ROTOSCOPE

Posted by Vern Anderson 
on Feb 03, 2014
 

Door: Matt Balling

Pledge: Bob Chur

Anthem: Ed Stachura

Four Way Test: Larry Read

Grace: Joe Fiorella

This week’s speaker was John Murphy, Broadcaster and “Voice of the Bills” on the Buffalo Bills Radio Network and host of The John Murphy Show on WGR radio.  He has also served as commentator for Buffalo Bisons baseball, Canisius College Golden Griffins, SUNY-University at Buffalo Bulls , and Niagara University Purple Eagles in the 1980s.

 

Murphy served as Sports Director at WBEN from 1984 to 1992 and hosted a talk show on the station until 1995. In 1989, Murphy succeeded Rick Azar as WKBW-TV's 6 PM sports anchor, joining Irv Weinstein and Tom Jolls in WNY’s most popular (at the time) newscast. Murphy was named Sports Director in 1992.  He held the position for 18-years, until September 2007. During his time at WKBW-TV, he made a cameo in the film Bruce Almighty, the only anchor to do so.

 

Murphy remained off television until his WKBW non-compete contract clause expired, after which he joined WIVB-TV in March 2008, as its Sports Director.  Murphy left WIVB in June 2012 to focus full-time on his Bills duties. He serves as the play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Bills radio network, a position held since the retirement of Van Miller following the 2003 season. Murphy is best known for his association with the Buffalo Bills. From 1984 to 1989, and again from 1994 to 2004, Murphy served as the Bills' color analyst, alongside Miller. Starting in July 2012, he has hosted The John Murphy Show, a Bills-themed talk show on WGR in Buffalo.

John Murphy is originally from Lockport and currently resides in Orchard Park. He is married to the former Orchard Park Town Supervisor (and former WKBW Consumer Affairs reporter) Mary Travers. The couple has two children.

 

Highlights of Mr. Murphy’s presentation included:

·         He thanked our Rotary Club for supporting the Family Justice Center where his wife volunteers

·         Enjoys being involved with the Bills

·         Super Bowl was the most watched TV program ever: over 111 million viewers

·         Discussed some specific changes in Bills personnel

·         Management has solidified 4 key positions

·         Other additions will be accomplished mainly through the draft

Announcements: 

New Member Induction:  At this week’s meeting we inducted a new Rotarian and Club member, Stephen L. Dyson, PhD.  Steve is a Professor in the Classics Department at SUNY at Buffalo. Steve’s sponsor is Roger Gross.

 

Gateway-Longview:   Ed S. distributed by email a copy of a Thank You letter for the Club’s participation in the Adopt-an-Angel program.

 

Alzheimer’s Association Presentation:  The Club presented a $2,000 check to the Alzheimer’s Association from the proceeds of the 2013 Golf Event.

 

Club Dues:  Invoices have been sent out by the Club’s Treasurer for the 2nd half of the Club’s dues ($100.00) for the period January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2014.  If you  have you not already done so, please see Treasurer Matt Balling to make payment.   Over 26% of your dues payment goes to cover this RI invoice. As of 01.31.14, nine (9) members have yet to pay their dues.  The Club has paid the $1100 RI dues payment based upon membership continuance, and lack of timely receipt of dues is impacting the Club’s cash-flow/finances.   We have paid the RI dues based on these nine continuing to be in the Club since they did not communicate that they no longer wanted to be a member.

 

Club Payment Options:  The Club now has the ability to take credit or debit card payments through PayPal.  At tonight’s meeting we had this payment option available as we do a pilot to evaluate this service.  The cost for use of the credit/debit card for the dinner payment was $20.54.  The additional cost of $0.54 is the actual incurred PayPal transaction cost.  Consider this a “convenience fee.”  Our goal is have this working flawlessly for the Club’s Annual Celebration event in March.  We will also be evaluating the ability to pre-sell tickets to our events via the PayPal service. 

