DATELINE: Tuesday, October 1, 2002. Past President Majerek opened the meeting and asked Rev. Emmett Kadwell to give the invocation and lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Sue Cipares introduced her guest Silvia Orian from Berrien County Junior Achievement. Silvia will be doing a presentation for the Optimists in December. Past President Majerek introduced Baba Garba of Infonit, Inc., the city’s DSL provider. Baba has completed an application to become a member of the Optimist Club and will be inducted into the club very soon.. Welcome to both of our guests.

BRAGS: John Armitage bragged that his lovely wife Lorraine has put up with him for 47 years as of today. Congratulations John and Lorraine! Mike Listenberger bragged that this past weekend he was on hand for the passing of the gavel from past international president Jerry Henderson to the new international president Bill Kelly. Sherry Bunch bragged on this past weekend’s Burn Run sponsored by the Niles Township Fire Department in support of the Great Lakes Burn Care Winter Camp for kids. The group raised more than $4,000 even though the rain dampened the motorcycle run. She thanked the Optimists again for their donation to the effort. Robert Todd bragged that he has a 1958 Packard Hawk that has hardly been driven. He says the car is more of a sweetheart than a wife can ever be. (Right, Doctor Todd, try curling up with it in the winter and see how warm you’ll get). He also just purchased a 1973 Mercedes 450 with only 44,000 original miles on it. Past President Majerek bragged that he and Dana Trowbridge will be taking the afternoon off today to play a few rounds of golf since there is perfect weather for it. Osceola Skinner bragged that he and wife Mary were honored to have been chosen as the Senior King and Queen of Apple Festival this year.

FOR ALL THE MARBLES: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 raffle. Maurice Nelson won a chance at the pot. L L L L L L L He did not pull the Joker. He pulled the Three of © . Try your luck again next time Maurie.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Dennis Middleton announced that there were 512 participants in last Saturday’s Cancer Awareness Run/Walk. He said that 268 of the participants were walkers. The club made over $500 timing the event. He also announced the list of members who are on the Perfect Attendance list for the 2002 year. Past President Tom Majerek announced the upcoming Annual Optimist Banquet. It will be held next Tuesday, October 8^th at Orchard Hills Country Club. Cocktails begin at 6 pm with a Cash Bar. Dinner starts at 7 pm. Members must call Tom at 574-288-2001 or Treasurer Dana Trowbridge at 574-257-3721j to reserve their dinner tickets. The price is $20 per ticket. The awards ceremony will be short and installation of new officers will take place. THERE WILL BE NO NOON OPTIMIST MEETING ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8^TH. Tom also announced that this month’s board meeting has been changed to October 22^nd at 6pm at the Majerek’s Corporate Headquarters on Main Street downtown. The first meeting of the new year will be a two-hour meeting. The first hour will be an Executive Board orientation, since the board is almost entirely brand new. There will be a short board meeting following at 7pm. .

GUEST SPEAKER: Robert Todd introduced today’s guest speaker as Marlin Smith, a Certified Financial Planner and Counselor. Marlin is a 1957 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in economics. He also very much enjoys the Optimist’s Niles Triathlon each year. Marlin talked to the group about asset allocation and preserving capital. He said that some of the reasons why some don’t do as well in handling their assets is because of what is called "Investment Pornography" – the daily bombardment of usually wrong information about what is going on in the investment markets. He said that many investors watch the stock markets so closely that they are continually agitated about usually normally raises and decreases in the market. This tenseness and agitation causes investors to continually pull in and out of the market even though it has been proven that "staying the course" is normally the best advice an investor can receive because the overall and long term benefits are much better. Marlin then discussed with the group the difference between passive investment and active investment. He said that we should not put all of our faith in ratings services, especially with mutual funds, as this can be very dangerous. He said that of course those ratings are based upon what happened in the past – no one can actually predict the future and tell you what will be the best investment and asset of the coming year will be. They can only guess based upon a lot of different variables. He said that only one of those variables has to change to knock the whole prediction off. He said that although the prudent investor wants correct asset allocation and estate planning information we must all remember that no one can consistently make good predictions. Marlin then went on to discuss how we can have our capital make a more positive return. He discussed how equities can out-perform themselves and what items determine performance. He said it was all very complicated but that an investor’s portfolio performance can be determined by the asset class selection in addition to market timing. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. Marlin said that the average investor does not earn the returns that are available to him because he changes strategies too often (again, this is a byproduct of "investment pornography"). He said that it is extremely important to "stay the course" and that passive investments out-produce active investments every time. Marlin went on to talk about the different investment concepts including effective diversification, global diversification, etc. He also talked about how to build a successful portfolio and how lower volatility gives a better return. He talked about how investors can increase their terms and decrease their risks at the same time. At the end of his presentation he held a question and answer session for all those present. Our thanks to Marlin Smith for coming to our meeting and being our guest speaker for today.

1800: Spain sells the North American territory of Louisiana to France by the treaty of San Ildefonso.

1903: The American League's Boston Pilgrims play the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series game.

1908: Ford's Model T goes on sale in America. The two-seat "tin Lizzy" costs $850.

1938: German troops enter Czechoslovakia, precipitating World War II.

1946: In Nürnberg, Germany, the International Military Tribunal sentences twelve high-ranking Nazi officials to death by hanging. Seven others receive prison terms ranging from ten years to life.

1961: American baseball player Roger Maris breaks the record for the most home runs (60) in one season (Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa broke that record in 1998).

Dave ran halfway into the forest in half an hour. Steve claimed he had gone two-thirds of the way into the forest in the same amount of time, but Dave said that it was impossible. Why?

It is truly desire turned into action which is the pathway to success.

You can't just passively visualize a desired outcome while doing nothing toward it, and expect to achieve the results you want.