Taylor Sexton, a senior at Arkansas High School, was the winner of the Wilbur Smith Rotary’s Four Way Test Speech Contest Thursday.

Sexton won a $100.

Sexton took the podium against two other contestants, Dante Coopwood from Liberty-Eylau and Robin Cooper from Texas High. Cooper won 2^nd place for a $75 prize and Coopwood took third place for $50.

An upcoming celebration event will commemorate 100 years of service to the Texarkana community.

The Wilbur Smith Rotary Club is celebrating 100 years of service to the Texarkana community with a night of dinner and dancing. The event will be at the Four States Fairground on April 4th - beginning at 5pm. Dinner will be provided by Naamans BBQ and music by the Soultones. Dinner starts at 6pm, along with a short program, followed by music and festivities. Tickets are $25 each, with proceeds supporting the planting of 100 trees: fifty in Arkansas and fifty in Texas. Sponsorships are currently being offered at levels ranging from $100 -$2000.

The club is also asking for memorabilia, and pictures from past Rotarians, or their families, to be archived on a CD for guests. For more information or an opportunity to sponsor, contact Andi Darby at 903-244-4282.

• Rotary Leadership Seminar - Zone 31
  New Orleans, LA
  Jul 31, 2015 – Aug 01, 2015
• Zones 30 & 31 GETS/GNTS
  Baton Rouge, LA
  Sep 22, 2015 – Sep 24, 2015
• Zones 30 & 31 Institute
  Baton Rouge, LA
  Sep 24, 2015 – Sep 27, 2015
• - See more at: http://www.rotary5830.org/#sthash.uoHBAO1f.dpuf

Governor Spoke at Pennsylvania Rotary Club Meeting

Governor Tom Wolf invoked one of sports’ all-time greats in talking about his state budget proposal on Wednesday.  “We are at a fork in the road,” Wolf said of the 29-day budget stalemate between he and Pennsylvania Republicans, before continuing, “But not like the one that Yogi Berra was talking about, ‘When you’re at a fork in the road, take it.'”  Wolf’s reference to the New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher gathered a roomful of laughs at the York Rotary Club luncheon where the Governor was a guest speaker. -Excerpts from Fox43.com

Greg Davis

He is a lifelong resident of Texarkana, a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, and is the SVP and Commercial Lender at Bancorpsouth. His wife's name is Lee, and his children are Sage, Drew, Zoe, and Danielle. Sage is in the U.S. Air Force, Drew is a freshman at the University of Arkansas, and Zoe and Danielle are sophomores at Pleasant Grove High School. He and his family are members at St. James Episcopal Church. He is an active volunteer at Randy Sam's Homeless Shelter, and his hobbies are fishing and hunting.

Mike Rogers

Will include his bio. in next week's newsletter due to time constraints yesterday in being able to get the bio. to me on short notice.

Synopsis (davidbaldacci.com):

It’s a prison unlike any other. Military discipline rules. Its security systems are unmatched. None of its prisoners dream of escaping. They know it’s impossible . . . until now.

John Puller’s older brother, Robert, was convicted of treason. His inexplicable escape from prison makes him the most wanted criminal in the country. Some in the government believe that John Puller represents their best chance at capturing Robert alive, and so Puller must bring in his brother to face justice.

But Puller quickly discovers that his brother is pursued by others who don’t want him to survive. Puller is in turn pushed into an uneasy, fraught partnership with another agent, who may have an agenda of her own.

They dig more deeply into the case together, and Puller finds that not only are her allegiances unclear, but there are troubling details about his brother’s conviction . . . and someone out there doesn’t want the truth to ever come to light. As the nationwide manhunt for Robert grows more urgent, Puller’s masterful skills as an investigator and strengths as a fighter may not be enough to save his brother—or himself.

FINANCIAL TRIVIA

Rotary International President Visiting Rotary Clubs Around the Globe

Rotary International’s president handles duties with zest as he champions family recruitment and criss-crosses the globe.

“To be a director and a president, you have to sleep on an airplane and adjust to jet lag,” said Gary C.K. Huang. “My wife tries to remind me that ‘You asked for it.’ ”

The businessman from Taiwan toured local club projects and spoke to Burlington Rotarians on Tuesday.

