Persons interested in tickets to the Cavs-Wizards Game in Washington DC on April 2 should email Brooke Stoddard at stoddardbc@gmail.com. Tickets on the lower level will be approximately $50 each and basket-to-basket (not behind a basket) on the upper deck will be approximately $30 each. Each order requires a $2 mailing and handling fee for the Club.

Club officers are also asking for persons interested in helping coordinate tickets for the Indians-Orioles games in August. Email interest to Brooke Stoddard.

Dr. Sanders of the Cleveland Public Schools will not be able to meet with us on March 17 as previously announced. We will try to reschedule him and keep you informed.

In keeping with tradition, Clevelanders gathered at the Town & Country Lounge of the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue in downtown Washington for some holiday cheer and good conversation. This last ranged from politics, sports and ideas on winter/spring programs to who is buried in Lakeview Cemetery and why our lakefront looks different from the one in Chicago.

The informal competition between Westsiders and Eastsiders for numbers present was won handily by the Westsiders.

No photography this year, but that’s no refection on the sterling appearance of those present.

On December 4, political journalist Tom Diemer gave his usual lucid and penetrating thoughts on the election just past, ably assisted by fellow journalist George Condon, Jr., who covered the campaign in Ohio. Tom reported that Ohio turnout was lower than many had predicted, about 67%. This, of course, did not stop the state from swinging to Obama. Diemer felt that Ohio’s tilt to the Democrats owed much to a desire on the part of Ohioans for hope and that Obama offered more of it than McCain. The economy was a big and perhaps contributing factor, he said.

The Club presented its 21st Harold Hitz Burton Award to Louis Stokes at the offices of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey on October 6 accompanied by a complement of friends and colleagues. Louis Stokes was the first African-American elected to Congress from Ohio and served his district in and around Cleveland for 30 years. The text of the Award is added to the end of this story.

Member Gary Arlen has told us about books featuring Cleveland and its neighborhoods. Arcadia Publishing specializes in paperback books featuring scores of vintage photographs of American communities interwoven with ample text. Some of Arcadia's books feature Cleveland and neighboring communities, including Rocky River, Berea, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood, Aurora, Canton, Akron and more. A search of the Web should bring you to the Arcadia Publishing website. The books sell for $20 to $25 and would make welcome gifts.

Slovenian Ambassador to the United States Samuel Zbogar spoke at the National Press Club in Washington on Slovenia’s assumption of the presidency of the European Union and its priorities while it holds that presidency through June 30. Ambassador Zbogar is no stranger to Cleveland and the Cleveland Club; he ran in the Cleveland Marathon and he spoke at the luncheon honoring Senator George Voinovich in 2006 when the Senator was presented the Club’s Harold Hitz Burton Award.

Ambassador Zbogar noted that Slovenia is the first of the new Eastern European member countries to hold the presidency of the European Union. He said that the Slovenian presidency has several priorities. First is to strengthen the European Union, to make it more effective and to streamline its operations. Second is to work at enlarging the European Union, looking especially at admitting Turkey and Croatia and then at Georgia and the Ukraine. Third is to stress the European Union as a global player; this would take the form of security missions and charitable efforts.

Carin Rockind, Vice President for Marketing and Communications for Cleveland-based Team Northeast (Team NEO), gave a spirited presentation about Cleveland Plus, the campaign to drive long-term strategic growth for Northeast Ohio, during a Club meeting at the offices of Jones Day on Capitol Hill November 15. Cleveland Plus is the effort to market the 16-county region that includes the major metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown as an optimal region for business, travel and living.

Ms. Rockind’s Power Point presentation and video outlined the Cleveland Plus effort that is being shown to the world. She pointed out that the region’s economy has been growing, even in manufacturing. It is also diversifying and becoming increasingly high tech, with major polymer companies, the Cleveland Clinic, biomedical companies, financial centers and more. She made the point that the area has 30 colleges and universities as well as a skilled and eager workforce.

Several Cleveland Club members attended the very touching service for Charley Vanik in the House Ways and Means Committee Room on Capitol Hill late last month. There was much singing and story telling during this tribute to one of Cleveland's most outstanding Congressmen.

Persons interested in a fine newspaper story by former Vanik staffer Bill Vaughn writing in a September issue of The Hill can find it online at http://thehill.com/op-eds/lessons-from-charles-vanik-no-need-for-money-in-politics-2007-09-18.html.