Friday, November 10, 2006 - Mat Wanrer Updates Rotarians on Memphis Grizzlies

Mat Warner Talks Memphis Grizzlies

    Today, Rotarians will hear from Mat Warner, Director of Ticket Sales & Service for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.
     Mat will discuss the impact the Grizzlies have had in the Memphis community, the club’s involvement in charitable and children programs, group sales promotions, the role the FedEx Forum has played in the revitalization of downtown Memphis, and much more surrounding the Grizzlies’ existence in Memphis.
     Owner Michael Heisley purchased the Grizzlies in April 2000 from John McCaw, but after six years as owner, has decided to sell his majority ownership to former NBA player Brian Davis. Jerry West serves as President of Basketball Operations while Mike Fratello is Head Coach.
     Key players this year include Mike Miller, Hakim Warrick, Eddie Jones, Damon Stoudamire, Jake Tsakalidis, Lawrence Roberts, Dahntay Jones, Chucky Atkins and Rudy Gay. 
     Welcome Mat!

UCHS Hoops Preview with Coaches Chandler & Sisco

    Next week, Rotarians will hear from Union City High School basketball coaches Jeff Chandler and Shane Sisco on the upcoming season, which begins next Wednesday when the UCHS Boys travel to Bolivar. The first “home game” of the season is Nov 21 against Obion County.
     The UCHS Boys are coming off a 30-9 season which included winning the Class-A State Championship last March. Gone from last year’s sensational team is all-time UCHS scoring king and Mr. Basketball, Marquis Weddle, as well as Xavier Robinson, Tony Mosley and Nate Coleman. Returning players are M. J. Brown, Jeremy Simpson, Andre Coby, Nik Brooks, B. J. Marshall, Pat Polk and Cameron Callicott.
     The UCHS Girls are coming off a sterling 23-8 season, setting a school record for most wins in a season. Returning players include Debrisha Robinson, Brittany Taylor, Labrica Ward, Allison McCullough and Mary Stewart.    

Wallace Milam Offers JFK Conspiracy Thoughts

    Last week, Rotarians heard from JFK Assassination expert Wallace Milam, of Dyersburg. Milam, who has studied the Kennedy assassination for more than three decades, claims to be an expert in the “medical evidence” aspects of the 1963 assassination in Dallas.
     “I was in my first year of teaching at McKenzie High School on November 22, 1963,” Milam said. “When the first reports came in on the radio about the shooting, we all went to the gymnasium and watched news reports from Dallas on three TV sets set up on the stage. I never realized that I would later become friends with Marina Oswald (the assassin’s wife) and key witnesses to the shooting, such as Jean Hill.”
     Milam said his father, who had all of a fourth-grade education, called the event “a conspiracy” on the afternoon it occurred.
     “He was right for the all the wrong reasons,” Milam said.
     Milam detailed how he purchased the Warren Commission Report in early 1964 and soon became a disbeliever of the government’s official version of what happened.
     After his first visit to Dealey Plaza in 1968, Milam began to accumulate photographs, statements, and other forms of evidence surrounding the Kennedy murder and soon launched out on a college speaking circuit. By this time, there were many books on the market questioning the Warren Report’s findings that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of JFK.
     “All of the evidence in Dallas showed that the bullets were fired from the front—not the rear,” Milam stated. “However, all of the evidence at Bethesda—where the official autopsy was performed, showed the bullets were fired from behind. What changed was the body!”
     Milam went on to assist Oliver Stone in the making of his controversial movie JFK and continues to seek “the truth” to the case today. He said 90 percent of all Americans believe in some type of conspiracy theory concerning Kennedy’s death.
     Milam’s own view is that the CIA was unquestionably involved in JFK’s murder and that Oswald was nothing more than a “patsy.”
He said new information has been released detailing a plot by Kennedy and his brother, Bobby Kennedy, to invade Cuba on Dec 1, 1963, to overthrow Fidel Castro—but that he was murdered days prior to the “C-Day” attack on Castro, with members of the Mafia involved with his murder.

Coming Attractions

11/17    UCHS Basketball Preview from Coaches Jeff Chandler & Shane Sisco
11/24    No Meeting—Thanksgiving
12/1      State Senator Roy Herron
12/8      Union City Elementary School Singers under direction of Linda Harrelson
12/15    Tour at new OCCHS in Troy
12/22    No Meeting—Christmas
12/29    No Meeting—New Years’s
1/5        David Bayer—Chaplain at Graceland

Happy Birthdays

11/13   Mark Ward
11/15   David Critchlow, Sr.

Happy Anniversaries

11/14   Lee and Connie Fry
11/14   Bill and Robbie Koupa

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