President Ed Forscher welcomed all and congratulated those having birthdays and club
anniversaries in June.
We also welcomed our guests, our Optimist Little League 10-12 year olds and their families,
coaches and team Mom.
Speaker: Mark Spix
Mark is a legal advisor/agent to professional baseball players. He moved to the
South in 1976, to begin a law practice and became involved in amateur baseball.
He joined civic groups and did charity work to develop personal and
professional networks. In his charity work, he met Phil Neikro and other pro-ball players.
Phil encouraged Mark to become an agent for professional baseball because of his legal
expertise.
A turning point in his career was when he played golf with Mickey Mantle in 1991, and
had to prove himself as a golfer in order to get a photo taken with Mickey. The golf game
resulted in an introduction to owners and players in the Caribbean League (Dominican
Republic.) He found himself and his law firm collecting used equipment from US ball teams
to send to the Dominican Republic's teams. Mark said he has represented some of the best
names in pro-baseball today because of his initial involvement in civic and charity work.
The Meeting
We had 55 members and 33 guests for a total of 85!
Announcements
Bruce Hollmuller reminded us that the Jr. Golf Tournament will be held this coming Monday,
June 14th and that he still needs volunteers to oversee the 8am tee times. Eight winning
golfers will be sent to the International Championships in Florida. Go to our website for
more information.
For fifty years, children of the community have played ball with the Smyrna Little League.
Our club sponsors a team of 10-11 year olds who are champions with a winning record of
18-4. Bruce Hollmuller introduced each boy and gave their individual stats.
The team presented a very nice photo plaque to the club in appreciation of our sponsorship. Bruce read
the following letter from a team member:
Dear Optimist Club:
My name is Ben Tillman and I am 12 years old. This is going to be my last year at Brinkley Park.
This has been an awesome year and I am happy that you were our sponsor. Our team did very good this
year getting in 1st place for the season. Thank you so much for being our sponsor. They
say that your motto is, "Bringing out the Best in Kids", well, we "brought out the best in
baseball"> Thank you sincerely, Ben Tillman.
June 4, 2004 Meeting Notes
Speaker: Pat Head, Cobb County District Attorney
Pat was elected District Attorney in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, but he told us his most
valuable credential is that he knows how to pick cotton and plow a mule!
He was invited to speak about the recent high profile Lynn Turner murder case. It
was one of those "made for TV" cases of lust and greed. The case hinged around the good detective
work of a coroner and forensic scientist who determined that the deaths of both of Ms. Turner's husbands
were the result of antifreeze poisoning.
Mr. Head told us that had Ms. Turner not killed the second time, she would have committed the perfect
murder. The death of her first husband was deemed not suspicious because of his flu-like
symptoms prior to his death. These symptoms, as well as hallucinations, were caused by repeated doses
of anti-freeze put into jello, chicken soup, and Gatorade. Because of the suspicious autopsy of her
second husband, Randy Thompson, her first husband's body was exhumed, examined and determined to have
the same poison in his body as well.
Warning to Spouses!
A club member (who shall remain anonymous) asked for the Lynn Turner Jello recipe!
The Meeting
55 members and 5 guests were present.
Announcements
Steve Clair announced that the Smyrna Business Association's Business Person of the Year is
Curt Johnston.
Bruce Hollmuller reminded us that we are hosting the state junior golf championships on
Monday, June 14th. Volunteers are needed to monitor kids at the tee. Tee times begin at
8am. Please let Bruce know that you'll help. Sponsors are still needed as well.
Mike McNabb kicked off the Royal Readers summer program at the Smyrna Public Library.
Mike is the first of nine Optimists who will be guest readers at "Thursdays at the Throne",
a weekly reading hour for elementary age children. Next Thursday, Susan Pearson will be the guest reader.
