West Jax Rotary

Kerry D. Romesburg, Ph.D.
President, Jacksonville University

Dr. Romesburg is in his fifth year as president of Jacksonville University. Under his leadership, JU is experiencing record enrollments, adding new facilities, and embarking on a major gifts campaign.

Dr. Romesburg has over thirty years of chief executive officer experience in higher education. He came to Jacksonville from Nevada, where he was president of Nevada State College for two years. There, he directed the establishment of an entirely new four-year college, the first state college in Nevada.

Prior to that, Dr. Romesburg was president of Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah for 14 years, and Executive Director of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education for 13 years. He also served as Executive Director of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education, worked with the State of Arizona Board of Regents, and was a professor and administrator at Arizona State University.

Dr. Romesburg holds a Ph. D. in Higher Education Administration and a master’s and bachelor’s degree in mathematics education. He has taught mathematics, research, philosophy, and ethics courses at the university level, and began his career as a high school mathematics teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. He writes and speaks nationally on the ethics of higher education administration.

President Romesburg and his wife, Judy, a former high school English teacher, have two grown sons, both in higher education. The Romesburgs enjoy golf and hiking, and love living in Jacksonville.

Notes
Steve Rosenbloom introduced Pete Moulder for Officer of the Quarter. Pete has been with the JSO for 15 years now, went to JU where he studied Aviation Management and further to Liberty University where he received a degree in Religion and a BS in Aviation Management. Pete has an 8 year old daughter, and sons ages 6 and 4.

Lee Wimberly introduced Gigi Carrol regarding the Interact Club of Bishop Snyder. The officers of the Interact Club indicated their goals for the year and thanked our club for our support of them.  The Interact Club is having a Career Day 12, noon, on October 29th at Bishop Snyder and requested participation and support.

Will Croft announced the Adopt-A-Highway service will be heald on October 11th after lunch on Blanding between Park and Westconnett as well as Ortega Blvd, please confirm exact locations with Will. He provided the required Film on Safety Standards for Roadside Cleaning. Please find below the many tips you may want to consider should you participate:

• Do not wear flip-flops, preferably sturdy shoes.
• Wear a safety jersey.
• In case you forget you are standing by cars traveling at high velocities you should remember to be safe.
• Wear a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses.
• Don’t pick up dead animals, feces or bombs.
• Bring a rain jacket and remain reasonably close to the vehicle.
• A VW convertible Cabriolet, despite any logic whatsoever, is apparently an acceptable car for this service.  Can we get a little help Mark O’Steen?
• The Driver should know where the local hospital and morgue is in case of life threatening accident or death.
• Don’t pick up dead animals, feces or bombs.

Bob Kidd announced that the October 22nd meeting would be cancelled and we would be meeting on October 24th at NAS JAX for the Blue Angel’s airshow. You will need a base pass so please fill out at next meeting or contact Bob Kidd.

Jeff Collins announced another dove shoot at his 4 hearts farm on October 18th. Please contact Jeff if you plan on attending. jhcfsc@bellsouth.net .

Frank Scheu won the Football Pool.

Jerry Spinks introduced Lou Ritter.  Lou Ritter was born in East Jax in 1925, graduated from Andrew Jackson in ’43 and went into the Army Air Force. Lou was the last mayor before the consolidated government and reorganized the Police Department. He was also the Regional Campaign Manager for John Kennedy’s election. Lou remained a Lobbyist until last year.

Lou immediately recognized Jerry Spinks as Head of the Historic Society and an important study that Spinks was doing on Abandoned Cemeteries and the necessity of attention to same.

Wednesday October 1st will be the 40th birthday of the consolidated government. Lou wrote an obscure piece when he was at UF on the need for reform of Jacksonville Government and was pressed to advise on what type of government Jacksonville should change to and eventually headed the study for consolidating the government.

On  January 6th, 1965 Lou was placed on the Mayor and Safety Committees of Jacksonville and was responsible, after being directed by the FBI, for making changes.  Lou subsequently was an assistant to President Johnson and worked on a Poverty policy with President Nixon.  Lou returned to Florida as an aide to the Governor.  Lou put down several Racial Uprisings during his tenure and was in the middle of a difficult time in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville is the only consolidated government in Florida and one of 10 in the US.  Lou’s primary discussion was on the topic of Term Limits. When the original Jacksonville Charter was recorded there were 14 commissions, now there are over 80. There are also 154 Non-Profit companies requiring a local budget of $30M.  His discussion was that he felt bad for the current City Council, that Term Limits hurt them and as soon as they start to understand something and make progress, their term is up. Eight years is too short in Mr. Ritter’s opinion.  In General, and in Mr. Ritter’s opinion, the Port Authority is the next great impact to Jacksonville, we should embrace it, Term Limits are bad and Jacksonville needs to review in depth their original charter.

Visiting Rotarians:
Bill Learn  — Downtown Club
Buck Autrey — Downtown Club
Ed Witt — Downtown Club
Dave Marshall — Wesley Chapel Club

Rotary guests:
Jim Fuller – Guest of Marshall Butler
Dan Brown — Guest of Buck Autrey
Glenda Collier — Guest of Dave Collier
GiGi and the Interact students.

Birthdays
September 25 — Clayton Riley
September 25 — Phil Voss
September 30 — John Schultz

Next Week
Greeters — Jeff Collins, Evans Sumner
Invocation — Frank Surface
Pledge — Rupert Bliss
Four-way Test — Mike Figgins
Speaker — Dr. Steve Wallace, President, FCCJ