNeill started working at WGHP in 1983. That’s 25 years ago to you and me. It was around that time he did a story from the fire tower on the top of Dave’s Mountain, and I was nothing short of astounded when he knocked on my parent’s door to borrow our telephone. “Mom! Neill McNeill was in our house today!” Neill has worked in almost every on-air news position since joining the station, and has co-anchored morning, noon, nightly, and weekend broadcasts. In the 1980s, Neill helped develop the investigative franchise now known as “FOX 8 On Your Side”, and currently co-anchors the FOX 8 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 News. I once told an out-of-town friend of mine that our local news anchor was named Neill McNeill. He was so amused by the name he started saying, “Hi, I’m Phill McPhill. Hi, I’m Bill McBill.” And so forth. I guess maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hysterical.

Curiously, Neill chose not to talk about his career as a TV newsman, broadcast journalism, or even television in general. Instead he spoke about the characteristics and merits of being a good leader. Quoting from the popcorn movie, “Night at the Museum”, Neill recited a key line from the film: “Some people are born with greatness, others have it thrust upon them.” He mused about being unprepared for the spotlight in 2001 when Fred Blackman retired. Despite all of his years of grooming for lead anchor, Neill felt the full weight of the station on his shoulders. He was 40 years old and unhappy by what had been “thrust upon him.” It was then that things changed for the better. Upon attending a leadership seminar for TV news anchors, Neill received an epiphany in the form of 10 Questions that changed his life. Will they change yours? Well, that’s a question only you can answer. In no particular order, here are 10 questions to becoming a better leader:

1. Am I sharing the BIG PICTURE, and including my employees in it?

2. Have I specifically defined my expectations of my employees?

3. Do I provide frequent, specific praise?

4. Do I hold everyone on my team accountable, myself included?

5. Have I set a tone of optimism?

6. Have I set a tone of creativity?

7. Have I set a tone of integrity?

8. Have I provided my employees with the tools they need to do their jobs?

9. Have I encouraged the value of learning?

10. Am I listening?

Upon completing his list of questions, Neill opened the floor to further ones. Keith Criscoe asked if Neill had any sage advice for politicians who aspire to greatness for the greater good. Neill suggested a person can’t be elected without emotionally connecting with voters. Privthi Hanspal hit a nerve when he asked why most news is negative. Neill protested that many news reports are positive, but that uplifting stories are largely ignored.

He might of said more, but for the second time that day, I wasn’t listening.

January 4, 2008

There was joy at Asheboro Rotary last Friday, but no Joy- mainly because the piano was a couple of soirees away. The RCC Foundation employee appreciation brunch took up most of AVS and squeezed us into the southwest corner. It was cozy and turned out to facilitate the comraderie of our program. But it also has us better appreciate the fact that we’re not squenched together like sardines most Fridays. How did the club manage Back in the Day when the entire assembly shoe-horned itself into Red’s Chicken Hut, or the Kiwanis Teen Building? Our modern club has found itself in tight quarters even with the entire AVS building available– as at last year’s Mental Health Forum with the Chamber, for example. Is it just that modern Americans are bigger all the way around and require more liebensraum?

Elizabeth Mitchell, program-presenter-to-be, led the 4WT, and Phil Shore thanked God for cold weather that kills bugs. {I must also say, that when we all “exchanged pleasantries,” Phil said he wanted his back. Indian giver, indeed!}

Rebecca Redding welcomed guests Amy Byrd, with Dame Elizabeth; Christie Smith and Art Martinez with Carole Matney; and Linda Gunter with Owen George. Rodney Mason introduced our student guests Jill Allen and Ryan Lassiter. Jill, the daughter of Doug and Donna Allen, is up to a lot at AHS, plays trombone with the band, and intends to study nursing at UNC-W. Ryan, son of Bill and Sheila Lassiter, is on the varsity soccer team among many other things, and will be studying engineering at NCSU.

