Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
January 26, 2017

Members Attending (12): Terry Brewer, Murray Forth, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Dick Drumm, Julius Frankel, Andy Leyhane, Marco Koshykar, Becky Raymond, Carole Spencer, Ray Hannan, A.J. Amato.

Guests: None.

PROGRAM: “Law & Order”

Club member Marco Koshykar, a partner with the Albany law firm of Nolan & Heller, spoke on “Law & Order,” or common legal topics many of us have faced, or will face.

Marco, a Columbia High School graduate who studied law at Syracuse University and deals primarily in commercial law, addressed buying and selling real estate; wills (living wills, last will and testament, health care proxy); dealing with traffic tickets, and waivers or liability releases.

While he spoke in some depth on each category, a few of the more salient points were:

• Handwritten wills or changes made by handwritten notations on them are unenforceable, with certain exceptions such as military personnel hand writing a will while in combat.

• Legal forms from the Internet may seem OK as general guidelines, but people make use of them at their own peril.

• Generally, if you pay an admission or use fee at a facility, any waiver of responsibility it asks you to sign is unenforceable. A prominent exception is a paid instructional activity.

• Most lawyers will offer a free initial consultation. Two good sources to find lawyers, besides word-of-mouth referrals, are the websites of the New York State Bar Association and the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory.

Business/Announcements

PRESIDING OFFICER — Immediate Past President Terry Brewer presided in the absence of President Debbie Rodriguez. He noted that one of our two scheduled speakers, Jacqueline Lynch of the American Cancer Society, had to cancel her appearance due to illness.

WEBSITE UPDATE — Terry mentioned that club webmaster Bill Dowd last week presented a hands-on workshop on improving members’ use of the website and its many facets. He suggested members follow up on Bill’s suggestion to sign up to “follow” the site, which means an email message would be sent to them each time the site is updated.

RECYCLING EFFORTS — Strong, positive public response to our recent recycling day prompted setting an April 22 date for a second such event. Because member A.J. Amato has paid for a paper recycling day each year via his company, the thought was to combine the days rather than to compete. A.J. usually does only paper recycling while the SRC effort handled both paper and electronics. The April event would combine the two, with site and details to be determined. Discussion was held about getting exchange students involved since some of the proceeds would go to that program.

CAMP ROTARY — Bill Dowd noted that more than 100 Boy Scouts from Rensselaer and Columbia counties spent last Saturday at Camp Rotary participating in team-building group activities. He said he posted a photo on the website with links to a slideshow on The Record newspaper’s website.

ROTARY HOME COOKING — The winter-spring member-hosted series of casual home dinners begins this Friday with Dean and Doris Calamaras holding a Greek dinner. Debbie and Peter Brown will host on February 11, Terry and Geoff Brewer in March, April and Bill Dowd in April, and Murray and Maggie Forth in May. Closer to each event, the hosts will announce details, seating capacity, and price.

“CANSTRUCTION” FOOD DRIVE — Several clubs in District 7190 are organizing a food drive for The Food Pantries of the Capital Region under the umbrella name of “Rotary Clubs of the Capital Region.” There has been some confusion on dates and deadlines plus erratic communication. Bill Dowd volunteered to get the correct data and report back to the club so we could ascertain whether to be involved.

COMMUNITY RECOGNITION DINNER — Terry passed along information from John Sawchuk who would like to organize a fundraiser dinner through Columbia High School with SRC as the sponsor. It would recognize people of achievement among students and the business community. Dinner would be held at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, priced at $35 per person, $10 or more of which would come back to the club. John was asked to firm up the details and get back to us for consideration.

NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, February 3, at Quigley’s. Jennifer Felts, publisher of Our Towne magazine, will be the speaker.

 Dinner Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
January 19, 2017

Members Attending (15): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Dick Drumm, Dean Calamaras, Julius Frankel, Carole Spencer, Stewart Wagner, Charlie Foote,

Guests (1): Jean Marie Niederhoffer.

Program: “Our Website, Social Media & You”

Our webmaster, Bill Dowd, presented a discussion of our methods of communication in the past and what still works today, as an introduction to a hands-on workshop on use of our website and social media accounts.

As he compared them, he noted, for example, that many newspapers have lost more than 50% of their circulation in the past decade; that mail has largely been supplanted by email because of its low cost, speed of delivery and ease of use; landline phones, which many families have done away with, have given way to cellphone usage that is portable, has no long-distance surcharges or expensive calling-hour periods; telegrams have virtually disappeared — he said telegrams still exist, but the message is communicated simply by a service calling you on the phone and reading the message to you; there are so many cable TV and live streaming services that traditional commercial TV has a fragmented audience.

He explained a set of research slides showing the sharp increase in social media use in the past decade, that usage is about even between the sexes, that the more educated people are the more they use such communications; that race and age really do not make a difference in usage.

Bill then walked us through the club website (SRCrotary.org) he created and maintains. It combines a blog and 21 interior pages, as well as links to the club’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and to numerous offsite resources. He described the blog content as a mix of announcements, event coverage, meeting minutes, local and global Rotary news, and other pertinent content.

He also suggested members sing up on the website to “follow” it, meaning they will get email notifications anytime the site is updated so they can link directly to it.

The PowerPoint portion of Bill’s program is available on our Program Presentation Archive website page.

Announcements/Business

RECYCLING REPORT — Treasurer Murray Forth reported a profit of $2,245 from Saturday’s paper and electronics recycling day, and noted that many members of the public asked if we plan to repeat the event. We will do so in the spring.  President Debbie Rodriguez thanked Mike Dewey, Matt Smith, Josh Wainman, Terry Brewer and Murray for their particular efforts in putting together the event, as well as all other members and friends who volunteered to staff it; 22 Rotarians were involved in the project.

GOLF EVENT CANCELLED — The planned January 21 indoor simulator golf tournament at Burden Lake Country Club has been cancelled due to insufficient registration numbers.

ROTARY HOME COOKING SERIES — Dean Calamaras said five seats remain for the January 27 Greek dinner he and Doris are hosting. Please contact them directly if interested in participating. The next dinner after that is scheduled for February 11, hosted by Debbie and Peter Brown. A few seats remain open for that event. Contact either of the Browns if interested.

ROTARY BIRTHDAY PARTY — Members are asked to save February 24 to attend the annual Rotary Birthday Party, this year to be held in Ballston Spa. Details will be shared closer to the date.

NEXT DINNER MEETING: 6:15 p.m. Thursday, January 26. A “2fer” evening, with club member Marco Koshykar, an attorney, speaking on “The Law Today,” and a representative of the American Cancer Society speaking on the Rensselaer County Relay for Life event.

Breakfast Meeting at Greenbush YMCA
2 Community Way
East Greenbush, NY
January 19, 2017

Members Attending (13): Shannon Romanowski, Terry Brewer. Jim Butterworth, Jim Leyhane, Andy Leyhane, Matt Smith, John Sawchuk, Murray Forth, Melissa Bill, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Ron Annis, Roberto Martinez.

Club member Jim Butterworth, executive director of CASDA (Capital Area School Development Association), spoke about the organization’s work in developing programs for a wide variety of schools and school districts throughout the state.

NEXT THIRD THURSDAY MEETING: 7 a.m. February 16 at the Greenbush YMCA.