Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (14): Phil Kellerman, Murray Forth, Dick Drumm, Bill Dowd, Charlie Foote, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Kevin Leyhane, Carol Orvis, Debbie Rodriguez, Terry Brewer, Julius Frankel.

Guests (2): Paige Johnson, Justin DiVirgilio.

---

MEETING NOTES: Phil Kellerman presided, welcoming members and one guest. … Phil read a thank-you note from a friend in Georgia who thanked the club for its $150 grant to purchase workbooks to help her instruct students learning English. … He also followed up Bill Dowd’s request of last week for members to participate in the Clynk container recycling effort to raise funds for ShelterBox. … Also as part of SRC’s environmental responsibility initiatives, Murray Forth has agreed to spearhead a recycling-and-shredding day in the spring, with a date to be determined.

… Dean Calamaras, a board member of the District 7190 Gift of Life, said about $10,000 will be realized from the recent GOL Golf Tournament at Pinehaven Country Club in Guilderland. He also reported that GOL’s next third-world patient to arrive here, from Bolivia, for cardiac surgery at Albany Med will land at Albany International Airport on November 4. He urged anyone who can make it to join the welcoming committee at the airport. Details to be provided.

… Members were reminded that the annual Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) session is scheduled for Saturday, October 19, in Schenectady. The club will pay the registration fee for any members of SRC and Danes Rotaract who wish to participate. Such people should contact Bill Dowd, who will handle their registration, no later than Tuesday, October 8. Anyone wishing to register after that is on their own to do so. … Our speaker next week will be Jim Leyhane with an update on next fall’s Rotary Trail Run at the Columbia County Fairgrounds.

---

PROGRAM: Justin DiVirgilio of Hartgen Archaeological Associates presented a program titled “Beyond the North Gate,” an archaeological dig unearthing a Dutch colonial-era distillery in what now is part of downtown Albany.

His company specializes in studying specific plots of land to be developed to comply with state and local laws and regulations that ensure nothing of archaeological significance is harmed. His presentation discussed the history of rum distilling in Albany, the intricacies of the dig itself, an analysis of what was found, and the resulting work needed to preserve artifacts and the site itself before it was reburied.

The Albany dig uncovered remnants of several colonial distilleries that used the same footprint, and revealed how excavations and new infrastructure over the years changed the site. Several rudimentary stills were extricated and now are part of a New York State Museum exhibit titled “Beneath the City: An Archaeological Perspective of Albany.”

---

 

 

 

Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (14): Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Dick Drumm, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Bill Dowd, Ray Hannan, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Andy Leyhane, Carol Orvis, Debbie Rodriguez.

Guests (2): Kevin Drumm, Paige Johnson.

---

MEETING NOTES: President-elect Dick Drumm presided in Phil Kellerman’s absence, greeting SRC members and our guests. … Bill Dowd reminded attendees that a supply of bags and bar code stickers will be maintained at Quigley’s for use by members participating in our Clynk container recycling effort to raise funds for ShelterBox. … Visiting Rotarian Paige Johnson announced that Kristy’s Barn, where she is the marketing manager, would welcome SRC to have a table at the farmstand on weekends through Columbus Day if we wish to use it for fundraising or public information purposes.

... Members were urged to sign up for this year’s Rotary Leadership Institute session, to be held October 19 in Schenectady. As always, the club will pay the registration fee for anyone interested in attending. Bill Dowd will handle the registration for anyone who contacts him no later than October 8. After that date, you’re on your own to register. … Bill also reminded members of the clothing drop boxes around the area that accept discarded items as a fundraiser for Gift of Life. He periodically posts on the website location a list of GOL dropoff boxes. (Click here for the latest.) … The speaker for our October 3 meeting will be Justin DeVirgilio of Hartgen Archaeological Associates.

---

PROGRAM: Dick Drumm, DVM, ably assisted by son Kevin, discussed Dick’s long career in veterinary medicine and the many changes in the field.

Dick, who graduated from the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine 68 years ago, has gone from that to being  the owner of Capital Vets, a company with four animal hospitals in the Capital Region — Schodack, Latham, Brunswick, and Catskill. Over the years, he has grown from a three-person staff to 75 employees.

Dick noted that there were no women in his graduating class, only one in the class preceding his, and two in the succeeding class. Today, there are more female vets nationally than males, and 80% of veterinary medicine students across the country are female.

