Stories

This is great news from one of the four countries that still have not eradicated polio.  This is what those dollars from the question of the week go for and it does make a difference.  I still would encourage you to donate to polio or the general Foundation fund on your BIRTHDAY; one dollar for every year on this planet would be nice.

 Rajkumar Rajgaria • Over the past year, India has made remarkable progress in driving out polio. For the first time in the country’s history, no cases of polio have been reported in nine consecutive months. (The last case was reported in 13, January 2011 in Panchla,Howrah dist West Bengal 50 KM away from Kolkata And the key ‘polio reservoir states’, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have not reported any cases of polio in more than a year.
It has been made possible by the commitment of Rotary,INPPC and our partners

The progress was apparent last year, as well. In 2010, India reported 42 polio cases, a dramatic improvement over the 741 cases in 2009. These unprecedented advancements follow years of concerted, intense and focused efforts among the Government of India, state authorities, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and Rotary International.

NUCLEAR POWER:

Lloyd began his program by giving us a little history about our local Rotary Club. When Lloyd joined Rotary we met at the Congregational Church as an evening club. Blair Rotary moved on to became a luncheon club in an effort to increase attendance. Another past Rotarian, Geoff Hall suggested to Lloyd he consider taking his place on the OPPD board when he become Judge Hall and resigned the board. Lloyd who has spent years serving the community thought it would be a good fit and so did Governor Heineman who appointed him.

Lloyd assumed after 35 years with Two Rivers State Bank he would be assigned to the financials part of the board. Soon he discovered there were many new things to learn about Nuclear Power and learn fast, Japan was hit with an earthquake and the tsunami that followed created a Nuclear incident worse than Chernobyl.

Lloyds mission now includes explaining to people how safe our Fort Calhoun power plant is. He spoke about the potential dangers-dams up stream that would raise the water level at the plant–it is projected that the OPPD would have 4 days notice to shut down the plant. The another danger is earthquake-New Madrid Fault Zone is geographically the closest large fault Zone. Terrorism was addressed and after Lloyd finished explaining how diffi-cult it is to get into the power plant as an employee it be-came obvious that would not be easy. OPPD’s goal is responsible nuclear energy generation.

Bed bugs are the current scourge of our environ-ment. Bed bugs began as cave dwellers and fed off bats. Humans became a more consistent food source and soon moved in with us. We are currently in the midst of an invasion they are coming from the east and the west coast. There is substantial infestation in Des Moines, Iowa and in Lincoln, Ne-braska. Currently two methods of extermination are in use one is to heat the home to 130 degrees for 4 hours to kill the bed bugs, the second is chemical. Des Moines, Iowa has 5 heat trucks and they can do two houses per day...they are booked three weeks in advance. Sleep tight...don’t let the bed bugs bite….and if they do call Pest Solution 365!

Blair High Ability Learner Program:

Philosophy: The Blair Community Schools recognizes the individual characteristics of the student and strives to advance to the fullest all aspects of the student's development. Screening and identification, case studies, program options, and placement are planning components of the program for the high ability learners which can aid these students in their attempt to develop their abili ties to optimum levels.


Definition: The Blair Community Schools recognizes students have opportunities at school and in the community to develop specific talents in the areas of creativity, leadership, intellectual capac-ity, visual and performing arts, and specific academic fields. At this time, the Blair Community Schools will identify learners with high ability as students who show evidence of high performance ability in intellectual and academic areas.

Idenfication Criteria and Programming: Identification criteria for the High ability Learner Program and grade level programming can be viewed at each specific building site.

CITY OF BLAIR:

Challenges facing the City of Blair begin with the disposition of Dana College. The first question is what should the City’s role with Dana College be?

Blair needs a convention center, the Danish Library and the City Library could be housed at Dana, perhaps a community theatre group could use the fine arts center. There is a potential Restaurant, and sports complex. Living quarters could be extra rooms to house convention center participants.

The current sale price is 5.9 million, it costs 60k per month to keep the grounds up and the buildings from decaying. Stay tuned for further news.

Infrastructure or the fine art of keeping the city running where no one looking has Sewer and water lines in need of repair and current projects include parts of College Drive and Front Street.

Redistricting– it appears that Washington County will be intact. Legislation appears to be moving forward that would place Washington county with Burt and Cummings counties as a new District.

Further legislation, includes Commission on Industrial relations. This is touted as a good change, it will provide established criteria and could help municipalities.

Steve Jones is acting postmaster while Diane Stevens (Blair Rotary) is on special assignment. He spoke to us about some of the issues the Post Ofice faces in the near future-start mailing more letters folks or lose some service is what it is about. Featured the Every Door Direct Mail. This is a relatively new program where you can target a mailing from as little as 200 to as large as 5,000. You can pick a group-like all of Blair and send out a mailing for .142 cents a piece. It must be a flat piece on card stock. The Post Office will pro-vide you with a list of who it will be sent to, but you only need to say something like Postal Cus-tomer and they will be sent. You can go online at the United States Postal Service for more information.

The Blair Rotary Club has been serving the Blair community since 1936. With a focus on club, community, vocational and international service, the Blair Rotary Club is part of an international organization that is respected world wide. The Blair Club is part of the Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa District (5650) and has a strong tradition of “Service above Self.” Being a part of the Rotary in Blair gives you the opportunity to give something back to local and international communities with building relationships and networking with business professionals in our community.
 

Rotarians are business professionals and community leaders from a variety of professions that meet at noon each Tuesday at Fernandos. Weekly meeting programs feature regional and local presenters, elected officials and other notable guests who speak on a wide variety of topics and issues. The club focuses service efforts on youth, education, and community enhancement.

 
Welcome to our Rotary Club!

For additional information on the Blair Rotary Club - please contact Chris Boswell
cboswell@huntel.net
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