OPTIZETTE

A Publication of the Niles Noon Optimist Club

Meetings every Tuesday at Noon in downtown Niles, MI ¨ Zone 19 Michigan Regional District

 

VOL. XXX, NO. 040103 ¨ ERIKA KIRTDOLL, PRESIDENT ¨ DIANE BASS, EDITOR ¨ P.O. BOX 63 NILES, MI 49120 ¨ APRIL 1, 2003

 

DATELINE: Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Michel Listenberger gave the invocation and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: There were no guests today.

 

BRAGS: Past President Tom Majerek bragged on the great meal we received today at the Apple Tree Restaurant. Lyle McMullen bragged that he had a new pace maker installed and that he is doing just fine. Good News Lyle!

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Robert Todd announced that we need to schedule guest speakers for the month of May and beyond. John Willis announced that on next Tuesday evening(April 8) the first Optimist Soccer League game will be held at Ottawa School. Then on Thursday there will be a game at Plym Park and all teams will begin playing on Saturday. He asked that all members come out to watch a game and enjoy the kids have fun. John also announced that every member who attends a soccer game can add that time to their total attendance time on our attendance worksheet. John said there are over 1,300 kids playing on 87 teams this year. He said that there is a drop in the number of kids this year because we compete with baseball season and parents are finally telling their kids to choose one, baseball or soccer. President Kirtdoll announced that the next Optimist Board Meeting will be held on Monday, April 14th. Every member is welcomed to attend.

 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Niles Noon Optimists will meet at noon this Tuesday, April 8th, at the Elks Club and Restaurant on Canal Street in Plym Park (near the golf course). This will be an unofficial meeting as we will be sampling their lunch fare and discussing a new meeting location only. MEMBERS WILL BE ORDERING INDIVIDUALLY FROM THE MENU. Please come out to view the Elks Club’s new building and to give your input on a new meeting location or call any officer to give your input.

 

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 drawing. Osceola Skinner was the lucky winner. Congratulations O.C.!

 

GUEST SPEAKER: There was no guest speaker today.

 

CLOSING CREED: Osceola Skinner led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.

 

If you’d like to see previous issues of the Optizette visit our site at www.nilesoptimist.org or visit the international site at www.optimist.org. Don’t forget the Niles JOOI Club site is www.jooi.org .

 

THOUGHTS FOR TODAY:

"Enjoyment is not a goal. It is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity." Paul Goodman (1911-1972), Writer

"Morality is the cutting tool for a key you’re given in life to unlock your eternity." James Amrine

"Forgiveness means letting go of the past." Gerald Jampolsky, Psychiatrist

TODAY IN HISTORY: April 1

1621: Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, and John Carver, governor of Plymouth Colony, sign the first peace treaty between Native Americans and Pilgrims.

1789: The newly established U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting.

1972: The first major league baseball players strike in the U.S. begins.

1979: Following a referendum, Iran is declared an Islamic Republic by the Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

1984: R&B singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in Los Angeles.

1999: Nunavut becomes the third independent territory in Canada; it is the homeland of Canada's Inuit, who comprise the vast majority of the population of Nunavut.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS:

William Harvey, physician (1578)

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Prusso-German statesman and chancellor of the German Empire (1815)

Edmond Rostand, playwright (1868)

Sergey Rachmaninoff, composer, pianist, and conductor (1873)

Edgar Wallace, writer (1875)

MIND BENDING LATERAL THINKING:

Following a tip-off a team of FBI agents burst into a house to arrest a suspected murderer. All they know is that his name is Bud. They find two plumbers, a lorry-driver, and a bank manager playing poker in a dark and smoky room. They immediately arrest the bank manager. Why?

Answers to Mind Benders are listed below. Our thanks to Optimist Tom Clabaugh who has provided these mind benders.

 

 

WHO AM I?

I was born on this day in 1883. I was called "The Man of a Thousand Faces" for my ability to transform myself, through makeup, into the gruesome horror-film characters that were my trademark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIND BENDING LATERAL THINKING ANSWER:

The plumbers and lorry-driver were women, so only the bank manager could be "Bud".

 

WHO AM I ANSWER:

Most familiar for his roles in horror films, American actor Lon Chaney played in more than 140 silent motion pictures. His most famous films are The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Chaney was known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces" for his unusual makeup techniques and willingness to do whatever was needed to play a part.