June 2009 President's Corner

Mitch Rowland '71, USNAAA Atlanta Chapter President

My Last One!!!

This is my 24^th and last column as President of the Atlanta Alumni Association. It has been an honor serving as president of such an illustrious group. I have had a lot of help from the board of directors and I want to thank each of them for their service. This is not the kind of job that you can do by yourself.

The Board has nominated a slate of officers for 2009-2010. This proposed slate of officers will be officially nominated and voted upon at our Annual Meeting on June 19, 2009. The proposed officers are:

President Ples Bruce ‘77

Vice President Mario Maddox ‘85

Treasurer Pete Knotegen ‘77

Secretary Jim Slemenda ‘66

General Directors Jon Barton ‘66

Dan Branch ‘96

Ed Brownlee ‘81

Stew Caldwell ‘65

Mike Herger ‘90

Brian Jackson ‘81.

Each of the gentlemen will be counting upon and needing your support in order for us to remain a vibrant and successful chapter.

On May 1^st, Navy beat Army (was there ever any doubt) in our annual Army Navy golf tournament. That’s our second win in a row and the tenth out of thirteen times that we have beaten the Woops! Using a modified Stableford scoring system, Navy won +52 to +11. Attendance was down a little this year, but with the great prizes, there should be many more golfers in attendance. Our first place winner won a $100 worth of golf merchandise as well as a set of N-Star engraved glasses. Door prized included a gift certificate for dinner worth $160, bottles of wine and much more. Special thanks go to Dan Branch ‘96 for his generous cash donation and to the USNA member of the Class of 1971 who were victorious against West Point ‘71ers and donated their private bet winnings to the Navy cause. Proceeds from the event provide tuition for needy youngsters in the Atlanta Area to attend the SummerScape math, science and computer camp at Georgia Tech this summer.

Those participating for the Navy team were: Johns Jaudon ‘55, Jack Clay ‘56 and guests Alan Crowell, John Fueling and Buddy Weir, Tony Womble ‘63, Marc Calhoun ‘64, Lorie Moore ‘64, Richard Wilson ‘64, Stew Caldwell ‘65, Joe Frazar ‘65, Will Wood ‘66, Reb Hester ‘67 and guests Lynda Hester, Ray Bordelon and Becky Bordelon, Win Rorabaugh ‘70, Tom Galloway and guest Alan Shaul, Lee Whitfield ‘71 and guest Cole Van Houten, Mark Poole ‘82, Chris Bush ‘83 and guest Rick Whitehead, Doug Hintze ‘83, Bayly Taft ‘84, Tim Goff ‘84, Wendell Ross ‘87, and Karlton Holston ‘02.

The United States Naval Academy Alumni Association in Atlanta held its monthly meeting on May 15^th. We had a very distinguished speaker, the Honorable Vince Obsitnik, former ambassador to the Slovak Republic. Ambassador Obsitnik was born in the former Czechoslovakia and moved to the United States shortly before WWII. He is also a United States Naval Academy Alumni, class of 1959.

Ambassador Obsitnik started his presentation with a short video of the formal process of presenting his credentials to the President of the Slovak Republic. It was an impressive ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance expected of such a solemn occasion.

The Ambassador to the Slovak Republic has a staff of about 130. Of these, 30 are US citizens and the rest are Slovak nationals. Many of the different branches of the government are represented and have staff members on the Ambassador’s staff. Commerce, military and state departments are just a few who are represented on his official staff. There are Marine guards assigned, but they are there to guard the Embassy, not the Ambassador. The Slovak Republic assigned 24 hour security. The security consisted of a driver and a body guard.

The Embassy is located in downtown Batislava, the capital. It is a large and impressive building. The residence of the Ambassador was actually built by a former ambassador. It was a four story building. The top floor was covered by a clear dome an had a 360 degree view of the capital. Guards were provided for the outside of the residence and the Embassy by the Slovak Republic but the interior security was US government provided.

The ambassador told us about the many duties of being an ambassador. One of the areas where he seemed to work a lot was dancing. He must be a very good dancer, because almost everywhere he went, there was dancing involved. The dancing was everything from formal balls to folk dances.

There are a lot of Americans descended from Slovokians. In the early 20^th century, almost 1/3 of the Slovak population emigrated to the United States. The Sgt. in charge of the group that raised the flag on Iwo Jima was born in Slovakia. The town where he was born has a large mural of the Iwo Jima Memorial in the town.

Those in attendance were: Jerry Mackey ‘54 and his beautiful bride Connie, Clint Johnson ‘60, Neil Block ‘61 and guest Lewis Powl, Mitch Rowland ‘71 and guest Scott Rowland, Jim Todd ‘55, Kathy McCartan ‘85, Carl McCallum ‘60, Harvey Cybul ‘62, Paul Hurst ‘62, Vince Obsitnik ‘59, George Hutchegin ‘70, Steve Frederick ‘72, David Lowe ‘90, Mike Herger ‘90, Ed Hux ‘61, James Coe ‘86, Paul Qualey ‘88, Lee Gard ‘78, Tom Galloway ‘71, Bill Holmes ‘64, Bill Donges ‘71, Lee Whitfield ‘71, Bill Rentz ‘55, Jon Barton ‘66, Bob Snelling ‘65, Don Patterson ‘74, Jeff Johnson ‘84 and Tom Judd ‘72.

Thanks for a wonderful and fulfilling two years.

BEAT ARMY!

Mitch Rowland ’71
Chapter President