Newtown Lions Club

May-June 2010

Mon. May 3—Lions Red Cross Blood Drive

Wed. May 12--Regular Dinner Meeting-Trull Honan Awards Night

Sat. May 15—Flag Day/Summer Flag Presentation

Wed. May 19--Board of Directors Meeting

Wed. March 26—Regular Dinner Meeting

Sat. May 29—Great Pootatuck Duck Race—Annual Lions picnic

Thurs. June 10—Hospice Breakfast

Sat. June 12—Americares type project

Sun. June 13—Ladies Night/Awards/Installation

Sat. June 19—Orchard Hill Cleanup

 

                                                  “President’s Message”

Fellow Lions,

 

It is hard to believe but we are entering the final quarter of the Lions’ Year.  This is a time for fun outdoors and the major push on our two biggest fund raisers.  We are already in full swing selling Duck Race tickets and will then turn our attention to selling Mustang tickets.  Despite the weak economy, we hope to break all sales records.  Of course that will only happen through the full support and participation of all members.  Please do your fair share.  Sell all of the tickets that have been or will be issued to you.  You can even buy them for your kids and grandkids and hand them out as gifts.  Also, please remember our motto, “We Serve.”  Volunteer to sell raffle tickets and take the car out. 

What a quarter we just had!  Our Night at Gary’s Rib House was attended by about 50 Lions and spouses.  The food was tasty, the singer (Dean Martin II) did a great job entertaining us, and everyone enjoyed the camaraderie. At the end of the evening, I asked each table whether they would like a repeat next year.  The response was overwhelmingly positive.  Looks like we have a winning event.   We also had a very successful Lose the Litter Day and blood drive.  Many thanks to those who volunteered to help with these events. 

  A look at our project budget and schedule of service and social activities  shows that we have made  a huge impact serving Newtown and the region and had a lot of fun while we were doing it.  Let’s try to get the word out to our neighbors and friends.  Invite them to come to a meeting to meet the rest of the Club.  Let’s show them why we are so proud to be Lions. 

Lion Walt

           

  “More Actual Words from Court Testimony”

 

Attorney; How was your first marriage terminated?

Witness:  By death.

Attorney:  And by whose death was it terminated?

Witness:  Take a guess.

 

Attorney:  So the date of conception of the baby was August 8th?

Witness:  Yes.

Attorney:  And what were you doing at that time?

Witness:  Getting laid.

 

Attorney:  Can you describe the individual?

Witness:  He was about medium height and had a beard.

Attorney:  Was this a male or a female?

Witness:  Unless the circus was in town, I’m going with male.

 

Attorney:  Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?

Witness:  All of them.  The live ones put up too much of a fight.

 

Attorney:  Do you recall the time that you examined the body?

Witness:  The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.

Attorney:  And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?

Witness:  If not, he was by the time I finished.

 

 Attorney:  Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

Witness:  No.

Attorney:  Did you check for blood pressure?

Witness: No

Attorney:  Did you check for breathing?

Witness:  No

Attorney:  So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?

Witness: No.

Attorney:  How can you be sure, Doctor?

Witness:  Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

Attorney:  I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?

Witness:  Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

 

 

Doings of the Pride   

 

Dick and Margaret Kovacs spent an enjoyable week and a half  soaking up the sun down at St. Martins, the interesting island that is one half Dutch and the other half French.  They enjoyed lots of walking, touring the island and watching the airplanes land at the local airport.  . Bob and Josie Schmidt and her two sisters and their husbands took a great cruise recently.  They stopped at Aruba and then went on to the Panama Canal and went part way in going through several locks. They also walked in the rain forest in Costa Rico.  Somewhere on the trip Bob was known to kiss a dolphin.  Ask him about it. The snow birds Paul Arneth, Ken Hostetler, Jim Larin, Gordon Mounts have all returned home. . . . As you read this Lion Larin will be off again.  This time he and Nancy will be flying to Michigan and then driving to Alaska with Nancy’s brother and his wife.  They will take in many sights including Dinalli National Park.  When they reach Anchorage they will turn around and come home. . . .  Kevin Corey has been sporting a bandaged arm for some time now.  For several years he has had trouble with his elbow.  The doctor said he had a torn tendon and operated on it.  Kevin is sure he will be 100% soon.  The annual Lose the Litter Day went off well, ably chaired by Lion Ed.  About ten Lions participated and Boggs Hill Road was nice and clean afterward.  Lose the Litter was part

of a very festive Earth Day.  In just three years Earth Day has turned into a major event.  . . . Dick Kovacs, Bob Schmidt and George Arfaras and wives attended the Danbury Cultural Arts opening evening at the attractive Palace Theater.  In addition to good food and drink the Newtowners got to witness an excellent Film, “The Wrecking Crew”, which was about the backup band who backed up so many bands from the Beach Boys to Frank Sinatra to Tijuana Brass etc.  All concurred it was a great evening. 

