PROGRAM:
Ben Hoover joined the Rotary Club of York in 1971, served as its President in 1979-80, and has co-chaired its RF Committee for 25 years. York recently passed $1 Million in RF giving, and Ben has received the Rotary Foundation District Service Award.  A graduate of Mercersburg Academy, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. After 3 years in the Army (Major) in Germany he returned to York and founded Brockie Internal Medicine Consultants and Hospitalists. Ben recently retired. He has served as President of the York Hospital Medical Staff and Chief of the Division of Internal Medicine. Ben served 30 years on the Board of Trustees at York College, eight as its chairman, and has been chairman of the York Symphony Orchestra, the York Foundation, and the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center. Ben has received honorary doctoral degrees from Honam University (South Korea) and York College. He and Anne are both Presbyterian Elders and were the first couple to receive The Legion of Honor Award from the Chapel of the Four Chaplains. They have three children and four grandchildren. Ben’s hobbies are Packards (1930 and 1937) and toy fire trucks.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS / MEETING LOCATIONS:             
September 15   Dr. Gerald Kohn, Superintendent Harrisburg High School
Hilton                Great News for our School District – A Report from the Superintendent

September 22   Peter Handel, International President of Dale Carnegie
Hilton               

September 29   Toni Gilhooley, Candidate for US Congress and Judy Hirsh, Candidate for PA Senate
Hilton               

For complete programming go to our website: hbgrotary.org and click on calendar.

NEWS AND NOTES:  
• Whitaker Center, Spetember 17th - Simone and Her Big Band (Daughter of jazz icon performs big band & Vocals).  Tickets are reduced for Rotarians to $23!  See Linda to sign up.

• You're invited to Al Baker's Happy Hour on Thursday, September 11th from 5:30-7:30 PM.  This fabulous event will have a $20 minimum donation the Harrisburg Rotary Foundation for the Ecology Project. Please RSVP to Linda: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with how many will be attending.

• Committee Chairs:  If you need funding, please go to our website:  www.hbgrotary.org and from the main "home page", select the "About Us" menu and the "Humanitarian Grants List" link is at the bottom.  If you have additional needs or questions, please call Betty Hungerford, Grants Chair, 221-7727.

• The Board has accepted with regret the following resignations:  Terry Barnaby, Dolores Liptak and Amy Sauertieg

• DISTRICT INFO: 
-- September 13 THE ROTARY FOUNDATION SEMINAR   Susan Byrnes HEC, 515 S. George Street, York, PA 17401  8:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
-- The Rotary Group Study Exchange Program is one of the gems of Rotary International; an excellent example of our Rotary Foundation dollars helping at a local and international level.
It is:
* A four-week program for a team of young, non-Rotarian, professionals to exchange visits with a paired country. There is an outbound team and an inbound team.
* A unique cultural / vocational opportunity to develop professional and leadership skills.
* A once-in-a-lifetime journey involving vocational activities, cultural experiences, and fellowship opportunities.

The upcoming exchange will be with District 1950. The outbound team will be in the host country during the following dates: May 16th – June 12th, 2009. District 1950 covers the central/eastern section of the country covering farmlands and forests. The District includes Frankfurt, the second largest metropolitan area in Germany, the financial and transportation centre of Germany and one of the second largest financial center in Europe. Weimar is a cultural site, having been home to Bach, Goethe, Schiller and Herder. Rothenberg is well known as a well-preserved medieval town.

-- RI/UN Day on November 8, 2008. Final day for registration- October 24th
This unique opportunity will offer both a visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and participation in panel discussions featuring leaders and officials from the United Nations, UN affiliated Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) and Rotary International.  Lunch is included in the registration fee and will be served in the main United Nations Cafeteria overlooking the East River.  Lunch will include a sandwich, beverage and dessert.  Please complete your registration as soon as possible! Seating for UN Day is limited. Spouses and friends are also invited. Please High School Students only. A Red Lion Charter Bus will leave Queensgate Shopping Center, in York at 5:00 a.m. and Grandview Shopping Center in Lancaster at 5:30 a.m. The UN day will conclude at 4:30 p.m. There will be a fast-food dinner stop on the way home, returning to the same sites between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.  Note:  Separate Registrations must be made for the bus and for RI/UN Day.  Please see attachments.  Attendees must pre-register by October 24th to allow for processing and security clearance.

For more information contact District Initiatives chair Diane McNaughton or Linda.

For meeting cancellations due to inclement weather.... Tune to ABC27-TV
or check your e-mail or call the Rotary office at 234-1208.

ATTENDANCE:
LAST ROTARY MEETING:  8/25/08       60%                      
Rotarians   72    Active Specials   11   Guests  8 Visiting Rotarians 1    = 92

Minutes by Carrie W. Thomas: 
President Barry welcomed the troops and announced that Al Schmidt would give the invocation, followed by Neil Hendershot’s leading the singing of “God Bless America.”  After those orders of business transpired, everyone milled about amiably greeting their fellow Rotarians and guests.

Tom Bream introduced one visiting Rotarian and several illustrious guests, many of whom were prospective members. He reminded the group to read of current birthdays in the Round-up on each table.

