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NEWSLETTER

Kiwanis Club of Cedar Rapids

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The meeting was called to order by President Bob Hatala, Esq.  22  Members in attendance.

Guests:   Joe Blanck – actually Joe will be our newest member as he’s been approved by the board and awaiting installation.

Birthdays:   none

Anniversaries:    none 

Announcements:   1. John Schweitzer – Xavier choir is next week and he thinks they will sound better than we did today.

2. David Graeff – Thanks to all who rang bells for Salvation Army last week.

3. Bob Hatala – Next week will be the last Wednesday meeting until after the New Year.  Jan. 7 meeting will be at Janet’s.

4. Dan Breitbach – The foundation board met yesterday to create written policies for both investment/spending and gift acceptance.  The target date for having the policies approved is mid-January 2009.  He also reminded everyone that the pancake breakfast is March 14 and ticket sales will begin in mid-to-late January.

Happy Bucks: Dick Boardman – paid a self-imposed fine for bringing the wrong name tag. (I wonder who folds his clothes, too.)  Don Grimm – his son is in town interviewing at Collins.  Chuck Wehage – finally received the last $5,000 from his home encounter with lightning.  Bob Dye – his grandson has his final chemo treatment tomorrow.  John Anderson – he is constantly reminded of the far-reaching swath that Sister Charmaine holds on the community.  Fran Brown – defended the singing today as just shy of excellent.  Dan Breitbach – just happy to see John Anderson’s smiling face and his dad’s too. 

Upcoming Programs:  Xavier choir next week, then nothing until January 14 since the 7^th is at Janet’s.

Speaker:  Mary Corkery introduced Todd Dormann, editorial columnist for the Gazette.  Todd received his journalism degree from Drake.  He is originally from Belmond, IA.  He started at the Gazette in October 2007; prior to that he spent 10 years with Lee Enterprises.  He writes 3 columns weekly and serves on the editorial board.  From his perspective as a columnist, these are interesting times to write about.  And, overall, he is heartened by the responses that he receives to his editorials.  The readers are usually very informed and civil, regardless of whether or not they agree with him.  One of the big challenges that newspapers are facing across the country is the major change in readership to online.  The problem lies in the loss of revenues from both subscriptions and advertising dollars.  He’s not quite sure how all this will shake out long-term.  Thanks Todd for an informative presentation.

Word for the day:  Wordmaster Don Grimm stumped us with: “solidus” – 1. a gold coin of the Roman empire, originally worth about 25 denarii.  2. A sloping line used to separate shillings from pence.  Hmmm?  Can’t understand why one of us didn’t solve that one correctly.

Submitted:   Dan Breitbach - El Verboso Bloviatoro