VOL. 60, No. 15, February 9, 2006

President Will Dawes was back with us today after being MIA for 2 months due to illness and death in his family. He introduced himself to those recently new to the club., and is determined to lead us to great heights the rest of the year. He called on Chaplain (?) John Burns to get thing started with the invocation and pledge. It was good to have Sheriff Dorning in attendance. We all felt safer. Will welcomed Fabiani Duarte as a guest and Al Renz as our newest member. Welcome aboard, Al. Fabiani said that his mother Nelly was making steady progress from her recent illness and is even back doing some teaching.

Zack reported that Al Castelli is starting to walk a little and is scheduled to start rehab tomorrow. Al's daughter from Illinois is staying here in Huntsville and the doctors tell her that he is making good progress, and she feels one of these days in the not too distant future AI will be back telling us how to run the club. She said he constantly advised her as she grew up. Al seems to be in good spirits. Visit him if you can---Room 843 of Huntsville Hospital

Duane Plank gave out several PGI (Personal Growth And Involvement) awards, and challenged each of us to strive to reach their next level of achievement this year. Sponsoring a new member is key. A NOW banquet designed to attract new members is scheduled for Mar. 9 at 6:30 pm at the Holiday Inn. Start thinking about who you'd like letters of invitation to go out to. More on this next week. There will be no luncheon meeting on Mar. 9.

The annual meeting of the Huntsville Optimist Foundation board was held on 2/7, and some significant changes took place. Long-time Pres. Paul Fowler stepped down from the presidency, but will remain on the board and will continue to let us meet in his Coca-Cola conference room. Officers for the next year were elected: Ralph Caneer, President; Jeff Klimek, VP; Carl Winkler, Sec. /Treas. Clyde Nevins was welcomed as a new board member, and limited business was transacted. More meetings will occur as shown in the Calendar below.

We learned that 2 of our members are out of the country: Tammy Westmoreland in Belgium and Rebecca Billings in the Bahamas. They might be potential luncheon speakers when they return.

Today's program was introduced by Ed Clark. Tony Lavoie, MSFC's Director of Flight Projects, described the planned robotic lunar expedition. Lunar rovers and hoppers will be controlled via a satellite around the moon in order to carry out the mission, but launch is far off (2011). Dave Schultz won today's attendance prize, and it was a good amount with between 25 and 30 in attendance.

CALENDAR

Feb 15		Wednesday		4:00 pm		Regions Trust Department		Optimist Foundation
Feb 16		Thursday		11:45 am		Optimist Recreation Center		Business Meeting
Feb 21		Tuesday		4:00 pm		Coca Cola Conference Room		Optimist Foundation
Feb 23		Thursday		11:45 am		Holiday Inn		Mary Flynn (Hawthorne)
Mar 2		Thursday		11:45 am		Holiday Inn		TBA
Mar 7		Tuesday		4:00 pm		1st Commercial Bank		Board Meeting
Mar 9		Thursday		6:30 pm		Holiday Inn		NOW Banquet
Mar 16		Thursday		11:45 am		Optimist Recreation Center		Business Meeting
Carl W.