The Rotary Club of Catonsville - Sunrise, Maryland

Club Meeting October 3

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – October 3, 2007

Steve Arum bestowed greetings, in spite of a limited range of motion.

President George Brookhart opened the meeting.

Rick Martel led the Devotion.

Guests included Tom Brewster, retired, a frequent guest, and Becky Stein, a United Church of Christ clergy and U.Md. at Baltimore social work student.

16 members were present.

Old Business:

George Brookhart congratulated the many volunteers at Saturday’s St. Agnes Foundation 5-K race.  Richard Hiteshew’s Sleepwalkers team won the participation award for the largest team.

New Business:   

George discussed the mock interviews at Catonsville High School coming up in November.

Planning is underway for another guest bartending night at Dimitri’s Restaurant to benefit the Wounded Warriors in October.

An Economic Forum will be held at the Catonsville campus of CCBC on October 9 from 10-1200.

Susan Souder announced the Hearts of Gold Banquet to be held by the Bonds Meadow Rotary Club in Carroll County, to benefit the Carroll County Hospice, Hospital and ARC.

Rick Martel gave a report on the progress of construction at the Sulfur Springs Road home that was burned.  He left a letter of concern at the house last week.  Kathy Nelson, owner of the property, responded, saying a couple of zoning issues required a variance:  A set back of 25’ instead of 30’ and construction of a two-car garage.  These variances were approved last week.  In addition, there has been difficulty with the progress of work by the general contractor, a friend of the owners.  Rick Martel gave the owner some general advice.

Happy Dollars:   

Joe Loverde gave dollars in honor of the St. Agnes Foundation race, its coordination by Sue Miller and the bus drivers.

Joe also gave $10 for the support the Sunrise Rotary gave to the race.

Rosemary Wright gave a dollar in honor of her dishwasher being repaired by BG&E.

Richard Hiteshew gave a dollar in honor of the performance of the Philadelphia Eagles football team on behalf of Larry Aaronson.

Richard also gave a dollar to talk about the problem of cell phones in which emergency contacts are delayed.

Steve Arum gave $3.00 in honor of the upcoming arrival of his daughters and son-in-law next week to be present at his Thursday back surgery.  An early Thanksgiving is planned.  Good luck with the surgery, Steve!

Larry Aaronson gave $1.00 in honor of the intelligent management of the T-shirt distribution by Richard Hiteshew at Saturday’s 5-K St. Agnes Foundation race.

Tom Medicus gave $1.00 in honor of the weekend’s beach trip to Sandy Point with his wife.

Brent Tolbert-Smith gave $1.00 in appreciation to Tom Medicus for the high-quality photo print Tom made of Brent’s son Colin’s picture taken with Chuck Norris in Iraq.

Speaker:   

Tom Brewster introduced the speaker, Kathy Roberts, Director of the West Side Initiative of  the Baltimore City Development Agency in the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Baltimore City economic development agency.  She formerly was part of  the West team, which focused on the part of Baltimore City west of Martin Luther King  Blvd. downtown.

The West Side development area comprises some 100 blocks on the near west side of downtown Baltimore, bounded by Pratt Street in the south, Charles Street on the east and Martin Luther King Blvd. on the west and north. 

The West Side Initiative includes a street tax to benefit urban renewal and a market center, including urban design and land acquisition.  It includes a four-block “Super Block” with mixed uses, which include the site of Catholic Relief Services, the Atrium residential project and a Metro station.  Uses feature residential, office and retail spaces.

Ms Roberts is interested in building a neighborhood identity for the West Side area.

The Initiative includes $6.5 million in relocation expenses for businesses in areas the Initiative wishes to develop for other purposes.  Relocation is largely voluntary, with use of eminent domain a last resort.

Joe Loverde deserves kudos for his excellent and steady holding of the large development map during the presentation.

50-50 Drawing:   George Brookhart won the drawing

The meeting was closed by President George Brookhart.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe, 10-3-07

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Club Meeting October 10

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – October 10, 2007

The meeting was held at the office of Ms Ellen Hemmerly of the UMBC Research Park.

Arriving late, Brent Tolbert-Smith bestowed a general benediction as greeting.

