President’s Letter – June, 2005

By Dick Stafford

Greetings fellow Skålleagues!

On Saturday August 6th the club held its first summer picnic. We had 24 people in attendance and from all reports everyone had a great time. A special THANKS goes to Lee and Ann Smolinski for inviting the club to their home for the afternoon. It was a little hot but there were plenty of shaded areas and the pool for cooling off. Courtesy of Lee, everyone was treated to a boat ride up the Intracoastal during the picnic. There was more than enough food including BBQ chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hotdogs and a variety of salads to eat. As most of you know, Mike Gulotty has left the area to take a job in Albany, New York. Before he left he still took the time to make sure that the picnic catering was taken care of by members of his staff at the Waterford. We are sorry to lose Mike as a member and this year's Vice President.

The golf tournament that was re-scheduled due to hurricane Dennis for August 6th has now been postponed until the fall. With Mike leaving and several members unavailable to play in August, the board felt that it would be best to move the tournament into the fall when hurricane season has passed and the weather is a little cooler. We will keep you appraised of the new date.

Our next special event is the cruise that Lee Smolinski has arranged for the club. Lee will be donating his commission to the club on each cabin that is booked through his website so that the cruise will be a fundraiser for the club.

Saturday & Sunday November 5-6, 2005 – You are invited to join your fellow Skalleagues on a 1-night cruise aboard the brand new ship The Norwegian Jewel departing from the port of Miami. The Norwegian ship features freestyle cruising with 10 restaurants, a casino, showroom and an array of leisure and sporting activities. The cost per person for an inside cabin is $139.00, an oceanview cabin is $149.00 per person and a balcony cabin is $199.00 per person. Boarding will start at approximately 1:30 PM on Saturday. The ship will sail at 4PM and return to Miami at 7AM on Sunday. The price includes lunch, dinner, breakfast, all taxes and fees. Please book the cruise and select your stateroom directly by clicking on the following website link:

http://www.smartcruiser.com/travel/cruise/sailplan.rvlx?CruiseItineraryID=38622

NCL has had very good response to this cruise so please don’t be left on shore - make your arrangements through the website link above ASAP. Once we know how many members and guests will be on board, Lee will see if we can reserve one of the specialty restaurants for the club to have dinner together.

At the Board of Directors meeting on August 10, 2005 Wayne Lampert was selected to assume the Vice Presidents position to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Mike Gulotty. We are working on several new and interesting locations for our fall meetings that we will notify you about in the upcoming weeks. To enable you to mark your calendars to reserve those dates they are: September 20th, October 18th, November 15th and the Christmas party will be on December 13th.

On a sad note Paul Bell passed away on Wednesday August 10, 2005. As a founding President of the Palm Beach SKAL Club, Paul was an outstanding Skalleague and a great friend to all of our members. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family. Paul Cook has sent an e-mail to everyone with the information concerning the wishes of the family.

We hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer. Don’t forget to check the clubs website for additional club news. Pictures from the picnic will be posted shortly. www.skalpalmbeaches.org

Looking forward to seeing everyone in September.

SKAL

Dick Stafford
President