February 29, 2008

 [Thanks to Scribe Emeritus Phil Shore for jumping in today, while Mac was legally working- working legally?- over in sunny Salisbury. Out topic today is taxes, and the illustrations are courtesy of Google Images.  I personally totally agree with Richard about the need to invest public money in infrastructure.  It's a crime against posterity that Randolph County hasn't done better about this in the past.

However, let me just point out the interesting difficulty of finding PRO-tax increase images on the internet. Out of 50 pages of google images, the ones you see here were the least partisan or most neutral.   Believe it or Not.  Richard: get some county employees to post some positive spin out there. The anti-tax stuff will write itself.

The following illustration had nothing to do with sales tax, but I couldn't resist it:  ]

Joy Menius, at her usual high standard, accompanied the chaotic gnashing of our teeth and the clanking of our flatware against china with the sublime, well-organized sounds of music. Thank you, Joy.

President H.R. welcomed us with a bit of information about leap-Fridays. What are the chances of having five Fridays in the month of February? One in twenty-eight. The last one occurred in 1980 and the next one will visit us for the Rotary meeting in 2036. Mark your calendars now and plan to bring a friend!

The Prez was cranking the meeting out today. He and Vickie Gallimore had a plane to catch.  To Las Vegas. Will the Co-Treasurers please check the Foundation Account?

Our adult guests were all visiting Rotarians, save one. Richard Wells (our speaker), Jim Campbell, Gail Moore, Maggie Stevens and Mrs. V. Gallimore all came from the Randolph Club. Jeannine Thompson, our frequently visiting friend from the Bakersfield, CA, club, joined us today. Teresa Burton, the Southwestern Randolph High School Guidance Counselor, came as escorts to her students.

We hosted four student guests today. Maria Perez and Alyssa Koehler came from SWRHS. Kayla Davis and Kirby Micka came from Asheboro High School.

Maria is president of the Beta Club, the Chief Junior Marshal, and serves on the Student Advisory Board. She is also Hospitality Minister and an interpreter. Her college plans are not definite yet, but they include work in graphic design. Alyssa plays varsity tennis, performs in the marching band, the wind ensemble, and the Asheboro Flute Choir. She is a member of FFA, Science Club, Beta Club, among other clubs. She plans to major in bio-agricultural engineering at NC State University.

Kayla is a member of the National Honor Society and the Girl Scouts (she has completed the Bronze and Silver Awards and is completing the Gold Award). Another of her major interests is dance, which she takes and teaches. She is headed to Guilford College to major in forensic science with a minor in dance. Kirby is an Eagle Scout and a member of the band, the Jazz Band and the Latin Club. He intends to take a degree in pharmacy when he goes to college.

 Next week’s program will be a very interesting one—Concerning Aphasia. April Thornton has arranged this for us.

H.R. handed the podium to Greg Spainhour to introduce our speaker, County Manager Richard Wells. Richard is well known to the Asheboro Rotary Club. He is a past-president of the Randolph Club, the former head librarian of the Randolph County Library System, the former Head Librarian of Randolph Community College, and a man who loves cars. Richard has brought innovation and political savvy to each of his positions.  

After first asking who was packing heat legally or illegally, Richard announced his topic: the county-wide referendum on a quarter-per-cent sales tax increase.    

On May 6 Randolph County voters will voice an opinion about an increase in sales tax from 6.75% to 7% on goods and services. Richard said he knew very well that no one likes to discuss raising taxes in any form.  

Why do we need to raise the sales tax? Because school construction and infrastructure improvements (such as extending water and sewer lines to more parts of the county) require funding as simultaneously the County’s bill for Medicaid continues to rise. He reminded us that although the state is providing relief from the Medicaid bill, the state is also taking a larger portion of the sales tax.  Thus, infrastructure needs still suffer.

This method of taxing is fairer than simply socking it to property owners.  We all buy things and pay a sales tax almost without thinking about it.  It would require a 2.5 cents per $100 valuation increase to equal revenues earned by the quarter per cent sales tax increase. In promotion of the referendum, which Richard stressed, must be presented in a neutral fashion, not telling voters how to vote, the County has adopted the slogan, “Everybody benefits, so everybody pays.”  

