President Fausto was MIA this week so President-Elect, Don Pilon, presided over the meeting. He led the way with the Pledge of Allegiance. Past President, Joe Moreshead, flawlessly led the group in the 4 Way Test and Joe Bassett provided the invocation.
PE Don was the ultimate multi-tasker today and also introduced our one visiting guest, Jane Foley, from SMHC. Jane was a guest of the also MIA Past President, Karen Chasse.
Not to fear, PP Joe Moreshead stepped up to the plate to stand in for PP Karen and sat with Jane Foley.
The lucky winner of the $23.00 50/50 pot went to Haley Thompson. Haley generously donated her winnings back to the Red Ribbon fund. Thank you Haley!
02/20/20 is the date for the Rotary World Day of Peace. This event will be held at the Sheraton in Portland. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you are interested in attending, please contact President Fausto so he can sign you up!
Marty, Don and Fausto recently attended a dinner at the Fireside Inn in Portland. This was an introductory meeting/dinner for the incoming officers. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and gain some new ideas.
One of the items that came into question was the term “Sargent-at-Arms (SAA). Some people are now wondering if that term is “politically correct”. If we don’t refer to this person as the SAA, what do we call him/her? PE Don tossed out a few suggestions such as “Collector of Funds”, “Solicitor of Funds”, etc. Our current SAA, Heather MacLean, stated that she was not personally adverse to the title. It actually made her feel powerful. This topic will most likely be brought before the Board for discussion.
Heather MacLean and Conrad Welzel did a brief update for the upcoming Wine Tasting Event which is being held on February 8th at Duffy’s. There are still many tickets to be sold! Please do your best to sell the tickets that were provided to you. If you haven’t received any tickets or are in need of more to sell, get in touch with Heather or Conrad and they’ll hook you right up. We are also still in need of some silent auction items. If you have an item, it can be dropped off at Heather’s store on Main Street in Saco, Whimsical ME. Our club does so much for the community. We all need to pull together to make this super fun fundraiser a huge success so we can continue with our good work in the communities we serve!
SAA was up next to boost her budget.
Happy Dollars were received from the following Rotarians:
Kathy Shea just for being here;
PP Joe was in awe of the power of the SAA;
Dr. Joe celebrated a wedding anniversary last week. He was also happy to serve on the committee for the nomination of the next District Governor. He also mentioned that a fellow Rotarian was surprised that he maintained great attendance in two clubs. He wanted to know who would want to miss showing up at our club meeting!
PP Ken Farley was happy to have won a large case at work;
Conrad Welzel only has 3 days to go! (I believe he is retiring-again😊)
Mark Nahorney was happy to announce that Biddeford Winterfest was this weekend. He also mentioned that a couple of shows at City Theater were selling out fast so you’d want to purchase your tickets sooner rather than later.
Julie was happy that there were no injuries & only minor damage when she was rear-ended at the red light at the Biddeford Crossing plaza. Also happy that the police officer didn’t even mention that she had provided an old, expired license & expired insurance instead of the updated versions (what a day!!)
That was enough of the happiness so Heather started doling out the fines.
She started with PP Joe with a $5 fine for his comment about Heather not being cute and also about Rotary allowing women into the club. Joe generously donated $20 instead because in the end it all goes to the children.
PP Jackson Brown was fined for his upcoming trip to the Super Bowl.
PP Denis Elie was fined a Happy Birthday dollar.
CJ Dubois-Cote, Sara Neault, Don Pilon and Jeremy Ray were all fined an anniversary dollar.
Jim LaBelle was fined for not investing in his attire once again. It was suggested that he look at Jackson Brown as a role model. He was also fined for not being able to attend the wine tasting fundraiser.
PP Keith Jacques was fined for his comment when he entered the meeting. The “comment” was not shared so it must have been a doozy.
Kaitlyn Tito was fined once again for having a cute outfit.
We will soon have a representative from SMHC, Jane Foley, join our club!
Conrad Welzel introduced today’s speaker, Nate Howell, President/CEO of SMHC.
Nate joined SMHC in 2018 bringing more than 10 years of progressive executive leadership experience in national healthcare systems, most recently serving as President and CEO of North Star Health Alliance and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, New York. He is a graduate of Colby College and received a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University. Howell has strong ties to Maine. He was born at the former Goodall Hospital in Sanford and spent many summers at the family’s vacation home in Brunswick.
