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THE

BETTENDORF

ROTARY

CLUB NEWS Bettendorf, Iowa, Rotary Club

Aug. 5, 2015, issue

Next meeting: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015,

at Tanglewood Pavilion

Powerful book tells of

being Abandoned in Hell Bill “Hawk” Albracht, a native of Rock

Island, had two distinguished careers – as

an Army Special Forces officer and as a

Secret Service special agent – and he’s

scheduled to be the featured speaker at

our Aug. 12 meeting.

His book, Abandoned in Hell, relates his

most challenging incident during the

Vietnam War. In 1969 he commanded

150 soldiers at a firebase that came under

fire from an enemy force estimated at

6,000. “Cut off from supplies and

reinforcements,” he writes, they held out

for five days. They attempted an escape

under darkness…

Bill will bring copies of his book to the

meeting and will be available to sell and

autograph them after his presentation.

After his highly decorated Special Forces

career – 3 Silver Stars, 3 Purple Hearts, 5

Bronze Stars and other awards for

combat valor – he was graduated from

Augustana College and served 25 years

in the Secret Service, retiring as assistant

special-agent-in-charge of the

Washington, D.C. office.

Last meeting: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015

Bagpipe tunes

and lots of facts

At the Aug. 5 meeting, our own Brad

Morrison and his daughter Maddy

presented a concert of traditional bagpipe

tunes – marches, dance tunes and

signaling tunes. Between numbers, Brad

taught us several things about bagpipes,

such as:

They have only one dynamic level:

really loud – because the Scots used them

to send signals across distances and

during battles.

Similar to bugle tunes, each bagpipe

tune carries a specific message, “Such as

‘go forward’ or ‘fall back’,” Brad said.

While their historic role often was in

battle, bagpipes today are mostly used at

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celebrations, to accompany dancing, in

parades and at funerals to accompany the

singing of the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

In its essence, a bagpipe is “like an

oboe on steroids, but with four reeds,” he

explained. The player blows into a

mouthpiece, which fills a bag with air.

Using his or her elbow, the player

squeezes the bag sending air into the

“chanter,” which plays the tune, and the

three “drones,” which are all tuned to

play the same harmonizing background

tone. The player changes the tune by

covering holes in the chanter similar to

the way a whistle player or flutist plays a

tune.

Bagpipes are limited to nine notes –

not quite a true octave, Brad noted –

permitting them to play in the keys of A

or D.

Brad and Maddy wore traditional

Scottish clothing, from head to toe,

including kilts – “in the hunting-rose

tartan, not the Morrison family tartan,”

Brad said – and the sporran, a leather bag

suspended from a belt, “where the old

Scots kept their smart phone,” Brad

quipped.

S.K. Nanda inducts Matt Schmidt, Chris Carroll

New member inductions… S.K. Nanda inducted two new members

– as he did last week, and may do again

next week (we’re getting a lot of new

members; thank you, Jim Slavens – and

all members who are inviting their

friends to lunch on Wednesdays).

Before calling the new inductees forward,

S.K. noted that July 24 marked a full year

without a new case of polio on the

African continent, meaning Nigeria has

left the list of countries with endemic

polio. “Now there have just two to go,”

S.K. added: “Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

The newest members of BRC are:

Matt Schmidt, dean of operations for

the Eastern Iowa Community College

district. He and his wife are parents to

two children, ages 7 and 11, in the

Pleasant Valley school system. He joined

BRC because, he said, “I think it’s

important to give back to the

community.”

Chris Carroll, sales executive at

Galaxy One, the satellite TV company.

He and his wife are parents of two

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daughters and a son. An avid basketball

fan, he played throughout his school and

college years.

Just before the inductions, Mayor Bob

Gallagher was given a special pin

signifying that one of his guests has

become a new member.

Presentation… Gene Miller 60-year Rotarian: Gene

Miller joined Rotary in 1955 and has

been a contributing member ever since.

In recognition of those 60 years of

service, Gene – accompanied by his wife

Doris – received a giant

“card” full of signatures and

notes of personal well-

wishes from his fellow

Bettendorf Rotarians and a

commemorative crystal. As

the members rose to give

him a standing ovation,

Gene said, with a familiar

twinkle in his eye, “What a

wonderful surprise for hanging around

for 60 years.” [Another photo, p. 6.]