One advantage of the sales-tax method of gathering revenue is that out-of-county residents help us along everytime they buy something in Randolph County.  The tax is not applied to gasoline, groceries, medicine. The revenues earned will support the construction of our two newest high schools (coming in at around $30 million each) and the $20 million bill for extending the water lines.

Richard left a generous amount of time for questions—of which there were really very few. Within his presentation he covered most of the things people may have had on their minds. There were several comments of support for the referendum and the method of gaining revenue.

  Then H.R. hustled us out of there so he could get to the airport. Tune in next week for what didn’t stay in Vegas.

February 1, 2008

Unbeknownst to Your Scribe, Febuary First was National Wear Red Day to create awareness of women’s heart disease. A good many of our tribe did get that memo, however, and were appropriately attired, starting with Steve Eblin and April Thornton at the head table. Others were scattered out amongst the crowd, but I think the red on Tom Hansen’s jersey had more to do with the Super Bowl than with heart disease….

John Grey opened with a prayer, and we pledged and tested and etc. as usual. Mini Singh introduced guests David Harrington , with Jaci Betts, Emily Ledwell with Jerry Hill, and Jim Campbell of the Randolph Club. Alan Pugh introduced student guests Alexandria Smith and Bryce Duncan from AHS. Alexandria is the daughter of Todd and Marquita Shrewsbury; she plays varsity soccer, is active in many other areas, works at Zeko’s and plans to attend UNC to become a pediatric dentist. Bryce, sporting a natty bow tie, is the son of Elyse and William Duncan, runs track and cross country, is an Eagle Scout, has been accepted at Southern Wesleyan University but is currently looking into joining the Air Force.  He has also been trained to cook barbecue at Zack’s out in Tabernacle, so his future appears to be assured.

President HR thanked the Club for its support after the passing of his mother last Friday, and noted that Elizabeth Cox’s mother also passed away this week.  He read to the Club from the Triad Business Journal, which had articles about the Zoo School, Bob Morrison and the hospital expansion, and a little article quoting Keith Chrisco entitled “Asheboro Confronts Liquor Divide.”  Dipping into the historical well, he read from the Tar Wheel of December 6, 1944, where a kindly parent offerred a $50,000 incentive for the first grandchild, and cleared the dinner table.

Our program, introduced by Steve Eblin, was Asheboro Police Chief Gary Mason.  Gary, the son of former APD officer and late High Sheriff of Randolph County Bob Mason, himself joined the APD in 1978.  He received his BA from Guilford College, attends Crossroads Baptist Church, and coaches just about every youth league imaginable.  He has been married to Joanna for 20 years, has a 17 year old daughter and a 13 year old son.

Gary started on the bottom rung of the police department and after 21 years, rose to the top.  Twenty years ago he was offered a year for more money in Alamance County, but stayed in Asheboro and was promoted to sergeant a week later.  He has been Chief since 1999, and says his bad habits have gradually dropped away to one:  he doesn’t drink, smoke, dip or chew to relieve stress, but he does admit to overeating.

Chief Mason gave the club an overview of crime and crime prevention in our community.  Something new is theft of valuable metal, which people sell to recyclers.  There have been thefts of catalytic converters from cars, copper piping from home plumbing, and wire and cable from the telephone and power companies.  Gary also warned against leaving your broken-down car along the interstate- people will drag it off to crush it for the metal.

In narcotics, there has recently been a epidemic of fake dope being sold- the flow of cocaine is so restricted that pushers sell just about anything white and powdery.  In 2006, more than 5 million grams of cocaine were seized; in 2007 that declined by more than half, indicating the flow was being cut off at our borders.   3600 pounds of “Gold Leaf” marijuana was recently seized in an Asheboro warehouse, and it was estimated to be worth about $6.5 million.   The amount of methamphetamine seized has tripled, but the street price has declined- this is due to an increase in the huge amounts coming in from other places.  Heroin has never been popular in Randolph County, but there is a significant market for it in High Point and Greensboro.

Asheboro still has prostitution on the East Side, and minimal gang activity– the Chief thinks gang members like here, but are more active in Durham and Greensboro, which have regular gang-related club shootings.  Gangs do control drug traffic; “Sir13″ controls up to the southern side of Asheboro, and the Latin Kings from Greensboro control from the north down.  There was recently a hit on a leader of the southern gang at his home in a gated community in Seven Lakes, in Moore County.  Gary thinks AHS is as drug-free and gang-free as any school in the state, thanks in part to its two SROs.

