Newsletter 10-15-13

Posted by Jim Brown 
on Oct 15, 2013
 
 

Needham Rotary Club

Tuesday:  October 15, 2013

Location: Needham Sheraton

 

Pledge of Allegiance: Glen Davis

Song:  God Bless America; Led By: Ron Sockol

Prayer: Led by Darrell Minnich

 

  • Ted reported on Alejandro, the 4 year old from Guatemala who is here for open heart surgery; a Guatemalan family from Lincoln has agreed to provide housing; surgery will be next Monday.
  • Greg Cronin still needs help with music program re-scheduled for January 25, 2014 especially with the web site; he is looking for music groups particularly from Needham area.
  • Bill Paulson put ‘Thank You’ letters from 3rd graders who had received dictionaries, on each table.
  • Kathy Whitney reminded us of the Beth Israel Deaconess hospital Dream Big-Great Gatsby Gala on November 2 at Patriot Place; if anyone can make a donation for the silent please let Louise or Kathy know.
  • Kathy also spoke about the business directory being published by the Needham Business Association.  NBA members get a discount for an ad.  If you are interested, please contact Kathy or Louise..

  Guests:  

  •    State Rep. Denise Garlick, guest speaker
  •   Amanda Bernardo, Legislative Assistant
  •    Marty Lindeman (prospective member)

Happy $$$:    Patriot and Red Sox Successes: Many dollars! Kathy Whitney: Sad dollar for end of boating season; Many Happy Dollars to welcome Denise Garlick; Bob Cocks for his 41st Wedding Anniversary; Glen Davis for a wonderful Columbus Day weekend; Rich Forte for the weekend get together with all his siblings; Ted Shaughnessy for a great weekend with all of his siblings and spouses; Scotti in anticipation of his yet to be born Grandson; Karen for a Columbus Day drive to central NH to leaf peep; George for his 50th high school reunion.

 

50:50:  Person: Bill Paulson; Pot: $147; Drew the Queen of Diamonds. Close, but no winner. By the way, ‘Lucky Bill’ had the right ticket 2 weeks in a row. Anyone smell a rat?

 

Joke of the day: See below

 

Birthdays: none

Guest Speaker:  Our State Rep. Denise Garlick was our guest speaker. Denise was a nurse for 30 years, and was elected to State Rep. in November 2010. She represents the 13th Norfolk District which includes Needham, Dover and part of Medfield.

She says she has 3 primary responsibilities as State Representative:

1.      Creating and making laws.

2.      Developing the State Budget.

3.      Constituent Services.

With Denise’s background as a nurse, even as a Freshman Legislator, she was assigned to the committee to review the Healthcare Expense Containment committee. The bill itself had 349 pages.

She told us there are 160 State Reps in Massachusetts. During a year, she receives 1520 unique calls per year, and all this with one assistant.

 

She then passed out cards. Each card had a unique number on it, and she detailed what they meant, as follows:

            -$ 1.500,000 Local aid to Needham

            -$ 7,900,000 Chapter 70 funds to Needham

            -$ 901,000 to Needham for roads

            -1198 line items in the budget, determined by Ethan Davis, Ken’s son, when he was an intern.

            -$ 2,046,000 funds given to Needham for Special Needs education.

            -4532 bills filed last 2 years (one legislative session)

            -555 bills passed.

            -39 were authored or co-authored by Denise.

Denise is a  very dedicated person, and Needham can be quite pleased she represents our interests!

 

Her office number is 617-722-2070  and see www.denisegarlick.com.

           

Joke of the Day: First, courtesy of Doug:

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; one from New Jersey, another from Tennessee and the third, from Florida. They go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well", he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The New Jersey contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The New Jersey contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence!

 

Second, courtesy of Louise:

Two Nuns were shopping at a 7-11 store. Asthey passed the beer display, one Nun said to the other ”Wouldn’t a nice cool beer or two taste wonderful on a hot summer evening?”

The second Nun answered, “Inded it would, sister, bit I would not feel comfortable buying beer, since I am certain it would cause a scene at the checkout counter”.

“I can handle that without a problem”, the first Nun replied, and she picked up a 6-pack and headed for the check out.

The cashier had a surprised look on his face when the two Nuns arrived with a 6-pack of beer. “We use beer for washing our hair” the Nun said. “Back at our Nunnery we call it Catholic shampoo”.

Without blinking an eye, the cashier reached under the counter and pulled out a package of pretzel sticks, and placed them in the same bag as the beer. He then looked the Nun straight in the eye, smiled and said: “The curlers are on the house!”.