VOL. 60, No. 21, March 23, 2006

Since Pres. Will was tied up with an office move today, and since both VPs couldn't be present, Will asked former President Duane Plank to preside. Considering the fact that the schools were on spring break, we had a good turnout of about 25- Chaplain Burns handled the invocation and pledge. Duane welcomed two new members as a result of our recent NOW Banquet: Casey Boardman and Bob Martin. They each told something about themselves. Welcome aboard! Al Renz introduced his guest, Casey Jones; and Tim Brumlow his guest, Rusty Miller.

Duane reminded members to ever be mindful of increasing their PGI (personal growth and involvement) level. Today Al Renz met one requirement by making a short, but very thoughtful, talk on the subject "How Optimism Can Make a Better World".


Ed Clark announced that the Oratorical Contest for North Alabama, with boys' and girls' zone winners competing, will be held in Decatur on Sat., April 1, at 10:00 am. The contest will be in the Wheeler Basin Library, located at the corner of US31 (6th St.) and Lee Street. Lt. Gov. Ed would like to see a good turnout for this event.

Buddy Beck introduced our two speakers for today from the 4-H organization: Betty Gottler and Grace Buell. The former is a member of the Decatur Optimist Club, and will be in charge of the above mentioned oratorical contest The 4 H's are Head, Heart, Hands and Health; and their Madison County Round-Up is scheduled for the ORC (Optimist Recreation Center) on Thurs., April 20. They plan several events to demonstrate skills by youngsters. There are 39 4-H Chapters in Madison County with a total membership of about 1,000 so things could get same-what hectic. The speakers made a strong appeal for Optimist members to volunteer, to judge their many activities. The judging starts at 8:00 am with awards being made about noon. It should be possible to perform as judges and still make our business meeting on that date. Buddy Beck is coordinating the signing up of judges. Remember since the ORC is not available to us on the 3rd Thurs. in April we plan to take our lunch at Carleton Cove. Directions to CC next week. George Ferrell took home the $$$ today.

CALENDAR

Mar 30		Thursday		11:45 am		Downtown Holiday Inn		TBA by Will Dawes
Apr 4		Tuesday		4:00 pm		1st Commercial Bank		Board Meeting
Apr 6		Thursday		11:45 am		Downtown Holiday Inn		TBA (George Ferrell)
Carl W.