WATER

Rotary International's health programs emphasize water and sanitation where scarcity of clean water is increasingly serious. 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: Grant Arinder
Attendance: There were 102 members (32 exempt) present and 93 (18 exempt, 11 honorary) absent.
Guests and visitors: Visiting Rotarian was Bill Overstreet of West Point.  Member’s guests were Anne Buffington of Rex Buffington, Bryan Lott of Larry Mullins, and Rachel Hicks of Debra Hicks.  Guests of the Club were John Gavin Buffington, Kasper Eriksen, Youth Exchange Student, Paul Sims, Starkville Daily News, and Tim Pratt, Starkville Dispatch.
Rotary Minute: Club Treasurer Nellah Taylor announced that with the next quarterly statement, active members’ bills will go from $188 to $200 per quarter. Exempt members’ meal costs will rise to $12. This will cover the dollar per meal increase that the Club budget has absorbed since Jan. 1.

Making headlines — Rotary Youth Exchange Student Kasper Eriksen, left, answers SDN Reporter Paul Sims’ questions for a front-page newspaper feature.

KASPER'S COUNTRY - SMALL SIZE, BIG REPUTATION

From the land of LEGOs and Vikings, one of our latest Rotary Youth Exchange students, Kasper Eriksen introduced himself to the Club last week.
            The 16-year-old son of a former RYE student arrived in Starkville in August after a grueling 48 hours of redirected plane flights.
            His father, Christian, was an exchange student in Baltimore, Ohio, and now works for Apple and imports firearms. His mother, Tia, is a civil engineer engaged in infrastructure planning. He has a sister and two younger brothers.
            Kasper’s host parents for the year are Rex and Ann Buffington, Grant and Lori Arinder, and John and Susan Tomlinson.
            Kasper is an outdoorsman who likes mountain biking and hunting. He explained that the hunting license that he just earned is much tougher to get than an American one. It required a half-year course of study, a 40 question exam, a practical exercise in judging distance and identifying animals, and successfully hitting 4 out of 5 skeet.
            He hails from Aalborg, an old trading city in northern Denmark. About 4 times the size of Starkville, it is home to 6 Rotary Clubs. His father’s club was chartered in 1956 and sponsors 2 to 4 RYE students yearly.
            Denmark, a bridge from western Europe to the other Scandanavian countries, measures more than 16,000 square miles. Its population tops 5 million.
            The nation is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Margaret II as the sitting ruler.
            A member of the European Union since 1973, Denmark’s three branches of government have been housed in Christiansborg Castle since 1794.
            By some measures, the small nation has Europe’s highest level of income. Its gross domestic product and standard of living are higher than most other EU countries, and are 20 percent higher than the U.S.
            The world’s tenth greenest country, Denmark has tax exemptions to encourage wind power generation.
            On the other hand, it has one of the world’s highest tax rates at an average of 50 percent. Tax on a new automobile runs to 180 percent.
            Those taxes pay for one of the world’s best education systems (compulsory through ninth grade), and an extensive no-fee health care system.
            A near-sea-level land, Denmark counts wheat and sugar beets as its main agricultural products. It benefits economically from considerable gas and oil resources in the North Sea.
            Among the nation’s famous persons are Hans Christian Andersen, Karen Blixen, Niels Bohr, Victor Borge, Jørn Utzon, Vigo Mortensen and Morten Andersen.

ROTARY CHARITY GOLFCLASSIC * STARKVILLE COUNTRY CLUB * OCTOBER 5, 2009

Our first golf tournament will benefit the SOAR Tuition Guarantee Program for Oktibbeha County students at East Mississippi Community College. To sponsor a hole, enter or help for the day, contact Bill Ford at 323-5350, ext. 112, or wwford@doorswap.com.

Four person scramble
$300 registration per team
Registration 12:15 p.m.
Start.......... 1:00 p.m.

FALL SOCIAL * HAPPY HOUR, 5:30 * DINNER, 6:30

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