Bulletin Rotary Club of Memphis East

David Leake, President

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February 19, 2014Editor Neal Graham

Photographer: Bill Pickens2013-2014 Our 24th Year

February 26thLeo Bearman

Sherlock Holmes

March 5thJosh Shumacher

Greenprint

March 12thAuthor Curtis Wilkie

Fall of the House of Zeus

March 19thDale Hall

Ducks Unlimited

March 26thMelissa McFerrin

U of M LadyTigers Basketball Coach

April 2ndKennon McCloy

Memphis Public Library

April 9thTim Brown

Kroger Regional Manager

April 16thJason Little

Baptist Memorial Hospital

April 21stDunavant Awards Luncheon

April 23rdMeeting Cancelled

Our Speaker Sponsor

Upcoming ProgramsFebruary 26thLeo Bearman, Sherlock Holmes

White Station ElementaryGirls in Pearls and Guys in Ties

Sherlock Holmes was born January 6, 1854 and wherever he went, he was always described as the “smartest man in the room.” That phrase could prob-ably apply to Leo Bearman when he speaks Wednesday at the Rotary Club of Memphis East. The first sentence of Leo’s resume describes him as “an experienced liti-gator,” which hardly does justice to his accomplishments. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude graduate from Yale University, and holds a law degree from Harvard University. He is a shareholder at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz, and is a past president of the Memphis Shelby County Bar Association. He repeatedly makes the ‘Best Lawyer’ list in Memphis, and has been ‘Litigator of the Year” for the Tennessee Bar Associa-tion. In 1989, he was honored by his peers as the ‘Lawyer’s Lawyer’ for the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association. He is a fellow at the American College of Trial Lawyers, and is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. But, his legal life pales next to his devotion to Sherlock Holmes. He is a founding member of the Memphis Sherlock Holmes Society known as the “Giant Rats of Sumatra.” Over the years, it has taken its place alongside such societies as Boston’s “Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club”and the by invitation only society in New York City - “The Baker Street Irregulars.” The acclaimed Sher-lock Holmes Series featured on ‘Masterpiece Classic’ recently completed its 3rd year on PBS, and the Theatre Memphis production of ‘The Final Adven-ture’ won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Play in 2010. Leo served on the Talk Back panel for ‘The Final Adventure’ and remains extremely committed to all matters Holmes today.

WSE Girls in Pearls have been learning about Community Service. They began work on a DVD for the children at St. Jude Children’s Hos-pital. The girls are so creative - they sang, they wrote poems, they drew pictures, they read stories and they wrote about what they are learn-ing as a member of the Girls in Pearls community.

The same is true with the Guys in Ties who are very enthusiastic and enjoying all of the lessons learned that will help them be-come successful in everyday life.

Member News We just learned over the weekend that Margie, Ed Myrick’s wife, has been ill for the past few weeks and is now at St. Francis rehab. Ed says she is doing better, but has a lengthy re-covery. She has had digestive prob-lems. Rev. Marquis is at the Memphis Jewish Home recuperating from lung surgery. The report is that he is do-ing well. David Leake and his family have returned from Oklahoma City follow-ing funeral services for his brother, Buddy Leake.

February 19th ProgramPresident’s Day Message

By: Michael Nelson, Author and Professor at Rhodes College

Today we learned from Michael Nelson some new impor-tant facts about the first President of the United States. First of all, George Washington, as the first President, had no script or prior tradition to guide him as he helped a young weak demo-cratic nation learn how to crawl, walk and then run. As George Washington himself said, he knew he would be “walking on untrodden ground”. However, his first step was to be “open to the people” so he decided to have the first inauguration cer-emony held outdoors in the view of the people, and to host a party and celebration following the inauguration ceremony to celebrate with the people our newly won freedoms and liber-ties. His stated goal as the first President was “to make the U.S. Constitution acceptable to an overwhelming majority of the citizens of the U.S.” Since two of the thirteen states had not

yet ratified the U.S. Constitution, this was a potential difficult task. The U.S. Constitution contained provi-sions that granted the President the authority to enter into a treaty with the advice and consent of the U.S. Congress. Furthermore, the Constitution stated that only the U.S. Congress could declare war on another nation, but did not address what authority, if any, the President had to cease hostilities against another na-tion. Determining how to exercise the “treaty powers” was President Washington’s first lesson in U.S. Con-stitutional diplomacy. He needed to deal with the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cheyenne Indians who we unhappy with the fact that U.S. citizens were now moving onto their native territories as the U.S. expanded. President Washington assumed that the U.S. should deal diplomatically with the Native Americans in the same manner we would have negotiated with the European Nations at that time. Washington went to Con-gress to ask for advice and received so much conflicting advice that he vowed to “never again” return to Congress for such “fruitless endeavor”. He decided that the President should negotiate the terms of such treaties and present them to Congress for approval. Another constitutional power he had to deal with was the President’s right to veto legislation passed by the Congress. Washington believed that the President of the United States should not veto legislation passed by Congress unless he believed in good faith that the legislation violated the U.S. Constitution. With this conservative view of the veto power, President Washington only exercised the veto power two times during his eight year term. The five presidents that followed Washington agreed with this philosophy since they tallied as a group only seven additional presidential vetoes. However, the seventh president, Andrew Jackson, changed this approach forever since he vetoed many legislative bills passed by Congress. As Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy and no “term limits” for the office of President in the United States Constitution, Washington could have become a “czar”, a “king” or some other form of “monarch”. However, his true passion in live was to be a farmer and to live free back in Virginia. Therefore, after eight years in office, he announced that he was going home to Virginia so that the “people of the United States” and the rest of the world can know that the U.S. Constitution can work without him. Unfortunately, when he returned to Mt. Vernon, he was constantly overwhelmed with constant visitors that interfered with his ability to return to normal life. He died as a result of a respiratory illness he contracted as a result of his exposure to the cold weather and rain while riding his horse at Mt. Vernon because when he returned to his home he spent several hours in the damp and cold clothes while entertaining his visitors that were waiting for him. President Washing-ton would have been a great “Rotarian” since he always seemed to put “service above self”.