CIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume 55, No. 45      March 5, 2008

With Pavlovian eagerness 98 men rose to their feet as one upon hearing President RICHARD LIMBACHER ring the bell at 10 AM. Presenting a Pavlovian paradox they cheered at the announcement of a $2 day. JOE MALARA dedicated the pledge to his brother Frank, one of the first GI’s to liberate the Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps at the end of WW II. Ivory tickler BOB ALDEN and maestro JOHN DeCsepel led us in our National Anthem, The Caisson Song and Smiles. BILL DYNAN read a couple of post cards and reviewed the events of last week, leaving much of the detail to readers of this august journal. He completed his presentation with a story about the health benefits of potatoes.

RETURNEES: RICH LIMBACHER welcomed back AL HARTIG from the Far East, TOM HEALY from the Caribbean, ART ROBINSON from Mexico, GEORGE DIPPY from Colorado, and BOB CAREY from Florida.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: CARL STONE announced that financial reports were available and then recruited for the Town Appeals Board, see CARL for details. As if announcing a $2 day was not enough, president LIMBACHER, citing the high cost of running weekly meetings appealed to members who missed meetings due to travel or snow birdness contribute to the general fund to compensate for the weekly dues they missed. CHUCK LIVINGSTON informed those involved that the Melody Men would rehearse Monday and Thursday mornings at BOB Button’s house. GENE SCHWARTZ announced his new course at Sacred Heart University in Stamford “Understanding Israel, Palestine and the Middle East" (starting next Tuesday). The cost for RMA members over age 62 is $ 175 (vs $1,300 regular). BOB CHURCH reminded us that this is the last week for “Once Upon a Mattress” at St Catherine’s.

MEMORIAL: DICK HERMANCE gave a fitting memorial for FREDERICK T. RICHARDS. FRED was an RMA member since 1994, and died after a brief illness on February 23. DICK shared his personal and professional life with his usual thoroughness and respect. A memorial service was held on February 28.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Visiting: CHUCK STANDARD brought us up-to-date on DOM DiMAIO and JOHN LYONS. He also reported that NICK PATASI, HOWARD HENNINGTON and JOE GUARISO would like to hear from their friends. NICK is at Greenwich Hospital, Room 3146 863-4118, HOWARD is at King Street 914-937-3443 and JOE is at Witherell Room 404 618-4383. Program: TIM NOLAN announced today speaker DR. Jeff Ranta, JOHN DeCSEPEL gave a heads up on next week’s speaker, Donald Greg, ex-CIA and former Ambassador to South Korea Membership: JIM FAHY reported a 98 attendees, including 1candidate, GEORGE STOCKBRIDGE, , and 3 guests, PETER UHRY go BOB OPPENHEIMER, BOB PHELPS go MIKE SMITH and DON CONWAY go TOM HEALY Birthday boys were RON KLINGER 83, BOB ETTINGER 82, MARTIN GRAYSON 80, DAVE FICKER 87 and MIKE RYAN 70 Have a happy, fellas. Volunteer: FRANK HENDERSON reported 767 hours by 58 men to outside volunteering, and 103 hours to RMA duties by 23 of us. Special Events: TOM HEALY again announced his impending retirement in May and said he will do one last trip in May, probably Belmont (loud cheers). He also asked for menu choices for the Philharmonic Rehearsal trip on 4/3

FUN AND GAMES: Bridge: No report. Bowling: LINN GRIM reported that the best score this week was DANA LOW with 182. TENNIS: DICK BARTHOLOMEW listed last week’s winner, PAUL LEVINE 11 & 7, JACK SWEGER 14&9 and TONY RIGGI 15&7. Captains for 3/7 are MIKE SMITH ct 1, DICK BARTHOLOMEW ct 2 and TONY RIGGI ct 3. ERF PORTER fooled the gathered brothers by NOT reporting on Golf but rather on the upcoming performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion by the Greenwich Choral Society and the Fairfield Chorale, Sunday, March 16^th at 4PM at the Norwalk Concert Hall. Contact ERF for possible discount tickets.

TODAY'S SPEAKER: TIM NOLAN introduced his former partner and Chief of Urology at Greenwich Hospital Dr. Jeff Ranta. Dr. Ranta explained the DiVinci robotic minimally invasive surgical equipment, specifically on how it works in prostate surgery. He also discussed the advantages and risks involved.

His talk was graphically supplemented by live videos of surgery performed by this equipment. He then spoke about prostate cancer, its detection and treatment.

AV RIVEL, Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS
Open to all members, their ladies, candidates and guests. Note:Tx xchnged via the BB after events are sold out..

Thurs, 3 April NY Philharmonic Open Rehearsal, Beethoven on ticket xchange. Please notify TOM HEALY of menu choices

May – Belmont Race Track – maybe , details to follow

NEXT WEEK

Donald Gregg Ex CIA, former Ambassador to South Korea