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V O L U M E 2 , N U M B E R 4 1
THE
ROTARY
CLUB
OF
LAS
VEGAS
WEST
F R I D A Y , J U L Y 2 , 2 0 1 0
V O L U M E 2 , N U M B E R 4 1
W E S T E R N U N I O NThe Voice o f the Rotary Club of Las
Vegas West
New club leadership for 2010-11 Rotary year
Hi-ho SteverinoSteve Segal has as-
cended to the office he
coveted all along the
role often called the
best job in Rotary past
president. Steve handed
over the gavel Tuesday
to new president Bernie
Hunt. In Steves turn, he
received a couple of
lovely parting gifts, in-
cluding the jeweled past
presidents pin he so
wryly shows off in the
picture. You shoulda
been there. No, seri-
ously, you shoulda been
there. Attendance, once
again, was woefully
weak. Where were you?
Oh right, its summer .
Photo by KEN COX
With the onset of Rotary Year
2010-11 on July 1, the club got
new leadership as PresidentSteve Segal handed over to
hissuccessor at Tuesdays meeting.
In a sparsely attended gathering,
newly Past President Steve
handed the gavel to 2010-11
President Bernie Hunt.Bill Pierce ascends to president-
elect of the club, and FrancieSummers becomes vice
presi-dent.
Just over a third of the clubs
membership roster were on
hand. But the gathering was
graced by the presence of soon-
to-be Past Dist. Gov. TomNovotny.Tom, a charter member of
this
club, returns to the fold soon
from his duties shepherdingDis-trict 5300 for the last year.New
President Bernie, then, will
be the first president of this club
to have a past district governor
among the troops.
Couple that with his vow to have
a job for every member of the
club, and that posed a problem.
What role to assign a former
district governor?
With Toms eager agreement,
President Bernie who plans a
major yearlong crusade for mem-
bership appointed Tom to the
membership committee.
Cont inued on Page Three
Pierce SummersHunt
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Page 3V O L U M E 2 , N U M B E R 4 1
Theres an elephant in the roomat every meeting of the Las
VegasWest Rotary Club.The elephant, huge but rarely, if
ever, addressed, is the direction
and future of the club.
Next Tuesday, July 6, the firstmeeting of the new Rotary
year,
we are going to say howdy to the
elephant.
The event is the first club assem-
bly in several years. Best memo-
ries available say the last one
was held when Tom Novotny waspresident.
RI recommends that clubs should
have at least two assemblies
each year, so were a bit behind
here.
Some told me I shouldnt sched-
ule an assembly for the first
meeting of my presidential year
because it comes in the middle of
summer and wont draw much
attendance, says PresidentBernie Hunt.But I think it is
important to start
as I mean to go on.
And I want to head a club that
knows what it is, what it wants,and where it wants to go.
I understand full well that people
have plans to be out of town in
the summer, says Bernie. But I
think its pretty important for
members who are in town to at-
tend this meeting.
Rotary is, of course, a voluntary
organization. No one can man-
date that you do anything; no one
can require you to attend any
particular meeting.
We have no command perform-
ances in Rotary. But if we did
have, this might be one.
The club assembly, for those
whove never attended one and
thatd be most of us will be akind of a health checkup for
our
club.
Well take its pulse, check its
blood pressure and tap its knees
with a little hammer.
What kind of a club are we? What
kind of a club should we be?
What kind of a club do we want to
be?
Those who pay attention know
that our club went through a
sticky patch involving presidential
succession this past year.
Weve survived that well, evi-
dently. But the episode revealed
possible fissures that could have
periled the very existence of this
vital Rotary club.
Are those issues resolved? Are
the wounds healed? Do we know
who we are?
Lets find out.
Its not a command performance, but .
Cont inued f rom Page One
The membership committee, to
be chaired by Mike Sexton, playsa critical role in Bernies
leader-
ship plans for the club.
Ive pledged to Dist Gov. RogerSchulte that Las Vegas West
willgain a net increase of five new
members in my year, says the
new president.
Mark Twain once said about theweather that everyone talks
about it but no one ever doesanything about it.
Thats kind of the way member-
ship is viewed in many parts of
Rotary. We pay lip service to in-
creasing membership, but what
do we actually do about it?
President Bernie says he and
Mike and Toms membership
committee have a number of
ideas up their sleeves to spur
membership growth.
One of those ideas is a club
meeting devoted entirely to
membership retention and re-
cruitment.
That meeting is the second of
the new Rotary year. It is a joint
meeting with the Fremont RotaryClub AT the Fremont club.Speaker
is PDG Barb Risher-Welch, District 5300 membershipguru.
Other plans for the new presiden-
tial year include an increased
club focus on fellowship activi-
ties .
As new president of our club, and
a member of the district publicrelations committee, Bernie
alsohopes to spearhead the estab-
lishment of a joint PR committee
of all the clubs in the Las Vegas
Valley .
Rotary in southern Nevada has a
great story to tell, he says. But
we are not telling it very well.
Lets stop hiding our light under a
bushel.
As president-elect and vice presi-
dent respectively, Bill and Franciejoin the board of directors
for the
first time.
Past President Steve keeps his
seat as an officer of the board,;
and Ted Gurr joins continuindirectors Ken Cox and BrettGrant;
Secretary Jan Carlton; andTreasurer Tom Lott.Duncan Lee will be
senior advisor
to the club, giving PDG Tom a rest
from that role.
And Candace Lansberry, who hasexperience in ministering,
after
all, will take on the resurrected
role of Family of Rotary coordina-
tor.
Candace will note milestones in
the families of members and
make sure the club is up to speed
to mark them appropriately.
Come to the club assembly to
find out more.
New club leadership for 2010-11 Rotary year
CALENDAR NOTE: Our second meeting of the year July 13 is a joint
gathering with the Fremont Ro-tary Club AT the Fremont club.
Speaker is PDG BarbRisher-Welch, District 5300 membership guru.
