DATELINE: Tuesday, September 30, 2003. President Elect Liz Capron opened the meeting and Osceola Skinner gave the invocation and led us in the pledge of allegiance.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: John Willis introduced his guest Michael Johnson who has served as an Optimist Soccer coach. Dennis Middleton introduced his wife and guest Donna Middleton, who is a staunch supporter and volunteer for the Optimist Triathlon team. President Elect Capron introduced her guest Gary Mohberg from Fisher Innovative, which has a new location on Third and Main Streets here in Niles. Welcome to all our guests. Please stop in anytime.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: President Elect Liz Capron will be celebrating her birthday on October 11^th. Happy Birth Month Liz!

BRAGS: Dana Trowbridge bragged on his 12-year old who attained the level of Green Belt/Black Stripe in his karate class. President Elect Capron bragged on John Willis who accepted the position of Director on our Optimist Board. She also bragged that Jon Martin had agreed to become our new Vice President and President Elect for next year. Thank you guys for putting forth so much effort on behalf of the Optimists! President Elect Capron also bragged on Past President Tom Majerek, President Erika Kirtdoll and JOOI Advisor Michel Listenberger who were in Three Oaks today helping to charter a new club. The chartering of this new club qualifies our club for Distinguished Club Status. Thanks to Tom, Erika and Mike.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Robert Rhynard announced that the next timing races will be held October 11^th in Edison Lakes on Day Rd. in Mishawaka for the Montessori School Run and again on October 18^th at the Cystic Fibrosis Fun Run in Buchanan. Robert Todd announced that guest speakers are needed for November 4^th and 11^th and also for the first 4 weeks in December. President Elect Capron announced that the annual Banquet will be held next Tuesday, October 7^th. There will be no lunch meeting on that day. The social hour will begin at 6:00 and dinner starts promptly at 7:00. Please plan on attending. Tickets for the dinner are $16. Sgt. At Arms Andrew Plym had previously announced that all fines will be doubled doubled at the annual banquet so bring plenty of cash.

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 raffle. John Willis took home the $12 pot! Congratulations John!

GUEST SPEAKER: President Elect Capron introduced Mr. Ron Taylor from the House of David. Ron had visited us about a month before and was unable to complete his presentation. We therefore invited him back to give us more information on the House of David. He began where he had left off in the 1920s. He said that in the early 1920s everything was flourishing at the City of David. The House of David at that time was the largest employer in the county. The residents were involved in agriculture, property acquisition, lumber mills and a variety of other business ventures. Ron told us about Mary Purnell’s caution to the settlement in 1908 and 1910 to beware of the success that they were enjoying because success often ruins because greed steps in and the real goal of the settlement could become lost in the pursuit of money. She was right. In the mid 1920s trouble began. One of the families of the settlement was expelled from the House of David and sued the organization for what they said was their fair share of any profits or assets obtained during their tenure. This case went all the way to the Supreme Court and the dispute lasted a whole decade. The colony then hired Judge Dewhurst from California who became the legal counsel for the settlement and sat on the board of directors. In 1927, Benjamin Purnell who had founded the settlement along with his wife, died. This opened up a dispute over the leadership of the colony. People and families become divided over whether or not to follow the original teachings of the order and rally behind Mary Purnell or whether to follow a new leader in the person of Judge Dewhurst. Both Mary and the judge were powerful figures. By the end of the 1920s the supreme court sided with the House of David in the case of the family that was trying to sue the organization and it was determined that the state does not have the right to monitor or make decisions for a religious colony. By this time the House of David was already involved in a squabble over money, possessions and leadership. In 1930 Mary Purnell dissolves the House of David and sues the board to divide up the assets, which they did. Many of the colony follow Mary and she begins preaching initially out of a tent, since they had no building. One of the groups to side with Mary were the lumber workers from the camps in northern Michigan. These workers help to build a whole new site for the City of David. Some people left everything they had behind to come and rebuild with Mary Purnell. Also in the 1930s a major resort is built which is utilized manly by Jewish citizens mostly from the Chicago area. The House of Prayer synagogue was built in 1937. There was also a bakery, print shop, greenhouse carpentry shop, auditorium, Bethany Place and many other buildings. Ron also told us about the restoration of the restaurant. He said that they serve dinners there now using all of the original silverware, glassware, china, chairs, tables and even the same menu from the 1930s. He told us that the House of David had the first refrigerated barn and how important the harvest season was to the entire area. He talked to us about the baseball team and that they were the first to have night games and how they played with the Negro League and that they really had the first integrated baseball team. Satchel Page even played with them. They talked about how they played basketball and baseball with the Harlem Globetrotters. Ron told us so much about the House of David. We were really fortunate to have had him with us. Thank you Ron for being our guest today.

MEMBERSHIP VOTE: A vote of the membership was taken at today’s meeting. President Elect Capron outlined the motion on the floor to accept the revision of the Optimist Club Bylaws. The motion to approve the changes was passed with no member entering a negative vote.

CLOSING CREED: John Willis led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.

"Anyone can hit bottom, but can you bounce back up?" Author Unknown

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!" Author Unknown

TODAY IN HISTORY: September 30^th

1791: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart conducts the premiere of his singspeil The Magic Flute, just over two months before his death.
1927: Outfielder Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hits his 60th home run of the season, breaking his own record and setting a mark that would last until 1961.
1946: Following World War II, the International Military Tribunal in Nürnberg, Germany, sentences 11 leaders of Nazi Germany, including Field Marshal Hermann Göring, to death for crimes during the war.
1949: The Berlin airlift, caused by the Soviet blockade of overland traffic to West Berlin, ends after more than 277,000 flights from Western nations, which supplied the city with food and fuel for nearly 11 months.
1955: Actor James Dean dies at the age of 24 in an automobile accident in California, having starred in only three motion pictures.

A little boy runs across this farmer who has a truckload of cow manure. The boy asks him what he is going to do with all that cow poop. The farmer tells the little boy, ''I'm taking it home to put on my strawberries.''

The little boy looks up at the farmer and says, ''I don't know where you come from, but where I come from we put cream and sugar on our strawberries.'''

I was born on this day in 1928. My book La Nuit is one of the best-known accounts of the Holocaust.

Romanian-American author Elie Wiesel’s works focus on the need to remember and learn from the Holocaust, the almost-complete destruction of the Jews in Europe by the German Nazi government, mainly in the 1940s. Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for his work in promoting human rights.