Fossicker The
No. 42578 - Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - A002977L
Weekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Bendigo Inc. - Chartered 30th July 1925 - District 9800
WEEKLY REPORT
told us about her past week, especially the trip to the beach, which was a real novelty, given there are no beaches in her native Hungary. Following the meal, Acting Sergeant, Graeme Clarke, called the meeting to order and invited Glenn Reilly to the lectern (not the rectum Glenn). Glenn spoke about the recent Golf Day/Night and praised his committee and helpers for conducting a great event, which raised a record-breaking amount for Operation Cleft. Glenn then invited Julie Stein to the lectern where she spoke about the magnificent work being Should Bendigo Be Drinking Recycled Water?? Forty members, partners and guests were treated to some debatable “pearls-of-wisdom” during the club’s annual Great Debate conducted at The Bendigo Club on Tuesday evening. Earlier in the evening, Acting President, Wayne Smith, conveyed President Brian’s best wishes and apologies for not being able to attend the meeting. AP Wayne also welcomed the special guests for the evening, Dr Dharma Dharmabalan, General Manager Infrastructure at Coliban Water, who was the debate adjudicator, Ms Julie Stein, General Manager, Operation Cleft, and her partner Ms Steve McAllister. Our exchange student Zsofi was also present and she
PRESIDENT Brian Figg
SECRETARY Kaye Graves
performed in Bangladesh to transform the lives of so many children that are unfortunately born with cleft palates and other cranial abnormalities. Following her comments, Glenn proudly presented to Julie, on behalf of a very proud club, a cheque for the amount of $8,000, which will fund another 32 operations under TREASURER Wayne Smith
PAST PRESIDENT Wayne Smith
BOARD MEMBERS: Vocational Service - John Krakowiak President Elect - Tom Seddon New Generations - Phil West Club Service - Garry Gunnell Rotary Foundation - Hugh Wheeler Community Service - Libby Hughes International Service - Valerie Barker Editor: Noel Hobley noelhobley@bigpond.com - Distribution: The Terrace theterrace@phs.org.au Correspondence: PO Box 131, Bendigo, 3552
the Operation Cleft Program. This occasion couldn’t pass without applauding Glenn on his initiative to involve the club in the Operation Cleft Program and on his undying passion to keep to going. It is Rotarians like Glenn that make the rest of us proud to be part of the Rotary family. AS Graeme then demonstrate his dry and somewhat confounding wit as he set his mind to the fine session and managed to extract those gold coins out of our pockets with a myriad of obscure fines. Well done Graeme!! Arguing the affirmative case, in order of appearance will be Valerie Barker - whose argument will at all Now to the great debate!! times observe & honour the 4 Way Test; Ted Rankins - who will doubtless telegraph his intentions at the beginning; and Peter Reading - who will no doubt give us a sign of the times.
Moderator Hugh Wheeler took to the podium and introduced the two teams. Arguing the negative case will be John Gallagher who will doubtless plumb the depths of the matter; Wayne Smith - who will unapologetically give a black & white interpretation and Glenn Reilly - who will surely try to impress upon us that he is a good person with whom to deal. ROSTER
Chairman Sergeant at Arms Corporals Cashiers Regalia Reception Grace Four Way Test
Hugh concluded his introduction by stating “As Moderator I believed it appropriate that I draw the attention of those present to the maxim that: “In War and Debate, Truth is often the first casualty”. With that caveat in mind I now invite the Negative Team to open the Great Debate.”
