Weekly reader compressed 2 28-14
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This document provides a summary of the February 27, 2014 issue of the Winter Weekly Reader. It lists upcoming meetings for the Plano Rotary Club, including speakers on hypnosis, the TV show Shark Tank, and the state of the city. It also provides the February birthdays of Rotary club members and recognizes Myrtle Hightower as the 2013 Plano Citizen of the Year. The bulk of the document summarizes the Black History Month program featuring speakers on civil rights and the accomplishments of Black pilots, computer scientists, and others. It recognizes guests and visiting Rotarians who attended.
Weekly reader compressed 2 28-14
- 1. Winter Weekly Reader Volume 57, Issue 119, February 27, 2014 UPCOMING MEETINGS February 27 Carol Mitchel “Truth About Hypnosis.” March 6 Tuff Yen “The Truth about Shark Tank TV Show: Should we Believe What we see on TV?” March 13 Darren Collins“The Coterie Connection” March 20 Mayor Henry LaRosilliere“State of the City” Earnest’s Follies W E had more visitors for this Black History Month program than at whom you could shake a stick. (“Ending a sentence with Davis, Maribelle McLean, Lynne Kramer, Jason Israel, Cary Oliver, Karla Dean, Doyle McGee, Jim Fuller, Dennis Henry, Chris Moebius, Carrolyn Parker, John Walters, Kyle Feb 01 Feb 01 Feb 07 Feb 10 Feb 13 Feb 19 Feb 20 Feb 22 Feb 23 Feb 27 Feb 27 Feb 27 The latter included Helen Macey (Plano West), Ed Williams (Dallas), and PPD Chief Greg Rushin (Sunrise). a preposition is a violation up with which I will not put.” —Winston Churchill) In fact, there were so many that Sainted Editor has to curtail his naturally loquacious nature so as to make room on page 3 for the entire list! However, he didn’t curtail his politically incorrect nature; instead he chastised the gathering of the City’s Africa American elite for failing to have representation on the Multicultural Outreach Roundtable, a hybrid grassroots/Citysponsored organization dedicated to civic action in and of the ethnic communities. It struck a nerve in Earl Simpkins who volunteered to strengthen the liaison. (Thanks, Earl!) FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS The Plano Rotary Club www.PlanoRotary.com Captain Kirk opened the program at 12:11, conjuring up DG Ean Secret Santa Sullivan for the Prayer, anointing Scary Bob Epstein for the Pledge, and thanking Janis Allman for Greeting. Then he passed to gavel to Earnest Burke. Earnest passed an onerous challenge to sergeant barbera to introduce the multitude of guests as well as Visiting Rotarians. Kirk welcomed Mike McCullough, Lori Phantom Crotchetienne Roberts introduced Dennis Luellen (Frisco), and Karla Oliver bade us welcome two guests, Leslie Range-Stanton and André Davidson. nathan excused Myrtle Hightower from the recitation of all her guests and took on the task himself. The list was alphabetical so, for example, Candidate Glenn and ex-City Councilman Jean Callison preceded ex-Mayor Pat Evans who came before ex-Mayor and ex-Senator Florence Shapiro who herself preceded sitting Representative Van Taylor! But the really important guests were the representatives of the Black Community, and they were too numerous to list here. See the list on page 3. They included PISD Board Trustee Marilyn Hinton, Collin County Republican Party Chairman Fred Moses and wife Mazzie, Bernard and Bessie Coffer (left of Helen Macey above), Ben Thomas’ daughter, Dollie, Director of continued on page 2
