Kansas Region and Public Affairs AAA CLUB ALLIANCE, INC.
Topic: Gettysburg and its Place in American Democracy
Disagreement now permeates American public life, with citizens telling pollsters that political conflict is becoming a significant source of stress in their personal lives. Our speaker, James Hanni, a member of the Gettysburg Foundation Board of Directors who lives in neighboring Kansas, will be here to share how Gettysburg is more than just a battlefield today, and what Gettysburg Foundation is doing to address this vexing topic of incivility and eroding civil discourse in our society. Why Gettysburg? Is there commonality between Gettysburg's lessons and the Rotary motto? During his talk, James will illustrate the practical lessons we can all learn from America's epic battle, as well as from Presidents Lincoln and Eisenhower while demonstrating what recalling history might do to help us heal our political and personal divisions today.
Bio: James R. Hanni (pronounced Hay-nee), is the retired Vice President of Public Affairs of AAA CLUB Alliance, Inc. an affiliate club of the American Automobile Association, the largest non-religious membership organization in North America, serving 57 million members in the United States and Canada. As a point of reference, his role with AAA in Kansas was similar to that of Rose White of AAA Nebraska here in Omaha, with whom you all may be familiar.
He is a Topeka native, graduate of Washburn University of Topeka, 1974 and the Prochnow (pronounced Prock-now) Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, 1983.
He has been active in the AAA federation, a member of the Kansas Governor’s Council on Travel and Tourism and served as co-chair of KDOT’s Executive Safety Council. He was awarded the 2009 Kansas DOT People Saving People Award for work on upgrading Kansas’ teen driver licensing system and in March, 2011, was presented the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Service Award for his work on passage of a primary enforcement seat belt law in Kansas. In 2017 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from KDOT and the Dr. Cooley Award for Excellence from SafeKids Kansas.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Gettysburg Foundation, where he serves as Chairman of the Board’s membership committee. He is a past campaign chairman of the Greater Topeka United Way, as well as past chairman of the American Heart Association, Kansas affiliate.
He and his partner, Vicky, live in Lawrence and he has one grown son, Brian, a sportscaster, and the “Voice of the Kansas Jayhawks.”
Last week, President Nuzhat Mahmood presided the meeting. Kim Kuhle gave the Invocation. Andy Shim served as greeter, while Gail Veitzer was Sgt. at Arms. Anne Fuhrman was Cashier, while Tara Bowne processed credit card payments. Martie Cordaro was Chair of the Day. Martie introduced the cast of Big Canvas, an Improv Comedy. The cast included our own Dwayne Brown. If you would like to test out one of their fun workshops, please click here.
Omaha West Rotary Club Secretary Report for June 8, 2018.
We had only one guest: Gail Veitzer again introduced her husband, Irv Veitzer, who joined us for the 12th time in the last 13 meetings.
We recognized our Red Badge Members.
There was plenty of good news to go around. Kari Hannan announced that she just got married! Bonnie Gill announced that her grandson got straight “A”s. Susan Thomas announced that her son and daughter-in-law had a new baby. Shonna Dorsey expressed her appreciation for Gene Klein and the Project Harmony tour from the day before. Shonna took back to Gene an Omaha World Herald article about Project Harmony that Matt found. Dick Sturgeon announced that he was caring for his 1-year-old grandchild and that the parents left a four-page instruction manual for his reference. Various club members expressed their curiosity as to what was exactly was covered in the reference manual.
Matt fined Jill Slupe for a newspaper article about the new Dewey Dog Park at Midtown Crossing that Omaha West Rotary is helping to sponsor including providing 30 trees for the park. Rich Secor was fined for a front-page World Herald article mentioning his son, Spencer Secor. Matt fined himself for the TV news report about Bitcoin that Martie Cordero said that he saw last week. Matt fined himself for a photograph of a billboard on Saddle Creek Drive that Rebecca Miller saw that asked Warren Buffett that if he admitted being wrong about Amazon, maybe he was wrong about Bitcoin. Matt warned the crowd that those not wearing their Rotary pins next week would be fined.
Matt announced that there would not be a joke. There was some applause from the club assembly at that news, but not nearly as much as Matt thought there would be. Instead, the we all played the game “Know Your Rotarian”. Matt read off some facts from a questionnaire provided to the club members some months ago. Winners could be awarded a Boy Scout Coupon card and the grand prize winner would win a DREAM t-shirt donated by our guest speaker from last week. Tara Bowne correctly identified Martie Cordero from a brief description. Gretchen Radler correctly identified both Gail Veitzer and John Morey from the descriptions Matt provided before anyone else, allowing her to walk away with the grand prize. We will play “Know Your Rotarian” again at our next meeting.
