• Ithaca Youth Bureau/Rotary Youth Soccer is under way!
  More than 800 young kids are participating in the program this year and through the combined efforts of our club, the Ithaca Youth Bureau, and the Ithaca Sunrise club, all of these kids are wearing reversible jerseys with the Rotary logo on them. Stop down at Cass Park on Sundays throughout the fall to see the kids play and to see your club at work!

• Route 13 Clean-up
  The fall Highway Clean-up Day is coming up on Saturday, October 4. The crew will meet at the Tops at Triphammer at 8:30 and begin to work down Route 13 towards Stewart Park. Once again we hope to have volunteers join us from Onsite Volunteers and we will try to get the entire stretch done in one outing. Noel Desch will have sign-up sheets available next week, please come and help make our neighborhood a little nicer! There will be a second day on October 11 if necessary.

• 2003 Rotary Chicken and Rib BBQ Final Report
  Loralyn Light, the head chick, gave us the final tally on this year's chicken and ribs BBQ fundraiser. The net amount raised by this year's event was $5,575.00, the best effort ever! Congratulations to all for making this event a great success, and thanks to Loralyn and her brood for doing such a wonderful job too!
  

• Rochester Rotary's annual Eastern Cities Dinner will take place on Wednesday, November 12 in Rochester, N.Y. Rotary International President Jonathan Majiyagbe will be the keynote speaker at this wonderful event. Tickets are expected to be $50 per person. If you are interested in attending, see PJ for more information.

• "How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me," with nationally acclaimed author Susan Blauner will be featured at the 34th annual meeting of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service. If depression or suicide has touched your life, this program will be meaningful, helpful, and inspirational for you. The meeting will be held on Sunday, October 19, in the First Baptist Church at DeWitt Park, following the Jack Lewis Award at 4pm.

• An Open House to view the new Sidney Tamarin training and resource center will be held just before the annual meeting, from 3-4pm. The Center is just across the street from the church, at 124 East Court Street. For more information and registration, contact Rotarian Nancy Rosen at 272-1505.

• UN Day in New York City
  Our district is planning a group trip to United Nations Day in New York City on October 3 and 4. This will be an overnight trip and interested Rotarians should visit the district web site as soon as possible for details (www.district7170.org). Last year our district was honored at this event for our participation in the Wheelchair Project and we are looking for good attendance from our district for this year's event as well. Rotary's Polio Eradication Project works with and through the United Nations and is also an integral part of this day of celebration. Check it out!

• Notes from PJ
  Many, many thanks to Don Dickinson who, along with his wife Sylvia, hosted a dinner party at their home for the new exchange students and their host families. Don and Sylvia have been doing this for many years and the club would like to thank them for their continued generosity and support of this program and its participants. Thank you!
  
  The club recently received three very nice letters. The first was from Bob Eastman, thanking the club for electing him as an honorary member. Bob notes that his father was also an honorary member of this club and wonders if that might not be history in the making as the first father and son to be so honored. We also received a letter from former Cornell president Frank H.T. Rhodes thanking us for electing him as an honorary member as well. Finally, Gabe Golucci, this year's winner of the James L. Gibbs Memorial Scholarship wrote to us to thank us again for the award and to let us know how excited he is to be starting school this fall. He will keep in touch and let us know how he is doing from time to time.

• Editor's Note
  My apologies for the recent mix-up and resulting lack of the Rotary News. Matthew Dearing was able to clear up the problem we were having with Clarity Connect and you can thank him for getting the past month's worth of newsletters out to you. He can also give you a detailed explanation of whatever technical problem it was that prevented the newsletter from getting to you. We seem to have everything working again and hopefully we will have smooth sailing from here on out. This newsletter is published every week and I am working on stabilizing the publication day so that you will know when to expect it. However, should you not receive your newsletter prior to the next meeting, please let me know so that we can track down any technical difficulties that may have occurred as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your patience and your support. If any of you are still missing any of the issues since the end of July, please let me know and I will be happy to forward you a copy of any missing issue(s). -Dale

• New Members
  Three new members were approved by the club today: Barbara Eckstrom (Jeff True, sponsor), Neil Tarallo (Scott Russell, sponsor), and Rich Gallagher (Casey Stevens, sponsor). Congratulations to these three and we look forward to meeting them and having them join us each week.

• New Member Introduction
  John Butler introduced our newest member today, Catherine Haupert. Cathy is a Minnesota native and has been in Ithaca for the past 15 years. She works with John at the Tompkins Trust Company. Welcome to Cathy, we look forward to getting to know you!

• Paul Harris Fellow Presentation
  Janet Steiner presented Paul Harris Fellowship recognition to GeorgeSchneider today. George has contributed generously to the Rotary Foundation and, in honor of achieving a donation level of at least $1,000.00, George received the pin, medal, and certificate indicating his appointment as a Paul Harris Fellow. Named in honor of the founder of Rotary, the Paul Harris Fellow award is the Rotary Foundation's way of thanking donors to the Foundation. Their donations make it possible for the Foundation to continue on its mission of developing world peace and understanding. Programs like Group Study Exchange, Matching Grants, Ambassadorial Scholarships, and the new Rotary Peace Scholarships would not be possible were it not for the generosity and support of people around the world, people like George. Thank you and congratulations George!

