The Balance Wheel Issue No. 15 August 2004

Photographers Extraordinaire: Linda Sweeney & PP Fred Ley
Newsletter Designated Editor: KC Manuel

For Immediate Release From The Board of Directors:

Because the Joint Raffle with our North Adams counterparts has been cancelled, BoD is asking

All Members to return unused tickets immediately. Members who have sold tickets, please reimburse the purchasers and recover the tickets.

Shifting gears, our annual fund-raising success, the Art Auction, has been secured for Friday, March 4, 2005, beginning at 7 p.m.

Another dose of good news: in celebrating 100 years of civic service through Rotary, our Club

will be led by Immediate PP Rich who is Chair of our Centennial Project Committee. (See below)

Hosting CDE students for Thanksgiving Dinner is tentatively scheduled for the evening of

November 16. Confirmation pending.

Linda has volunteered a pictorial display of archived Rotary memorabilia for The Milne Public Library which will be displayed subject to MP L Trustee approval.

PP Fred will Chair 'A Rotary Minute' given at each Tuesday meeting. Commemorating Rotary's founding in 1905, he will present 'Rotary Special Minutes' at the February 22, 2005, meeting. (below)

Please replace last month's Committee Assignments with the revised Avenues of Service; Community, Club, International and Vocational, as follows:

Centennial Committee Chair

Annual Art Auction Presenters: John, Dave, Brian, absent from photo: Dean

"Oh! It is excellent to have a giant's strength…" Measure for Measure, II.ii.107
Giving their best as the Art Auction's heavy lifters, John, Dave & Dean will have Bill and Win joining them on Rich's Centennial Committee. Would additional volunteers please notify Rich?

Another commemorative program in celebration of Rotary's Centennial will be chaired by Fred.
Titled the ' Rotary Minute a Week', this program's format described by Fred is as follows:

A volunteer list will be at the badge box. Please sign up. You can supply your own material or Fred will try to have 3 x 5 cards with something to read or summarize available to the Rotary Minute volunteer. Of course, the Sergeant at Arms may draft volunteers . . . . .
Be alert for information. Let’s make this moment each week memorable.

Excerpted from www.rotary@taranto.com on the subject of What constitutes a 'make-up'?
"If you have to say - "I guess we have met long enough for a make-up" or "Do we have
enough people here to call it a make-up" - why bother to meet at all?

I believe it is the intent not the duration or the place; it is the service, understanding and
fellowship gained, not keeping your 100% record intact. A true Rotarian in their own heart
knows if they "made-up" and the COL won't ever know the answer to that question…."

Incidentally, in the monthly attendance report of club meetings submitted to the District
Governor for July, our Williamstown Club will rank in the 36th percentile for attendance

Fred shares with us an excerpt he has edited from http://www.historynewsletter.org,
that discusses Rotary’s Involvement in the Formation of the UN and UNESCO.

" The tragic impact of two World Wars within the fifty-year life-span of
Rotary has directed the thoughts of many leaders toward the age-old problem of
discovering some method by which international questions might be settled without resort
to bloodshed. Symptomatic of this interest was the Rotary conference called in London early
in 1942, which succeeded in assembling ministers of education and observers of twenty-one
governments - many of whom were then in exile in London-for the purpose of considering the
organization of a vast educational and cultural exchange after the conclusion of the war. Later,
in that same year, the same group began laying plans for UNESCO.

At the organization conference of the United Nations held in San Francisco in 1945,
the United States delegation invited Rotary International to appoint consultants. Eleven
prominent Rotarians served in this capacity with resulting influence on the humane aspects
of the Charter. In particular, Article 71 of the United Nations Charter attests this influence.

Subsequently, Rotary International was granted consultative status, and
through the years prominent Rotarians have served as observers at various important
meetings. The right to make proposals has not been exercised since Rotary International
cannot claim to know the opinions of all Rotarians generally on particular questions. The main
role, which has been exercised with great effectiveness, has been in the wide dissemination
of information about the United Nations. Arthur "Art" McCullough, Past President
Escondido (CA) Sunrise Rotary Club "

August Speaker Chairs, Maureen & Danielle

President Steven reminds Monthly Speaker Chairs of the following updates/changes:

September 14, 2004:
-- DG Richard H. Seidman will visit.

October 19, 2004:
- Pure Water speakers from out of state will speak at a meeting that may be combined
with our fellow NA Rotarians.
Would October Chairs please touch base with Steven for confirmation.

November 9, 2004:
- A combined Area 1 meeting of clubs in Pittsfield is tentative. Would November Chairs
please confirm with Steven before scheduling.

A special thank you to Dr. Bill who tolerated with a smile the many reschedulings
we abruptly requested. It seems to me that this communication breakdown
qualifies him for a courtesy make-up. - What is your opinion?

Best. - KC