Southern Maine Health Care (SMHC) is a nationally accredited, award-winning not-for-profit healthcare system offering a comprehensive array of medical care and services including: a full-service medical center in Biddeford and emergency departments in Biddeford and in Sanford. A multi-specialty physician services group, SMHC Physicians, comprised of more than 125 physicians providing comprehensive primary and specialty services; non-emergency Walk-In Care; Centers for Breast Care, Sleep Disorders and Wound and Ostomy Care; behavioral health; eldercare services and a wide range of diagnostic and rehabilitation services. SMHC has more than 20 offices located in Biddeford, Kennebunk, Saco, Sanford and Waterboro.
SMHC's mission is to improve the health and health care of the communities we serve.
SMHC has the only acute behavioral health unit in York County. That unit will be moving to Sanford for more space and will occupy the entire former Goodall Hospital building.
Maine Medical Center is currently undergoing a ½ Billion Dollar renovation. SMHC is getting some of their business.
Nate mentioned that they have been restructuring things which will now enable them to get out into the community more. They want to know what the perception is of them out in the community.
Cheese and chocolate pairings throughout the evening and craft beer will also be available.
Duffy's, 168 Saco Ave., OOB
$30 per ticket
Tickets are available at Whimsical ME, 239 Main St. in Saco and from Rotary Club members.
Thank you!
Heather
Follow up 1/25/2020
Dear Fellow Rotarians,
The 2020 Wine Tasting is less than 2 weeks away and we are hoping everyone is busy selling tickets. It would be great if we could all sell at least 6!
We have attached the sign up sheet so that you all know what you are doing the night of the event. We have an opening for front desk from 6:45 until 8 and two openings for front desk from 8-9. We also need pourers for Table 3 for the 8-9 hour; and someone to help Heather set up and keep organized the silent auction table...ideally from 6:40 or so until 8 PM.
We could use all the help we can get on clean up. It's pretty simple at Duffy's, but if you are going to be there until the end, please think about staying an extra 30 minutes to help us put everything back together. It might not take that long!
We are hoping to get a few more donations for the Silent Auction. This tends to raise several thousand dollars and it's for the children! We are looking for new items that you bought and realized you don't need, or new items that you purchase for this purpose, or services or goods that your own business can provide. We do hope people will continue to be generous with these donations and we thank you.
See you all soon and thank you for all that you do.
I wrote this piece for the Tack a few years ago before our wine tasting event. Nothing about the Maine’s Liquor Liability Law has changed (I actually checked), so if you are going to be a pourer at the wine tasting event please take a moment and read this. The bottom line for those people who only read the first paragraph or two of newspaper articles (assuming some of you still read papers), if you serve a visibly intoxicated person and then they leave and injure someone then you, personally, and the club can be held liable under the Act. “Visibly intoxicated” means the person you are giving a “taste” to is in a “state of intoxication” (for some of us the 51st state) and they do some perceptible act or series of acts which would lead you to believe they are drunk or have the appearance of someone clearly intoxicated (haven’t I described a large portion of our wine tasting crowd?). So have fun, but let’s be careful out there.
So picture this: You’re standing at your wine pouring station at the Rotary Wine Tasting Event. You’re looking sharp. You’ve memorized the sheet of your red wines and you’re killing it dispensing information about varietals, breathing and debourbage (a white wine term but what the hell do you or they know?). It’s getting a little later in the event, you’ve opened more bottles than you care to count right now and up walks: 1) a buddy of yours, 2) a good looking guy or woman who you would like to impress, or 3) a fellow Rotarian. The conversation goes something like this.
Hey, how’s it going? Great, you Rotariaaans are greaaat! Thanks, we do like having a good time. Yeah, don’t you guys sometimes wear those funny hats and drive little cars in parades? (with that question I am hoping it is not a fellow Rotarian unless they are really new). No, I think you’re thinking of Shiners but you were close. What can I interest you in? I have some great red wines including a merlot, a pinot noir and two Zinfandels you can try? Would you like to know anything about any of them, I’m a bit of a wine tool. Oh, I don’t care, but fill me up, will ya, I’m here for quantity not quality or whatever you winos call it.
You think, clearly a little drunk, but hell so am I and so are most people here so she’s not going to care what I pour. I’ll pour from the fullest bottle I have so I don’t have to waste it all at the end of the night. She’s not going to taste it anyway. Why don’t you try this merlot, I think you’ll like it. Here, let me rinse your glass. Wait, there’s a sip left in there, don’t dump it yet, that’s waste. You know there are people in Africa who don’t get to drink wine very often. She gulps the last few drops in the glass. There now you can rinse it.