President George Brookhart opened the meeting.

Larry Aaronson led the Devotion (hereafter to be called the Inspiration).

15 members were present, including our old friend and charter member Chris Jones (currently of North Carolina and – of course – the Dominican Republic).

Old Business/ New Business/Happy Dollars:

Pres. Brookhart dispensed with Old & New Business and Happy Dollars in favor of the program at the UMBC Research Park.

Speaker:   

Helen Hemmerly, head of the UMBC Research Park, led a power point program outlining the progress of the Research Park.  The business of the Park is economic development focused on technology and life sciences research.  The purpose of the talk was to inform the local community, especially its civic, business and political leaders, of the results of recent economic impact studies that illustrate the impact of the Research Park.

The Park has been developed in stages since its start in two temporary trailers on its site south of the main UMBC campus in 1989, now comprising two sites and numbering nearly 50 companies.

The first stage is the Incubator stage at which newly formed companies seek capital and receive advice from Park specialists, often connected to UMBC, and pay nominal rents for space in the Research Park.

The second stage is the Accelerator stage in which young companies grow and develop, paying somewhat higher rents for space and receiving less advice from consultants.

The third stage is the full-fledged Research Park stage, at which companies are on their own in conducting their business and research and pay market rates for space.

In addition to the main Research Park off UMBC Boulevard south of the UMBC campus, the Park also includes a South Campus developed around the old Martin-Marietta property south of I-195.  The two sites feature some 300,000 square feet of office space, with an additional 240,000 square feet planned.

The Park has more than 800 jobs, which will go over 900 when the new U.S. Geological Survey building opens, which is currently under construction. The work of these 900 employees in turn contributes to some 2000 more jobs in Maryland generally.  The Park generates over $100,000,000 in income and $200,000,000 in business sales.  The Park generates some $6,300,000 yearly in state and county taxes.

The Park is seeking research and technical companies that would like to have a relationship with the university, UMBC, which is seen as a symbiotic relationship for both:  The business getting advice, favorable startup conditions and access to UMBC students and faculty and the university getting a convenient source of student and faculty jobs and applied research and technology.

Private developers finance and build the buildings in the Park and lease space in the buildings, consistent with UMBC guidelines and restrictions.  172 students work for companies in the Park in some capacity, half of whom are engaged in research.

In addition to the university, the Park has advantages of its convenient proximity to both Washington and Baltimore, the I-95 highway corridor, BWI airport, low costs, free surface parking and a suburban setting favored by many.  With its many achievements to date and more construction underway, the future of the Park and its Catonsville-Arbutus environs looks bright.

50-50 Drawing:   There was no drawing because of the program.

The meeting was closed by President George Brookhart.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe, 10-10-07

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Club Meeting October 17

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – October 17, 2007

Larry Aaronson provided greetings, although most everyone was late.

President George Brookhart opened the meeting.

George Brookhart gave the Inspiration

11 members were present plus one visitor, Chris O’Farell

Old Business:

• The Catonsville Sunrise Rotary advertisement appeared in the Business Journal published in Columbia, promoting the bull roast

New Business:

• Guest bartending will take place at Dimitri’s on Thursday, October 25, from 5 to 9:00 p.m., to benefit sports for service disabled persons through Wounded Warriors.

• The monthly board meeting will occur this Friday.

 Happy Dollars:

• Bruce Vandervort gave $5 in honor of last week’s Spanish Dinner at Brent’s.  A good time was had by all and even a little (un pocco) Spanish spoken.  Bruce also honored the Ohio State Buckeyes for their #1 ranking in this week’s college football poll.

• Bruce Siddons gave dollars for Sam’s Club’s $7 million sales day, for checkout clerks who stopped the theft of a new television set and for Cindy Loverde, Joe’s wife, who won the Long Drive contest at a recent golf tournament.

• Richard Hiteshew gave dollars in honor of recent victories by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team and the Baltimore Ravens football team and for a recent dinner at the Candlelight Inn, which Richard says is getting better and better.  He warned against the Windows 2007 Office software, which requires substantial retraining, and the eye clinic at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, which Toni and he found to require an excessive wait.  Best wishes for the speedy recovery of Toni from her damaged eye.