President HR congratulated fertile grandpere John O.H. Toledano on the occasion of the birth of another grandchild; that makes ten! HR then read us an excerpt from a Tar Wheel of 1948, where Red wrote about the “firehouse game” of McCrary Eagles basketball, and a question from the crowd about “the chasers”- those guys in long pants that blow whistles during the game.

The Rotary Information Committee was in charge of the program, and Queen Elizabeth was determined that we actually get a mother lode of info out of the day. Information- what is it good for? Learn from it/ file it away/ pass it along… SoLa Liz had invented “an interactive group exercise” for us. She handed out white envelopes containing a special rehetorical or philosophical question to each table; the table was to discuss the question, determine an answer, and present their answer to the group through a spokesperson.

Questions included:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

What would you do if you won the lottery?

How to have your cake and eat it, too.

Why does a stitch in time save nine?

Why did the Titantic sink?

Who invented the internet?

What do we know about the life and times of HR Gallimore?

What happened on this day in history, January 4, 1983?

What are ten uses for a Rotary name badge?

Why is an American football called a pigskin?

What’s the Number One Word or Phrase of 2007?

Answers:

1.  The Egg, is the scientific answer; See http://science.howstuffworks.com/question85.htm ; but for the philosophical circular cause and causality dilemma first formulated by Aristotle, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken-and-egg_problem .

2.  “Give $50 to the Rotary Foundation and then move away”  was the table’s answer.

3.The phrase’s earliest recording is from 1546 as “wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?” (John Heywood’s ‘A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue’) alluding to the impossibility of eating your cake and still having it afterwards; the modern version (where the clauses are reversed) is a corruption which was first signalled in 1812. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_one’s_cake_and_eat_it_too

4. Meaning “A little preventative maintenance can eliminate the need for major repairs later. (see also An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.) From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

5. On the night of April 14, at 11:40 p.m., The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank just under three hours later, at 2:20 AM, on April 15, 1912. The 1,517 passengers who drowned constitute the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history. The ship was cruising at a speed of 22 knots, and after sighting the iceberg, turned in an attempt to avoid it. The turn resulted in grazing the iceberg, and opening up a gash through six of the ship’s sixteen watertight compartments. The Titantic could remain afloat with any two of the compartments flooded, but since none of the compartment bulkheads extended above the waterline, all six gradually flooded and pulled the ship under. It was suggested in the 1912 Congressional inquiry that if the officers in charge had not attempted to avoid the collision, but instead hit the iceberg head-on, the ship would not have sunk. Recently metallurgists have suggested that an inferior grade of iron was used in the ship’s construction, and that otherwise the collision would not have popped so many rivetted hull plates in the first place. The descendants of the ship’s Irish builders in Belfast vigorously dispute this assertion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic

6. Twenty-five years (this year) ago a couple of guys at a then-obscure military agency named DARPA — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—switched over to a new computer standard called TCP/IP. The switch suddenly made it possible for small experimental computer networks all over the country to talk to each other — and that made the Internet possible. One of those guys was Vinton Cerf, who is commonly called “The Father of the Internet,” and he is interviewed on NPR here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17872707 .

7. HR Gallimore, Jr. [Your Scribe is pledged as a member of the fraternity of Juniors not to reveal what the initials stand for, but hint: it’s the same as his father] joined us at Asheboro Rotary in September, 1995, on the recommendation of Wayne Thomas . [“What was I thinking?” Wayne has asked himself several times…] He was a member of the Asheboro High class of 1971, along with Kathy Homiller, and by all accounts was a WILD and CRAZY guy. He is married to the long-suffering Vickie Gallimore, and they own RE/MAX Realty here in Asheboro. It is reliably said by HR himself that Vickie tamed him, and that his daughter takes after her father and not her mother. His grandmother Inez Parks McMath was the first historian of Ramseur, and lived there on the corner on US 64 where Dominos Pizza is now. A high-powered car nut from a VERY early age, HR talked his loving grandmother into buying the first TransAm ever sold in Randolph County, for which Dan Thomas was grateful. Grandma went on to buy several other muscle cars, which young HR carefully looked after for her. Yes, there’s a lot more to that story.