 Real Notes Written by Parents in a Tennessee School District

My son is under a doctor’s care and should not take pe today.  Please execute him.

Plese exkuce Lisa for being absent she was sick and I had her shot.

Dear school: Please ecsx’s John being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and also 33.

Please excuse Gloria from jim today.  She is administrating.

Please excuse Roland from p.e. for a few days.  Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.

John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face.

Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football.  He was hurt in the growing part. 

                                   

Focus on Our Wives

Lee Paulson, is our wife of the month.   Lee, the proud  mother of Kate Gill, a Citi Bank trustee, and Christian Paulson, a mechanical  engineer, and doting grandmother of two grandchildren, is also happily married to Lion Chuck. Aside from being a good mother and wife, Lee has done a variety of other things such as being a tutor for an autistic boy in Westport and Darien.  Before that she spent a good bit of time as the personal aid of a blind boy in Newtown schools. Lee has many interests including St. John’s Episcopal Church, reading and gardening. But as she recently said, “aside from my family, Faith Food Pantry is the love of my life” 

If you are looking for one essential person in any organization, where would you look?   If you were thinking of the Faith Food Pantry, you would look no further than Lee Paulson, co-chairwoman of the Faith Food Pantry.  The Pantry was founded twenty-seven years ago and Lee was there at its beginning.  In the last three years it has been full time work for her.  While they have plenty of volunteers, and good help from Jim Short’s organic vegetable farm, Tony Posco’s  Andrea’s Bakery, the Lions Club, the Knights of Columbus and various other groups, Lee is the glue that keeps the whole thing together.  She said recently that the situation of poverty in Newtown has become scary.  St John’s Faith Food Pantry sees one to two new families each week. And the old families in need keep coming back.   Last Tuesday while the pantry was open from 10-12, they serviced ten families consisting of thirty-five people of all ages.  But why does she do all that, spend all that time helping others?  Generous, good hearted Lee says “I believe we are put here for a cause.  We have to pay back.”

                                               

A Lion from Cimaron, Oklahoma

            An  Oklahoma Lion passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up.  Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to “Dad.”  With the worst premonition he opened the envelope and with trembling hands read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I am writing you.  I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.  I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.  But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am.

But it’s not only the passion.  Dad, she is pregnant.  Stacy said  that we will be very happy.  She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter.  We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone.  We’ll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people who live nearby for cocaine and 

ecstacy.  In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better.  She deserves it.

Don’t worry, Dad.  I’m almost seventeen and I know how to take care of myself.

Someday I’m sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,

Your son, John

P.S.  Dad, none of the above is true.  I’m over at Tommy’s house.    I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that’s in my center desk drawer. 

I love you.  Call me when it’s safe to come home.

 

 

New Lions in the Pride

            John Truitt hails from sunny California but has lived various places in America.  A marketing professional, he is currently working for Brand Management Association out of Atlanta.  John and his wife, Vicky, and son, Stephen, a University of Virginia graduate,  just took a neat trip to Vienna, Budapest and Prague.  Spending most of the time in Prague where their daughter, Sarah, is spending a semester abroad, he said they really enjoyed walking touring this beautiful city, unbombed in WWII.  In his spare time John is in training for a mini triathlon.  Working with a trainer from New Fit, George Arafaras’s old club, he says she  is really putting him through his paces and he is aching in places he never new existed.  Good look to him.  With his marketing skills, I’m sure he’ll be a good asset to us. 

Ryan Henry is a Newtown original, graduating from Newtown High School.  He also attended Marist College and Albany Law School.  A resident of Southbury, Ryan recently became a partner in the law firm of Guendelsberger, Collins, Henry and Guendelsberger.  His wife of less than one year is  Laura, a professor of sociology at U Conn.  In his spare time Ryan likes two walk and rough house with his lab retrievers, play golf and ski.  Ryan has a soft spot in his heart for his old home town and feels it is good to get involved in civic activities.  Soon after joining he was seen peddling Duck Race tickets.  I would say the Lions got instant gratification out of Ryan.  We look forward to good years with our new lawyer friend.