Tag: Knoxville Sertoma

  • Jerry Winston | Oct 30th | NASCAR racing

    KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN SERTOMA CLUB

    WEDNESDAY, 10/30/19 MEETING

    VOLUME 69 #32

     

    Prayer:  Carol Mohney

    Pledge:  Terrell Kerr

    Guest from  UT Speech and Hearing Department was Teresa Vaughn.

    Bert West introduced his speaker, our own Jerry Winston.  Jerry has been racing cars since the early 1950s.  He took a motor off his dad’s lawnmower and put wagon wheels on it and drove it until the motor quit or it ran out of gas!  When he was 16 every Friday and Saturday they met on Broadway to drag race.  He attended Skip Barber’s 4 day school to train drivers and he graduated best in his class!  He went to Savannah, GA to get a novice permit.  He ran two regional races and got his professional license.  He then got invited to be on a team to ride in the Daytona.  The whole race was set up on computers to tell them when to stop and get gas.  Some drivers there did not have that, including Jerry’s team.  In 1987 he raced in an unlimited course with A J Foyt who was driving in the 210 – 250 MPH course.  Jerry was driving in the 110 – 170 MPH class.  A lot of cars broke down.  Jerry was lined up to qualify in Charlotte and he saw A.J Foyt in line to qualify and A J had fallen asleep.  His team woke him up when it was his turn to sign up!  A fire system was built in Jerry’s car.  The NASCAR drivers didn’t have them.  NASCAR didn’t care about safety.  NASCAR officials were looking for ways they were cheating.  Jerry’s uncle did the timing and scoring for their drivers because they didn’t have enough drivers on their team to be able to do that.  Jerry said Kyle Petty was one of the nicest guys in racing and was always willing to help.  Jerry’s team car was kept in Bobby Ellison’s area.  Jerry raced in the LaMaz and got to drive for 6 hours.  That was fun because in most races they got to drive only 2 hours.  But it was unnerving when someone flew past him driving 250 MPH!

    Next week’s speaker is Libby Beidelschies from a group called “SPARK” and is a guest of Matt.

    Sergeant at Arms Report:  13 members; 1 guest from UT S&H for a total attendance of 14.

  • John D Cobb Eagle Scout | Boy Scouts of America | June 12th

    John D Cobb Eagle Scout | Boy Scouts of America | June 12th

    The Knoxville Boy Scouts of America

    John D. Cobb an Eagle scout, started off with a video of the year to kick off his presentation. He spoke to us about his scouting journey and was then followed up by Anthony Ingram to answer questions.

    John D. Cobb | Eagle Scout

    Is an Eagle Scout from Troop 46 chartered to Cokesbury United Methodist Church. He has served as a patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, and instructor for National Youth leadership training for 2 years. John D. has been a Scout since he was in 1st grade. His Eagle Scout project was a 400-gallon ferrocement water tank that he likes to refer to as “two tons of fun”. He attends Clayton Bradley Academy, is a National Merit Semi-finalist, AP scholar, the valedictorian and president of the student council, and captain of the debate team.

    Anthony Ingram | Professional Scout

    Was born in Columbus Georgia. He has a bachelor of arts in professional theater from South Carolina State University, He is an Eagle Scout with 3 palms, National President’s Scoutreach Award recipient, a member of the Order of the Arrow, and has served on Wood Badge staff. Anthony has been a professional Scout for over 11 years, when he is not Scouting he enjoys acting, reading, volunteering at this church and spending time with family and friends.

    We were also joined by Nathan Cunningham ( Director of Field Service) and Neal Drown

    The wonderfull speakers were brought to us by Matt Hall – member of The Downtown Sertoma Club

     

  • Greg MacKay | Knox County Election Reform

    Greg MacKay | Knox County Election Reform

    Prayer:  Matt Hall

    Pledge:  Ron Grimm

    Terrell Kerr announced the “Celebrate Sound” walk is June 8th at UT Gardens.  The cost is $25 to be a Virtual Walker and you do not have to attend.  The cost to be a Super Walker is $100 and you don’t have to attend for that honor either!  Terrell said they need for people to sign up so please do so soon!

    Chris Hoosier introduced his speaker, Greg MacKay, who is speaking on Knox County Election Reform.  Greg thinks we should go to “Voting Centers” to vote and predicts within 10 years we will have voting centers open for 5 days at which to vote.  He also thinks we will move to paper ballots by mail. He says we could vote by computer but too many people worry about fraud. To increase the number of voters who vote, 2 things would work.  1) Election packets and 2) Same day voter registration. He thinks we should have a 10 day early voting period. Our current early voting period is too long. He also thinks we should vote by our social security numbers as we could detect fraud more easily.  He doesn’t think there is much fraud in elections because he has looked for it. As an aside, Greg thinks if a person did something illegal 20 years ago which took away his right to vote, his right to vote should be restored at some point in the future, like possibly 30 years after the illegal act.  Greg said we led the country in early voting in the last election. Early voting is popular here.

