1931: The Empire State Building, a 102-story skyscraper in Midtown, Manhattan, officially opened. It was the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years. The building's opening just happened to coincide with the Great Depression and as a result, much of its office space was initially unrented. This led New Yorkers to refer to the building as 'The Empty Space Building."
1936: Alvin Karpis, a Depression-era gangster nicknamed 'Creepy' for his sinister smile, was captured by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. At this time, he was one of four gangsters designated Public Enemy #1. It was this very capture of Karpis that catapulted Hoover into the public eye. There was however some confusion on the scene when Hoover told his men to handcuff Karpis. Not one agent had brought handcuffs! Karpis was instead tied up with an agent's necktie!
1952: Mr. Potato Head was introduced by Hasbro which is based in Rhode Island. The original toy sold for $0.98 and contained hands, feet, ears, 2 mouths, 2 pairs of eyes, 4 noses, 3 hats, eyeglasses, a pipe and 8 felt pieces that resembled facial hair. The original Mr. Potato Head hit did not come with a potato body, so parents had to provide their own potato. There was one minor problem. After a few days, Mr. Potato Head became Mr, Rotten Potato Head. So, after countless consumer complaints, Hasbro began including a plastic potato body. Now you know the rest of the story.
Thank you to Denny for filling in with the Invocation for Paul who could not be with us and thank you to Joe for greeting!
PE Nancy Jones attended the District Conference along with Bev Edwards. Nancy shared that this was a high energy, well attended conference at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Maybe we can have more attend next year!
PP Talee Crowe shared about the Rotary Foundation. Smoky Hill Rotary set a club goal to raise $12,000 and we raised $14,500! We are the #1 club in the district for per capita donations with all 30 of our members making donations to the Rotary Foundation! Additionally, the next Ronald McDonald Dinner is May 16 and Talee needs 8 volunteers. Please sign up!
Great day for guests! We had Bevery Essex, Grace Aschenger, Cindy, Jan and Miles!
Stump the Rotarian!
1. One of my summer jobs was to test drive snowmobiles on dry land.
2. After celebrating my sister's 21st birthday, we were hit by a train on the way home.
3. I once spent 4 days in Holly, Colorado sampling wheat in a grain elevator.
4. While I worked very hard to earn my nickname, I'm told it came naturally - Mr. Grumpy!
5. I once had Gary Fletcher and Steve Cantrell whining like little girls while off-roading in Boulder County.
Who: Terry Remigio!
MAY is Bring a Friend to Lunch Month! A call from President Denny to get serious about new Members and would like to see two by the end of his tenure.