More specialization has changed the dynamic of the field, as shown by the number of transplants, oncology treatments, and specialized surgeries. In addition, the field has been “corporatized,” with more and more practices becoming part of large corporations. That consolidation of business has provided more money for state-of-the-art equipment and a rise in the number of vet specialty hospitals, which mirrors the changes in human medicine.

---

 

Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (12): Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Dean Calamaras, Bill Dowd, Dick Drumm, Charlie Foote, Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez, Andy Leyhane.

Guests (4): David Harris, Mary Drumm, Kevin Drumm, Paige Johnson.

---

MEETING NOTES — President Phil Kellerman welcomed members and guests. … Jim Leyhane and Roberto Martinez updated members on Murray Forth’s status. He has been rehospitalized with different a different problem, but expects to go home in a day or two. … Roberto reported that he won a raffle basket at the Gift of Life Golf Tournament awards dinner on Monday and is giving it to Murray and Maggie on behalf of the club as a get-well gift. Apropos the GOL event, Dean and Doris Calamaras were recognized as Friends of Gift of Life, and SRC had two foursomes participate. …

Phil shared a flyer from a friend in Georgia who teaches English as a second language to students who speaks other languages and are financially limited. She was asking for a $150 grant to purchase specific workbooks that have proven successful in helping such students. Phil said he would personally match anything up to $75 toward such a grant. Several other members quickly chipped in $75, thus reaching the $150 grant level. … Bill Dowd said he has resumed stocking up on Clynk container recycling bags and bar-code stickers for use by club members to raise funds for ShelterBox. They will be available at all meetings at Quigley’s. Last week, Bill presented a $400 check for the first proceeds from our efforts via the program Clynk runs in partnership with Hannaford supermarkets. Bill noted that participation in the program costs the club nothing because he has been paying for the bags and will continue to do so. …

Bill also reported that, for the first time in 19 years, a case of polio has been reported in the Philippines. The polio virus also has been found in the sewage systems of Manila, the principal city, and other locations, A mass vaccine program will be resumed within  the next few weeks. He asked that members continue remembering Rotary’s PolioPlus program when it comes to donations. … Debbie Rodriguez is succeeding April Dowd as the Sunshine Committee lead. Members are asked to remember to keep Debbie in the loop when they have word of illness or bereavement among our Rotary family. … Next week’s speaker will be East Greenbush Town Supervisor Jack Conway.

---

GUEST SPEAKER — David B. Harris, supervisor of the Town of Schodack, paid a return visit (he spoke to the club last March) to update us on what’s happening in the town. Among the major points:

• Work is proceeding on the Route 9 site that is being prepared for construction of a million-square-foot Amazon distribution center. He said he is confident a lawsuit by a neighborhood group near the site seeking to halt work will be overcome. He also noted that drilling is being done to remove a huge rock — “It’s about the size of this meeting room,” he said — because of a county regulation against blasting there.

• The town continues to concentrate on attracting new businesses, especially for the Routes 9 & 20 corridor, Columbia Turnpike. As he noted, sales taxes are the largest income stream for the town, so retail stores are particularly important. A new Stewart’s is being constructed; Cumberland Farms is looking into adding a store; strips of unused land owned by the town are being offered for sale to enable them to be returned to the tax rolls; a Georgia company is studying the possibility of reviving the former Fort Orange paper mill into a facility to produce cardboard (perhaps to sell to Amazon?).

• He said the town is in need of more staffing in the police, planning, and other departments. But, with the 2% tax increase cap instituted by the governor, that is difficult to accomplish. He has assigned one police officer to be a fulltime detective.

• On the social level, the town increased the number of dates this summer for its weekly concerts in the park program. And, a playground was added to the town park, at no cost to taxpayers.

Harris also complained about two state-mandated items. One is a requirement to have police officers follow a very complicated paperwork process when issuing a traffic ticket. He said it would take an average of 30 minutes of officers’ time per ticket which, he says, obviously would diminish their time to actually carry out their basic duties. The other is that rather than have school districts pay for required installation of cameras on buses to track motorists who violate the law by passing stopped buses the local governments would have to do so. He said at $2,000 to $3,000 per bus, such a requirement would be impossible to pay for.

---