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CIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume 57, No. 28                  November 18, 2009

"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied"

Otto von Bismark

Immediately after ringing the opening bell President Craine announced that the air-conditioning unit in the RMA Great Hall had been muffled and there was now no excuse for missing any of the pearls of wisdom to be dropped that day. DOM DEPASQUALE led the pledge. Surprising no one, maestro CHUCK STANDARD chose three patriotic songs for the songfest accompanied by PETE RYAN, Our National Anthem, America the Beautiful and God Bless America. In a break with tradition song books were not distributed and the massed voices sang with gusto.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: BILL OSGOOD led off seeking volunteers to make Christmas baskets to be hung on light poles on Greenwich Avenue. Anytime Thursday/ Friday November 19/20 between 9AM & 4PM. Details, BILL @ 203-637-4788. STEVE MYERS announced a talk by George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the topic "What Happens if Iran Gets the Bomb? Can it be prevented?" Sunday, December 6, 2:00PM @ First Cong. Church in Old Greenwich, Free. ERF PORTER brought us musical news about the Melody Men who are in their 34th year of doing good by singing well. He cited Joan Osgood stellar accompanist and CHUCK LIVINGSTON, Manager and booking agent for special kudos. ERF also informed us of the upcoming Christmas Concerts by the Greenwich Choral Society on December 5 & 6 at Christ Church. Sat and Sun @ 4PM and Sunday @ 7 PM. ERF promised that these concerts will "blow your socks off" Call him for tickets 203-698-0352.

RICH BARTHOLOMEW renewed his request for Salvation Army bell ringers, especially 4PM-6PM on Fri/Sat/&Sunday for four weekends starting November 27. One hour assignments can be arranged. Call RICH 203-637-4938 or JOHN FEBLES 203-869-5343. JIM SANTORO thanked all who participated in the Neighbor-to-Neighbor cans or cash campaign. It will be repeated on December 15th. Last, but never least, DICK RADCLIFFE pitched the Greenwich Symphony concerts this coming weekend, he made it sound good.

RETURNEES: RICH BARTHOLOMEW from Singer Island, Florida

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Memorial:– DICK HERMANCE memorialized JOHN GANTZ, 90, an RMA member since 1992. An active member of the community JOHN was particularly proud of his work as a volunteer driver for the Red Cross. Visiting: It was a CHUCK STANDARD wonderful day as he announced that several members were at home recuperating and hoped to back to the Y soon: DOM COGLIANDRO, GERRY LESSUK, GENE LOUGHLIN and ROGER PIERCE. Program: JOHN CARON briefly bio’d today’s speaker Mary Ann Hoberman, details below, JOHN DECSEPEL previewed next week’s speaker, Diedre McDonald, SR. VP. Of Sony Music who will talk about the problem of piracy in the music industry. Membership: – JIM FAHY reported 121 members, 1 candidate, and 5 guests: Jim Butler g.o JACK BAUSMAN, Jack Farley g.o SAM MARASSO AND Lloyd Hall g.o WIN ADKINS. Birthday boys are: FRANK LEE, 79, ED KRUMEICH 86, CORY DUNHAM 82, BARNEY LONG 81, ARNOLD STANCELL 723, BUD MC GOWAN 85, MIKE TASKER 90, CHARLES HANLON 97, and DOM DIMAIO 85. Many Happy Returns men ! Special Events: RICH LIMBACHER reported on our popular upcoming events; details below. Volunteer: – BILL OSGOOD reported a good week with 1146 outside hours by 72 men and 189 RMA hours by 24 men.

INDUCTEE: -- After a surprising unanimous vote ED LARAJA was accepted as RMA’s newest member. ED is a retired international food broker and golfer who has lived in Greenwich for 20 years. Ed’s acceptance speech was spiked with humor and delivered with verve. Welcome aboard ED!　

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY; Bridge: KURT SCHAFFIR reported the following scores: DAVE DOWNS – 5420; JOE ROE – 3450 and CLYDE MOONIE 2410. Golf: BOB PHILLIPS reminded all that the official season was over but the Griff would probably be open until December 6th, weather permitting. Bowling: According to DOM DE PASQUALE, the high scores this week were JERRY BERRAFATI 141 AND DOM DEPASQUALE 148. Tennis: MIKE SMITH reported on this past Friday’s scores, Court 1 MIKE SMITH 10 of 17, Court 2: JIM DANIEL and JACK SWEGER tied at 12.　 Captains for November 20 TOM HEALY & PETER UHRY. MIKE is preparing a new schedule, please notify him of any "can’t make" dates 203- 869-4454

OUR SPEAKER -- Mary Ann Hoberman, National Children’s Poet Laureate, and author of award winning books for young people. Her talk, which included readings of several of her poems concerned her personal journey to children’s poetry, how she draws inspiration from her own childhood and family and the developing evolution of family structure over the years. The lively Q&A covered a wide range from "how do I best read to my grandchildren" to the business model of the children’s book business.

AV RIVEL, Editor

　 　 　 　 　 　 SPECIAL EVENTS
Open to all members, their ladies, candidates and guests. Tickets may be exchanged via the Bulletin Board after events are sold out.

Thurs. Dec. 3: Wintuk, depart 8:45 am at St. C’s, lunch at Le Rivage, open menu. T.Ex.

Thurs. Jan. 14NY Philharmonic, 7:45 departure, lunch at Lincoln Center, steak or salmon. T. Ex.

Thurs. Feb. 25: Culinary Institute, depart 8:15, 11 seats left.

NEXT WEEK’S SPEAKER

Diedre McDonald Sr. VP Sony Music, Subject: Piracy

Visit our website: www.greenwichrma.org

On CT Public TV’s Channel 79 -Videos of RMA Speaker Presentations, with a lag of about 3 weeks.
Click on link below, and find specific Date and Times for individual programs.

 http://gctv.greenwich.org/schedule