8. In his first major speech, new Soviet President Yuri V. Andropov declared on January 4, 1983, that the Soviet economy had been hobbled by sloth, absenteeism and drunkenness, and that he was against all that. (See the New York Times for details.) Courtesy of Bonnie Renfro, a few other important milestones for that January: Tom Brokaw became the host of NBC Nightly News; the Final Episode of the TV show M.A.S.H aired on January 15, 1983; the first AEGIS class destroyer, the U.S.S. Ticonderoga, was commissioned January 22, 1983.

9. Frisbee; Paper clip; clothes pin; beer coaster; circle template; one cool earring; and 4 other things I didn’t write fast enough to record for posterity.

10. “Because calling it a pig’s bladder, which is what it actually is (or was), is a bit too real even for football players. In the days before vulcanized rubber, animal bladders were easily obtained, more or less round, readily sealed and inflated, and reasonably durable–just the thing if you wanted to play the medieval equivalent of soccer. In later years the bladder might be covered with leather (not necessarily pigskin) for added protection.” See The Straight Dope answer at http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_121.html .

11. “Don’t taze me, bro!” is the 2007 phrase of the year [http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid53162.aspx ]; “W00t!” (an exclamation of happiness and triumph used by internet and computer game players) is the 2007 word of the year [ http://www.m-w.com/info/07words.htm ]. [On the other hand, www.woot.com is a specialty shopping site, where one really awesome deal a day is presented for purchase.]

November 2, 2007

“Club Assembly” was the theme for today, meaning that our tub was standing on its own bottom without being propped up by a speaker. President HR said that meant it was time for us to “have some fun.” The Scribe Table really didn’t even need that encouragement. Phil Shore, listening to Joy play “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” offered that it might just be Fats Waller Day. Whether it was the usual fault of Elizabeth Mitchell, Phil Shore and Richard Garkalns I Can’t Say (some ascribed the extra dose of salts to Allen Holt, a visitor from more rarefied tables), but the Scribe Table did get rather rowdy before Joy and Eric Satie and “Trois Gymnopedies” quieted things down again.

Eventually we had the usual Greeting, Test, Pledge and Prayer; then Mini Singh welcomed guests Rachel Hayes, with Elizabeth Cox; Sarah McNulty, with Mac Whatley; and from the Randolph Club, Jim Campbell, Ed Bunch and Harry Lane.

Michael Smith introduced AHS student guests Megan Darden, son of Danny Darden, who is vice president of the senior class. She loves travelling to foreign countries and speaking Spanish, and she intends to major in that at UNC-CH. Mitchell Lancaster is the son of Lynn and Tracy Lancaster and attends the Zoo School (where he has something called “Zero Period,” in which he studies AP Chemistry online at 7:30 AM) . He runs track and cross country and just became an Eagle Scout. He intends to study Chemical Engineering at college.

HR asked Your Scribe to introduce Sarah McNulty, who I actually introduced in these pages a couple of weeks ago. She’s a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill whose family now lives in Greensboro, but whose grandparents founded and ran Hop’s Restaurant at the corner of Sunset and Church streets. For her senior project at Chapel Hill she’s researching the story of that restaurant and its impact on the community, particularly during the early 60s when it was the last hold-out against integration. She came today to meet people who may have known her grandparents and who are willing to share stories about them and their restaurant and Asheboro in the Sixties. (It’s a fascinating project, and let me share that after the meeting, we had a fantastic visit with Miz Vastine Franks, now 82 years old and working daily at Asheboro Daycare, but back then a beautician and one of the organizers of the sit-ins. More on that some day…)

President HR congratulated Leo Derrick on his birthday, but all Leo would admit to was that he intended to celebrate “the Fortieth Anniversary of his 39th Birthday.” In accord with the municipal elections next week, HR shared a note from a Tar Wheel of May 1941, where Red congratulated Ollie Presnell, “another Rotary Mayor.” Mayor Presnell campaigned “Ground Hog Style,” that is, Underground, where he couldn’t be found to make any promises good or bad. (Today we’d call that a “Stealth Campaign.”)

