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March 2004 Meeting notes
March 26, 2004 Meeting Notes
Speaker: Ann Kirk
Essay Contest Winners
Ann Kirk presented the winners of the 2004 essay contest. The topic for this year's essay contest
was "Being the Best You Can Be." The contest judges cannot be members of the Optimist
Club. We're very fortunate to have Virginia Davis (the wife of Bruce
Hollmuller) and Sherrie Lynch (GA State President of the PTA) as judges in
this year's contest. All contestants could not be 19 years of age
after January 1 2004. The essays were not only judged by their
length but also by composition, punctuation and grammar. They had to be typed
and double-spaced. The winners received a medallion and a small check
as a reward for their efforts. Vu Le, a 14-year-old student at Griffin Middle School won first place.
As he read is composition to the membership we got an insight into the pressures
of a young man with Asian heritage to be the best he can be. The second place
winner, Melanie Pray, also of Griffin spoke of the hard
work needed for young girls of today to be the best they can be, not only as a student
but as a participant in many other activities which include track and cross-country.
Our third-place winner, Natalie Wilson of Campbell high School, was not able to attend
the meeting, however, Ann Kirk did a superb job of reading Natalie's essay
which spoke of a young lady striving to be the best she can be not only as a student but as a
person in Today's world. All of the essays were excellent.
The first-place essay by Vu Le will be forwarded to the district contest for
further competition. The results will not be known until sometime next month.
The Meeting
There were 58 members and 5 guests. Ann Kirk had to guests: Ms. Rosick, a teacher at Griffin Middle
School, and Amelia Pray, the mother of our second place winner in the Essay contest.
Steve Claire presented an award from the Smyrna Businessman's Association to
Suzanne Lynn for building and maintaining a web site for the Association on a strictly
volunteer basis. An Kirk announced that Susan Williams was named one of Cobb County's women
of achievement for 2004. She was nominated b the Cobb County YWCA.
It has come to our attention that MUST ministries of Smyrna has been struggling for some time
with hand-me-down computers that were donated by well-meaning people. However these
computers have proven to be unreliable and they are
frequently out of services. This makes it
very difficult for MUST to do the fine work that they do in our community. I am
sure that our club, with the many resources of our members, either through their own businesses
or through their acquaintances should be able to find some reliable computers for this
worthwhile organization.
Prayer Breakfast
April 9, 2004, will be the joint Prayer Breakfast hosted by Smyrna Optimist Club and
the Smyrna Kiwanis Club at the Smyrna First United Methodist Church. There
is no charge for Optimist Club members. If you would like to bring a guest, the
tickets are five dollars. See Ken Kincaid.
Vidalia Onions
George says sell onions! The orders are due in by April 30. This is a terrific fund raiser for
our club and its programs.
March 19, 2004 Meeting Notes
Speaker: Bob Neal
Steve Wilson introduced long-time Atlanta sportscaster, Bob Neal, to the club. Bob is a recent resident
of Smyrnings, moving to the Oakdale area two years ago.
Bob told us that sports have been a part of his life since he made the Little League team
as a child growing up in Chicago in the 50's. his career got its start when as a teen Bob was
asked to do the play-by-play for a local high school basketball game. He later covered the
Detroit riots as a reporter, then followed the Braves to Atlanta in the 60's working
for WQXI. he was offered a job with the Falcons, and later was hired by Ted Turner to be the voice of
the Atlanta Hawks.
Traveling to 70 NBA games a year eventually wore him out, so he established Bob Neal media,
Producing commercials and working with his wife, Sally, in voice-over coaching. Though he is
busier than ever, he tells us the change is invigorating, and he loves being a mentor
to his students.
Memorable moments in his life as a sportscaster include:
broadcasting the 1986 NBA game between Detroit and Washington, and
broadcasting the World Cup Soccer match between W. Germany and Argentina.
Announcements
See Ken Kincaid for tickets for your guests to the Easter Prayer Breakfast on April 9.
Members do not need tickets.
The Board approved funding fo the Campbell Foundation Golf Tournament
on April 19. Names will be drawn for a foursome to play.
George Davis reminded us to begin taking orders for onions. Last year the
club sold 650 bags and raised $4,000. Our fund raisers help support:
Calvary Children's Home
Oratorical and Essay contests
Scholarships
Junior Golf
Adopt-a-Mile, Adopt-a-Trail
Read by Grade 3
Little League team
Queen for a day
Tri-star sports
and other programs benefiting the youth of our community
The club extends our sympathy to Steve Daniel whose mother passed away this week.
The Meeting
Doug Pharr introduced 3rd graders from King Springs Elementary School: Brittany, LaAndra
and Manuel. Also attending was their teacher, Kathryn Schulenburg.
Attendance: 52 members and 5 guests.
Please come to the Oratorical Contest for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing on April 17 at
the Community Center. See Ed Whittington for more information.
