July 29 2009

Report of Wednesday's Rotary meeting:

The Rotary program was a planning session for the club's various committees. There was no speaker.

We had Rotary quests of Fred Medway and Bentley Murrell from 5pts. We had Ashley Gilfillan with Nathan Ballentine, Carmine Keene with Emilie Keene and Jacquelyn Kleynenberg with Larry Stohs.

Respectively submitted,

John Adair, reporter for 7/29/09

July 22, 2009

July 15, 2009

The Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo
Weekly Meeting Minutes
July 15, 2009


Breakfast and fellowship began at 7:30 a.m.
Business meeting called to order by President Ginny at 7:45 a.m.
Pledge of allegiance was recited
Invocation was provided by Lyman White head
The following items are mentioned:
+ Rod Funderburk introduced his guest, Emily Stanek, a current Rotary Scholar.
+ Joel Collins introduced his grandchildren, Abby and Dean, who were his guests for the morning.
+ Jeff Baldwin and Bill Daniels disclosed they were celebrating birthdays.
+ Judy Johnson and John Adair were recognized as our Club’s Rotarians of the year. A story about
Their award appeared in the July 9 issue of the Irmo News paper with pictures of them and then
President, Dr. Eddie Robinson.


Guest Speaker- Our speaker was Eddie Edelstein, an Australian who is a retired Military officer. He also
Had experience as a Department of Foreign Affairs officer and a breeder of Clydesdale
Horses. Mr. Edelstein gave an interesting talk about the geography and history of
Australia.
The meeting was adjourned by President Ginny at 8:30 a.m.

July 8, 2009

The Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo
Weekly Meeting Minutes
July 8, 2009

Breakfast and fellowship began at 7:30 a.m.

Business meeting called to order by President Ginny at 7:45 a.m.
Pledge of Allegiance was recited
Invocation was provided by Lyn Richards
Guests were introduced by “fill-in” Sergeant-at-Arms, John Hanson
Health & Happiness was provided by Zeke Riddle

The following Club announcements were made:
• Maria Hargrove sent around a sigh-up sheet for future classification speeches.
• Lyn Richards sent around a sign-up sheet for members willing to serve by providing an invocation for upcoming weekly meetings.
• President Ginny encouraged members to respond to the email survey sent out by Jay Seward via email asking for input into our fund raising efforts this coming year.
• President Ginny congratulated 3 club members for being recognized in the news; Theresa Miley received the Chairman’s Circle award from State Farm Insurance, Zeke Riddle started a new career with ERA Wilder Realty, and Chief Brian Buck’s Explorer Post 800 won Best Overall Post at the SC Association of Law Enforcement Explorers annual competition.
• President Ginny announced a new “job description” for our weekly meeting reporter. Reporters will now focus on reporting club announcements and business. Guest speakers need only be noted by name and topic. Weekly minutes may be written in a simple bullet format, rather than a narrative format. The goal is to make the job easier and less time involved. All members will be asked to serve as reporter, other than a few senior members who will exempt. Ginny volunteered to be the first reporter for the year. Next week, we will start at the top of the alphabet and work through the club.
• The Club presented RI Cultural Scholar Courtney Gibson with a $500 check as a contribution toward a service project she has started for the community in which she will be living in Ecuador. The funds will be used to equip the community library. Courtney has also collected books and supplies. She leaves for Ecuador in just a couple of weeks.
• Lyman Whitehead provided members with a classification speech.

Guest Speaker – Judy Johnson introduced our guest speaker, Dr. B.J. Simons. Dr. Simmons presented a very timely and informative program titled “H1N1; What’s in it for me?”

The meeting was adjourned by President Ginny at 8:30 a.m.

July 1 2009 - New Officer Induction

President Eddie with Rotarian of the Year Judy Johnson
Ginny Barr your new Club President

Darren Bouknight shows the new Database

Joel Collins accepts Rotary Benefactor Award for his wife Rhonda and himself.

John Adair, Rotarian of the Year

Your 2010 Club Board of Directors

Your retiring 2009 Board

President Eddie with your New Club President, Ginnie Barr (Eyes Closed)

Minutes for Irmo-Lake Murray Rotary Meeting Wednesday July 1, 2009

The First meeting of the 2009-20108Rotary year began with the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.
Next Joel Collins was awarded the Rotary Benefactor Award for both himself and his wife.
President Eddie Robinson then discussed the Goals that were achieved during his term for 2007-2009.These included: Student mentoring with Nursery Road Elementary, Many Ambassador and Cultural scholarships awarded, Presidential and Governor Citations awarded, Silver Literacy Citation, 6 Paul Harris Fellows, 9 new members inducted, many projects with the Dutch Fork Interact club to name a few. President Eddie thanked the club for all of the members’ support throughout the year, specifically the Board Members. Each Board Member for the 08-09 year was announced: Public Relations Director was John Adair , Foundation was Patty Cavanaugh, Fundraising and Social Events was Emilee Keene, Long Range Planning was Larry Stohs, Service Projects was Jim Wellman and Club Administration was Dr. Judy Johnson. Officers for the 08-09 year were also announced and thanked with a nice Rotary memento Mug. The Board members were, Past President-Beetle Bailey, Treasurer – Jeanette Coulter , Seargent-at-arms – John Hanson, Secretary – Ben Heritage , President Elect – Ginny Barr. District Governor, George McConnell thanked the board members for their service.
President Eddie then recognized some Rotariians that were of special note for th e08-09 year: Lynn Campbell for his work with the Rotarian Magazine, Chris King for organizing the minutes, Lyman Whitehead for the Health and Happiness reports each week. Rotarian of the year for 08-09 was announced and we were honored with the news that we had Co-Rotarians of the year ; John Adiar and Judy Johnson were honored for all of their hard work with Rotary in the 08-09 year.
At this time President Eddie turned the meeting over to the new President Ginny Barr. There was a resounding standing ovation to honor and thank Eddie Robinson for a great year as president and Eddie was presented with e pin and nice Rotary Clock/plaque as a token of our thanks for his hard work.
President Ginny Barr then announced and inducted the new Board Members for the 09-10 year. Judy Johnson is the new President Elect, Jeanette Coulter is Vice President, Larry Stohs is Secretary, Seargent-at-arms is Darren Bouknight, Immediate Past President is Eddie Robinson and Bylaws/Insurance is Jeff Allen.
President Ginny Barr then discussed her plans for the 09-10 year and went over the Committees and committee members for the New Year. President Barr will work to have each Rotary Member as an active participant in one or more Committees. The club will have Club Meeting each Quarter for the Committees to work and plan their prospective activities for the year.
Darren Bouknight then come to the front and performed a brief introduction to the Rotary 7770 Database.
The meeting was called to a close.

