The meeting was the first official meeting of Don Steger's term as President. As Don stood at the podium he set two other records. One, Don became the first African-American President in the history of Charlotte Rotary; he also claims to be the first Mexican. And two, Don became the first President in the history of the Charlotte Rotary to introduce the head table at the end of a meeting. Don must be commended for his smooth and dyslexic style.
     Fortunately enough, the head table of Leon Jorgensen, Donald Haack, Price Gwynn, Billy Wireman, Winston Kelly, Lamar Thomas, and Richard Rankin needed no introduction.
     Peggy Wesp introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Curt Farmer brought health and happiness, Chuck Lineberry the song, and Winston Kelly our invocation.
     Luther Moore introduced new member Lecil Henderson, and John Layne introduced new member Bob Alexy. Look for the coming bio's of these great new additions to the club.
     Price Gwynn gave special recognition to our speaker Billy Wireman, who became our latest honorary member. Price was eloquent in his recitation of Billy's extensive bio. Here are a few highlights:

     The speech delivered to Charlotte Rotary is in essence the one delivered to the Charlotte World Affairs Council on May 24th. That speech will be published on July 15th in the periodical "Vital Speeches."
     The title of his speech was "The People's Republic of China Turns 50," and discussed encouraging signs laced with stiff challenges:

• On March 18, 2000, the 22 million people on the small island of Taiwan experienced the first orderly change of power in a Chinese culture, from one political part to the other through an open democratic election, in 5,000 years. Never before in history has there been an election where a Chinese culture has democratically transferred power to another party.

• The weekly The Economist listed the largest economies in the world. America, of course, is the largest with an $8 trillion economy, but if you use purchasing power parity (PPP), which means the relative cost of buying goods and services in that country, China is the world's second largest economy with $3.8 trillion.

• There are 50,000 Chinese students studying in America today.

• Sixty million Chinese are using the Internet today, and that number will increase by about 50 million a year, for the next five to ten years.

     The world needs a strong, confident, proud, secure and stable China to help shape the 21st century to productive and humane ends. With China as an adversary, achieving this objective is less likely.

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HAIL TO THE CHIEF !

C. DON STEGER
84th President of Charlotte Rotary

     Look forward to the unexpected anytime this year as Chattanooga native C. Don Steger takes the reins as the 84th president of the club and the first African-American to hold the post.

     President Don wears many hats. He presently serves as Director of Organizational Excellence (Technical Assistance and Research) and Professor of Business Administration at Pfeiffer University at Charlotte while also serving as pastor of Reeder Memorial Baptist Church on Beatties Ford Road.

     In 1973 he became director of research projects for the Pinellas County Schools in Clearwater, a position he held until 1977 when he became deputy city manager of St. Petersburg. Along the way he earned a doctorate from the University of South Florida in Tampa and has done postdoctoral studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Florida.

     President Don, who joined Charlotte Rotary in 1980, is very active in community affairs. He is board president of Goodwill Industries of Southern Piedmont, vice chair of the board of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Libraries, trustee of the YMCA of Charlotte, and a member of the board of the United Way of Central Carolinas.

     Please welcome C. Don Steger as president of Charlotte Rotary July 2000-2001.

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POWELL'S
OBSERVATIONS

POWELL  MAJORS

     Jerry Orr — now beardless — is still looking for a replacement for George Robinette who retired Jan. 1 as deputy aviation director.
     John Belk was one of the 9 winners in the Carolina's Year 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. He will be eligible for the National Award in November.
     Tom Barnhardt and family celebrated the 100th birthday of Barnhardt Manufacturing Company on Monday, July 10th.

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