Rotogear for January 23, 2008

RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson's Website

The Rotogear
of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins

January 23, 2008

Bernard E. Rollin

Bernard E. Rollin speaks for the animals. He notes, “Anyone attending to U.S. social and cultural history over the past three decades can readily see that concern for animal welfare has become a major societal concern.” He will illustrate this phenomenon in a number of areas of animal use and explain its moral and conceptual basis.

Rollin holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University (1972) and is a Colorado State University Distinguished Professor of philosophy, animal sciences and biomedical sciences, as well as being a university bioethicist.

In addition to numerous articles in the history of philosophy, philosophy of language, ethics and bioethics, he is the author of Natural and Conventional Meaning (1976), Animal Rights and Human Morality (1981, 1993 & 2006) and The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Scientific Change (1988 &1998) Farm Animal Welfare (1995) The Frankenstein Syndrome (1995) and Science and Ethics (2006). He has edited a two volume The Experimental Animal in Biomedical Research (1989 & 1995).

He is one of world's leading scholars in animal rights and animal consciousness and has lectured more than 1,000 times all over the world.

In his spare time he is a weight-lifter, horseman and motorcyclist.

Presiding at Last Weeks Meeting

Joe Looper

Marge Norskog

Presiding: Chuck Rutenberg

Invocation & Pledge: Joe Looper

Music: Steve Busch

Song Leader: Bill Moellenhoff

Greeter & Introductions: Marge Norskog

Sergeant at Arms & Microphone: Melanie Chamberlain

Guests Last Week

Cynthia Murphy, Cody Schopfer, Staci Thomas, Lupe Lemu-Sylvana, Heather Thomas, Jamie Grim, Sean Reed, Aaron Hedge, Dave McSwain,
AND Erik Meyers, BeverlyMarquart, Deidra Church, guests of the club

Betsy Markey, guest of Myra Monfort

Sara Hoffmann, guest of Rob Cagen

Eli Cagen, guest of Rob Cagen

Christine Hardy, guest of Ed King

Kate Norton, guest of Claude Piche

Lee Jeffries, guest of Dave Schump

Brad Skinner, guest of Jan Bertholf

Visiting Rotarians

Susan Miller of the Foothills Rotary Club

Announcements

Bart Kingham

Steve Laine

Max Getts

Bart Kingham said quarterly bills were mailed last week. Alert him if you have not received yours.

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Steve Laine reminded us about the Fireside Chat for members with red badges. It will be held on January 23 at Betty Brown's home. The meeting starts ar 7:30 pm. Spouses and sponsors are encouraged to come.

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If you have a candidate for Ambassadorial Scholar, notify Omnia El-Hakim. Applications are due February 29th.

The Ambassadorial Committee will meet at 11:00 am on Wednesday January 23rd at the Lincoln Center prior to our regular meeting. The committee will discuss the status of the current selection process and our interactions with our current ambassadorial scholar, Luci Castro, in Ghana.

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Chuck Rutenberg said that The Breakfast Club will be meeting at the Marriott, not the Hilton, starting February 1.

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Max Getts began a serial history of our club-beginning with a series of letters dealing with the formation of our club.

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Melanie called a Foundation Committee meeting for 11 a.m. on January 30, at the Lincoln Center prior to our regular meeting.

Student of the Month

Matt Rankin

Staci Thomas

Matt Rankin introduced Staci Thomas, Student of the Month from Centennial High School, for January. 17 years old, Staci was grateful for being pushed by her mother to deal with the chaos in her life. She became engaged at Centennial by a teacher named Brian and it has changed her life. She now feels respected and has done well in her classes, especially the Equine class where she learned to work with horses. She values the friendships forged on Roads Scholars trips she has taken and appreciates the community service done to raise money for those trips. "To be part of something bigger than me was very special." She plans to attend college, specializing in pediatrics or child care or preschool education. Finally, she thanked Rotary for what it contributes to Centennial.

Committee Spotlight

Ambassadorial Scholars Committee

Chair: Omnia El-Hakim

Meeting time: Call of the Chair

Purpose:
To further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries by sponsoring several types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies.

Guidelines:

Omnia El-Hakim

Rotarians:
Carry out the Rotary selection process to pick scholars. Publicize the availability of and selection criteria for the scholarships.
Scholars:
Serve as ambassadors of good will to people of the host country. Give presentations about their homeland to Rotary clubs and other groups in the host country. Share experiences after returning with Rotarians and others that led to greater understanding of their host country.

