Santa Rosa West Coming up

May 10
Project Censor
Peter Phillips
SSU Professor

May 17
Drug & Alcohol Abuse Center (DAAC)
Michael Spielman
Director

May 24
Grandparents
Parenting Again
Ann Pierce

May 31
DARK
Memorial Day

May 5, 1999

Not Your Ordinary Song and Dance

Order?

The meeting was called to "order" by King Richard at or about 12:30.

Paula Wrenn led the pledge and the invocation came from Mark Decker. Mark shared the story of King Solomon's vanity and desire to live for today versus living for an eternity. Nicely done.

Rick Rybicki introduced visiting Rotarians. As usual there were numerous members of the Downtown club looking for a good time. Rick was taken back at the number of CPA's belonging to the Downtown Club. Rotarians from Santa Rosa East, Sebastopol and Windsor also joined our meeting.

Our meeting was graced with the addition of 3 guests. Dale Sipes brought his lovely bride of 55 years, Teddie. Being the gentleman that he is he had a difficult time sharing the correct number of years, no doubt still guilty over taking a child bride. Bill Gittins introduced Caroline Fox, a technical consultant from Santa Rosa. Neil Silverman graciously introduced his wife, Susan and the visiting GSE team.

Announcements

Jim Hinton declared this was his third and final time to request host families for incoming students due to arrive from Chile. It was a nice touch for him to pass around a picture of the student and her family. Let Jim know if you have room for a lovely young lady from Chile.

Teri Evans, in her continuing pursuit of new members, reminded all there is a board meeting Tuesday, May 11^th. This would be the appropriate time to pass on names of potential new members.

Western Marketing opened in 1991 with a staff of 2. I believe that included Ron and his wife (who's name escapes me at the moment). Today the company employs 100 people full time and enjoys the ownership of their new building. The success of his company is based on the low subscription rates they can offer and the available selection of magazines. They have over 450 magazine titles. Talk about niche marketing. Ron was smart to point out how his wife played a big part in the success of the business. She'll probably read this. In addition to magazine subscriptions, Mr. Allen has taken on a new company devoted to direct mail. Please tell him I asked you to ask him for more details.

Ron was moving along so nicely, when he asked to show a "Little video". Rich Little that is. After the jeers and the calls for a $100 fine subsided, we watched the story of a magazine sweepstakes unfold. A nice production and informative in many ways. I didn't know Rich Little was still alive.

Recognition

References to Jeff Marcus were flying at the conclusion of Ron's talk. King Richard found a way to increase Ron's movement toward becoming a Paul Harris Fellow with a fine of $100. Not that the members who didn't like Rich Little swayed the decision to fine him with chants of "$100, $100", but because Ron left his Las Vegas hotel gamblers card at the last meeting.

Others recognized included Rick Rybicki, who requested some financial assistance for his newly acquired mortgage. Rick lamented; he and his wife, Barbara, had to settle for a recent Caribbean vacation instead of Europe. Something about trying to make ends meet. All was going well until he referred to his wife reaching a (insert a $30 fine here).

Ray Schofield got away with a $50 fine for adding a 5^th grandchild to his family. Number 6 is due, just around the corner. Does Ray have to come up with the 'Star Wars' collector's sets for all six?

Bill Fisher was fined because his fiancé lost the engagement ring, but Bill found a way to turn the tables on King Richard. As a 'bleeding heart' he assigned his $25 fine back to Richard.

Jim Valinoti was walking a dangerous line talking about his wife's majority of years. As another bleeding heart, he threw the fine into Bob Harris' court. Bob declared himself a step beyond the bleeding heart; he is "hemorrhaged."

John Withers was recognized for going the furthest distance to find cheap gas. He just returned from Minnesota. Ginny Pitts just returned to town after celebrating her sister being ordained. Bob Miller, Carson Mitchell and Pete Hoogland were mentioned, but not found.

Raffle

Has anyone ever seen this gold marble? Ron Allen (right) had a chance, probably more like 30 to 40 chances, to find the elusive marble. Better luck next time. Jim Hinton waived off his $25 prize to the Bob Lucas Fund.

