Lions President Chuck Madison (left) and Speaker Dic Lasher

Well known local community organizer Dic Lasher responded to an invitation by Lion Bob Strong to tell us about his and Sharon Roberts’ experience in Pasadena, CA, where they went on Christmas Day to help decorate floats for the annual Rose Bowl Parade on January 1. Dic had a stack of enlarged color photos showing some of the most spectacular of the 48 floats in the Parade.

As those familiar with the parade know, every surface of a float must be covered with something made from plants, as, for example, flowers, flower petals, leaves or seeds. Dic decorated a large American flag by himself, which took him three days. About 1.7 million people line up to see the 5.5 mile long parade, with another 40 million people watching it on television worldwide.

This year Dic, who is a return volunteer, was given a special green jacket by his employer, the Phoenix Decorating Company, one of the largest contractors to create the floats. The wearer of the jacket gets an automatic free pass to all the locations in Pasadena involved with the big event.

Dic explained that he was interviewed numerous times and met hundreds of people, including Lions International President, Al Brandel and his wife Maureen, who were riding the Lions float in the parade. Although Mr. Brandel is from New York State, Dic took bragging rights over all the Club members, none of whom have personally met the current President, let alone chatted with him for several minutes.

The above photo shows Wolcott Lions President Chuck Madison (left) thanking Dic Lasher for his most interesting presentation. Chuck is holding a picture of the Lions Float, while Dic is displaying the float with a large US flag, made entirely from flowers.

Lions Sponsors Ken and Kim Dobbin (left) with new members Laura Frey and Steve Bentley

Two new members were inducted in the Club, Laura Frey and Steve Bentley.  Sponsors were Kim and Ken Dobbin. 

Lion Otto Meijer conducted the ceremony, by first giving a short history of Lions Clubs International.  Initially an organization of men only, it is now welcoming women, teenagers (in separate Leo Clubs) and also offers family memberships at a reduced fee.  This adaptation to changing times has been successful; the International Association of Lions Clubs is the largest service organization in the world with about 1.3 million members in over 45,000 Clubs in 205 countries or regions. 

Steve and Laura expressed an interest in Environmental Services, which may come in handy at the next Wolcott Lions Tree Planting Project.

Bob Mead of the Butler Historical Preservation Society

On Wednesday evening, January 21, at the Wolcott Lions Club regular meeting, about 30 Lions, guests and visitors were treated to a program by Mr. Bob Mead of the Butler Historical Preservation Society (BHPS).

Bob has been one of numerous volunteers instrumental in the 8-year restoration project of the early 19th century (1836) Butler Center Church/Museum and the ongoing renovation efforts of the Roe Cobblestone Schoolhouse, located on Highway 89, south of Wolcott, at Van Vleck Road.

The Church/Museum renovation of the exterior and interior back to its original theme was completed in 2008, after 8 years and over one thousand volunteer hours of work.  The Society raised $ 62,000 of capital funds toward this project.  The building is open for scheduled and advertised events throughout the year.  These dates include open house tours, holiday programs, band concerts, ice cream socials and presentations on historical subjects by experts in the field.

The Roe Cobblestone Schoolhouse was purchased by the BHPS on February 26, 2008.  Since then, regular progress has been made to bringing site and building back to the look of circa 1824, the approximate year of its construction.  Some regional experts believe the building to be the oldest surviving cobblestone schoolhouse in North America.  It has been established that Mr. Roe, the school builder, used cobblestones collected from local fields, not from Lake Ontario, as was done in many later cobblestone structures.  Fundraising for the school is ongoing.  So far $ 22,600 has been raised and the estimate is that a total of $ 50,000 will be required to complete the job.  The Society relies on members and volunteers to continue its work.  

In other news, the Wolcott Lions Club will have its traditional Car Show this year on May 16.  A new event, organized jointly with the Wolcott Chamber of Commerce, will be a Jazz and Wine Tasting Festival, planned for August 1.  Details on these future projects will follow.

For more information on these and other renovation projects, or to find out how to become a member of the BHPS, contact them by mail at P.O. Box 34, South Butler, NY 13154.  By phone, call BHPS President Ms. Dorothy Wiggins at 594-2332, or Mr. Bob Mead at 923-7170. 

Carol Merrell, left receives thanks and a Wolcott Lions Flag of Appreciation from Lions first V-P Sherri Sheldon for her talk at last week's club meeting.

    On Wednesday evening, Oct. 15, thirty-three Wolcott Lions, their guests and the evening’s speaker, Mrs. Carol Merrell of Wolcott, met for the service club’s bi-weekly dinner event at the Elks Lodge, and to hear an interesting photo-illustrated report from Mrs. Merrell on the progress of the massive Merrell family Dairy Farm expansion project.
 
     Most deeply involved in running the operation, Carol said, are their son Jon, and his wife Karen (who, as a licensed Veterinarian, is extremely helpful to the business), while Carol and her husband, Harold “Pete” Merrell, also work there daily, feeding calves, operating equipment, offering advice and consultation, and doing whatever else they can to help.  Their daughter, Laurie, is the business’ office manager and bookkeeper.
 
     Anyone who has driven south from the Wolcott stoplight, across Rte. 104  to the Lasher Rd. intersection, would have to be blind to fail seeing the barn that has been erected on the east side of Whiskey Hill slightly beyond Salter Colvin Rd.  The structure runs E-W, is 823 ft. long, 200 ft. wide, and is currently housing about 500 heifers.   When it is completed, it will be home to approx. 1,500 milkers.  (The farm currently is milking roughly 1350 cows at the “home farm” barns on Rte. 89, a few hundred yards directly east of the new construction.)  
 