• Ambassadors
  8/28: Russ Sprague (Winnipeg, Canada)
  9/5: Jim Johnston, Bill Hawley (Ithaca Sunrise)
  9/11-14: Dave Flinn, ICUFR Conference (Calgary, Canada)

• Visiting Rotarians
  Peter Brellochs, DGE (Ithaca Sunrise)
  Barry Downing (Endwell, NY)

• Our Visiting Exchange Students
  Michael Sykora (Slovakia)
  Jose Salcedo (Mexico)
  Esteban Campos (Costa Rica)

• Rob MacKenzie (host) one for the successful response to a phosgene attack during the county's recent emergency response drill, and one for a recent successful seminar on women and heart disease sponsored by Cayuga Medical Center.

• Heidi Goldstein one for the CMC seminar on women and heart disease, two for CMC and colonoscopies - they're not as bad as people make them sound, one for the 4th anniversary of son Joey and wife Erica, and one for her grandson's 4th birthday.

• Dave Flinn one for 10 great days in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where he attended the ICUFR annual meeting. He is probably also going to become president of that group next year, mostly by default. ICUFR is the International Computer Users Fellowship of Rotary.

• Janet Steiner three to advertise this year's community read - "Antigone" and to say that she has free copies available for those who would like to read along.

• Janet Steiner and Don Rakow eight from the members of the Discovery Trail to honor fellow member Warren Allmon and the new Museum of the Earth at PRI which will be opening soon!
  

• Jim Vorp one in honor of his 40th wedding anniversary.

• Joan Portzline one for Rich Spingarn who has been participating in the Young Eagles program and recently took 67 Young Eagles up for a ride in his airplane. As part of a national goal of getting 1 million kids ages 8-17 up in a small airplane, the Experimental Aircraft Association created the Young Eagles program and Chuck Yeager is spearheading the project. Rich has helped out twice now, putting 243 kids into the air. Internationally over 970,000 kids have participated so far. Thank you Rich!

• Beverly Baker one for her father who, after 50 years in business, decided he was doing it for real, and three to announce the annual Friends Day concert in Dewitt Park on Sunday the 21st.

• Mike Brown one for the Baden-Powell Council's recent decision not to sell Camp Barton even though it will mean a tremendous fundraising effort to keep the council from running in the red.

• Dale Flinn one for his wife getting her motorcycle learner's permit and signing up for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Learn to Ride course, and a special one to announce that as of Sept. 3, 2003, after 9 semesters of perfect 4.0s and a year of hard work, his wife became a fully licensed Certified Public Accountant in New York State.

"Thoughts on Being Ithaca's new Police Chief"

Victor Loo, Chief of Ithaca Police Department

Our guest speaker today was Ithaca City Police chief Victor Loo. Chief Loo comes to Ithaca after serving 20 years on the New York City Police and retiring from their as a lieutenant. Along with Senior Deputy Chief Dave Barnes and Deputy Chief Lauren Signer, he has responsibility for 74 officers in the Ithaca City Police department. Within the force, there are a number of special squads including S.W.A.T., bicycle patrol, K-9 patrol, and Traffic Unit. Most of the special units, like S.W.A.T. are volunteer units and considered extra duty on top of the officers' regular duties. The department now has only 8 computers in the field, but the chief is working on trying to improve the computational power of the force as it makes life for the officers much easier and much safer as by keeping them more informed and up to date.

Chief Loo has set a number of goals for the department and is already hard at work trying to achieve those goals. On the list - improving relations between the department and the community, improving the record-keeping and data-collection systems, improving the utilization of the data they collect, reducing and streamlining the reports that officers must complete daily, and improving office training. One effort at improving office training that is under consideration is a course Chief Loo took in Brooklyn called Verbal Judo. Verbal Judo teaches officers how to speak and act with authority and in such a way as to convince people to follow their orders without having to use physical force. Our thanks to Chief Loo for taking the time to meet with us and to tell us more about the police department and his plans for the future. It was a very informative talk and we all appreciate his time with us and his efforts.

At the end of his talk, Chief Loo was presented with a check for $3,000.00 from the Ithaca Rotary Club. President Jeff presented this check in support of the D.A.R.E. program and officers in the Ithaca City Schools. Although scaled back for the moment, Chief Loo has expressed his support for the continuation of the D.A.R.E. programs and we look forward to having it back in full operation soon. Our thanks to Chief Loo and the Ithaca Police Department for their efforts in presenting and supporting the D.A.R.E. program in our community.

• Please view the calendar posted on the main page of this website for the most up-to-date information. [View Rotary Calendar]

Program Chair: Jeff True
Kettle Watch: Ross Lynch
Greeter: Cathy Haupert
Thought: Brent Stephans
Introductions: Kelly Damm
Happy Dollars: Rob MacKenzie
Music: Siu-ling Chaloemtiarana and Jack Burns
Photography: John Ziegler
Setup: John Hays/Dave Flinn
Editor: Dale Flinn
Website: Matthew Dearing

• Please address all correspondence to the club to:
  Ithaca Rotary Club P.O. Box 306
  Ithaca, N.Y. 14851
  Attn.: Scott Russell, Secretary
  
  
• For eNewsletter comments, questions or corrections, and subscription requests please contact the Editor at bigd@starflinn.com.