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Meeting Highlights 2009-10 Qtr 4 (Apr-June)
April 7, 2010 - At today’s meeting, Rotarian Frank Bradshaw handed out the final Paul Harris Fellowship awards to those members who were not able to come to the club’s Paul Harris Social this past fall (see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009 Paul Harris Social).
Our guest speaker was Physical Therapist Brian Soignier (see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). Brian is originally from Cecilia, Louisiana and ran track and played football at UL. In 2001, he opened his physical therapy office here in Lafayette. Today, he is planning a faith driven sports camp this summer for High School athletes at St. Edmond Catholic Church. He believes the “healthcare crisis” is more of a cultural crisis. There are more teenage pregnancy, drug usage, etc. that our youth is getting lost. “I can’t change the world on my own” he says, “but I’m not going to turn my eyes. In this fast pace life, we’re losing our youth.” What we need is to embrace their uniqueness, their worthiness. We need more good, hard working, community oriented people who will make a difference. This is what the faith based sports camp is about. It’s for young boys in grades 7-12, working multiple(10-11) physical fitness multidimensional training stations. Through physical activities, boys can learn valuable lessons. He is hoping to influence a few boys to become better men and good Rotarians. Several area coaches have volunteered, but they need more help. If you can help with your services, or with food for the athletes, please contact Karin Viatar at rotary6200@cox-internet.com
April 14, 2010 – District Governor Greg Landry began today’s meeting by presenting a Paul Harris Fellowship to Rotarian Charles Trent and a multiple Paul Harris Fellowship (plus one) to Rotarian Ted Hoyt (see pictures in Photo Gallery under 2009 Paul Harris Social).
Rotary District 6200 and Rotary Club of Lafayette South hosted 9 Scottish dignitaries touring the State during this week. “District 1010 Meets 6200” started with City Parish Mayor/President Joey Durel presenting keys to the city to each member of the Scottish Friendship Exchange Team(see pictures in Photo Gallery under Friendship Exchange). The Scottish team was led by Peter Tong, a retired agricultural engineer from District 1010. This district originally started as district 1 because Jean Harris (Paul’s wife) was from that region and wanted it to have that number. It later became 101, and finally 1010. It comprises 87 clubs with 3,250 members (9% women) in an area known for its beauty. Each member of the team spoke about his/her club and area cultures. This friendship exchange was truly an exchange of cultures. After the meeting, the team was scheduled to tour the LITE Center at 9AM and tour the Tabasco Plant at 11AM and Jungle Gardens at Avery Island for lunch.
April 21, 2010 – Today our club hosted Rotary International’s (GSE) Group Study Exchange 2010. Our guests were from District 1710 Lyon Region of France. Their team leader, Jean Fangain, from the Rotary club in Bourg Revermont has been a member of Rotary since 1985 and president of his club in 1999/2000. He is a retired Executive Officer from the cable industry. He leads a team comprised mainly of young professionals from his region in France. “This exchange gives an ideal opportunity to show Rotary International to young professionals” he said.
Clement Girod spoke to our members of how this month long trip (2 ½ weeks so far) has him missing his girlfriend back home. Lyon Ouest is his sponsoring club. He is an Instrumentation Engineer designing software for automated control machines and says “GSE is a unique opportunity to meet people from different cultural backgrounds and to exchange ideas.”
Fanny Morlot is sponsored by the Rotary club Lyon Croix Rousse and she is a Receptionist in a hotel who wishes to “share professional and cultural experiences and to understand each other better.”
Nicolas Dubernay is sponsored by the Belley Rotary club and is a project manager engineer for Volvo Construction Equipment. This experience has been a great asset to assimilate into the American customs and an opportunity to meet people involved in Rotary International. He has traveled to numerous countries but this is his first time in the United States. “I’ve had the opportunity to eat a lot of different things” he says, while here in Louisiana.
Yannick Girardin is also sponsored by the Belley Rotary club. He is the local director of the Suisse ALTRAN-Prime Unit & a Consultant in innovation management. He loves cooking and plans to open a chain of restaurants. He says this “also is a good opportunity to be aware of other management methods and market opportunities to make stronger my own future business.”
They have been here since the 5th of April and will be back to France on the 3rd of May. They will also be attending our District 6200 conference this weekend. See their pictures in the Photo Gallery under Group Study Exchange.
