December 2009--January 2010

 

Tues. Dec. 8--CRIS Breakfast

Sat. Dec. 12--Bell Ringing

Sun. Dec. 13--Christmas Dinner with Wives at Stony Hill 5:30

Wed. Dec. 16--Board of Directors Meeting

Mon. Jan. 11--Blood Drive

Wed. Jan. 13--Regular Dinner Meeting

Wed. Jan. 20--Board of Directors Meeting

Wed. Jan 27--Regular Dinner Meeting

 

                                                  “President’s Message”

Fellow Lions,

           

            It is hard to believe the Holiday Season is almost here.  It seems like we just started our fall meetings and now we are planning our Holiday Dinner Dance to be held December 13.  I hope all of you will be able to attend.  The Social Activities Committee has been working hard getting the best menu and entertainment for this even.

 

            Speaking of events, the Progressive Dinner was a great success.  Our wives enjoyed the opportunity to socialize together over dinner.  Many thanks to Jack Russo, the host families and the Social Activities  Committee for a job well done. Our club continues its commitment to our community through participation at Pizza and Politics and the Health Fair.  The Blood Drive will be coming up soon.  Traditionally, many of our members have donated blood.  Please make a strong push to get your neighbors and friends to join us.

 

            Our Car Committee expects to present a huge check at the Holiday Dinner Dance.  The committee members have worked tirelessly to make this a successful fund raiser.  This was our second best raffle, thanks to the many members who took the car to venues throughout the area.

 

            As I mentioned in the August newsletter, one of our goals for this Lions year is to increase our membership.  We have accepted three new Lions into our club in October and November and a couple of applications are pending.  Keep up the good work in identifying service minded people who you would like to bring in as members.  Recruiting must be ongoing in order to keep our club strong.

 

            I want to remind all members that you are welcome to come to Board of Directors meetings.  This is a great way to see the business side of your club.  The Board meets at my house at 7:15 on the third Wednesday of each month.

 

            Best wishes for the Holiday Season.

                                                                                    Lion Walt

           

                         Book Review by Lion George Arfaras

                                    Longshot by Dick Frances

 

            As a reader I found myself drawn into the sport of steeplechase racing.  The story is much more than that but jumpers serve as the basic background.  It takes place in England.  John Kendall is a would-be or hopeful author of fiction.  His agent has introduced his first manuscript to a couple of publishers, one of whom is an American.  What he’s written and published to date are instructional survival books commissioned by a travel agency for persons wanting to experience more extreme environments.

           

            Meanwhile he’s strapped for money.  A colleague has arranged accommodations for him in a relative’s home.  Being destitute he skimps every bit of cash he has.  At the worst of his financial situation he, fortunately or unfortunately, accepts an opportunity to write a biography of a person introduced to him by his literary agent.  The person is a well respected and acclaimed horse trainer of jumpers  who feels this his bio would be well received by the public.  John Kendall  is not at all confident of that being the case but John needs the money and a place to stay.  The place to stay is the trainer’s palatial home.

 

            Immediately , due to some unusual circumstances, John becomes somewhat of a hero.  He soon finds he’s appreciated and respected by several family members and friends but despised and hated by others.  In no time at all John Kendall is rather taken by the principal’s life but more so by murders surrounding him.  Kendall inadvertently comes close to discovering the murderer which results in an attempt on his own life.   

           

            The book started out rather slowly for me  but picks up soon getting into the various characters and steeplechase racing.  The more the story unfolds, the more Kendall gets into the spirit of the sport.  But who is the murderer? Does the chief inspector solve the crime or does John?  The outcome is rather predictable but I still found myself totally  engrossed by Longshot.  The author, Dick Frances, has written other novels where horse racing colors the plot.  He’s well versed in the subject mainly due to his being a retired jockey.  I would not hesitate to recommend this well written novel to anyone who enjoys mysteries.  

 

                                      “Why Athletes Can’t Have Regular Jobs”

 

            Chicago Cubs outfielder Andrea Dawson on being a role model:  “I wan’ all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me.  I wan’ all the kids to copulate me.”

 

            Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins:  “He treats us like men.  He lets us wear earrings.”

 

            Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A& M, recounting what he told a player who received four F’s and one D:  “Son, looks to me like you’re spending too much time on one subject.”

 

            Bobby Bowden, Florida Sates football coach, when asked why he didn’t invest in condos, said, ‘I am too old to use them now.”

 

            Bill Peterson, A Florida State football coach:  “You guys line up alphabetically by height.” 

 

            Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State  basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice:  “My sister’s expecting a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an uncle or an aunt.”

                             

                                                Doings of the Pride   

Chuck and Lee Paulson recently took a ten day trip to celebrate their forty-fifth anniversary.  The took Amtrack across the country, through Chicago, Minneapolis and ended in Portland.  From Portland they rented a car and drove down the scenic coastal highway to San Francisco.  They greatly enjoyed a few days in San Francisco which is where they met many moons ago.  They flew home after a very good trip. . . . President Walt and his wife recently celebrated baby Faith’s first birthday.  They were so happy that Faith has survived her first year.  Born with many heart problems, she has survived several operations and there are more in store.  But Walt feels that every day is a victory! Walt  also just recently spent a week in the Virgin Islands testifying for several days  as an expert witness. . . . In the same week  Paul Arneth was helping his friend sail his boat back to Ft. Lauderdale for the winter.  The trip took  six days and the weather was good except for one day.  Paul enjoyed the sail.  . . . Our much traveled tail twister Ed Miklaszewski and   our equally well traveled ex-president,Tom Evagash and wives recently took a cruise and their waistlines may show it!.  Two cities they enjoyed visiting were Madrid and Barcelona.  . . .Peter Bowen has retired from GE after serving well for many years.  There are three generations of GE men in Peter’s family.  Unfortunately for the Newtown Lions, he wants  to retire to North Carolina. . . .By the time you read this Jim and Nancy  Larin will have already departed for warmer climes, the first of our snow birds to go, this year for four months. . . . 