June 24 2009

THE ROTARY CLUB

OF

LAKE MURRAY-IRMO

MINUTES – JUNE 24, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Eddie Robinson. Larry Stohs provided the invocation. Sergeant at Arms John Hanson introduced 3 guests from the St Andrews and Columbia Rotary Clubs. Lyman Whitehead then entertained those in attendance with health and happiness and a story about Le Mas Class and the health benefits of exercising during pregnancy by caddying for your loved ones on the golf course.

Lynn Campbell updated the group on the June edition of the Rotarian Magazine and noted articles of interest regarding Genocide in Cambodia, Cholera and efforts made to eradicate Polio.

Eddie noted the final LMIRC Board Meeting for this term will be held Thursday, June 25 at Panera Bread at 7:30am.

Classification talks were given by Chip Lyerly and Judy Johnson. Judy noted that Ginny Barr is in London, England attending the International Rotary Conference. Judy then introduced our speaker Josh Brickey of the Provost Academy.

The Provost Academy is a charter, public high school program (grades 9-12) offered online. Current enrollment is now at approximately 800 students. The program is currently approved by the State to accept 1,000 students, with plans to expand to 2,500 students in the next 1-2 years. The program is based on individualized, technology driven instruction with a primary focus on math and sciences. The program is intended for all types of students. All teachers are certified by the State of South Carolina. In addition to the standard curriculum, special needs based programs are also offered. Lessons include written, auditory and interactive flash instruction. Approximately 75% of the instruction can be done at the students own scheduling while the remaining 25% of instruction is set for mandatory time frames. Learning activities include field trips; virtual, online field trips, blogs and regional events. The program also offers students daily assessments with feedback to students, faculty, staff and parents.

The staff includes teachers, academic advisors, assignment graders and IT support for the online services provided. All students receive a free lap top and a $20.00 per month reimbursement for high speed internet service. The academy is free to South Carolina residents.

A question and answer session followed. For more information you can contact The Provost Academy at 877-919-PASC (7272) or find them online at sc.provostacademy.com. They are currently accepting enrollment for fall 2009.

The meeting was adjourned by President Robinson.

June 17 2009

From: Allen, Jeff [mailto:JTAllen@MCNAIR.NET]
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 5:59 PM
To: Christine King
Subject: Rotary Minutes

6/17/09 Rotary Meeting

President Robinson called the meeting to order. Skey Caskey delivered the invocation. Sergaent-at-arms John Hansen introduced the guests. Larry Stohs was designated as the honorary sergeant-at-arms as he continues to bring numerous guests to attend the meetings. Lyman Whitehead shared health and happiness.

President Robinson indicated that everything is going well with Bill Cobleman and informed the club that Bill sent a thank you card to the club for all of the support he has received.

Chief Ryan Butler introduced other members of the Irmo Police who explained the Explorer Program. The Explorer Program allows youth ages 14 to 20 to get hands on law enforcement experience. The club presented the Irmo Police with a donation to support the Explorer Program.

Ginny Barr introduced the speaker, Bernie Riedel. Bernie is the Foundation Chair for the District and past-president of the Hilton Head Rotary Club and former District Governer.

Bernie spoke to the club regarding the Future Vision Plan for the Rotary Foundation. A number of Districts were selected as part of a pilot group to implement the Future Vision Plan. Our District was not selected and therefore the Future Vision Plan will not be implemented in our District until 2013.

Bernie provided a history of the Foundation and questioned several club members on the history of the Foundaiton. Congratulations to John Adair who know which Rotary Club made the first donation to the Foundation.

The Foundation started with the purpose of doing good in the world. In 1947 the Foundation's endowment increased tremendously after the passing of Paul Harris.

Bernie then explained the Future Vision Plan in more detail. The Future Visions Plan calls for the Foundation to make 50% of its grants based on doing good in the world and 50% to further 6 areas of emphasis.

The 6 areas of emphasis are:

1. Water and Sanitation

2. Peace and Conflict Resolution

3. Disease Prevention and Treatment

4. Maternal and Child Welfare

5. Education and Literacy

6. Economic and Community Development

While John Adair wowed the club with his knowledge of who made the first contribution to the Rotary Foundation, he was not able to name two of the areas of emphasis when Bernie quized him to make sure he was paying attention.

President Robinson concluded the meeting.

