 |
Santa Rosa West
|
|
Santa Rosa West
|
| FYI! Aloha: Debunking: Attention Flyers, Wannabes and Otherwise
Curious: |
There was something very different about our 1,281st meeting today. We didn't have the usual "good afternoon" and "welcome to" greetings from our revered President Bill Gittins, who was absent. President-elect Jim Valinoti, our soon-to-be leader, was also absent. We had a stand-in at the podium, a different face (not a new face, just a different one), a vaguely familiar voice from the not-too-distant past. And so it was that we were honored to have immediate Past-President Patrick Sizemore call the meeting to order with some inane banter and a brazen comment that he didn't care what meeting number it was!
Displaying the same sort of humility that featured his photograph on the front page of the Bulletin when he authored it a couple weeks ago, Past-President Pat asked himself to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, which he agreed to do, and did. And then, quite incredibly, he also asked himself to give the invocation, which he proceeded to do, including a prayer that John Withers be brief in introducing today's speaker.
We were spared an outright past-presidential monologue when Robin Marrs introduced and warmly welcomed eleven visiting Rotarians. Three guests were also introduced.
Pre-School Thanks: Paul Ahern, a member of the Novato club and an almost-every-Monday visitor at our club, graciously thanked everyone for the friendships he has made with our members and especially for affording him the opportunity to become so involved in the landscaping work at the Multicultural Pre-School. Paul was applauded for his outstanding service in this project.
Scholarship Winners: The overall Winners-Of-The-Year from the Piner High School Scholarship Program were announced by Bob Zeni. And the winners are: Mindy Yu, a senior who will be entering University of California, Berkeley in August and intends to major in Mechanical Engineering; and Mike Avila, a senior who will be entering Pepperdine University next fall and intends to major in Business Administration. Both of them graciously thanked the members for their scholarship awards. Congratulations and best wishes to Mindy and Mike as they take on their new challenges.
Tailgate Party: On Monday, July 14, in place of the regular meeting, there is a BBQ and baseball extravaganza starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Sonoma County Crushers Park in Rohnert Park. This is a "bring your family and kids" event. The cost is $13.00 for adults and a mere $12.00 for kids under 12, which includes the game admission (Crushers vs. Chico Heat), a mesquite barbeque (tri-tip or one-half marinated chicken, plus a lot of other stuff), and a drink ticket. The sign-up deadline is July 7. Fill out the form in the handout and send it to Jeff Ray with a check payable to Santa Rosa West Rotary.
Patsy Barnes, who has been traveling in Scandinavia for the last three weeks, presented a flag from the Rotary Club of (I didn't get the name), Sweden , where she and her husband revisited the GSE host family of five years ago. Past-President Pat proffered Patsy the choice of a voluntary contribution or the wheel. She chose the wheel. Bad choice. She spun $50.00, the max. Josh would have done better.
Scott Bartley, he of the neatly trimmed beard, was assessed a $25.00 cloning fee for sitting next to a Red Badge member with a similar neatly trimmed beard.
Nancy Ramsey, whose name appeared on Past-President Pat's list as NANCY RAMSEY, was targeted for her full caps name prominence. She, too, chose the wheel. Good choice. The first spin was $0.00, which Past-Pres Pat claimed he disclaimered an instant before as "meaning nothing," and so he required a second spin. This time it was $5.00.
Marvin Hyman, who has the awful choice of golf or tennis in the morning and tennis or golf in the afternoon, was assessed $50.00 for indecision. He raised it to $100.00!
Bob Lucas, who described an exciting money-raising idea, was nevertheless assessed $35.00 for describing an exciting money-raising idea.
Dale Sipe, for reasons unclear to everyone, including Dale, but apparently not unfuzzy to Past-Pres Pat pontificating at the podium, was assessed $300.00, unless he took his chances at the wheel. He took his chances at the wheel, thereby saving $275.00 when he spun $25.00.
Laura Bugbee, who seems to draw the winning raffle ticket number every other week, deftly pulled out one of 34 white marbles, which, unfortunately, was the wrong color for the $460.00 prize. Chuck Olson won the $20.00 raffle, which he donated to "the fund."
John Withers introduced our guest speaker, Colonel Stephen Jones, the Deputy Commanding Officer of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. Col. Smith, a graduate of Baylor University and first in his Air Force Flight School class, has been a bomber pilot, the Chief of Air Planning at the Pentagon, and a veteran of the Gulf War. He spoke about the mission of the Air Force today. In the event of war, the mission of course is to destroy the enemy and to fight to win. In the peace that now prevails throughout much of the world, the mission is three-fold: to continue to update strategic air capability, to respond to crises, and to provide stability. At Travis AFB, where C5 cargo and refueling tanker airplanes are based, humanitarian support around the world is a major mission.
This week's Bulletin was written by Jim Hinton, who profusely thanks our District Rotarian of the Year, Dr. Carl Anderson, for taking the program notes.
Past Bulletin Archive Current Bulletin
| Calendar | Project Updates | Directors |
| Rotary International | Links | Area
Rotary Meetings |
P.O. Box 14744
Santa Rosa, CA 95402
(707) 524-7866
Email: rharris@a.crl.com
Webmaster Services by: J. Prior