April 28, 2010 – TSgt Andrew Guidry, 122nd ASOS received a donation for the 122nd ASOS Family Day (see picture in Photo Gallery under Club Donations) to be held this coming June with fun jumps, water slides, horses and more for the families of the 122nd. He also showed us a video of close air support in Afghanistan. They train for the most intense moments of war.
Today’s meeting was the second of two annual meetings where we recognize our area’s Top High School Students. At this meeting we recognized two students from five remaining area high schools. We had four schools (Carencro High School, Episcopal School of Acadiana, Acadiana High School and The Academy of the Sacred Heart) at our first Student Recognition Program on December 9, 2009. The students recognized today were from St. Thomas More Catholic High School, Teurlings Catholic High School, Lafayette High School, Northside High School and Comeaux High School.
Rotarian Jim Bealer was our Master of Ceremonies. Joshua introduced the respective schools’ counselor who then introduced their two top students. He also presented each student with a gift card and certificate of recognition. Each student was asked to say a few words on their accomplishments and their plans for the future. The students honored were:
St. Thomas More Catholic High School - Leslie Simoneaux & Thomas Gumpert
Teurlings Catholic High School - Daniel Rees & Macie Foreman
Lafayette High School - Gregory Salts & Mave Brennan
Northside High School - Brionee Broussard & Jereon McGilvery
Comeaux High School - Austin Broussard & Emily De La Rosa
(see pictures in Photo Gallery under “Awards”)
May 5, 2010 – Today’s guest speaker was we heard from Richard Atha (see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). He is with Sodexo, the company that provides the concessions for all UL events, and other food services. He’s been in the business for 20-25 years. He remembered when they first started selling snow cones at a game, they made $5,000 in one day. But people need to see what goes on behind the scene in his business. All the customer sees today is that they must pay $3 for a bottle of water. They say they pay much less at a supermarket but don’t realize what is factored in the price at a ball game. That bottle of water may cost $0.83, but Sodexo utilizes non profit organizations to sell at the concession stands and these organizations receive 12% of the gross sales, the universities get anywhere from 20% to 40% and after the cost of the bottle, Sodexo makes a 15% to 20% profit. At the same time, all vendors must have a $5,000,000 insurance policy.
The non profit organizations must have their people (about 70 in all for a football game) arrive 2 hours before a game.
Richard remembers selling 1200 hamburgers for a game and had 758 burgers left over. In the past, they used to be able to give them away to homeless shelters/diners. But today, they must throw them away. Either way, Sodexo looses. Richard says they figure if they average selling 1200 burgers, they will prepare for 1200 burgers. “Service is the key,” Richard says. People want to get back to the game as quickly as possible.
It’s a very big business. They will have about $50,000 in inventory for a football game and average sales of $70,000 to $80,000. They deal with a lot of cash. Their best game at UL last year was the Southern game where they had around $250,000 in sales. Handling the cash is very structured with plenty of security. It takes them around 4 hours to finish up after a game. They also cater for the press boxes and any other events.
May 12, 2010 – Our guest speaker today was Harold Mangum, Psychologist/President of Memory Technologies Institute (see picture in Photo Gallery under 200-10 Meetings). Harold has taught thousands of people for over 19 years from students to professionals, and all industry and business personnel in many major fortune 500 companies. Students of all ages have learned techniques for developing an instant recall memory. Harold said, “you each have an innate ability lying dormant in your mind; it’s just a matter of turning on the switch…that’s what we do; we help you turn the switch on.” As an example, he asked 15 of our members to say one word and for everyone to write them down. He then gave everyone 5 minutes to memorize them while he announced the time remaining for memorization (he’s putting the pressure on). He then called on Rotarian Mike Leatherman to repeat the list from memory. Mike was successful at this while Harold demonstrated how he can recall them forwards, backwards and in random order. He showed how stress represses memory but by using mental file folders with FPG (file, picture, & glue) you can recall almost anything.
Harold will be in Lafayette July 14and 15 to teach workshop for Memory Technologies Institute at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Pinhook Road. You can to www.memorytech.net for more information.