June 10, 2009

THE ROTARY CLUB

OF

LAKE MURRAY-IRMO

MINUTES – JUNE 10, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Eddie Robinson. John Adair provided the invocation. Lyman Whitehead entertained us with health and happiness and a story about grandma stop at a red light with a “Honk if you Love Jesus” bumper sticker.

Kelly Payne presented two scholarships to two Dutch Fork Interact students. President Eddie Robinson advised us that board had approved a donation to SisterCare. A representative of SisterCare was present to accept the donation and informed the members of the work of SisterCare in helping victims of domestic violence.

Jenny introduced our two guest speakers, Representatives Nathan Ballentine and Chip Huggins who gave a presentation and answered questions about the recent legislative session.

The questions ranged over a number of topics. There were several questions regarding the federal stimulus package. Nathan and Chip pointed out that the package was not just 350 million but was two payments over two years for a total of 700 million. Nathan stated that he had originally voted against accepting the package and had confirmed with our school district that it would not cost the loss of teachers if the money was not received. Chip stated he was originally for it but had reservations. He stated he voted to sustain the governor’s veto because he felt it was going to be decided by the Supreme Court and the Attorney General had given an opinion at that time that the governor could prevail in the suit. Both representatives indicated that they felt the problems regarding the stimulus could possibly have been resolved if the governor, speaker of the house, and president of the senate had simply met and tried to reach some agreement. On another matter they stated that the statute regarding the use of a photo ID for voting has passed the house but had been held up in the senate. The representatives were asked who they were supporting in the next elections for statewide office. Nahan’s desk mate in Nikke Haley who is running for governor. Chip’s desk mate is Ted Pitts who is running for Lt. Governor. While they both indicated they would support their desk mates, they said there would be a lot of candidates for statewide office. Chip and Nathan talked about a committee that was going to be conducting an evaluation of our tax structure. One of them felt it was flawed because it did not include property tax in the evaluation. Both representatives stayed after the meeting to take questions.

The meeting was adjourned by President Robinson.

June 3 2009

Our cultural ambassador scholar, Courtney Gibson, talked to us about her project in Ecuador. if you are interested - check out her blog http://www.courtneyinecuador.blogspot.com/ and for more information go to Fund for Intercultural Education at http://www.fevi.org/

Rotary Meeting of June 3, 2009
By: Clark Kent
Reporter for The Daily Planet


Each Wednesday as we arrive to attend our Rotary meeting most of us look forward to starting our morning with a delicious hot breakfast “buffet” bar that rivals any restaurant in the area. Many of us in the Rotary Club of Lake Murray – Irmo have known our caterer Tim Scott since the early 1990’s when he was not only a member of our Club, but was also responsible for catering our breakfast meal. He has been our caterer, “off and on” (mostly “on”) during this time. Tim owns his own catering business known as Tim’s Catering Service in which he manages out of the kitchens of Shandon Methodist Church in downtown Columbia. For the past nine years Tim has been the Director of Shandon Methodist’s Kitchen Ministries in which he and a staff of volunteers prepares several weekly meals for the congregation. He and his staff also provide continental breakfasts for the Sunday school classes each week. His service to Shandon Methodist keeps him pretty busy during the week, but he is available to handle other outside catering event like our Wednesday morning breakfast. As many of you will remember, Tim owned Capri’s Restaurant in the Kroger Shopping Center which featured delicious Italian cuisine. Since closing that restaurant a number of years ago Tim has focused mostly on his catering business. His catering for our Rotary Club breakfast actually starts the day before when he makes the food purchases and preps his casserole dishes. Tim arrives around 4:45 AM each Wednesday morning at his Shandon Methodist kitchen to begin the cooking Rotary breakfast. He is usually finished cooking and loading up his van by 6:15 to start heading our way with the hot food. Even though our meeting doesn’t start until 7:30 Tim is usually set up by 7:00 for those of us arriving early. We want to thank Tim for his loyal service to the Lake Murray – Irmo Rotary Club and the delicious hot breakfast that he provides each week.

Before beginning today’s program Rod Funderburk introduced Miss Courtney Gibson who is our Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar recipient. Miss Gibson will be headed next month to the South American country of Ecuador to help build a library and community center in the impoverished town of Lumbisi. She asked for donations of children’s books (preferably in Spanish), school supplies, art materials, or monetary contributions to help in the purchase of building materials. For those who would like to correspond with Miss Gibson her address is; www.courtneyinecuador.blogspot.com

