West Jax Rotary

John Bracey
Public Affairs Officer, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department

Notes
President John called the special Thanksgiving meeting to order and called on Michael Tanner to give the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bob Hyde.

Bill Howey reported that we have sold approximately one-half of the football tickets for the December 13th Jacksonville Jaguar game. The Jaguars face the Miami Dolphins at 1:00 pm.

President John reminded us that we need to register in advance if we are planning to attend the District Conference lunch. Anyone seeking information on any of the District Conference events should contact Patty.

Jim Kelly gave a report on the Christmas Party which will be held on December 15th at Florida Yacht Club. Invitations will be sent by mail. The cost for spouses and guests will be $35.00

Dale Crisp encouraged the membership to generously support of the Toys for Tots program, threatening to “get naked” if forced in order to insure that everyone brings big bags of toys to the Christmas party. There is considerable hope that this will not be necessary.

Bob Kidd gave the Family of Rotary report and announced several birthdays. He also relayed the sad news that Bill Schmidt’s mother has died and the sad news that John Schultz’s father has died.

Our guest, Willard, from the Community Blood Bank announced that our Rotary club is the number one blood donator in the city. He also described the need to purchase blood if there is not enough blood donated to the Blood Bank and let us know that we can “sign up” online.

Laura Kelly was presented a Paul Harris Fellow by her dad, Jimmy Kelly. Laura is the Interact sponsor at her school in central Florida.

Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Nina Sasser, introduced visiting Rotarians and our special guests, including President John’s wife and daughter.

Frank Scheu introduced our speaker, Walker Blanton. Frank introduced Dr. Blanton as a distinguished professor at Jacksonville University and as one of the finest turkey hunters he knows. Once Walker began speaking, he confirmed Frank’s accolades and confirmed himself as a man who knows how to talk turkey.

During his speech, Walker told us that turkeys can be foolish, but they are also wary and have excellent survival instincts. They see and hear very well - almost eight times better than we do. As a consequence, turkey hunting is both exhilarating and frustrating.

Walker told us that the wild turkey population increasing, as a result of careful management and, as we all know, hunters have tremendous respect for nature. Walker impressed us with his considerable ability for turkey calls, ending with his special turkey call - “Dixie” - which only works in the South. While it works fine on Southern turkeys, it was noticed that few Rotarians rose to their feet on hearing the time-honored tune.

Visiting Rotarians
Marcus Drewa — South Jax
George Ferber — Arlington
Anne Renfroe — Downtown

Rotary Guests
Gayle Runion — Guest of John Runion
Nikki Runion — Guest of John Runion
Cindy Kelly — Guest of Jimmy Kelly
Laura Kelly — Guest of Jimmy Kelly
Carlton Spence — Guest of Charlie Wilson
Sheldon Fordham — Guest of Frank Scheu
Richard Wenk — Guest of Bill Gay
Willie Cherry — Guest of club from from the Blood Alliance
Chris Brennan — Guest of club from from the Blood Alliance

Birthdays
Nina Sasser — December 4
David Long — December 7
Frank Houser — December 8
Kathy Cold — December 12
Griff Griffin — December 13
Stew Green — December 18
Tim Viverette — December 19
Scott Imray - December 20
Ward Bramlett — December 26
Jeff Morrow — December 30

Next Meeting - January 6, 2010
December 11 — District Conference, attend or make-up
December 15 — Christmas Party, attend or make-up
December 23 — Meeting canceled due to holiday, no make-up necessary
December 30 — Meeting canceled due to holiday, no make-up necessary

Quick Links:
You can now report make-ups online.

Submit “Family of Rotary” information online.

Please review the 2009 - 2010 Duty Roster and mark your calendar with your responsibilities for the upcoming year.