Union City Rotary Club - Weekly Bulletin & News

Today, as waste is becoming an ever growing problem all over the world and as our nation is fast becoming a re-cycling environment, and each and every family and business in our area are still getting used to the idea of recycling, Union City Rotarians will gain some professional knowledge, as we hear from Dennis Kosta who will share his expertise on the subject.

Dennis was born and raised in northern Wisconsin. He started to work for UTM in 1986 and is manager for the Custodial Services Department. Due to his background of living up north in Wisconsin and Minnesota where recycle is a way of life he was excited to join the project recycle and be a part of recycling at UTM.

Before taking the job at UTM he visited several other campuses such as Murray State, University of Memphis and Knoxville to observe their recycle programs.

He attended a seminar at Lipscomb University in Nashville the last two years on recycling and how it affects universities. Dennis is in the process of incorporating the Martin community into the recycle program.

Next week, we will once again have the honor of hearing from our military, when Major General (Retired) Gale Pollock visits Union City Rotary.

Maj. Gen. Pollock is currently the Executive Director of the Louis J. Fox Center for vision restoration, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and School of Nursing, adjunct clinical professor of Yonsei University Graduate School of Nursing, consultant with Cornerstone Associates and owner of Pollock Associates, LLC. Before her retirement, she served as the Commander US Army Medical Command and the Acting Surgeon General from March 20, 2007 - December 13, 2007 (the first woman, non-physician to have this role in any of the military services with a $9.7 B annual budget).

Some of her past military assignments include Acting Surgeon General and commander of the Army Medical Dept.; 22nd Chief of the Army Nurse Corps; Deputy Surgeon general for Force Management; commander.

MG Pollock received the Army Staff Identification Badge for her work at the Pentagon and earned the German Armed Forces Military Efficiency Badge "Leistungsabzeichen" in gold.

Last week, there was a crowded agenda, before our regularly scheduled program, Gary Houston introduced Johnny and Benjamin Easley to Rotary, promoting the latest activity at Masquerade Theater here in Union City. Johnny gave us some background of the play and encouraged everyone to attend if possible. He also introduced guest Sacci Doss, Director of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" now playing downtown. He then brought Benjamin up who gave us a sample of some of the music in the Play, as he did a great job of a rendition of "Close Every Door".

The program was then turned over to Dr. John Cummings, Primary Care Director for Tennessee Department of Health, West region. He spent the first part of his presentation giving us some history and responsibilities of the local Health Department, and brought us up-to-date on a major renovation of the local facility, as it has gained some major grants and monies to expand and take on some extra responsibilities for our area. He informed us of the services the local department renders, including the ongoing vaccination of our youth and health services for limited income families. Also he said the vaccination for the H1N1 influenza virus is still available at the health department.

The last few minutes of his presentation was spent on a power point presentation concerning the H1N1 virus, saying that it originated in Mexico. He also said the virus was much over played by the media, which brought much too much excitement to the American public over the issue, and he also said the vaccine was still avilabel and encouraged everyone to take it.

Dr. Cumminigs used a scale to show the ups and downs of confirmed cases of the flu over the past year, showing the largest spike to be last fall. The scale also showed a spike in deaths from this virus, with the largest spike being in week 42 of last year. He ended his presentation giving some of the symptoms and warning signs which one should watch for during the flu season.

Coming Attractions

Mar. 12 - Major General (Ret.) Gale Pollock

Mar. 18 - Ladies Night

Mar. 19 - No Meeting

Mar. 26 - Jon Cameron and daughter Allie, Sharing a St. Jude experience

April 02 - Ron Green, Boy’s & Girl’s Club

Birthdays

March 05 - Art Ross

March 07 - Hadley Malone

March 09 - David Parks

March 11 - Bob Montgomery

Anniversaries

March 05 - Johnny and Kathy Bacon

March 10 - David Critchlow, Sr. And Dianne

March 11 - Chris and Jenny Virgin

Interesting Stuff

The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

The cost of raising a medium-size dog to age 11: $16,400

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