This week’s featured speaker was Adele Little, the Co-Director of Healing Species, a non-profit organization based in Orangeburg. Ms Little gave a power point presentation about the mission and origins of Healing Species.
The mission of the Healing Species is to intercept crime and violence by reaching children with our innovative, successful, and unique 11-week violence intervention curriculum. Rescued dogs - dogs nobody else wanted - assist us in teaching children:
• life-lessons in respect for the feelings of others,
• gaining power and authority from principles and acts of mercy and compassion instead of from bullying or "violence for violence,"
• age-appropriate awareness on abuse and how to get help and that what happens to us does not have to define us.
• methods for conflict resolution,
• self-esteem from developing responsibility, and
• how to take the initiative to create a more compassionate planet.
Through several years of legal research and personally conducting interviews with convicted violent offenders, Cheri Brown Thompson, founder and director of the Healing Species, discovered that not only did all of the violent offenders that she personally interviewed, but also all of those that she encountered through extensive literature reviews have two things in common: 1) they were abused as children and 2) they first acted out that abuse on the only victim more vulnerable than they, an animal. This realization led to the founding principles of the Healing Species, a program dedicated to ending the cycle of returning "violence for violence".
Thompson gave up practicing law, and now serves as the executive director of the Healing Species. Today, there is a waiting list of schools to be served, and Healing Species staff serves over 4,500 school children with the 11-week program each year in South Carolina. Healing Species also has satellite groups in several other states including: Arizona, Washington State, and Colorado.
Founding Principles
• Crime is a learned behavior. It can be unlearned. Even children who have never been nurtured can learn “how to” nurture others and themselves, thus intercepting the cycle of violence, abuse, neglect, and crime.
• Healing Species does not only address the problems of violence, truancy, and poor performance in school. Instead, Healing Species addresses the roots of these problems by dealing with issues of poverty, returning violence for violence, and gang related activities.
• The Healing Species curriculum opens the eyes of children and teens by teaching and empowering them that they do not have to “give-up” or “drop-out”. There are other choices.
• The lessons provide an epiphany for the children that they do not have to accept abuse; they do not have to join gangs; they do not have to sell drugs; and they do not have to fight their way through life.
• Healing Species Character Education can literally lift these children from an environment of violence: by empowering children with age-appropriate awareness about abuse and providing tools for getting help if in abuse;
by making certain the children learn appropriate ways to deal with bullies; by providing avenues of resolving conflict without fighting; and by providing “hands on” experience with lessons in respect for the feelings of others, and gaining power, leadership, and esteem from practices in mercy instead of from bullying.
• Once children gain empowerment in taking care themselves, the Healing Species opens their young eyes to ways of “making their heart strong” by teaching them how to practice responsibility, compassion, and empathy by reaching out to those around them.
• The children learn first hand that – just like the visiting dogs nobody else wanted- that they are important and do have something to give.
Ms Little wrapped up her program by giving some impressive statistical proof of why Healing Species has been successful thus far with their mission.

o Out-of-school suspensions for violent behavior decreased by more than 50%
o Retaliation Aggression, General Aggression, and Total Aggression Combined decreased by 62% o Teachers rated displays of violence by students decreased by 66.9%
o Choice making using empathy increased by 42%
o Suspensions decreased by over 55%

May 27 2009

ROTARY MINUTES

MAY 27, 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Eddie Robinson. Ros Browning provided the invocation and Lyman Whitehead entertained us with health and happiness. The Irmo High School Color Guard presented colors and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

New Officers and Board members were reminded to meet after next Wednesday’s regular meeting.

Jeanette Coulter reported that we netted $742.18 from the pancake breakfast. The Board decided to donate the $9.00 per member fee toward the fundraiser so the final total was $1,309.18.

A Distinguished Service Award was awarded to Barbara Wellm from Lexington Medical Center for Exceptional Vocational Ideals.

Speaker was Mitzie Schafer from Lutheran Family Services, Carolinas Partners in Hope for Homeless Veterans. Ms. Schafer spoke of the need for services for Veterans that are homeless. The criteria for admittance to the program are that the Veteran is homeless and has a mental disability (including drug and alcohol addiction). The facilities will house a Veteran for up to 2 years. The male facility is the Kinard facility in Greenwood and the female facility is in Columbia and is named Angels House. These facilities are partially funded by the VA and private fundraisers. After Ms. Schafer took questions from the membership, the meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by Chris King

May 20 2009

3 Guests
Principal at NRES
Two guest from Irmo News.

Pitch for the CART fund.

Lyman health and happiness.

John birthday

Golf Ball and the Sand wedge.

Emily King…thanks for fundraising. Don’t have final count. Pres Eddie thanks for all that was done.

Rotary board meeting, Fri, 7:30 open to all

Annual luncheon for chamber announced (today) @ Carrabbas.

Blood drive for Red Cross today.

Beetle vacation @ Summit Rotary Club in Prescott Arizona. Presented club banner.

Need to update directory. Members not contacted please see Larry and John Adair for new picture.

Happy dollars…lots of thanks, too many to recount. Big time for graduations from various programs, lots of people demonstrating Service above Self.

Ginnie Barr introduces speaker. Randall Sheally, a Lake Murray historian. From a historic area family. Speaker had previous service in USArmy.


Guest Speaker…brought lot of pictures, charts, etc.

His goal, have a permanent Lake Murray museum. Asked people to sign in to help with that effort.
Has a list of people who have lost lives in Lake Murray since its construction.
The build period…1927-1930. Original request for permit filed in 1925 for dam and power plant. The dam was built as Dreher Shoals Dam, which is the proper name. Water was used for electricity and there was a dispute over where and who would build the dam.

The firm that built the dam was part owed by Mr. Spencer Murray, from a NY firm, Murray and Flood. The soil was good for dam building at the Irmo spot. The original idea for a dam goes back as far as Robert E. Lee.
Sept 1927, first shovel. First electricity, June 1930. None of the dirt was hauled by truck. 70% wooded, 30% farmland. 6 schools, 3 churches, 192 cemeteries. Options were given to grave owners. 37 requests for memorial markers. Many done at no expense to the families.
People moved and sold land. Average price, $15 per acre. The going price at that time, $25 per acre. Some people only sold water rights. Most of the islands are still privately owned. Some people are still mad that the power company stole the land. The highest Mr. Shealy has seen on an acre was $90.
People that wanted to move back to the lake shore…they bought it back at $15 an acre.
Majority of homes were disassembled and moved. A few homes did get washed downstream. One house in Newberry did flood with people in it but the sheriff torched it to stop people from moving back in.
Some families were broken up because of the lake. Moved to different sides of the lake, etc., thus the different spellings of names, etc.
There were 9 ferries and one bridge. The bridge is still in the lake (Wise ferry).
The Santee lake was build at about the same time
It was the largest earthen dam when built, now it is the 3rd. 3 earthen buckets and 2 bulldozers. The dirt was built using railroad tracks across the dam and dirt dumped.
Dirt came from beach area of Lexington, the spillway, the boat ramp area, and the train run taking coal to the steam plant.