HR introduced our own Patrick O’Hara to start off a round-Robin discussion of Dictionary Day, which came off with few hitches a week and a half ago. The Asheboro, Randolph, Archdale and Liberty clubs joined to distribute 700 dictionaries to all the third graders in all the county’s elementary schools that Wednesday. Though Patrick was the Foreman of our part of that rodeo, the idea came via Assistant District Governor MaryJoan Pugh, who got it from a member of the Liberty Club (and Allen Holt and I both think that the Club or some other clubs in the District did something like it many years ago, but we’ll have to do some research and get back to you on that). But whoever thought it up, the feedback from teachers, parents and students was that it was a great idea, greatly appreciated and well executed, and needs to become a regular Rotary activity.

Patrick thanked “The Dirty Dozen,” 12 Asheboro Rotarians who met at the YMCA that Wednesday morning and disbursed in groups to give away books. They are: Patrick himself, Rebecca Redding, Rob Reese, Phil Koonce, HR Gallimore, Mary Joan Pugh, Elizabeth Mitchell, Everett Thomas, Linda Cranford, Mini Singh, George Bain, and Cathy Clark. A number of them shared their experience. Phil Koonce said that it was so special because the kids were so responsive, that there was a huge positive reaction to being given a book of their very own to keep. Elizabeth said one little child said, “You mean we don’t have to give this back?” and she said no, write your name in it and take it home! Everett Thomas noted that a teacher told him, crying, that it would be the only dictionary in the homes of most of the children. Linda Cranford said that at Lindley Park they talked to the kids about book care (don’t bend it so hard it breaks the back; keep it away from the dog) and that they became fascinated looking up the facts and dates in the back of the book.

Patrick said that a teacher at Tabernacle told him that since that day, one child of a single parent home has brought her a new word every day, and is starting to participate in school in a renewed way. Children, Patrick reminded us, are 50% of our population and 100% of our future. He volunteered to head up the program again next year, and the general consensus of the club is that this is definitely something to keep up with.

October 5, 2007

We filled up the room last Friday, and many of the crowd were visitors. Just at the Scribe Table, we had Jaci Betts hosting her long-suffering husband, Dr. Charles Betts (heh, just kidding Jaci!), together with Shawn Poe, soon to be a new member. Shawn works with the Career Center at RCC, and is married to Darrell Poe, OSHA inspector and Caraway stock car owner. (I know we’ll hear more about all that later.) Then we also had, with Sandy Grey, his wife Ann and friends Jim Biggers and Adrienne Bailey. At the table next door there was another crowd, all guests of Jamie Stitt: his wife Janice, neighbor Add Penfield, and Peggy and Howard Kilburn. Tom Barton, Ralph Hardison and Aaron Slafky were all visiting from the Randolph Club, where Elizabeth Mitchell, Sandy Grey, Jerry Hill and Your Scribe had all been present Wednesday to hear Elizabeth talk about United Way. [The speakers may change, but the food remains the same...]

Chronologically I’m ahead of myself, but Assistant Sergeant at Arms Mini Singh really did eventually introduce all those people after the usual Four Way (Jamie Stitt) , POA (Prez HRG), and Invocation (Everett T with two prayers for peace). Doug Aiken introduced our student guests from AHS. Caroline Cox, Talmadge Baker’s neighbor, is the daughter of Beth and Craig Cox; she plays on the undefeated AHS volleyball team, is President of the Key Club, and plans to go to ASU and study Insurance Risk Management and Spanish (she was in Spain just this summer, as a matter of fact). Chad Shannon, son of Kathleen, plays baritone in the marching band, is on the Quiz Bowl team and in the Latin Club, and is applying not only to ASU but to Oxford, hoping to study history, philosophy and English. He’s interested in teaching on the university level.