DECEMBER 4 TBA N. Whitfield N. Hobley A. Hampton D. Ionescu N. Kilby B. Penna R. Rogers M. Hughes L. Hughes M. Horne
DECEMBER 11 TBA I. Coates N. Kilby W. Smith B. McMahon G. McLeod B. Penna R. McDonald F. Lean B. Penna J. Krakowiak
DECEMBER 18 Christmas party
A Notice for Chairman - To assist the President and as a courtesy to guest speakers, when the president calls for visiting Rotarians and guests to be introduced, the Chairman for the day is asked, please, to stand and introduce the guest speaker by name with the comment that he/she will be more formally introduced later in the meeting. Members are reminded that if for any reason you are unable to fulfil the duty for which you are rostered it is your responsibility to arrange a replacement
Leading for the negative side, John Gallagher commenced the proceedings with his opening line As first up for the negative let me say we are positive about our negative, we will present a lot of positives in our case to prove our negative, and won’t rest till the affirmative is positively negative. And to quote Ben Franklin: ‘In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.’ He contended that the affirmative side would raise the fact that a number of cities are using recycled waste water for drinking. That’s true. 3 or 4 maybe. But they won’t talk about the 2580 cities, with a population greater 150,000, that don’t. He then spoke about CECs and various other nasties that no amount of filtering can be guaranteed to be removed. He argued that the negative side fully supports the use of recycled water for domestic and commercial purposes, such as garden watering, etc., but not for drinking and quoted a number of eminent persons who also support this contention. Speaking first for the affirmative side, Valerie Barker, as one would expect, drew on various quotations from “The Bible” to support her argument. She led off with:For centuries we humans have taken water for granted ... with this there can be no argument. When God created the earth, he created man to “rule” over the earth. Genesis 1:26 says Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” We were in fact created to look after the earth and to be wise about it. Well who can argue with the fact that we have stuffed up badly and consequently the earth is now suffering and that includes our water. Val then proceeded to argue the reasons why we should be drinking recycled water, including - a way of drought proofing our community - protecting our community from terrorists where our water supply is at risk - ensuring sufficient water for the population growth that is and will continue to occur. To conclude, Val went back to “The Bible” and talked about “Jesus turning water into wine”, claiming this
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to be a great example of water recycling and Solomon saying “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well”, suggesting that even Solomon knew and believed that recycled water was the only way to go. Second up for the negative side, Smithy introduced the word “Gooby” and said that in Bendigo’s early days the water supply was untreated and full of goobies and that, as a result, the people’s immune systems were strong, allowing the community to thrive and minimising outbreaks of rabies, malaria and dementia. He then argued when the water supply was treated and most of the goobies removed, the people’s immune systems began to deteriorate and they became sicker, as is evidenced by the current crisis in the health system. There was also an obscure reference to Anniversaries BIRTHDAYS:
December 4 to December 10 James Winzar Dec. 6.
ROTARY Nil INDUCTIONS: WEDDING Nil ANNIVERSARIES:
CHRISTMAS CAKES Christmas Cakes and Puddings are on the agenda again and orders are being taken by the RC of Bendigo South. • Large puddings and cakes weight 900 gms. • Mini Cakes and Puddings weigh 350 gms. • Baked and stored in tins to remain fresh. • Packaged in attrative boxes. • Manufactured in Tasmania.
LARGE $14.00 each. MINI $7.00 each. Please place your order by contacting: Terry Dalwood, Phone 5442 6212 or 0400 476 204, email dalwoods@bigpond.com or Garry Pinner phone 5443 7188, fax 5441 4121. Please note we prefer payment at time of delivery. Postal address is Rotary Club of Bendigo South Inc. PO Box 346, Bendigo 3552.
Click to visit District 9800 newsletters and videos
“childhood obesity” thrown in for good measure. Wayne concluded by saying that recycled water would be completely free of goobies and, if introduced for drinking, would result in the complete destruction of the immune systems of future generations. And, with this, the spread of rabies, malaria and dementia would become rampant and this beautiful city that we all know and love would be doomed. Second up for the affirmative side was the irrepressible Ted Rankins. It should be pointed out at this stage that a rule of the debate limited each speaker to 5 minutes and, prior to Ted getting to his feet, moderator Hugh had strictly adhered to the rule. However, Ted spoke for nearly 15 minutes without interruption from the moderator suggesting graft may have come into play.
through at least six sets of kidneys, ie each Londoner does not have twelve kidneys but rather the water has passed through the kidneys of at least six people before being consumed by the Londoner. Having regard for what goes on in London, the writer isn’t that convinced that the point supported Ted’s argument.
Ted raised a myriad of points in favour of his affirmative argument but the one that stuck in the As we all know Ted is the master of illusion and, writer’s mind was that Londoners drink their water to prove this he fascinated the audience with a demonstration of recycling before our very eyes. A sealed box was produced from which Ted drew three sample bottles stating that they contained a specimen from each of the affirmative team members. Ted then COMMUNITY claimed that the specimens had undergone extensive CAROLS treatment in a fully accredited scientific laboratory and were now fit for human consumption. The As many Rotarians as possible will be needed for illusion was completed by each of the affirmative rd this big event on Sunday 23 December. team members drinking their so-called specimen. A roster is about to be prepared. Rumour has it that the bottles contained wine but this didn’t stop non-drinker Valerie choking on hers If you are NOT able to assist you please advise whilst saying how can anyone drink this stuff. John Flood, Ron Rogers or Barry Penna as soon (The writer overheard someone say after the debate as possible or e-mail John Flood on jaflood@ that Ted had outdone Jesus. Jesus only turned water impulse.net.au. into wine. Ted has taken it to a new level and turned wee into wine.)
