BULLETIN:

From Nome to New Delhi

Monday, March 23, 1998

Visiting Rotarians

Our own Rotarian and High Seller Paul Schwartz introduced the visiting Rotarians.    He couldn't pass up the opportunity at the mike to pitch our next new member social.   It's at Janet Codding's house on April 2nd at 5:30 PM.  Organ music will be included at no extra charge.

The best introduction was undoubtedly by our own Hizzoner Gary Antolini.   Unabashedly pitching the charming and eloquent Presiding Judge Elaine Watters. Gary wants to make sure Elaine gets an opportunity to "carry on the tradition" with six years on the bench and a "hard on crime" attitude (see Marigo) these two were preaching to the right-wing choir. (See Marigo)

And then there was The Announcements:

Presidents Secretaries Meeting at the Rohnert Park Doubletree on March 26th. The theme will be "Show Rotary Cares"

And then there was The Fines:

Retired CDF Boss Bill Imboden (left) found a good place to keep his Popsicle(s) hard. He went straight to the dogs on this one, folks. The Iditerod dogs, that is. He visited Nome.  Why?  I have no idea.  But the Popsicle stayed hard.  It was MINUS 12 degrees F.  And he saw lots of dogs. Cold dogs. Couldn't stand to be without 'em, as a matter of fact. So he took a ride on a dogsled on the Bering Sea. Just before it broke up and turned into a Sea again! Go figure... It cost him a c-note contribution to the Foundation. Seems only appropriate. He finally warmed up after THAT pinch. Oh yea! We got another flag. From one of the THREE Nome Rotary Members present at their meeting. The rest got out of  Dodge and were in Florida, apparently. That left 25 visitors to three members.  Sound Familiar, West Clubbers? A slimmer Bill Gittins became a grandpa and for some oddball reason COLLECTED funds from members for his good fortune on behalf of his newest family member. A lot of it. Except from Mike Moore. He was still too busy counting his (their) winnings from the consortium ticket win. He wanted to get change for a buck so he could make his contribution to Bill's fund. You now know where NOT to pitch the bull bond market, Bill. I guess he's all tied up in Sharp Copier stock.

Bill and Young Pat are the proud grandparents of (I hope I get this right) a beautiful baby girl named Hennesee. How 'bout 8 lbs., 12 0z and 21". All are fine. At least as fine as one could be after THAT.... Congrats Bill and Pat!

In an appropriate move, even though the Syndicate  (read KushMarigMooreBart, et al)  was already counting their green twenties, Prez Jim offered only a check to the syndicate representative. With the Generous Moore about to receive the paycheck, Jim cut it into eight pieces. Serves 'em right! Make 'em tape it back together! Of course he caved and gave the mob a whole check right after that anarchistic show of authority. Wimp. Did I say that???

And then the equally generous Mr. Carpet, Arnie Of Carston (left) had to take heat for his mother in law's notorious presence in the paper. Your Editor missed this part, but it cost Arnie $10 that he artfully passed to Harry Rubins. Whatever. Oh Yea, Don't forget the Arnie Memorial Hawaiian Shirt Monday, June 22nd. What does that have to do with anything? Hell if I know, but Jim said it, and I recorded it. So there.

Speaking of Maui, Clan Marigo went there with kids and their wife (Dee, Doris, whoever) to inspect the devastation wrought by the downturn in the Asian economy on our little island paradise. Sounds like a good time to buy offshore real estate. Go for it,  Bob. He, of course, copped the fall to Janet Codding for five measly bucks. This prompted Janet to advise us all of the activities at Kid's Street Theatre on Sat. May 2nd for a paltry $20 donation for a worthy cause. Not to be outdone, The Therapeutic Crusher, our own homeopathic chiropractor Marc Matson reminded us about the Spring Fling on April 11th, 7:30 - 12PM, right where we eat lunch. Learn how to dance. Impress your other half with your couth. Be There!

Bob Marigo

Raffle

Then we FINALLY pulled the marble. Or at least our distinguished PDG guest, John Blount, DDS did. John Palmer got the draw, to no avail! Sally Kennedy at least got 20 bucks for her effort on the second ticket.

It's SHOWTIME!

Past District Governor John Blount inspired us with his slides from his trip to amazing India on behalf of District 5130 as representative to the Rotary International Council On Legislation in mid January. This group, consisting of PDG's from each district of the world and various other R.I. Board Members, Past R.I. Presidents and other heavy hitting Rotarians from around the world, determine our fate every three years by way of amending the way we do Rotary business worldwide.

Rumor has it, that THE most urgent item on this international legislative agenda was to finally, once and for all, resolve the appropriateness (or lack thereof) of Consortiums Bidding In Club Raffle Ticket Draws.  Now THIS made even the Big Guy next to Marigo SQUIRM.  And that's dangerous since he wasn't even here. But he knows all. Just ask him. You know that squealing you hear? No, that's NOT the two halves of Mike Moore's empty wallet screeching together. It's REALLY Kush-no-tec bugging equipment gone afoul.

Nobody seemed to be able to get an answer on the outcome of the vote on this urgent and contentious issue. Being the conspiracy buff that this writer is (remember, "I work for the County. I'm here to help you"), I'm SURE that whole thing got "tabled" for yet ANOTHER three years.  I'm gonna be "honorary", or whatever the classification will be in the next millennium, once I'm old and gray, before this gets decided. We can't be too rash or progressive about things like this, can we? Ten or fifteen years to resolve this issue should be about right. Nice try, PDG John.

On to less pressing matters, it was determined that 283 "other" less significant items WOULD be reviewed in five grueling days of non-stop meetings in six languages.   Speakers were given 20 minutes each to speak. Or else the mike turned itself OFF. Can WE get one of those timers from the Rotary Club Equipment Store for OUR meetings?   PDG Withers, you with me on this?

And they DID wade through it all.  Like the part where they decided that we will all have THREE weeks to perform makeup's, and a myriad of other financial and legislative issues of significance to Rotary members world wide.

John got time off for good behavior to tour the Golden Triangle of India, including the Taj Mahal, a completely symmetrical edifice, which truly is a wonder of the world, according to John. Built by 20,000 people over a period of 22 years. Ironically surrounded by squalor and oppressive pollution in a country of ONE BILLION people. Street dwelling is the norm. At NO TIME was John's entourage ever not surrounded by PEOPLE. Lots of them. He said he felt like a rock star. Treated with total curiosity by the locals, to an extreme. Sebastopol seemed like low-density heaven upon his return, he reports.

He had an eleven hour flight to Frankfurt on the way over, with a mere ten hour layover, then a six hour ride to an instrument approach into incredibly smoggy India. So smoggy the plane was delayed because of sky obscuration.

Other than that, John had a great time. And he learned a lot about this fascinating culture that is India. At a net cost to each of us for John's trip of just $1, the slide show was worth at least $5. And now we can all get credit for participating in club activities, other than meetings. As in Multi-Cultural Pre School volunteer activities, for example. These hours can be applied towards meeting attendance as a result of one of the hundreds of R.I. rule changes that were made. Won't that be nice, Mr. Skinner?

We will certainly look forward to John's return. An informative time was had by all. And then John left, one bottle of wine richer.

This Bulletin was written by Joe Perez.

Santa Rosa West Rotary Club

Bo Simons (bo@sonoma.lib.ca.us), Bulletin Editor
Bob Harris (bob@hlenv.com), Secretary
P.O. Box 14744, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 (707) 524-7866
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