May 19, 2010 – Today’s guest speaker was Eric Elliott, Vice President of Investor Relations with LHC Group here in Lafayette (see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). Eric gave an overview of LHC Group which was founded in 1994 by Keith Meyers in St. Landry Parish. They have 282 home health/hospice services in 18 states across the United States with approximately 7,200 employees, serving over 80,000 patients annually. They provide cost effective healthcare for the elderly and disabled averaging around $52 per day in home service. The company has been rated by Forbes Magazine in 2007,08 & 09 as the Number 7,8 & 4 (respectively) “The Best Small Companies” in America. A few strategic members of their board are Former Congressman Billy Tauzin, Former U.S. Senator John Breaux, Mr. Dan Wilford and Dr. Kenneth Thorpe. LHC Group continually surpasses the “National Norm” in the industry’s Standardized Outcome Index which measures a variety of indicators of patients’ clinical well-being and consistently increases this Index score in every agency acquired in the past 4 years. While only 7% of all Medicare certified home health agencies in the U.S. are accredited by the Joint Commission, 51% of their agencies are accredited; and the remaining 49% should be accredited by the end of this year. Joint Commission is the oldest and largest standard-setting and accrediting body in health care in the U.S. The average per day cost for a hospital stay is $5,765 and in a skilled nursing facility it is $544; but in home health it’s $52 per day. LHC Group’s future strategy for future acquisition growth involves joint venturing with non-profit hospitals with no home health agencies, acquiring home health agencies in geographic areas they do not currently serve and focusing on acquisitions with significant upside potential (internal growth). For 2010, they are expecting a net revenue of approximately $625 Million with an earnings of around $2.85 per share. They have approximately $17 Million in cash with debt of approximately $4 Million and total capitalization of $239 Million and a Credit Facility of $75 Million. Their return on assets is almost 3 times that of their industry. To learn more about this company, you can go to www.lhcgroup.com
May 26, 2010 – Today’s guest speaker was Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel (see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). The Mayor/President reported on the Cannes Film Festival, Consolidation/De-Consolidation, Annexation, and Fiber to the Home issues. He started by reporting on the success of the Lafayette/Acadiana pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival. This year, Lafayette had a pavilion on the beach in Cannes. He noted “only countries have pavilions, the Acadiana area was the first non-country to have a pavilion there.” Rotarian and Councilman Keith Patin added that “we’ve had a lot of movie industry work in our area. “Sci/fi’s are big in Lafayette” he said. This pavilion was good for showing what we have to offer in our area like the work recently done by Disney on the movie Secretariat. Disney and Pixel Magic are working at the LITE Center with LEDA. They have about 40 people working there with plans to hire another 100.
The Consolidation/De-Consolidation issue has identified areas of the charter that need to be fixed. “Consolidation is mostly successful” Durel said. The Charter Commission needs 4 people from the unincorporated areas of the parish and 5 people from the city of Lafayette. The other cities of the parish are not part of consolidation, therefore, they do not have representation on the commission. One issue in the charter involves LUS. LUS is governed by LPUA with the council voting to affirm. The most recent rate hike revealed a fundamental flaw of council members representing areas outside the city limits can vote on issues (like taxes) affecting only the city of Lafayette. The commission will discuss Council members representing areas within the city vote on city and parish issues; and Council members representing area outside the city vote on parish issues only. Whatever the Charter Commission recommends will have to be voted on by everyone. If we De-Consolidate, there is a problem…there is no Parish Charter and they will have to hire/elect new representation with pay. The biggest issue is representation.
The Mayor/President explained how annexation is the future of a community. There is a big thrust in the commercial areas along Ambassador Caffery Parkway. It’s all about the taxes these commercial areas generate to provide services to the people. Youngsville, Broussard and the city of Lafayette are vying for their piece of that pie. Durel said “annexation should be done little at time.”
Finally he reported that Fiber-to-the-Home is doing well. The TV is very good quality and even though they have had problems with the DVR feature not working as well as desired, it has just been corrected.
June 2, 2010 - Today's guest speaker was Rick Broussard, CEO of Advanced Composite Manufacturing in Broussard, LA (see picture in Photo Gallery page under "2009-10 Meetings"). The future of unmanned aerial systems or "drones" is truly a fascinating adventure that will take warfare as we know it to a whole new level. Imagine a future with no pilots being put in harms way but still giving our forces a first strike capability that is as effective as an entire squadron of fighter and bomber aircraft but at a fraction of the cost and no lives lost.