The APD is currently in a generational transition, Gary says.  Out of the 82 people in the department, many of the Chief’s generation are reaching employment maturity.  Just yesterday Timmy Lee retired after 30 years working the streets, vice, and the detective bureau.   Major Tony York, his “right hand man,” retired last summer after 32 years.  And Gary is looking at the day when he too will retire- perhaps within the next couple of years!

January 11, 2008

{No photos today… you’ll just have to picture the meeting through the eyes of special guest correspondent, Phil Shore:} 

 Although the sun was mightily shining as we began our meeting, Joy Menius regaled us with a batch of rainy day songs that bolstered our spirits and upholstered our conversation. The chatter at my table mostly had to do with a bunch of Carolina sports fans declaring it unfair to allow giants to play basketball.

Mini Singh introduced our guests.  Jim Biggers, Jackie Biggers, and Ann Grey were guests of Sandy Grey.  Carol Matney brought Christie Smith.  Emily Ledwell was the guest of Jerry Hill.

We hosted two student guests from Asheboro High School.  Brandie Tew is a varsity cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society and the Key Club.  Her hobbies are photography and laying out in the sun.  She plans to attend either East Carolina, Western Carolina or Appalachian to major in physical therapy or exercise science. With her was Eric Araj.  Eric belongs to the Board Game Club.  He enjoys cycling, racing, soccer, and football.  He will pursue a major in engineering at a yet undetermined institute of higher education.

President H.R. noted that Carole Gilliam’s two daughters had written a note of thanks to the club for its concern and caring after Carole’s death.  They included a $300 donation to the Rotary Foundation with their message.  This was much appreciated by the membership.

Russ Williams called an area Rotary event to our attention.  There will be a Valentine’s Day dinner and concert offered shortly in Greensboro.  Stay tuned for more details.

We will have a vist from the Taiwan GSE team in April.  They will be in our area April 16-19.  Two host family homes are needed.  If you care to open your home to these exciting visitors, please let Rob know.

Our speaker today was Dr. Larry Simpson, a history professor from High Point University.  Jamie Stitt asked him to return to bring us up to speed on events and causes in the Middle East.  Ladies and gentlemen, your humble scribe did not understand what he heard.  This was not the fault of Dr. Simpson whose presentation was brief, factual, and well organized.  It is the fault of too much information attempting to enter a much too inferior brain.  Dr. Simpson presented a paper to us on the underlying causes of tension between the US and Iran.  In his last visit, Dr. Simpson emphasized his opinion that there is a high likelihood of conflict between these two nations.

Today he delved beneath the surface to the economic and political reasons.  This has mostly to do with Russian and Chinese (PRC) support for Iran.  These three less than democratic entities have aligned their needs to form strengths.  China needs oil and is willing to invest in Iran’s production infrastructure.  Russia as an oil producer  seeks to stabilize prices and keep business flowing.  Beneath these subterranean currents, deeper still, there is trade in weapons and equipment to make weapons that may or may not be those of mass destruction, but who can tell?  It was a gloomy picture in any case, one of nations playing hegemony cricket, rugby rules.

I have feeling that the powers, thrones and dominions of the world would benefit from a copy of the Four Way Test.

November 30, 2007

Joy was in honkey-tonkin’ piano mode today, which gave a lively and festive atmosphere to our proceedings.

Josh Strickler appeared as the guest of James Gouty; Little Miss Nikki was the guest of godmother Elizabeth Mitchell at the Scribe Table; Carla Hughes was ostensibly the guest of husband Foster, but mysteriously seated at their table was Foster’s boss John Ogburn, member of the Wednesday club but here today as guest of Jaci Betts (of which, more later). Ed Bunch made up from the Randolph Club. Our student guests from AHS were Loren Moles and Emily Koch. Loren, daughter of Carla and Kenny, is on the school and YMCA swim team, a member of the Mock Trial team and President of the National Honor Society. She plans to attend UNC or NCSU and become an orthodontist. Emily is the daughter of Kris and Ken Koch; she rides horses A LOT and plans to attend St. Andrews college in Laurinburg where she will major in equine business.

President HR recognized the bronzed and rested Leo Derrick, back from a birthday trip to the eastern Carribean. In honor of his recent 80th natal anniversary, we all sang Happy Birthday.

