February 16, 2017

Minutes of the Rotary Meeting – February 16, 2017
By: Henry R. Seawell, IV
Invocation, Song, Music and Pledge
The meeting was called to order by club president, Les Greer. Jerrime Kitsos offered the invocation. Tommy Fulton led the Song and Pledge, accompanied by Bill Oppenheimer on the piano. Mr. Greer offered his Rotary Tidbit of the week, informing the Club that two Rotary chapters are currently in operation in Antarctica, despite the fact that the continent has no permanent residents.
Introduction of Guests and Visitors: Tom Martenstein.
Announcements: The Rotary District cruise is scheduled to begin on April 27, 2017, while the Rotary of Mobile golf tournament will be held on April 18, 2017. A board meeting was held on the same day as the meeting. RYLA will be held for high school juniors and seniors from March 9-12, 2017, and members were encouraged to contact Peggy Buggs or Aimee Risser for additional information about this event. The Board of Directors for Rotary Mobile recently announced its intention to match all donations to the Rotary Foundation with the stated objective of increasing the number of Paul Harris fellows in our club by 50.
Cameron Robinson, a Rotary Student of the Week in January of this year, has formed an Interact Club at Murphy High School. This Club is being sponsored by Rotary of Mobile and 65 students have already signed up to be involved. Additionally, Sunrise Rotary Club has 48 new members, and officers will be inducted contemporaneously with the Club’s chartering this spring.
Student of the Week
The student of the week was Shelby “Cate” Hodges, a senior at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, introduced by Jeff Luther and Dr. Mark Foley. Dr. Foley described how Cate’s character had developed during the course of her time at St. Paul’s and shared her Grade Point Average, a staggering 4.4. We wish Cate every success in her future endeavors.
Program
Speaker: Mr. Sandy Stimpson, the 108th Mayor of the City of Mobile, Alabama, was introduced by Rich Landolt and offered the Club a very informative glance into the State of the City. Mayor Stimpson broke down the happenings in the city into three categories, Exciting, Challenging and Choices.
A major source of Excitement in the city is the thriving business community and rapidly improving infrastructure. Some examples include Carnival Cruise Lines, which returned to the City after a multi-year absence and has been operating at 115% capacity; Austal, which is building three ships a year, including two LCSs (Littoral Combat Ships); Airbus is continuing to ramp up production and will be assembling one aircraft per week by the end of this year; twenty-five new restaurants have opened in the Port City in the past year; and Wal-Mart announced their intent to station a major distribution facility in our area. Of interest to our members who reside on the Eastern Shore, ALDOT and Thompson Engineering have been working diligently to transform the I-10 Bridge from concept to creation. Thompson has nearly completed its environmental impact study and construction could begin the latter part of 2018.
Despite the business successes described above, Mobile is experiencing some major Challenges, as well. Most notably, the public housing in the Mobile area has deteriorated to an unacceptable level. The Mayor’s office is working with HUD in an attempt to alleviate this situation. Additionally, the I-Team continues to scour the city identifying blight. Mayor Stimpson described a new bill pending during this legislative session that would help expedite the acquisition of blighted and abandoned properties in order to more expeditiously deal with this problem.
Finally, Mayor Stimpson encouraged all Rotarians to make Choices that support the continued strength and prosperity of our city. With the return of GulfQuest and new exhibits at the Exploreum, downtown Mobile is more vibrant and culturally sophisticated than ever. We were asked to pray for the city of Mobile and participate in its evolution from “Good to Great.” A comprehensive facilities assessment is taking place and the viability of the city’s 500 properties, including the Civic Center, are under review.
The meeting was adjourned.

Mar. 30, 2017–Cart Blackwell / The Alabama Bicentennial

Cartledge Weeden Blackwell, III
Cartledge Weeden Blackwell, III was born in Selma. Blackwell serves as the Assistant Director of the Mobile Historic Development Commission. His scholarly focus is on the architecture and decorative arts of the American South. Blackwell obtained undergraduate degrees in art history and historic preservation from the College of Charleston He received his MA in Architectural History from the University’s School of Architecture in 2008. Cart is currently working on two monographs. One focuses on Alabama artist-designer Clara Weaver Parrish. A second on architect George B. Rogers is the beginning stages of development. In addition to his work with the Mobile Historic Development Commission and research endeavors, Cart also serves as the Alabama representative to the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, a board member of the Cahaba Foundation, a board member of the Friends of the Magnolia Cemetery, and a board member of the Friends of the Alabama Department of Archives & History.