This being the first Friday of the month there were lots of birthdays, most of which passed by me in a whirr, except for October 20th, which I heard is shared by Elizabeth Mitchell and Ted Matney. In Rotary anniversaries, we have John Redding, 11 years, Lyn White 12 years, and Lib Cox, 14 years.

On October 17th, the Book Committee and any other interested parties will meet at 8:45 AM at the YMCA. Under the supervision of Patrick O’Hara, they will then travel to 7 elementary schools and give all the Third Graders their very own Dictionary. If you’ve got the time, be there and help out!

ATTENTION!!! NOTICE!!! ACHTUNG!!!

    There is no meeting for us at AVS next Friday!!!

    We will meet WEDNESDAY, jointly with the Randolph Club, at AVS, to hear Senator Richard Burr, the junior United States Senator from North Carolina.

    Remember, we meet on WEDNESDAY. If you come Friday, you will be LONELY.

Also, the Friday after that we will be hosting the District Governor; and the Friday after that we will meet at REMC, not at AVS. Keep those acronyms straight.

Tar Wheel Archive: from December 11, 1974. Dan Thomas introduced the Student Guest who Your Scribe Red Underwood heard to like “fishing, women and motorcycles.” Alas, “women,” really was “swimming.” Red attributed the difference to Dan’s mumble, though Red (80-something at the time, I think) thought everyone was mumbling then.

Welcome to New Members!

George Bain, Master Trash Sweeper, introduced Roma Cheek to the club. Born a Swindell in Robbins, NC, she started out as a dental hygenist and then went on to dental school at Chapel Hill, so now she has a shingle of her own. One might think being born in Robbins is enough of a farm connection, but George says she is also a member in good standing of the Cow Pie Supper Club, three couples who may not be too finicky about what they eat. For good measure George also threw in a farm joke involving a cow, barbed wire, and “udder destruction.”

Linda Cranford next arose to introduce Cathy Carter Clark, owner of Carter’s Family Pharmacy which back in the day when it was founded by her father Leo Carter, was The Medicine Shoppe. Leo and wife Helen used to be the award-winning rose growers of Asheboro. Cathy’s a member of First Presbyterian Church (no farm connection here- she’s connected to the real Old Boy Network) and is a member of the Randolph County Board of Health. Her daughter Ann Lee now lives in San Jose, CA.

Our own Professor James W. Stitt, Chairman of the Department of History and Politics at High Point University, introduced his fellow Professor of History Larry Simpson. We aren’t clear if this is the 4th or 5th year Larry has been to speak to the club about current affairs in the Middle East. You may remember that Larry has degrees from Waynesburg College in Waynesburg, PA (go Yellow Jackets!); Troy State (now just plain Troy University, in folksy Alabama); and a PhD from West Virginia U (the Mountaineers are the pride of Morgantown). Besides all the courses he teaches on the middle east, Africa and Russia, the HPU website also reveals the Larry is the faculty advisor of the College Republicans. [The days of liberal academics are long past, folks.]

If Winston Churchill hadn’t already used the title, Larry says we could call the current state of middle eastern affairs “The Gathering Storm.” He expects something big to happen after Ramadan, and is particularly worried about the Iranian nuclear program. Just last month there was a secret Israeli air strike on a site in Syria just 40 miles from the Iraqi border, and the lack of public comment indicates to Larry that it was something everyone wants to hide- like nuclear materials from North Korea. Syria claims that they never saw the Israeli planes, implying that the US has given them some kind of stealth technology. Added to the tough talk about Iran’s nuclear program, and the recent PR strike to villify Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Larry won’t be surprised if we see some kind of US military action against their nuclear program. Since Iran has a history of standing up to the big powers, that means that it’s a near certainty Iran would retaliate. We tend to underestimate Ahmadinejad and the Iranians, he says.  Even though the Iranian economy is in tatters, he expects they’ll have a nuclear program before they have any kind of internal social change.

