Cogitator March 13, 2013

VISITING ROTARIAN

Juan Oserio joined us from the Providence Sunrise Club.  Juan is the Development Director of Boy Scouts’ Narragansett Council. 

CLUB ANNIVERSARY

Happy East Greenwich Rotary induction day to Sue Dorne.  Sue was a Rotarian in Shelton, CT before coming aboard a year ago on March 15^th, 2012. 

50^th ANNIVERSARY GALA

Pat Lenihan thanked several Rotarians for their efforts with our big birthday bash coming up on March 23^rd:  Sally Russell, for her work on club history information and photos; Stan Reuter for putting together the commemorative program; and Matt D’Agenais for helping with the program’s advertisements.  ‘It’s all coming together!’

DAFFODIL DAYS

Next week, Lou Lepry will have all Rotarian daffodil orders.  Thanks again to all who supported Lou and his 2013 campaign on behalf of the American Cancer Society.

P.E.T.S.

President-Elect Jodi Gladstone was back from last weekend’s president-elect training seminar (PETS), and she presented to President Ken Colaluca the official 2013-2014 Rotary International flag. 

PERFECT ATTENDANCE

Membership chair Janet Essex congratulated four Rotarians for perfect attendance, presenting each a pin clip:  Jodi Gladstone, 2 years; President Ken, 5 years; yours truly, 11 years; and, Pat Lenihan, 12 years.  Nice work one and all!

Janet reminded the club that while Rotary International now allows for a liberal minimum of 50% attendance, there’s much to gain by attending and participating each week.  Agreed!  Quoting two dedicated veterans of our club:

‘The more you put into Rotary, the more you’ll take out of Rotary,’ and,

‘Busy Rotarians make great Rotarians.’ 

HAPPY BUCKS

-Judy Pratt had a busy hockey season with her son and daughter.  Sami’s Toll Gate girls’ hockey team finished third this season, behind powerhouses Mount St. Charles and LaSalle.  (Poor Sami broke a bone in her shoulder a few weeks back.)  And, Alex’s team won his league’s championship game. 

-Congratulations to Steve Lombardi, now a grandpa for his first time (and welcome, Mason James).  Steve’s also happy to be recovering well from recent retina surgery. 

-Bill TenEyck is looking ahead to some good Cape Cod basketball this weekend with daughter Schuyler. 

-Sue Dorne’s daughter finally got the keys to her Manhattan co-op apartment this week, after an exhausting application/approval process.

-Dave Iannuccilli, back from a Re/Max convention in Vegas, promised to honor the pledge ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’

-President Ken gave a ‘general happiness’ buck! 

PROGRAM/SPEAKER

Mark Curtis, News Anchor/Reporter, ABC Channel 6

Mark Curtis from ABC Channel 6, began by joking that since there was no white smoke yet from the Vatican he was ‘officially still in the running.’    

Mark has been involved in political reporting since the Reagan years, shortly after his college years at Marquette University.  He began his career during Walter Mondale’s 1984 unsuccessful campaign to unseat President Ronald Reagan.  During that time, Mark was thrilled to be in the same company as notable pressmen as Frank Reynolds, Hugh Downs, and Bob Schieffer, who along with him jockeyed for stories to send back to their respective audiences. 

Mark authored a well-received book about the 2008 election, Making of the President, 2008. 

He also offered a few humorous quotes from politicians throughout the years. 

-Hillary Clinton, asked continually about her husband’s infidelity, offered a line from the Bible about needing to forgive ‘seven times seventy times.’

-John McCain, after a primary win in New Hampshire, told a Colorado crowd in 2008, ‘The good news is that we now have money for a national campaign; the bad news is, it’s in your pockets.’

-Candidate Barack Obama infamously pondered aloud, while campaigning in Beaverton, Oregon, ‘I’ve been to 57 states so far, and I think we have only one or two more to go.’

-President George Bush offered once, ‘Our enemies are dedicated, always trying to find ways to harm our country.  And so are we.’   

Mark noted that we will soon witness presidential hopefuls for 2016 getting their campaign efforts under way.  They need to start early since it’s so expensive, and, it’s critical to get a solid professional staff together.  The field seems to be wide open according to Mark.  Hillary Clinton, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, and Marco Rubio are some of the names being floated already. 

Locally, Mark pointed to a crowded field in the 2014 race for the RI governorship.  Gina Raimondo, Angel Taveras, Ken Block, and Brendan Doherty are considered by many as frontrunners.  Rhode Island is a good state to cover as a reporter since ‘everyone knows everyone,’ and ‘there’s always good material.’ 

Regarding presidential debates, Mark said he’d like to get rid of the canned, scripted, and moderated setup.  Instead, he’d love to simply turn on the spotlights, prepare a couple of podiums and microphones, and let the candidates hammer away at each other with real questions and real answers. 

Finally, Mark gave his thoughts on the modernization of news.  He predicted ‘sadly, newspapers will be mostly gone in 20 years.’  Television news will still exist, but it will be internet related, offered up on people’s large screen TV’s at home.  Reporting will be ‘all about technology, speed, and convenience,’ and this means ‘it will not necessarily be the most accurate news.’    

Mark Curtis, from ABC Channel 6