• George Brookhart gave dollars for the successful Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet at Rolling Road Golf Club last night, which he pronounced the best yet.

  Speaker:   

Dennis David made a timely arrival to speak.  He is President of Peripheral Vision, a high technology company that sells instructional aids for the classroom, business and government.  He worked for 20 years in the financial services industry after leaving the Navy before founding his own technology marketing company.

In addition to sales to Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. David markets much of his product to the school system of Baltimore County, which has given him some $2 million in contracts in the past.

Mr. David expressed great concern at the state of secondary education as seen through Baltimore County, where he sees many unmotivated graduates who lack courtesy, good language and technical skills equivalents to those possessed by students in other countries like China and India.  He pointed out that more students in China are enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school than there are total students in the United States.

Mr. David blamed school bureaucracies for much of the problems he sees in American (and Baltimore County) secondary education (Mr. David has eight children), citing especially delays in program implementation and in lack of programs for teacher training on new devices and techniques.

In general, Mr. David declared that new technical systems – like metal detectors – were never ordered and installed without first undergoing some catastrophic event, like a school shooting. 

50-50 Drawing:   There was no drawing because of the paucity of members prior to the meeting

The meeting was closed by President George Brookhart.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe, 10-17-07

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Board Meeting October 18

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Club Meeting October 24

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – October 24, 2007

Rosemary Wright greeted all.

President George Brookhart opened the meeting.

Russ Witzke gave the Inspiration

14 members were present plus one “visitor”, Charter Guest Alan Ray.

Happy Dollars:

• Bruce Vandervort gave a dollar for Ohio State still ranking #1 in college football.

• Richard Hiteshew gave dollars for equivalent poor performances by the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies

• Richard recognized Joe Loverde’s successful fundraising dance Saturday night.

• Richard also recognized the benefit for the Baltimore County homeless community at the New Martin’s.

• Brent Tolbert-Smith gave dollars for Steve Arum’s successful neck operation and presence at the meeting, as well as for his son Josh’s success in his new law office position.

• Russ Witzke gave a dollar for the Catonsville Elementary School Bull Roast coming up on November 16.

• Susan Souder gave a dollar to the success of her father’s open-heart surgery.

• Steve Arum gave a dollar for his successful and painless neck operation.

• Joe Loverde gave dollars for his dance fundraiser, which netted $35,000 and for the redecoration of the Rice Auditorium at Spring Grove, where the upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner for the homeless will be held on November 22.

• Alan Ray gave a dollar for the safety for his daughter and her family safe after evacuation from the fires in San Diego.

• George Brookhart gave dollars to recognize the disappointment in the Baltimore Ravens’ recent performance and amazement at the energy of his granddaughter, whom he has been babysitting.

 

Monthly Club Meeting:

New Business: 

• George Brookhart discussed mock job interviews at Catonsville High School scheduled for November 15, 2007.

• George also promoted Guest Bartending Night at Dimitri’s Thursday from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.

• There was discussion about the St. Agnes-Rotary 5K Race.  St. Agnes is interested in reducing its role in the race in favor of more profitable ventures.  It has been suggested that Catonsville Sunrise Rotary take over the race.  Various issues arising from this were discussed, including the need for sponsors, the large amount of work involved, provision of food, organization of volunteers, the amount of staffing, recruitment of runners and the benefits and beneficiaries of the race, such as the Children’s Home.  A profit of $50,000 is projected as possible from the recent race, which included $37,000 in sponsorships.  Richard estimated Rotary management of the race would require the active work of at least 20 members over a five month period.  St. Agnes would participate to a smaller degree, but the Rotary club would probably need another institutional partner with person power and departments that could be organized for race teams, such as CCBC, the Community College of Baltimore County.  The hope would be to recruit at least 500 runners.  Large amounts of “front money”, money needed for expenses before the race, could be a problem.

• Bruce Vandervort spoke about organization for cleanup at the site of the Children’s Home Trail set for a Saturday morning in November.

• Steve Arum appealed for a member with a digital projector he could borrow for an upcoming presentation he will make on his recent trip to China.

