Mr. Mayor himself!

This week we had a chance to hear from and ask questions of our Mayor, Dan McArthur. Mr. McArthur has been the Mayor of St. George for 17 years and has seen a great deal of change over those years. He has life-long area ties originating with his parents who raised the family and operated businesses here in St. George. The Mayor’s father was recently featured in a Spectrum article as the “Grandfather” of St. George. We also know that both the Mayor and his Father have long histories with Rotary. Good for them!
We learned that the new airport opening with coincide with the City’s Birthday celebration which will commence on January 1, 2011. The new airport will make it possible to bring commuter jet traffic into our area. The city is working with various airlines to expand possible destinations to include Phoenix, Denver, and Los Angeles as well as fly larger jet aircraft to Salt Lake City.
The group asked many questions, seeking information on the new I-15 Interchange and Southgate Golf Course among other topics. Water and the cost and management of water is always a concern and we were informed pipeline discussions are on hold for the moment with the decline in growth in the area. However, the City Council is still working on guidelines for water conservation including Xeroscaping percentages in new and existing areas.
A great source of information is the InSide St. George magazine which can be obtained locally in hard copy or can be read and downloaded from the City’s web site: http://www.sgcity.org/. The web site is a vast resource on the many issues of concern to local residents and the Mayor strongly suggested we visit the site regularly to keep up on the latest City happenings. Be sure to check out the concerts at Vernon Worthen Park and the movies on the Town Square. Note: 2 of this summer’s movies were shot here in St. George. Check out the web site http://www.sgcity.org/ to see which movies those are. Watch the news in upcoming months on the City’s Year Long Birthday Party.
Next week Mark Heiner will take over the President’s chair, table, and this Blog.
It has been my pleasure to have served this past year and I thank you all for your support. I look forward to the energy Mark will bring to this position. Thank you one and all for a great year.
Marla Shelby-Drabner, President
Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise

"Someday" is not on any calendar.

Today we had the privilege of hearing from Penny Fox and Susan Hayward about the endeavor called Send Out Cards. This is an internet based company designed to take the work out of staying in touch.
Penny Fox is an entrepreneur and Storyteller. She has been a community advocate for years dabbling in service to Neighborhood Watch, The Alzheimer’s Association, and the United Way among others. She spoke to us of the geneology of networking and the need to network constantly to maintain business and personal viability. For each of us, our geneology tree would include branches to family, friends, church, community, Rotary and others. Because “someday” is not on any calendar it is so easy to let networking and/spiritual connection opportunities slip away. We must make a conscious effort to reach out.
Susan, whose background is insurance but whose passion is golf, then spoke about the benefits of sending cards regularly to maintain those contracts on the branches. Send Out Cards makes it possible to get on line, create and personalize a greeting card, sign it and push a button to have it printed and sent via U.S. Mail. It is possible to upload photos for the cards as well as place a signature on them.
Penny and Susan invite you to check them out at http://www.sendoutcards.com/79381/79381.
Watch for upcoming events including the Changing of the Gavel and the recognition of our Public Services agencies.
Marla Shelby-Drabner, President (for 2 more weeks)
Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise.

Social Media Part 2 - Facebook!

For those of us who continue to be challenged by today's technology, Mark Heiner and Darrin Hallman introduced us to Facebook, a social networking internet site. We got an overview of how to create an account, personalize an account, invite friends and - thank you Dan Rack for asking - about privacy.

While I think most of us assumed Facebook, and similar sites such as MySpace, were for young users who appear to spend all their time connected on-line. What we found is that most families, grandparents, etc. use this media to stay connected with families, share photos,history etc. Very surprisingly, we learned also that 70% of Facebook users are outside the U.S. The whole world seems to be connected.

We learned that no one can get to a Facebook site without being invited to do so. We can't see your site and you cannot see ours without both parties agreeing.

Now here is the down-side: the average user spends more than 55 minutes a day on the site!

How silly we were to think we could do social media in one meeting. Twitter took up one whole meeting, the Introduction to Facebook took up a whole meeting and we didn't get to the hands-on part. So in the future, we have Social Media Part 3. Thanks Mark and Darrin.

Next week, Penny Fox of SendOutCards. See you then!

Marla Shelby-Drabner, President

Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise

Lots of stuff going on!

This week our Blog is a mixed bag!

This week it was our pleasure to hear from Lani Puriri who is facilitating the move of the Huntsman World Senior Games International Festival from the small event previously held at Dixie College to a larger community based event. The event will be held Friday and Saturday, October 15th and 16th and focus on cultural education. Rotary clubs from around the world are invited to sponsor artisans to bring their crafts to sell at the festival.
The three fold mission for the International Festival is:
· To create an event where HWSG athletes and citizens of the community can participate as one
· To cultivate worldwide health, friendship and peace
· To work with Rotary Clubs and promote the motto of Service above Self.
Lani asked for volunteers from our club to help with the Festival. She is especially in need of someone with the ability to help create a web site and related social media marketing.


In addition to Lani, we heard from Kevin Lewis with a final re-cap of the Ironman. He brought great video footage and again expressed his appreciation to our club for our participation. And just in case you missed this announcement the first time, AID STATION #9, SPONSORED BY THE ROTARY CLUB OF DIXIE SUNRISE, WON FIRST PLACE IN THE AID STATION CATEGORY! Go Pig!

Just a quick aside, this past week was my final Board Meeting as your President. Wow where did this year go? So John had to record it for posterity……

And finally, I failed last week to mention that Dan Greathouse , President of the local Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Association, visited our Club to let us know the traveling Vietnam Wall will return to St. George this Fall. Many of us volunteered our time in honor of these whose names appear on the wall when it was here the first time. Dan hopes many of us will help again. It is a very touching experience for visitors and volunteers alike. More as the date get closer.

Have a great week one and all!

Marla