Has everyone seen this documentary? If you haven’t you should. Don’t listen to anyone, see it and decide for yourselves. Health care is a huge issue in the USA as it is in Vermont. What are the reasons? How do other countries afford it? Why is it so expensive in this country? How did this all start. Those questions will be answered in this documentary. You should at least be informed of what your odds are. It really is astounding what this country is doing about good, honest health care, or shall I say, Not Doing!

I have written to my congress folks in Montpelier asking them to think about dropping the Insurance companies and moving to a self reliant program and letting the hospitals manage the health care like they used to. More money from Insurance premiums is paid to Insurance CEO’s than is going into their plans. We can do better and with less costs. It will take a bit of back bone to accomplish but it can be done.

One notation, go to, www.medicare.gov and search for insurance companies.

Read (edit-or watch) *SICKO* for yourself before you judge anyone.

I found it online:

“Sicko”

Thanks…

WINDSOR ROTARY CLUB

July 21, 2008

Vol. 83 No. 2

ABSENTEES - 7/14/2008

T. Allen, P. Bousquet, N. Carter, W. Cone, R. Christensen, R. Dukeshire, L. Frazer, F. Hilles, M. Howe, N. Larson, J. Osgood, C. Prevo, C. Shapiro-Wall, S. Spadaro.

BIRTHDAY

July 11, Bob Dukeshire.

GUEST

Mira Lagerstedt, guest of Sharlene McEachern.

MAKEUPS

None reported.

LAST WEEK’S PROGRAM – CLUB ASSEMBLY

Remember those nice “Welcome to” signs you see on the main roads just outside Claremont, Lebanon and Springfield? Why not have a couple of signs on Route 5 north and south of town for Windsor?

That’s the suggestion of Rotary past president Jon Springer when new Rotary president Dana Waters asked for ideas for a Rotary Community Project for the July 2008-June 2009 Rotary year.

Springer suggested the signs could mention the American Precision Museum and other town sites of interest and be informative and attractive.

Fire Chief Ron Vezina said he got some signs made up for the “dry hydrant” system. “The state does the signs at cost. You’ll want to approach the selectmen and the new town manager and go from there,” he said.

Other suggestions ranged from continuing to work on the fairgrounds, partnering with the Elks Club to raise money for the “Polio Plus” prevention program with a dinner dance, and putting up more historic lamp posts.

“There are only about four of them now,” noted Gail Barton.

As it was Club Assembly day, Judith Brownlow passed the hat for donations to the Windsor Community Food Shelf. Ron Vezina reported that the changeover of Windsor’s fire, police and ambulance dispatching to Hartford Dispatch was completed on July 1, “but it wasn’t without issues.”

First someone switched it over a day early, then on the night of the actual switch over “we got just a dial tone.” That problem got resolved, “and then there were little things, like not being able to get ahold of highway. The State Correctional Facility has a code that stops us from going up there and that didn’t get passed along either,” he said. “But, a lot of people up there [at Hartford Dispatch] are very familiar with Windsor and so far it’s going okay.”

Vezina also had some other good news for his fellow Rotarians: “Pending contract negotiations I’m staying on as fire chief.”

Before the 4^th of July holiday, Vezina had indicated he expected to retire as fire chief and return to work at Fairpoint Communications as an instructor.

LAST WEEK

Sharlene won the draw but not the jackpot.

Martha Davis, the sergeant at arms, fined herself because her cell phone rang during the meeting.

Dana announced that Bob French won a quoits tournament on Bible Hill at Jim and Susan Curry’s house. (He then had to explain what quoits were. “It’s like horseshoes,” he said.)

Bill Hochstin had a brag that he drove his Prius up to camp “and didn’t hit a rock.”

Ron reported that the 4-H club sold barbecued chicken during the Harpoon Brewery Race. “They had 1000 people,” he said.

It was announced that Cedar Hill Continuing Care Facility is celebrating its 20^th aniversary July 25 with a “open house” from 6 p.m.- 10 p.m. The Berlin (NH) Rotary Club will hold the Jim Thysen Memorial Golf Tournament on August 3^rd. For further information contact President Dana Waters. Dana also reported that he gave Shane Hathaway Kochvi, Windsor Rotary’s exchange student who will be spending a year in Taiwan, a tour of the Windsor Fairgrounds.

Shane is looking for a summer job to earn some money before leaving for Taiwan in August. Contact Dana if you have any work for Shane.

