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Today's Events:

President Pansy Graham presiding

We welcome all our visitors…

Past President Diana Phillips introduced

Rotarian Linda Singer of the Miami Club

Former South Miami Rotarians Dan McCrea and Terry Voche.

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We’re happy because…

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President Pansey Graham called the meeting to order then announced that the District Governor’s visit, originally scheduled for September 8^th has been rescheduled for October 13^th due to the absence of many of the Club’s leadership.

Additionally, because of the Labor Day holiday, the September meeting of both the Board of Directors and the Foundation Committee will now be on September 14^th.

Change of date!

Pansy also reminded the membership to submit makeup’s to Club Secretary Brett Trembly and that we will go back to the tradition of having a craft talk at meetings.  For new members, Pansy described the craft talks as a 3- to 5-minute overview of your classification and industry trends.

The District Conference will be held at the Hard Rock Café in Davie in November.

Pansy also announced that the club will be presenting Carrabba’s with a plaque to display as host of the South Miami Rotary Meetings.

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Football Mania – John Sorgie

The call went out to SHOW HIM THE MONEY!!! Asking all members to sell 10 booklets by September 10^th!

Pansy then called on Past President Ed Fischer to demonstrate to the Membership his method of selling Football Mania books. Ed explained that he simply asks, “How would you like to exchange a $10.00 tax deductible donation for sixtteen opportunities to win $50.00 at best or get a refund of your $10.00 at the worst?” He said the typical reaction to the question was, how does that work; which then opens the door for a more complete explanation of the specifics of Football Mania.

Support Football Mania!  Mike demonstrated to members how to find people who are normally supportive of charities and just ask for a donation to this small fundraiser by September 10^th!  $10 each offers you 17 chances to have high combined scoring teams which pays off at $50 or 17 chances to have low combined scoring teams which pays off at $10!  Past President John Sorgie reminded the membership that football season starts next week and that football Mania tickets must be turned in by next week’s meeting.

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SPEAKING OF FOOTBALL: 

Rotary District 6990 

Rotary Day at Land Shark Stadium

Miami Dolphins vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Tailgate Party $15 pp starts at 10:30 am until the game starts

Located at Dolphin’s RV lot #8

Catered by Char-Hut

Purchase online:  www.miamidolphins.com/rotaryclub.asp

Or contact Thomas Eugene at 305-626-7296 or teugene@dolphinstadium.com

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Cathy Miller:

RI Foundation:

$500 is available from club funds for matching your contribution to Rotary International’s foundation.  If you donate $50 then $100 will be sent to Rotary towards your Paul Harris Fellowship (a $1,000 goal.) Up to $150 per member will be matched.

Join in the fun and help the cause!

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1:30 p.m.

Biltmore Golf Course, Coral Gables

$25 donation

1st, 2nd & 3rd place prizes!

Contact Chris Morrison, 305-582-7690

morrisonclan@att.net

If everyone of us sells two tickets, this can raise $105,000. 

WE CAN DO THIS!! 

This fundraiser is a top priority!  We need to sell tickets to meet the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They donated  $355 million in the last two years. Of that amount $200 million is a matching grant for polio eradication.  Our district is expected to donate $300,000. 

We have raised $195,000 towards this goal to date. The balance is $105,000 yet to be raised.  If the 2,100 district’s club members can all sell just 2 tickets this year at $25 per ticket, we’d sell 4,200 tickets.

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Apply Now to be the D6990 Outbound GSE Team Leader

The deadline is rapidly approaching for Group Study Exchange Team Leader hopefuls to apply for this wonderful opportunity to lead a team of young professionals in May 2010 to District 4450 in Peru. Applications must be received prior to the October 3rd interviews. Candidates should be a mature and seasoned Rotarian with leadership experience and abilities, language proficiency and be willing and able to keep pace with the vigorous program of travel and study planned for the team members. The Team Leader will be responsible for facilitating all aspects of the exchange as well as inspiring the team with a sense of mission. To learn more about Group Study Exchange, go to: http://www.rotary.org/ RIdocuments/en_pdf/160en.pdf. Contact Joe Roth, District GSE Chair, at 954-646- 6844 or prescent0405@aol.com for more application information.

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Next show:

Saturday & Sunday, February 27 – 28, 2010

www.southmiamiartfest.com  (official site)

DID YOU MISS A MEETING ‘CAUSE YOU WERE AWAY?

Our club goal is 100% Attendance!

If you miss a meeting, it can be made-up within 2 weeks, before or after, of the missed meeting date.

For online make-ups:

Visit www.ri6990.org to find a club to make up an absence. 

Attendance credit for a 30-minute interactive club Web site activity offers an alternative to making up a meeting at another club.

