September 14, 2009

ANOTHER FLOWER PICKIN' SEASON

Plans and events for next month's Johnny Cash Flower Picking Festival will be unveiled by Robbie Ward, organizer of the annual event. The 2009 Festival will be October 16-18.

NEXT WEEK: WATER

Rotary International's health programs emphasize water and sanitation where scarcity of clean water is increasingly serious. Next week, Bill Boyken of Greenville, chair of the District 6820 water project committee, will brief us on how the district’s 44 clubs are participating in this global effort.

LAST WEEK

Invocation and Pledge: Bob Daniels

Attendance: There were 122 members (35 exempt, 2 honorary) present and 73 (16 exempt, 9 honorary) absent.

Guests and visitors: Visiting Rotarians were Gil Harris of Columbus and our guest speaker of the North Jackson Club. Members’ guests were Ben Chiles of Frank Chiles, Chuck Schimpf of Martha Wells and Larry Otis of Jack Forbus. Guests of the Club were Eddie McNiel, Nathan Upchurch and Pamela Weaver of the Secretary of State’s office, Francesca Scaravelli and Kasper Eriksen, Youth Exchange Students, Paul Sims of the Starkville Daily News and Tim Pratt, Starkville Dispatch.

Bylaws changes: By unanimous vote, the members approved the bylaws changes passed by the board on Aug. 11.

Outstanding teacher award: President Martha noted that Merrill Hawkins Teacher Award forms were available. Members are encouraged to nominate deserving K-12 teachers.

Kudos: Joe Thompson celebrated his last day as a Mississippi State University faculty member on Aug. 31. President Martha lauded his 45 years of service to the institution.

Literacy committee: David Vanlandingham, literacy committee co-chair, invited Rotarians to sign up for the Between the Lions reading program. Volunteers read to pre-schoolers at the Emerson Family Center and First Presbyterian Childcare Center for 15 minutes every week. Instead of building on last year’s volunteer list, the committee is compiling a fresh list. Sign up by seeing, calling or e-mailing David.

Rotary Minute: Board Member Lynn Richardson announced that we will start the district’s seventh Interact Club for youth, ages 14 to 18 years old. We have opted to develop a county-wide club instead of a school-based one in order to involve a broader spectrum of local students.
   The initial informational meeting was Sunday afternoon at Cadence Bank. Richardson and Ned Browning will advise the group that meets twice a month and performs two annual community service projects. Rotarians will be called on to present programs to the young people.

M&M’s: You’ve been asked to leave the comfort zone of your usual table today in order to brainstorm about potential new members. Each table will be asked to put forward one possible membership candidate. Members will be encouraged to individually pursue other people recommended during the discussion.

NEW ROTARIAN

Stan Acy, taking his lead from Rockey Felker’s earlier assessment of the MSU football team, introduced himself by saying, “I’m five-ten, 166 pounds, . . . . I just wish I had it back in high school when I tried to play football and weighed 100 pounds in full gear, soaking wet and full of bananas.”
   The local Citizens Bank president has been in banking in Mississippi for 25 years and in Starkville since 1995. He just celebrated 27 years of marriage to Linda and they have two daughters.

INTEGRITY IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY LIFE

The Mississippi Secretary of State is responsible for the state’s land trusts, the state’s election processes, reporting and storing the state’s records, and regulating corporations, securities, and liens.
   To accomplish his job, he must have an active legislative agenda as spelled out to the Club by Delbert Hosemann, the current secretary.
   The Warren County native with degrees from Notre Dame, the University of Mississippi, and New York University, was elected in November 2007.
   First on his list was entertainment districts to spur economic and cultural development. Passed in the 2009 session, this legislation gives an accelerated depreciation deduction to businesses in designated districts. The idea is to encourage family entertainment venues.
   “Mississippi is the only state in the union that has such a law,” said Hosemann. “The first district includes MSU’s Riley Center in Meridian.”
   The state general fund recoups its lost fees through a $2.00 per ticket tax.
   “When I ran for office, nowhere on the brochure were cemeteries mentioned,” he said. “Last January, in my hometown, I got a request to clear the improvement of a cemetery. My investigator found that they had only $221 of the required $583,000 trust account for pre-paid funerals.”
   The secretary’s first task was to “stop the bleeding,” to call a halt to insolvent pre-need programs. The response was a law doubling penalties to $10,000 and creating a loss guaranty fund. Five private cemeteries have been seized.
   Small business owners have gotten more protection for their name and brand through upgraded trademark legislation enforced out of Hosemann’s office.
   The International Trademark Association has recognized Mississippi for the nation’s best  coverage.
   The new Uniform Securities Act is bringing the state more in line with national laws. The Stanford scandal involving 4,700 accounts and $400 million missing spurred this action. Again, Mississippi was ahead of even the Federal regulators in investigation.
   We now have the nation’s best charities and non-profits laws on the books.
   Legislative targets for the next session include limited liability corporations, business courts, election issues, trade names and more uniform commercial code acts.
   Sixteenth Section land contracts now are cataloged and available to the public online. Closer scrutiny has resulted in a net gain of 42 percent for state school district budgets. In fiscal 2008, Oktibbeha County schools realized $352,745.86 and Starkville Municipal schools brought in $552,783.04 from leases.

Wilbert, Filbert, Gilbert . . .

Rotarian Gary Chism’s lighthearted introduction echoed the Secretary of State’s self-deprecating name recognition campaign ad.
   Hosemann said, “It’s got legs. We wanted to do something positive and it worked.”