By the same token, the enemies of our country have the same capabilities, which unlike the past when the U.S. always gained air superiority within days of entering a war, we now have to face the prospect that there is a new threat to deal with, one that can now give our enemies a first strike advantage without risking any aircraft.
There is a positive side to the development of unmanned vehicles, unmanned vehicles can be used in peacetime applications that also keep men and women out of harms way, and provide quicker, more efficient situation assessment, search and rescue, and a litany of other uses that are only limited to the imagination.
In the aftermath of Katrina, what if there were an entire fleet of unmanned watercraft that could literally steer themselves to the roof of a flooded dwelling and either deliver food,water and survival supplies, or even allow the victims to get onboard and be autonomously driven back to safe harbor?
What if a train de-rails and toxic chemicals are emanating from the area, what would be best, sending in a HazMat crew to asses the spill, or send in a drone to send back air samples and live video?
The list could go on and on, but at the end of the day, the use of this great technology rests in the hands of those that make the decisions, let us all hope its for the greater good and when used in a military role that it is used in a manner that saves lives and gives an even greater deterrent to those that would terrorize our country and challenge our liberties.
You can go to www.acmuav.com to see more of the amazing work being done at Advanced Composite Manufacturing.
June 9, 2010 – At today’s meeting, the club donated $1000 to The GAME (God As My Example) program (see picture in Photo Gallery under “Club Donations”). Accepting the donation was Brian Soignier who spoke to the club previously on April 7, 2010.
Today’s guest speaker was Bruce Conque, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce VP of Marketing and Government Relations ( see picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). Bruce spoke on the Lafayette Charter, its expectations, consequences and opportunities. Lafayette Parish and the City of Lafayette consolidation was approved by the voters in 1992 and in effect in 1996. It consolidated the city Mayor and parish president into the city/parish president position as the executive branch and the Lafayette City-Parish Council as the legislative branch. The 1990 Charter Commission goals and objectives were to eliminate duplication in the political and administrative areas and place city and parish decision makers at the same table. It combined only the City of Lafayette and the unincorporated areas of the Parish of Lafayette, small towns were not included and there were no restrictions on annexation. Every Lafayette parish registered voter participates in the election for Lafayette Parish President (there is no city of Lafayette Mayor) and the City-Parish Council. This council has no jurisdiction in Broussard, Carencro, Duson, Scott or Youngsville which together comprise 16% of the Parish. The unincorporated areas of the parish is comprised of 28% and the City of Lafayette comprises 56%. Our first Parish President, Walter Comeaux who lived in Broussard, limited annexation by the City of Lafayette while the City’s water, a city’s incentive for annexation, was made available throughout the parish.
Throughout this time period, Broussard, Youngsville, Scott and Carencro maintained an aggressive annexation policy. There was much population growth and residential development in the Broussard/Youngsville area. In 1992, 66.46% of the parish’s property tax base was within The City Of Lafayette; in 2009, that dropped to 60.80%. The population base is similar at 66% in 1992 and 56% in 2009.
Redistricting after the 2010 census will more likely result in the City of Lafayette losing majority membership on the Lafayette City-Parish Council. This brings the questions: Is consolidation a success? And, is it in the best interests of the City of Lafayette/Parish of Lafayette? Lafayette parish taxpayers benefit from consolidation of services and the resulting economy of scale…Parish President, chief administrative offices, chief financial officer, public works, information services, etc. Reverting to the prior form of government would require reconstitution of parish administration with duplication of staff and services.
In the city of Lafayette, the full council votes on issues exclusive to the city…districts 1 & 6 have equal votes. The city has lost self-governance while no other municipality has relinquished self control. LUS issues require full council approval. The governing authority for LUS shall be the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority and shall consist of those members of the council whose districts include sixty (60) percent or more of persons residing within the boundaries of the city of Lafayette.
