We're back at the Midlothian Civic Center on January 20th at Noon as Rodney Johnson will present a program about Artificial Intelligence. Rodney's enterprise is Silver Tint Media.
After starting in Waxahachie a few years back, Ross O'Brien and his wife moved OBrien's Bookshop to Midlothian last year. Ross gave the story of the founding, challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur in this genre of business. His talk was illustrated with a few slides.
Appropriately the day before the 122nd anniversary of the first heavier than air self-propelled flight, that is an airplane, we had this presentation at our Rotary Club. This was to recognize over 50 years of safe flight by Tony Watson, secretary of Midlothian Rotary, and a 50 year member of the Flying Rotarians (IFFR). 10 members, 14 visitors (4 were family) and 7 Zoom visitors witnessed the presentation, and Joe Murphy, FAASafety Manager with the North Texas Flight Standards District Office of the FAA made the presentation.
Thanks to Midlothian Rotary for letting me have this presentation at a Rotary Club meeting. My flying and Rotary have been intertwined since I called (PDG) Vactor Stanford to get a recommendation for a flight school a couple of years before I joined Rotary.
Five couples made it to VIP Seating at The Old Gymnasium on Sunday evening, December 14th, to see a minor league professional basketball game up close and personal . We also had food, the kind you get at a simple sporting event. I think everyone thought they should at least add hot dogs. The picture above doesn't show John and Donna Piper, who had to be accommodated on the floor, but left to right are Tony & Jane Watson, Dave & Mary Wyrtzen, Debbie & Don Ellis, and Cammy & Alan Jackson.
We had short notice and a different venue for Ringing The Bell for The Salvation Army on Saturday, December 13, so only 5 of us were able to commit, but we did get it covered at the north door of Midlothian's Walmart Supercenter. Gayla Johnson, Chester Juroska, John Piper, Tony Watson and Dave Wyrtzen were this year's ringers.
Sharon Verigan started Believing Restoration is Attainable (B.R.A.) to help women who don't have a husband to help with breadwinning. Also to provide emotional support when this happens suddenly, as a death or abandonment / divorce. Basic needs and counseling are part of what her organization provides. They are based out of The Heights. More information available at https://www.supporttheladies.org .
We moved our meeting to our traditional venue of the Midlothian Civic Center on December 2nd to accommodate a demonstration of the MPD's K-9 unit. Officers Jacob Rittimann and Ryan Mills talked about the different bloodlines for the breeds of dogs used in police work. The dogs used here in Midlothian are primarily for sniffing out illicit drugs. After about 20 minutes of talking about the work done in this department, we moved outside to see a demonstration. You can see one of the officers in his "Michelin Man" suit, being attacked on his arm by the dog controlled by the other officer. This is an interesting demonstration.
Michelle Blaha manages the Midlothian Civic Center, which is our home base, and came to our meeting to update us on recent updates and improvements. After our regular meeting, several of us went over to the Civic Center to check things out. Several improvements made to the kitchen, restrooms, and the meeting rooms in the back used by Scouts and other similar organizations. They also have some new chairs and tables, which were badly needed. This is a great facility for the Midlothian community, and is available for rental to individuals and organizations.
Steve Symonds told about the founding and then the growth of this business, starting with his grandfather's favor to a neighbor. Some of the flags and poles he produces are profoundly huge. Some of the tallest poles can cost north of a million dollars to produce and install. He warrants his poles to 100 mph winds with a flag attached.
Midlothian Police Commander Tim Hicks gave a program about the Professional Standards unit he commands at MPC. The standards to meet are high, but worth pursuing for our community to maintain the excellent police department we have.
Dr. David Belding brought a program updating us on the growth of the Midlothian Independent School District and the essential n needs of the MISD going forward. He gave an overview of the 3 bond packages we will vote on in early November.
At the Rotary 'District 5810 Awards Banquet on September 4th, Midlothian Rotary received two awards, one for most Volunteer Hours and the other for being a Fun Club. We won in the smaller club category in each case, and were one of 2 awards for each of these.
A few days earlier we learned that we'd received a Club Excellence Award for this past Rotary year. So that's 3 awards.
At the banquet, Kim Garey received the Star Award for Midlothian Rotary Club. Congratulations to Kim!
Our RYLA Campers of 2025 (class of 2026 at Midlothian High and Midlothian Heritage High) returned from camp on Friday, May 30th. Don & Debbie Ellis and Tony & Jane Watson picked them up and their parents picked them up at Pinnacle Bank. We're sure they had a long sleep after this busy week, and we look forward to having them at one of our meetings soon to tell us about their experience.
The annual Four Way Test Speech Contest was held on April 1st at the Midlothian Civic Center. We had seven speakers brought by the speech / debate teacher, Kristi Bogy, pictured above.
