CIGAR BOX BCIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume 57, No. 7       June 17, 2009.

At 9:30 AM sharp President JOHN CRAINE rang the bell and announced that this first sunny day after many rainy ones would be a “one speaker day.” This meant that all spoken words would be filtered through one speaker only, leaving this writer with the job of trying to retrieve most pontifications flowing over his head ex post facto because they were mostly unintelligible from his perch. AL HARTIG led the pledge and TOM HEALY, led the singing, masterfully accompanied by PETER RYAN on the electronic Steinway. We worked our way through “ America the Beautiful,” “For Me and My Gal,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” After that we could relax and listen to Rec. Cor. Sec. BILL DYNAN who gave his usual succinct and well rendered review of last week’s proceedings although he had not been present. He ended up with a story about a smart answer given after an exam by a student who could write with both hands.

There being no ANNOUNCEMENTS we moved smartly on to the RETURNEES: and welcomed SAM STOWELL back from Florida and ED KRUMEICH back from Nantucket .

COMMITTEE REPORTS: Visting: – PHIL HAHN subbing for CHUCK STANDARD reported on the condition of JOE MALARA and ERIC LIMBACH and welcomed JOE SMERIGLIO back from being under the weather. Program: – JOHN CARON announced that today’s speaker would be JEFF MATTHEWS, see our review below. Then JOHN DECSEPEL said that next week we will hear PAUL RIDLEY who rowed solo across the Atlantic in 87 days. A must hear. Membership: – JIM FAHY reported 143 in attendance. There were 138 Members present, and two Candidates and 3 Guests. JIM DONLEY was a guest of GERRY FOX and DOUG CAMPBELL was a guest of your Editor du jour. Special mention was given to FRAN and LUCY AUGER who celebrated 63 years of married bliss on June 15th while MIKE AND ADELE HARRIS were a close second with 61 years on June 5th. We sang Happy Birthday for GENE LOUGHLIN – 80, DAN BARRETT – 75, BOB CAREY – 77, JOHN MARGENOT – 81, WALT KIRKMAN – 82, and BUD PRINCE – 75. Many happy returns, gentlemen! Special Events: – RICH LIMBACHER reported on the coming outings listed below. Pleas note – there’s room for two more on the Tanglewood trip. FRANK FLORES gave details on tomorrow’s Romeo and Juliet extravaganza. Volunteer: – ROS CURTIS reported that for the week ending June 17, a total of 735 hours were given to Outside Agencies by 65 men and 108 hours to RMA duties by 27 men.

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Bridge: AL HARTIG gave the scores for June 10 as follows: KURT SCHAFFIR 3770 pts, JOHN HOFFMAN 2960, and HUGO GRUNDEL 2750. Golf: – JIM SANTORA reported that in the June 16 outing BOB MCKAY had the lowest score with an 85. Closest to the pin on #7 was JACK MINOR and on #15 it was REID MACINTYRE. The longest drive report was lost in the sound shuffle. Outdoor Tennis: – GENE SCHWARTZ reported that on Thursday June 18 the tennis group is moving to the Eastern Middle School courts on Lockwood Ave., Riverside. From US 1, right on Riverside Ave , left on Lockwood. Courts on the right a few blocks down. Play is on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 AM.

LATE ARRIVING MEMBERS ARE REMINDED TO BRING THEIR $1 DUES TO THE TREASURER’S TABLE.

TODAY’S SPEAKER: JEFF MATTHEWS was introduced by JOHN CARON. Jeff founded his Hedge Fund, Ram Partners LP, based in Greenwich in 1994. He started his investment career of more than 30 years with Merrill Lynch as an Oil Analyst and also worked at several other larger firms before striking out on his own. He edits a blog called “Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up.” Early on in his career he became fascinated by the legendary investor WARREN BUFFETT and in May ’07 he attended the famous Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha for the first time. After attending last year’s meeting he decided to write a book about Warren and the way in which he conducts the meetings. Speaker’s presentation was mainly devoted to the subject of his fascinating book. Last year was Buffett’s worst year as an investor. His Berkshire portfolio (including direct – non stock market investments) was down 10% in value which compares with a loss of more than 30% by most other investment portfolios. In his 56 year investment career he only lost money twice. He bought Berkshire in 1956 at $18 per share. The stock is now selling at $19,000. That is an average annual return of 20%. Speaker gave us a wealth of interesting anecdotes about Buffett’s investment style and sometimes peculiar habits. He reads a lot and when asked “how do I become a great investor?” he responded “read everything you can.” On his honeymoon he read Benjamin Graham’s classic “The Intelligent Investor” to his young bride who was not particularly interested. Buffett’s investments approach is simple and straightforward “buy a good business and hold it forever.” During Jeff’s presentation it was announced that he had brought free copies of his book for all of us. This triggered an embarrassing feeding frenzy with members leaving their seats in the middle of the presentation just to get a copy of the book. While many returned to their seats it was even more embarrassing that several people left the meeting after securing a book and before it was over. The many questions that followed the presentation ranged from Buffett to hedge fund investing and today’s precarious market environment and back to Buffett again. A most interesting well prepared and well informed speaker.

G .PETER SCHIEFERDECKER, editor

SPECIAL EVENTS
Open to all members, their ladies, candidates and guests.

July 19 Sun. Tanglewood $92. pp. Lunch at Appletree Inn. Bus lvs. OG Civic Center at 9:30 AM. Two openings left. Rich Limbacher 531-9515.

Aug. 24 Mon. Mets - Phillies game. $63. pp. Buy your own lunch. Bus lvs. St Cath. 10:30. Sold out. Rich Limbacher 531-9515.

Sept. 10 Thurs. Camelot – Goodspeed Opera House. Lunch at Gelson House. $95.pp. Bus lvs St.Cath. at 10:00 AM . Tickets go on sale July 8. Serious reservations accepted. Rich Limbacher 531-9515.

Dec. 2 Wed. Christmas Show. Cirque du Soleil “WINTUK.” Working on details.

NEXT WEEK

PAUL RIDLEY - TRANS ATLANTIC ROWER.