The Gainesville-Haymarket Rotary meets every Wednesday at 7:30 am at the Piedmont Country Club. Here's the address:

14675 Piedmont Vista Drive, Haymarket, Va 20169

Please sign on to the District Club Database and review/update your membership information.

It seems Easter has always been a time of miracles. So it was this weekend as Captain Michael Phillips of the U.S.-flagged Motor Vessel (MV) Maersk-Alabama was permitted to retain his life and attain his freedom – a minor miracle. I learned about pirates as a sailor of the South China Sea. There, pirates prey upon the families of the weak – Vietnamese boat people, Thai refugees, and Philippine fishermen. They kill the men, rape and maroon the women on remote islands to be used as property, and burn or sink vessels after removing what they can. These men are not Captain Jack Sparrow.

Piracy is a violation of international, not our national law. U.S.-flagged vessels are the sovereign territory of the United States – attacking one, especially in international waters as in this case, is like attacking Michigan. To do so is therefore an act of war, not a crime. Enter the U.S. Navy. The FBI gets involved if the claim can be made that there is a link to terrorism, considered in this country to be a crime under Department of Justice / FBI cognizance. Why the FBI was present in this case I do not know, but I’m glad it was. Perhaps it resulted that the pirates took their eyes off of the Navy just long enough….

So, how to cope with the reality of piracy at Easter, a season of hope for all here on Earth? It is a call to action. If only we could find and join a single group that would undercut all of piracy’s root causes…poverty, disease, illiteracy, corruption and conflict.

WAIT! We already did!!

If there is the feeling in the air and in your hearts that something good is happening this Easter, it’s because thanks to you, something IS. Thanks for being in Rotary, my fellow buccaneers. And Happy Easter!

Debi Alexander, Rainbow Center Therapeutic Riding Center

Club Assembly

Date	Speaker	Description	Guest Of
April 22	Michael Kieffer	Bull Run Mountain Conservancy	Linda Marlow
April 29	Timothy Burtch	Aircraft Accident Investigator - National Transportation Safety Board -	Linda Marlow
May 6	Curt & Margaret Dierdorf	Volunteer Chaplains	Marti Dahl
May 13	Jan Nelson	National Wildlife Federation	Marilyn Karp
May 20	Bonaventure Gonsalves	Bonefish Grill	Jim Miller
May 27	Eric Latham	Walk Across America	Don Rusch
June 24	Congressman Gerald Connolly		Amelia Stansell

Date	Event	Time
Saturday, April 25	Earth Day, Every Day
Saturday, September 26	Childrens Wellness Festival

2008-2009 Board of Directors

Officers	Name	Directors	Name
President	Dennis Fargo	The Rotary Foundation	Russ Tuck
President Elect	Charlie Mills	Club Administration	Lori Power
Vice President	Alan Myers	Membership	Linda Marlow
Secretary	Don Rusch	Service Projects	Marilyn Karp
Treasurer	John Grzejka	Club Public Relations	Amelia Stansell
Sergeant-at-Arms	Ali Sayed	Rotary Community Corp	George Layne
Interact Club	George Layne	Past President	John Grzejka

Places to make up a meeting

If you would like to make up a meeting online, you can click here.

Excellence is the result of:

• caring more than others think wise
• risking more than others think is safe
• dreaming more than others think is practical
• and expecting more than others think is possible

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