October 14, 2006

This Week’s Program…
Coach Tubby Smith – UK Basketball

Last Week’s Program...
Rodney Berry, Zev Buffman & Bruce Brubaker – Bring Back Baseball

All three gave emotional and compelling arguments in favor of building a stadium at English Park to host a Frontier League baseball team among other events.

Bruce Brubaker reminded us that when he drove in to Owensboro several years ago, the sign at the city limits read Owensboro , Population 54,000 – and when he drove in to town last week it still read Population 54,000. The slow or stagnate growth of Owensboro was the impetus for the formation of the Bring Back Baseball initiative 6 and a half years ago.

The group presented studies that show dynamic growth in towns that have build similar facilities and attracted similar teams and events. The Frontier League is just below "A" ball and yet many teams are affiliated with Major League Baseball teams. The league is expanding into towns like Owensboro and one major factor the league looks for is a good facility – Owensboro doesn’t have such a facility; Bowling Green and Paducah are also considering efforts to build a stadium and attract a team. The team would be privately owned and the stadium would be leased by the team and owned by the city.

To build a stadium, Zev Buffman outlined a new funding opportunity in the Tax Incremental Funding instrument that is now available in our State. The balance of the funding would come from tax-exempt bond sales.

Some events that would find a home in the stadium could be concerts that wouldn’t otherwise come to our community, festivals, plays, rodeos and other outdoor events. One study revealed that of the people polled, 84% would likely buy baseball tickets and 28% responded that they would likely buy season tickets at $170 per set. The frontier league teams play 48 home games.

A study partially funded by the city shows that the Arena vs. Stadium isn’t an either or proposition for the community, rather a both and scenario. English Park is under-utilized and under-developed in many people’s view. It is also argued by the Bring Back Baseball initiative that such a facility and opportunity would help put an end to "There’s nothing to do in Owensboro ".

Thanks for a great and very informative program!

Attendance: 77

Highest Attendance This Year: 93

Invocation, Pledge & 4-Way Test: David Edds, Jr.

Fellowship Report: Philip Travis

Introduction of Guests: Dan Payne guest of Ron Hicks, John Blaney and David Johnson guests of Bill VanWinkle, Dr. Jim Anderson guest of Frank Wagner, Keith Sanders guest of Larry Hager, Bill Jones and Jon Lawson guests of David Silvert, Morris Smith guest of Steve Ford, Paul Clements guest of Clay Ford, David Edds guest of David Edds, Jr., Justin and McKenzie Noffsinger guests of Gary Noffsinger, & Chris Castlen guest of Nick Brake

Meeting Makeups: Sr. Suzanne Sims made-up at Daviess County Rotary Club

Thought for the Week: "October is a symphony of permanence and change." ~ Bonaro W. Overstreet

YOUR PRESIDENT SPEAKS:
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm" ~ Winston Churchill

I thought the Polio Plus campaign had a successful ending a few years ago. I’m sure many of you knew otherwise – it didn’t become evident to me until I attended the Rotary International Convention. I thought I’d share the Polio Plus update for those who may have been like me.

At the start of 2006, transmission of indigenous poliovirus had been interrupted in all but four countries (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan ). However, since 2003 to mid 2006, poliovirus spread to 24 previously polio-free countries. As of June 2006, only 10 of these countries were still considered infected (Indonesia, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Angola, Nepal, Niger, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Namibia).

Strong progress in Asia: Intensified polio campaigns in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan resulted in strong progress especially in the traditional reservoirs of India and Pakistan . Cases were nearly halved in 2004 with 193 reported compared to 336 in 2003. India is making particular progress, with only 63 cases reported in 2005 (as at 10 January 2006), and transmission confined to several key districts.