    Greg was in Russia in March of last year to monitor their elections.  Putin had his opponent arrested and thrown in jail so Putin won the election because his opponent was in prison so therefore he did not qualify to run!  Greg and his team of volunteers did not stop anyone from voting. They just wrote down what they saw and sent it into the Russian government for them to review.  They are always looking for volunteers to go to Russia to monitor elections. Contact OSCE if you are interested. You don’t get paid for it but you get a free airline ticket to Russia!

    There were 17 members attending today for The Downtown Sertoma Club and 1 interesting speaker.

    John Cogdill has Justin Lafferdy as the speaker next week.

     

  • Matt Hall | Oktoberfest update

    Matt Hall was a stand in for Jacob and did an excellent job. Especially since he was in charge of the speaker and she didn’t come.  Happens to all of us and he handled it with grace.  I do believe he’ll do an excellent job next year and its good he’s getting some on the job training.

    We passed around sigh up sheets for “Celebrate Sound” to first find out if you were going to participate and what size t-shirt you wanted.  We’re only asking for $25.00 (tax deductible) and the money goes to our hearing aid loaner program.  If you were not there last week plan to sign up this week. The walk this year will be at Concord Park on September 9th. 

    We discussed the Knoxville Oktoberfest Fundraiser which is not that far away.  September is just a week away. Carol Mohney and I went shopping for some brown bag items over the weekend but not enough to fill all the brown bags. We also need auction items. Remember we didn’t want to constantly be having “fund” raisers and determined to have the one and let that be it – this is it!  We have several beer sponsors so regardless we can get drunk!

    Next Week (maybe) our speaker will be Lisa Nichols who came up with the program Stocking from US. This is a great idea and really makes you feel good especially when you see newsfeeds of soldiers that won’t be coming home.  We contributed to this so come hear what she has to say and give yourself a pat on the back.

    Just a reminder: Speaker chairs for September are as follows:

    09/5 Rusty Farrell

    9/12 Mike McKinney

    9/19 Terrell Kerr

  • Jacob Landis | Jacob’s Ride | Aug 8th

    Jacob Landis | Jacob’s Ride | Aug 8th

    Jacob Landis is a one man show that started in April of 2013 on a mission to raise money for people without insurance to get cochlear implants. He has ridden nearly 20,000 miles spreading awareness and raising money. Jacob has met with thousands of supporters and donors at over 120 events. Through his efforts and the generosity of their supporters, Jacob’s Ride has provided financial assistance for over one dozen cochlear implant recipients in the last five years. Over 12,000 children in America are born with hearing loss each year and cochlear implants are the most successful medical intervention for deaf or severely hard of hearing. However, insurance often does not cover the cost.  Jacob also meets with teenagers and young adults who are deaf or hard of hearing and insists to them not to let that “hearing problem thing” get in the way of identifying goals and pursuing your dreams.

    John Kerr shared with us Celebrate Sound Walk will be on September 9th (this is a Sunday) at 4 p.m.  They have moved the event to Tyson Park trying to make people happy that didn’t want to drive to Maryville.  That means that everyone that complained must show up.  He took down names.

    Jerry Winston announced we had members that participated in the Helen Ross McNabb – Shooting event.

    Next week is the monthly board meeting. Time is 6 pm, on Tuesday at Chesapeak’s.  All are welcome.

    Next Week:  Rebecca Koszalinski, our speaker, is being brought to us by Lee Freeman.

    #knoxsertomaclub #knoxvilleTN #CivicClubKnoxville

  • Sandra Clark | Election Predictions | Aug 1st

    Sandra Clark | Election Predictions | Aug 1st

    The election is behind us and I was pleased with the outcome. We made the national news – it was reported we elected a professional wrestler as mayor. Seems the “scruffy little city” just can’t get a break.  All of Sandra’s predictions came true and I got the feeling she is definitely not a President Trump fan.

    I would be willing to bet even if he knew it wouldn’t keep him up nights.  I worked at West Valley Middle School. We voted a total of 501 persons and 2 of them were my daughter-in-law and granddaughter (her first-time voting).  One picked Republican and the other Democrat, they should have stayed home!

    It’s much harder when you have two candidates running for the same office and you really like both.  I was impressed with Mattock and Burchett really “pounded the pavement”. You couldn’t go to any function he didn’t show up too.  Sandra seem to think he (Burchett) plans to move on up.  We can sit back and say “I knew him when. . . . . “

    The cost of campaigning I’m sure keeps a lot of good people from running. Sandra said thousands of dollars had been spent (this is a matter of public record, how much they spent and where they got it) and wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall after and election you lost and have the wife say – “don’t ever mention how much I spend on shoes again”

  • Greg Mackay | Former Knox County Election Commission | May 16th

    Chris Hoosier was responsible for bringing us Greg Mackay; I don’t know how he knew him, but he was great. He’s been overseas 7 times all to third world countries and says we should thank God every day that we live in America.  It took two and a half hours to drive from the airport to his hotel, not because of the distance but because the roads are so bad and the traffic worse.  They are extremely proud of their subway system and Greg said it us decorated well and has a statue to “Mother Russia” that is twice the size of our Statue of Liberty. He was there to observe an election and the one-person apposing Putin was put in jail and then told he didn’t qualify for election because of it. The day before any election all campaigning must stop, we should consider adopting that.

