 Randy Young, Ex. Director of the Minnesota Association of Rural
Telecommunications was todayıs speaker. Mr. Young has an
extensive background in his field and gave a very interesting
and informative speech centered around the concept of the
"Digital Divide". He and the 80 independent telephone companies
in Minnesota which cover 50% of the state believe that the media
and the current administration is fostering this myth and
slowing economic development in our rural areas. The private
sector is not following the lead of such companies as the one
that relocated to Sebeka and trained 60 local people to take on
high tech jobs in software development aimed at Northwest
Airlines because it believes that,as Randy expressed it, "Rural
Minnesota is a vast technological wasteland". He debunked that
myth by explaining that DSL (high speed) access is available to
70% of rural telephone customers as compared to 70% of Twin
Cities customers. He also stressed the advantage of linking
technology to rural amenities citing his own home office in
Crosslake which is more technologically advanced that his
official business office in St. Paul. He also encouraged us to
be aware of the new push to deregulate telephone companies that
will make a huge impact in the coming years including a higher
cost for local service if the Legislature goes to the ³one size
fits all² solution. He advocated a sound Universal Service Fund
that recognizes the difference between rural areas and the city.
He encouraged people to take advantage of the 97 million dollars
spent just last year to bring this technology to rural areas.
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| Announcements |
| Jan. 12 - The social committee is promoting
surprises, surprises, surprises included in all the goodies already
promised for the holiday party at the American Legion. A
couple of new notes: The White Elephant present exchange is one gift
per couple and the party starts with a social hour from 6:00-7:00
p.m. with dinner to follow. See you all in Nisswa. |
| Sign up with Dave Berggraff to help Camp Sertoma
with their bucket checks at the $100,000 Ice Fishing
Tournament. Last year they raised about $2,000 for their fund. |
| Mississippi Horizons and Mary Lastovich. School
Nurse, thanked the Sertomans for helping to screen 130
students and finding 23 with possible hearing difficulties and 24
with potential vision problems. fas 829-7761 Dale Benson. Remember
to be at Washington Middle School Thursday or Friday if you signed
up. |
| Convention Dates-Note on your Calendar |
| May 2-4, 2002 |
Omaha Safari Regional Convention |
| July 10-13, 2002 |
Toronto National Convention |
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| Ticket
Winner |
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| Pot-O-Gold
Winner |
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Would have been Rita Johnson. (Will be a 6X pot next week) |
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| Attendance
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| Greeter
Schedule |
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Remember: Be there
by 11:45 and call somebody if you can't. Call Jeff Birks @
820-5544 if you can't make it.
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| January 9 |
Dallas Humphrey, Todd
Humphrey, Dave Bergin
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| January 16 |
Chuck Isackson, Mark Jaffars,
Kristine Welle |
| January 23 |
Milo Johnson, Ann Johnson,
Keith Lunneburg |
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Sertoman of the Day
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| Notes |
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Yes we did finish the fish house. Rory and his crew plan on
delivering it to WalMart today. Again many thanks to Rick Besmehn
for his loan of part of the Lakes Area Paint and Body Shop to the
construction crew. fas 829-7761 Deb Ryan. There will be a big push
starting next week to sell raffle tickets since the houses are now
on display and posters will be available. |
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Find a Sawbuck Corner:
The FAS Program was designed to encourage people to read the newsletter. Even those who attend the meeting can benefit from reviewing the announcements etc. If you find the letters FAS followed by your name, you must call the number provided and just leave a message that you called and attend the next meeting to collect your money. Simple--however 90% of the people never respond.
This weekıs winner was Todd Dunlap and Tom Steiger missed out. |
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Photos Photos Everywhere New photos go up almost every week on our new MSN Community homepage. This community is for the club, easy to join and gives you the opportunity to add edit or delete any photos that are posted as well as leave messages for fellow Sertomans. It is a good way to thank someone for doing a good job or give them some positive feedback for a big event in their life. If you wish to view the current photographs or check out the new online directory go to:
http://communities.msn.com/BrainerdNoonSertoma/_whatsnew.msnw
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Pipe and Drape |
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Congratulations |
 This good looking guy is a past president of Sertoma, Milo Johnson,
who was named Sertoman of the Year and just given his Life Membership
Award at this weekıs meeting. Congratulations Milo, a job well done
and an award well deserved. |
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