- 2. Human Resources for PISD, Reedy Spigner’s children, April and James, Earl’s wife Barbara and mother Alice, Don and Evelyn McKnight, Adolphus and Maria Sprott, and Cowboy’s #88 Drew Pearson, among many others. nathan opted to forgo Inside the Rotarian Studio in favor of the awarding of the LAST PLACE Trophy for Plano Rotary Club Fantasy Football which was shared by Coach Gerald Brence and Ben Criste. They received a copy of Fantasy Football for Dummies! February’s PRC Social was announced for next (last as you read this) Tuesday at LOCKHART Smoke House. Cautioning us to silence our cell phones, Earnest announced the availability of seats and tables at (last) Saturday’s 5810 Gala, REVEALED, A MASQUERADE BALL. Sainted Editor donned his regalia, brought a wizard’s staff and Venetian mask, and came as a sort of a Gay Gandalf! (Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the films, would have approved.) Dennis Luellen promised to come to Club someday without an announcement of donation opportunities, but it wouldn’t be today! We were told of a Car Raffle being offered to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County. See http://www.bgccc.org/cart/poker.asp Earnest began the Program with an acknowledgement of the efforts made by the City of Plano to recognize Black History and MLK. He referred to Myrtle as his mentor and had chosen as this program’s theme CELEBRATING CIVIL RIGHTS AFTER FIVE DECADES. He opened the program by inviting Plano Senior High School Past President and current meadowlark, W.T. Greer, to sing the Lord’s Prayer to a standing ovation by an appreciative audience. At its conclusion, Earnest surmised, “If that didn’t get you movin’, you must be dead!” Then he introduced Derek Brooks, the Choirmaster at Plano Senior High who had brought his Chamber Singers from the school to sing two Negro Spirituals: This Little Light of Mine and Jeremiah to another standing ovation. Earnest praised PISD for its “engagement with youth.” He marveled at its “passion for students to achieve,” and prayed that it “would continue throughout history.” He continued that “through education comes understanding,” and “through understanding comes love.” He quoted First Corinthians 13:13 as (So now Faith, Hope, and Love abide, these three,) “but the greatest of these is Love. For those of you who know what that means.” He urged us “to go outside your comfort zone and become more understanding, then more loving” and “the world becomes a better place.” W.T. tag-teamed him to comment (of the choir) how he was “only slightly bitter” for being reminded just “how long ago I graduated.” He told us that when a painter looks at a scene, he sees difficulty. A great artist sees instead opportunity. God, the Greatest Artist, looks at Man and, deciding that white is boring, creates People of Color. He apologized for “stumbling around;” he’d only been asked to present yesterday. Earnest looked at his shoes. W.T. mentioned meeting “amazing Black people” like “Oprah, and I was summoned by Nelson Mandela, who said <British accent> ‘Pleasure to meet you!’” And “we love President Obama regardless of our appreciation” of his policies. He included in that list LaShon Ross, Asst. City Mgr., Ed Drain, Asst. Police Chief, Arthur Young, Postmaster of Plano, and Shirley Neal. He said that he loves to visit the beach, not, of course, because he “needs a tan,” but because it’s beautiful. He puts a “foot in the water then thinks, ‘Let’s go eat!’” W.T. had the honor of telling us that Myrtle Hightower has been voted 2013’s Plano Citizen of the Year. But he thinks the title “Queen” is more appropriate. Then he introduced “Doc” Gibbs to sing “A Change Gonna Come.” At its conclusion, he said that “we appreciate one another in rooms like this whatever color the Great Artist decided to make you.”