 

Archiving Historical Data: The Board approved a Document Retention Policy at last week’s Board meeting. We need a task force to go through about six boxes of materials, catalogue them and make decisions about whether to keep the items. Looking for volunteers. Please let Ed S. know.

 

Valentines Dinner:  A Club Valentines Dinner is being planned for next Monday – February 10th here at Milos.  Cost is $25 per person. Members were asked to mark their calendars for a special dinner with a special someone to celebrate the day.  Richard W. has sent an email for sign-ups of members and their guests along with selection of entrees.

 

SLAPSHOT Event: For youths ages 15-18.   Do you have an interested candidate?  Since the SLAPSHOT event (April 25-27, 2014) is in Canada, the candidate must have either a current U.S. Passport or a NYS Enhanced Driver’s license for entry into Canada (Ancaster, Ontario) and back into the U.S.  SLAPSHOT is a  Student Leadership Award Program for Students High On Training.

 

RYLA Event: Rotary Youth Leadership Award for youths ages 19-25.  Do you have an interested candidate?  This annual event (June 8-14, 2014) is held at SUNY  Fredonia.

 

Annual Meeting:  The Club’s annual meeting is March 3, 2014.  Election to the Club’s Board of Directors is held at this meeting.  It’s time to start considering if you would like to be a Board member of your Club and be more active in the Club’s direction.   President-Elect Kathy reports that she has the Nominating Committee in place (Ed S., Mike S., Ron P. and Matt B.) to identify potential candidates for the Board.  Express to Kathy and/or the NC your interest in the Board. The positions of Treasurer and Secretary are positions of the Executive Board, which are “open.”

 

Every Rotarian – Every Year (EREY):  Wow!!!!   Did you know that for $0.27 per day, less than $2.00 per week, and $8.33 per month you can be an active participant and be recognized in Rotary International’s (RI) EREY Program?  And you can do this with a simple authorization to RI to charge a credit card account for the recurring period (month / quarter / annual ) amount you designate.  This is simple and straightforward. 

 

Your commitment provides grant funds for RI and our District 7090 for projects that are used to fund local and international service projects, scholarships, and vocational training teams.

 

Would you please seriously consider an annual commitment to the EREY program?   There is an aspirational goal of $100 per year per member. Please see the attached EREY form whereby you can make this commitment for a tax-deductible contribution (501.c.3 charity) as a recurring monthly, quarterly or annual donation using a credit card ( www.rotary.org/contribute).  You know the good that Rotary and its members accomplish; please seriously consider your participation in EREY. Our Club number is 4756, District #7090, and your individual member number can be found on the mailing label of the Rotarian magazine, an 8-digit number preceded by “#” just above your name.  Ed S. will have each member’s membership number at the Club meetings for information and ease of reference.       Thank You! 

 

Program Schedule: The January 27th issue of the Speakers’ Schedule was distributed by email to all members. We have openings for speakers.  Doug Littlewood can provide you with the current schedule and available openings.  We have quite a few openings for a speaker after January and the remainder of the year.  If you have a potential speaker, it is suggested that three (3) open dates, in order of speaker preferred priority, be confirmed with Doug Littlewood or Vern Anderson, who will confirm the specific date, and “lock” that date for your speaker.  This will eliminate any conflict with other confirmed speakers. It will also keep the Program Schedule accurate for dates where speaker dates have been reserved.  Please keep Doug and Vern updated if changes need to be made.  In our social and business lives we may know of individuals who have an interesting background, career, or story.  Ask them: “Would you share this with my Rotary Club?”

 

Future speakers: Discussions are taking place for speaking engagements with the following: Mark Thomas (Western Regional Director – NYS Parks); Maria Lehman (Peace Bridge); Brian Kulpa, Mayor-Village of Williamsville; and Dr. Barry Weinstein, Supervisor, Town of Amherst.

