SISTER CITIES OF DURHAM TOYAMA COMMITTEE REPORT FROM NOVEMBER 6TH MEETING

Plans for annual meeting, Reviewed list of exchanges, Discussion of TASC meeting

This committee continues to meet on the first Thursday of each month. The November 6th meeting was held at the home of Dot Borden. The first item on the agenda was a review of the recent SCD Annual Meeting that was held at the Doris Duke building at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens; those committee members who attended commented on the event. All agreed that the set-up and refreshments were great but attendance was not high. It was noted that the city manager and one council member came; also a representative of the downtown Rotary club and a member of Cary SC. Several committee members again noted that the time of the event 4:30 - made it difficult to attend. Several of our committee members took items to add to our display table and Mike and Sarah Woodard supplied a photo display from their trip. Mavis added some photos from the visit of the physicians from Toyama who were here in February. She also added fliers for a concert of Japanese music that was held in our Teahouse. In addition to SCD, this event was cosponsored by many Asian-related groups at Duke University. A discussion of the upcoming SCD Board retreat followed. The main topic will be on efforts to cooperate more with other organizations. It was noted that all the committees do this to some extent already.

The committee then reviewed the list of exchanges for the coming year. It was agreed that we will assist Dr. Warburton (DUMC) with travel arrangements and orientation before he goes to Toyama next spring. Mavis distributed a preliminary itinerary for the horticulturalist who will come to the Duke Gardens next July. Mavis worked with our travel agent to obtain information on Japanese-speaking tours of Washington and New York for this delegate; for a small fee he can be added to a larger touring group in each city that will be led by a Japanese guide. The SPDG has now confirmed the amount of his honorarium and this information has been forwarded to Toyama. Several committee members then confirmed their agreement to host him during this visit. We have no dates yet on the visit of the council members who will come for our 20th anniversary. It was noted that they may want to come in June rather than in October, as we suggested. We have no further details yet on the incoming student group but Mavis was asked to check with Michael Throop to make sure that a formal request is made to the Brogden PTA.

There was some discussion of the recent TASC meeting, held in Cary with particular reference to the possibility of a SC display at RDU. Despite discouraging earlier reports it appears that this matter is still open for discussion. Dot Borden thought it would bring SC some publicity if there was a competition for the design of this display and said she would enter it! Mavis will check with Ronnie Lilly to see if she has more information. In other business Mavis distributed member application forms to those who had not yet renewed. There was also a discussion of an email from Nancy Hamilton, who had listed upcoming uses of the Pavilion by various educational groups. We had been encouraged by the report given by Paul Jones at the Annual Meeting, which described the fence and gates that will be added to the Pavilion site. The next meeting on December 4th will be at the home of Chris Boyer and Jim Force.