President Ronnie called the meeting to order.
     He then called on Mary Mack to introduce our visiting Rotarians and guests. She introduced eight guests and three visiting Rotarians.
     Leon Jorgensen gave the Health and Happiness Report and reported that Henry Bostic was recovering nicely from his recent hospital visit, then Leon shared with us the results about a survey that had been given to a group of elementary students on the topic of love. Great comments!
     President Ronnie then introduced Cynthia Johnston, Adult Literacy Committee Chair who in turn introduced Sheila Funderburke, Project Director of the Urban League's Connecting Links program. This project is partially underwritten by Charlotte Rotary and helps families that have marginal work skills, life skills, work ethic, and lack of computer knowledge. She explained how great the program is working in conjunction with the help of CPCC. Rotarians are helping with the employment of many of the individuals in the program.
     Rotary Foundation Committee Chair Donald Haack introduced the newest and additional Paul Harris Fellows. They are John Luby, Al McCulloch, Fitz Dove (2), Powell Majors (3), and Bill Poe (3).
     President Ronnie led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Howard Chadwick led us in song, followed by the invocation offered by John Rodgers. Seated at the head table were Brent Trexler, Harold Bouton, Lee Morris, and Gayle Smith. Roger Sarow, General Manager of WFAE-Public Radio introduced the speaker — veteran broadcaster and talk show host Mike Collins.
     Mike started by discussing the tragedies in recent years in Arkansas, then in Oregon and just recently in Colorado. The Colorado incident probably has made society stop and ask the questions — Where are we? How did we get here? What's gone wrong? Everybody seems to be pointing fingers in all directions: lack of parental responsibility, lack of involvement in children's lives, easy access to guns, insensitivity of school and other officials, easy access to drugs, complete lack of spirituality and the fact that the media always stresses violence and makes kids immune to it. Collins stated that all of these issues have played a part in creating the problem. Fixing one- or two of the above will not help; we need a synergistic approach to all of (hem before we can solve these very serious social problems. The media is always a convenient and often worthy "whipping boy." When attacked, the media always says it's simply giving the public what it wants — the news. Mike also stated that before government deregulation broadcasters took pride in their work and being community leaders. By law they were required to operate in the public interest, and they made a big effort to do just that. Times have changed. Television programming used to have a moral message. Today most sitcoms are about sex and violence. What kind of a message are those shows sending to our young people?
     Something happened to broadcasting several years ago to cause a fundamental change in its nature. DEREGULATION! It created large ownership groups that are only interested in making a profit and in most cases have lost their local responsibility. These "mega medias" are now run and directed by financial gurus and not broadcasters. They are only interested in making money and seem to no longer understand the power they have over society. Or, unfortunately, maybe they do. They have lost a primary objective and that is to serve the public.
     Media profits arc determined by the number of listeners in certain age groups, and today's broadcasters will do anything to get them. Operators will once again rationalize the situation by saying that they are giving the audience what they want, but the result is today programming can be almost anything, standards be damned. Society has changed in many ways over the last twenty-five years — school violence, loss of individual respect for others and what constitutes acceptable language are just a few. Did broadcasting cause this change? Mike thinks not. Did broadcasting contribute to the problem? "You bet it did," Mike said.
     Several years ago, television personalities were respected, conducted themselves well, spoke well, and were role models of the day. Times have changed. Today's personalities are still role models, but they lack the class and the quality of their earlier peers, and today's programming lacks class too.
     Times have certainly changed, and it was extremely refreshing to hear Mike Collins' analysis of the broadcasting industry as it is today. Few others would have been that honest. Thank you, Mike!
     After a few questions, the meeting was adjourned.

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1999-2000
Committees Organized

     President-Elect Worth Williamson has made his committee assignments for the 1999-2000 Rotary year. Thirty-nine committees are responsible for the smooth working of our club and are the means of involving each of our members in club services and projects. Our committee structure has been developed over a period of many years and serves as a model for efficient organization of a service club. A roster of our committees and committee chairmen follows.

CLUB SERVICES
Avenue Chairs, David Anderson, Mary Mack and Don Steger

Computer Check-In .................................... John Phillips
Fellowship .............................................. Larry Sagehorn
Head Table ................................................. Gene Bratek
Health & Happiness ................................... Leland Park
Music ............................................................Sharon King
Programs ................................................ Jim Woodward
Sergeant-at-Arms .......................................... Jesse Hite
Visitors ............................................................. Ric Killian

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Archives .......................................................... Bill Kinney
Attendance ..............................................Erskine Harkey
Budget and Audit ..................................... Jim Barnhardt
Rotary Reporter ......................................... .Henry Bostic
Roster .......................................................... Bill Loftin, Jr.
Food ........................................................... John Priester
Honorary Membership ............................... Price Gwynn
Website ......................................................Ronnie Pruett
Rotary Magazine............................................. Jim Kothe
Special Events ..............................................Jim Adams
Public Relations ............................................ Hal Bouton

Classification ...................................... Sadler Barnhardt
Membership Development .................. Marilynn Bowler
Rotary Information .......................................... Dal Shefte
Club Recognition and Awards .................. Jim Appleby

Youth Services ........................................ Alan Barnhardt
Environment ............................................. Bruce Darden
Citizens with Disabilities ........................... Steve Byrum
Senior Citizens ........................................ Tyson Bennett
Community Task Force ............................. Prank Martin
Literacy ........................................................... Ken Harris

Employee/Employer Relations ............... Steve Kessler
Career Information ........................................ Tony Zeiss
Connecting Links ............................................. Al Allison
Four-Way Test ................................................... Bill Lind
Trade and Professional Relations .......... Tom Meckley

World Community Service ........................ Mike Hawley
International Youth Projects ...................... Peggy Wesp
Rotary Foundation Support ......................... Don Haack
Rotary Foundation Scholarships ..................... Ed Kizer
Foundation for Carolinas Rotary Scholarships Representative ............................... Catherine Browning

Projects Committee ............................... Jan Thompson

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REMINDER: Please help the Charlotte Rotary Office by telling your place of business to please denote the name of the Rotarian on the check stub when paying accounts. With almost 300 members, it is difficult to remember what members are with what company. Thank you for your help on this matter.

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