  Questions and Answers from the Days when Hollywood Squares Game Show responses were spontaneous.  Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions.   

“Q. If you’re going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you be?                        

A. Charley Weaver:  Three days of steady drinking should do it.

Q.  True or False, a pea can last as long as 5000 years. 

A. George Gobel:  Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes. 

Q.  According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he’s married?           

A.  Rose Marie:  No wait until morning.

Q. What is a good reason for pounding meat?                                                                                      

A. Paul Lynde:  Loneliness!  (The audience laughed so long and so hard it took up almost fifteen minutes of the show!)

Q.  Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?                                                            

A. Charley Weaver:  My sense of decency.

Q. In Hawaiian, does it take more than three words to say “I love you”?                                                           

A.  Vincent Price:  No, you can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.”

Q.  Charley, you’ve decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get any during the first year?                                                                                 

A.  Charley Weaver:  Of course not, I’ll be too busy growing strawberries.

Q. It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps.  One is politics, what is the other?

A.  Paul Lynde:  Tape measures.

Q.  Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls? 

A.  Marty Allen:  Only after lights out.

Q.  According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?   

A.  Charley Weaver:  It got me out of the army.

Q. It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it?                                                                 

A.  Paul Lynde:  Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn’t neglected.”

                                    Focus on Our Wives

            Tall, willowy Joan Storms takes pleasure in her life.  Wife of even taller Gary, she speaks with affection of their three sons: Chris age thirty-three, Michael age thirty-one and Daniel age twenty-nine.  The middle son is married so she hopes the stork will visit his house soon as she would like to be a grandmother.  Conveniently, they all live in New York City.    After majoring in sociology at Ithaca College, Joan took various career steps.  One of the most enjoyable jobs she had was in the real estate appraisal business.  For ten years she even owned her own company.  Despite a knee replacement, and some residual pain, Joan enjoys hiking.  A recent trip to Acadia National Park in Maine was rather too much, she reports, but it’s not stopping her.  Years ago Joan played the piano and today she is taking lessons again.  She has always enjoyed classical music.  She also has enjoyed traveling and has done a fair bit of it.  When Gary was in the army they spent some time in Germany and since then she has visited London and Rome and other places.  We welcome her into our fellowship.                               

                                                What Lions  Like

Ray Keegan:                                                                                                                                                                

 “I like to travel to places and experience things that I have never seen before.                               

 I like to spend time with the grandchildren.

I like to work in the yard and the garden after a long day at work. 

It is something I look forward to doing. I like to get up early in the morning and go through an exhilarating physical workout.”

 

Joe Young                                                                                                                                                                   

“I like shooting trap and competition pistol.                                                                                  

I like taking a piece of metal or wood or plastic out of a patient’s eye.  They’re in pain and in thirty seconds the pain is gone.  The look is pure priceless.                                                                      

I like helping a child read on her own and discover Jules Verne and Shakespeare and    Winnie the Pooh.  Most of all I like my family.  This month I will be married 27 years.  Yes!  To the same woman.  Priceless!!! 

What do I like about life? EVERYTHING!”

Bob Schmidt       

“I like being semi-retired, staying up late and sleeping late.                                                            

I like listening to live music and to “oldies but goodies” music from the 50’s to the 80’s.                

I like having fun with my grandchildren.                                                                                           

I like  good jokes and even bad jokes, too.                                                                              

 I like vacationing on a cruise.  Anywhere!  I also like to drive my boat on Lake Zoar with my family.

Kevin Corey                                                                                                                                                    

“I like bike riding and looking at the beautiful Newtown scenery.                                                    

I like four-legged pets.  I have seven cats and a loveable Jack Russell terrier.                        

I like to feed the birds and hear them scolding me when I sleep late and don’t put out the feeders!                                                                                                                                                           

I like the Mets, although I’d rather watch them on TV now than make the expensive trip to New York City.”

George Arfaras                                                                                                                                                

“I like Guinness.                                                                                                                                             

 I like kayaking and working out.                                                                                                                                                    

I like working outside.  I like reading all kinds of books.                                                                                

 I like cooking.                                                                                                                                                     

But most of all I like my time spent with my grandson.” 

Tom Evagash                                                                                                                                                   

“I like the feeling when I observe a job that I have physically accomplished.                                              

I like traveling to exotic places and viewing structures or natural formations that I have only seen in pictures.                                                                

I like the gathering of old friends who reminisce about bygone days.                                                                  

I like a beautiful day, standing at the first tee box, contemplating a drive that is nothing short of perfect.”

Ken Hostetler                                                                                                                                                              

“I like to drive with Barbara through the beautiful Connecticut countryside, going through Roxbury and Washington with Lake Warmaug as a final destination.                                                            

I like sitting on the beach in Fairfield or Madison and reading a great book.                                                                           

I like being with my grandchildren; doing almost anything with one of our grandchildren is always fun.  I feel better for several days after those visits.                                                                               

I like spending time in the yard and doing some type of gardening.   Just to be outside is key for me.”

Walt  Schweikert

“I like the smell of wood fires from chimneys on cold winter evenings                                        

 I like stopping at Denny’s for breakfast when leaving for a camping road trip with out travel trailer.                                                                                                                                                        

I like to do hands-on building projects around the house and for my kids.                                                          

I like visiting national parks around the country.”