From the Presidents Podium

From the

President’s Podium

- August 2006 -

First off this month may I say just how proud I am of this Division. First, we donated some $500.00 from the division treasury to the Vineyard family, then Pat Maloney, one of the concrete foundations that supports this division, an the chairman of the “AOH Irish Emerald Ball” saw to it that some $800.00 was donated, then we had a tremendous turnout of workers and players for the “Dennis Vineyard benefit golf tourney” which raised over $9,663.00 for the Vineyard family. Thank you all so much, and “Dia beannaigh tú gach.”(God bless you all).

1) I am scheduling a 45 minute (maximum) discussion period on the subject of a change of meeting place for the August 11 meeting. I will be appointing a committee to give me suggestions and advice on this subject and hopefully we can actually bury this contention once and for all.

2) REMINDER: The August 11 meeting of St. Louis AOH Division #1 will be held in the meeting room of “O’Malley’s Irish Pub, 1099 Cherokee Street - Cherokee and Lemp streets and will begin at 8:15 PM sharp. In September, as it stands now we are scheduled to meet at the Czech Hall on Friday, September 8th, at 8:15 PM.

3) I have received a recent update on Dennis Vineyard: When I went to see Denny on Saturday July 29 he was not in his room. I asked where he was and they said he was in the dining room having lunch. I joined him for lunch which was not his favorite (chicken salad, fruit and apple juice) however it was great to see him eat something at all. The therapist began Denny on meals on Friday July 28 and he is doing well. If he eats less than 50% of the meal then they supplement him with a can of ensure. He looked good in fact he looked a bit irritated. The irritated _expression let me know Dennis is returning to his old self. Therapy gets him up everyday (except Sundays) and has him walking with assistance and other activities to get his brain working again.

I thought Denny looked real good today. He is progressing. The plan is to move him to St. John's hospital to the rehab unit for brain injury. Keep thinking about him and praying for him. He is coming along and I attribute it to prayers, thoughts and visits. Thanks.

Thank you, Thank you for the Dennis Vineyard golf classic. It was a huge success and everyone worked very hard. The golfers seemed to have a good time. I know my two sons did and the foursome they were in. I appreciate your kindness and concern as does Dennis.

Hi Jim, A favor to ask: I believe in the power of numbers, not to mention the strength good people can bring to a cause. Would you please keep our little one in your prayers and ask our Brother Hibernians to do the same? The continuing saga of Katherine Elizabeth "Katie" Rohde; here’s an update as of 7/30/06; Division 1 & Color Guard member Paul Rohde (& wife Linda) asked me to express their appreciation to everyone for your prayers and well wishes over the past month. Katherine Elizabeth "Katie" Rohde was born June 20, almost 4 months ahead of schedule.

Katie's stable, and improving at St. John's neonatal intensive care unit, where she'll be until probably mid/late-September. At 3.7 lbs, she's almost doubled her post-birth weight. Katie's not out of the woods yet, and it's a daily roller coaster for the First-time parents. Katie still has a lot of challenges to face, including sleep apnea and erratic heart rate, so your continued prayers are definitely needed. Lots of photos and a detailed account of what they're going through is at www.katierohde.blogspot.com Paul is confident Katie will bring a camogie (female hurling) championship to St. Louis by 2025.

4) ALSO, at the August meeting, we must decide just what this division is going to do to make money at the Irish Country Fair. Time has run out. We must make a final decision at this meeting

5) A new rule was passed at the July meeting. Beginning in August, a member must pay his yearly dues by December 20th of that year or he will be dropped (hardship cases will be examined and shall be exempt from this deadline). We, as a division must pay our “per capita tax” to the City/COUNTY board, the State level and the National offices by March 29th from now on, so we must HAVE THOSE DUES IN. In other words, take this year, you must have paid your 2006 dues by December 20th.

6) To try and squelch all the trouble over always wanting to move the meeting here or move it there I have set up the “Presidents select committee on division meeting site. See the page in this newsletter for full details.

7) “Gentleman: I am sorry to say for personal reasons I have to step down in both of my positions with the Hibernians. Please forgive me but I won’t be able to give 100% at these positions and I feel that it is best that I step down for now. In years to come I will try and reclaim my positions, but for now I am not able to perform my duties. Please forgive me. Michael E. Berra.”

