October 19, 2004

NEXT MEETING, OCTOBER 25… our speaker will be District Governor John Fair.

LAST MEETING, OCTOBER 18… we were blessed with two speakers:

First, Rotarian Beau Whittington gave us a brief report about the proposed Convention Center, a $61 million facility that will feature a 90,000 square foot convention hall. Beau listed the many advantages of such a Center, which has been on the drawing boards for many years.

Then we heard from Molly Gregory. Molly was the recipient of one of our Mentor Scholarships when she went to Ole Miss, and then was selected in 1999 to be a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, studying for a year in Cork, Ireland. While Molly was in Cork, she spoke at many Rotary clubs in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and in England. And she was happy to be able to tell people there about things in Mississippi. She was constantly reminded of how our country is young, prosperous, and powerful. After returning home, Molly was in Washington for a while, where she worked in Senator Trent Lott’s office, and then returned to Mississippi, where she works in the MDA Department of Tourism. Molly is an outstanding representative of why we have Mentor Scholars and why Rotary International has Ambassadorial Scholars. Thanks to Heber Simmons for arranging and introducing this program.

YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS… has approved the following membership proposals. If no objections are received within seven days, they will be introduced to the club as new members:
•Barry Jones, Tax Attorney, Wise Carter Child & Caraway. Barry was proposed by Louis Watson, Sr.
•George Gammon, CEO-Jackson Market, SouthTrust Bank. George was proposed by Rick Fountain.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER… I hope you enjoyed Molly Gregory’s speech as much as I did. She is a tremendous ambassador for the Rotary Club of Jackson. As you probably could tell, Rotary has been an important part of her life. The return on our investment has been outstanding. As Heber Simmons likes to say….just imagine where those ripples will go when a stone is tossed into the water. Each of you is to be congratulated on your contribution and support of our Mentor Scholarship Program and the Rotary Foundation. Through your continued generosity, we will continue to get a great return. If you aren’t already a Paul Harris Fellow or Paul Harris Sustaining Member, ask Bill Dawson or me how to qualify. On another note, thanks to Barbara Dorr and Keep Mississippi Beautiful for donating new books to our Centennial Project/Barksdale Reading Program. Finally, I look forward to District Governor John Fair’s visit with us next Monday. - Yours in Rotary, Danny