President Al no sooner rang the bell than yours truly quickly racked up a cell phone violation.  Before I could silence my phone, Stephen Wheeler immediately called giving me my second cell phone transgression. What are friends for?  Okay, for those of you that haven’t attended since our new caterer started you are missing out!  Friday we had some of the best seasoned collards I have ever eaten.  So flavorful and tender.  Come on back, you’ve already paid for these great meals you are missing out on.

Our guests were Faye Highsmith, wife of Danny and Jan Ervin, Bob’s better half and the Hillcrest Middle School English teacher of our speaker, Kim Horne Molnar.  It was great to see Bob Cogswell back for the first time in a long time. Welcome back Bob.

 

Next Thursday, January 25 George Hendricks and John Malzone will host a Kiwanis social at District House of Taps in Haymount beginning at 5:30 PM.  These socials are a lot a fun and a great chance to bring a prospective member. After its over you can cross the street and get dinner at the new Haymount Truck Stop.  Hope to see you there.

 

Mark your calendar now for Friday, February 23 for Awards Night at Highland Country Club. You will receive your official email invitation in the coming weeks.

 

Garry Two R’s announced that the virtual Reverse Raffle will be held Friday, March 15.  Get your ticket from Garry to support one of our biggest fundraising events and have a 1 in 300 chance of winning big bucks!  Tickets are only $100.

Membership Chair, George Hendricks, took home $66 from the 50/50 and declared he was taking Kelly to Wiener King.  Hey big spender, guess you can get the footlong combo.

 

Next Friday, Gary Cooper will bring us a program from our dear friends at the Boys and Girls Home at Lake Waccamaw.  Always a heartwarming program.

 

Richard Everett introduced his neighbor and community treasure, the lovely Kim Horne Molnar.  Kim and her husband Karl founded Miller’s Brew after she served as a speech therapist is the Cumberland County School system for 27 years.  This is obviously a labor of love for Kim and what started as a food truck has now developed into a successful retail coffee shop employing between 25-30 special needs young adults to help prepare them for meaningful work in the business community. The coffee shop operates out of Tom Keith’s property, the old BB&T Branch in Haymount across from the fire station. Next month they will celebrate their one year anniversary.  Kim reports that there are over 7,000 special needs students in Cumberland County alone and nationally 87% of those on the autism spectrum do not work.  They receive no government funding and are fully dependent on sales and support from friends and family.  Stop by and support this great organization and get a great cup of coffee to boot.

 

With football playoffs in full swing this weekend, thought we’d look at some famous quotes from the NFL.

"I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards," he said. "Whichever comes first."  George Rogers, New Orlean Saints.

 

When Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to start a Super Bowl in January 1988, he faced his fair share of questions about setting history, including this one from sportswriter Butch John. "So, Doug, how long have you been a black quarterback?"

Nobody would call Joe Theismann brilliant, but it's reasonable to expect him to get names down. "Nobody in football should be called a genius," he said. "A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, “I feel like I’m the best," he told an interviewer, "but you’re not going to get me to say that.”

 

The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were really bad. Really bad. Oh-and-14 bad. After yet another loss, someone asked Coach John McKay what he thought of his team's execution. "I'm in favor of it," the coach quipped.

 

While coaching the Cincinnati Bengals through a miserable stretch, coach Bruce Coslet was asked what the flaws with the team were. “We can’t run. We can’t pass. We can’t stop the run. We can’t stop the pass. We can’t kick," he said. "Other than that, we’re just not a very good football team right now.”

 

Til Next Week

 

John Holmes