Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build good will and peace in the world.

"Doing good in the World is more than a motto.  It is our goal, our mission, and our reminder.  It expresses in the clearest terms why we have a Foundation, and it challenges us to reach as far as we can to do the most good possible with everything we have.  Our Foundation exisits to support the good that we can do through Rotary.  It expands our reach, increases our strength, and makes our service more powerful and more effective.  Because of our Foundation we can, very simple, do more of our Rotary work."

2004-2005

President Glenn Estess Sr. 

President, Maura Donnelly, opened the meeting with a prayer by Wayne Steiner.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

Please bring guests to our meeting. We need two new members to meet Maura's membership goal before her term as president is over.

Guests: Melissa Martin (Linda Jakel's guest); Darren Worden (Phil Hardas' guest)

Make-ups: No Make-Ups

Birthdays: Father Peters (5/24)

Anniversaries: None

Club Anniversaries: None

Please let these people know that they were missed: Terry Bell, David Butler, David Daiber, Len Daiber, Kevin Dewaele, Bob Engelmann, Dan Fieker, Bret Gruender, Robert Hagerman, Luke Harris, Roland Harris, Ron Hesson, Katrina Hodous, Lisa Hunsche, George Jones, Jack Klaus, Kelly Korte, Terry Lammers, Terry Leitschuh, Holli Martin, Glenn Meffert, Henry Metzger, Greg Miranda, David Peters, Jim Rankin, Jr., Mark Reaka, Brad Rench, Rick Ringwald, Adrian Rogier, Eunice Rogier, Floyd Rogier, Eric Schmidt, Steve Schmitt, Ron Schneider, Randy Schorfheide, Art Schutz, and Michael Sutton.

Reminder that 2011-2012 we will be tracking service hours again to see Rotarian's collective IMPACT.  This year's goal is 7500 hours, to date there are 2162 hours recorded. 

Members can go to the website and log your hours or email them to him directly: swconstruct@agtelco.com

There was $461 in the 50/50 with 40 cards left in the deck. The eight of clubs was pulled.

Phil fined Cliff for not securing two new members yet and Maura for being "snarly" to him when she arrived today.

Happy Bucks:

Maura Donnelly was happy that her oldest daughter was safe at home after an accident that hurt her back. She was also happy that her second daughter graduated from high school.

PROGRAM: Bob Cook, "Old Glory, Our American Flag"

Bob Cook is a member of the Speakers Bureau for SWIC and this is one of many presentations he gives.

There are many names given to the flag. It's called stars and stripes, star spangled banner, the American flag, Old Glory and many other names. The early history of the flag  is sketchy at best. Even the legend of Betsy Ross can't be verified. We do know that the flag is older than the country itself (older than the constitution).

Old Glory is one of the oldest flags in the world. It's the only flag that has an anthem based on it (Star Spangled Banner). It has a pledge dedicated to it. It's the only national flag on the moon and it's the only flag that reflects the growth of its country.

The flag originally had one star and one stripe added to it every time a new state was added. There is a version of the flag that has 15 stripes (compared to the current 13 stripes). It was finally decided that only stars would be added to the flag or it would become too long. They reversed the number of stripes back to 13 and started adding a star for every state added on July 4 of the year following the addition.

There are many versions of the American flag and all of them can legally be displayed. There is some protocol to be followed when displaying the flag. When the flag is hoisted, it should be hoisted briskly to the top of the staff. When the flag is lowered, however, it should be lowered ceremoniously. On Memorial Day, the flag should be flown at half staff until noon. When displaying a flag at half staff, it should be raised to the top of the staff and then brought back down to half staff. When displayed on the casket of a veteran, the blue field of the flag should be positioned over the heart of the soldier. No flag should ever be flown higher on the staff than the American flag and no other national flag should be flown on the same staff as the American flag. When a current of former U.S. President dies, the flag should be flown at half staff for 30 days. Ronald Reagan didn't get a full 30 days, however, because he died on June 5 and the family agreed that he would want the flag flown at full staff on July 4.

In 1989 the Flag Protection Act was put into effect and then challenged in court. The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that flag burning was a legitimate form of protest.

Mr. Cook informed us that two words were added to the Pledge of Allegiance."Under God" was added after the words "one nation." He informed us that only two words were added - not two words and a comma. The Pledge should be recited as "one nation under God" not "one nation, under God." He asked the Rotary members to stand and recite the Pledge with him.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS -  Jennifer Whitten