VOL. 61, No. 6, November 9, 2006

It was just great to have Fred Binner back with us today! After Chaplain Burns opened the meeting with a prayer and led us in the pledge of allegiance, Pres. Sidney Sandridge called Fred forward in order to present him with a "God Bless America" banner. Fred was emotionally overcome and thanked everyone for their prayers during his extended illness. Furthermore, he said that he planned to participate in the Veterans Day parade dressed as Uncle Sam. Ray Swaim and Ed Clark need to be currently remembered in our prayers.

What can I say about our speaker today? He has to have been one of our best - ever. Howard Wright introduced David Stephenson, who painted quite a life from his beginning in 1962 in NJ - going into the casino business right out of high school and rising to a top management position - doing the same at GTE DeltaCom - and finally coming to Huntsville to live with his uncle who was in the ministry, where his life took on a complete makeover. He became a Boy Scout leader-and caught the attention of the boys with his original Christian Rap music renditions. He demonstrated some Rap for us and it was unbelievable how he could spin inspirational tales in a fast-paced manner. We couldn't help but break out in spontaneous applause. Then he went into even more Rap offerings, including one about Christmas that was quite long, but you didn't want it to end. Just a suggestion, but I wish we could hear hin again at our Christmas party. I think our spouses and/or guests would enjoy it as we did today.

AI Renz reported on PGI (personal growth and involvement). Our club has been divided into 3 competitive teams to be headed by Duane Plank, Will Dawes and Alberto Duarte. The idea is to promote our membership into achieving higher PGI levels over the course of this year. More on this in future meetings. Since boy scouting played such a prominent role in today's speaker's life, Al announced that he, too, will shortly be recognized for his own 65 years in scouting, What a record! Congratulations Al!

John Burms, who opened today's meeting closed it by winning the attendance prize. The public address system that Will Dawes has made available is much appreciated. After a business meeting this week, followed by a Thanksgiving break, Howard Wright has another good program for the 30th - Ava Farr of Hope Ministries will tell us about their youth center.



CALENDAR

Nov 15		Wednesday		4:00 pm		Regions Trust Department		Optimist Foundation
Nov 16		Thursday		11:45 am		Optimist Recreation Center		TBA (E. Clark)
Nov 23		Thursday				Thanksgiving		NO MEETING
Nov 27		Wednesday		4:00 pm		Coca-Cola Office		Optimist Foundation
Nov 30		Thursday		11:45 am		Downtown Holiday Inn		Ava Farr
Dec 6		Wednesday		6:30 pm		Redstone Officers Club		Christmas Party
Carl W.