-The Burlington Post

On the first visit to Guelph by a Rotary International president, the current leader of the global service organization served homemade soup at Hospice Wellington

-The Guelph Mercury

If you've got a hankering for some flapjacks, the Ocean Springs Civic Center on Highway 90 is the place to be. The Ocean Springs Rotary Club's 47th annual pancake sale is happening from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. this evening. Tickets are $5 and include pancakes, cheese grits, sausage and a drink. Children ages three and under eat free. Rotarian cooks and servers will have meals ready to dine in or take out. All the proceeds from the sale go for scholarships for students from St. Martin and Ocean Springs high schools. Earlier this year, the Rotary Club handed out more than $12,000 in grants to several students.

-www.wlox.com

Presidential Trivia/Facts

Eight Presidents were born British subjects: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison.

Nine Presidents never attended college: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman. The college that has the most presidents as alumni (seven in total) is Harvard: J. Adams, J. Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy, G. W. Bush (business school), and Barack Obama (law school). Yale is a close second, with five presidents as alumni: Taft, Ford (law school), G.H.W. Bush, Clinton (law school), and G. W. Bush.

Presidents who would be considered "Washington outsiders" (i.e., the 18 presidents who never served in Congress) are: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.

The most common religious affiliation among presidents has been Episcopalian, followed by Presbyterian.

The ancestry of 42 presidents is limited to the following seven heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, or German.

The oldest elected president was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president—he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated. THE OLDEST LIVING former president was Gerald Ford, who was born on July 14, 1913, and died on Dec.27, 2006, at age 93. The second oldest was Ronald Reagan, who also lived to be 93 years.

The tallest president was Lincoln at 6'4"; at 5'4", Madison was the shortest.

Eight left-handed presidents: James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

Fourteen Presidents served as vice presidents: J. Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Nixon, L. Johnson, Ford, and George H.W. Bush.

Vice Presidents were originally the presidential candidates receiving the second-largest number of electoral votes. The Twelfth Amendment, passed in 1804, changed the system so that the electoral college voted separately for president and vice president. The presidential candidate, however, gradually gained power over the nominating convention to choose his own running mate.

For two years the nation was run by a president and a vice president who were not elected by the people. After Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973, President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as vice president. Nixon resigned the following year, which left Ford as president, and Ford's appointed vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, as second in line.

Four candidates won the popular vote but lost the presidency: Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but lost the election to John Quincy Adams (1824); Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but lost the election to Rutherford B. Hayes (1876); Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the election to Benjamin Harrison (1888); Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George W. Bush (2000).

The term "First Lady" was first used in 1877 in reference to Lucy Ware Webb Hayes. Most First Ladies, including Jackie Kennedy, are said to have hated the label.

James Buchanan was the only president never to marry. Five presidents remarried after the death of their first wives—two of whom, Tyler and Wilson, remarried while in the White House. Reagan was the only divorced president. Six presidents had no children. Tyler—father of fifteen—had the most.

Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy were assassinated in office.

Assassination attempts were made on the lives of Jackson, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Truman, Ford, and Reagan.

Eight Presidents died in office: W. Harrison (after having served only one month), Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy.

Presidents Adams, Jefferson, and Monroe all died on the 4th of July; Coolidge was born on that day.

Kennedy and Taft are the only presidents buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club plans to offer a Community Spaghetti Dinner next month.  The event, which will include a silent auction, is set for Saturday, April 18 at Coulee Dam Town Hall.  Funds raised will go toward club projects, including new area welcome signs, its scholarship fund and a project to build “little library boxes,” where individuals can freely trade books by leaving them in a neighborhood depository.

-www.grandcoulee.com

The Rotary Club of Los Alamitos/Seal Beach recognized the February Student of the Month at its meeting on March 17 at The Eagle’s Nest.  Los Alamitos High School student Emily Jackson was nominated by her ROP teacher, John Hansen.  Dr. Sherry Kropp, Superintendent of LAUSD and Rotary member, introduced Mr. Hansen who noted Emily’s leadership, hard work, and dedication in his sports medicine class.  Club President and Los Alamitos Police Chief Todd Mattern presented a certificate and check to Emily.

-www.oc-breeze.com

Events Around the Country in Rotary Clubs