Jim Gilligan, one of the more well-known college baseball head coaches in the State of Texas, announced his intentions to retire from his post at Lamar University following the 2016 season.
Gilligan’s departure from the Cardinals program comes as a surprise to some in the industry, and not so much to others. The long-time Cardinals head coach has experienced a great deal of success, and has been around the program since his playing days, when he was a standout pitcher for Lamar in 1967 and 1968.
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Head Table for May 11
Invocation:
Shannon Williamson
Branch Manager
American Personnel & Temps
Pledges to the USA & Texas Flags:
Charles Heare
First Vice President-Wealth Management
UBS Financial Services, Inc.
Introduction of Guests:
Gene Arnold
Owner
Gene Arnold Enterprises
Introduction of Speaker:
W. L. Pate, Jr.
President/Owner
Pate Resources Group
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
(and meeting make-ups)
May 11
2016-17 Program Committee meeting, 10:30 a.m., Diplomat IV
May 14-15
Spindletop Soap Box Derby Pit Crew in action; two shifts (breakfast & lunch); sign up online
May 21
Service Project for Buckner's FYI Center on the Lamar campus; sign up online
May 21
District 5910 Assembly and Seminar for 2016-17 Leadership in Liberty
May 30
Flag Project for Memorial Day, 5:00 a.m.
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LOOK
WHAT'S AHEAD!
On May 18, those in attendance will be privileged to hear a special presentation and program by Rotarian Craig Escamilla. As an Instructor in the College of Business, Craig will be "between semesters" with the University so don't be surprised if he assigns some reading and assignments, the practice of all good faculty members!
Don't miss the bus train! On May 25, David Hagy a managing partner with Texas Central Partners, LLC will be speaking about his company’s progress in creating a privately backed bullet train between Houston and Dallas.
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WORKERS NEEDED!
Hear those engines revving? The youngsters have been preparing and they are ready to participate in the Spindletop Rotary Club's Soap Box Derby on May 14 and 15.
Our club will again help the Spindletop Club by serving breakfast and lunch for the workers of the event so they can focus on the children, the cars, and the race action!
We are grateful to Gerald Condon for again providing his wonderful cooker and equipment. Shannon Williamson is chairing and recruiting volunteers to serve the food and drinks during the morning and lunch hours on Saturday and Sunday. We still need more workers to help. Please sign up right away.
The next quarterly service project will be on Saturday, May 21 at the Buckner FYI Center on the campus of Lamar University where we will do some indoor painting for the students' community center. Cindy Cherry, Chair, reports that with enough people, it should be a "Done-in-a-Day" undertaking - but WE NEED VOLUNTEERS.
Continue until you receive a confirmation from Buckner International of the paperwork
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Attend the District Assembly and Prepare for 2016-17 Rotary Year
Rotarians are invited and those who have accepted leadership positions for next year are strongly encouraged to attend the District Assembly to prepare for the 2016-2017 Rotary year. Committee Chairs and Club Officers should make every effort to attend and participate.
Please mark your calendar and plan to help with the "Show Your Colors" Flag Project on Monday, May 30 for Memorial Day.
Please let Pat Anderson know if you will be available for this important service project. If you own or have access to a truck, we need your commitment too!
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Hosts Needed for June 8: Rotary Goes to Work!
Our 1.2 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
In the initial years of this fine organization, Rotarians learned about one another and the various, diverse professions of the members by meeting in the offices, factories, businesses and firms of the club members. How about doing as one of the original members did back in the early 1900s and host a group of Rotarians in your workplace on June 8? We are primarily looking for hosts for the normal meeting time of Noon to 1:00 p.m.
The host has the opportunity to tour the visiting Rotarians around the business and share more about the company's successes and achievements. Moreover, the host can decide how he/she wishes to handle lunch: have attendees bring a brown bag, have food for those attending but ask them to pay towards the cost of the meal and drinks, or take care of lunch as a business expense. It is the host's choice but we need to advertise the detail in advance so everyone knows what to expect.
Please contact Chair Mellie Bevilacqua at 833-5775 or the Rotary Office at 842-1913 to volunteer and provide the number you will be able to accommodate and details on how you wish to handle lunch. Hosts are not obligated to serve lunch as Rotarians are accustomed to purchasing lunch at the weekly meetings and will be happy to do so for this meeting as well.
Once all hosts are in place, we will open the events for Rotarians to sign up to attend one of the meetings. Watch for announcements.
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With Project Dates Approaching Quickly, Sponsor(s) Urgently Needed
As outgoing President, Chad Blanchard gave a gift to every Rotarian - a "Rotarian at Work" shirt. They have been put to really good use! They are bright and easily seen as members take part in outdoor work projects. With only a few (very large sizes) of the initial order remaining, it is time to order more so every new member can also become a "Rotarian at Work!"
We can reorder the same shirt at a very reasonable price, and would love to have an underwriter or sponsor so we can devote all our resources to the projects. Your firm or business will be promoted in the RotaryGrams and on the website as well as at our weekly meetings on the pre-meeting PowerPoint video.
If you would like to become our "Rotarian at Work" shirt sponsor, please let Jacque hear from you right away.