Progress leads to introduction of new polio vaccine: Progress in Egypt and India in eliminating poliovirus types 2 and 3 prompted the rapid development of monovalent oral polio vaccine type 1 (mOPV1) to interrupt the final chains of transmission in these countries. mOPV1 is more efficient at boosting immunity against poliovirus type 1, than trivalent OPV (which works against all three polio strains). mOPV is now being used in India, Egypt and Pakistan, and in response to the outbreaks in Yemen , Indonesia, Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, and its use is expected to be further expanded in 2006.

To more rapidly interrupt the final strains of type 3 transmission in India , monovalent OPV type 3 (mOPV3) was used for the first time in selected key districts in December 2005.
Africa – polio eradication back on track: Polio eradication is back on track in most parts of Africa following the resumption of immunizations in Kano, Nigeria (which had been suspended due to unfounded concerns as to the safety of the polio vaccine). In response to the ongoing outbreak, the African Union (AU) conceived and conducted synchronized immunization campaigns in more than 25 countries, which successfully stopped the outbreak in most parts of west and central Africa .

In northern Nigeria, however, further urgent improvements are needed. In 2006, northern Nigeria accounts for more than 80% of all polio cases worldwide, and represents the only area in the world with uncontrolled transmission of polio. Five key states in the north of the country – Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna , Kano and Katsina – account for over 80% of Nigeria’s disease burden in 2006. Surveillance data indicates that more than 40% of children in these states have never been immunized against polio, despite multiple immunization activities. The risk of further international spread from Nigeria remains high.

Sporadic outbreaks not the major risk to global eradication effort: The sporadic outbreaks of polio in previously polio-free countries, due to imported virus (e.g. Indonesia) do not represent the major risk to the global eradication effort. Historical evidence shows that the rapid implementation of high-quality immunization activities always stops such sporadic outbreaks within 6-12 months. However, such re-infections underscore the risk polio continues to pose to children everywhere, until the disease is stopped in the four remaining endemic countries.

Friends, there is no room for looking back. We have once again to plunge ourselves headlong into the battle against Polio and reinforce and revitalize Rotarians to make them rise to the occasion. Mind you, if we falter this time, we may not be able to achieve our goal.

Have Fun!

John

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Mike Hobson - October 14
Dan Shepherd - October 14
Marijane Salmon - October 15
Paul Brooks  - October 18
Jim White - October 19
Flem Gorden - October 19

ANNOUNCEMENTS...
• Tish Correa-Osborne is in need of program chairs for June & July in 2007 ~ Please help if you have good program ideas.
• There will be no "online version" of the Impetus next week.

ROTARY REMINDERS
• Don’t forget to make up your missed meetings at Daviess County Rotary, 7 a.m. on Tuesdays at American Bounty.
• John Bryenton is program chair for November.
• Tom Smith is the program chair for October.
• Phil Travis will be at the Fellowship Table during October.
• If you have an email address and are not receiving the Impetus online, or you have changed your email address, please send an email to kim@mediaworksadvertising.com and you will be added to the Rotary email address list.
• Log on to Rotary’s website at www.owensbororotary.org. You’ll find our current member directory, photos of new members, past copies of the Impetus, some interesting history, and more!

Please mail any questions, suggestions, or comments regarding the Impetus to:

Mike Wallace
MediaWorks Advertising, Inc.
208 West 3rd Street
P.O. Box 1866
Owensboro, KY 42302
Phone: 270-684-4554
Fax: 270-684-7314
Email: mike@mediaworksadvertising.com

DEADLINE FOR ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE IMPETUS IS THE WEDNESDAY PRIOR TO MONDAY'S PUBLICATION DATE.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Oct. 25: Steve Vest, KY Monthly Magazine

2006 - 2007 OWENSBORO ROTARY CLUB OFFICERS
President: John Kurtz
Vice President: Tish Correa-Osborne
Past President: Bill Dexter
Secretary: Tim Bradshaw
Treasurer: Bob Nation
Directors: John Kazlauskas, John Medley, Sister Suzanne Sims, Jeremy Bradford, Kirk Kirkpatrick, & Ed Wathen.