Quick update in light of some exciting things happening:

THE GOLF TOURNAMENT

As a reminder, here are the current details for the golf tournament:

• When - August 22, 2009, at 1 PM
  
• Where - Kinderlou Golf Club, Valdosta, Georgia
  
• Format - 4-man scramble, flighted
  
• Fee - $400 per team; mulligans also available
  
• Prizes - 1^st and 2^nd in each flight; longest putt; closest to hole on part 3's
  

Kim Goolsby, the Catering Sales manager for the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center in Valdosta, has arranged for a block of rooms at the hotel at $79 per night for the tournament. Anyone wanting a room should call the hotel at 229-244-1111 and ask for a room in the block for the Walter Romine tournament. Kim also lined up some radio advertising. News/talk radio WVGA 105.9 has started talking up the tournament, and Kim tells me that ads should start running tomorrow on 99.5, 95.7, 108, 105.9, 102.7, 105.3 and 106.9. Kim also reports that the owner of those stations, Black Crow Media, will be giving away two free dinners to Charlie Trippers, four movie tickets and a $1,000.00 gift certificate for radio ads. Don't know the logistics on that yet, but will update as I know. The Citizens National Bank of Quitman plans to sponsor two teams in the tournament.

CONTRIBUTIONS

We are close to formalizing the arrangements and structure for the "Walter Romine Medical Trust" to, among other things, allow donors to qualify their gifts for the annual gift tax exclusion. We anticipate that the paperwork will be complete this next week. Anyone wishing to make contributions before all that is final, please make all checks payable to "Trustees of the 2009 Special Needs Trust for the Primary Benefit of Benjamin Walter Romine, Jr., U/A dated July __, 2009" AND LEAVE THE CHECKS UNDATED. Once the paperwork is finished, we'll date the checks as of that date. I'll update this blog once the paperwork is done and all the final dates are in place.

For the time being, please send all checks to one of the following addresses:

John Romine

702 Pine Circle

Quitman, GA 31643

Or

John Taylor

728 North River Forest Court

Marietta, GA 30068.

Once the final paperwork is done, I anticipate that checks may be sent directly to the bank; will confirm.

WALTER

Of course, this is the most important part: Walter's rehab. Pathways, the rehab center, has cleared him to ride in an automobile, so transportation expense is greatly reduced, which is a blessing. I am told that, with his eating and drinking more and more on his own, the doctors believe that they may remove the peg (i.e., line into his stomach through the abdomen wall) within the next couple of weeks. That will be another milestone.

More later as becomes available.

Happy 4^th to all.