"There's nothing more mysterious than an unexplained asterisk." - President John Murphy

 

The usual routine of announcing Rotarians birthdays and Club anniversaries, no doubt followed by a fine, was abruptly halted by a first of it's kind protest. To be fair, when Phil Massery announced his protest, he presented some evidence to back his claim. The issue at hand is time in Club. The Sparks database system tells us Phil joined the Club in 2001. Phil tells us he actually joined in 1987 with the caveat that the smell of Blue Seal kielbasa lured him to Chicopee for a couple of years where he was active in Rotary there. There still appears to be some missing years, perhaps memories have been gummed up by sauerkraut, but we can't yet account for the date disparity in the Sparks database and Phil's memory of joining in 1987 - and he had the exact date too. The whole matter comes down to a 14 year gap of which we lack full details. For this reason, we are pleased to announce the first Rotary asterisk, presented to the one and only Phil Massery*

Jeff Whitehouse was our speaker on Thursday. We tried to get Tony Mazzeo to recite the evenings specials as an alternate plan for our featured speaker, regrettably he was not available. We were regaled with a wonderful story of a lost and found church bell. Perusing old Berkshire Eagle editions still in the back seat of his rambler, Jeff brought the intriguing story to life. It seems Ken Nash came in to possession of the bell from St. Agnes. Over the years and through a kerfuffle or two the bell was donated back to the church in honor of Ed Dery. Thank you Jeff for the entertaining and interesting story.

An important Club initiative going forward is membership enhancement. To that end, the Club is still entertaining the membership challenge proposed last year where any Club member that brings a prospective member to a luncheon meeting will have that guest's meal paid for by Eric Schaffer, and when/if that guest attends a second meeting, the meal will be covered by the Club. Can you think of someone to bring to Rotary?

John O'Brien 6/2

Donna Palma 6/9

Ben Parhizgar 06/16

John Perreault 06/23

Janet Brennan 07/07

Eric Schaffer 07/14

Somber Start: President Elect Alex Reczkowski opened the meeting by reading the names of those lost in the recent Uvalde, TX school shooting, followed by a moment of silence for the victims. 

 

Guest of Honor: Randy Johnson was accompanied by his significant other, Jackie.

 

Literal Revolution?: Dave Hall, perhaps jacked up by his new found fortune, proposed a hostile takeover of the Richmond Library by the Berkshire Athenaeum; director Reczkowski was rather noncommittal concerning the proposal. As of press time, we haven't learned of new developments in this potential power grab by Pittsfield.

 

New Marketing Slogan: Dery Funeral Homes went all out with their new marketing slogan we are told, expect to see, "When you're dead, better call Fred" billboards plastered throughout the region.

Two birthdays this week, happy happy to Joel Greenberg (May 31) & Randy Johnson (June 02)

 

No club anniversaries this week

Well, it happened again! We wasted another perfectly good deck with an instant win, two in a row. Adding intrigue to latest contest, the lucky winner was once again a Sergeant At Arms. This time the massive $23 haul was brought in by Dave Hall. Dave will chose the target card this week. Should we assume Messrs. O'Brien and Latham are next in line? Good luck all.