Members can find information about all committees by visiting the online list of all of the club's committees on the web at: FC Rotary Club Committees

Foundation Minute

Alan Ashbaugh

Alan Ashbaugh informed the club about the feature article in the winter edition of the CSU Magazine that told about our club's water projects in El Salvador. We partnered with the CSU Engineers Without Borders chapter on these projects to provide year around and easily obtainable potable water for two neighboring communities on the side of the San Vicente volcano. The two projects cost $45,000. Our club invested $7,000 in the two projects, the rest came from Districe 5440 and the Rotary Foundation, showing how matching grants leverage our club's money.

"To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind." -- Pearl Buck

Board of Directors Actions

The Board of Directors at its regular monthly meeting received membership applications for Lee Jeffrey, sponsored by Dave Schump, and Jamie Grim, sponsored by Henry Weisser. Lee is a physician with the Womens Clinic of Nothern Colorado. Jaime is currently the Finance director for Betsy Markey’s campaign for congress. If club members have any comments on these applications, please address them to the Club Secretary, Donal Johnson, within the seven day period after the announcement that will appear in the January 23 print Rotogear.

The Board also held a mid year review of the budget and in doing that reviewed the status of all of the committees in meeting their yearly goals. A possible new literacy project was reviewed.

"To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind." -- Pearl Buck

Last Week's Meeting

Sean Reed

Aaron Hedge

Brandon Iwamoto

Erik Myers

Bob Lawrence

Five Rocky Mountain Collegian (CSU student newspaper) staff members were in Iowa to experience democracy in action during the first political caucuses of the 2008 primary. They visited a number of the candidates’ campaign headquarters and were surprised that staffers were not to speak “on the record” on behalf of their candidates.

Sean Reed, editorials, was impressed that Iowans were “surprisingly politically aware” and very open about their beliefs. He came away from Iowa with the opinion they “deserve to be first in the primary process” and that there were a lot more “independent and moderate voters” than he expected to find.

He described several of the scenes as “more like rock concerts than political events.” He also did not feel real a “connection” with any of the candidates, even the one (left unidentified) he supports. “There was no inspiration there for me.”

He explained the different processes of selecting delegates with the Republicans using a majority rule for all delegates to support one candidate while the Democrats divide delegates between several candidates and can even “elect an undecided delegate.”

Aaron Hedge, news, recounted the differences he saw in the various candidates’ offices, including Clinton’s, where the Collegian staffers were shown the exit mat. “We had heard that Clinton was ‘polarizing’ and “I guess we can’t dispute it.”

At Biden’s office, the candidate’s son, Bo, would only talk about the other candidates. Hedge described Obama’s office as the “most energetic,” populated by 18- to 24-year-olds. He appreciated talking to people on the street and was surprised to find an Army surplus store proprietor and her sister who were “all about Hillary.”

After listening to Ron Paul on a couple of occasions, he thinks Paul might “pull a Nadar” and end up on a third party ticket.

Brandon Iwamoto, photojournalist, shared two video segments using black and white images over campaign “noise,” to show the campaign and caucus frenzy.

Erik Myers, news, who borrowed his family’s van for the six-day road trip, was also impressed with the political savvy displayed by Iowans who talked about what they valued and knew what they wanted to specifically hear from the individual candidates. “They already get it. They had done their homework.”

There were several comments from the group about the “Huck and Chuck” events where Chuck Norris appeared in support of Huckabee in what Reed labeled “mascoting,” defined as the use of pop culture gimmicks to further their causes. “Norris certainly didn’t know anything about politics!” …and in another instance, additional “drumming” would have been more enlightening than the political messages they got.

There was a general consensus that “democracy is alive and well” and that grass-roots efforts and young voters are making themselves heard in the 2008 elections.

Dave McSwane, Collegian editor-in-chief, also attended but did not share his observations. Rob Cagan brought us this program and Bob Lawrence handled the introduction.

Calendar

Jan 23 - Fireside Chat at Betty Brown's home, starting at 7:30. This is for Red Badge members, spouses and sponsors.

Jan 31 - Applications are due for 2008 Summer Youth Exchange. Applications are available from Dan Mackey.

Feb 01 - Quad District Presedents Dinner at Denver Tech Center Marriott, Keynote Speaker is RI President Wilf Wilkinson, see Don Johnson for reservations and details

Future Meetings

Jan 30 - Stem Cell Research, by Dr. Regina Brown

Feb 06 - Beet Street

Feb 13 - Economic Development, Mayor Doug Hutchinson

Feb 20 - Character Fort Collins, Bob Powell

Feb 27 - Rural / Urban Day, Glenn Schmidt and Milan Rewerts

Warren and Genny Garst Wildlife Collection at CSU Click here or on the "tiger."

Rotary District 5440 Home Page - We recommend browsing this page particularly the links to other Clubs in District 5440 as your time permits.

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