Reported by Phil Thoden
President Julia called the Rotary Club of Austin (RCA) lunch meeting to order. Jack Nash led the pledges, Carl Noble gave our invocation of the day, and Lois Ann Stanton led us in saying the Four Way Test. Karen Collins greeted each member and guest as they arrived and Carl Noble introduced our many guests and visitors.
President Julia reminded us about the Back to School Splash Bash coming up this Saturday at the Helping Hand Home for Children. Volunteers are needed to set up beginning at 8am and then assist with the fun activities and lunch service up through about 2pm. She also received banners from two visiting Rotarians (from the Rotary Clubs of Springdale, Arkansas, and San Jose, California).
David Doran then cam e up to introduce three of the four Austin students w ho recently returned from the Group Youth Exchange’s (GYE) annual trip to Perth, Australia. The students shared many photos and anecdotes from their travels, and they also presented David (and the Club) with an Australian flag they received as a gift during a visit to the country’s Parliament.
President Julia made the weekly announcements, including one about the monthly Downtown Austin Breakfast Cluster meeting scheduled for August 8 at Magnolia Café. She also expressed gratitude to Nadir Abdeladim for his excellent work coordinating the weekly reporting schedule.
Ann Graham came up to lead the Thank Goodness Basket. Mike O’Krent was the first up and expressed thanks for a recent trip to Phoenix for the launch of a book he contributed to entitled Business Boosts. Rick Ravel let us know he is celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary today. Edis Oliver said thank you to the Program Committee for their excellent work so far this year. Scott Rider just returned from Jackson, Wyoming, and presented the Club with a banner from the local Rotary Club there. Last, Don Ray George thanked David (Doran) and his wife, Isabel, for their work on the GYE.
We had a few minutes of Fellowship then Diane Ventresca introduced our speaker, John Scata, who serves as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) for the FBI’s San Antonio Division. John graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1990 and then served in the United States Marine Corps. He then entered into duty with the FBI as a Special Agent in 1996. Following the terrorism strike against America on September 11, 2001, John transferred to FBI Headquarters where he worked on terrorist financing issues.
John focuses these days on International Terrorism and shared with us some fascinating examples of his work against Al Qa’ida and ISIS. He noted that in recent years acts of terrorism have migrated from “directed” acts against major targets to “inspired” acts against soft targets. Further, these acts are more likely to occur at the hands of a current American citizen or resident, rather than from an outside group infiltrating the country. He left plenty of time to address many questions from the audience.
President Julia thanked two of our newsletter advertiser sponsors: Corey Wilson with Kidd Roofing and David Doran with Texas Systems Group, before ending the meeting with a Thought for the Day.
Next week’s speakers will be Donna Marie Miller, author of The Broken Spoke: Austin’s Legendary HonkyTonk,
and James White, the owner of the Broken Spoke.