Vol. 65 No. 10 Notes from the Podium

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President's Time


This week a 19 year old German bank robber set himself up to be caught after he emailed the police to correct errors in their report of the robbery. It seems they had his height wrong, his hair color wrong, they said he left on foot when he went to all the trouble to have a car. They busted him through his email address ... found him in a gambling parlor.



Our Halloween 5th Friday will be held here! Friday, October 29, 2010 at the new Coral Gables Museum. So plan your costume now ... there will be a prize for the coolest ghoul. Be there for the FUN. Bring your spouse, significant other or a prospective Rotarian for one of the best parties we have all year. $10 per person. Catering by Lovables.

Don't forget to sign up for the 7th Annual Rotary Golf Classic on November 4th at The Biltmore. Yoli is still selling balls for the Gates Challenge Golf Ball Drop that is held right after the tournament. Balls are $25 and all of the money goes to End Polio Now.


ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT ARRIVES. Say "hello" to Philip. He is our Rotary Youth Exchange student from Cologne, Germany. Sebastian Philip Rasfeld comes from a Rotary family. His dad is a Rotarian. His older sister was a RYE student who also came to South Florida. His younger sister will probably come here next! He thinks Miami is a really neat place, so far.

One of the goals for our Club this year is to reintroduce the Rotary Youth Exchange Program to our members. For years we were one of the most active Clubs in the District with RYE but that changed and we have not had an Exchange Student of our very own since 2002-2003. We're sharing Philip this year so we can "get our feet wet" in the Program again and hopefully, next year, we will host an inbound RYE and send one out as well. We're working with CGHS Interact to that end. It's a life changing program and something these young people never forget.

Philip is being hosted by Todd Lary from the Miami Sundown Club. Rotary Club of South Miami is paying 10% of his expenses while he's here and we're paying the rest. So we get to play with him more during the year! He will be coming to a lot of our events so there will be plenty of time to get to know him.

BIG THANK YOU! To Miki Speijers, Donald Trombly and John Wallace for more good junque for our YARD SALE. Keep on cleaning out your storage units, the garage and the attic. We're collecting until November 12th.

Shy, conservative perfectionist Fred Ortiz gets to take his Birthday off. Happy Birthday on September 6th.

Former Coral Gables Mayor George Corrigan has been a member of our Rotary Club for 27 years this week. Rick Belz for 11. Congratulations to you both. Thanks for your service.

AND ... DRUM ROLL PLEASE ...



Yolanda Woodbridge celebrated 16 years of Perfect Attendance today! You go girl!! You'll catch up with Jack Witty before you know it.




Congratulations to Bob Schreiber. He got his Permanent Badge today. He may hold the record for being a Red Badger longer than any other member of our Club! Bob joined on April 10, 2008. 29 months!!! Better late than never. He finally learned the secret handshake. You go guy!


COMMUNITY SERVICE MINUTE was saucily delivered by the one and only Judy Pantoja, Community Service Chair. September 11 sign up for VA Bingo. September 20, 22, 27, Special Olympics Bowling at Bird Bowl for those of you with time during the week. September 25 is Coastal Cleanup at Matheson Hammock. Anyone who destroys their Coral Gables Rotarian at Work t-shirt in the mud and stuff will be able to get another, we promise. So wear your shirts and come. There will be a meeting of the Community Service Committee on September 9th at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Everyone's welcome.

And now for ... HAPPY DOLLARS !!

