Pledge/Prayer/4-Way Test: President Gary
Happy Bucks: MD for the beautiful day; PZ: the beautiful day and getting yelled at; PS: happy to be on Zoom while Susan is out weeding the garden; JW: glad to see everyone; JA: beautiful day, modeling new atire (hat and shirt); JA: great day; CN: has a tee time today at Fenwick; BM: happy for the good weather of course Bill's in Florida; PD: spending time with her little sister; PD: trip to Pennsylvania, the sholarship committee interviews going very well, Brian DeBlasiis doing well and sends regards; MarcD: in S. Carolina visiting family, coming home tomorrow; NM: happy her 7 year old grandson is here for the week and is learning virtually; JM: nice to see everyone and the sun is shining; CR: happy Charlie N is playing golf and suggests the 2-putt rule because they just aerated the greens!
Gary items:
- Hoping for live in-person meetings soon!
- Happy birthday to Marty, Bob A, Sam and Rev Ed
- Mask Donation: will be donating the last of our allocated masks to the Montessori School and St. Johns
- Shirts and Hats have arrived! Thanks Alan!
- Jan Peruccio thanked the club for our stipend given to the Interact Club
- May 12-16: RI convention
- The Essex Club is having their 63rd annual Shad Bake - their biggest fundraiser. Its a virtual event this year and they are taking donations. For more information click on:
https://essex.rotary7980gives.org/virtualshadbake2021/Campaign
Program: Charlie Norz
The Ever Given is currently being detained in the Suez Canal by Egypt pending financial settlement. It is going to be extremely complicated because the stakes are so high. Claims are in the millions of dollars and no doubt insurance companies will foot the major part of the bill but it will be a fight that involves responsibility for the grounding, damages to the ship and so on. The ship is owned by a company in Taiwan and is operated by a German company. There are 2 kinds of claims, damage to the ship and liability. There are 18,000 containers on the ship and each one represents money that has to be contributed by the owners of the containers. Operators will be sued for negligence which will take a while to litigate. Claims will be litigated in English. Some of the containers had perishable items inside which means total loss. Charlie then gave an example of what unscrupulous people can do. The largest case of maritime theft took place in 1983 when 70 million gallons of crude oil was "lost" in South Africa. During this time, when apartheid brought about an embargo to S. Africa a group of people purchased a tanker for $6M and 3 new officers were hired. They named the ship SALEM. It was chartered to sail to Italy after getting loaded in Iraq. The Italians sold the oil to Shell Oil. The name of the ship was altered to read LEMA and bound for Italy. As it sailed by the port of Durbin, S. Africa, the ship mored and the tanker connected to a pipeline. All but 1,000 barrels were discharged into the pipeline and payment was made through the banking system. The LEMA set sail and was sunk which left an oil slick (1,000 gal). The crew was picked up and sent home to eastern Europe. They claimed an engine fire caused the ship to sink. Scotland Yard investigated for years but could not find the ship or the $75 million that was paid to the planner(s) of this caper. After expenses, including the cost of the ship, the devious ones netted about $60 million. The tab was picked up Shell Oil's insurance and various re-insurance companies.
Other business:
Memorial Day Parade in Old Saybrook is on - May 31. Marty's brother-in-law Mike Goldblatt will bring one of his restored antique cars which we will accompany down Main St.
Summer Concert Series: Marc and John are heading this up. There is a meeting tonight. The proposed club budget is $4,000 which will go up for approval by the club following approval by the Foundation Board. We will provide lip balm, suntan lotion, hand sanitizer, bottled water and perhaps popsicles and ice cream. There are 15 concerts. This will be good PR for the club and a chance to educate people on Rotary. Employees of Park & Rec will help with the cleanup after the concert.
Golf Tournament: Charlie Renshaw says the restrictions have been relaxed and we will be able to have our "traditional" golf tournament with shotgun start and gatherings afterward. Charlie and Brent will meet with John Jackson of Fox Hopyard on Wednesday May 12 around 2-3pm when food options, prizes and contests will be finalized. Marty sent Charle the electonic version of the application form for alterations.
Community Action: Gary is looking for ideas for community based problem solving. Joan Winters contributed many ideas worth considering. Jan said she is very proud of the club and dynamic attitude and active roles we are taking.
District: Tari Marshall-Dey, ADG says we are at the top of the list of clubs who have added new members.
Speakers: Bill McLaughlin says we are booked thru June.
md
