March 23, 2010
This Week’s Program: The U.S. Census
This Week’s Speakers: Barbara Mabee and Steve Lightburn
The why, wherefore, and how of the 29th U.S. Decennial Census are rather complicated. Hence, it takes two people to sort this out.
Our first presenter will be Barbara Mabee, a Partnership Specialist with the Census Bureau. Next, Steve Lightburn, Assistant Manager of the St. Petersburg Census Office, located in Pinellas Park, will speak.
Barbara joined the Census 2010 West Florida Team in December, 2008. As a Partnership Specialist, her goals are to raise awareness for the 2010 census and increase the mail-back response rates. She forms partnerships with elected officials and community and faith-based organizations, with a special focus on health-based agencies and Public Health Departments.
Her background is in early childhood education and public health. She was the coordinator of the Pinellas County Health Department’s Screening Eyes & Ears of Kids program.
Steve oversees census production operations for lower Pinellas. He is responsible for the activities of the entire production workforce to insure operations are completed with quality results, on time, and within the budget.
He is currently vice president for Music Sweet Music, a Tampa Bay 501(c) 3 charitable foundation serving the needs of individuals through the power of music and music therapy.
What’s Happening
More Scholarship Letters
We received the following letter from is Bryce R., a Ninth Grader at St. Petersburg High School.
Dear Mr. Byelick,
I think that my freshman year is going to fun, better than my time at Southside Middle School. So far my grades are alright except for my biology class. It is really hard because we have to take a lot of notes and have a lot pop quizzes. In all my other classes I either have an A or a B. Most of my teachers are nice and so far are easy classes.
I am also on the JV Football team. I play left guard on the offensive line, and start on kickoff return and kickoff. So far we have three losses and no wins, but we should win our next games. I'm not sure what college I want to go to yet or what I want to be. But I know that I want to go to college.
Thank you for providing me with a Doorways Scholarship.
Sincerely,
Bryce R.
New Members
Two new members were introduced Tuesday. Dr. Ron O’Neal introduced Ryan Hess and Hal Wells introduced Bob Stichweh.
Bells, Bells, Bells
J.C. Russell says we are #1 …. at least for the organization that collected the most money for the Holiday bell ringing for the Salvation Army. Our collective efforts netted $2,500.00. Thanks to all the bell ringers and donators.
Grant Awarded to Homeless Shelter
Guy Van Middlesworth introduced Karen Bolden and Lisa Brown of the ASAP homeless organization. We gave $1,000.00 to help their cause. Visit their website at ASAPhomeless.org. They are located at 423 – 11th Avenue South.
Special Olympics
Bret Jahn spearheaded the volunteer effort of our club for this year’s Special Olympics held at Lakewood High School on March 13th.
Thanks to the following Kiwanians: Steve Cunningham, Gary Keller, Tom Hallis, Weyman Willingham, Melissa Kelley, and Hal Wells for their efforts
Bret and his troop assisted in the awards presentation and helped the contestants in their respective events in the Olympics Village. Also, many Key Club members participated.
Fisher-Carr Update
Tick, tick, tick…. Less than two months for our biggest fund raiser of the year. May 15 is sooner than you think. The Vaudeville team of Jim and Al exhorted us to get cracking. Importantly, they pointed out, 100% of the money raised by Kiwanians goes to the scholarship fund.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Biff Baker, introduced Ken Welch, Pinellas County Commissioner. Ken, a St. Petersburg native and son of former St. Petersburg City Commissioner, David Welch, graduated from Lakewood High School.
To begin, Ken reminded us that Pinellas County is a unique place featuring many natural resources and entertainment venues. Having said that, as a county, Pinellas is not unique as we suffer from the economic crisis too, as tax collection revenues are down 25% from only a few years ago.
Ken’s mission (and he has chosen to accept it) along with his fellow commissioners, is how to allocate the available dollars and still have the county run efficiently and try to keep the level of services up to his constituents expectations.
According to Ken, one does not have to look far to save money within the county. Pointedly, he spoke of the nineteen (yes, nineteen!) fire districts spread throughout Pinellas. Amazingly, two fire stations are within one mile of one another, but are controlled by separate cities. Ken floated the idea of only one fire district or perhaps three – south, middle and north county. This makes a lot of sense, until you realize politicians are involved and parochial matters run deep in the twenty-four cities and towns in Pinellas County. According to a study, up to fifty million dollars would be saved.
Since fire consolidation is a pipe dream for now, other very real cuts are in process. Eighty million dollars in the next two years is needed to balance to the budget. Where to start? Look for fees for park entry, closing of county park education centers, reduction of sheriff’s budget, delay of projects, and further employee layoffs. In fact, the county now has the fewest number of employees since 1988.
Although all of this seems bleak, the halcyon days of tax collection from 2003-2006, resulted in a larger reserve budget for emergencies that may be needed someday.
And that bright light you see that is getting brighter is the hope of a light rail system in Pinellas to connect to Tampa. Ken hopes the rail initiative will reach the voters by 2011-2012.
Mentioning the idea of a County Mayor, Ken is undecided. It is noticed by the County Commissioners the success enjoyed by St. Petersburg and their mayoral government style.
Thanks, Ken, for visiting, as we can see a job well done in rather difficult circumstances.
Attendance Last Week
We had 50 members and 7 guests.
Marsa and Doug McKee, guest of Gayle Moore
Karen Bolden, guest of Guy Van Middlesworth
Lisa Brown, guest of Guy Van Middlesworth
Matt Becker, guest of Harvey Ford
Mary Conage, guest of Kathleen Young
This Week’s Quiz
- When was the first United States Census taken? How many people resided in the United States at that time?
- When asked about his salary exceeding the President’s, what did Babe Ruth say? And which President was in office at that time?
- How many states are represented in the field of 64 in the 2010 NCAA basketball tournament?
- What is the nickname for the spring training league in Arizona? In Florida?
- Who played the husband and wife in the television series “Green Acres”? Can you sing the jingle that opened the show?
Last Week’s Quiz
- Germany adopted Daylight Saving Time in April of 1916, the United States in 1918.
- The current U.S. states and territories whose legislatures voted to keep their entire state or territory on Standard time are: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and most of Arizona, except for the Navajo Indian Reservation which does recognize the DST.
- We who live in the Eastern time zone will we move our clocks back to Eastern Standard Time on the first Sunday in November
- There are four times zones in South America.
- You are daydreaming at a Kiwanis meeting in July, thinking it is five o’clock somewhere. If it were noon in St. Petersburg, you could enjoy Happy Hour (5 p.m.) in these countries: BURKINA FASO, CANARY ISLANDS, COTE D'IVOIRE, FAROE ISLANDS, THE GAMBIA, GHANA, GUINEA, GUINEA-BISSAU, ICELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND, LIBERIA, MALI, MAURITANIA, MOROCCO, PORTUGAL, SAINT HELENA, SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE, SENEGAL, SIERRA LEONE, TOGO, UNITED KINGDOM, WESTERN SAHARA
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