Past-president Bill Gittins brought the meeting to applause with the announcement that this meeting would be his last as the interim president. The applause was met with oohs as he announced the upcoming meeting would be presided by Past-president Bob Marigo.

Acting Prez. Bill Gittins

On to the pledge delivered by Susan Nowacki, which was followed by a true Rotary moment provided by Michael Art. Michael asked that we "be like a kite and rise with the wind."

With that cue, Tom Laengle rose to tell us that there were numerous guests in our attendance. With the Downtown Club escapees providing a 3 count, total guests for the meeting numbered 8.

Noticing Lori Burmeyer was the last to the fill her plate, Bill kindly asked for a $5 fine.

At the top of the announcement list, we were informed that the inability of Club Secretary Bob Harris to win at laptop solitaire over the past 3 years is cause enough for early retirement. The duties of Secretary to the club will pass on to Fred Zmarzly as of May 1, 2000. Bob deserves a big hand (we're not talking cards here) for the energy and the accuracy he provided as club secretary. Pause for applause!

President-Elect Chuck Stark spent quite a few hours drumming up leadership participants for the District Leadership Training Conference. There were 387 Rotarians witness to the excitement provided by an excellent cadre of speakers. Our club mustered 8 volunteers for the program. A side note, Chuck Baker and Brian Herndon may have found the entertainment for next year’s 'Crab Feed' at the conference's Blues/Jazz festival.

Bob Harris and Fred Zmarzly

Janet Codding reminded all that this is the last week for applications to allocate Crab Feed moneys to your worthy cause. Please contact Janet to learn more of the 6 pages needed to apply for funding.

Harry Rubins let us know that the Ambassadorial Scholarship program is progressing with the interview of a much-qualified candidate.

Jeff Ray spent as much time looking for a golf date for the upcoming tourney, as did many of our Clubs’ members looking for errant shots during last year’s tourney. It was agreed that the golf tournament would be held on May 4^th at the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club. If you’re planning on playing, you should be planning on paying . . . $125 per person please.

District Governor Mike Merrill reminded Jeff and present-company that the tourney was a district-wide event. He would like to see as much participation on the golf course as he hopes he will see at the start of the District Conference Friday morning.

DG Mike Merrill

The District Conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. on May 5^th. Consider this a celebration of the hard work fellow Rotarians have had a hand in. Of special note are the efforts of Ken Dansie, Bill Fisher, Bob Marigo, and Chris Parr.

A visiting Rotarian from India will provide this year’s keynote address. In addition, we will be electing the new district representative to the Rotary Council on Legislation. This is the group that will entertain changes to the Rotary rules. DG Mike believes both the Golf tournament and the District Conference will be setting attendance records due to the banner year District 5130 is having. Make your reservations early. Check your last issue of the 'Wheel News' for the conference sign up form.

Acting President Bill passed along a letter from the other side of the world, addressed to President Patsy Barnes. There is a fellow Rotarian searching for a used car. Bill redeemed himself for the $5 fine to Lori by passing on a lead. How many krona for a used Dodge?

Special thanks went out to John Withers for being so generous to the club in a time of need. Bob Harris wants to know if now that the money was paid back, can he get his grandchild back? All kids aside, thank you John!

Susan Nowacki brought along sister Amy. George Mickelsen graced his table with the company of his wife Thelma.

Past-president Bill took advantage of this poor writer with a probing interview regarding my absence in recent weeks. A humanitarian mission to Mexico coupled with the sale of my residence and the moving of my office will cost me $50, in addition to the cost of movers, phone installers, window coverings, etc.

Remodeling may have been an alternative to moving, but from the stories of Paul Stychno and Bob Marigo about cost over-runs, delays, and cooking on a hot plate, they deserved to be fined for not moving. Paul graciously offered his bleeding heart fine of $100 to be shared by tablemates Joe Perez and Roger Olson. Bob claimed he spared no expense in the carpeting for the remodel and willingly passed on his $50 fine to Arnie Carston.

Bill Dodson announced the recent addition to the family with a new grandchild. That makes 5 and that will be $50.

Bill Fisher was recently flying to Oregon when his wife suggested he turn the plane around. The Palm Springs vacation was in the other direction. Bill tried to divert the attention away from his leisure activities by suggesting his friend Ken Prouty be spotlighted for a recent ski trip to Europe. In all the confusion, I didn’t hear the amount of the fine!

Bob Miller was off to Hawaii for ‘daze’. He suggested the purpose of his trip was to purchase a Hawaiian shirt to impress Arnie. What island is the Kam-A-Him-A Tent Company on? A good story will put $100 towards a Paul Harris Fellowship.

Dan Wylie is not just any Smith or Jones. He recently took a position with Broadlink Communications as director of operations. He kept his building, sold the business, and drove way too fast on the Autobahn. All that excitement cost him $100.

How about that Bob Reinking? He managed to sell all those tickets for a shot at the marble bag with only four marbles left. Roger Olson bought the right ticket but it was the wrong time. Better luck next week. Ron Allen invested $10 to win the $25 dollars to donate it to SOS. Thanks Ron.

Roger Olson tries his luck.

IT'S THE PROGRAM THAT COUNTS

John Withers introduced his long time friend Mike Ferguson, manager of field operations for the Santa Rosa Local Census Office. Mr. Ferguson received his education in Sonoma County from Calistoga High to Sonoma State, where he received his degree in Administration of Justice. He spent 30 years with the Sheriffs Department and was the head of the Sheriffs Mounted Patrol. A member of the Sebastopol Rotary, he has a perfect attendance record dating back 17 years. He is a past president and former team leader for the GSE team to Austria & Hungary. His current position puts him in charge of 1300 people in a 3 county area, which includes Marin, Napa and Sonoma.

Mr. Ferguson passed along the timely message on the importance of the Census, and how it can effect the daily fabric of life in our communities. For each percentage of people not counted, there are a percentage of needed funds that are not allocated by the government. The Census is conducted every 10 years and the federally funded programs rely heavily on the information garnered to justify services as well as funding. Congressional districts are apportioned based on the Census numbers.

Mike Ferguson

Given that the cycle of the Census is every 10 years, there is a major problem in trying to develop an inertia that will cause people to understand the importance of the event. Our current national population is estimated at 275 million. The diversity in ethnic background includes a variety of non-English speaking citizens, and there are major differences in economic levels. These are two of the Census’s larger problems. Gathering information in the year 2000 will mean printing forms and the use of the Internet to facilitate those who speak other languages. This is also the first time that the Census will count migratory workers and the homeless.

Regardless of the number of news magazine shows on television, on the whole we are very private people. The Census faces another obstacle in convincing recipients of the long form that the information requested will not disclose any personal information to any private enterprise or public organization outside of the Census Bureau. There is a rule, which seals any information other than gross numbers for a period of 72 years. For those who explore genealogy, the information gathered in 1928 is now available.

Some significant numbers other than those counted by the Census: It is estimated the 3.3% undercount of the last census equaled a loss of approximately $29,000,000 in funds for Marin & Sonoma Counties. The pay rate for census takers is based on the cost of living for the area they are working in. Our area pays clerks $11.75 per hour and enumerators (counters) $15.55 per hour. The Census will spend $167,000,000 on advertising.

In closing Mr. Ferguson asked that we send in our forms, because "if you’re not counted, you’re not in the game!"