The Rotary Clubs of Southern New Hampshire and Vermont are seeking candidates for a one-month, expense-paid Group Study Exchange (GSE) to the Philippines. Applicants cannot be Rotarians or directly related to Rotarians, must be 25-40 years of age, and be sponsored by one of the 60 Rotary Clubs of District 7870. For more information, contact Dave Ballou, rotary05@aol.com. This coming year our district 7870 is participating in a Group Study Exchange (GSE) with District 3860 in the Philippines. We will need candidates for our outgoing team; one Rotarian Team Leader and 4 non-Rotarian Team Members.

The outgoing team will travel February 16, 2009 to Cebu City and return from Davao City on March 16, 2009. We will also need host clubs for the incoming team. The Philippine team will be visiting our district May 2 – June 2, 2009.

If your club would like to host the Philippine Team next spring, please tell your International Service Chairperson to contact Emily Jones ejones1667@comcast.net We will need to know your club meeting (day & time) and whether you wish to be a day host or an overnight host. Overnight host clubs are expected to provide 5 host families (one per team member) for at least three nights lodging. If you wish to be an overnight host club, let us know how many nights you wish to host.

Note: Hosting GSE teams is a lot of fun. We try to coordinate regional clubs so that the overnight hosts are not committed during the day; neighboring clubs are handling day activities. GSE provides a focus within individual clubs as well as cooperation among neighboring clubs for fun and interesting social gatherings.

WINDSOR ROTARY CLUB

July 14, 2008

Vol. 83 No. 1

ABSENTEES - 6/30/2008

T. Allen, P. Bousquet, J. Brownlow, W. Cone, R. Christensen, J. Cushing, W. Hochstin, C. Prevo, J. Rohrer, S. Spadaro, J. Springer.

BIRTHDAY

July 11, Bob Dukeshire.

GUESTS

Shane Hathaway Kochvi, Rotary’s Exchange Student and guest speaker.

MAKEUPS

None reported.

LAST WEEK

(These notes are for the June 30 meeting as Rotary did not meet on July 7.)

Dana Waters won the raffle but not the jackpot. Gail Barton announced that she is the “featured artist” at the Miller Gallery in Springfield for the month of July. There was a reception for the opening of her exhibit on Thursday, July 3.

Carolyn Shapiro-Wall reported that after much discussion her family has acquired “Felix”, a pet rabbit. Her son Matthew is allergic to dogs and cats, but a bunny will fit well into their household. Matthew has agreed to be in charge of feeding and giving water to Felix, taking care of his bunny cage, etc. Roger Gilman attended the Vermont-NH field hockey game at St. Mike’s in which his granddaughter played. Vermont won, 3-2. Martha Davis reported that daughter Kate is home (while she and her new husband look for an apartment). “I wash a lot more dishes but I’m happy to have her around,” she said.

Mike Howe reported that he was struck by lightning last week. “Not a pleasant experience,” he said. “It hit hard. The whole house shook.”

LAST WEEK’S PROGRAM

ROTARY TO SPONSOR EXCHANGE STUDENT

A few weeks ago Windsor Rotary voted to sponsor Shane Hathaway Kochvi, 17, of Claremont during a year abroad Rotary student exchange program. During the last meeting of the Roary year, Shane came to talk about the program, in which he will spend the next year with several host families in Taiwan. He leaves at the end of August, and has been taking a “crash course” in Chinese with a tutor (”more a crash than a course,” he says.)Shane got interested in becoming an exchange student while studying Spanish at Stevens High School. “I thought it would be a great idea to go to Spain, but when I looked into it, through a program called Face The World, it was so expensive to do it. So I went back to my guidance counselor and she told me about the Rotary Club.” Shane went to a few meetings, and when Spain proved unavailable he was persuaded to try something “more exotic.”

DANA WATERS TAKES THE GAVEL

As is traditional during the last meeting of the Rotary year, outgoing president Ted Hilles passed the gavel to incoming president Dana Waters. Dana then presented Ted with his past president’s pin and a gavel mounted on a plaque, and thanked him for his leadership during the past year. Ted reflected on Rotary’s accomplishments during his watch, including a successful Penny Sale, the construction and dedication of the Sherm Carter Memorial Pavilion, the Windsor in Bloom flower boxes, the ongoing food shelf, the annual dictionary project, and having a presence at the significant District meetings in Keene, Lake Placid and Rutland during the past year.

LARSONS BUY WINDSOR STATION

Nate Larson announced at last week’s meeting that his family was closing that afternoon on the purchase of the Windsor Station Restaurant. He doesn’t plan a lot of sudden changes but did note that “we stole a sous-chef from Simon Pearce and he’s starting tonight!” Nate announced that the restaurant would resume offering lunch during the noon hour.