CIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume 56, No. 13             July 30, 2008

Returning President MIKE RYAN rang the opening bell promptly at 9:30am. HENRY BAKER led us in the Pledge, JIM SANTORA caressed the keyboard and CHUCK “It’s a Beautiful Day” STANDARD waved his baton while we sang America The Beautiful, Smiles and It’s A Grand Old Flag. CorrSec/RecSec BILL DYNAN read a Colorado postcard from HARRY TWITCHELL and then entertained us with a tale of the Lone Ranger’s various disquisitions on the meaning of the early-morning stars and constellations, followed by Tonto’s tentless rejoinder. Our President then urged us to keep moving during the break in a counterclockwise direction past the cake and coffee corner, to prevent pedestrian gridlock. He extolled the pleasures of his recent Danube River cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest and shared with us silly questions from his fellow passengers, e.g.: “Do those stairs go up as well as down?” and “Is the island surrounded by water?”

ANNOUNCEMENTS: MIKE RYAN announced that the next Board Meeting will be held in the YMCA boardroom on the top floor of the building at 8:30 am on Wednesday August 6. JOHN CRAINE will be filling in for Mike.

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Visiting: CHUCK STANDARD reported “To my knowledge there is no one in the hospital at this time. (Let’s keep it that way.) DOM DIMAIO hopes to be back the end of August.” Program: RICH LIMBACHER reported that ESPN President and Greenwich High graduate George Bodenheimer will be today’s speaker. JOHN DECSEPEL told us that next week we will hear about “interesting cases” from recently-retired Chief Counsel Thomas J. Cahill of the NY State Disciplinary Committee. Membership: JIM FAHY reported 127 attendees, comprising 122 members, 3 candidates and 2 guests: Joe Tranfo, guest of JOHN CARON and Mario Bonaparte, guest of STEVE MARINO. JERRY & Ann ISAACSON celebrated their 58th anniversary yesterday. Birthdays were celebrated by 13 of us: BOB BUTTON 93, SAL DEANGELO 85, FRED ELSER 74, JOHN HOFFMAN 79, WALTER HUMSTONE 95, DICK RADCLIFFE 84, TONY RIGGI 76 , JOHN RIIS 84, ALEC ROBERTSON 76, BRIAN SPILLE 66, CHUCK STANDARD 89, JIM WHALEN 77 and SAMUEL YORK, 79. “Happy Birthday” was duly sung. Volunteer: FRANK HENDERSON reported 651 hours by 57 men to outside agencies, and 99 hours to RMA duties by 23 of us. Special Events: RICH LIMBACHER reported a sellout of the Goodspeed outing on August 14. Those signed up should call Rich at 531-9515 with menu selections: chicken, sirloin steak or salmon. The bus will leave St. Catherine’s at 10:00 am.

RETURNEES: JOE COLEMAN from Alaska and San Francisco, BOB OPPENHEIMER from an 8-day cruise down the Rhine, Holland to Switzerland and MIKE RYAN from his Danube River cruise.

INDUCTEE: Sponsored by old friend WINN ADKINS and recent acquaintance CHUCK STANDARD, GEORGE SHADDOCK was duly approved as an RMA member. A recent newcomer to Greenwich, George’s skills are legion: they include, among others, writing, e-book publishing, underwater photography, computer teaching and troubleshooting. He is a member of the Round Hill Community Church. His work background includes stints as a corporate troubleshooter, plant manager, sales manager and trainer of plant managers.

SCOREBOARD: Bridge:. KURT SCHAFFIR reported last week’s scores: JOE ROE, 5570, AL HARTIG 3780 and HUGO GRUENDEL 3200. Golf: BILL DYNAN reported yesterday’s results. There were 8 foursomes and 11 of the 32 men broke 100, CHUCK STANDARD missed shooting his age (89) by one measly stroke. Low gross scores were an 83 by RICH BARTHOLOMEW, 85 by KIP SCHULZE, who also had the long drive on # 17 and 86 by JIM MCKAY. JACK SWEGER was closest to the # 7 pin. JIM SANTORA closest to the # 15 pin.

TODAY’S PROGRAM: George Bodenheimer, ESPN President gave us a stirring presentation that traced the evolution of ESPN from its inception in 1979 to the present. The ESPN mission has remained constant: to serve sports fans 24 hours a day 7 days a week with coverage of sporting events around the world. Starting with 70 employees in Bristol Connecticut, ESPN today has 5,500 employees, some 40 networks worldwide, serving fans in 130 countries. While ESPN is best known for its television coverage, the company has expanded access to other media including ESPN2, radio, magazines and Internet-accessible web sites. George’s remarks were interspersed with film clips of ESPN’s early days, and some goofy gaffes. He compared ESPN to the children’s book “The Little Engine That Could.” Hallmarks of the company culture include humility and a “can-do” attitude. Leadership is valued highly at all levels and across all functions. George defines leadership as “making others better, helping people grow.” Some 7 years ago, he implemented an annual priority-setting exercise in which 70 people are closeted and charged with hammering out a set of priorities for the coming year. The list must be sufficiently succinct to fit on a card, which employees can carry with them. Every employee gets a card. Rather than seek directions “from the corner office” employees are motivated to use the priority cards to evaluate and choose among alternatives. A lively Q&A session followed George’s engaging remarks.

ERIC KNUTSEN, Editor

SPECIAL EVENTS
Open to all members their ladies, candidates, guests.TX means ticket exchange via the Bulletin Board after events are sold out

Thurs, 14 Aug, Goodspeed, Half a Sixpence, lunch at Gelston House, $99pp, St. C’s 10:00am.
TX. Coordinator Rich Limbacher, 531-9515.

Wed., 10 Sept., South Pacific, lnch O’Neal’s, $170pp, St. C. 9:45 AM , Methodist Church,10:30am TX. Coordinator. Warren Leibfried, 629-3963. (Note second stop at RMA).

Thurs, 18 Sept., Sagamore Hill, lnch. Milleridge Inn, Guggenheim estate, $70pp, St. C. 8:00am,
TX. Coordinator rich Bartholomew, 637-4938.

Tues., 7 Oct. Naugatuck Scenic RR, lunch Hopkins Inn, Lake Waramaug, Tour and Wine tasting, Hopkins Vineyard., St. C. 8:15am, TX. Coordinator Martin Grayson, 661-7918

NEXT 3 WEEKS

August 6 -“Interesting cases” from retired Chief Counsel Thomas Cahill of the NY State Disciplinary Committee.

August 13 -David Eustice, PhD -- Director, Greenwich Science Center

August 20 -Alan Murray, Executive Editor Wall St, Journal and author, Revolt in the Boardroom: New Rules of Power in Corporate America