November may be Foundation Month, but we can donate to the Rotary Foundation all year long, and the End of the year is an especially good time for tax deductions. That’s why we can expect to see Bill Batten at the Back Table for the next few weeks, where he’ll be collecting money for the Foundation. Bring your checkbooks!

Speaking of the Foundation, a photo of Owen George and his GSE team in Taiwan was featured prominently in the most recent GSE alumni newsletter.

Update: a recent column by Chris Fitzsimons, one of the speakers at our “Lunch and Learn” meeting with the Chamber of Commerce, mentioned the meeting and the speakers with approval.

Jaci Betts rose at HR’s request to explain her brooch, the Paul Harris pin with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and oak leaf clusters. It starts out as a little blue button, and the more one gives, the bigger and more elaborate it gets. Bill Batten and Wilbert Hancock have similar boutonnieres, and you can too. Major Donors give $10,000 and up; the Bequest Society is for gives of $10,000 from your estate (Bob Bunker was one of those). Today Jaci was pleased to honor Foster Hughes with a Paul Harris Fellowship (there’s no telling how many of those Jaci has distributed; even Your Scribe was an honored recipient of her largesse). So Carla Hughes and John Ogburn were actually in on all this, and were present to see Foster get pinned and photographed.

The Tar Wheel read by HR dated back to January 8, 1959, when Red Underwood passed along a joke about a Rotary Member who owned a coal yard. The punch line involved the Four Way Test and the term “Additional Active Member,” which you young whipper-snappers probably never heard before. Back In The Day, there was an actual limit (2) on how many Rotary members could be from the same profession. Once a member had been a member for some time (I think 10 years), he could become a “Senior Member,” and a third “Additional Active Member” could be added in that category. It was all very complicated, and lead to job title hair-splitting and Jesuitical decision-making from the Membership Committee. Just Remember: We don’t do that any more. Bring all your friends.

State Representative Harold Brubaker was our speaker, as he was about 90 days ago, when he spoke to us about his trip to Taiwan. This time he was pinch-hitting for HR to report on his recent weeks in Rome and Berlin. Harold is the chairman of the NC General Assembly’s “International Committee,” and chairman of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Committee. This time,they went on an “Atlantic Exchange,” where Harold spoke to the Italian parliament and spoke to people you don’t find in the local Republican party, like The Baronness Billingham, a Life Peer in the British House of Lords and a regular on Sky News. (Her quote on the British Parliament: “We fight like dogs, but after the election we get together like cats.”

Harold spoke with many European politicians and was amazed at some of the comparisons to American practice. For instance, the cost of campaigning for a seat in the Italian Chamber of Deputies (their Senate) is 300,000 Euros (about $450,000). In America, the cost of a senate campaign is $10 Million. In Europe candidates run as a party slate, and the seats are apportioned according to the percentage of the vote won by the party. An Italian Deputy is paid 14,000 Euros per month (about $30,000) and they must pay for any staff support out of their salary.

Harold hung out with Archbishop John Patrick Foley of Philadelphia, who is now Cardinal Foley; in Berlin with an Irish politician named Deith O’Ceallaigh (O’Kelly), and toured around Checkpoint Charlie (it looked like an old telephone booth) and the site of the Berlin Wall, now transformed into a modern shopping district.

Harold’s number one lesson: People are people no matter where you go.

Sad News: This week two of our long-time members passed away, Fred Kearns and Dr. Ken Gobel.

Fred’s obituary is here.

Ken Gobel’s is here.

We will miss them!

November 9, 2007

If you weren’t there (and if you weren’t, only Neal and Rebecca would know), you missed quite an amazing show last Friday. A normal Friday Asheboro Rotary meeting was scheduled, but a blockbuster community event broke out. Thanks to a harmonic convergence of great topic, dynamite speakers and lack of available space, the Asheboro-Randolph Chamber of Commerce provided us with one of our most impressive programs ever. “The Impact of Mental Health Reform in North Carolina” was the topic at what was the big finale of the Chamber’s “Lunch and Learn” series, and we were lucky to get both the program and more than a hundred extra guests at lunch. Your scribe has been around since 1994, and has only seen that number of people present at a Rotary meeting at a District Conference. In order to accomodate the overflow crowd, lunch started at 11:30, and the actual program began just after noon and went until 1:15. Amazingly, very few people left before the end, a tribute to the quality of the program. But, I get ahead of events.

