Newburyport Rotary - Newburyport Clipper

Our meeting today, January 11, was held in the Higgins Conference Room at Anna Jaques Hospital. The Nutrician Department did an excellent job as usual serving us surf and turf with twice baked potato and vegetables, salad, rolls, and cheesecake for dessert. Thank you, thank you. Zack led us in singing "God Bless American".

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

Scott Eaton brought a guest from the Newburyport Bank and Deb Chiavarotte, Director of Marketing at Anna Jaques Hospital was the guest of Scott Goodspeed.

Student Guests

Cindy Johnson introduced the Newburyport High students...Caroline Connolly (daughter of Grace and Jim) and Tracy Twombly.

Caroline plays soccer a d is a member of Interact and the Marshal staff. Her favorite subjects are English and Spanish. She plans to attend Florida State University with a double major in Spanish and communications.

Tracy is a member of Interact, the Marshal staff, and the National Honor Society and she runs cross country. Her favorite class is English and she plans to attend Syracuse University majoring in English and hopes to become an English teacher.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Happy Birthday to Scott Vandersall (1/5), Cindy Johnson (1/15), Josiah Welch (1/16) Scott Goodspeed (1/6).

Announcements

Pres. Geri informed us that the club has collected over $700.00 in fines this year to date.
The Holiday Raffle netted us $3200 which will go towards scholarships.
Next week we will pass the hat for victims of Tsunami.
There will be a board meeting Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Sue Christ's house. Anyone with a new member proposal should be present.

Happy Dollars

Scott Vandersall was happy to say that Banknorth is a sponsor for the Frigid Fiver Road Race and gave Geri a check for $500. Jim and Grace Connolly were happy to have their daughter as a guest at lunch today. Arlene Santa Fe reported that the YWCA will be hosting a breakfast on Monday, January 17, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and she challenges the Rotarians to attend, along with 200 students, at the Georgetown Country Club at 7:30 a.m.

Fines

Ted Shepard was informed there was no Rotary meeting on January 4th by Tom Howard of the Police department. Tom was on the second floor of the police station with a bullhorn and a camera. Some more people will be getting fined for coming the wrong day.

Frigid Fiver

Jean Francois said we have 19 volunteers signed up for the road race, but we still need more. Gerry Hirsch said we need everyone there to support the race, especially since it is his birthday.

Goodbye

Paul Slegaitis of the Salvation Army was with us today for his last meeting. He is leaving for Pottstown, Pennsylvania and thanks everyone for their support and the opportunity to be a member of Rotary. He leaves us with blessings to all.

Program

Scott Goodspeed introduced Senator Steve Baddour, who spoke to us today about health care, the Big Dig and the economy. He says he sees the economy picking up in 2005. The state is focusing on health care, making it their #1 project. And on the subject of the Big Dig, he had lots to say about leaks in the tunnel.

He said there are over 1000 leaks, and it is a very serious problem which is going to be charged to the general contractor who admits they made a mistake in the design. It has already cost the state $14,625 billion. There isn't much money being put into our roads and bridges, and it doesn't look like we are going to get much local aid here in Newburyport.

There was a question and answer session, and Geri gave the senator a box of chocolates.