J- Greensheet For March 20 2008

PROMISE YOURSELF Optimist Club of Coronado Post Office Box 180251 Coronado, CA 92178-0251 March 20, 2008 Only a mediocre person is always at his/her best! W. Somerset Maugham

Jim Alley, President Pres.08-09 Leslie Crawford VPs-Irish Flynn & John Bowen Stu Powell, Secretary John Freeman, Treas. USNA ’45 Publishers A group that’s too noble for fear www.sportsfiesta.net

Meetings at 7AM on Thurs at Coronado Yacht Club Tom Bernitt is unemployed as of today. All I can think is that there is one less worker bee paying into that Social Security Lock Box that provides me with all my essentials. What is happening to the social contract!!! In the meantime the Optimist Club of Coronado met to make certain that the deck chairs are in straight rows. Eric Raiter used a calculator to translate Euros into greenbacks while Bill McClure handed out limes and checked us off. The limes came from Bill Jepson’s garden. He was worried about scurvy in the group. Jim Rodgers gave an old Irish Prayer and Joe Huber started our pledge to the flag. Leslie Crawford was our high potentate this morning. Leslie is multi-tasking since she has her hands full with Floral Association business. The Flower Show is only three weeks away, and Leslie is the Chairperson. Our own lemon/lime guy Bill Jepson has been given the charge to provide sturdy Optimists at every exit to make sure nobody sneaks into the tent. This is the only security job in the whole world where you are urged to bring a chair and read a book. Side arms qualification is not required. Leslie also urged all hands to become a full blossom member to the Floral Association. A whole family gets in for fifteen bucks. She has the envelopes. BJ reminded us that the Concert is only one week away, Steve Slack followed with a like reminder about the Spring Fling. If you need more tickets to the concert call BJ. And get your reservations for the Surf and Turf at the Golf Course into Steve. John Freeman woke us all up with the announcement that he had just finished a two day nude sail boat race where only one man fell over the side. Mull that picture over. I may have missed something, but John will clear things up for those who might want more details. We have a diverse group. Bret Gary passed around a sign up board for the lacrosse scoring table. I did this last week and found it fun. Coronado beat a very good team from the Bay Area. The coaches and parents are very appreciative of our help. So for a cheap night out I can recommend the gig. Gil Gilliland will read on his blackberry that he missed the grand celebration of his 2nd anniversary of joining the Optimists. But since he is contributing to that Lock Box tell him to just keep doing what he is doing. Dick Madouse also missed his anniversary but he retired last year so we want him at every meeting. Bret Gary and Fred Hauck had happy birthday observances and it was special. This was Harmonica Joe Petrucci’s last meeting. Joe played “Danny Boy” –a real tug at the heartstrings. And then he finished off with the “Irish Washer Woman”. If we hadn’t been full of muffin we would have had a wild jig. Happy Birthday, boys. We will all miss you, Joe. Buck Rogers provided a notice of the memorial service for our old buddy Larry Resek. Larry’s friends are all invited to the service on the Flight Deck of the USS MIDWAY. The memorial starts at 11AM on Wednesday, March 26. There is validated parking on the Navy Pier, and a lunch will be served in the “Elevator 3” restaurant. There is a special program next Thursday. Our congressional representative Susan Davis will be coming by to check out the menu and the concerns of the Coronado Optimists. We can ask about the lock on the Lock Box. Anyway, we should fill the room with friends and neighbors who want to know “what the hell are those people in Washington doing now?” Put it on your do not miss list. And dress up. Our speaker today was Col. Dan Leighton, US Army Retired. Dan is the Special Coordinator for Demining and other associated projects in Iraq. He has done this sort of business in the Balkans and Afghanistan and spoke to us last year about the efforts to make the world a safer place. During his talk Col. Layton commended Jack Couture on Jack’s command of military doctrine. He spoke to us today from the standpoint of the “surge” that started last summer. Col. Layton told us about the strategy of Clear, Hold, and Build. Previous efforts of killing as many bad people as possible and then moving to another place was not getting the job done. The bad people always came back. We started putting our folks in a place to stay. They took on a mission of gaining the locals’ confidence. Dan recounted the success of the Marines in Anbar Province where the commander made a deal with the local Sunni tribal chieftains. They developed an “Anbar Awakening”. Money was involved. Surprise. But money works. Using this model we now pay 80,000 folks $300 a month to help keep the piece. That’s 24 million but it doesn’t come from the Lock Box, and the Marines have been made an honorary Sunni Tribe. Does that come with a service ribbon? Anyway the Marine had a parade down the main drag with battle steamers, sans body armor, just like down Orange Avenue on the 4th of July. Oh, and our Marine, Col. Jake Sloan won $134 to take Ann out to lunch. Happy Easter All.