To earn this credit, Rotarians log on to the site, read up on a range of subjects, post comments, & submit a form to the club secretary.

How to do a Make-Up On-Line via Rotary eClub One?

Perfect attendance is now possible for every Rotarian with computer access. Rotary’s eClub One is a full-service online charted Rotary Club. Meetings operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What an easy way to make up for a meeting that you have missed! During the last Rotary year, Rotary eClub One welcomed more than 120,000 visitors from 161 countries. Of these, about 800 per week participated in one of eClub One’s meeting programs and applied for make-up credit.

Here’s what you have to do to earn make up credit. Go to http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/eclub_list.pdf

It is mandatory that you spend at least 30 minutes on the website for qualify for a make-up credit. (Remember Rotarians are guided by the principles of the 4 Way Test).

1.  Read a variety of current articles in the programs section and/or choose articles from the Archived Programs list and/or information from the Avenues of Service pages. You will be required to answer questions. There is space on the makeup request form for up to three articles to be reviewed, however you will need to read more than three to meet your 30 minute visit obligation.

2.  At the end of your 30 minute visit, click on Make-up Request Form from the drop-down menu at the top of the page OR the bottom of each make-up program.

3.  Read the Makeup Request Form carefully, and follow instructions. The form will appear once you press the SUBMIT button (one time only) and an email copy will be sent to the email address you proved. This can be forwarded to your club secretary so your attendance records are properly updated.

Rotarians can also designate eClub One as their home club.

Members in eClub One are usually experienced Rotarians who are unable to belong to a traditional club because they reside in a remote location or they are engaged in a demanding travel schedule. Those applying for membership in eClub One must provide an endorsement from their current District Governor, current Rotary club President, along with letters of reference from two Rotarian colleagues of their current club..

eClub One has standard requirements for memberships, including charges for dues and administrative fees. Participants also must be willing to take part regularly in the Rotary eClub One community by taking on tasks and responsibilities. Members are required to also have regular access to the Internet and be willing to acquire the necessary skills to participate in the activities of Rotary eClub One.

Rotary and eClub One are on the cutting edge of the technology age. How this evolves will only be determined by periodic evaluation and the involvement of its members. For today, however, it is an outstanding tool for Rotarians to makeup missed meetings and keep in touch with Rotary happenings throughout the world.

For make-ups anywhere around the world when traveling internationally: http://rotary.org/support/clubs/index.html

NOTIFY Brett Trembly, RCSM Secretary

of ALL make-ups:   b.trembly@gmail.com

2009-10 RCSM OFFICERS:

President:  Reverend Pansy Graham
pansygraham@bellsouth.net

President Elect:  Doreen Reitnauer
dhiker217@aol.com

Vice President:  Bill Enright
yukonbill@bellsouth.net

Secretary:  Brett Trembly

b.trembly@suttonlawgroup.com

Treasurer: David Jacobs
david@jnccpas.com

Sergeant at Arms:  Fabio Fernandez 

fernandezfabio@bellsouth.net

Club Board of Directors:

Ellen Book, Ed Fischer, Roy Gonas, Linda Kaplan, Mike Mills, Diana Phillips, Don Streaker, Donna Gaines, Felipe Vidal

Club Foundation Board of Directors:

Pansy Graham, Bill Enright, Doreen Reitnauer, Brett Trembly, Don Streaker, Fabio Fernandez, Treasurer Artfest, Linda Kaplan, Diana Phillips, Ellen Book

To send an E-mail to the Rotary Club of South Miami’s Board of Directors, board@southmiamirotary.org

South Miami Rotary Club:
www.southmiamirotary.org

Rotary District 6990:

www.ri6990.org / 305-860-8060

District Governor Lee Phares & Eliju Phares District Foundation Chair

World Organization:
www.rotary.org

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Mission Statement

The mission of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

THE 4-WAY TEST OF THE THINGS WE THINK, SAY OR DO:   

Benefits of Being A Rotarian (Membership)
Rotary membership provides the opportunity to:

¨       Become connected to your community.

¨       Work with others in addressing community needs.

¨       Interact with other professionals in your community;
assist with RI's international humanitarian service efforts.

¨       Establish contacts with an international network of professionals.

¨       Develop leadership skills.  Involve family in promoting service efforts.

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Renewing or Joining
To Renew ($275) or to become a New Member ($325) contact

Asaad Massoud at www.racharters.com

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Fundraisers
Interested in putting together a fundraiser?

Contact Club Fundraising Chair Wendy Lapidus at wendylapidus@bellsouth.net

Service Projects

Interested in helping others?