     A second (matching) new barn is also proposed for construction just south of the first, to accommodate the same number (1500)—‘though she added that, unsurprisingly, the cost of steel today has SOARED. 
 
 She said the heifers in new “Barn #1” recently figured out how to unlatch the gate—and rounding them up was a neighborhood experience! 
 
     One of the first milking “parlors” of its type in this area has been installed on the site, and is being readied for use when the rest of the facility’s myriad and complicated electrical, cooling, office materials, hot water and laundry, refrigeration and other power equipment have been finished and cows are moved in.  The milking parlor, designed and built in Germany, is really mind-boggling!  It is basically an enormous, shiny, steel merry-go-round onto which 72 cows can march, one at a time,—each to its own milking station—while the parlor, said to be the most expensive part of the dairy, rotates ever so slowly and smoothly on nylon rollers.    Milkmaids (and here Carol chuckles that women tend to be more “gentle” with the cows than men) will then do the customary udder cleansing, and extraction of the milk. 
 
      When each cow makes one complete revolution on the platform, it will have completed the milking process and will step backward from it to be replaced by another animal.  She said cows are going to have to learn how to “back off of it”—a procedure to which they should soon adapt.  The system is much easier to use than conventional milking in stanchions, and reportedly increases milk production from the cows.  
 
     The large, new “freestall” barn has a massive and powerful fresh air fan system which will provide maximum comfort for the animals year ‘round, and help in production, as will the use of sand “bedding”—judged the very best bedding material for cows. 
 
     Sufficiency of water is a must for any dairy operation—and THIS one needs a LOT!   So it was a pleasant surprise when, preparing the site for the new barns, workers discovered a natural and nearly unlimited source, near the surface, and right at the barn location! The barns are built with a 3-degree slope to the east for a natural runoff and easier cleaning.  A manure handling system is located at the east end of the complex.
    
      Carol said they estimate that, when in operation, the enlarged business will employ about 50 people, be running 20 trucks during harvest season (which is nearly all summer and fall) and using 3 chopper/harvesters.  She said that cows produce two main things:  Milk and manure, and the latter seems almost an industry in itself.   Merrells own and rent many hundreds of acres, and do everything possible to make the necessary spreading of this valuable fertilizer as unobjectionable for nearby residents as possible, often discing it into the ground quickly. . .a far cry from the old days of pressure pumping—and squirting it high in the air—through an irrigation pump!  That long-abandoned system could make the work “detectable” by one’s nose for several miles downwind depending on weather and wind conditions.      
 
     The farm has recently purchased a number of cows (including some standard breeds other than their mostly-Holsteins) as well as some cows already bred which are due to give birth in March and April of ’09—and which will make those months VERY busy at the Merrell dairy farm, she said. 
 
     The Wolcott area can be proud to be the home of one of the most modern, state-of-the-art dairy operations anywhere in the nation .  
 
     Wolcott Lions will next meet on Wed., Nov. 5 at the Elks Lodge for dinner and a talk by Wolcott Mayor John Monson on the topic “The Future of The Village of Wolcott.”

Noni Krom of Lansing, Lions 20E2 District Governor, receives Wolcott club's Appreciation Award  from President Chuck Madison following her official visit and talk last week.

    Twenty Wolcott Lions were on hand at the service club’s Sept. 3 meeting to greet and hear an address by their District Governor Noni Krom of Lansing, NY.   Noni, who has been a Lion for eleven years, was accompanied on the drive up along Cayuga Lake by friend Kathy Nedrow, and during her talk, urged the Wolcott group to actively seek new members. 
 
     Many organizations today are experiencing membership problems due to a number of factors, but for a service club to succeed in benefiting its community, it requires recruiting members who share the goals of the group and will work to achieve them. There is great satisfaction for those who do.
 
     Wolcott Lions Ross Chrisman and Kim Schwab worked two days recently installing a sink, pocket doors and a water heater in the main office building at Camp Badger, the Lions Summer Speech and Hearing Camp near Spencer NY in the southern tier.   Other Wolcott Lions are planning a Work Weekend at the camp on Oct. 3.
 
    The  2008 Wolcott Apple Harvest Festival and Sportsmen’s Show, presented by the Wolcott Lions Club will take place from 9 to 5 on Saturday, Sept. 27 in the Village Park according to general chairman Mike Bettis.  
 
     Included will be a number of sportsman-related vendor and food booths including hots and hamburgers, and a chicken BBQ dinner, serving to start round 11 a.m.  The number of chicken halves is being increased to 450 because of running short last year, BBQ chairman Ross Chrisman reported.   Also planned are demonstrations, live music, the raffle of a Sportsman’s 500 ATV, and much more.

Wolcott Lions Annual Past Presidents' Clambake

Standing (from left):  Otto Meijer, Bob Strong, Ken Dobbin, Miles Thomas, Walt Dobbin, Pete Coleman, Lonny Drake, Barb Coleman, Don Hunt, Joe Gallo.  Kneeling:  Gerry LaDue, Brent Keeton, Don Coleman, Ross Chrisman.  Several other past presidents were unable to attend.  The local service club was chartered 55 years ago.   Event was held Sunday, Sept. 21 at Don and Marge Hunt's home.