There were lots of questions, as usual. Larry says he supported going into Iraq, but is afraid there would be anarchy if we engage in a speedy withdrawal. Stepping out is not as easy as getting in.  It’s also complicated by China’s support of Iran, which is all about the oil [just like America's involvement in Iraq, huh?].  China has no oil, and wants to knock “the American hegemon” out of the Middle East.  The time ended, but the questions continued after class…  

REMEMBER:  GO TO ROTARY ON WEDNESDAY FOR THE JOINT MEETING!!! 

September 7, 2007

The first thing an arriving guest saw this Friday at the front door of AVS was the tell-tale evidence of the presence of Allen Holt: the Holtmobile was parked in the spot of obvious honor, and looked in tip-top shape for her age, staid yet spiffy in basic black. A turn of one’s eye toward the south, however, would catch a glimpse of another old-timer, this one dressed like a Duke student and driving the metallic orange station wagon in the background. A lesson perhaps, in how some things age with grace and dignity, and others rage against the dying of the light?

After enjoying Joy’s rousing rendition of “Pink Panther,” Phil Shore gave the Scribe Table a whiff of”Everything’s Coming Up Roses” in honor of RSVP’s announcement that they’ll produce “Gypsy” next summer. One of the wags asked Alan Pugh if he intended to try out for THAT title role. But no, it appears that he doesn’t want to endure wearing the ‘pasties’…

Revving up to speed, Michael Smith led the Four Way, Phil gave the invocation, and Rebecca welcomed guests Kathy Davis (with Elizabeth Cox), Roma Cheek, with George Bain, and Mark Key (guest of the club, in honor of his daughter our speaker). Vickie Gallimore, supervisor of President HR, was the only other visitor from the Randolph Club.

Speaking of HR, he reminded the club of the upcoming Rotary football Saturday at WFU, and of the District Golf Tournament October 11th. Bill Batten has a birthday this week. And our anniversaries this month: John O. Toledano, 40 years; Sam Cranford, 39 years; Doug Aitken, 33 years; Jim Rich, 31 years; Huntley Bossong, 12; Steve Eblin, 10; Everett Thomas, 7.

Tar Wheel History: In the issue of Thursday March 24, 1960, past president Bob Wood, a pillar of Central Methodist Church, complained at the Methodist Men breakfast that Methodist Men weren’t even interested in Methodist Women at 7AM.

I’m thinking that HR mined that quote from Tar Wheel history in honor of Mark Key, current pastor at Central Methodist, and current president of the Randolph Club. Mark sat at the front table with our speaker, his daughter Krista Key. Krista was sponsored by the Wednesday Club to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Program at Guilford College this summer, and was here to tell us about her experience (since, for some reason that escapes me, our club didn’t send anyone this year, though in the past we’ve sent 3 or 4 each summer).

Krista is a senior at AHS this year, and a valued member of the tennis team, as Phil Koonce reminded us. She spoke to us about the RYLP camp where she was one of 51 students sponsored by our District and participating in the classes run by the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro. There was a ropes course to build trust and teamwork; a card tournament to teach communication without talking, vespers from representatives of different religions, and a speech by the CEO of VF Corporation. She liked the personality types training (she’s an ESFP on the Myers-Briggs scale), and practicing leadership roles. She’s especially looking forward to using some of those skills at school this year.

President HR then showed the club a Paul Harris pin with two sapphires, which we received in honor of Bob Bunker’s testamentary gift to the Rotary Foundation. HR said we’d soon see it on one of the club banners. Next up was Don Allred, who installed some of the officers who missed the swearing-in back in June: Kathy Homiller, Sam Cranford, Mini Singh, and Rebecca Redding. Still not sworn in, is Cooper Thornton, whose picture must be on a milk carton by now.

Missing Next Week: President HR Gallimore. Ed Clayton will be substituting at the podium. You are forewarned!!