Rotary Log for September 6 , 2018
 
President Cleo opened the meeting promptly at 12:15. Al Lantinen then led us in My Country Tis of Thee.
John St Pierre directed the Four- Way Test, while Senor Rice provided the Invocation.
 
At 12:27 Cleo brought the meeting back to order.
 
Guests and Visiting Rotarians
Portsmouth Police Chief Robert Merner (Moe Sullivan)
Heather Ingert (Tristan Shanley)
Catherine Wolf (Sue Wolf)
Scott Henry (Justin Finn)
Swedish Rotarian Langoiigen Helsingborg presented a banner.  He hails from a city of 140,000. There are six clubs in that metro area comprised of 45-members each. Some 37% of those members are female.  Well done!
 
 
Club Announcements
Kathy Nickerson of the Basic Needs Committee announced Cross Roads House is our new charitable partner this year.  Cross Roads Executive Director Martha Stone will visit September 20. She’ll bring us up-to-date on current events there and volunteer opportunities.
 
 
Barb Miller said that the Cash Committee had donated $1000 to the Pan Mass Challenge and The Dana Farber Cancer Center.
Jon Flagg revisited the minutes of the September 2nd, 1954 meeting.  (Wasn't Mort Schmidt there in person??)  Senator Upton was the guest speaker in front of 64 Rotarians, 14 visiting Rotarians, and two guests.
 
 
Cleo recognized the following Rotarians birthdays:
Dave Underhill 34 years
Bob Herold 38 years
Neal Ouellette 29 years
Basil Richardson 400 years (True story, he was on the Mayflower.)
 
Guest Speaker
 
Stella Scamman introduced New Hampshire’s 82d governor, John Sununu.  Sununu, who lives in Newfields, is the youngest U.S. governor.
 
The Republican leader has been in office for 20 months and is proud of his administration’s accomplishments in the economy, deregulation and taxes. He is a strong believer that supporting business will create more tax revenue and organic job growth.  The state currently has its largest workforce ever with 20,000 unfilled jobs and 2.7% unemployment. That is effectively full employment.  Gov. Sununu  is a firm believer that the job of Government is to provide opportunity.
 
 
New Hampshire is currently so cash rich that the state can now afford to invest money in roads, bridges and safe schools.  We are also building the state’s cash reserves since, as Sununu says, “These are high times for New Hampshire and a recession is inevitable.”
 
The Governor is proud that he supports and funded full-time kindergarten, while also doubling money for Addiction programs. Still, he understands that the addiction crisis will be with us for decades to come and will take more than money to cure. Improved communication between all stakeholders is critical.
 
 
Sununu knows that our mental health support services are not well-funded and poorly functioning.  He has had several meetings to discuss every element of health care. As a result, he has doubled funding for addiction and mental health to $45 Million. The Sununu administration has also created a decentralized delivery system with nine hubs throughout the state. Patients no longer need come only to Concord for their healthcare.  This is incredibly important as New Hampshire now has some of the highest rates of alcoholism per capita in the country. Further, Veterans can now see doctors in private hospitals and not just the V.A.
 
After fielding questions on marijuana legalization (he doesn’t support) and Rooms and Meals Tax redistribution (he supports) the meeting was adjourned at 1:15.
 
Respectfully submitted, Dutiful Scribe du Jour,  Everett Eaton
Photos by Jim Rini
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