MEETING MINUTES, JANUARY 16, 2008

Members welcomed guests: Felicia Martinez……honored teacher this month
Dan Dunlap……….Presentation

Felicia described the most memorable project from her 25 year teaching career:
As the G/T teacher her students proposed and helped design the Marfa Lights
Viewing Center on Highway 90. When asked what she would like to see at
that center now, she said she would like to see more attention paid to the indigenous
flora and fauna of the region, with plantings and information for tourists to read.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Club Treasurer, Rudy Garcia will present his report on club finances once a month, probably during the last meeting of each month.

DISCUSSIONS:
1. FOUR ENTRANCEWAYS to Marfa have been discussed before, but this
subject resurfaced during this meeting. The idea of creating an entrance gateway
into Marfa on each of the four main roads into town (90 East, 90 West, 67 South
and 17 North) is one that has much appeal.
Each entrance gate could be different, with sculptural elements created, possibly
expressing the multi-cultural nature of Marfa itself….
Dan Dunlap mentioned that the Chamber was re-doing the signs that welcome
visitors to Marfa.

2. CINCO DE MAYO FESTIVAL:
Johnny Calderon outlined more of his ideas for the Cinco de Mayo weekend, with plans to reserve the AMVETS HALL for that weekend’s Saturday night dance, where
Admission tickets would be sold in advance. NOTE: There is a deposit of $250 that is refunded if the hall is cleaned up after the event. Johnny said burritos and other food could also be sold at the dance.

A Queen of the Festival contest is proposed, with scholarships of $500 for the winner, and $250 for the runner up. Johnny says he will organize the contest, but that contestants might need advances of money to spend on their campaigns. The queen candidates would compete in more ways than just beauty. They would sell tickets to the dance, sell fund raising raffle tickets, have a booth at the Fiesta on Sunday, etc.

Concerns: a. Will Rotary having enough money in the till to advance money to the families of the candidates…..who would receive money and on what terms?
b. Will the candidates be able to work campaigns such as the ones envisioned into their schedules? Several teachers present reminded us that April-May is a very busy time with school prom preparations, sports and other events. Seniors especially are
busy with preparations for graduation.

3. SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE:
A small group of Rotarians will travel to San Juanito to be hosted at the NoriTari Cabins on the lakeshore north of town on February 3 through the 6th. Rotarians going are Jon Johnson, Rudy Garcia, Mona Garcia, Sandra Harper, Rachel Lindsey, and……
There are two other seats in the car, and as of this meeting it was not sure who could be free to take them. Jon said that February 4 being his and Aase’s anniversary, he wanted her to go. That still leaves one seat. Robin Lambaria had said she wanted to go but was not sure she could. Dr. J. will try to reach her.

Rudy reminded the group that we are not representing the community of Marfa at this point, but only ourselves and our club. We should therefore, be careful what we say to the people we meet on this first visit. Our goal is to meet some people who are interested in the Sister Cities idea, and who could conceivably come to Marfa during
the next few months to propose this relationship with Marfa.

4. RECYLING IN MARFA
Dan Dunlap presented together with commentary by Sandra Harper on the initiation of recycling in Marfa. The goals of the program are to reduce the tonnage going to the landfill and to reduce the bill from Duncan Disposal. The city has utilized a grant from the government to create a building, buy a pickup and trailer. They also have a compactor for paper that is used and not running. It’s a 3 phase 220 powered machine, and help is being sought to get it up and running.

Butts Recycling out of San Angelo is providing containers for three kinds of paper….
Office paper, Slick magazine type paper and newspaper. There are also bins being provided for plastic, aluminum and glass. The bins are being placed in Marfa at Texas and Nettle streets, across from Tom’s Appliances. Flyers, e-mails and school visits are planned to educate the public about this effort.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED-- to jump-start the recycling effort. Please show up at the Golf Course Road City Composting Landfill between 9 A.M and 5 P.M. this Saturday and next Saturday to help sort the paper that is in the large steel containers into the bins that Butts Recycling can pick up. They must have enough material in the bins to pay for the gas expense of coming to Marfa for it. Volunteers are asked to devote at least one hour of their Saturdays to help. John Ortega is the man employed by the city the landfill to supervise the project.

The meeting thanked Dan Dunlap and adjourned under the bells from St. Mary’s.