April Birthdays
4th - Craig Bryant
14th - Suzanne Lynn
15th - Susan Carter
29th - Steve Wilson
Club Anniversaries
Jim Hawkins - 2 years
Walt Broom - 6 years
Bruce Hollmuller - 8 years
Curt Johnson - 16 years
Jim Wildes - 19 years
Harold Smith - 22 years
March 12, 2004 Meeting Notes
Speaker: Susan Williams, Program director for MUST
Dan Scoggins introduced our very own Susan Williams, Program director for the Smyrna office of
Ministries United for Service and Training, Inc. Or as we know it, MUST. Susan has
a longtime relationship with MUST ministries as her husband actually founded the first office in
1971 while he was a youth minister at Powers Ferry Methodist Church. Smyrna's office was opened
in 1986 through the efforts of Rev. Al Turnell at Smyrna First United Methodist Church.
Last year MUST ministries of Smyrna distributed 79,456 pounds of food to 7500 people. 3500
of this total were children. Another program they run is "Kids Meals on Wheels." This
program delivers sack lunches to children who qualify for free lunch programs in our schools. During
the summer months when school is not in session, the three MUST ministries offices - Marietta,
Smyrna and Cherokee, will serve 1700 lunches per day. These lunches are assembled and
delivered by volunteers, many of whom are youth volunteers in the community.
They have many other programs.
The toy shop for Christmas, where parents of needy families can come and
pick out toys so the children might have presents for Christmas
Computer classes for people to learn new skills in order to become productive in the community
English classes so the Hispanic people in our community can learn to speak English. (In
the Smyrna office these classes are taught by a Pakistani immigrant.)
MUST Ministries survives through support of the churches and people in the community.
If you can help in any way whether it be donations or volunteering, contact
Susan at the Smyrna office, 770-436-9514. For more information about MUST ministries
you can also go to their web site at www.mustministries.org.
The Meeting
There were 46 members and 3 guests in attendance at the meeting today.
Susan Williams introduced Clem Doyle and John Moeller of MUST>
Dennis Harding introduced for his third visit Kirby Winters. Kirby presented his check and application
for membership.
Announcements
This is a busy season for the Smyrna Optimist Club and its members. There are plenty of
opportunities for everyone to volunteer and help our community.
Dean Byers filled in for George this week in encouraging everyone to get out and
sell onions. All orders must be turned in by April 30 and onion delivery will be
May 15.
Ken Kincaid announced the annual prayer breakfast held in conjunction with the Smyrna Kiwanis Club will be
April 9, 2004 at Smyrna First United Methodist Church. members are free, guest tickets
are $5. See Ken for tickets.
Susan Pearson announced two events that benefit the Campbell High School in Education Foundation:
the Jonquil City Jog, April 24 and the 7th Annual Golf Tournament, April 19.
March 5, 2004 Meeting Notes
Speaker: Chris Miller, directory of Community Development
Curt Johnston introduced Chris miller who is the Director of Community development for the City of
Smyrna. Chris spoke of the tax allocation district (TAD) which was recently approved
for the city of Smyrna. The purpose of Smyrna's tax allocation district is to
promote the redevelopment of an area of Smyrna bounded on the northwest by Ward Street and
on the north by Windy Hill, running south along both sides of
Atlanta Road to Spring Street. This area includes Belmont Hills Shopping Center and
Jonquil Plaza shopping center.
One of the main tools used by TAD is the issuance of bonds to do infrastructure improvements which
will be needed for the future growth of the area. These bonds are financed
through the spread between what the taxes are when the TAD is approved and what they will grow to as the
property values are increased by redevelopment.
Chris also mentioned the changes being made in the city building codes
and regulations to preserve old growth or specimen trees when property is
being developed or improved. The city arborist must study each site and designate
which trees should be preserved if at all possible. If it is not
possible to preserve these trees, there must be significant effort to rebuild the green space of the
specific site. Through efforts such as this, the city recently received a Tree City USA
award from Washington.
The Meeting
There were 50 members and 7 guests present.
Brian Cooper once again had Ms. Whitney and a group of the students that he reads for
every Friday at Fair Oaks elementary school. We're always glad to see children that are benefiting
from the programs sponsored by the club.
George Davis announced the beginning of the Vidalia Onion sales. This is one of the club's
largest fund raisers to promote and finance the many projects that our club caries
out throughout the year for the youth of the Smyrna area. Be sure you pick
up your onion cards and get out and sell onions. We are traditionally
the first in the market with new growth onions. Orders will be due on April 30. Onions will be
delivered on May 15.
Oratorical Contest: Suzanne Lynn is presiding over this year's oratorical contest which will
be held March 28 at 2:00pm in the Smyrna Community Center. There are many
things to be done so check with Suzanne and see how you can be of assistance. One thing
that everyone can do is come and observe these young people presenting their entries.
Ed Whittington announced our club sponsorship of a new Communication Contest for the Deaf
and Hard of Hearing. Check with Ed for further details.
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