Mar. 23, 2017–Scott Tindle / Duck Boat Tours

Scott is a native of Mobile, Alabama and graduated from Baker High School. After attending Auburn University and receiving a B.S. in Secondary Education, Scott earned a J.D. at the University of Alabama School of Law. Upon graduation from law school, Scott entered into the private practice of law having worked at both a civil defense firm as well as in-house counsel and Chief Operating Officer for an international security firm. Scott has served as a personal aide to President George W. Bush and has appeared on the ABC reality show “Shark Tank.”
Before founding Gulf Coast Ducks Scott was the Executive Director of The Grounds. During Scott’s tenure the organization was awarded Community Partner of the Year Award by the Mobile County Public School System and the Rebranding Campaign of the Year by the American Advertising Federation for its transformation of the Greater Gulf State Fair into the “cleanest most family-friendly event in America.”
Currently Scott serves as a Partner of Gulf Coast Ducks and Activation Management as they seek to continue to grow the tourism scene in Mobile. As a graduate of the Disney Institute Scott focuses on using the fundamentals and effort based techniques used by Disney Parks and Resorts in his businesses.
Scott and his wife, Beth, have three daughters Mary Scott, Julia, and Ann Gibson and are active members of Dauphin Way United Methodist Church

Mar, 16, 2017–Jason Mckenzie, Executive Director / Joe Jefferson Players

Jason McKenzie was recently named Executive Director of the Joe Jefferson Players. He first got involved with the group in 2001 and has since performed in over 16 shows. He also served as the Vice President of Marketing since 2012 until accepting this role as the Executive Director. Many of you know Jason from his banking days in the past and more recently, as the associate director of development for the Mitchell Cancer Institute. Jason holds a BS from Louisiana Tech University and an MBA from Auburn University

Mar. 9, 2017–Ofir Rozenberg / Mobile Area Jewish Federation

Ofir Rozenberg is a 27 year old female from Israel. She recently graduated with a degree in Social Work from Tel-Hai Academic College in Northern Israel. Prior to her academic studies, she travelled to different countries in Asia, Central America and Europe. Like every Israeli woman, she served in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) for two years, where she was a squad commander of Intelligence soldiers.
Ofir worked as a counselor at an American High School right outside of Jerusalem. Her family resides in a small community in the Galilee, where she was born and raised. She arrived in Mobile on August 19th to be an emissary at the Mobile Area Jewish Federation. Her goal is to spread love and truth about Israel and show its beauty and different sides. She speaks to different groups; synagogues, schools, civic organizations and churches around the city about Israel-related topics, such as history, culture, technology etc. and shares her life story about growing up in Israel.

February 9, 2017

Minutes of the February 9, 2017 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by club president Les Greer at 12:15 PM. Norman Nicolson offered the invocation and Jeff Zoghby welcomed members’ guests and visiting Rotarians. Larry Sindel led the club in song and the Pledge.
Student Guest: Andrew Barfoot, a senior at Satsuma High School, was introduced by Jay Turner and then presented with the Youth Merit Award.
Announcements:
• Board Meeting: The board will meet following the meeting on February 16.
• Please contact Aimee Risser or Peggy regarding Rotary Youth Leadership Camp to be held March 9-12 for high school juniors and seniors.
• The Rotary Golf Tournament is scheduled for April 18.
• The Rotary District Meeting and cruise will be on April 27.
• Les Greer reminded the audience that the club will match with points a member’s cash contribution to qualify as a Paul Harris Fellow. The offer is valid through the month of February. Please check with Robert Greer to see how many points you need.
• A Rotary General Fund Grant in the amount of $8,000 has been awarded to the Dumas-Wesley Center. Kate Carver thanked the club and said that the funds will assist with computer updates to aid after school programs and a nine week summer camp. She also invited members to stop by for a visit and see the work being done at the center.
Program: Charlie McNichol– The Mobile County Communications District
Rich Landolt introduced Charlie McNichol, executive director for the MCCD which handles county wide 911 calls. Mr. McNichol traced the history of the 911 system noting that the first call in the state was made in 1968 but that Mobile did not have the system until 1984 thanks to legislation introduced by Ann Bedsole (now Holmes).
He explained that the MCCD is located near the Mobile County Fairgrounds and operated by a board appointed by the county commissioners. Funding comes entirely from a fee paid on telephone bills, he added.
Mr. McNichol said that in December some 21,606 calls were answered at the center and did say that unfortunately between 10-12% of calls are “dropped.” When this occurs the operator is required to call the caller back to confirm that an emergency does not exist. At this time of year they are often called by locals wanting to know the parade route for that evening’s Mardi Gras event and the operators have that information at hand.
Mobile has an efficient center and the operators are carefully trained with the latest technology for the best response times. McNichol added that Mobile’s was the first center in the state to accept texts from callers. He welcomes site visits and in fact the center is now on local schools’ field trip lists.
After answering a number of questions, Les thanked the speaker and said that in his honor a donation has been made to the Rotary International Foundation.
The meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM.
Tom McGehee