• Cal Oren discussed the Dictionaries in the Schools project.  Three scheduled school distributions are staffed, but he needs volunteers for West Chester Elementary School for 9:00 A.M. one day during the week of November 5 through 9.  Volunteers call Cal.  Members are needed following the meeting to fold brochures and label dictionaries.

• Richard Hiteshew promised a future Treasurer’s Report and gave a briefing on the state of progress for this year’s Bull Roast.  He said 29 Silent Auction Items were already committed, with a collective value of $10,500.   The hope is for 750 tickets to be sold for the event.

50-50 Drawing:   Larry Aaronson won.

The meeting was closed by President George Brookhart.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe, 10-26-07

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Club Meeting October 31

ROTARY CLUB MINUTES, Catonsville Sunrise – October 31, 2007

Russ Witzke was greeter.

President George Brookhart opened the meeting.

Tom Medicus gave the Inspiration

10 members were present.

New Business: 

• Bruce Vandervort distributed an International Lane survey concerning interest of members in going to Dominican Republic.

• George Brookhart gave a progress report on the upcoming Mock Interviews scheduled at Catonsville High School.

• George also announced an upcoming District meeting scheduled at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.

• Bruce Vandervort reported on plans for the work morning scheduled for the Children’s Home on Saturday, Nov. 10 between 8 and 12:00.

Happy Dollars: 

• Brent Tolbert-Smith gave Happy Dollars in appreciation of the work of Judge Susan Souder on the bench, for the Jose Diaz novel, The Strange Brief Career of Oscar Wao, much of which is set in Bani, D.R., where Bruce and Brent visited in August and the close escape of his sister and brother-in-law who evacuated their home in Fallbrook, California last week to escape advancing wild fire flames.  Their house was spared.  Brent also fined himself a dollar for forgetting to call and pick up Steve Arum, who is still recuperating from neck surgery at home.

• Susan Souder gave a Happy Dollar for the success of her father’s open heart surgery.  Our club’s best wishes go to him as well, who is a Rotarian and frequent visitor to our club.

• Bruce Vandervort gave a dollar in honor of Ohio State’s continued ranking as #1 in the college football poll.

• George Brookhart gave a dollar for his report of a traffic accident in which he was involved with some damage to the front end of his car, but none to him.  We are also glad of these results.

• Larry Aaronson gave Happy Dollars for his daughter’s licensure as an acupuncturist and in appreciation of Judge Susan Souder.

• Richard Hiteshew gave a Happy Dollar in appreciation of his son Mark’s success in statistics, a heretofore unremarked on family talent.

Speaker:  Kevin O’Neal and Randy Monroe of the UMBC Athletic Department

Coach Randy Monroe, Head Coach of the UMBC Retrievers men’s basketball team, spoke about the basketball program.  UMBC belongs to the America East basketball league, in which they achieved a 4^th pace finish in 2007.  He described the program as good basketball in a good atmosphere, encouraging local residents to come out and see some games and support the team. Specifically he encouraged Rotarians to attend the opening game this coming Saturday night against St. Peter’s, distributing some free tickets.  The UMBC field house seats 4200 people and has the 3^rd best attendance in the America East conference.  Coach Monroe spoke about the need to continue dialogue with players to break through their “cool” demeanor to emphasize the importance of academic work and motivation.

UMBC’s Athletic Director Kevin O’Neal spoke about UMBC’s outreach program in which it invited local public school classes to come on campus for a day each year.  Hillcrest Middle School and Catonsville Elementary School have participated.  These students are on campus for “Mid-Day Madness”, which features a noon basketball exhibition by the UMBC women’s basketball team.  600 to 700 students attend the game and tour the campus.

The Athletic Department was encouraged by Rotary members to sponsor a float at the annual Catonsville 4^th of July Parade, which is one of Catonsville’s biggest annual events and could be a good publicity event for UMBC.  A problem has been that UMBC’s student government is really shut down during the summer, and so has not participated in the past.

50-50 Drawing:   Coach Monroe won.

The meeting was closed by President George Brookhart.

Submitted by Brent Tolbert-Smith, Assistant Scribe, 11-06-07

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