Meeting ended at 8:30.

May 13 2009

It was a rather unusual wednesday. Instead of the usual Rotary club
meeting, the members attended pancake beakfast arranged by Emilie Keene.
This started about 6:30 AM and continued till 9:30 AM. Several Rotary
members and business people from the community came to the drive through
and purchased breakfasts and contributed to the fundraising efforts.
Some members assisted in preparing the breakfast boxes to carry. Others
served breakfast to Rotary members who elected to sit down and had a
dialogue while eating delicious breakfast. There was a radio station
announcer that invited several members to speak on different issues.
Many Rotary members discussed local issues in an informal relaxed way
which was quite refreshing.

May 6 2009

The Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo

Minutes of Meeting
May 6, 2009



The invocation was given by Scott Mosely.

John Hanson introduced guest.

Lyman Whitehead asked if there were any birthdays or anniversaries.

Patty Cavanaugh made reference to the flyer “Pause for the Cause” that was distributed on each table.

John Adair stated that there will be two cart presentations today at the Chamber of Commerce, one for $100,000.00 and one for $150,000.00. John thanked all members for contributions to the cart fund. John also stated that Barbara Wilm was voted to be awarded the Vocational Distinguished Service Award for Community Service at last weeks meeting.

Emily King reminded all members that next weeks pancake breakfast is to be held between 6:30 am – 9:30 am. Emily stated that Rotarians would not be charged for their own breakfast, but encouraged Rotarians to pick up and sell tickets for this event.

Reid Danielson, Bill Danielson’s son, gave his classification speech. Reid stated he is a 2003 graduate of Dutch Fork High School. Reid also stated he attended Clemson University, against his father’s wishes, and pursued an architectural degree but during the process changed to finance and graduated in 2007. Reid stated he went to work for Meridian Bank after graduation. Reid stated that he is the “best fruit of his father’s loins” which is a direct quote from Bill Danielson. Reid also stated that he does not have much history which was disputed by Bill Danielson stating he could provide plenty of history on his son if Reid could not remember it. Reid stated that probably should not be done in this venue.

Si Amick also gave his classification speech. Si stated he joined The Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Club in 1989 after being asked by Jim Jeffers to visit the club. Si stated he is the oldest of six children, grew up in Columbia, went to Christ School in Asheville, and graduated in 1980 from USC. Si stated he married his childhood sweetheart, Betsy, in 1980. Si stated in 1991 he established Data Com Systems, built a house on Lake Murray, and he and Betsy had their first child. Si stated they have two children, Allison and Paul.

John Adair introduced the guest speaker, Bob Crutchfield. John stated Bob is a member of The Columbia Rotary Club, serves on numerous boards, and is President of Crutchfield Associates, Inc.

Bob thanked John for the introduction and stated that it is rare for him to speak before a group of which he knows probably 35% of the people. Bob stated in 1986 he started Crutchfield Associates, which is an out-placement company. Bob asked the members what they would do if at 3:30 pm this Friday afternoon they were told that they no longer had a job. Bob stated that there are two to three things in life that he categorizes as “bumps in the road” and are as follows: loss of job, divorce, and loss of a loved one. Bob stated these are the things that make you stop and think about what is really important in your life and establish your true priorities.

Bob stated he spent 20 years working for the Sears Corporation of which part of that time he was a store manager in Brunswick, Georgia. Bob stated there was a time when a new store was being opened and he sent all of his assistant managers to that store and ran his current store by himself for an extended period of time. Bob stated during this time he worked six days a week from 6:00 am until 10:00 pm and decided this was not what he really wanted to do for the rest of his life. At some point he relayed this message to his boss and eventually he was “in transition”. Bob stated this is when you no longer have a job and are searching for what you would like to do. Bob stated at that time he went to work for Lucas Associates, a recruiting firm in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved his wife and children to the basement of his mother’s home in Atlanta. Bob stated this is when you realize whether your wife really loves you or not. Bob stated in 1986 he started a recruiting business in Columbia. In 1990 this business transitioned into an out-placement company which is now called Crutchfield Associates, Inc.

Again, Bob asked Rotarians what happens when you lose a job. Bob stated that when you lose a job you often start looking in the newspaper. Bob stated that 90% of all jobs are not located in the newspaper. He stated that approximately 70% of the jobs come through recruiters and approximately 5% are on the internet. Bob stated that 90% of the people find their jobs through people that they know.

Bob stated when you are “in transition” he suggests that you create a letter that you send to every acquaintance you know letting them know that you are “in transition”. Bob stated in this letter you simply let your friends know that you are in transition and ask them to help you if they have any information on any available jobs. Bob stated you will find out who your true friends are and some of them will give you a call and at that time may request a resume. Bob stated the second letter that you need to write is to companies that you think may have some possibilities and you should send the letter only to the CEO along with a resume. Bob stated that the out placement company can help you with this process and they will also send letters to people that they know.