Dr. Randy will do almost anything to make our scholarship $$ Groh. Today he asked Philip (RYE) to repeat the words "I'll be back" just to prove that he too could be the Governor of California. Jack Witty was first up to tell us that he's still basking in the after-glow of the wonderfulness of his first 50 years in Rotary. He thanked everyone and assured us that he will continue to keep his perfect attendance. Kelly Sastre is happy to have Brooke Perry as her intern at Citizen's for a Better South Florida. She's also happy that she's going to be a grandmother again. Twice. Swiss Chris Tyson is REALLY happy that Jeff Greene lost the election. Pat Morris wanted to double down Chris' sentiments. He was also happy that he attended Rotary Leadership Institute (and he's only been a member of the Club for two months!!) with PE Debbie Swain, Terry Long and Yoli. While we're all sweating at Coastal Cleanup, Bill Quesenberry was happy to report that he will be at a World International Expo in Shanghai. AND he was extra happy because UM kicks off tonight and he gets to introduce an Iranian graduate student to his first UM Football game. He and Melissa are part of the UM Host Program. Dick Golden told this not-so-well delivered joke about the 85 year old groom with the 30 year old bride, three times a night just because he didn't know he'd been there ... and he blamed it on Sally B. Randy says that so long as Dick pays more and more money every week he can continue ... Alfredo Iglesias was really happy to introduce us to his Russian teacher, Yelena. Seems he got this really good job with a Russian Anti-Virus Software company and now he speaks and thinks in Russian and you can't understand him at all! Felix Pardo was pleased about our speaker today, and because his daughter is spending her vacation at home. Once again she gets to work at the Winter Classic this year. The Diva took another fall! But she's okay. Slipped on the stairs and put her NYC Marathon training back two days. But she's got two months to go before she has to perform. Eddie Snow told a story about a 60 year old guy who came into his shop to buy his 30 year old sweetie (what's with the May/December stuff today?) to buy her a 10K diamond ring. In the course of things Eddie heard him ask her, "if things go bad and I lose everything, will you still love me?" To which sweetie replied, "yes, but I'll miss you." Guess the Gold(en) is rubbing off. Keep on laughing because happiness pays!

Working Rotarians - September 2, 2010

Greeters - Rod Langer, Rolf Frankfurther & RYE Philip Rasfeld
Registration - Aaron Glasser
Collections - Abe Horowitz & Carlos Bolado
Head Table - John Wallace
Special Needs - Frank Sexton
Open the Meeting - Dick Golden
Invocation - Keith Phillips
Pledge - Elizabeth Lovables
Singers - Bill Quesenberry and Dan Scipione
DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Tom Dixon
Given to - William Isasis & Dan Scipione
Pin Drawing - Dan Scipione
Pin Drawing Winner - Jim Hirschmann
50/50 Collections - Fred Baddour
50/50 Winner - Sally B.
5-Way Test - Judy Pantoja

Today's Program

Randy Moller, Vice President,
Broadcasting & Pather Alumni
“Florida Panthers Hockey”

Mr. Moller’s NHL career started in the early 1980's, when at 18 he joined the Quebec team. He moved to the New York Rangers, then Buffalo and finally the Panthers. At 32 he had to retire from the Panthers due to numerous physical injuries. He has continued to work for the Panthers franchise for nearly 17 years. As Vice President of Broadcasting, he does the play-by-play announcements – the first NFL alumni to do have this job.

He actually works for Sunrise Sports and Entertainment, which runs not only the Panthers, but also the Bank Atlantic Center. The Center is #8 in number of tickets sold in North America, and #20 in the world. Panthers’ leadership includes General Manager Dale Tallon who was hired to build the team, and bring them back into the playoffs. Cliff Viner is owner, and Mike Yormark is the President and CEO. Wayne Huizenga is still one of the partners. With so much competition in South Florida for sports and entertainment dollars, their work is cut out for them!

The Panthers’ Foundation has historically been involved in charities, but has recently centralized into a focus on pediatric cancer. You'll hear a lot more about this in the months to come.

Opening day is only 45 days away, and we hope to see The Florida Panthers in the playoffs!

NEXT WEEK'S PROGRAM: Crime Prevention Seminar presented by FCPTI (Florida Crime Prevention Training Institute).

Thought for the Week

by Dan Scipione

"In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow-men, not knowing what they do."
John Quincey Adams

Scene Scenes

Today, 9/2/2010