Recognitions were delivered by Your Humble Reporter (Y.H.R.) doing double duty today, in penance, no doubt, for having missed too many meetings. At first it seemed there was little to recognize beyond the week’s birthdays and anniversaries, but Y.H.R. was saved by a couple of bold volunteers.

Father Confessor Ken Kaisch, Ph.D., announced that he had finally made the cover of Business Week Magazine, and held it up for all to see. Sure enough, there was his smiling countenance complete with the bright red clown nose he had worn to the meeting a couple of weeks ago on his birthday. That was deemed worth at least five hundred bucks, payable in ten weekly installments plus “vig.” (This man needs help!)

Allan Bridgford and his wife, Janet, celebrated an Anniversary on September 8, but he was not present to be publicly congratulated. Julianne Haynes also had a birthday on that date but was also unavailable for a public recognition.

Another anniversary was celebrated on September 9 by Leroy and Jean Fulton. When asked, about “which” anniversary, he noted that his wife was “very young” when they married 56 years ago. They celebrated by dining at an elegant seafood emporium “on the water” in San Diego. The customary dollar-per-year levy was cut in half for in honor of the relationship’s longevity.

Recognitions (continued)

Jim Williams was absent from today’s festivities; no doubt helping his wife, Sally, celebrate her birthday which rolled ‘round on Monday. Art Levine was also MIA and could not be recognized for his birthday on Tuesday. Neither Chuck Munson nor his brother (who had been our scheduled speaker today) could be found, so we could not report on the festivities surrounding Jolene’s birthday on Tuesday.

 Fred Johnson, however, was present to answer for his and Jan’s 25th anniversary. When asked what the 25th represented he said it was “a record.” He was allowed to donate $45 in honor of his collection of 45 RPM records.

Just as Y.H.R. was about to throw in the towel, Kathy Allred volunteered that she had celebrated her upcoming birthday (Monday the 17th) by going skydiving. It was her first time, she said, but not her last. She likened stepping out into the void to a “spiritual” experience. (For some it could be the first step on the way to heaven.) She offered a dollar-per-year donation.

My apologies to Pat Frank for failing to mention her Monday birthday.  I had listed just the events for the week from Sunday, September 9th, through Saturday, the 15th, saving Monday for next week, but for Kathy’s enthusiasm for skydiving.

President Tom challenged the visitor from Moline to name the “Quad Cities” and then confessed to being an alumnus of “The Fighting Illini” whereupon Kathy Allred’s skydiving buddy, Joe, leapt out of his chair, ran forward, and gave Prez Tom the official “college hug” to the great merriment of all. He admitted to being both a “Fighting Illini” and a “Kiwanian.” After the laughter died down, there ensued a brief discussion of college football. See: http://fightingillini.cstv.com/.

The Raffle was won by someone who didn’t find the Joker but won the $10 consolation prize.

Dr. Desai - Deaf India Project

J Richey stepped

up to the plate and supplied a pinch hitter for today’s program which struck out when the starting speaker was on the D.L. (The baseball metaphors abound because the scheduled speaker was–and presumably still is--the Official Scorer for both the Dodgers and the Angels.)

The relief speaker was fellow Rotarian from the Newport-Balboa Cub, Dr. Rajendra G. Desai, Chairman of Project Deaf India. The project began as a joint effort by the Rotary Clubs of Newport-Balboa and Mysore in India. Last year our club, under Terri Grassi’s leadership, provided some support to this organization as well.

Dr. Desai confessed to knowing nothing about baseball, having grown up in India where he played soccer and cricket.

He then narrated a PowerPoint presentation describing the extensive problem of deafness in India, which has the largest per-capita number of deaf persons in the world. Much of this is due, not to heredity or genetic deafness, but can be blamed on the prevalence of childhood diseases such as Rubella which, when it infects pregnant women, can cause congenital handicaps such as deafness, blindness, and mental retardation. There is also the problem of consanguinity, or marriage between close relatives (a practice more prevalent among the Muslim population than among Hindus). The governments of some states, such as Goa (the former Portuguese colony) are responding to these problems with mandatory vaccinations against childhood diseases, and attempts at early detection of childhood deafness by requiring hearing tests of newborns in the hospital before they are taken home. When deafness is discovered in infants, their parents are taught to begin signing to them at the earliest possible age so that their acquisition of language is not delayed. There is also a program of attempting to provide deaf children with cochlear implants so that they can begin to hear sounds, begin to speak and participate in the larger non-deaf society.

Dr. Desai came to the study of the origins, prevention, and treatment of childhood deafness because his own daughter was born deaf. Before she was born, her mother had been exposed to Rubella during the epidemic of that disease in 1964. That daughter now is grown and has earned a Master’s Degree from Gallaudet University in Washington DC, the only university created especially and exclusively for the deaf. She married a deaf man but their two children can both hear normally because the parents’ deafness was not genetic.

Dr. Desai’s leadership in this field has involved Rotary International in the work and has focused worldwide attention on the problems of deaf children in India and elsewhere throughout the world. You can learn more about Project Deaf India on line at: http://www.projectdeafindia.org/ .

President Tom closed with a tribute to Andy O’Grady his good friend in finance and sports who died in the World Trade Center on September 11th of 2001, along with most of the members of his firm.

Tom’s closing thought: “Let’s go get those guys!”