The gavel has been located! President Don gonged the bell with the long lost gavel, asking Doug Booth to introduce our guests and visitors. Tom Hutchins, responsible for Health and Happiness today, reminded us all of our advancing age by listing the many recent events and new inventions that the Freshman class of our Universities consider ancient history. After the Club recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Richard Early led the unaccompanied membership (we miss you, Thomas Moore) in the singing of "God Bless America," offered in light of the on-going election recount. Phil Volponi led our invocation.
     Rex Welton introduced four new members of his Membership Development Committee who, by coincidence, are new members of the club. Joining Charlotte Rotary today were: Bobby Chesney, vice president of Centura Bank in the commercial loan area; Myra Johnson, founding director of the Buddy Kemp Caring House, a residential care facility of cancer patients and their families and friends; Ed Kale, real estate developer; Martin Welton, commercial broker with Southern Real Estate, fourth generation Rotarian and son of Rex Welton.
     Don Haack presented President Don with a plaque our Club received at the recent dinner honoring Paul Harris participants. The plaque was given in recognition of our club's Number 1 position in our district for giving to the Rotary Foundation.
     The head table was introduced and included Powell Majors, Ed Kizer, Phil Volponi, John Lassiter, Eric Smith and Ken Harris, who reverently introduced today's speaker, Phillip J. Kirk, Jr., President of NCCBI (North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry). Phil's talk was titled "Education, A Key to Economic Success."
     Phil's talk was lively, entertaining and filled with good news and great hope for the N.C. education system. Phil travels the state with his board chair, Mac Everett, visiting school systems and building support in the business community for our educational system. Phil thanked the audience for their support of the recent bond referendum for higher education, which carried all 100 counties in N.C., received 73% support across the state and was the largest bond of its kind in U.S. history. As a result, N.C. is receiving much-deserved recognition from across the country. Today's NY Times editorial credits N.C. as responding to the needs of education in a manner unmatched by any other state.
     One of Phil's favorite destinations in his visits are the elementary schools. The questions asked of him by the students are some of the most interesting: Will you tie my shoes? Are you George Washington? Are you Bill Clinton? Are you here from the funeral home?

     The challenges facing the educational process are similar to those facing our own businesses: 1) employee recruitment and retention; 2) maintenance of existing and building of new facilities; 3) effective working with the increasing population of those participating in the ESL program (English as a Second Language). Currently there are 50,000 ESL students in the N.C. system.
     These challenges are being addressed with emphasis on three areas: 1) improved communication; 2) emphasis of leadership development; 3) a positive (no whining) attitude.
     The questions from the floor brought some comments from Phil. "The media constantly talks about N.C. being 48th in the country in SAT scores. This is a misleading statistic as the testing of students is not consistent across the country. Some states such as Alabama test only 4% of their students and those are in the top of their classes, while N.C. tests 63% of our students. This leads to great disparity in results on a percentage basis." Phil stresses that improvement is not good enough.
     On the topic of the lottery, the NCCBI does not take a stand on the issue. His prediction is, however, that since S.C. voted to introduce a lottery to their state, the issue will appear on a future N.C. ballot for the voters to decide.
     President Don closed the meeting encouraging us all to enjoy this lovely day.

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In Memoriam

C. GEORGE   HENDERSON
April 1,1917                      November 9, 2000

     Former Charlotte Rotary President George Henderson, a member of the club for some 40 years, died at his home in York, S.C. on November 9. Active in the life of the club, George served as president in 1968-69.
     A stalwart of Rotary's back corner table for many years, George came to Charlotte in 1957 to help put WSOC-TV on the air. He began his broadcasting career at WLW-C in Columbus, Ohio, where he was general sales manager when it began broadcasting in 1949.
     In 1953 he moved to the corporate offices of the Crosley Broadcasting Company in Cincinnati where he was general sales manager for radio and television. He rose to executive vice president and general manager of both WSOC radio and television stations before leaving in 1970 to join the Charlotte Merchants Association, from which he retired in 1992.
     George was active in community affairs, serving as president of the American Cancer Society locally in 1964. He had been a member of the Charlotte Ad Club, the Variety Club, and the Charlotte Sales and Marketing Executives. He was involved in the Auditorium-Coliseum Authority.
     He graduated from Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, where his father was commandant, and attended Rice Institute (now University) and Kalamazoo College. A native of Mexico, Missouri, George served in the U.S. Army in World War II, rising to the rank of captain. He liked golfing and was an avid fisherman, enjoying time spent outdoors from the Outer Banks to the Santee-Cooper.
     His first wife, Harriet, and his daughter, Marjorie Ann, predeceased him. He is survived by his wife and "fishing buddy," Joyce Rossean Henderson; his brother, John B. Henderson, and sister-in-law, Marjorie, of Louisville; son. Chuck Scott-Henderson of Southwest Harbor, Maine; and granddaughter, Merrie Harriet Henderson of Marietta, Georgia.
     Memorials may be made to the Charlotte Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 33000, Charlotte, N.C. 28230-3000, or Hospice of York County, 325 South Oakland Avenue, Rock Hill, S.C. 29732.
     The club will make a contribution to our Student Scholarship Fund in George's name.

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POWELL'S
OBSERVATIONS

POWELL  MAJORS

     Ned Fox will retire as headmaster at Charlotte Latin School July 1st. He has been in the post since 1976.
     Brenda Lea participated in the naming of a criminal justice building for Claudia Belk at the CPCC campus in Huntersville. Claudia is the wife of John Belk.
     John Tabor and his wife were featured in "Business Monday" in an article about married couples operating their own companies.
     Bill Parker and Charlie Briley are members of the Luther Snyder Bible Class at Myers Park Methodist Church that will bring Bible scholar Peter Graves from England. Dr. Graves will speak on the letter to the Philippians twice at the church. Bob Dalton, pictured with Bill Parker, is a former member of the Charlotte Rotary. Luther Snyder, for whom the class was named, was a Rotarian until his death in 1957.

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