Gallipolitan for September 15th
President Bonnie McFarland opened the regular meeting of the Gallipolis Rotary Club promptly at 7:15 am with a great attendance by members! If we had our regulars with us today who happened to be traveling this week, we would have exceeded 30! Thank you all for attending today. Our invocation was provided by Kevin Petrie.
Guests—We had a number of guests with us today—Bill Knight and J.R. Spencer were visiting Rotarians from the Pt. Pleasant Rotary Club. We also had Andrea Gannaway visiting with us again and Andrea has completed the club application for membership in Gallipolis Rotary. Rounding out our visitors today was Dave Roush from the Gallia County Highway Garage, who is our program speaker, and a guest of Brett Boothe.
Relay For Life Auction—Project Chair, Dan Whiteley, reported the auction business for our club to benefit Relay For Life has been good. Last week’s proceeds totaled $46. Remember, look for items in your garage, basement, or attic that you can donate toward this worthwhile project. Dan will pick up items from you at the meetings, or you can call him if you have a large item.
Treasurer’s Report—Assistant Treasurer Shawn Siders reported the August financial report to the club today. Shawn discussed the specifics of the checks written to the month to benefit a number local organizations and the other routine expenses during the month.
Literacy Projects—Project Chair Debbie Saunders reported the final request has been made to the community for support for the drive to purchase reference materials for the new high schools in Gallia county. In addition, the club will be ordering dictionaries for all Fifth graders in Gallia county which will be presented during the week of Noah Webster’s birthday, October 16th. Rotarians will have the opportunity to help place labels in all the dictionaries as well as help in the distribution at all county grade schools.
Bob Evans Farms Festival—Event Chair, Paul Koch gave the club an quick overview of the upcoming Farm Festival, October 9, 10, 11. ONLY THREE WEEKS REMAIN TO THIS IMPORTANT FUNDRAISING EVENT! We will be hosting a nurse from the health department to provide TB Tests and Paul will be setting up the sign up sheet for members to sign. Attendance at this important project is required because it is our major fundraiser. Family and friends are welcome, as it is a fun time of fellowship as well.
Split-The-Pot—Margaret Evans ran STP for the meeting today and our small pot was $7 and the large pot was $162. Margaret asked Dave Roush to pull the winning ticket which was held by President Bonnie! Bonnie missed the Queen in the draw for the large pot and assessed the Foundation Fine against anyone who is NOT going to the District Foundation/Membership Seminar on September 26th. Bonnie had to fine herself, as she is unable to attend this important meeting.
Fellowship—Emily Dailey ran Club Fellowship today and checked to make sure we hadn’t missed anyone birthday this week. Emily disclosed a number of celebrity birthdays that occur on this day and some of the momentous events that have taken place on September 15th. Emily closed with some interesting words of wisdom.
Happy Buck$—Shirley Doss bought a Happy Buck in honor of the sidewalk repair that was completed at the Senior Resource Center that our club funded. Everything is much safer now because of this repair. Melissa Kimmel also bought a Happy Buck!
Program—Program Chair for the meeting was Brett Booth who introduced our speaker, Dave Roush, Construction Manager for the Gallia County Highway Department. Dave emphasized his responsibility in caring for the 455 miles of county roads as well as the large number of bridges in Gallia county. This summer has been busy with a great deal of mowing county roads due to all the rains this year. Dave reminded members that the mowing requires three passes on each side of the road TIMES the mile length of the particular road. This is an expensive proposition!
Dave next explained the ‘chip and seal’ program the county uses to pave county roads. This product is not as expensive as asphalt and is a good solution for our county roads. He explained the road is first prepared by trimming trees and cleaning the ditches. Next, the road is ripped up and re-graded smooth some 2-3 weeks before the application. The actual chip and seal is a two part process and the final coat is applied approximately two weeks after the first coat using a thicker liquid asphalt and a fine aggregate. This year approximately six miles of roads were chip and sealed and 40 miles are planned for 2010.
At the conclusion of his remarks Dave fielded some questions from Rotarians about snow removal, salt supply, etc. President Bonnie presented Dave with a special Books For Schools Certificate for being our speaker today and a hardbound Children’s’ book will be presented to a school library in Gallia county in his honor.
Next week’s program responsibility is in the hands of Kurt Dailey, and Shirley Doss will be handling the following week (September 29th). You can check the club’s calendar for program responsibility on the club’s Google page.