Announcements… Future meetings: We’ll continue our

August meetings at Tanglewood

Pavilion. President Kevin Kraft said

the results of the member survey on our

permanent home had been tabulated and

will be forwarded to the Board at its

meeting next Tuesday. The decision will

be announced at next week’s meeting.

New member recruitment: Jim

Slavens complimented the membership

for continuing to fill out and hand in the

shocking-pink new-member lead slips.

“Keep inviting more people to lunch,” he

urged.

Golf Outing: Tim Lane announced

that the annual event is scheduled to

replace the meeting of Wednesday, Sept.

9, with golfers teeing off at Palmer Hills

Gold Club about noon and diners –

golfers, other members, spouses and

guests – queuing up for grilled steak,

chicken and salmon that evening. Tim

thanked past event co-chairs Ken

Vandersnick and John Rabine for their

years of excellent leadership. Tim said a

search is on for volunteers to form a new

Golf Outing Committee.

History with Harry…

(Harry Coin

searches BRC

Archives and

interviews veteran

members to

discover fun things

about our past…)

The mystery Rotarian is…(?) Who’s this Rotarian? Three clues:

1) The first Bettendorf airport was

parallel to State Street. In fact, it was one

of the first airports anywhere. One of the

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planes made here during testing sort of

broke in two, landing in Duck Creek.

2) The second Bettendorf airport ran

parallel to 18th Street. Its hangar was

directly across

18th from the

Bettendorf Middle

school. In the

1970s the hangar

remained after the

runway was long

gone, and it

became the band

rehearsal room for

grades 6, 7 and 8.

(Kids would walk

across 18th after

gym in the “bubble.” In the winter, after

showering post-gym, our wet hair would

freeze. We could “snap” hairs into pieces

as they froze by the time we made it to

the hangar.)

3) On the city’s behalf, our Rotarian put

out bids, asking a landscaping company

to lay sod where today’s 18th street runs,

between Grant Street and Central

Avenue. The landscaping firm declined

the bid, referring our Rotarian to a

wallpaper-hanging firm.

Who was it? Details to follow!

Jon Ryan

Happy $$...

(Named in honor of

the late Bettendorf

Rotarian, punster,

jokester and all-

around good guy)

President Kevin collected $356 – with

extra amounts coming from: Jeff

Boomer Hill – happy Mayor Bob

Gallagher is running for reelection…

Bill Daley – “nothing to do” during his

impending visit to family in Kansas…

Steve Sorensen – 61st birthday, so a $60

check, “because at 60 you’re supposed to

start subtracting years, right?”… Jerry

Felsing – 45th birthday + another

grandbaby due at the end of August…

Ken Vandersnick – vacationing in

Colorado last week + two questions for

Decker Ploehn about 18th Street

construction (to which Decker replied,

“It’s a sewer project – ask them”)…

Larry Thein – son’s 11th birthday – he

was invited to try out for Barnstormers

baseball league – and made it… Mayor

Bob – $$ for last month’s birthday +

thanks to Boomer for his support… Greg

Blaske – daughter Hannah, on PVHS

softball team, was the only MAC player

to make the state academic team… Ryan

Bell – vacationed in North Carolina – and

didn’t get a shark bite… Dick Schillig –

Boomer Hill has his RWC yard sign

32 days to Run with Carl + “take a

postcard and a yard sign” to promote

signups… Jim Slavens – happy Bob

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Gallagher is running again for mayor –

“and here’s $100 for his campaign…

Linda Miller – not running again for the

Iowa Senate in 2016 (prompting mention

of the rumor that BRC member-to-be

Gary Mohr will run for the seat)… Dave

Deuth – had an 11 a.m. funeral and still

made it before the end of the meeting…

Sharon Sarver – happy about Gene

Miller’s honor for 60 year in Rotary.

The meeting opened…

We returned to Tanglewood. After

striking the bell, President Kevin Kraft

welcomed everyone, thanked the

Tanglewood’s Julie and Donna for

baking cookies and brownies for the

August birthday bunch and led the

recitation of The 4-Way Test.

With a keyboard available, pianist Gail

Baldwin accompanied song leader Tom

Frank Schwab kept our flag after our weeks at

Crust – and returned it to Tanglewood.

