The Westerner for July 6, 2009

Announcements:

• Jerome Martin first welcomed Ben to the lecturn at his first official meeting as our 09-10 Club President.  He then gave the last call for tickets to the Wednesday evening roast for Alan MacLean at the Faculty Club.  Approximately 75 Rotarians and friends are expected to attend that function.
• Our Al Hamilton & Friends Golf Tournament is officially sold out for golfers, but there are still some opportunities for those who wish to attend as a volunteer.  So if you want to work for your breakfast or dinner on July 30th, call Brian Thompson, or register on the website where you can select the task and time that suits your interests and constraints.  President Ben thanked the committee of John Blimke, Wayne Ellis, Brian Thompson and Laurie Wilkie.
• Rotary Theme Pins for the new Rotary Year are available for anyone who wants one.
• Finemaster for the day was Past President Al Sanderson, who promptly fined all those who were not at the Change-over meeting, who were talking while he was talking, Richard Wallace for being too good as a Treasurer, Bill Buckham for appearing in too many of the slide show photos, Ben Doz for forgetting that Al was still on the Board of Directors, and Dan Graham for being too wise.  Then, to be FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED, everyone else!
• Happy Bucks from Doug MacDougal for shooting an 82 last week, Mike for being on vacation, Ben for having lost his "daughter".
• Send your Club Member Dues cheques to Richard Wallace before the end of July please.
• If you have a Westerner Advertisement, or wish to have one, please send your $100.00 renewal (or new) subscription to Richard Wallace.  We publish over 40 times a year, plus you are visible on the website, so this is good exposure.  You can also place a link to your own company website, and we keep a count of how many people actually do that.  Spotted Cow Press has 393 hits, Driving Force has 359 hits, Jasper Avenue Dental has 354 hits, Optometrist's Clinic has 306 hits and mSmart Web Hosting has 257 hits.  Send your graphics to Brian Thompson or let him know what you want in your advert.  This revenue offsets the cost of our subscription to ClubRunner, so more advertisers will allow us to keep our membership fees in line.
• Jim Spalding (fined $2 for this!) has an old Audi for sale, because he bought a new winter car.
• Mike Ryan reported on the June 27th playground demolition, plus he showed slides of the team at work.  Ten members of our club helped with that project.  Mike is looking into the purchase of a wireless microphone system to enhance our speakers presentations.  We are aware that several of our members have trouble hearing when our speakers don't properly use the fixed microphone.  The Board of Directors will decide on this purchase in the $400 to $800 range.
• Our next Casino will be in the January, February, March period of 2010.

PROGRAM - ROB DUNSEITH - CLUB ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR & CLASSIFICATION TALK

President Ben introduced Rob Dunseith, who is our new Club Administration Director, and who, although being a member of the Club since 2003, had managed to not give his Classification talk.

As Administration Director, Rob is responsible for our Speakers.  He will be assisted in this task by Doug Sollows, Lynette Esak, Jim Wolley and Sandon Cox.  This group would like the Edmonton West Club "to be the place to be, to see, and to learn".  If you have ideas for a good speaker, please contact any one of these Committee members.  They will ensure that we have a broad range of topics, including Rotary, politics, sports, arts, entertainment, environmental stewardship and member activities.  Next week our speaker will be Ross Hallett.

Rob had some PowerPoint slides to illustrate his Classification talk.  He was born and brought up in Edmonton and was schooled at Ross Shep and the University of Alberta.  He was a member of the Rotary Club of Wetaskiwin from 1998 to 2001 and then joined our Club in 2003 at the urging of former member Chris Wright.

Rob is married to Elizabeth Johnson, who is a criminal court Judge.  Rob says this makes for some very interesting dinner time conversations.  Robert has 3 children from a previous marriage, two boys and a girl, aged from 19 to 23.  Both boys are in post-secondary education and his daughter is satisfying an urge to travel.  Elizabeth has 2 daughters, aged 22 and 25.  Rob and Elizabeth are kept busy by their Golden Retriever Henry, aged 3.

Robert is a Solicitor with Duncan and Craig, LLP.  He has been practicing for 28 years in the area of Business Law including tax law, succession planning, corporate structures, family trusts, sales of businesses, etc.  When not practicing his profession, he is involved with the Whitemud Equine Learning Centre Board of Directors, the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Rotary Club of Edmonton West.

Rob and Elizabeth are both into physical fitness activities such as triathalon, hiking and cross-country skiing.  Rob showed photos from the Penticton Ironman Triathalon where they both participated along with 2000 other athletes in swimming, cycling and running a total of 225 kilometers in under 14 hours.

Rob and Elizabeth also enjoy travelling, plus Rob recently tried his hand at acting.  He was the father in a production of "Father of The Bride".  This was actually a fundraiser where they managed to get an audience of 700 and raised approximately $60,000.  Well done, Rob!

Rob was thanked for his presentation by Bruce Perry.