August 17, 2010
Today’s Program: Save the Manatee Club
Today’s Speaker: Susan Aungst
Susan J. Aungst, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.), Ph.D. (abd), lives in Tampa, Florida and is Vice President of Systems Engineering for Information Frontiers, Inc. She served twenty years as a Communications-Electronics Officer in the United States Air Force where she built International communications systems. Her innovative leadership style in combat situations led to her call sign as the “Warrior Goddess.” Following her Air Force retirement in 2000, she decided to pursue a PhD in Engineering Management at the University of South Florida. She previously earned a BS in Biology and MS in Systems Management. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida, DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management, and Strayer University where she teaches an array of subjects from Leadership and Managing Quality to Quantitative Analysis and Statistics. Susan is a member of and/or participates in many community activities including VP of her Civic Association, Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association, the Tampa Bay Parrothead Club, Disabled American Veterans, American Society of Engineering Managers, and Tampa Bay Watch.
Susan has been a volunteer with the Save the Manatee Club (SMC) since 1997. In this capacity she educates the public about manatee issues including species preservation, legislative issues, mortality figures, adopting manatees, and steps to take to help the manatees survive. She participates in many regional SMC events like the Crystal River and Apollo Beach Manatee Festivals, and many local events like the St. Petersburg MarineQuest, Boyd Hill Nature Park environmental events, and the Tampa Bay Manatee Awareness Coalition held at Weedon Island Preserve. To find out more information about manatees, please visit the Save the Manatee Club web site at www.savethemanatee.org.
What’s What's Happening
Installation Banquet
October 5, 2010 – See Ron Braun take office as your next President – location: St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
Thank You Letter
Dear Mr. Piplitz:
I want to express my appreciation for the very generous check in the amount of $1,000.00 that the Downtown Kiwanis Club awarded to the YWCA Tampa Bay last week. As you know, we provide safe, temporary housing for families when they become homeless in Pinellas County. Our shelter was the first one developed to serve families when they are already under tremendous stress. We also are able to help avoid placing children in foster care when their families fall on hard times, and I know that we can all agree that keeping children out of foster care is a desired outcome.
Your donation will help us to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables for the residents in Family Village, as well as other perishable foods. We have so many families with very young children, and we feel that it is imperative to help their parents with providing proper nutrition while they are with us. One of our families that recently joined us has four children under the age of eleven. Those children will be able to eat healthy foods, thanks to your donation!
Together, we can make a difference, one family at a time. Thank you for your continued support of the YWCA. If any of your members would like to take a tour of our shelter, please let me know so that I can arrange it. We would also welcome your members to tour our child development center next door to the shelter. It is beautiful, with many thanks to your club and the high school volunteers who painted the class rooms earlier this year!
Sincerely,
Patsy Buker
Director of Community Development and Advocacy
YWCA of Tampa Bay
Painting with a Twist
Marvin and Leslie Gay hosted a motley crew of Kiwanians at their Painting with a Twist studio. Bob Byelick acting as an inland Cabana Boy served adult beverages to the so-called artists.
The novice painters included: Biff and Ann Baker, Bob and Angela Piplitz, Bob’s assistant Lori Houlihan, Lorin and Patty Bridge, Ron and Bonnie Braun, Charles and Judy Stewart, Kevin and Amy Kelso, and Barbara Byelick.
A fun time was had by all of the “painters”, and that’s a good thing, for several should definitely keep their day jobs. “We made Monet and Van Gogh look like amateurs.” … Bob Piplitz,
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Tom Nelson, introduced Al Hine, PhD., a marine sciences professor at USF Bayboro. Originally slated to speak about Florida’s Barrier Islands and the threat of global warming, instead Dr. Hine spoke of this area’s immediate concern, the oil spill from the BP rig off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana.
Along with other agencies, USF has in place their own research ship. Al told us that while those ships are not allowed within twenty miles of the disaster site, information is gathered nonetheless. Primarily, the big question is: Where has and where will the oil go? Luckily for our local beaches and bays, thanks to the loop currents, expect no oil to reach the Tampa Bay area.
As of this date, the gushing well is capped so Dr. Hine says that now the emphasis is on containment and dispersing of the oil. Sadly, according to the researchers, only 3% of the surface oil is contained as technology for containment has not advanced since the 1960’s. However, indications show most of the oil lies beneath the Gulf’s surface, either in the water column or on the pristine floor.
If you are expecting because of the BP incident the drilling for oil in the Gulf is to be curtailed, think again. With almost 4,000 wells, the Gulf is a major oil region, along with the Middle East and Western Siberia.
A slide show presented the enormity of a typical oil well in the Gulf. For example, the BP oil rig housed one hundred and twenty six workmen and rises two hundred feet above the sea. The depth of the site is five thousand feet, but the pipe to hit the mother lode is another thirteen thousand three hundred and sixty feet. An oil platform typically costs a billion dollars and can produce upwards of two hundred thousand barrels per day.
What went wrong with the BP operation? Dr. Hine explained technology is in place for prevention, but in BP’s case, evidence shows corners were cut, warnings ignored, proper testing not done or completed, and finally a failure of good management principles contributed to misfortune.
Specifically, the BP oil operation was in the middle of a transition in what the oil industry calls a “switchover”, where a rig goes from exploration to production. At a critical time, a cement plug blew out, causing a gas leak resulting in an explosion leaving eleven dead and seventeen injured.
Since the rig has been capped, the media has left the story, but the researchers like Dr. Hine are doggedly trying to find answers for prevention of future disasters and if another disaster does happen, better ways to deal with the mess. Dr. Hine, thank you for a bona fide, on-the-scene report, and we appreciate the opportunity to be in-the-know.
Attendance Last Week
We had 55 members and 5 guests.
Keith Meyer, guest of Bob Byelick
Jake Holehouse, guest and son of Ron Holehouse
John Cartier, new member sponsored by Ron Braun
Anne Taylor, guest of Tom Nelson
This Week’s Quiz
- Where did Bob Byelick meet his wife Barbara?
- On the seventh hole at Lakewood Golf Course, where she serve him as a beer cart girl
- At the Club 28 bar after a softball game
- At his law office’s annual picnic
- At Chattaway’s on a blind date
- Mitch Cochran was born in what state?
- Maine
- Tennessee
- Florida
- Texas
- What year did Paul Misewicz’s father and uncle open World Liquors?
- 1955
- 1969
- 1961
- 1947
- Michael Brown resides in which community?
- St. Petersburg
- Seminole
- Redington Beach
- Treasure Island
- Tom Nelson played what position on the Sarasota’s High School football team as a senior?
- Quarterback
- Linebacker
- Center
- Defensive End
Last Week’s Quiz
- On August 3, 1963, The Beach Boys released the hit song “Surfer Girl”.
- On August 3, 1933, the Mickey Mouse watch was introduced for the price of $2.75.
- On August 3, 1492, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set sail from the Spanish port of Palos in command of three ships.
- On August 3, 1987, the name of the Def Leppard album released was Hysteria.
- On August 3, 1943, General George S. Patton verbally abused and slapped a private, later he was ordered to apologize. General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave that order.
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