Bob stated that age used to be a factor, however, it is not the factor that it once was. Bob concluded his talk stating “nothing is as bad as you think” and “nothing is as good as you think.” Bob stated that out placement can help people find out the things that they would like to do and then try to find a place for them to do it. After Bob concluded his talk, one question that was asked was “why do bosses lay employees off on Friday”. Bob stated there is never a good time to lay anyone off, however, people do go home after work every Friday and over the weekend are able to be with their friends and family which may help them to transition into what should be done on Monday. Bob stated if a boss lays an employee off on Monday, the only place they can go is to their attorney. Joel Collins raised an eyebrow at this and after that President Eddie adjourned the meeting.

April 29 2009

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Meeting Minutes for April 29^th, 2009

President Eddie Robinson brought the meeting to order. John Hanson recognized visitors. President Robinson introduced his wife Cynthia, and mother Mozell Robinson. Lyman Whitehead provided the club with health and happiness. His joke about a lie detecting robot was an amusing start to the day. President Robinson then gave an update on Bill Kopelman saying that Bill was responding favorably to his treatment and asked that the club keep Bill in our thoughts and prayers. The meeting was then turned over to Emily Keene and Maria Hargrave for an update on the pancake breakfast. The breakfast will be held May 13^th at the Seven Oaks Park location. Tickets will be available for sale soon, as will signs to be posted inside business locations to advertise the event. The fundraising committee challenged the club members to try and sell at least five tickets a piece for the event which will help support our club and our community. John Adair addressed the club regarding the vocational distinguished service award. The nominees were: Doug Trevette of Trevette Mailing Service, Dr. Robert Callis of Lexington Family Practice, Dr. Jon Pitner of Pitner Orthodontics and Barbara Wilm of Lexington Medical Center. The club then voted via ballots at each table. The winner will be announced during next weeks meeting. Blount Shepard gave the club a review of the previous weekend’s highway cleanup. Ten to fifteen bags of trash were removed from the Farming Creek Rd.. Blount also recognized the bravery of several first time shad roe and oyster gravy eaters. Zeke Riddle even claimed to like the stuff. President Robinson called Patty Cavanaugh to assist him in the induction of the club’s newest Paul Harris Fellow. Mozell Robinson, President Robinson’s mother, was recognized for her years of service to the community educated children as a public school teacher. After the induction, President Robinson allowed time for Happy Dollars.

John Adair introduced the speaker, Lou Nolan. Lou is a member of the Five Points Club in Columbia. She has served as her club’s president and is currently the Assistant Governor-elect for Area 2 of District 7770. She is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and Sustaining Member. Lou is also on the Board of the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, or better known as the CART Fund. Lou spoke about the origin of the CART Fund, its mission and the current state of the Fund. She began with a story to illustrate the effects of Alzheimer’s. She spoke of a pair of sisters, one whom had been diagnosed at a relatively young age with the disease. The woman had trouble remembering dates and times, then the names of relatives, and eventually found it difficult to recognize her own husband. Lou explained that for adults between sixty and seventy years old, most will experience some degree of normal memory loss. Those that seem to have a more extreme case should seek medical help and undergo a memory test. Alzheimer’s can affect a person at any age but is seen more frequently in older individuals. In 1995, researchers discovered one of the most aggressive genes related to Alzheimer’s disease. In that same year, Robert Ackerman led the Sumter, SC Rotary Club in organizing and starting the CART Fund. The idea was that Rotarians empty their pocket change as a donation to the Fund to support research. The program has grown from the Sumter club and has been adopted by each Rotary district in North and South Carolina and Georgia. The money collected is used to support Alzheimer’s research through a single grant awarded each year to various approved medical research programs. The grants are awarded through an association with the American Federation for Aging Research who reviews grant proposals and recommends the best ones to the CART Fund. Lou added that 99% of the money donated goes directly to research. To date, the grants total $2.3 million to various research centers. As for the results of the grants Lou offered this example. The University of Texas – Medical Branch received a grant from CART to study testing of blood and spinal fluid for markers of Alzheimer’s. The tests were originally unsuccessful but the researchers did discover a new protein linked to the disease. The discovery aided in the development of a new brain scan technique that allows researchers and doctors to recognize the early development of Alzheimer’s “tangles” in the brain.

Meeting adjouned.

By Reid Danielson

President Eddie with his mother and new Paul Harris Fellow, Mozelle Robinson. Also Patty Cavenaugh.

April 22 2009

Lake Murray/Irmo Rotary Meeting
April 22, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:45 AM by President Elect Ginny Barr. The invocation was given by Skey Caskey. Darren Bouknight introduced the guests including Ron Altoff from the ST. Andrews club and Roy Caney from Ascensions. Lyman Whitehead brought laughter from the group with his health and happiness message for the day. Lynn Campbell did an excellent job of reviewing the Rotary magazine with the members and reminded folks that April was Magazine Month. Members were encouraged to make the Rotarian a “must read”.

John Adair reminded members that next week we will be selecting the recipient for the “Distinguished Service Award for the Community” and nominations are still be accepted. Beetle Bailey announced that the Federation for the Blind was having a barbecue fundraiser and he had tickets available to the event.

President Elect Barr informed the members that Ben Herritage had resigned his position on the Board for next year as Vice President due to family reasons but would continue as a member. The Board of Directors, in compliance with the Constitution and Bylaws, selected Jeanette Coulter to be the Vice President.

George Staples and a friend of his, Dr. Stuart Hamilton and their spouses toured South Africa last October and utilized the Friendship Exchange program where they were hosted in Rotarian homes. Dr. Hamilton gave an excellent presentation on their tour and shared some fabulous photographs. The Spring Valley Club and our Rotary Club have joined forces and have pledged $2,000 toward a matching grant to assist the people of South Africa.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 AM.