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Members Welcomed to the Club!
It is always exciting when a new member joins the Club and it was FIVE times the excitement last Wednesday as we welcomed these 5 new members! Welcome LaTanya Afolayan, Joanne Brown, Alan Gonzalez, Stephanie Shoemaker and Nancy Stretcher.
LaTanya Afolayan, (also answers to Tanya) grew up in Evansville, Indiana and has lived in 6 states during the past 25 years. She is currently Associate Vice President for University Advancement at Lamar University. Married for 28 years with 3 children, Tanya has a passion for expanding access to higher education for the under-served populations. She was proposed by Becky Mason.
Joanne Brown was proposed by both Larry Beaulieu and Paul Szuch and holds the position of Director of Development/Executive Director of the LIT Foundation. A past president of the Junior League of Beaumont, Joanne has held many leadership positions with community organizations. Most notably, Joanne boasts of being a certified forklift driver and is still smiling after both her children married in 2015 in two different states!
Alan Gonzalez, Corps Officer with the Salvation Army, was proposed by Pat Anderson. Alan was born in Venezuela and became a citizen in 2013. Married for 35 years, he has two grown children and 5 grandchildren. When not working, Alan enjoys reading, writing, carpentry and watching sports.
Stephanie Shoemaker, Accounting Manager for Mason Construction, attended Texas A & M and worked in Austin for a few years before returning to her hometown of Beaumont. She lead a team of accountants in India, traveling there in both 2011 and 2013. Stephanie loves snow skiing, cycling, and running. She was proposed by Chad Mason.
Nancy Stretcher, Department Chair of Business Technologies at Lamar Institute of Technology, was also proposed by Paul Szuch. Until recently, Nancy was a Rotarian in the Nederland Club where she served as secretary. Singing is Nancy's passion and she sings baritone in the Sweet Adelines chorus and in the church choir. She also enjoys the challenge of a computer video game.
WELCOME TO SOME OF THE NEWEST ROTARIANS IN THE WORLD!
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Congratulations to
Rotarian
Tommy Hebert!
The vast majority of us will never know the feeling of accomplishment that comes with national acclaim of our work or passion, but Tommy Hebert certainly does! The NATIONAL magazine of the American Rose Society included a feature on Tommy and his talent of growing and hybridizing roses. How fortunate for us that Tommy often brings and shares his beautiful creations with us at weekly meetings! You can read and enjoy the entire article by clicking on the magazine cover below.
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SCHOLARSHIP INSPIRES
"The (Rotary Club of Beaumont) scholarship did so much more ... because for the first time in my life I felt confident, proud, and powerful."
What a pleasant surprise! The Club received a very delightful letter of thanks from a 2007 Rotary Scholarship recipient, Bianca Brock.
DR. Brock, who graduated on May 7, will begin her career as a pharmacist and humanitarian.
Read and enjoy her letter by linking on the image of it. Take pride in the fact that your donations to the Beaumont Rotary Foundation/Service Above Self are making a significant impact on the lives of others.
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We send wishes for a quick recovery to our friends and fellow Rotarians who have been ill, had or are facing surgery, or just need our thoughts and prayers. We hope you are better soon!
Sam Fazio
Lee Freeland
Connie Szuch
Cheryl Williams
Michael Wolf
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Please let us know if you or another Rotarian should be included in our weekly good wishes article!
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Debbie Frazier
May 9
Gary Moncla
May 9
Sam Fazio
May 13
Kal Kincaid
May 15
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PROGRAM REVIEW
May 4, 2016
“Is it time to retire the Error Cone – a.k.a. the
Cone of Uncertainty?"
Chris Hebert
Tropics Manager
StormGeo
by Bobbie Applegate
The Error Cone has been used to warn people - whether they are in or out of the risk zone - of hurricanes. But the Club’s favorite hurricane forecaster, Chris Hebert, warns us that we need to be prepared any time our area is in proximity to the Cone. A good example of that was Hurricane Ike whose very large path continued into the upper states.
As we looked at slides of the last 5 years overlap of the Cone, it was obvious to see that the forecasting is getting better, and compared to 10 years ago, the accuracy is really narrowing.
All storms are not the same, referencing Joaquin in 2015, as the forecast for three days was that the hurricane would continue up the East Coast with strength. The American and Canadian models were in close alignment on this storm Cone. The storm sat over the Bahamas for three days. On the fourth day, data was obtained showing the storm trailing out to the Atlantic. The reason for this was that the Gulf stream responsible for acquiring data did not fly into the storm until the 3rd day of the storm.
The model's objective is to better assess the worst case scenario with better evasive deadlines. Chris’ idea of what this model should be called is “Irregular Shaped Polygon of Uncertainty.”
The forecast for this year? El Nino is the highest since 1949 and we are moving quickly to La Nino with the water temperatures cooling off. Hurricanes only develop in low pressure areas and so this all means that there is a more favorable condition for hurricanes to come into the Gulf from the Caribbean. One Hurricane has already occurred this year: Alex in January. The Gulf Coast is above normal risk this year, and three major hurricanes are expected.
Thanks to Vernon Pierce and Entergy for presenting our favorite forecaster (even though his news was not the best it could be).
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