So you rinse the glass and pour a taste, a couple of ounces, and hand it back to her (please note you can substitute him for her here if you want). She looks at you in a disgusted way with her head tilted slightly to the left, she throws back her hair (if it is a guy I am not sure he would throw back his hair) and says: Dude, I asked you to fill it up. It takes a lot for me to really taste a wine. So hit me again please. At that point you’re conflicted. You really don’t want to stand there and take crap from this person and you certainly want to send her away happy, but on the other hand this is a wine tasting not an all you can drink buffet. The angel and devil go at it on your shoulders for exactly 3 seconds and you pour some more of the $10.00 merlot in her glass. She says, Dude you’re the best, spins, stumbles a little, a bit of the wine sloshes out of the glass onto the floor and off she goes. And you’re left wondering.
OK, let me put on my lawyer hat and introduce you to the Maine Liquor Liability Act. The Act is intended to prevent intoxication-related injuries, deaths and property damage. Let’s assume (not a big stretch) that, by definition, the person you just served is an “intoxicated individual,” and, by definition, she is “visibly intoxicated” (yes, there is a state definition for that). The Club is a “licensee” for the wine tasting event meaning we got a liquor license for the event. You are a “server” under the law.
Let’s spin the facts out a little. You may think that anyone that drunk can’t be driving. We all know better than that. We may all know better, but she didn’t think she was that bad and she hops behind the wheel. Hell, she only has to go a few miles and she is certainly of the opinion that she only had a few tastes. On the way home she drops her cell phone and as she is fishing for it between the console and her seat she goes through a stop sign, t-bones another car and the passenger of that car is seriously injured. She has the minimum amount of liability insurance and the passenger has serious injuries with huge medical bills and what will be a permanent impairment. Dong! Joe Bornstein is now involved and he is looking for other sources of money to cover the passenger’s damages and increase his contingency recovery. That’s when they find out she had just left the Rotary wine tasting event.
Under Maine’s Liquor Liability Act the passenger is an appropriate plaintiff (incidentally our drunk wine taster cannot sue us under that Act). Guess who the appropriate defendants are. The Biddeford Saco Rotary Club and YOU personally! You can be held personally liable if you negligently serve liquor to a visibly intoxicated individual and the intoxication proximately causes the damages. In this case if the woman was not drunk she would not have dropped her phone, run the stop sign and crashed into the other car. You can also be found to be reckless because the woman was visibly intoxicated, and you gave her more wine than you should have done, and you had no idea whether the woman was driving or not.
So the Club gets sued and you get sued. That is absolutely horrible. I guess the good news is that the Rotary International insurance we purchase apparently includes liquor liability coverage, or so I am told. Second, the damages under the Act are capped at $350,000.00. Still a very large amount of money but not infinite dollars either. The bottom line is, however, that a person got seriously injured and you and the Club contributed to that. The Club’s reputation and yours are trashed by this incredibly unfortunate event. The other bottom line is such an accident might be avoided by not giving into the temptation to fill glasses during a tasting event and by making sure that people who have had too much to drink have a way to get home.
Our beer and wine events are really fun, and I don’t mean to be a “buzz kill” (unfortunate saying here), but I was asked to share the law with you. The good news is that we have insurance and we all know that if we pour properly everyone should be able to make it home safely. Let’s try to avoid being defendants while having a great time.
As a favor since I am remotely compiling the tack, please shoot me an e-mail once you have taken the notes. That way I will know who to anticipate sending me the typed up version later on.
Please submit your Tack notes to Brian Dallaire at bdallaire@usa.net and with copy to Julie Villemaire at Jvillemaire@maine.rr.com, no later than the Tuesday AM before the next meeting.
How would you like to have not only your own Rotary Club members contact information but also the entire District at your fingertips? You can and so much more by downloading the new and improved ClubRunner Mobile App. You can also access club and district leadership, stories and events all with just a few clicks. Connecting to them is as easy as clicking on the phone number or email address.You can download it on the AppStore or GooglePlay and be on your way in minutes. Now would also be a good time to make sure that your profile is current, and if you do not have a picture saved, or your birthday listed, considering updating your information now! Reach out and collaborate with other like minded Rotarians from around our district and be the People of Action that your are!
Our Club is in first place of 10 Rotary Clubs who participate in this program! But Saco Bay is gaining on us.
Total Raised: $2,617.05
Containers CLYNKed: 47,609
Environmental Impact:
Energy: Saved enough energy to light 65.7 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 12,444 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 480.6 lobster traps.
Fill up those green bags. If you need more bags and/or labels, just let Julie Villemaire know and she can hook you up…no charge!
Simple fill with returnables and drop off at any Hannaford.
Alternately, if you already have a CLYNK account of your own, you can designate you funds as a donation. Hit the Donate button and search for Rotary and you'll find our account.