- 3. Plano Rotary Club Board of Directors 2013-2014 Earnest introduced Brig. Genl. Leon Johnson (U.S. Air Force, ret.) to “finish what he’d started” at last year’s program. (But Genl. Johnson confided to Sainted Editor that, giving his talk in 10 minute segments, it will take six years to finish.) As National Pres- ident of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., he’d be expected to speak about them, but his talk today was of other significant Blacks. He told us of Eugene Bullard, the first Black to be a fighter pilot, not for the U.S., but for France in WWI as part of the Lafayette Flying Corps. He later married a French Countess and opened a night club overseas. He fled to the U.S. to escape the Nazis after a second career with the French Underground. He was found by French President Charles DeGaulle working as an elevator operator! France awarded him the Legion of Honor. Bessie Coleman was the first licensed Black pilot, again in France in 1921. Although killed in a stunt flying accident, a flying school was opened in her honor. And the Tuskegee Airmen weren’t all fighter pilots. Some were navigators, others bombardiers. Indeed, they occupied all of the jobs necessary to run an air corps. Of their 992 number, 355 fought in Europe. The rest were part of a B-52 bomber wing that was scheduled for the Pacific when the War concluded. But they were instrumental in the development of Civil Rights when they were almost court-martialed for attempting to integrate an Officers’ Club. President Truman issued an Executive Order to end segregation in the Armed Forces. And in 2008, they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Kathleen Johnson was a computer operator for NASA who was assigned to an otherwise all- male pool of mathematicians where “no woman had gone before.” She calculated Alan Shepard’s orbital trajectory, and had verified John Glenn’s orbital path when the computer’s version was questioned. In 1969, she computed the Apollo trajectories and created star maps for the astronauts. A cartoon depicting a lost astronaut has Houston telling him, “Kathleen suggests you look down.” Genl. Johnson showed us “a picture of diversity in America” in a photo of the 17 slain members of the U.S.S. Cole, hit by “homicide bombers” in the Gulf of Aden on 12 October 2000. Those killed had died to “defend a dream” of Freedom. Thanking Genl. Johnson, Earnest called on “Doc” Gibbs who asked, “You’re President next year? Wow! I’m not worthy. And the Citizen of the Year will carry a bigger whip next year.” Myrtle had asked Doc to play a medley of tunes representing the 50 years of Civil Rights. So he told us “we’ll get out of here about midnight.” Doc took it by decades. The 60s were characterized by “My Girl” with audience participation. The 70s heard “I Will Survive.” The 80s saw “Celebration.” Whitney Houston represented the 90s with “I Will Always Love You.” And, in the 90s, Beyoncé suggested, “Put a Ring on It.” Finally, kicking off a shoe, he played Myrtle’s favorite, “Down Home Blues.” Earnest awarded “the coveted” Rotary clock to Genl. Johnson, Doc Gibbs, Myrtle (taking it down to her), and to W.T. Greer, who thought aloud, “Y’all are so easily excited.” And with a call-and-response recitation of our beloved Four-Way Test, the congregation was dismissed at 1:17 to go out and spread the Gospel of Rotary. Guests & Visiting Rotarians Guest Mike McCullough Dennis Luellen Leslie Range-Stanten Andre Davidson Liz Loveless April Spigner James Spigner Linda Bass Sharon Bradley Mr. Burgess Glen Callason Jean Callason Bernard Coffer Bessie Coffer Isabel Cottrell Florence Shapiro Alice Simpkins Barbara Simpkins Maria Sprott Guest Of Kirk Bell Lori Roberts Karla Oliver Karla Oliver John Caldwell Reedy Spigner Reedy Spigner Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Guest Autry Daniel Ted Dickey Pat Evans Marilyn Hinton Trudy Isreal James Jone Mary Beth King Dave King Kathy Kuddis Gail Lewis Don McKnight Evelyn McKnight Fred Moses Pat Neal Wendy Phynes Aldolpus Sprott Van Taylor Dollie Thomas Guest Of Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower Myrtle Hightower AWARDS: 2013 Citizen of the Year Dr. Myrtle Hightower Huffines Auto Dealerships Huffines Auto Dealerships New Member Proposal Proposed member: Edward J. Williams Classification: Retired Proposed By: Bradley Keith Proposed member: Mike McCullough Classification: Men’s Salon Proposed By: Kirk Bell President Kirk Bell President Elect Earnest Burke Secretary Karla Oliver Treasurer Ben Criste Past President Lynn Schwartz Sergeant at Arms Nathan Barbera Membership Chair Pam Little Membership Vice Chair Jayson Killough Service Chair Larry Bisno Service Vice Chair David Bowman Public Relationship Chair Mary Jo Dean Public Relationship Vice Chair Camille Ussery Club Admin Chair David McWhorter Club Admin Vice Chair John Parker Foundation Chair Gary Basham Foundation Vice Chair Alan Feigenbaum New Generation Chair Rick Horne At Large Robert Epstein Lori Roberts Susan Shuler Bill Wray Bob Pikna Kyle Walters Alex Johnson Business Secretary Lynette Pieper Bulletin Editor Chris Parr Bulletin Photographer Robert Epstein Bulletin Designer Marsha Pigg Alphagraphics Printing by Alphagraphics Park & Coit The Plano Rotary Club PO BOX 864316 Plano, TX 75086
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