April 27, 2004

NEXT MEETING, MAY 3… Clint Herring of the Crime Alliance will be our speaker.

LAST MEETING, APRIL 26… Justice James Graves informed and entertained us mightily as he spoke of the status of the Supreme Court in Mississippi. He pointed out early in his talk that while he was on the Hinds County bench, the vast majority of people he was forced to send to prison had one thing in common – they had dropped out of the educational system. He praised us for our emphasis on scholarships, and discussed the importance of education. After describing the workings of the Supreme Court, Justice Graves answered questions about the judicial backlog, the difference between appointive and elected judges, the relationship among Justices, and (almost) a question about tort reform. (It’s in the Legislative bailiwick right now, so he thought a comment from the Judicial would be inappropriate.) Thanks to Leroy Walker for arranging and introducing this excellent program.

THE ROTARY SPOTLIGHT… swung around on April 5 to shine on Steve Corbitt, who was spotlighted by Tom Dunbar. Congratulations, Steve.

AS THE ROTAGRAM WENT TO PRESS… we were getting ready for our spring Rotarfest, chaired by Dr. J. D. Fly (Monday evening), and the annual Tennis Tournament, chaired by Johnny Louis (Thursday afternoon). These were undoubtedly successful, so congratulations to the hard-working committees in both instances. (Hey, come to think of it, if you read this BEFORE Thursday afternoon, you can probably still get in the Tennis Tournament. Call Johnny or Linda Harmon.)

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS… number 18 and 19 of this Rotary year. Introduced to the club on April 26 were:
•Jeff Rickels, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. Jeff was introduced by his proposer, Bobby Welch.
•Bob Reynolds, Consultant to the Newspaper Industry. Bob was introduced by his proposer, Dr. Mac Temple.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER… Your club was well represented at last week's District Conference. We complied with the requirements to receive a Presidential Citation and as last year's winner of the best club newsletter our own Bill Dawson awarded the W. A. Price Award to this year's winner. Thanks, to Jerry Vaughn and the Attendance Committee and Ken Peacock's Meal Ticket Committee for relocating to the Hilton, and thanks to the 71 members who attended. Our own Thad Cochran made an excellent talk at the luncheon and one of our Mentor Scholars, Mollie Murphy Gregory, gave a presentation on her experience as an Ambassadorial Scholar to Ireland in one of the plenary sessions. We have much to be proud of as members of the Rotary Club of Jackson - Haden