Newsletter for the meeting of May 14, 2014

President Dave Jonah led the Pledge and Kris Engstrom gave the meditation.

Dave introduced guest Ed Cafferty from Charlotte, guest speaker Robin Turnau of Vermont Public Radio and long-time member Larry Williams who stopped by for a visit.

Projects:

Michael Clapp made an appeal for more helpers (more hands less work for everyone) to build a new bridge in the Demeter Nature Trail off Greenbush Road in Charlotte on Saturday morning beginning at 8:30.

Coming events:

May 14 – Lara Keenan announced that Pierson Library will host the first post-premiere showing of a film about an autistic man’s experience of communicating after a lifetime of silence thanks to use of a computer.

May 31 – Shelburne Farmers Market open for season

June 6 – Bowlathon – get those lists of names in to Ric so the letters encouraging donations can get printed, signed and mailed. It’s an important source of income for CSR and everyone should have their friends on the mailing list.

June 26 – Changing of the Guard – at Trinity Church Community Room

Induction of a new member

Ric Flood officiated at the induction of our newest member of Charlotte Shelburne Rotary – Mark Lund. Mark introduced himself with a brief bio – grew up on Bacon Drive and went to school in Shelburne. Lived in Rochester, NY for about 20 years where he was a professional photographer and very active in his community. He returned to Shelburne and is now a member of the staff of Wind Ridge Publishing.

Ric presented Mark with a name badge and a membership pin. He also presented him with a very special Four way Test plaque – the plaque belonged to John Hancock, one of the charter members of Charlotte Shelburne Rotary, and a faithful member of the club for many years. It was his wish, when he died, to have his plaque handed on to the newest young member of the club. Ric also presented a sponsor pin to Rosalyn Graham who was Mark’s sponsor.

Update on Elaine Dates

Linda Gilbert had spent time with Elaine on Monday and reported that Elain is looking good, gaining strength and enjoyed a walk around the block. She reported that Elaine’s doctor is very positive about her recovery prospects.

Linda relayed the Dates’ appreciation for all the cards and good wishes from the club members.

Sergeant at Arms

Richard Fox collected the happy fines:

-Ric Flood – welcome to Mark and had a good meeting in New Hampshire

-Sam Fietleberg – for good health

-John Dupee – happy

-Michael Clapp – after last week’s bird report, he is sad to say he hasn’t yet seen an Indigo Bunting

-Denny Bowen – looking forward to building a bridge

-Russell Blodgett – missed meetings

-Fritz Horton – following the bird sighting stories, he told about his son Andrew looking out the window, seeing a cardinal and calling it a Red Pigeon

-George Schiavone – no bird reports

-Dennis Webster – great to see Larry Williams

-Bill Root – explaining that he is still president of the Porsche Club even though he sold his Porsche – but retained a $1 share so he could stay in the Club – and he donated trees to his grandchildren’s schools for Arbor Day

-Evan Webster – looking forward to building the bridge

-Kris Engstrom – Welcome Mark Lund – glad to have another member of Scandinavian descent

-Dave Jonah – Mark Lund welcome

-Linda Gilbert – remembering when the three Gilbert girls played with the three Lund boys on Bacon Drive

-Mark Lund – visited his old street and was interested to see the new generation of kids playing on Bacon Drive.

-Ed Cafferty -- happy to meet CSR

-Larry Williams – happy to see everyone looking good

-Howard Seaver – back from a trip to Cleveland

Lucky draw:

John Beal’s number was drawn but he chose the wrong ticket. $61 rolls over.

Guest speaker

Fritz Horton introduced Robin Turnau, President of Vermont Public Radio – a one-time member (with her then-fiancé) of his Wednesday night Races crew.

Robin began by explaining that as she can never be sure how many people in the audience are regular VPR listeners, she would begin with a basic explanation of the kind of programming, from the local news and issues-oriented programs like Vermont Edition, to the programs that come from National Public Radio who provide perhaps 80% of their programming.

Broadening their outreach, VPR’s webpage also is used by more and more people – and they are committed to continuing to make it accessible with no paywall – ever. They also have a news blog, an archive of Vermont news, and also have al legislative stream that gives listeners access to whatever is happening on the floor of the legislature. This has earned VPR a place as a “trusted independent voice” with a unique state-wide coverage, and a listenership of 200,000 of the state’s 625,000 people.

The FCC set aside bandwidth for public radio as well as schools and religious programming in 1941. In 1967 they established the public broadcasting for television and tacked on radio at the last minute. All Things Considered was the first program on NPR, a one hour daily program. Now there are 900+ stations, with 13 million listeners to their most popular programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

When Vermont applied to have a public radio station, there was skepticism at the FCC, believing that the state was too small, and was mostly populated by cows. Today it is one of the most successful public radio stations with 25 stations in the state, stations for classical music and news (the original programming) as well as their news stations. Funding is from listeners and underwriters and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with no funding from the state or universities.

The goal of VPR’s new strategic plan is to be the states most used media at a time of seismic change with endless options and choices and a plethora of information labeled as journalism. “We are challenged to make sense from the noise and provide deep, rich, compelling audio,” Turnau said. “We need to be where listeners want to consume us.”

Reported by Rosalyn Graham