Gossip Sheet #38 - March 29, 2007

President Rick

President Rick called our meeting to order today at pm at The St. Catharines Golf & Country Club.

Those who joined President at the head table included:

Guest Introducer: Phil Porter
Guest Speaker: Dave Sherlock, General Manager, St. Catharines Transit
Sgt-at-Arms: Art Weaver
In-the-spotlight: Dr. Ken Taylor
Registrar: Bob Gosselin

Introduction of Guests: Bob Gosselin

Alicia Vardy - Rotaract
Tufan Tekin - Rotaract
Kathleen Sullivan - Rotaract
Emily Schutten - Rotaract
Danielle Flegg - Rotaract
Bruno Gomes - Rotaract
Aaron Barnwell - Rotaract
District Governor Dick Earne
President Randy Momot – Rotary Club of Fonthill
Hugh Graham – Rotary Club of Fonthill
Doug Foss - Rotary
Daryl Bell – St. Catharines Transit
Graham Morrison – St. Catharines Transit
Doug Lawrence – St. Catharines Transit

Member in the Spotlight: Dr. Ken Taylor

Ken Taylor

Dr. Taylor, a Family Physician, was sponsored by Rotarian Bill Finley and joined our Club May 1, 1987. Ken is married to Denise and has three children: Mike Steven and Kate. Ken became a Paul Harris Fellow in 2001 and again in 2002. His interests include cycling, fishing, mountain climbing and hunting. Ken has served on the following committees:

Historian
Charitable Trust
World Community Service
Sergeant-at-arms
Youth Exchange
Auction Advisory
Fellowship & New Members
1998 District Conference.

Ken took the time to review the work of Not Just Tourists. NJT was founded 11 years ago when 2 volunteers delivered 22 lbs of drugs having an estimated value of $10,000 to one country. Last year 37,000 lbs of drugs having an estimated value between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 were delivered by 40 volunteers to 68 countries. There are now chapters in Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary. Chapters are starting up in Montreal, Hamilton and Vancouver. NJT operates through volunteer labor over 150 days each year. Ken wanted to thank our Club and our members for helping to run the warehouse and for the cash grants we have provided to purchase antibiotics (cannot collect unused antibiotics).

Grace: Patricia Rooney

O Canada: Don Shaw

Toast to the Queen and Canada: by President Rick

Birthdays:

March 26: Dave McAdam - AWOL
March 27: Ed Silver - present
March28: Dave Butler - AWOL
March 29: Bill Campbell l- AWOL
March 30: Chris Bangham – prepaid last week.

Ed Silver

Rotaract Inauguration Ceremony

Randy Momot

The Inauguration began with President Randy Momot giving a brief history of Rotaract. This level of Rotary began on an ad hoc basis in the 1920’s and became official in 1968. Today there are 145,000 members in Clubs in 68 countries worldwide. This Club will be based at Brock University and is co-sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fonthill and the Rotary Club of St. Catharines.

Hugh Graham followed with a description of the principles of Rotaract

District Governor remarked at how exciting this was for him as he had to speed off to attend a ceremony for an Earlyact Club (Elementary School) as well. He welcomed the members of the new Rotaract Club to the Family of Rotary in the ‘Best of Friends’ District 9070. He asked them to always remember our motto, ‘Service above Self’, to act locally and to think globally. He asked them to remember that they had a duty to fill their spaces in their Club as they move on from Brock University and to always ‘Lead the Way’. He presented the new members with ‘Lead the Way’ pins.

Rotaract Club Founding Members

District Governor Dick Earne with the Rotaract Club

Hugh Graham

Scott Heelis presented Rotaract pins.

Presidents Rick and Randy presented the Certificate of Inauguration.

Presidents Rick and Randy presented the Certificate of Inauguration

President Rick asked them to invite us to their meeting in the Fall of 2007 when the two sponsoring Clubs will present their Club Banner.

Children’s Committee Meeting April 16 at 5:00 pm at the Offices of Sullivan Mahoney, 40 Queen Street. Agenda items include:

President Rick attended the Women’s Place Campaign Celebration and presented our cheque for $25,000.

Ray Bukovec is back from Slovenia where the Rotary Club of Lubliana made Ray an Honorary Member in recognition of his role in starting their Club.