Howard in the day’s patriotic song,

“God Bless America.”

President Kevin returned to lead the

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and

Moments of Silence. After introductions

by Secretary Johanna Smith, Tom and

Gail returned with a Rotary-song fest:

“Sing, Everyone, Sing,” “Get Together

Song” and “Happy Birthday, Dear

Rotarians” – who in August are: 04,

Steve Sorensen; 05, Gary Felton; 09,

Penny McGimpsey; 12, Jerry Felsing; 14,

Diane Ricketts-McCool, Jay Willsher;

22, Dawn Saul; 27, Linda Miller

Secretary Johanna Smith

introduced… Visiting Rotarians:

Tom Torrey, Rock Island Rotary Guests:

Doris Miller, guest of Gene Miller

Gail Baldwin, pianist

Julie Funk, Bettendorf Schools Foundation,

guest of Ami Wells

Beth Marsoun Pleasant Valley Schools

Foundation, guest of Ami Wells

Brittany Hopkins, Knilans’ Furniture, guest

of Sharon Sarver

Hannah Blaske, guest of Greg Blaske

Maddie Morrison, speaker

Mecca Morrison, guest of Brad Morrison

Mary Jo Morrison, guest of Brad Morrison

In all, 54 attending Bettendorf Rotarians

were joined by 9 guests and 1 visiting

Rotarian.

And at the end… … of the meeting, Greg Blaske won a

Happy to Have a Make-up in the drawing

from among all those members who

participated in Jon Ryan Happy $$.

Missing today… Bibik, Boeye, Bush, Chambers, Daugherty,

DeDoncker, Dickson, Duda, Eikenberry,

Elledge, Featherstone, Fee, Felton, Franks,

Gause, Geisewite, Habenicht, Hartsock,

Hassel, Hinman, Hintermeister, Hinton,

Hipple, James, Kappeler, Lizak, Lokenvitz,

McGimpsey, Martinez, Mitvalsky, Mohr,

Naeve, Nelson, Olson, Oswald, Powers,

Ricketts-McCool, Ross, Rutherford, Saul,

Schuler, Schutte, Scranton, Spelhaug,

Stopulos, Webster, Werner, Willsher,

Windmiller

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Make-ups… Davenport Rotary: Chuck Geisewite (2)

Iowa QC Rotary: Dick Schillig

Make up at another QC club… Monday, noon: Davenport – The Outing Club

Monday, noon: Moline –Trinity Lutheran Church,

Moline

Monday, 6 p.m.: QC Illinois – Club Rm., HyVee,

7th Street & John Deere Road, Moline

Tuesday, 7:15 a.m.: River Cities – Brothers

Restaurant, Rapids City

Tuesday, noon: Rock Island – QC Botanical

Center

Wednesday, noon: Bettendorf – Tanglewood

Pavilion

Wednesday, 5 p.m.: Mini Meet – Lunardi’s

Restaurant, Davenport

Thursday, 7 a.m.: Iowa Quad Cities – J-Bar,

Elmore Avenue, Davenport

Thursday, noon: East Moline – Christ United

Methodist Church

Thursday, noon: Milan – Pinnacle Country Club

2nd and 4th Thursdays, 5:30 p.m.: Twin Rivers

Rotary After Hours – Bierstube, Moline

Friday, noon: North Scott – Steeplegate Inn,

Davenport

Upcoming meetings... … Thanks to program

chair Scott Naumann,

scottn@midlandcom.

com, 445-4260: Aug. 12: Bill

Albracht, author and

retired U.S. Army

Special Forces and

Secret Service officer Aug. 19: Vocational

Service Programs

Aug. 26: Club Assembly

Sept. 9: Golf Outing and steak fry, Palmer

Hills Golf Course

Sept. 16: Kelly Thompson, Teens for

Tomorrow (Community Foundation Youth

Driven Philanthropy)

BRC News staff… Editor, reporter, photographer: Fred

Anderson

Correspondent, Web-site host: Johanna

Smith

For more on Bettendorf Rotary: http://www.bettendorfrotary.com/

For more on Rotary District 6000: www.rotary6000.org/

For more on Rotary International: https://www.rotary.org/

Gene Miller accepts his congratulatory “card” from President Kevin – with scores of comments from BRC members.