The Carmi Rotary club had a small crew show up for Thursday’s meeting, but the die-hards went forward with their usual agenda!
Photo provided by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson
Don Drone had the program, and used his time to update the members on a story he shared a few months ago. Don, as a retired Navy man, had been following the incidents with the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald. These two ships had collisions in the summer of 2017. Both collisions cost US servicemen lives, and have been under Naval review since the accidents.
Don informed the club as a result of the official review, several Naval officers were forced to retire, including; the Commanding officers of the ships, the Executive officers, and the commander of the 7th fleet!
The report states that on the USS Fitzgerald, the radar was not even turned on, even though the ship was entering a high traffic area. The ship actually had several close calls in the evening leading up to the eventual crash, but the CO had not been told about the misses.
On the McCain, due to a shortage of crewmembers, sailors had been brought on to fill in from other ships, which in some cases were not even the same type of ship. This lead to a helmsman from another class of vessel being on duty at a critical moment. Due to his unfamiliarity with the ship, he believed the ship was moving straight forward, when in fact it was moving fifteen degrees to the left, directly in to the path of an oncoming merchant ship.
Don stated that there is a Navy term for what happened in both incidents, but that term is not fit for mixed audiences or for print.
In club news, in fact BIG NEWS, the spring trivia is only four weeks away! This year’s spring version will be held on Saturday, March 10th at the American Legion in Carmi. The first question will be asked at six pm, and the night should wrap up around eight.
As in all year’s past, there will be four rounds of questions, coming from such topics as: history, science, pop culture, the Bible, food, geography, and many other possible categories.
Points are awarded for each correct answer, with the points increasing in each round, as the question’s difficulty also increases.
The winning team pockets one hundred dollars, second place claims sixty, and third place wins forty dollars for their efforts.
The entry fee is only forty dollars per four-person team and can be paid the night of the event.
The Rotary club would like to issue a special challenge this year for teams from outside the Carmi area. So you folks in Norris City, Enfield, Crossville, Grayville, etc. are encouraged to field a team for some fun competition and some great finger foods as well.
Save the date, Saturday, March 10th!
Lynn Stephens won the day’s 50/50 drawing but did not claim the day’s cash prize. Dwain Harrelson was named the day’s phantom.
The Carmi Rotary club meets every Thursday at noon at the First United Methodist Church on Main Street in Carmi. Anyone wishing to learn more about this civic organization is welcome to attend a meeting or speak with any Carmi Rotarian.
