HUTCHINSON AMBUCS
GUESTS:
Dr. Bruce Klosterhoff, our program for today
FUN WITH THE SERGEANTS:
Sgts Knipp and Hendrickson worked their magic again this week. Noticing an abundance of black shirts in the group today, they declared today Black Shirt Friday and fined Al S, Preston C, Chuck P, and Randy Hendrickson. Also included was Greg W, whose navy blue shirt apparently qualified. President Al returned from the National Convention with a few trinkets to sell. The theme of the convention was Magic, so Scott P paid $1 for a whistle, Pat Fallon got a Big Red Nose, Tim D and Jim K both got motorcycle manuals. Rumor has it that there may be more exciting items to sell at upcoming meetings. Randy Henderson ratted on Mark T for being at the Legislative Forum last week and answering many questions, but not mentioning AMBUCS. Mark came right back at the sheriff for doing the same thing. Dan P returned with the TUIT, who was quite disappointed with the time spent with Dan. Apparently Dan got his travel itineraries mixed up. He is going to the Greek Isles this coming week without the TUIT. Dan fined Darren W, Jay P, Diane S, and Doyle E for various oversights, then passed it on to GUY GANN. How exciting! Instead of nude beaches, the TUIT gets to spend the week being a ball marker. Maybe Sgt Knipp can take a poll on whether Guy will keep it additional week to use at the golf scramble.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President Al gave a brief report on the National Convention. The meeting was well attended, supporting the theory that future conventions be held in areas where local chapters are located, instead of big-time convention destinations. Spring Roundup Awards were presented to Pat Fallon for introducing Dave Burton to AMBUCS and Randy Hendrickson for signing up Michelle and Darran Slack. As a result of concentrating on increasing membership, the club earned Blue Chip honors for the second year in a row. The club was named an Honor Chapter, missing the Superior designation by just a few points. Jeff B reported on the status of the Annual Golf Scramble scheduled for August 8th at the Highlands. 29 golfers are registered to date, so we could use a few more players. Please make sure you advise Jeff or Steve if you have donations for prizes. The Fair is almost upon us, so work sign up schedules are going around at each meeting. The committee is asking each member to step up for 4 slots. Sign up early to have your choice of days and times.
PROGRAM:
Dr. Bruce Klosterhoff recently retired from the Horizons Mental Health Center and was encouraged by his wife to find something to fill his time besides sitting around at home. Being aware of a physician placement service, he applied and was located in Auckland, New Zealand for several months last fall. He shared some of the pictures taken while there, and filled us in on some basic info about the islands. The first thing he discovered was that the world is round and Australia is not a ferry ride to the east, but about 1,400 miles. There went the planned one day outing to the land down under. New Zealand is two islands populated by around 4 million people congregated in a few large cities, of which Auckland is the largest. The population consists of about 15% native Polynesian and 85% descendents of Great Brittan. Over the last century these two very diverse cultures have learned to co-exist in harmony, while preserving each culture’s uniqueness. With lots of water available readily available, popular recreational activities mostly revolve around water sports (sailing, swimming) and being active in the outdoors. Popular sports include cricket, rugby, Australian football, and soccer, although the Klosterhoffs did find a professional basketball game to attend. Their economy is fairly diverse and includes lots of ranching (sheep, deer). Dr. Klosterhoff was very interested in viewing how the socialized medical services function. The system is a combination of government supported insurance and private insurance. The reality seemed to be that the poorest of residents relied on socialized services, while those who could afford private insurance did so. Those with private coverage received service much quicker and had access to more services and high tech equipment, things we take for granted under our current system. Overall, the Klosterhoffs found the people to be very open and helpful and the geography to be quite beautiful.
DRAWINGS:
The 50/50 drawing resulted in Peggy M becoming $17 richer. Dwight W answered the question of the week correctly the website lists 22 members as being Big Hats.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Who is the current AMBUCS National President, and in what city does he/she reside? Go to our website, find the link to the National AMBUCS website and click on it. While youre out there, take a look at their newly upgraded site.