February 2, 2017

February 2 , 2017 Minutes
Submitted by Tommy Fulton, Contributing Editor
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Les Greer. Kathy Miller gave the invocation, followed by Tommy Blankenship, who led us in song and the Pledge. Bill Oppenheimer accompanied on the piano.
Introduction of Guests & Visitors: Jeff Zoghby introduced our guests along with visiting Rotarians.
Student Guest: No student guest this week.
Announcements: The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards will be March 9th – 12th for High School Juniors and Seniors. See Aimee Risser or Peggy Bugg for more information. Jimmy Lyon announced that the Golf Tournament will be held on April 18th. The District Cruise will be April 27th. Ken Robinson presented an award to Robbie McClure for the Club’s financial support of the Polio program which occurred under McClure’s leadership.
Program: Jan McKay introduced Bill Alden, President and CEO of the DEA Education Foundation as our speaker.
Mr. Alden spoke about the traveling exhibit, “Drugs – Costs and Consequences”, which will be shown at the Exploreum beginning February 3rd, and continuing until Labor Day of this year. More than 7,000 school kids have been booked to view the exhibit in Mobile.
This new exhibit is a smaller, less expensive version of one that has been used in much larger venues around the country. The new version was renovated at a cost of $600,000.00, and reduced from a footprint of 10,000 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft. This has made it possible to be shown in mid-size cities, of which Mobile is the first. Prior to this time, 23 million visitors have attended the exhibit.
Mr. Alden described a partnership with federal backing that has allowed the program to add a full-time administrator. The Mobile effort has found support through a steering committee and the cooperation of several media partners.
He then described some of the changes that have occurred in the techniques of drug traffickers. For example, instead of cutting the drugs with sugar, they have used very dangerous and deadly “boosters” to their drugs. These additives are designed to increase the power of the “high”, and to add to the addictive capacities of the drugs. Just last year, 53,000 victims died of overdoses, mostly from the additives to heroin and other drugs. This was more than even traffic deaths.
The exhibit has been a great way to get the conversation started between youth and their family. The largest portion of the exhibit is science-based, which seems to attract the kid’s interest more than any other feature. There is information on prevention and treatment, and each community has a personalized portion of the exhibit, which hits home for the attendees.
Mr. Alden concluded by mentioning that Jan McClure is the best Executive Director with whom he has ever worked, and that Mobile has been amazing so far as a model venue for medium sized communities. He them took questions from the audience.
Les Greer thanked Mr. Alden for his presentation and presented a certificate to him, noting that a donation in his honor had been made to the Rotary International Foundation.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 pm.

January 26, 2017

Minutes of the Rotary Meeting – January 26, 2017
By: Henry R. Seawell, IV
Invocation, Song, Music and Pledge
The meeting was called to order by club president, Les Greer. Tommy Blankenship offered the invocation and led the Song and Pledge. Mr. Greer provided the club with a fantastical anecdote involving three frogs on a log, ostensibly, to encourage the members to remain active in the community and continue to further the interests of mankind.
Introduction of Guests and Visitors: Jeff Zoghby.
Announcements: The Rotary District cruise is scheduled to begin on April 27, 2017, while the Rotary of Mobile golf tournament will be held on April 18, 2017. A tour of the newly renovated Barton Academy was made available to members. The Board of Directors for Rotary Mobile has announced its intention to match all donations to the Rotary Foundation with the stated objective of increasing the number of Paul Harris fellows in our club.
Program
Speaker: Phil Savage, Executive Director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, was introduced by Ernest Ladd. Mr. Savage then, in turn, introduced our other special guest, Coach Hue Jackson of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
Mr. Savage gave a brief presentation, wherein he highlighted some of the remarkable players in this year’s Senior Bowl, as well as offering commentary on his year as the University of Alabama Football color analyst with Eli Gold. He described the Senior Bowl week as the “curtain coming up on these players” professional lives. He then introduced Coach Jackson.
Hue Jackson is the Head Football Coach of the Cleveland Browns. Coach Jackson revealed that he has taken part in 17 Senior Bowls and has had the honor of working with some outstanding quarterbacks, including Carson Palmer and Joe Flacco during stints with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens, respectively. Coach describes the Senior Bowl as the locale at which “great football players come to play and matriculate into the NFL.”
Jackson noted that Alabama players were performing particularly well, especially Tight End O.J. Howard. Coach described the Senior Bowl as a week-long interview during which players have the opportunity to meet with all thirty-two teams. Coach Jackson asserted his desire for guys who are dedicated and know how to play the game.
Student of the Week
The student of the week was Murphy High School’s Cameron Robinson, who provided the Club with a delightful message on public service and character. Mr. Robinson is the highest rated student-athlete at Murphy and the starting Center for the football team.
The meeting was adjourned.