Program

Neil Silverman had the honors of introducing our very special guests, the visiting GSE Team from the Philippines. Our own district team recently returned and team leader, Neil, relayed that the experience was more than he had hoped for. Neil described this trip as "…really something for my heart and soul." The spirit of Rotary is alive in the exchange of ideas and culture. He also introduced 2 of his team members present at the meeting, Judy Cramer & Lisa Greenfield. We can look forward to a formal meeting where the team will report on their Rotary adventure.

Eduardo Ugaddon (right) was the first introduced for team Philippines. Mr. Ugaddon is a construction manager with a degree in electrical engineering and according to Neil, he should hold a Ph.D. in Rotary. Eduardo is destined to be a leader in Rotary International. Becoming a member of Rotary in 1992, he immediately took the role as club secretary, which lasted 2 years. It seemed a reasonable progression that he wound up as club president for his third year. For Eduardo, Rotary is truly a way of life. It encompasses the social structure of daily living in the Philippines.

Eduardo spoke of compassion for the disabled and his efforts to create an independent living center to facilitate the difficult transition the disabled face to become a part of Philippine society. The Japanese government is underwriting the building project. At the District Conference in the Philippines, Eduardo passed a resolution for each club to form a sub group to deal with the problems of the disabled. One of Eduardo's goals on this trip is to appeal to U.S. Rotary clubs for help with additional support for this worthy project to aid the disabled.

Team Leader Mr. Ugaddon introduced another member of the visiting team, Fernando M. Mendoza (Ferddie). Mr. Mendoza represents Rotary District 63780. He is a graft inspector for the Philippine Government working in the Office of Ombudsmen. According to Mr. Mendoza, "I am not exactly like your Ken Starr." Interesting to hear his perspective of a $40 million dollar investigation into a "private situation."

Ferddie and his fellow team members arrived in the US in the middle of the night on April 26^th. Since that time they have toured Napa and Sonoma, where he has had the opportunity to meet with many in our government. He reflected on a notable difference between his government and ours. We appear to him as being much more departmentalized compared to his system of government. One element that appears the same for both countries is that men have to be cautious when introducing a "great lady."

Team member Teresa E. Villarey kidded with Ferddie over his introduction of the schoolteacher. Teresa brought a good dose of happy along with her. She reminded us to be happy because of Rotary and how it supports young professionals. The multiply effect is a driving force for Teresa's time here in the States. She wants to learn and then bring the knowledge back to her students, with the hope they will spread the knowledge further. There is a great contrast between our two countries, says Teresa " despite our differences, there are similarities, we all deserve to be loved and to love."

Noting that there were two women in the group with similar names, Teresa introduced her teammate Theresa A. Claro as "Tess." Tess is a bank marketing associate who is impressed that "although Americans live up to their reputation of being very busy and industrious, they still find the time for those less fortunate." She has learned much about our banking system and our culture. Pointing out that our seniors evidently are much younger than she had expected. For our senior members, she was polite and repeated her observation.

The presentation came to a close with, to quote Eduardo, "a dance and song number." All four of our guests performed a choreographed routine to the accompaniment of a pre-recorded pop song. If Ferddie ever decides to leave the bad guys alone, his pipes will take him places. He has a great voice, and the spirit of the entire team was dramatically enthusiastic as they danced their way into our lives.

A special thanks goes out to the host families for these wonderful guests; including Teri Evans, Neil Silverman, Don Johnson (Windsor Club) and Preston Smith (Santa Rosa East).

"It's hard to clap when you are taking notes." So says Tom Boylan, this week's bulletin writer.

Mr. Secretary, Bob Harris, enjoyed the "show."

Proposed New Members

Questions, concerns or commentary concerning the above proposed new members should be directed to Teri Evans or the Sponsor.

Internal Service Recognition & Reminder

New E-mail address or Fax number?

Let me know at DRBjork@thegrid.net or
phone (707) 576-7632 or fax (707) 576-7672.

Bulletin Archives