 

 

Annual Celebration:  The date is Saturday – March 29, 2014, 7PM-10PM at the Park Country Club.  Tickets for the event have been distributed to members who were at the 01/27/14 Club meeting.  Event Chairman Tim Henderson has both the Event tickets ($35.00 each) and the Grand Prize Raffle Drawing / Wegmans Groceries for 1-year ($35.00 per raffle ticket) available to the rest of the Club’s members.   Mark your calendars to attend this major Club event date.  As Tim would say, to “break even” on the Wegmans prize alone, we need to sell a minimum 148 tickets.  If each member sold 10 (actually 8, since the member and wife or significant other would be 2 of the 10), the Club would have net proceeds from this alone of $12,250.   This would provide approximately $7,000 for Club donations. If 15 tickets per member were sold, this would increase to $13,175.   Sponsor donations would further enhance the “donation pool.”  Wegmans and Global Wines and Spirits are two sponsors to date.

 

Meeting Attendance:  Ed S. encouraged members to start 2014 with a resolution to be in attendance at the Club’s scheduled weekly meetings on Monday evenings.

 

Ed S. noted that the Club, as a whole through the 6-month period ending December 2013, has an average meeting attendance rate of approximately 48%.   Nine (9) Club members have a meeting attendance rate of less than 50%.  That is 26% of the Club’s membership who are not participating in a Club they wanted to join.

 

Ed S. reminded us that the Club’s and RI’s requirements are attendance at a minimum level of 50% of the scheduled meetings, which can also be met by make-ups at any of the District’s 69 clubs throughout the southern Ontario-western New York area. Attendance at Club and/or event committee meetings, Board meetings, and Foundation meetings also count toward your attendance requirement.  If you do this, ensure that you receive a Make-Up post card from the Club that you visited which you will turn in to either Matt Balling or Vern Anderson.   Missing four (4) unexcused meetings in a row are the basis for RI membership termination.  A map of District 7090 (sent by Ed S. by email to all members) indicates the relative location of the various District 7090 Rotary Clubs.  If you have a Smartphone, there is a Rotary app that provides detailed information on each of the worldwide Rotary clubs, contacts, meeting location data, etc.

 

Ed S. also noted that members can make-up a meeting via the District’s new eClub (www.rotaryeclub7090.org), Rotary E-Club of SOWNY. Be sure to let Vern Anderson know of your “attendance.”

 

2014 Calendar Marks:

February 10th – Valentines Dinner; March 3rd – Club Annual Meeting & Elections;  March 29th -- Club’s Annual Celebration;  June 18th – Strawberry Festival; August – Classic Car Show; September 22nd – Annual Golf Outing.

 

District: February 20th and March 21st – PETS Training; March 31st – Registration Closes for SLAPSHOT; April 25-27th – SLAPSHOT; June 8-14th – RYLA; October 25-26 – The Buffalo Bash Event - Conference /// (See District 7090 web page for details.)

Fines: Vern Anderson, Fine Master.

  • Tony Cangialosi--$1 for showing up; $1 for no pin
  • Richard Wojtowicz--$1 for his confusion over Vern’s last name
  • Larry Read--$1 for READING the Four-Way Test
  • Kevin Flint--$1 for showing up
  • Norm Mattar--$1 for being late; $1 for not wearing name badge
  • Bob Chur--$1 for his cell phone ringing
  • $1 from all who did not know who was featured on the cover of the most recent Rotarian (answer: Kareem Abdul Jabbar)
  • Vern Anderson--$1 for forgetting to ask about Happy Dollars

Happy Dollars:

  • Lee Broad--$1 for our new outbound YE candidate
  • Roger Gross--$1 for a great speaker; $1 for our new member Steve Dyson
  • Kevin Flint--$1 for good family news
  • Larry Read--$1 for missing all the cold weather because he was in Aruba
  • Doug Littlewood--$1 for his granddaughter’s performance in a musical

We missed you this evening: 

Ron Axelrod, Mary Biddle-Widman, Mike Burns, Shirley Carnall, Vicki D’Angelo, Rashmikumar Desai, Elizabeth Ingold, Mike Prinzback, Ed Rath, Jim Rumsey, Michael Sirianno, Gary Skalyo, Mark Storch, Bill Thuman