Tuesday, Feb. 15, will be our next meeting, and our District Governor GENE FRANCIS, of the Cuba City Lions Club, will pay us his official visit. We can expect to hear the latest initiatives in Lion service from Lions International, and a sort of "State of The District" report on matters at the State (Multiple District) and District levels. Communication and assistance are big parts of the DG's job, and he visits each club in the district at least once during the year. That calls for winter travel, always a challenge in Wisconsin, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Lionism. It's not an easy job, but the DG is the vital link between the Clubs and higher levels of the largest service organization in the world. We are all part of a much bigger effort, and we can learn what others are doing, and put forward our own ideas for other clubs to consider.

At our last meeting, Pres. JIM SCHUTZ opened the meeting, and then led the song. The pitch was a bit scattered, but thanks in part to a couple visitors, we persevered, with a solid bass chorus. "Father" ROSS ROYSTER gave the invocations. If you don't pay attention when ROSS invokes, you'll miss it. It is said that brevity is the soul of wit, but ROSS is proof that it is also the soul of prayer. Guests were Ann Carothers and PDG RICK DALUGE

LINDA BERGREN was uncharacteristically missing, having had surgery recently at UW Hospitals. Details are lacking, but we're hoping she's OK and will be back with us soon. In her absence, the remaining items from our Holiday Treat sale can be obtained from Pres. JIM or PP JODI.

If you are a fan of ducks, or raffles, or swamps, see DAN STOUDT. He has tickets to the annual Ducks Unlimited raffle, which provides swamps to benefit ducks. Pretty good odds on this one - $10/ticket, and only 250 sold. Prizes are mostly in cash.

There was a round of approbation for ROSS ROYSTER, who is celebrating his 30th Practice Anniversary. (Sorry for the obvious but) with 30 years of practice he's got to be darn near perfect!
WALT PRIDHAM was the Lion who told us about the anniversary.

JERRY HODDINOTT tried to brighten the worst weather weeks of the year by announcing our annual Flower Sale. We'll have the same selection as last year - red rose bouquet, or mixed rose bouquet, or mixed Spring Flowers bouquet. Like everything else, the prices will be increased a tad - $25.00 for roses, $20.00 for mixed flowers, and $5.00 for vases. (That shifts vases from break-even to a slight profit item.) More information to follow.

Two Lions who missed their Lion Birthday Party (and the special glass of wine that went with it) made it to the meeting this time with their gifts, so JOHN JENSON led a Mini-Birthday party for MELISSA NOVINSKI (17 years of service) and JERRY HODDINOTT (30 years). JOHN presented the stack of attendance cards for the drawing, and JIM KEMMETER and WALT PRIDHAM were the winners. Both were sitting at JOHN's table???

GAIL STIRR introduced the speaker, Dr. Neal Barney, Director of the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin and faculty member and researcher at UW Hospitals Eye Clinic. He told us, and showed us, how corneal transplants are done today - 42,000 of them, nationally. That's an awful lot of people who now see and wouldn't be able to otherwise. It's the most frequent transplant, with the best record of avoiding rejection, partly because, unlike most organ transplants, there are no blood vessels in the cornea. Safety (no contaminated or damaged tissue) is a paramount concern, and 2 of the 14 staff at LEBW spend their time on quality control. About 2/3 of the donated corneas are transplanted - the rest are used for research and education, with a better percentage of transplants each year. Most are used within 4-5 days in the US, up to 14 days internationally. There were 680 transplants in WI last year. It can take 15-18 months for the maximum improvement in vision, vs. 3 mos. for lens replacement (cataract) surgery. Latest developments include the ability to use just the back layer of a donated cornea to replace a defective one, which involves unbelievably delicate micro-surgery. Seeing how it's done makes you marvel at the steady hand the surgeon must have. Dr. Barney noted in passing that former MCLC Lion FRED BRIGHTBILL (who had a part in one of your editor's repair jobs) was a superb surgeon. It's a wonderful thing that there are so many of them, and they can do so much with our Lion support. "Because of what I do today, someone will see tomorrow." As a Lion, you assist with miracles!