Some unintended consequences of the Charter include:
• Currently, Lafayette City-Parish Council has five of nine districts with 60% or more city of Lafayette constituents based on 2000 census
• Redistricting following 2010 census may dramatically change council political demographics with city of Lafayette losing
The new Charter Commission will be reviewing and studying the Home Rule Charter and suggesting either proposed revisions, additions or amendments to the Home Rule Charter or to prepare and propose alternate charters for the City of Lafayette and for the Parish of Lafayette, which proposals will then be submitted for ratification to the qualified electors of the City-Parish government at an election already authorized for other purposes or at a special election called by the Lafayette City-Parish Council. It will consist of 9 Members: 7 Council Appointments, 4 - City of Lafayette Residents(1 - Minority), 3 - Residents of Unincorporated Parish(1 - Minority); and 2 Parish President Appointments, 1 - City of Lafayette Resident and 1 - Resident of Unincorporated Parish. No elected official shall serve as a member of the Commission, nor shall any employee of the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government or any person who, at the time of appointment, has a contractual relationship with the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government. The Commission shall file such proposal(s) no later than nine (9) months from the appointment of the commission.
Upon the filing of proposal(s) in the manner specified above, the Lafayette City-Parish Council shall promptly take all actions for the calling of an election to consider the proposal(s). The Charter Commission has received
42 Applicants. Open Interviews Begin June 28th.
June 16, 2010 – Today’s meeting started with an introduction of Camp RYLA participant Lyla Simoneaux, daughter of club past president Nick Simoneaux (see her picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings and Camp RYLA). Lyla gave a brief description of her activities at the camp.
Our guest speaker was fellow Rotarian Dr. Russell Romero who gave a presentation on The City of Lafayette as it appeared in 1953 (see his picture in Photo Gallery under 2009-10 Meetings). Dr. Romero utilized a copy of an aerial photograph which was taken of Lafayette in 1953, and having studied this photograph, he demonstrated different areas of Lafayette at that time, including subdivisions, roads, and waterways. Many of our Rotarians were familiar with places and locations on the aerial photograph having lived in Lafayette for long periods of time. The demonstration brought back fond memories for many of us.
June 23, 2010 – This meeting, the last to be run by our club president Ken Stansbury, was our Golf Tournament Recognition and Appreciation meeting. All of the Gold Medal ($5,000) and Silver Medal ($1,000) Sponsors were invited to join us for breakfast and were presented with a little token of appreciation from the club.
Gold Medal Sponsors were:
Superior Energy Services, represented by Kenny Crockett
Lofton Staffing Services, represented by Marla Green
Abacus Restaurants (Dallas, Texas), represented by Rotarian Brandon Hyde
Silver Medal Sponsors in attendance were:
Landry Harris & Company, represented by Rotarian Charles Trent
Gene Fortier State Farm Agency, represented by Rotarian Gene Fortier
Barry’s Air Conditioning, Inc., represented by Rotarian Barry Duplechin
First National Bank, represented by Rotarian Rose Miller
Southern Benefit Services, represented by Wayne Elmore
LandCoast Insulation, Inc., represented by Hollie White
(see pictures of these in Photo Gallery under Golf Tournament)
Silver Medal Sponsors not in attendance were Evans Equipment & Environmental, WHC, Incorporated, Energy Drilling Fluids, The Lemoine Company, Merrick Construction, Martin & Castille Funeral Home, Quality Transport, Inc., and ManCo Rentals & Sales.
A special recognition was given to Lafayette City Police Chief Jim Craft (see picture in Photo Gallery under Golf Tournament).
In addition to recognizing those sponsors, the club made donations from the proceeds of the golf tournament to its partner in the tournament, Special Olympics Louisiana represented by their President and CEO Pat Carpenter(see pictures in Photo Gallery under Club Donations). Pat thanked the club and presented a plaque to club President Ken (see pictures in Photo Gallery under Golf Tournament).
Several local charity organizations were present to receive donations from the club’s golf tournament proceeds (see their pictures in Photo Gallery under Club Donations). They were:
Special Olympics Louisiana, our partner in the tournament and represented by their CEO Pat Carpenter, received $19,000.00
CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) represented by Laura Zaunbrecker, received $500.00
Bridge Ministries represented by Nelson Warner received $500.00
Dr. Pat Magee received $500.00 for his Medical Missions to Mexico
Lafayette Middle School Behavior Program, represented by Assistant Principal Craig Andrus received $500.00
DREAMS Inc. (Disabilities Recreation Education Administration Managerial Services), represented by Brian, Donielle and Logan Watkins received $2,000.00
Dr. Russell Romero received $1,500.00 for his Medical Mission to Mexico
YMCA, represented by Rotarian Doc Stepanik received $1,500.00
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