The Downtown Optimist Club of St. Petersburg received several awards at a recent conference for their achievements in the previous year, including making Honor Club status and receiving awards for membership gain, sponsoring a JOOI club, and having the most members travel the farthest to the conference. The newsletter discusses the club's recent meeting, including a guest speaker from the police department, inducting a new member, and changing the date of an upcoming yard sale. Upcoming club activities and member birthdays and anniversaries are also noted.

1. Downtown Optimist Club Newsletter
A periodic Newsletter of the St. Petersburg - Downtown Optimist Club
North Florida District, Zone 9, Club #60447
February 16, 2010
Editor: E. Gardner Harshman, telephone 592-0243 or email: gharshman@tampabay.rr.com
Downtown Club takes the gold ... What an appropriate opening. While the ‘for real’
Olympics are taking place in Vancouver, Optimist Clubs in the North Florida
District were being recognized for their achievements
last year. These presentations took place at the Saturday
evening banquet at the 2nd Quarter Conference in
Jacksonville just two short weeks ago. Downtown Club
walked away with much recognition for their efforts last
year. First, as we knew previously, Downtown made
HONOR CLUB — just one step short of Distinguished.
Thanks to all members for their diligence and dedication
in bringing this about. Your Secretary-Treasurer Lee
Warnock was recognized for the prompt and accurate completion
of his duties. The club received four new patches for the Club
banner --- Sponsorship of a J.O.O.I. Club, Membership gain of five
members, a Distinguished Benefactor patch for a major cumulative
contribution to the Optimist International Foundation. The biggest
and tallest of all was the Travel Trophy recognizing the Club that
had the most members traveling the farthest for the conference
(number of members times mileage driven). Please note the quilt hanging to the left. It
was crafted by the wife of Governor Perry Albritton and displayed at each of the
conferences during his year. It was awarded to the number one club in the District
from last year and that club is Downtown of St. Petersburg. Kudos to Scott Kaplan, Zone chair of the Easter
Egg hunt, for the job he did on the CPA (Community Project Awards) book for last year. His entry in the CPA
contest was one of the finest seen. The project itself is topnotch and the presentation Scott put together was
outstanding. It won first place in the District competition and should have been forwarded to International for
further judging. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and we’ll never know how Scott would have fared in that
setting. That loss does not diminish our appreciation for his efforts and all he does for the Club.
WAY TO GO GUYS AND GALS!!! Downtown Rocks!!!
Today’s meeting at Tick Tock ... Here again, if we could take medals for attendance, we
would win the gold! We had twenty and a “little bit” in attendance — many of them
guests. Beginning with Rick and Jean Rutan, they introduced Rick’s brother Warren
Rutan and his wife Marian (who visited with us last year also, their granddaughter
Amber and great granddaughter 6 mos. old Adriana. (Adrianna was the little bit”, and
Gardner made her cry. Shame on him.) Scott Kaplan brought as his guest Sue Foster
another school teacher and very old friend of his. (If I heard correctly, Scott was a
student of Sue many years ago.) We also had as our guest, J.O.O.I. President Diana
Stancic and her dad shown in the picture on the right. Dians presented Advisor pins
to Lee and Gardner
We had our guest speaker, of course. Sgt. Tracey Schofield of the Pinellas Park Police. Many of you met him
last year. Tracey told us of his travels and adventures traversing the state of Florida last December to raise funds

2. for Pinellas Park Boys & Girls Club and for project Hope. Some statistics from his walk were covered in our
January 5 issue. Tracey, along with all members of the Department, are now engaged in a new project setting up
a POLICE AND KIDS FOUNDATION with a focus on kids. It is anticipated that the Foundation will fund
immediate needs of kids that the police encounter during their regular duties, kids who
need things such as food, diapers, clothes, etc. As I understand the project, it will
empower the police to give aid and support to kids where needed on an immediate basis
without seeking approval and funds from bureaucratic sources.
Vi Hayworth inducted Sharon Dennany as our newest member. Sharon was previously
a member and a former President of the Club. She had to leave for a while and is now
back as Vi’s newest recruit. Welcome to Sharon.
Yard sale . . . Of particular import is the matter of changing the date of the sale. Originally scheduled
for Saturday, March 13th, the sale has been shifted to the following Saturday, March 20th. This change was
brought about due to a conflict with use of the parking lot by Club 28. A HUGE motorcycle run
is scheduled for the 13th and Gov. Ric was concerned that it would be noisy and chaotic if we had
the sale and the run at the same time. Thank you, Ric, for letting us know about the conflict.
We’ll gladly change the date in appreciation for use of the lot for our sale.
Everyone! Don’t forget to amass the many items we’ll need for the day of the sale.
Upcoming Activities ... 50/50 drawing now exceeds $500.00 (I think)
March 2 — Regular meeting at Tick Tock Winner of the drawing today was
VP Scott Kaplan, presiding Rick’s brother Warren Rutan. He
March 16 — Regular meeting at Tick Tock drew the Queen of Hearts instead
Guest speaker Chief Robert Bassett, St. Pete Fire of the joker! Got a consolation
prize, but No money.
March 20 — Yard Sale
March 28 — Palm Sunday
April 3 — East Egg Hunt
Birthdays ...
March 9 Gardner Harshman
March 16 Jim Ridings
March 17 Chuck Hayworth
March 19 Bob Costa
March 27 Vi Hayworth
Club Anniversaries ...
March 1 Jennifer Malanado
6 Scott Kaplan
17 Judy Warnock

3. Downtown Optimist Club
of St. Petersburg
th
3558 100 Terrace
Pinellas Park, FL 33782-4100
The Optimist Creed
Promise Yourself -
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of
trouble.
CLUB OFFICERS Vice Pres. Scott Kaplan . . . . . . . 535-6939
President Gardner Harshman . . 592-0243 Vice Pres. Vi Hayworth . . . . . . . 527-2656
Sec/Treas. Lee Warnock . . . . . . 577-7159 Poster Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean Rutan
Sgt-At-Arms Jim Sirrianna . . . . 392-2718 O.I. Foundation Rep . . . . . . . Jane Ridings
Chaplin Rick Rutan . . . . . . . . . 522-6143 Respect for Law . . . . . . Gardner Harshman
Youth Appreciation . . . . . . . . Lee Warnock
Directors New Community Dev. . . . . . . Vi Hayworth
Jim Sirrianna (1) . . . . . . . . . . . 392-2718 Get Away Raffle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Viki Pena (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421-3721 Easter Egg Hunt . . . . . . . . . . Scott Kaplan
Chuck Hayworth (1) . . . . . . . . . 527-2656 Bell Ringing . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vi Hayworth
Jean Rutan (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522-6143 First Friday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lee Warnock
Rick Rutan (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522-6143
Judy Warnock (2) . . . . . . . . . . . 458-8278
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Oratorical Contest . . . . . . . . Lee Warnock
Essay Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean Rutan
Programs/Speakers . . . . . . . . Rick Rutan
Fellowship . . . . . . Vi Hayworth/Viki Pena