From the President: With reference to Michael’s statement, we will hold a special election to fill the Vice-Presidents’ position until the end of the year----Jim Otto

8) Finally, we lost a very long time member of this Division, this month. Leland “Lee” Connor died. I am glad to say that two members of the division, Division Jim Otto who conducted the AOH Memorial Service and Brother Terry Madden, Commander of the St. Louis Area A.O.H. Color Guard were present to give honors to Brother Connor, as requested by the family.

Cead Mile Failte’ (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes) to our member: Brother Charles L. Scott. The division continues to grow and grow. The ONLY way we can lead the St. Louis area and perform our many activities is by growth. Therefore I remind ALL members that recruiting is a top priority for this division

St. Louis Area A.O.H. Color Guard: The St. Louis Area A.O.H. Color Guard is in a constant search for new members to join their ranks. Your complete uniform is furnished by the Color Guard team fund. IF you are interested, please contact Terry Madden at 314/ 631-1630 or at his

e-mail address: tmadden@teamsterslocal682.com The team now under the leadership Of Terry Madden will be changing the style of uniforms after some 5 years to include kilts and a “Glengarry”, and spats in order to look more “Irish”. This does make for a real good looking uniform—Congratulations team!

Congrats to Division Brother Matt Melton! Matt Melton & Amanda (Mandy) Roehr nuptials 07-29-06.

Division #2 news: Our Treasurer Terry Boyle and our Financial Secretary Jim O'Shaugnessy are not doing well. Jim O was so sick he did no work for the division for 8 months, so Mike Brassil asked Dave Gallagher to step in and help.

Michael J. Roarity Division news: The Missouri Peace Officers Association honored Michael Boland of St. Charles on Tuesday June 27, 2006 with its Citizen of the Year award at its annual conference at Tan-Tar-A. Boland is state chairman of the Missouri MADD and national board member of the group. The award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to advance the cause of law enforcement in his community.

The St. Louis Hurling Club has started a four-week Gaelic Football league. Admission is free - 2 games each Sunday during the month of August. Game times start at 4pm - location is Forest Park, behind the handball courts.

St. Louis is preparing for the national tournament, held this year in Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend. They'll be sending one Hurling and one Gaelic Football team to compete. Last year their Gaelic Football team made the finals in their first year. In 2004, St. Louis became the first team of all American-born Hurlers to win a national GAA championship.

Ancient Order of Hibernians St. Louis Division#1 President’s select committee on meeting place

Chairman : Jerry Ryan Committee personnel; Division President; Jim Otto Division treasurer; Tim Kinealy Division Financial Secretary; Roy Shoemaker James Daley Wahl Kevin Kehoe COMMITTEE’S GUIDELINES;

ALL proposals for a meeting location will be presented to the committee in type written form and must contain proposed location address, description of location and why the proposed location is advancement for the division.

Committee will have 90 days to completely review the proposal, go examine completely the advantages and disadvantages of the location, then vote upon sending the proposal before the general membership, or rejecting the proposal completely.

It shall be the duty of the committee to screen all ideas and proposals of changing meeting locations, and their voting decision shall be a final word.

Once a location has been presented to the committee, and rejected, it shall not be brought before the committee within a 2 yeat/24 month period.

Each year, after elections, whoever is the new division president, treasurer and financial secretary shall immediately take their seats upon the committee replacing the outgoing division positions.

At the September 8th meeting of Division #1, as per the AOH Rules, we shall begin the 1st of three periods of nominations for all of the division offices for the year 2007.

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that this will be my last term as your president of the division.

In the past two and a half years, I have accomplished 95% of the goals I set for myself when I was elected. Since December 2003, we have added some 50 new members to the membership rolls. We now, thanks to Matt O’Neill, Jr., Seamus Concagh, and our webmaster, Eric have a beautiful website---the only one in the eastern half of Missouri. I pushed an pushed and through the generosity of Dan Green and his employees of ISC Contracting our parade trailer was completely reworked(and is now totally safe) and has been titled and licensed, and is now totally and officially legal on the street.

I still have one goal left to accomplish yet. That being to get Brian McCarthy, the signatory on our savings accounts together with both Steve Tichacek and Roy Shomaker to transfer the accounts over.

After 3 terms, I really feel it is up to someone else to step forward and take the “reigns of office”. Not only that, but Judy & I have sold our house and by (or before) October 16, 2006 we will have moved into Illinois (I’m “pulling” a Dave Holmes). I definitely will, however continue to be an active brother in the Division.

I sincerely thank each and every one of you for the support you all gave me and the division officers.