    Next week:  We have our service project with Mobile Meals.  Have a great time and I will be thinking about you while I lounge on the beach in South Carolina.

    Proposed slate of officers for next year:  These will be voted on in 2 weeks. 

    Jacob Tippens, president; Matt Hall, president elect; Marianne Greene, VP & speaker chair; Alan Stuckey, VP & co-chair membership; Lee Freeman, VP & co-chair membership; Brett Grimm – VP special events; Andy Schoerner – treasurer; Linda Price, bulletin editor; Carol Mohney, secretary; Bert West – Sgt. At Arms; Chris Hoosier, parliamentarian; Allie Harmon & Mike McKinney, visitation; Bob Rentenbach, Chaplin & greeter; Chris Kerr, Chairman of the Board.

  • Joe McCameron | Reboot Combat Recovery | April 25th

    Joe McCameron | Reboot Combat Recovery | April 25th

    Joe McCameron, with Reboot Combat recovery https://rebootrecovery.com/ who gets to work with our Mike Simpson has found a new calling in life; helping veterans to cope. I’m sure the problem existed after World War 1 & 2, plus the additions since then that on some we didn’t call them a war but a “conflict’ but we didn’t know how to recognize and deal with it. The biggest loss of life after they come home is through suicide. Since starting the program they haven’t lost a person. It gives them a “safe” place to talk, they are with people that have been there, and what is said in the room, stays in the room.  It was a great program for us and I’m sure it will continue to help our veterans.

    The Month of May is starting to fill up – best mark your calendars if you don’t want to miss anything:

    May 2: Our speaker will be: Leonard Knight w/ Neighborhood Needs.

    May 5: Crescent Bend and Derby Day. Lots of food, drink, and fellowship.

    May 10: Friendship Dinner for the Sertoma Center. Chris Blue to entertain.

    May 18: Kenny Withers Golf Tournament. They need items for the goody bags if you are so inclined.

    Beverly and Rusty Farrell get to celebrate another birthday!

    Let the record show:  Matt Hall read the prayer, Rusty Ferrell led the pledge. We had Dr. Britany Grayless, a Tinnitus specialist and audiology supervisor from UT Speech and Hearing.  Lee Freeman brought Michael Collins from the center.

  • Gerald Green | Zoning | Feb 21st

    MPC ccording to our speaker, Gerald Green, who is the executive director, they will work with you to solve any problems and some “requirements” can be ignored or overlooked.  He went on to say that no one wants a person telling them what they can do with the property they have purchased but at the same time their neighbors want to make sure your business doesn’t make their business look bad.  They are making changes to the zoning laws and he expressed these would be “good” changes. If you drive around Knoxville you know things are changing and mostly for the better, at least the ones I have noticed.

    

    Next week: We will have Lee Freeman who will bring us up to date on what the Sertoma Center is doing and planning.

    Record Keeping: Bob Rentenbach read the prayer and Allie Harmon led the pledge. Andy Schoerner continues to win the grid pick, only because Al is not with us and that’s just one of the reasons we miss him!  We hope this situation will be righted soon.

     

    People responsible for speakers in March:

    3/7 Rusty Farrell has Tim Wheeler who is running for office.

    3/14 Mike McKinney

    3/21 Terrell Kerr

    3/28 Janet Bigelow

     

    Brett Grimn announced we have received approval from the state to hold our Oktoberfest again this year. Thank you, Brett, for all you do.

     

  • Bob Thomas | WIVK | Knox County Commissioner | Feb. 7th

    Bob Thomas | WIVK | Knox County Commissioner | Feb. 7th

    Bob Thomas will give our other candidate a run for the money in our up coming county mayor race. Bob has been with WIVK forever and has learned a lot about meeting people. Said he always wanted to be a radio announcer. I think it’s great when you can decide early on what you want to be and then go for it. He worked with Jim Dick and everyone that knew that man remembers him fondly.  They took on several projects (Mr. Dick came up with them and it was up to Bob to see them carried out); the Tennessee Theater which was saved due to their efforts, announcement that we wouldn’t have a Christmas parade in 1974 due to cost, we did.  At some point they decided we needed a hockey team. Getting the team together wasn’t that much of a challenge but after they lost the first 10 games they played it was determined they also needed a coach. It eventually all came together, and we may not be the best, but we are right on up there.

    Mr. Thomas wants to improve the lives of seniors and veterans – can’t argue with any of those. He wants to try a “ride and decide” where high school kids are given an opportunity to work with different organizations such as automotive, printing, plumbing, etc. to see what and how they do things.  He says for every five persons leaving the trades only one is coming in. If this keeps up your bank manager will be making minimum wage and your plumber will be bringing home a hundred thousand a year.

    Next week:  America’s Greatest Treasures by David Lawson.  Should be worth-while.  My brother is bringing him, along with Herman Thomson (not sure about Mr. Thomson and the role he plays but we will know soon!  I do know Mr. Lawson has offered to work with us on fund raising and I believe he has spoked to that “other” group next door.