Next Meeting - Tuesday, February 4, 2014. Our business meeting for February, at the Sheraton, at noon, as usual. Our leader, Pres. LINDA, has emerged from seclusion and will return to the fray, and we will be pursuing our project list for 2014. Heading the list, at least for now, is our Flower Sale, and LINDA has invited Felly's to have a rep at the meeting, with samples, and hopefully with some new ideas. We need to get an early start on this one.

There will be other future items to discuss, including more info on Cycle For Sight. Date for this year's effort is Saturday, March 8, and the locations are: SERF (Southeast Recreational Facility), UW Natatorium, (both on UW Campus), and the Princeton Club on the west side of Madison. Flyers are turning up on bulletin boards, and Dr. Gamm talked about it on Channel 15 a few days ago in an interview on the afternoon news. We usually have a couple teams in action, and have participated since the beginning of this fundraiser for UW eye research, and we're told that our Board has acted to sweeten the pot. GAIL STIRR'S shop is now referred to as The McPherson Eye Research Institute, named after Alice R. McPherson, MD, a 1951 graduate of UW Medical School and a distinguished retinal eye specialist. Among other things, she pioneered the “scleral buckle” treatment for detached retina, one of the editor's several sight-saving surgeries.

TailTwister JACK HEIM has something afoot. He commented recently on the effect of the brutal weather we have been having on his TailTwisting activity. He said “the Lion is cold.” So, we could add, is everything and everyone else.

At our last meeting, SCOTT GROVER presided, and gave a nod to tradition by leading the Pledge of Allegiance, with JOHN JENSON once again serving as flagpole. MELISSA NOVINSKI gave a subject for reflection, “the bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity.” We are not lacking for challenges. SCOTT noted that the Edgerton Lions have a pancake breakfast on Feb. 2, and the Albany Lions have one on Feb. 8, and the Stoughton Lions have a beer tasting festival on February 13. The District Convention is March 14 and 15 (signup at this next meeting). SCOTT also produced our Club Banner from wherever it had been hiding. We used to display it at every meeting, but apparently the standard and holder have been lost.

We celebrated Lion Birthdays for MELISSA NOVINSKI (20 years), and JOHN JENSON (33 years), with JIM KEMETTER and MIKE KNOWLTON winning the gift drawings. We also noted DEBBIE MAHAFFEY (1 year), SUSAN SABIN (6 years), CHRIS WILZ (8 years), CRAIG BUTLER (21 years), and AL GOLDSTEIN (53 years).

Our speaker, Lynn Pawelski, Community Outreach Director for the Vilas Zoo, provided a lot of interesting information on the Zoo, past, present and future. It's 102 years old, free admission was a mandate of the original donation from the Vilas family, and has evolved from exhibits of animals in captivity to habitat-type displays and educational facilities. It is now operated by the County, which supplies about 65% of the funding. The City of Madison puts in 10%, and the Friends of the Zoo raise the remaining 25%. There are about 750,000 visitors each year, a mind-boggling figure when you think about it. All those people come for recreation, education, and to see exhibits on conservation and animal care, in addition to simply seeing an exotic animal in person. Those of us who remember the lined-up cages that used to be there can readily see how much better the environmental-type exhibits that are there now. You don't just see the animal, you get a sense of how they live in the wild. They are in process of building a major exhibition area called “Arctic Passage”, which will show seals and polar and grizzly bears in something that approximates their natural habitat. This type of exhibit also gives the animal someplace to go “off stage” - so they can relax a bit. Almost all new animals come from other zoos or aquariums - not from the wild. We won't see any more elephants, though - they need more space than is available here for an exhibit.

An interesting and informative program. If you haven't been to see the Zoo lately, you should go, if it ever gets warm enough. And when you do go, don't forget to contribute to the Donation Boxes that are available. You can also support the Zoo by joining the “Friends of the Zoo”, by direct or business donation, and/or volunteering.