Contact Club Service Chair Linda Kaplan at lk@lindakaplan.com

Past President Dan McCrea introduced today’s speaker:

Gail Serota

 Fair Districts Florida

www.fairdistrictsflorida.org

President Pansy Graham, Dan McCrea, Gail Serota

Former South Miami Rotarian Dan McCrea then introduced the guest speaker. Gail Serota, who was filing in for the originally scheduled speaker who was unable to attend. Gail, an attorney, and activists with Fair Districts Florida, spoke of two State Constitutional Amendments specifically designed to prevent gerrymandering. She informed the club that the term gerrymandering comes from the first name of onetime Massachusetts Governor – Gerry -- and the word salamander known for its ability to change appearance. Specifically, the law prevents the redistricting by incumbents and legislative majorities looking to protect their situation. Gail showed PowerPoint slides of the weird structure of several Districts. Some appeared to look like a lobster with claws, another went from Florida City to Palm Beach County; others that included agricultural communities mixed with major metropolitan areas; and she pointed out that the City of Pinecrest comprised three different Congressional Districts. One amendment will require Florida legislature to revisit the voting districts every 10-years following the federal census. The second amendment will require the legislature to follow  a specific set of standards so as to ensure the fair representation of voting districts by population and ethnic makeup. For both of these amendments to take place, there must be a petition submitted for each one. Currently, the petition language has been approved, as required, by the Florida Supreme Court. Additionally, there are 1.4 million signatures and there needs top be 1.6 million signatures on the petition, and each signature must be attested to as being that of a register Florida voter at a cost of 10 cents per signature.

Petitions for both were available at the back of the room and will also be posted below for those who missed the meeting but agree with the concept of Fair Districts. Gail also pointed out that traditionally, the wording on the ballot can sometimes be confusing, particularly when the legislature doesn’t wasn’t something passed. She pointed out that the group was going to ensure that the wording on the ballot was both clear and specific.     

To learn more about this Organization, please visit their web site at www.fairdistrictsflorida.org.

What is the purpose of redistricting?
Every ten years, after the census, the boundaries of our congressional, state house and state senate districts are redrawn. This was originally intended to be sure that districts are roughly equal in population -- to make sure that every vote counts equally. But the process has been hijacked by self-interested politicians.

Who makes the districting decisions?
The Florida Legislature. When the legislature passes a congressional or legislative redistricting plan, it's just like other legislation. All representatives and senators vote on the plan. The party that controls the legislature controls redistricting. The plan that gets the majority vote becomes the legislature's plan. No matter which party has control of the legislature, that party's main goal is to protect its majority and the seats of its incumbents. This is called partisan political gerrymandering. It is like allowing the fox to guard the henhouse!

How do they Gerrymander districts?
Florida's present system permits politicians to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. Legislators use sophisticated computers, voter registration data and past election returns to predict how particular voters will vote in the future. Then they choose which voters are most likely to vote for them and their party and place just enough of those voters in "safe" districts -- ones they are sure they can win. Those in charge also pack large numbers of unfavorable voters in into a few districts so the unfriendly voters will have a chance to win in fewer districts. Here is what has happened to Florida's Congressional districts as a result of these tactics:

Districts are bizarrely shaped. There is no effort to make sure that cities and counties are kept together in districts. That is why communities are often split among several representatives and districts often cover multiple counties and communities. This manipulation of the process damages the very spirit of a fair, democratic election. Consultant David Winston, who drew districts in the last redistricting, says, "As a mapmaker, I can have more of an impact on an election than a campaign, ... than a candidate, ... than the voters. ...Something is out of whack!" I want to help stop the unfair political gerrymandering! Another result is that there are rarely serious challenges to incumbents. After all, their districts are specially designed for them! With virtually certain seats, legislators have no incentive to be responsive to their constituents and they see no reason to compromise for the public good.

What do we need to do to stop the legislators from
drawing district lines
for their own political gain?

Legislators will continue to perpetuate their own power through political gerrymandering. So while Florida is a politically balanced state, its Congressional and legislative representation will not be! Presently Democrats and Republicans are registered to vote in Florida in roughly equal numbers with independents making up 20% of the voters. Yet one major party holds almost two-thirds of the Congressional and legislative seats. There are no independents in the Florida Legislature or in our Congressional delegation. This is because the party that controlled both houses of the legislature at the last redistricting in 2001, drew the boundaries to create "safe" "can't lose" districts. Whichever party was in charge would have done the same thing. Whichever party controls the legislature in the 2011 redistricting, the political playing field will remain unbalanced -- unless we change the rules to make it unconstitutional for them to conduct business as usual.

If you would like to support their initiatives by signing their petitions, below is a copy: