Opening Bell: President gavels the Bell at 7 sharp and introduces Vice President Chris Dunphy the Invocation: “This morning we give thanks to our younger generation for taking over what we have created and leave behind, and to the continued possession of that which is good, by preserving the values instilled through beliefs held by elders that are optimistically passed on to the next generation. Whereby honest work and a clear conscience for justice and equality shall be continued in that same spirit.” The Pledge of Allegiance followed to the cry of “Play Ball!” Noteworthy Early Morning conversations before the bell included: Secretary Bill Morgan and District Golf Co-Chair Joe Marci sharing grandchildren stories and speculation on schools opening, with kids getting back on the golf course. There was a report some hale and optimistic fellow from Houston had bet 3.7 million on Tampa Bay to cover the 3.5 point spread. Another voice made note the Super Bowl is being described as the “Super Spreader” maybe describing the crowd or perhaps the half time show. Tom Hoch and fellow comedians were avidly debating the spelling of Ollie from Minnesota or Ole from Laredo. Baseball talk revolved around the blockbuster Nolan Arenado trade to St. Louis and how adept the Rockies are at disposing of future Hall of Fame players... while trading for expensive mistakes like Jose Reyes and wide assortment of relief pitchers.
Al Perington and “Gypsy” Allen Malask have purchased the first Raffle tickets for the upcoming Monaco South Inaugural Raffle. Tickets will be priced at $25 each. Earlier in the week Treasurer Pat Bush, Asst. Treasurer Greg Young, President Dan Rodriguez and Raffle games manager Phil Perington met at Vectra Bank to open the new Raffle account (see photo). In the process however, account manager Logan T. Spodobalski, made a commitment to join the club!
Announcements:
Our Prez reported 40 folks were on ZOOM at the opening bell and the crowd was growing. Also, the District conference is Saturday 2/6 and can be attended on line at ZOOM. There will be a very compelling Keynote presentation on Autism. Please try to attend. Lunch will served in your living-room.
OI Foundation
Foundation Chair Andy Towt gave an update on our Dime a Day membership contributions and acknowledged Past Presidents Mark Metevia, Bob Myers, Phil Perington and past Foundation Chair Perry Allen, for their $250 membership contribution to the O.I. Presidents Club (an adjunct of Dime a day). Please send your Dime a Day membership application to Andy.
Brain Bowl
Karl Geil reported that the first (and hopefully last) virtual Optimist Brain Bowl tournamentwas held on January 30, 2021. 44 teams, approximately 220 students from 19 different schools, competed. including the Casper Wyoming Teams.(Trivia: there is an Optimist Park in Casper.) the 6th Grade, Stargate 6A was the winner, with Slavens 6A in 2nd place, Chinook Trail 6A in 3rd, and Summit 6A in 4th. In the 7th grade, the winner was Summit 7A, with Stargate 7A in 2nd, Peak to Peak 7B in 3rd, and Southern Hills 7A in 4th. IN the 8th grade, Summit 8A was the winner, with Stargate 8A in 2nd, Prairie 8A in 3rd, and Yuma 8A in 4th place. There were some technical issues, such as a Reader not being able to enter her virtual room to admit others, and a Reader whose computer died in him toward the end of the 1st round, but those difficulties were overcome. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this year's tournament a success. The Monaco South members who volunteered were: Bob Meyer, Bob Avery, Larry Pulaski, Randy Marcove, George Buzick, Craig Eley, Paul Stratton, Dave Peck, Tom Hoch, and Karl Geil. Special thanks to Paul Stratton. Apparently, one of our Readers did not realize they were supposed to work one round in the afternoon, and, in the mad scramble to find a replacement, Paul dashed back home from the grocery store to fill in for our missing Reader. Overall, this year was a real challenge for all involved, but, in the
end, it all worked out thanks to our dedicated volunteers.
Fund Raiser
Frank Middleton Proudly reported the Club received $359 last quarter from 28 households as result of the King Soopers Million dollar community donation pool that is based on percentage participation by Value card members. It does not include fuel purchases however. There were many questions and answers concerning the mechanics of the program. Jon Wachter was curious about Dollar General participation. Greg Young and others mentioned Safeway also participates in a different program that involves a 3% rebate.
Tom Hoch shared the heartwarming story about Ollie from Minnesota.. He finally decided to send his wife a return ticket resulting from their anniversary trip to Germany last year.
Speaker
In conjunction with the theme of the Second Quarter Board Meeting of the Colorado/Wyoming District. today's speaker (via TEDx) was Jac Den Houting PhD, Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours), Deputy Editor for the journal Autism in Adulthood, a founding member of the INSAR Autistic Research Committee and member of LGBTAQIA+ Advisory Committee and Advisory Council. Jac currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Macquarie University (40,000 students) in Sydney, Australia. Video Presentation: "Why everything you know about autism is wrong." Jac opened the lecture with: "Autism: The World is not flat and other assumptions that are false”. Jac was diagnosed with Autism at age 25. Once she accepted her diagnosis, life made sense. From that point on, Jac then committed herself to the study and research of Autism and eventually graduated with numerous degrees. The end result was a very optimistic and better understanding about herself the the ramifications of autism and the effects of society in general. The basic foundation of study revolves around the perceived deficits manifested by not understanding the different levels of Autism. By analyzing the question of “How could something so positive for me be such a bad thing?” has evolved into what is now known as the Neuro-diversity paradigm. Simply, a different way of thinking and understanding all forms of Neuro-development as valid. Dignity and respect is the rewarding and fruitful by-product. Jac’s barefoot presentation was an example of how some people feel safe and grounded. She is not disabled by autism, but rather looking at is as the environment and the world she co-exists in. One of her biggest struggles is noisy and “disorganized” shopping malls. However realizing this is only one of many Social models she adapts and manages the situation. Point in fact, Disability is not a verb. One issue still hard to understand about the funding of Autism research is that 40-60% goes to genetic and biological, 20% to assorted treatment and under 7%actually is spent on helping people. 1 in 50 people (4 out of 5 are boys) are autistic in some form or another, mild to serious. 85% have a life expectancy of 54 years. Suicide is the main cause of early death. Autistic v. Normal is not an easy quality. The slow evolution of a Double Empathy program has been successful by laying a foundational diffusion chain helping unlock communication. Jac commented the Mismatch in communication and seeing the world is the biggest obstacle facing autism and cohesion in the general population. In the end she feels Research led by autistic professionals is the key to developing coherent and positive resources for everyone. We thank Jac for the touching and straight forward presentation. As a Note: Fireflyautism.org is the best local organization to contact for additional information and resources in the area. Bill Litchfield gave an excellent recap of his 20 year old grandson’s journey into the workplace. He reminded us how many young people are out there worthy of training and attention.
Happy Birthday to Tom Kramis (Groundhog day) and Craig Eley among others to be honored next week.
The meeting closed with a Creed video produced by O.I.
This poem was submitted by Greg Young (Author unknown
Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot, Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot, There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me, We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince, Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since. We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee' And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.
Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many, And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney. Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp, And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp. We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me. And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me. We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice, And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.
NOSTALGIA
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three, Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me. For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be, And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me. We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead, And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson and Zeppelins were not Led.
We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea, And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me. T-Birds came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks, And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks. And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee, And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me. We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues, We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea,
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me. There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill, And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three, And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me. But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say, And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A. They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.
So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines. And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be, Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
If you didn't grow up in the fifties, You missed the greatest time in history!
Humor By Steve Kady
For your Super Bowl game day perusal, Submitted by Jim Tapp
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football"....
- John Heisman
"I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game."
– Bear Bryant / Alabama
" It isn't necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!”
- Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat.
That costs money, and we don't have any."
– Erik Russell / Georgia Southern
"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."
- Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Notre Dame
"When you win, nothing hurts."
- Joe Namath / Alabama
"A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall."
- Frank Leahy / Notre Dame
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
- Woody Hayes / Ohio State
"I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation."
- Bob Devaney / Nebraska
"In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant."
- Wally Butts / Georgia
"I never graduated from Iowa. But I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's."
– Alex Karras / Iowa
"My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball, and arrive in a bad humor.”
- Bowden Wyatt / Tennessee
University of Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh is only going to dress half of his players for the game this week. The other half will have to dress themselves.
"I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades."
- Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
" Always remember Goliath was a 40-point favorite over David."
- Shug Jordan / Auburn
"I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me "
He said, "Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good."
- Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State
"Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel."
- Bobby Bowden / Florida State
"Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport.
Dancing IS a contact sport." -
Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his post-game message to his team was;
"All those who need showers, take them."
- John McKay / USCe live one day at a time and scratch where it itches."" If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.”
- Murray Warmath / Minnesota
"The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb.
To be a back, you only have to be dumb."
- Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
- Darrell Royal / Texas
"We didn't tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking."
- John McKay / USC
"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."
- Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
Ohio State's Urban Meyer on one of his players:
"He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades and he doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words.”
Paul Stratton 303-366-6375 Pat Bush 720-254-3741 Craig Eley 303-758-9499 Greg Young 303-759-3921
T H E O P T I M I S T C R E E D — Promise Yourself . . . To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for
anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