Larry Iggulden announced that District 9070 has started a Paul Harris Society of 9070. If you contribute $1,000 per year you can be a member and if you do it before April 1, you will be recognized as a Charter Member. Larry also asked us to submit names accompanied by a short bio of worthy candidates for Paul Harris recognition.

Janet Johnson brought the subject of literacy to the meeting with an announcement that today was the last day of our very successful book drive. She continued the literacy contest with three challenging words.

President Rick noted letters of thanks from The DSBN and the DCSB for our gifts of 8 Franklin Interactive Dictionaries to each school board.

Jagdish Mehta began his announcement by remarking that he thought that Vatican City was a Theocracy. He went on to relate for us that our Club has participated in supporting: a hospital and children’s centre, a blood bank, an eye bank and educational objectives in Bombay. The RYLA Club of Bombay presented a plaque to Jagdish on March 9, 2007 recognizing our Club’s support of these initiatives in District 3140.

Harold Nash had the winning ticket for the $299 pot but could not find an ace. Don’t buy any lottery tickets today Harold.

Phil Porter introduced the General Manager of St. Catharines Transit, David Sherlock. Dave was born in St. Caharines and grew up in the Port Weller area. His father worked on the Seaway and his mother worked at Port Weller Drydocks. He attended EL Crossley High School and earned both a business BA and an MBA. Dave has been married to Andrea for 27 years and they have raised 3 sons. He has been employed with Via Rail and Rail America before coming home to St. Catharines Transit. He is interested in horses, keyboards, guitar and electric bass. Phil noted that Dave’s musical interests have generated sufficient supplementary income to purchase a case of Lakeport!

Dave began by informing us hat transit began in St. Catharines in 1879 with a car drawn by horses. The NS&T (Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Electric Railway) was the last private outside group to operate a transit system in St. Caharines and was the last interurban electric rail operation in North America. The system was converted to buses in the 1950’s.

Back in 1879 the Baldwin Act required that transit operators police their cars for drunkenness, profanity, itinerate salesmen, chivaries and nuisances.

Today 80% of Canada’s population live in cities. Transit uses 1/3 less fuel than cars. Dave believes that a green economy can be a lucrative economy. Through proactive bylaws, Vancouver has seen its downtown population increase by 50,000 while vehicular travel has reduced by 30%. In St. Catharines our rider-ship with student, seniors and adults without cars has grown by 38% in the last 4 years to 4,700,000.

Dave informed us the St. Catharines Transit has purchased 5 diesel-electric hybrid buses from Flyer in Winnipeg which will be delivered in December of this year. They will consume 20 – 40% less fuel and will enjoy much reduced brake maintenance. During their test runs, brakes were not needed to descend Glenridge Avenue from Brock into St. Catharines. The buses are equipped with a small diesel engine that is used to drive a generator or the axle. The electric motor can drive the axle as well. The bus uses the electric motor to accelerate or decelerate and the diesel to cruise. These bbuses will lok the same as many others in our fleet of 60 but they are much quiter and cleaner. They emit 50% less NOx’s and the lowest Co of any bus.

While Iceland uses Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology, most applications are still research studies. Their biggest selling feature is that their exhaust is limited to water.

Dave remarked that St. Catharines Transit is involved in planning for our new hospital and in the downtown traffic changes.

Dave closed by thanking our Club for this opportunity and for our support for their Para-transit program.

Peter Lumsden wanted to know if the recent perfume problems Calgary is experiencing are a problem here? No.

John Snowling wanted some detail on cost and operating costs comparisons with conventional diesel buses. The ‘Green’ buses cost $200,000 more ($600,000 vs $400,000) but that the vehicle will operate at more than $200,000 less over its life than a diesel. They are expected to last 12 to 15 years.

George Doty took on the challenge to define ‘Chivaree’ – When young people who were not invited to a wedding reception bang pots and pans outside the window of the couple’s honeymoon suite until they are given food (they wouldn’t need anything to drink). George was awarded a ride on the inaugural run of the first ‘Green’ bus.

Serge Paquin, proposed by Oraine De Rosa, owner of Sky Computers providing services to companies in the Niagara Region, mostly in St. Catharines, for over ten years.