Union City Rotary Club - Weekly Bulletin & News

Today, let’s welcome Stephen Vaden. Stephen is a member of the Class of 2000, Union City High School. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, receiving his B.A. Degree, summa cum laude, History, May 14, 2004, then on to Yale law School, receiving his J.D. June 4, 2008.

He is currently, Law Clerk for The Honorable Samuel H. Mays, Jr. Of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis. Prior to his current position he was Law Clerk for the Hon. Julia Smith Gibbons of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, also in Memphis.

As an Intern he was in Nashville, researching case law and wrote bench memos concerning pending cases before the court. Stephen was also in Washington, D.C. In 2006, researching New York and Texas right of publicity case law in regard to potential lawsuit to halt publication of unflattering unauthorized biography and analyzing antitrust and constitutional law arguments advanced by small tobacco manufacturers to aid clients in successfully convincing a major tobacco company to halt its opposition to proposed legislation in Tennessee.

Stephen will be discussing what he has learned, both at Yale Law and in the federal courts, about the intersection of law and chance - and whether that is a good thing.

His interests include traveling, hunting and current events.

Next week, we host a Study Team from Rotary District 2010 in Turkey. The team consists of four Ladies and one Gentleman. The team leader is Sedef Bircan, who is a tutor and teacher in that country, the other team members include, Sevda Ozcan, a language instructor at the American Cultural Association Language School, Gutay Yildiran, a music lecturer at Nidge University and classical guitarist, Eda Yasa, a graduate student, and Dilek Senturk, owner and manager of an Education Center in that country.

The team is in Nashville this week, visiting the Rotary Clubs there, and have a full agenda, as they plan to visit The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute, they will also meet John Johns who is Chairman of the Guitar Department at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, they plan to visit the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt, and some of the organizations in Nashville which offer coaching for pre-college students who are planning to enroll in some college or university.

It is always interesting to have Rotarians from around the world visit and share their culture and experiences.

Last week, Rotarian’s got a first hand look at some of the most beautiful scenery this country has to offer, as Dr. Robert Clendenin shared some of the beauty he has captured on film and electronically while enjoying some of his outdoor activities.

Dr. Clendenin is an avid Duck Hunter and Fisherman and spends much of his time especially after retirement, on Reelfoot Lake, and the lake is the subject which Dr. Clendenin has spent some 40 years photographing and studying while enjoying the outdoor activities the lake has to offer.

He used a slide show backdrop presentation to display some of the scenery captured over the years, along with the slides Dr. Clendenin shared some very interesting history on several parts of the lake.

The first place he let us visit was Bee Tree Slough, adjacent to Big starve Pond, then it was Big Ronalson Slough which is next to Crane Town, which he said had a lot of it’s own history, having been a place where the birds of that area were studied at great length during the 1930’s. This is also a place which was used as background for the award winng movie "Raintree County". Champey Pocket was the next place we visited, along with the picture of that area, we had some more interesting history, as to how that name came about.

From there we viewed some of the birds and waterfowl which use the lake, first on the list was the Water Turkey, which was once almost extinct, but has made a comeback and is now considered by some, a pest to the area. The Bald Eagle was the next slide, sharing some of the history of the eagle, and it’s comeback from near extinction. The Egrets and Herons took up several slides, with some interesting facts and habits concerning these birds. Osprey have also made a comeback according to Robert, and he said this is one of his favorite birds to photograph and study.

From here we visited more interesting places, one of them being the Starve Pond area, receiving more interesting history of that area and how it got it’s name. On to Katy’s Goard, Horse Island Ditch, Grassy Bend, Spillway area, Black Jack Hollow, Allen Basin, Grassy Island, the Observation Tower in that area, and many more beautiful areas of the lake.

Coming Attractions

April 23 - Group Study Team, Turkey

April 30 - Randy Phillips

May 07 - Bill Way

May 14 - Rotary Scholarship Day

May 21 - Mary Marbry, West Tennessee Tourism

Birthdays

April 19 - Randy Barnes

April 20 - Clay Woods

April 21 - Ken Ussery

April 22 - Chris Virgin

Anniversaries

April 22 - Bo and Judy Faulkner

April 22 - Kevin and Stacey Herrell

Rotary News from Haiti

Rotarian’s in Haiti are laying the groundwork for the next phase of the recovery process: sustainable restoration projects that will enable long-term rehabilitation to begin.

The Haiti Earth Quake Relief fund, a donor advised fund set up the the rotary foundation, has raised US $1.3 million to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

The 17 Rotary clubs in Haiti are developing a plan to restore at least one school back to operating capacity with desks, books, supplies, and other necessities. Schools are a priority because in addition to educating children, they provide at least one meal a day and help keep the students occupied and out of tent cities.

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