THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 4, 2002
President Lee Hindenach opened the business meeting with New Year's greetings
at 10:00 on a
sparkling winter morning, with 181 members present. The present score is 498 members, 2
invitees and 37 waiting. Guests Rich Derbes, Pete Meyer, Carl Johnson and Doug Carey
(our continuing postmaster) were introduced.
Membership Concerns: George Bilek is recovering from surgery at Waveny; please visit, but
call first. And with sadness we note the passing of Ro Ventres on Christmas day.
Activities: Bowling will convene today, as usual, as will the bridge team. Eric
Petschek sends
word that he will be here next week to announce a 4F luncheon the 25th. Paddle
prospers; racket-ball seems to have vanished. Murray's computer wizards, fresh from
Hogwarts, will offer myriad courses at Lapham starting the seventh.
Couth. The bus leaves at 8:30 on January 1 for Mohegan Sun, with shuttle to the Native
American museum at Foxwoods. February 22nd we visit the Bridgeport Cabaret Theater, for
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, gounnet box dinner included, for $60, BYOB. On March 5th $45
gets you to and into the Philadelphia Flower Show. Vacancies remain for the Washington
trip in April.
Resident Humorist: John Berg described a camping trip of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson,
in which the good doctor found cosmic significance in what turned out to be simple theft.
Speaker: VP Ron Seger introduced Christopher Shays, our very own Congressman from the
fourth district. He in turn introduced his press officer, Katie Levinson, a NCHS graduate,
and acknowledged the good work of our fearless leader, Dick Bond, and our postmaster,
Doug Carey. Congressman Shays then discussed terrorism, a subject with which he has had
long governmental experience. He listed 12 international terrorist incidents, over the
last 22 years, largely unanswered by us, which not surprisingly encouraged Bin Laden.
As counterpoint, he told of the heroism and grace he had witnessed among 9/11 survivors
and victims' families.
After this prelude, Chris made it abundantly clear that from his expert viewpoint, the
terrorist threat is huge and continuing. It is not criminal activity; it is war. Further
attacks are inevitable; we need to tell our citizens this truth. Biological weapons which
could wipe out the human race can be made clandestinely, literally in garages. New wiretap
laws and military
tribunals are needed to succeed in this war, to learn enemy secrets and to protect our own
secrets. I Paraphrasing Churchill, we are not fighting for ourselves alone, but we may have
to fight alone. Afghanistan is a battle, not the war; we will need to go to Somalia and
Libya and Yemen and certainly Iraq. And President Bush is prepared to lose in 2004 rather
than abandon this course.
In response to questions, Congressman Shays opined further that it was better to hold
illegal aliens until we had learned what they could tell us, that new immigrants were
and are our strength, but that we needed sensible immigration laws which we could then
enforce. He said
further that planes were not explosives-proof; that we should be so told; and that the
system of response to highjackers on aircraft has changed from conciliation to counterattack.
He hoped our coalitions would hold but said we had to persevere regardleS5. And domestically,
he said we needed a national ill card and, incidentally, could expect some qampaign finance
reform sometime, maybe. In closing, he asked us to consider the prospect of somebody or some group
sending out l00 or 1,000 envelopes each containing billions and billions ofanthrax spores.
Peter Schurman - Assistant Secretary