Blair Rotary Newsletter

Every Rotarian - Every Year Total to Date
Club Goal for the 2007-2008 Rotary Year is $4,000
$2,464	$2,600	$2,800	$3,000	$3,200	$3,400	$3,600	$3,800	$4,000	$4,300

Reminder: attendance should be at least 60%, if you can't make a meeting you can do a make-up on the web at the following address: http://www.rotaryeclub7890.org/makeup.htm

The annual Blair Rotary Golf Tournament is scheduled for Friday, June 20th at the Rivers Wild Golf Course - please reserve this date on your calendar. We will need a number of members to help and everyone is encouraged to form a team.

A membership application has been received from Rev. Mike Knutson, Senior Pastor at First Lutheran Church, if anyone has a reason for not granting membership please contact a club officer as soon as possible.

Notes from April 29th - Program Chair - Neil Smith

Neil's guest for the day was Kevin Probst, a candidate for the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District (NRD) Board. Kevin is retired from the United Parcel Service and is currently the owner and operator of Jidders in Blair. The NRD concept is unique to Nebraska - there are a total of 24 districts in the state - which deal with irrigation, water and soil conservation.

Kevin has been urged by several others to run for the board. Kevin feels the NRD is off track and has abused its powers in a number of ways as indicated below:

Violation of open meeting laws - meeting by Board members without public notice
Abuse of eminent domain powers
Lack of fiscal responsibility - (in 2003 a budget of $23 million in 2008 $44 million); in 2007 budgeted $32 million and spent $14 million - over budgeted by $18 million which is held in reserve for dams in Washington County which have an estimated cost of $110 million
The Newport Landing near Bennington cost $4 million but only provides 1.22% of flood control and has limited public use

Kevin's goals as a NRD Board member is to:

Reduce property taxes
Reduce use of eminent domain
Stop pursuing bonding authority
Promote continued partnering on terraces, soil conservation and rural water

The election is May 13th - there are 3 candidates for the position, the incumbent is not running. The top two vote getters will advance to the fall general election.

Rotary Fact of the Week (from the RI or District Website)

Rotaract clubs for men and women aged 18-30 foster leadership and responsible citizenship, encourage high ethical standards in business and promote international understanding and peace. A program of Rotary International, Rotaract clubs work under the guidance of their local Rotary club. The word Rotaract comes from a combination of the words “Rotary” and “action.” The first officially chartered Rotaract club was in North Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1968, but clubs of young people associated in service with local Rotary clubs had existed for several years in India and Europe.

Today, there are an estimated 149,000 members in 6,447 Rotaract clubs in 154 countries and geographical regions. Clubs draw members from the community or are organized as an extra-curricular activity for college students.

Thought of the Week

"Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." H. Mumford Jones (1892-1980)

May Birthdays
Ed Jipp 12^th
Ardelle Wachter 12th
Jim Peterson 16th
Ken Rhoades 22nd
Blake Dillon 27th
Dan Veskrna 28th
George Hall 26th