COMING EVENTS
CHRISTMAS PARTY
Bendigo Rotary Club Christmas Party Date - Tuesday 18th December 2012 Venue - Bendigo Club Incorporated Time 6.30 for 7.00 (TBC)
Finger Food and Free Drinks on the Club’s new balcony
Main Course - Trio of Roasts
Desert - Plum Pudding Cost $28 per head.
Acceptance lists to be on Table for next 2 weeks.
Ian Coates, Fellowship
Last up for the negative side was Glenn Reilly and it must be said that Glenn played the “man” not the “ball” in his presentation. He claimed that each of his opponents was a water waster and that their only reason for supporting the drinking of recycled water was to feed their water-wasting habit. With the aid of the overhead projector, Glenn showed us photographs of Val’s church, presumably Ted’s house and Peter’s house, courtesy of Google. He then showed photographs of happenings in the backyards with an extravagant water system flooding the church grounds and two gigantic Olympic-sized swimming pools on the other two properties. Ted interjected and pointed out that the photograph
Moderator Hugh returned to the podium and invited each side to summarise their case and make any rebuttals of their opponent’s case. Both sides declined, probably believing that their relative cases had been well put and was superior to their opponent’s. Hugh then invited the debate adjudicator, Dr Dharmabalan, to the podium to summarise and make his judgment. Dharma delivered a fairly comprehensive summary of the salient points made by each speaker and offered his comments in relation to some. The writer noted in respect of Dharma’s summary of Valerie’s presentation, that of her numerous references to The purported to be of his house was, in fact, a photograph Bible were a little lost on him because he is a Hindu. of his next-door neighbour’s house. Glenn replied that He said of Wayne’s presentation that he was curious this did not exonerate him because the backyard shot as to the origin of the word “Gooby” and, true to form, clearly shows Ted, resplendent in budgie smugglers, Wayne quipped that it was a Buddhist word. jumping into the pool. In conclusion, Dharma made some serious comments Concluding the affirmative argument, Peter Reading about the topic - something none of the speakers had also played the “man” by making reference to the dared tackle. He said that whilst the debate, albeit stature of each of his opponents. in a flippant way, had tended to look at the drinking He stood behind Glenn and claimed that Glenn was of recycled water as happening directly from toiletinvolved with the clean water though the sale of to-tap, there was strong evidence to suggest that it appliances that filtered water and relied on clean would probably happen indirectly water. He stood behind Wayne and said that his career by the injection of treated waste revolved around the conveyance and supply of clean water into the ground water aquifer water. He then stood behind John (Jack) and stated and extraction of it at a later time that Jack had always been involved with waste water. for human consumption. Peter contended that the relative statue of each of his With this remark, he declared that opponents was due to their contact with water. The the debate must go on and refused two “little’ blokes were in contact with clean water, to nominate a winner. whilst the “BIG” bloke was in contact with waste Signed, Anon. water. Peter then turned to the audience with a bit of a “Dorothy Dixer”. “If there was a war, who would Until next week, you wish defend you. An army “Jacks” or an army Thanks, Editor Noel Hobley made up of the other two??
THE FOUR WAY TEST 1. Is it the TRUTH?
of the things we think, say or do...
3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all conerned?
ViA
The Mandala Foundation is proud to present:
Vocations in Aid Pathways in Humanitarian Aid & International Development
Friday 7th December, 2012 - Melbourne One-day conference and exhibition
Have a love of travel and want to make a difference? Want to use your skills and interests to assist and exchange with others? Interested in developing a global career? ... then international aid work may be for you. Come along to ViA to find out how.
; Discover potential pathways in international aid in your vocational area ; Hear vocational stories from experienced aid workers, volunteers and local staff ; Find out about competencies that are valuable in international aid work as well as recruitment, application and selection processes ; Interact with and ask questions of experienced aid workers and volunteers through peer learning and mentoring sessions Date: Time: Venue:
Photo: Engineers Without Borders Australia
Enquiries: Cost:
Friday 7th December, 2012 8:45am – 5:15pm William Angliss Institute Building A, Level 5 555 La Trobe Street, Melbourne (+61 3) 9005 0808 or expo@mandalafoundation.org.au Concession: $55.00 (inc. GST) Standard: $71.50 (inc. GST)
More information: www.mandalafoundation.org.au ; Gain tips and resources for preparing and remaining resilient on overseas assignments including psychological, health, cultural and security issues ; Meet a range of agencies that recruit humanitarian aid and development workers for overseas projects ; Learn about university and TAFE courses that support vocational pathways in aid
Thursday 6th December, 2012 Pre-conference workshops:
2.00 – 6.00pm
Sector network meeting with Melbourne Development Circle:
6.00pm onwards
MANDALA
FOUNDATION
Strengthening humanitarian action through the psychosocial support of staff, projects and management systems
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