October 5, 2004

NEXT MEETING, OCTOBER 11… our speaker will be Nehemiah Flowers of the U.S. Marshals.

LAST MEETING, OCTOBER 4… we were blessed with TWO excellent programs. President Danny prepared for this by foregoing – for just this week – both the newscast and Rotary Spotlight.

First, we heard from our Ambassadorial Scholar, David Wiley. David has just completed a year at the University of Edinborough in Scotland as our District’s Ambassadorial Scholar. David showed us some photos of his year there, which included a year’s study in the University’s Divinity School as well as talks at Scottish Rotary Clubs. He even preached one Sunday in a church that dates from 1427. David also put in a plug for the Scholarship, which is an excellent project of the Rotary Foundation. Thanks to Dr. Lewis Lipscomb, chairman of our Ambassadorial Scholarship Committee, for introducing David.

Then we heard from our main speaker, Charlotte Tabereaux, Executive Director of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center. How’d you like to have an Advisory Board made up of B.B. King, John Grisham, Sela Ward, Faith Hill, Morgan Freeman, Kermit the Frog, Britney Spears, Lance Bass, Charley Pride, Leontyne Price, and Jimmy Buffett? Charlotte does, and these outstanding Mississippi artists are helping her raise $54 million for the Center, which will be built on 175 acres at Bonita Lakes, near Meridian. The Center will include an Arts Hall of Fame, a Lakeside Amphitheater, an Artists-In-Residence Village, a Concert Hall, and lots more. It’s an excellent project for our state, and Charlotte is just the person to spearhead it. Thanks to Tom Tabereaux, who seemed pretty well informed about it all, for introducing Charlotte.

COMING SOON… our next Rotarfest. It’ll be on Monday evening, November 8, at the Ag Museum. This is a time of pure after-work fellowship – no program, no guests, no timetable, good food and drink. And the club picks up the tab. What more could you ask? More details at the next meeting.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER… We had another information-packed agenda at today’s meeting. Ambassadorial Scholar David Wiley’s presentation helped us to see, first hand, some of the results from contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Becoming a Paul Harris Fellow or Paul Harris Sustaining Member helps us to insure the continuation of worthwhile programs such as we heard about today. Consider the possibility and ask Bill Dawson or me for more details. Finally, stay tuned a couple of my favorite Rotary events. J.D. Fly reports that our fall Rotarfest is scheduled for November 8th and Joel Bobo is looking at late October or early November for our annual golf tournament. - Yours in Rotary, Danny