Pledge:

Kitty Lopez

Thought of the Day:

Bruce Bean
“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Newscast:

Peter Webb

• July 4 theme
• People are celebrating taking the day off. What’s more patriotic than a BBQ and feeling stuffed?
• Kids were giving each other “high-fours” (as opposed to high-fives)
• Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? At the bottom. The real answer is Philadelphia. 
• Interesting fact: two former Presidents were signers: Jefferson and Adams. Both ended up dying 50 years later, on July 4. Ro Bianchi responded “That’ll teach ‘em!”

Sunshine:

Mitch Williams

• Bob Campbell has made good progress
• Chuck Pascal has found out he has advanced lymphoma

No visiting Rotarians.

One guest: Kitty’s guest, Mayra (spelling?) Cruz.

Announcements

• The new Sergeants-at-Arms were presented with special pins (I guess President Chris must have forgotten us…)
• The Rotary International conference in Toronto was great, with speakers including Laura Bush and Justin Trudeau. Bruce met a former guest of the club from 1993, a Ukrainian Rotarian, and exchanged banners. 
• Next week’s meeting will be at Rotary Grove in Central Park. Bring $20.00 cash only. 

Fining

• Chris Eckert, Frank Espina, and Ron Borelli were all photographed together with very nice cars. None were present but the club (seemingly) unanimously approved inducting them to the new President’s club anyway.

Recitation of the Declaration of Independence

• In light of the recent holiday, Tony Villanueva, Angel Riley, Rod Linhares, Dick Bennett, Kitty Lopez, John Root, Skip Howie, Juan Raigoza, and speaker Jim Wagstaff took turns reciting portions of the Declaration of Independence with admirable fervor.

Speaker: Jim Wagstaff, introduced by Bruce

• 
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
• Started by presenting the $2 bill, which shows the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back, and the author Thomas Jefferson on the front. Stated that we will be playing Jeopardy later with a chance to win some $2 bills.
• Pointed out the differences between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, such as: the Constitution does not mention God or unalienable rights
• The Declaration of Independence is concise: it has 1,337 words, while the Internal Revenue Code has about 8.5 million (and counting).
• It’s estimated that this year, about 158 million hot dogs were eaten yesterday
• The original Declaration of Independence was copied 200 times; we have found 27 of them
• What led to the Declaration of Independence? Tom Paine’s Common Sense, the 2^nd Constitutional Congress, John Adam’s Radical Preamble, and Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution
• Interesting point: In John Trumbull’s painting of the Declaration of Independence signing, John Adams is stepping on Thomas Jefferson’s toe (they didn’t get along)
• NY state abstained from voting, and agreed 11 days later to declaring independence
• Structure of the Declaration of Independence: Preamble, Grievances, Denunciation, and Formal Declaration
• Risks to signing the Declaration of Independence: Treason (“We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” -Ben Franklin) and wealth/health/status
•  
• Jim ended with the story of Caesar Rodney, who had just undergone facial surgery to remove a tumor and was in tremendous pain, but nevertheless rode on horseback through inclement weather to Philadelphia to be there and sign the Declaration of Independence. Jim pointed out the commitment they had and that we need today to making America a better country.