Programs

TODAY

Club Assembly

June 12 – Maggie & John Gilson, Business Move

June 19 – Budget Review 2008-2009

June 26 – Seitz Building, Jeremy Gorelick

Suggestions for future programs are always welcome. Please forward your ideas to Toni at tonicurt27@aol.com.

News & Notes

NY A.G.’s Office: Register our club or Toni’s up the River

Marion’s big brother and member of the NYS Attorney General’s office, Chris Wiles, has no shortage of work at his state job. A constant flow of citizen complaints and court cases keeps Chris and the other 21 lawyers in the Syracuse branch of the State’s AG’s office quite busy.

Chris clarified that the Attorney General’s Office is not primarily a prosecutor. It usually defers prosecution to local and U.S. attorneys. Only about 4 or 5 of their lawyers work on criminal cases such as Medicaid fraud, drug enforcement and public official integrity investigations. Instead, the majority of their office’s work is in defense of claims against the state (and state employees) and handling other suits by the public.

The State Attorney General’s office is often involved in “high profile” consumer advocacy causes. Recent exposures include the college student loan scandal, nursing home shutdowns and fraudulent home contractors.

Chris has been with the Attorney General’s office since 2001 and his specific job deals with charity complaints. NY has more stringent charity laws, compared to other states, which helps deter some scammers.

The Attorney General’s Web site www.oag.state.ny.us provides lots of helpful information for charities and not-for-profit groups such as Rotary Bylaws. Our club is required to file with the state as a non-profit group and apparently it is easy to register on the Web site. This simple registration is not the same as applying for 501(c)(3) status with the IRS.

Chris also sits on the committee to clean up Onondaga Lake. This is an important task that has been ongoing for 15 years – making slow and steady progress. The committee is comprised of many entities, each with its own scientists and lawyers, so negotiations can be complex.

Chris feels, however, that his most fulfilling professional work is his Pro Bono work. The AG’s office, in conjunction with the Corporation Council’s office, provides pro bono legal services for local citizens at the Southwest Community Center on a regular basis.

Lastly, and closer to home, Chris was also instrumental in ensuring that Mabel Reynolds’s will was carried out and that her 100+ acre property deeded to the town of Skaneateles with its use to be restricted in accordance with her wishes, an outcome that town residents will appreciate for years to come.

– John Rooney

Rotary Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast: A brief history

The first Skaneateles Rotary Club (SRC) pancake breakfast was held in 1968 under the presidency of Jim Messenger, who at that time was the manager of the Skaneateles Airport. The breakfast, held in the hanger, featured a fly-in and in addition to the local crowd some 80 to 100 planes from around the East would come and go.

In 1977 the breakfast was moved to the larger Austin Park Pavilion. In these early years the Rotary Club owned virtually none of the equipment needed to put on the breakfast so that everything from tables and chairs to grilles, mixers and pot/pans were borrowed from almost every organization in the town, e.g., Churches, Grange, Masons, Firehouse, etc. There are apparently lots of tall tales that can be told about getting this equipment to and from the breakfast including the 300-lb. cast-iron mixer from the Skaneateles Bakery that ended up on a Rotarian’s foot.

In those early days when penny pinching was more the norm for a fund raiser like the breakfast, the plastic “disposable” utensils used were recycled year to year after a thorough dishwasher scouring up at the Cedar House Restaurant. The “gorgeous” flower arrangements came from many a local garden including euonymus from the wall of the Methodist Church and the walls of the bank courtesy of By Lee. Back then, there was even a tall tale of liquid refreshment from the back room being included in the secret Rotary formula for our pancakes. In fact, they were for a time known as beer batter pancakes.

Today our Father’s Day event has become something extraordinary and a highlight of the spring in Skaneateles and the surrounding communities.

Did you know? That the Rotary Club expects to serve between 3,600 and 4,000 hungry breakfast eaters? That at the peak mid-morning time period the Rotary Club serves about 900 people per hour which equates to about one person served every 4 seconds? That the Rotary Club typically serves more than 10,000 pancakes, 10,500 eggs, 600 pounds of sausage and about 225 gallons of orange juice? That the net proceeds has been between $9,000 and $10,500 depending on the weather? That all of the funds go back into the community to support many service and youth projects.

Club Business &

Dates to Remember

Call to Order; Pledge of Allegiance & Invocation

lIntroduction of Guests/Visitarians

lHappy Dollars & Fines

District Major Events

June 6 – Literacy Golf Tournament, Lakeview Country Club, Auburn

June 23 – District Changing of the Guard with Rotary International President Wilf Wilkerson.

Old Business

Committee Reports

lClub Administration

President – Marion Krauter

Treasurer – Toni Feldmann

Secretary – John Rooney

l Service Projects

Food Pantry – Daryle Pickering

Sea Scouts – John Paddock

Programs – Toni Feldmann

Early Act – Tom Seeley

Fire Equipment – Chris Bruna

Service Committee – John Rooney

lWinterfest & Craft Fair – Paddock/Krauter

lMembership (& Retention) – All

lSocial Chair – Paul Torrisi

lSergeant at Arms – Daryle Pickering

Program

Club Assembly

Evening Club Programs

TODAY –Chuck O’Neil’s Classification Talk; Lee Bennett & Youth Exchange Students; Chuck O’Neil’s Classification Talk

June 12 – Pancake Breakfast Organizational Meeting

Officers & Directors

Officers

President – Marion Krauter

President-Elect – Tom Seeley

Past President – Daryle Pickering

Treasurer – Toni Feldman

Sergeant-at-Arms – Daryle Pickering

Secretary – John Rooney

Committee Chairs

Club Service – John Rooney

Food Pantry – Daryle Pickering

Membership – Daryle Pickering

Program Chair – Toni Feldman

Rotary Foundation – John Paddock

Social Chair – Paul Torrisi

Youth Exchange/RYLA – John Paddock

Members

Sidney Beckwith, Christopher Bruna, Dave Cutten, Robert DeWetter, Toni Feldmann, Paul Frickey, Maggie Gilson (visitor), Douglas Hill, Marion Krauter, Michael Krebs, John Paddock, Daryle Pickering, John Rooney, Thomas Seeley, Patrick Taylor, Paul Torrisi, Michael Wahlrab, Rhett Weiss

Exchange Students

Sarah Bierbaum (Germany), Lucas Grob (Switzerland), Eddy Tasia (Belgium), Nico Avalle (Argentina)

TRY OUR ROTARY WEBSITES

Our District Website: http://www.rotary7150.org/

Rotary International: http://www.rotary.org/

RYLA http://www.rotaryryla.com/

Skaneateles Rotary: http://www.skaneatelesrotary.org/

e-club http://www.rotaryeclubny1.com

SUNRISE EDITORS

Thomas W. Seeley 685-2311 Fax: 685-2460 tws@mlsattorneys.com

The Sunrise

Newsletter of the Skaneateles Sunrise Rotary Club

District 7150

Bulletin #2008-21 Date: June 5, 2008

News & Notes

TRY OUR ROTARY WEBSITES

SUNRISE EDITORS