President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer.
Today’s quote provided by Don Overly: "Be thankful for what you have; You'll end having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." Oprah Winfrey
Today’s Announcements:
- Harvey Smith announced he picked up 10 scholarship applications plus 1 trade scholarship application at CHS today. Interviews will be held at the end of April.
- Frank Perez announced our Golf Outing is exactly 3 weeks away, and we still NEED VOLUNTEERS, so please sign up. Friday, May 8 will be a fun day for the Club!
- Jake Hensel announced if your sponsorship included golfers, please send him the names of your golfers. Or let him know if your team is not playing.
- Thanks to Bill, Uriah, Socks, & David for cleaning up our adopted section of I-675 this past weekend. It looks so much better!
- Thanks to Mark Febus for inviting Rotarians Adam, Chuck, Dale, and Jackie to join him at Reason to Hope, a breakfast of inspiration, impact, and hope, supporting the Alzheimer’s Association. One speaker was a Westerville Rotarian.
- Next week, students who attended RYLA - Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, will share their experiences at the Camp Kern weekend.
- Board meeting is this Monday, 5:30 pm at the Joyce Young Center.
- Uriah Anderson reminded all to sign up for the Dayton Dragon’s game on May 28. These are FREE tickets plus $5 to spend at the concession stand. Join fellow club members for a fun night of baseball.
- Brian Hayes said, “Pay your bill!”
- Sofie Ameloot sent some photos of her travels in Belgium, which were shared on the big screen.
Happy Bucks this quarter will be donated to Operation Warm, providing winter coats to children in need in partnership with Hannah’s Treasure Chest.
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms today with assistance by Brian Hayes.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat B said he saw what he thought were prisoners picking up trash along I-675 and then realized it was our Rotarians! Thank you!
- Jake H said his parents are snowbirds and since his family didn’t make it down there this winter, his parents are coming to visit here instead.
- Gina S returned from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she had a good book event, but the historic hotel had a lot of historic dirt…
- Ron H’s wife is happy he took her boyfriend to the vet this morning and he got a clean bill of health.
- Chuck K went golfing a second time and had a good game, but someone put a dent in the roof of his car with a golf ball!
- Carol K was back from a nice visit with her 92 year old mother in PA.
- Dan J celebrated his 41st birthday today and the family is taking him to his favorite K-Pot Korean restaurant for dinner (which he will pay for, naturally.) Happy birthday, Dan!
- Mark K survived Easter with 29 people at his house. They had t-shirts made with velcro so the kids could place their found eggs on the adults shirts!
- Harvey S reported the spots removed from his face were negative.
- Elda GG was happy to be back at Rotary today.
- Lee H gave two farm reports since he was gone last week. First: The lack of rain has allowed farmers to get their planting done early. Second, the Feral Swine bill was signed by the Governor. The animals have done $2.5 billion worth of damage to livestock each year. They can weigh up to 500 lbs and have sharp tusks. The law doesn’t allow you to hunt them, but if they are on your property and causing damage, you can shoot it. Lee suggested you don’t try to pet one.
- Jim H was happy to hear about the scholarship applications.
- Dale B has birthday this week, too. Happy Birthday, Dale!
- Rand O gave for being here 12 weeks in a row, but his streak ends this week as he heads out to hike the Appalachian Trail. He will be back in June/July.
- Adam M was happy to have our speaker today and thanked today’s fantastic greeters - Don Overly and Rand Oliver.
- Jackie D was happy.
Our speaker today was Bryan Hambley, sharing information about the job of the Secretary of State.
Bryan started by telling a story about planning an anniversary trip with his wife at a romantic hotel in Baltimore. His wife does not like paranormal things, and as they were checking in, he noticed a sign announcing that hotel is in the Top 10 Haunted Hotels in the country. They were reenacting one of the hotel murders as they checked in, so they moved to the Sheraton!
Secretary of State is the chief of democracy in Ohio. He asked the group what the government provides and several answers included:
Upward mobility
Social security
National Parks
NASA trip to the moon
Bill of Rights
Freedom to travel in or out of the country
There are things we can do that require working together with people with vision. He feels it’s important for people to be looking forward.
Bryan is a leukemia doctor in Cincinnati, and is running for Secretary of State. In his job, every day he sees people being left behind because of illness that drains their savings when insurance fails them. He is looking for people who have a vision for how health insurance can work for them, not against them.
He shared that a woman diagnosed with breast cancer has a 40% chance of being bankrupt within a couple of years because of medical bills and insurance failure.
Bryan explained that in Ohio, voting districts are drawn with gerrymandering to favor one party, so the primary election basically becomes the final vote. Many do not bother to vote in the primaries. He feels we need a competitive system that’s not drawn to benefit one party. Right now, 1 or 2 people draw the districts.
He believes we need an independent commission to draw district maps. The commission would include 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 5 independents, all not currently holding an office.
We all need to imagine something better for the future.
Idaho and Michigan are some of the states he gave as examples he feels Ohio should follow when drawing districts.
To change the process in Ohio, it requires a constitutional amendment.
The Secretary of State controls ballot language, and he feels there is a responsibility to have clearly written ballot language.
When asked his opinion about eliminating property tax, Bryan said he is worried about getting rid of property tax if the alternative is 20% sales tax. Ohio has one of the top property taxes in the country and also lowest commercial property tax.
He explained the reason for changes in congressional districts is due to the population changes. He thinks it should be done about every 10 years, but Ohio has been redistricting every 2-3 years.
He recommended the book, The Big Sort.
Bryan said Americans want to live by people who vote the way they vote, but then there is less opportunity to have civil discussions, sharing differing thoughts.
President Manning thanked Bryan for the great information, led reciting of the Four-Way Test, and wished all a good week.
If you missed the drone show video shared a few weeks ago, here's a chance to watch it:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/953593870694549