President Barry then acknowledged the arrival of our new magnetic name badges, assiduously arranged by Linda in lighter-weight, contemporary boards in the pre-function area. He cautioned everyone NOT to place the badges next to a parking pass or credit card, because the magneticism would negate the strip on the cards. Anyone with a pacemaker should NOT wear the badge, but should request one on a chain from Linda. As a special offer, the old name badges are now available for purchase  @ $10 each as a memento, with the funds going into the Harrisburg Rotary Foundation.

The Pancake Breakfast committee was asked to rise to be applauded...the committee was to meet after the lunch meeting.

Carrie Wissler-Thomas presented her “Members in the News” feature, sharing a Patriot News article about Dr. Kohn’s giving a tour to the 100+ new faculty members for the Harrisburg School District. She also said that Steve Infanti had been quoted in the Patriot concerning the January occupation of the new tower for Harrisburg University.

Steve Krempasky then described the upcoming performance by Simone and Her Big Band on September 17 at Whitaker Centre for Science and the Arts. The daughter of the famous jazz icon Nina Simone will perform a tribute to her late mother. Tickets for Rotarians will be available for only $23, honouring our “Club Number 23 in All the World.” Part of the proceeds from the Rotarians’ tickets will go to our Club Foundation.

Tom Bream returned to the microphone to conduct Good News Reporting. It seems that a preponderance of the good news concerned either children or grandchildren starting kindergarten today! Jim Rowland’s news, however, was on a different plane entirely: Jim is being inducted into the West Virginia Sports and Academic Hall of Fame! Bob Saline not only announced his son’s engagement, but also his being named to his marketing and communications industry’s College of Fellows. Closing the reporting session, Carolyn Dumaresq proudly shared the news of her dog’s winning his second competition!

President Barry turned the podium over to Bob Hostetter...always a dicey proposition...but in this case Bob gave a most informative introduction of the speaker Jim Scheiner, whose biography is immensely impressive. Bob stated emphatically, in fact, that Jim Scheiner “knows a LOT about a LOT! ”With advanced degrees in Civil Engineering, Mr. Scheiner is very knowledgeable about the history of Pennsylvania’s transportation systems and gave a comprehensive description of the past 180 years of our Commonwealth’s roads.

The impetus for constructing the famous National Road in 1802 was actually the earlier Whiskey Rebellion, suppressed by President George Washington. Southwestern PA farmers had been disgruntled when the Federal Government began to tax their whiskey, which they were distilling because it was easier to transport on the wretched roads than their corn crop. When they refused to pay the newly imposed tax, they were squelched. Finally the Federal Government determined to remedy the road situation, and constructed the National Road with monies gained from Ohio land sales, the bill signed into law by Thomas Jefferson. Albert Gallatin, the Bud Schuster of 1806, made it possible to have the road constructed through PA rather than another route, connecting Wheeling, Virginia to Cumberland, Maryland. In 1835 the Feds gave the road to the states, and PA promptly constructed  toll-houses.

The National Road had its traffic peak in 1844, and in 1852 it reached its western terminus in Ohio. Then railroads began encroaching on the Road’s traffic, although the Road regained a modicum of popularity in the 1880’s with the advent of the bicycle. Then came the internal combustion engine, and bicycles were eclipsed in major fashion. In 1905 tolling stopped,  and then in 1925 the Bureau of Public Roads established Rt. 40 as the first transcontinental highway, which ran from Baltimore to San Francisco. The National Road lost its pre-eminence.

In 1931 Governor Pinchot was elected in PA and promised to get “the farmers out of the mud.” The State took over the road systems, a difference from other states where roads were county-maintained. The first segment of the turnpike was completed, and President Eisenhower signed a national highway act. Early interstates proved to be of inferior design, due to construction methods that failed to predict the huge volume of heavy truck traffic in the future. In the 1970’s, Penn Dot sunk to a low ebb with people complaining that Penn Dot stood for three things: patronage, potholes and politics!

Reform to Penn Dot was accomplished by Governor Thornburgh’s appointment of the genius Tom Larsen to fix it. New toll roads were constructed and organization was restored. In 2007 Gov. Rendell has proposed leasing the PA Turnpike, and began to explore tolling Rt. 80.

To sum up the discussion, Mr. Scheiner stated:
(1) Economic development and good transportation are interlocked.
(2) Looking 75 years into the future to predict the transportation situation is almost impossible.
(3) Transportation decision-making is a highly political process.
(4) The Federal Government is better at funding new road construction than maintaining existing roads.

Mr. Scheiner answered several questions from the audience, including why tolling Interstate 80 is only being considered for the PA stretch. He replied that 80 is already tolled in NJ and OH. When asked if an outside agency could run the PA Turnpike more efficiently he replied that actually it’s doing much better now than in the past, with streamlining like EZ Pass, etc. When asked about the safety of PA bridges, he replied that PA has about 6000 unsafe bridges! Inspections are conducted every 2 years, but it’s hard to identify some problems. He explained that many qualified engineers are retiring and no new “experts” are emerging to solve all the problems.

Mr. Scheiner concluded with, “Forecasting is difficult, especially about the future!” The National Road had its heyday and then was eclipsed by the railroads, etc. Transportation is an imperfect science. The age of the internal combustion engine may actually be reaching its end, and public transit may emerge as the new era.

President Barry ended the meeting with a reminder about the Pancake Breakfast Committee’s meeting, and one of the Youth Exchange Committee. He thanked Al Morrison for his musical accompaniment, and announced that there will not be a meeting next Monday, due to Labor Day.