We tried to bring a semblance of normalcy to a atypical meeting. Joy provided our usual piano accompaniment. Jaci Betts provided world-class table arrangements in honor of the Rotary Foundation, whose scheduled program this originally was. President HR began with a rueful acknowledgment that the club and the chamber were juggling a lot of things to weld the meetings together, and warned us that it could be either ‘lunch and learn’ or ‘crash and burn.’ Luckily it was the former. Past President Ed Clayton taught the crowd the Four Way Test, and led a Prayer. Rebecca Redding recognized a few special guests (not counting the hundred or more Chamber attendees): Debbie Cole, guest of Jerry Hill; Rob Wilkins and wife Cindy, with Elizabeth Mitchell; Matt Culberson, with dad Jim; Joyia Clayton, with husband Ed; Dr. Charles Betts, with wife Jaci; Christie Smith with Carole Matney; Sean Carter with Lynn Dodge; and from the Randolph Club, Sheriff Maynard Reid and Helen Keyes. Student Guests from AHS were Steven Buhrman, son of Bill and Karen Buhrman, an active young man who rock climbs, plays rugby and is a member of the Downtown Fencing Club in Greensboro. He plays to major somewhere in engineering, with an interest in nanotechnology. Clay Long is even bigger and more active as #74 on the AHS football team, and is the son of Chief Superior Court Judge Brad Long, and Reena Strickland. Clay is 17 years old and about 6′4″, it appears, though Your Scribe remembers clearly when he was born and was little enough to carry in the one-armed football clutch. Clay has 3 sisters (one of whom is just about a year old) and hopes to attend NCSU to major in mechanical engineering where he can pursue an interest in biodiesel production.

Past President and current Assistant District Governor Mary Joan Pugh stood to start the program. She recognized Bill Batten, our Foundation Chair, who had been recognized the night before as a Major Donor at the District Foundation Banquet. Then she went through a quick recounting of Rotary’s commitment to international peace and development, for the benefit of our visitors. She then introduced local banker Tina Crutchfield, head of the Chamber Lunch and Learn program, sponsored by Chandler Concrete and RBC Centura. She introduced the Master (mistress?) of Ceremonies Ann Shaw, our late lamented Randolph County Register of Deeds. In her very active retirement, Ann now serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Randolph County Mental Health Association, a private advocacy agency funded in part by the United Way. [Chris Corsbie is the Executive Director of the Association; you could spot him pacing around the hall wearing a worried expectant father look.] Ann went down the dias to bring up the three speakers: Chris Fitzsimons, Executive Director of NC Policy Watch; Michael Watson, CEO of Sandhill Center for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; and Anthony Pugh, a Board member of the local MHA and a mental health services client.

Well, Your Scribe took 18 little note cards full of notes, but frankly I can’t do justice to the excellence of the program in the time I have available to write this newsletter. Here’s the link to the Courier-Tribune article about the meeting; you can read that. Let me just say, however, that Chris Fitzsimons did a masterful, rapid-fire history of our disastrous attempts since 2001 to “reform” mental health care in North Carolina. All agreed that we’re in worse shape now than we were then, and privatizing what amounts to a vital service has just resulted in the clients who have the ability to pay being skimmed off the top of the heap, and the rest are left to struggle for the minimal level of public services that have managed to survive. Sadly, the hospitals, jails, prisons and homeless shelters have been having to deal with the rest. I’d love to do justice to Chris’s talk, but here’s just one paraphrased quote: the bureaucrats in Raleigh who are supposed to be responsible for mental health care are playing a ’shell game of blame’ trying to shift responsibility away from themselves while the system is in a state of collapse and public hospitals are a mess. ‘What happens after hospital discharge is not our fault,’ says Michael Moseley, director of state Mental Health services. ‘It’s due to the lack of services on the local level.’ [Which the state used to support and basically starved to death. It's the old cry of the guy who killed his parents: don't blame me, I'm an orphan!] Chris said the2001 reform was”basically well-intentioned” but the rank-and-file mental health professionals aren’t so sure, and the public has gradually lost all faith in a system in crisis. The biggest problem he sees is the lack of outrage from politicians (this he directed toward Rep. Pat Hurley and Rep. Laura Wiley of High Point, both of whom were present). A study commission recommended that $100 million would be necessary to fix the system, and the most recent legislature appropriated just $3 million over the last budget. There is a complete lack of leadership from the people whose job it is to make sure people are served, and a growing feeling that politicians at the highest levels of government just don’t care. Micheal Watson had equally blunt comments about his organizations forced privatization, and the upheavals local mental health professionals have endured through 3 separate “catastrophic reorganizations.” And Anthony Pugh provided a fascinating first-hand account of a mental health service “consumer.”

So, punches really weren’t pulled. It was disturbing, but a great program. If you weren’t there, you missed a really great event!

I’ll upload more photos later…

Joint Meeting: October 10, 2007

You could tell it was a big day at AVS– not just inside the building, where we took over the whole space, for once; but there was even something different about the parking lot. Allen Holt didn’t drive a copperhead Ford, but a Copperhead Van was there all the same. And the eagle-eyed could also pick out faint tell-tale signs of our VIP speaker that a CSI might have been able to interpret correctly as evidence that North Carolina’s Junior U.S. Senator Richard Burr was somewhere close by.

When both Asheboro Rotary and Randolph Rotary meet together, it looks pretty impressive, and you can be sure that There’s a Whole Lot O’Talking Going On. In fact, we could probably have a pretty satisfying time even without a speaker at a Joint Meeting. But the Very Important Guest was the star of this show, and he had a moving escort from the time he came in the door until he stepped up on the podium. On the rugby team back in college, a cluster of players contesting for possession of the ball was called a “scrum” (they still call it a ’scrummage’ back in England, Elizabeth, which is where we get the football term ‘line of scrimmage’), and usually a player or two ended up with a black eye, bloody nose or scuffed shin before the winning side made off with the ball. Luckily no admirers were hurt in the scrum around the Senator, and the object of their affection was safely delivered to the podium. (Hey, it’s no secret that Your Scribe is Chairman of the Randolph County Democratic Party; I offered to let a card-carrying Republican write this week, but there were no takers.)

With two clubs there are two sets of officers to contend for authority, but they seemed to share power without any problems. President Mark Key of the Randolph Club started out, since by rights this is his proper meeting day. He told a political joke, “Headlines of 2035,” which had some lines about Castro lying at age 112, George Z. Bush losing his run for office, and President Chelsea Clinton banning smoking. (You had to be there.)

RCC President Bob Shackleford of the Randolph Club was introduced to provide our invocation (he’s a minister in his own right, you know). Then our own H.R. Gallimore led the Pledge, and handled the baton back to President Mark (for a hymn and the offering plate, he joked). Next week Mark announced is the 25th Anniversary of the Randolph Rotary Club, sponsored by the Asheboro Club. (Thanks, Dad! Since this Tar Wheel is posted the day after that, I hear it was a good party.) Mark also congratulated District Governor-in-Waiting Charles Allen, back from “Zone Training” (where mere mortals learn to be District Governors), on his upcoming major wedding anniversary to the lovely, yet shy, timid and self-effacing, Sandra Allen.
Randolph Club welcomed guests Candace Garrett of BB&T, Robert Lewis, Marketing Manager of the Copperheads, Maggie Stevens, of L&M Floor Covering, new lawyer Dee Hoard, and Eddie Burks, candidate for Asheboro City Council and Mayor of Franklinville 20-some years ago while Your Scribe was in law school and Otherwise Occupied. (There may have been more Randolph Rotary guests, but these were all I could rapidly memorialize.) Randolph Rotary then held their regular “50-50 Raffle, where people who bought tickets when they came in the door could draw a card to win the pot. In this instance, the pot held $244, but the winning ticket (I can’t read my note about who that was) didn’t pick a winning card, so the pot carries over.

President H.R. Gallimore took the podium for the Asheboro Rotary stage of things, and asked everyone to Meet and Greet, in our tradition. He then reminded us all of the Book Donation set for Wednesday. Here’s where the passage of time works in a blog’s favor: we actually have photos of the event, now past, where members of the Club met at the YMCA and were assigned schools to visit and give away dictionaries to third graders. A good crowd fanned out across the county, but these pix are from the HRG and Rebecca Redding foray into Balfour School, where the third graders assembled en masse

to receive their booty

. Here we see HR and Rebecca, with not a thought in their handsome heads (tell-tale empty thought balloons give them away). An exciting time, to be sure.

Rebecca introduced our club guests: Justin Tarleton, guest of Elizabeth Mitchell; Shawn Poe, with Jaci Betts; and Karen Elmore with John O. Toledano. Attending with step-Dad Neal Griffin was Christian O’Briant, learning the financial ropes at the back table. Student guests from AHS were Joey Guy, son of Steve and Lisa Guy, heading toward NCSU for vet school; and Justin Hutton, son of David and Stephanie, looking at UNC and WFU for poli sci or law. He’s started on his political career by being elected president of the Ultimate Frisbee Club.

Mark took over again for the Randolph Club’s “Happy Bucks” time, where people pay $1 to share good news. Sandra Allen was happy about her 17-year old godson interviewing at Oxford; Alan Pugh was happy about his 94-year-old father winning 6 gold medals and the recent Senior Olympics in Raleigh; Charles Allen was happy about being married to the same woman for 45 years, and that the Zone Training had attempted to teach her how to Be a Lady; David Caughron torpedoed all Sandra’s Ladylike Training by welcoming her back to the Rowdy Table (at the Asheboro Club, we just call that the Scribe Table. It’s all Phil Shore’s fault, ask anyone).

President Mark Key introduced our speaker, Senator Richard Burr. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1994, to the U.S. Senate in 2004, replacing John Edwards. The Senator has a wife and two sons, is himself the son of a Presbyterian minister, is a Rotarian, and at least to Mark (minister of Central Methodist Church in Asheboro), his highest qualification is that he is a member of Centenary Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.

Senator Burr spoke about domestic issues first. Health care is the #1 domestic issue, and the next election will decide its future: whether the government runs health care or “a vibrant private sector marketplace survives and flourishes.” He says “a tremendous fundamental change is required for health care to flourish;” the current coverage model is only triggered by illness,and doesn’t promote prevention or wellness.

On economics, he says the U.S. has “an inability to separate our future from our past. We don’t transition easily because we can’t forget about our roots, and other countries don’t have that problem.” (Evidently that mean “our roots” in traditional manufacturing jobs, which are fleeing pretty fast to the Far East, while our pool of workers isn’t being trained for high-tech work.) Even if the local economy is bad, the global economy is stronger than it’s ever been, and we must remember (he says) that the US is a member of the global economy. Successful domestic businesses are those which have created a minimum 60% investment in international business. In the future, children will be more mobile than ever before, he says, and we must equip our students to live anywhere in the world. NC school must give students the tools needed to compete in an international market. There are more cell phones in China than there are people in the US, and there are 17 million blogs there (just one here, and it’s an open question whether anybody reads it). The top 25% of Chinese students is a bigger number than the total number of US students. NC is producing one of the largest pools of college students in the US, and we must develop businesses to keep them here. At Duke, he says 95% of the current graduates will sign contracts to work in NC.

North Carolina will become the 7th most populous state within the next 18 years. Our population will increase 53%,and we’ll need a third house and 3rd school for every two we have now. He says that the most challenging political job of the future will be that of city councilman and county commissioner, coping with the growth that will be required, and planning for education. Education must bebfixed, he says, if the US is to remain an economic leader. Just 70% of US students graduate high school in four years. The percentage is better in NC, 79%, but still not what it should be. NC has the cutting edge of biotech R&D, the Senator says, and we must revise our laws and institutions to keep pace. We should “recognize what we’ve done right and admit what we’ve done wrong, and change it.” One great change, he says, was when Erskine Bowles created a seamless transition between the UNC system and the community college system. Intellectual property will be our country’s most valuable asset in the future, and our biggest challenge will be to protect new ideas and new technologies for a predictable period, so that business and industry can profit from investing in them. That will keep the US the centerpiece of the global economy.

He went on to answer questions, some about the ‘War on Terror’ (“soldiers understand that there are sacrifices to be made to live in a period of stability” -maybe, but do regular citizens?), where he expects “slow progress.” His solution for energy problems is for increased domestic oil exploration; for immigration a “national ID card for every legal resident.” His solution for ‘increasing the approval rating of Congress’ is to “get rid of her”– those at the Scribe Table filled in either Nancy Pelosi or Hilliary Clinton to complete the only obviously partisan jab of the day.