As part of Omaha West Rotary’s Little Free Libraries project, Rodge Bickerstaff used wood leftover from the redo of his back terrace. Here you see his wife holding the first library and it’s support pole before it’s delivery to Patty Talbert, Council Bluffs artist. It has been painted and installation has begun at SAC Federal Credit Union near Skinner Elementary School thanks to the efforts of Mark Manhart and Gretchen Radler. Keep your eye out for more about this project in future newsletters.
Recently, Martie Cordaro introduced our newest member Dan Lassek. Dan is a financial advisor with The Lassek & Schubert Group at Merrill Lynch in Omaha. One of his partners, Kathryn Schubert, is a past president and member of Suburban Rotary. He was born and raised in Omaha and is married to his wife, Mandy, and has 2 boys, Kaden (7) and Brooks (2) with a third boy (Hays) on the way any day now. He is active in the community holding advisory council positions with 40 Below, which is a part of the Omaha Performing Arts, and Scrubs Ambassadors, which is a part of the Children’s Hospital Foundation. He is an alumni of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He volunteers as a football coach for his oldest son’s team with Millard United. Please be sure to introduce yourself and welcome Dan when you see him at our Friday meeting.
Dan Lassek
L to R: Nuzhat Mahmood, Martie Cordaro, and Dan Lassek
Henry Doorly Zoo, June 16, Saturday 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM. Join Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium for a fun-filled African Safari and Asian Highland Themed tour. Our curator for the event will be Zookeeper, Troy Solberg. We will start at the Imax Theater, walk down to the giraffe dean, the elephant yard, ride the tram over to the Asian Highlands. We will get up close to multiple breeds of elephants, giraffes and rhinos. Join us and don't miss the fun! Questions, contact Kim (402) 639-8855. More information here and sign up here. Any questions, please contact Kim Kuhle.
American Muslim Institute (AMI) Tour, June 20, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM. More information here and sign up here.
Rotarians and friends are invited to visit the American Muslim Institute, located at 132nd and Pacific, June 20th, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm, followed by dinner in their social hall. Please dress modestly (no shorts, sleeveless blouses or skirts above the knee). Women should wear a scarf to cover their head when they go into the sanctuary. (Although, some will be provided if you forget to bring one). Sandals are permitted, but once you enter the sanctuary you will be asked to remove your shoes.
Dinner from Mediterranean Bistro: Chicken Kabob- Marinated chicken breast pieces and fresh vegetables cooked over open flame, served with basmati rice Cost $15 which includes a donation to AMI Deadline for reservations is Monday, June 18 by noon
If you do not want to stay for dinner, please come anyway and visit AMI.
In addition to online sign ups, we will have paper sign ups at our Friday meetings as the date approaches for each event. As always, you get an attendance credit when attending these events. If you are Red Badge, your attendance will also count toward Red Badge credit.
Omaha West Rotary in partnership with the City of Omaha Parks and Recreation department will roll out a campaign to raise money for trees for the new Dewey Park Dog Park in midtown. If you have a four legged friend and would to have contribute please check out the link https://redbasket.org/1649. In the fall our club may have the opportunity to plant the trees as we did last month in North Omaha if there is interest. The park will have a small dog area, large dog area, agility area, and water play feature. Please help us spread the word about the park and raise some funds for nice trees.
To find out about speakers at other Rotary Clubs in the area, you can conveniently see the list of Club websites here. Then click on the home icon to the left of the club name. The list of speakers are listed on their Homepage.
We are now offering 10 punch lunch tickets ($160) and 10 punch meeting-only tickets ($70) for sale at the meetings. Get one and don't worry about having cash or getting out your credit card! For sale at check-in.
MONDAY BELLEVUE 12:00 PM (DJ's Dugout, 10308 S. 23rd St.) NORTH 12:00 PM (Omaha Eppley Airport Conference Room) MILLARD 12:00 PM (German American Society, 3717 South 120th Street) - NO MEETING on Oct 9
TUESDAY MORNING 7:00 AM (Happy Hollow Country Club, 1701 S. 105th St.)
NORTHWEST 12:00 PM ( Effective August 15th Northwest Rotary will meet Tuesday's at noon at Jerico's, 11732 W Dodge Rd, Omaha, NE 68154.)
SOUTHWEST NIGHT 5:15 PM (DJ's Dugout at 17666 Welch Plaza, northeast corner of 180th & Q streets)
WEDNESDAY COUNCIL BLUFFS CENTENNIAL 1st Wed 7:00 AM; 3rd Wed floating event; no meeting other weeks (Hy-Vee in Mall of the Bluffs, I-80 Exit 5) DOWNTOWN 12:00 PM (Field Club, 3615 Woolworth Ave.)
THURSDAY COUNCIL BLUFFS NOON 12:00 PM (The Center, 714 S. Main St.)
SUBURBAN 12:00 PM (Anthony's, 7220 F St.)
WESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTY 7:00 AM (Elkhorn Common Ground Community Center, 1701 Veteran's Drive)
FRIDAY WEST 12:00 PM (Champions Run, 13800 Eagle Run Drive)
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