Respectfully submitted


Judy Johnson, reporter

April 15, 2009

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, April 15, 2009 President Eddie Robinson brought the meeting to order. Our invocation was given byJohn Adair. Visitors were Fred Splittgerber and Cheryl Cotton from the St. AndrewsClub. Larry Stohs introduced his guest, Meredith Allen, President of the IrmoChamber. Rod Funderburk introduced our speakers, Emily Stanek and Courtney Gibson. Rod introduced his guests, his wife, Rowena and grandson, Joshua. John Hanson announced two local events, the Richland County Electronics Recycling tobe held at Columbiana Mall on Saturday, April 18, from 9:00 to 1:00 and a free shredevent at Irmo Town Hall on Saturday. President Robinson gave a reminder about the CART fund buckets for Alzheimers research. Blount Shepard reminded us about the highway cleanup this coming Saturday. We areto meet at his office in Ballentine at 8:00 for breakfast and fellowship before thecleanup. President Robinson asked us to remember Jim Wellman as he is undergoing knee surgerytoday. Ginny Barr reminded us of leadership training in Charleston tomorrow. John Adair asked that we submit to him the name of a non-Rotarian for adistinguished service award. This person is to be a full time employee in theircareer for at least seven years. Emilie Keene and her committee are finalizing plans for the last fund raiser of theyear and is asking for suggestions for a topic or speaker. Lyman Whitehead provided health and happiness. President Robinson conducted a ceremony to induct Jerry Isbell into membership ofour club, with Larry Stohs and Ginny Barr participating in the ceremony. We arepleased to have Jerry and look forward to his association and contribution to ourclub. Happy dollars were given from John Adair, who proclaimed his piano tuning hasreached 36,000; Joel Collins gave a happy dollar for his grandson, Deane, in honorof his 10th birthday; Commander Jay Seward's happy dollar was for 3 new ROTC cadets;Kelly Payne's was for her supportive Interact kids and their participation inAdopt-a-Highway; Beetle Bailey's was for his attendance of the Heritage GolfTournament and Larry Stohs for Eddie Robinson's Distinguished Service Award atClemson. Beetle Bailey announced an annual barbecue for next Thursday for $7.00. Rod Funderburk introduced Emily Stanek, who was one of the winners of the RotaryScholarship from our club last year. Emily was born in Boston and moved to Memphis.She will be traveling to Monterey, Mexico, 2 ½ hours from Laredo, Texas, in August. She will be spending an academic year at the Tecnologico de Monterrey. She is aSociology major and minor in Spanish, having graduated from USC in May 2008. Shehas studied in Costa Rica, where she lived with a host family. She is currentlyworking as an immigration advocate. She will be working towards her Masters inpublic policy and public administration. Monterey, Mexico has a population of 4million and is a multi-cultural city and a business and industrial area. Emily toldus she is alert to safety issues while traveling in Mexico. She thanked us for oursponsorship of her. Courtney Gibson was also a scholarship candidate last year. Courtney is originallyfrom Saranac Lake, New York and moved to Irmo when she was 12 or 13. She went toour Dutch Fork schools and is a graduate of the USC Honors College, with a major inPolitical Science and a minor in Spanish. She will be leaving in early July, 2009and will be studying in Quito, Ecuador. She will spend 3 months at the Academia deEspanol-Quito, studying Spanish. Courtney currently works on Latino issues oncampus, as well as AIDS and domestic violence. She graduated from George WashingtonUniversity with a Masters in International Affairs, with a focus on human rights. She was attracted to the Rotary Scholarship because of the service aspect. Shethanked Rotary for this opportunity. President Robinson thanked Emily and Courtney and also thanked Rod Funderburk forhis work on the Rotary Scholarships. President Robinson gave a reminder about the Board meeting on Friday morning at 7:30at Panera Bread and adjourned the meeting. Patty Cavanaugh Reporter

April 1 2009

The meeting was called to order by President Eddie and the invocation was offered by Patty Cavanaugh. John Hanson then introduced our guests, which included Bentley Murrell and Marci Medway from the Five Points Club, Scott and Jay Downs, and then two guests invited by Joel Collins including last week's speaker Roi Canty from Ascension Hospice & The Lodge at Ascension, and Christian Stegmeier, an attorney who works with Joel in his law practice.

Blount Shepard was then called on to announce the next Adopt -a-Highway Clean-up Saturday and promised a breakfast that would be "to die for". I think I'm goin'!!!

President Eddie then announced "Happy Dollars time" and numerous members reported they were happy for various family members doing various achievements but the high-light was when President Eddie announced that he was contributing a happy "five dollars" because he had forgotten to call on Lynn Richards to give us Health and Happiness in the earlier time slot. So Eddie then called on Lynn and she said a card was available to sign, going to Bill Kopleman, and then gave us several tips on how to pull an April Fools prank on our fellow workers back at the office. I am sure we all immediately went back to the office and made our fellow workers feel really foolish.

President Eddie then turned the meeting over to Ginny Barr to introduce our speaker who was David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Columbia Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in South Carolina. He said many people don"t even realize there is an FBI Group here in Columbia but they have 300 employees here, and they work closely with the Sheriff's Departments of both Richland and Lexington Counties, SCLED, and also local police departments. Mr. Thomas has over twenty years experience in the FBI, and although he has been Special Agent in Charge in several cities including St. Louis, he feels his tenure here in Columbia has been the best experience in his career.

Mr. Thomas has a wealth of experience in Ciber Crime Investigation and has assisted in the Ciber arena in fifty different countries. He spoke of Russia breaking into computors in the USA and referred to that practice as a "War Offense." He used a term of "Reverse Engineering" as a process and talked of intelligence devices, finding how they worked, and then how they would find a way to "jam" them.

Mr. Thomas talked of the FBI needing a gemologist to deal with jewel thieves so they sent him to different schools around the world to become a gemologist. They trained agents for covert entry and he said at one point he had to give mouth-to-mouth to a dog, because to enter a residence under suspicion, first they had to defuse a watch dog and when they were ready to leave the property they had to revive the dog so it would be like they had never been there. This practice gives new meaning to the term "Dog Breath".

Mr. Thomas talked of using the FBI intelligence initiative, on one hand, in Afghanistan, where maybe 10% of their 30,000 employees worldwide are used internationally to, on the other hand, making a contribution locally for gang related activities.

He also talked of keeping your computors at home safe by using anti-virus methods and keeping them updated. He said they have arrested some SPAM offenders that were making $500,000 - 750,000 per month from the hits to their somehow believable garbage offered because some people fall prey to these wonderful offers. His suggestion was to turn you computor off when not is use. Also when you use your credit card on line you might want to use "credit stops" to limit your exposure. I guess this makes some of us feel like we are walking around naked. How do you feel?

Meeting adjourned.

Larry Stohs

March 25

By: Clark Kent
Special Reporter for the Daily Planet

Our guest speaker was Roi Canty from Ascension Hospice & The Lodge at Ascension. Ms Canty, the Hospital Liaison for Ascension, described this Irmo business as being only one of two in-patient Hospice facilities in the Columbia market and the types of care and service offered by her company. Ascension moved last year to their new facilities on Woodrow Street. Ms Canty explained the various levels of Senior care that her company provides from the entry levels of Assisted Living at their facility known as The Lodge at Ascension to end-of-life services in their adjoining 14 bed Hospice facility. In addition to the Irmo facilities, Ascension offers in-home Hospice care throughout parts of South Carolina with offices located in Florence and Rock Hill.

The Lodge at Ascension provides 24 hour skilled care as well as having a medical doctor on staff. She stated that a majority of their patients are “private pay” and the average cost runs about $2400 per month depending on the level of services provided to the individual. Ms Canty indicated that the demographics of the “typical” assisted living resident was an 80 year old widowed female who may end up being a resident for a number of years. However, this is much different with their Hospice in-patient care unit where the stay is much shorter…10 days to two weeks. Ms Canty invited individual Rotary members to visit the Ascension facility for a private tour.

In other matters to come before the Club, President Eddie gave an update on the District Conference that was held in Columbia last week. He described the various events held over the two day period and thanked the members who attended. The Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Club was the recipient of three awards; The Governors Citation, the Presidents Citation, and the silver Literacy Award were proudly accepted by President Eddie. Our Club was also recognized for sponsoring two of the three current Ambassadorial Scholarship students studying abroad at this time. President-elect Ginny Barr discussed the picture display board that chronological the Club’s recent past events. She thanked Debra Bailey for her work in putting the display together which was one of the better displays that was exhibited. Next year’s district Conference will be held in Myrtle Beach.

We also had two “classification” presentations. Michael Cromer, one of our newest Club members is the Commercial Banking Manager at First Community Bank on Lake Murray Boulevard. Originally from Chapin, Michael holds a degree in Finance from Clemson University, is married with two children (ages six and nine). Rod Funderburk, a Charter Member of the Lake Murray Rotary Club in 1989 spoke about his long professional career at the former Allied Chemical plant on St. Andrews Road, which according to Rod, has undergone 19 different name changes over the years. Rod held numerous mulit-plant managerial positions with the company and its successors over the years before retiring. Rod is now an energy management consultant with Resource Supply Management Rod is a former President of the Lake Murray Rotary Club and has done about everything at the club and district level over the years. Needless to say that this column would be too long to even attempt to list the numerous contributions to Rotary that has been unselfishly been made by Rod as he has exemplified the true meaning of “Service above Self”.

March 11 2009

March 11, 2009
Reporter: Scott Moseley

Joel Price gave our invocation and John Hanson introduced our visitors. Douglas Brown is a student at USC and is interested in a Rotary scholarship. Spencer McClay is Mike’s younger son and a former Rotary exchange student to Finland.

Lynn Richards provided our Health and Happiness. Lyman’s wife JoAnne is in the hospital and we need to keep her in our prayers. We were given a health update on Bill Kopleman and asked to keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers.

President Eddie reminded us to donate to the C.A.R.T. Fund. Lynn Campbell made President Eddie live up to a bet. Eddie wore a Wake Forest hat the entire meeting because Wake beat Clemson in basketball last week.





President-Elect Ginny Barr represented our club at the President Elect Training Seminar in Myrtle Beach this past weekend. She gave us some information on the upcoming Rotary year and the new slogan “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”.

President Eddie wanted to notify the club that there will be NO MEETING next week, Wednesday the 18th due to the district conference.

John Adair and Joel Price each entertained us with their classification talks-Pizza, Piano, Price and Post Office.

Past President Chris Joye introduced our speaker Jonathan Mauger of the Boy’s Farm in Newberry. Jonathan gave a great talk about the Boy’s Farm and its 50 year history of helping ‘Build Boy’s rather than Mend Men’. He thanked the club for the $400 donation made to the Boy’s Farm.