Monday Noon, Los Robles Lodge
925 Edwards Ave., Santa Rosa, California

The Russians are Here!
The Russians are Here!

Today President Bush has just completed the "first 100 Days" of his new administration, and our President Chuck begins his "last 100 Days" of his Rotary Presidential Year. (--Editor's Historical Perspective)

Pledge:

Paul Strychno led the pledge.

Rotary Moment:

Tom Boylan (stood in for Noel Bueler who was MIA???) and gave us a moving invocation, especially the part thanking the Lord that the Giants were in first place-Amen!

Visiting Rotarians:

Mike Mullins introduced the 22 visiting Rotarians after reminding us that if we need an approval to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, we should contact him directly (I am sure his job is very interesting right now!) We had visiting Rotarians from as far away as Somerset Pennsylvania and SunCity Florida today!

Guests:

Bob Harris introduced his wife Sandy, as the CEO of the Harris Family; Caroline Fox introduced Gale Johnson, who is with Coldwell Banker, and John Palmer, who introduced Dr. Mark Doolittle of Sonoma State.

Announcements:

President Chuck attended the Community Baptist Church service yesterday and gave a presentation about the great works of Rotary to the congregation. (Turnabout is fair play, Reverend Jim-Ed.)

Ray Schofield (our Chair of Youth Activities) accepted a check for Troop 125, which was in addition to the $1000 check accepted by Troop Master Shaun few weeks ago.

Pam Moore (Director of Willow Creek School) accepted a check of $3600 from the Community Fund. Willow Creek is a private Non-profit school that has children between the ages of two and six. They recently renewed their lease with the City of Santa Rosa and included in that lease agreement was the condition that they needed to refurbish their building and grounds. These funds will be used towards that project.

Even though Dr. Mark Dolittle gets scared every time Bob Marigo calls him, he did attend the meeting today and accepted a check for $6,000 on behalf of the SOS program. Hopefully these funds will be used to start the program at another school or to expand the program at an existing school.

Terri Galazzo reminded everyone that the long awaited Christmas in April project will be this Saturday April 28th and all participants are to meet at Finley park at 7:00am.

Janet Codding announced that the Projects Committee will meet May 7 at her house. So anyone with ideas for projects needs to let Janet know before that date.

Caroline Fox thanked Janet for the wonderful Vocational Fireside that was held at her house. Janet explained her business and told those attending about the great products she has to offer. Thanks Janet!

Caroline and Arnie Carston announced that the Santa Rosa West Rotary 2002 Crab Feed and Live Auction will be held on January 19. Plans are already underway to have the best Crab Feed ever! (These two will make a great team!) Arnie reminded us to thank all of the chefs that have donated their time to do the dinners that have been auctioned off, in the past. I was one of the lucky ones to attend the dinner at Arnie's on Saturday night (food prepared by Lisa Hemenway) and I can attest to the fact that she did a wonderful job. (Not to mention the warm hospitality and beautiful setting provided by Arnie and Gale Carston!!)

John Withers read a letter from Guy Gruder who was a crewmember of the plane that rescued the 24 Americans that were being detained by China. The letter gave a blow by blow description that almost made you think you were there!

Recognition:

President Chuck tried to fine Bob Harris because his name has apparently made an appearance in the Times Union, which described him as a rich American bachelor! Bob tried to defer the fine until it finally made its way back to Chuck who then proceeded to fine himself $1.00.

Raffle:

Lisa Greenfield's number was called again for the second week in a row (and the fourth time since I've been a member!) Unfortunately she did not pick the correct marble. Patsy Barnes got the bottle of wine.

Program:

Chris Parr announced the long awaited visitors of the Group Study Exchange Program who came to us from Russia. The GSE program is an educational activity providing the exchange of business and professional persons between Rotary districts in different countries. We were honored with the following visitors:

Olga Smolianinova is the dean of the psychology department at Krasnoyarsk State university. She is married and has two children.	Inna Smaguina is a neurologist and professor at Medical university in Barnaul. She is married and has a son.
Elena Bobyak deals with allergies and is the director of a medical clinic of endoscopic surgery in Tomsk. She is married with one child.	Alexey Dubakov specializes in diseases of the lungs and teaches at Siberian State Medical University. He is married and has a daughter.
Andrei Rakitine specializes in anesthesiology and surgery at the Institute of Travmatology in Novorsibirsk. He is married and has two children.

Both Olga and Elena presented their Rotary flag to President Chuck who then reciprocated with ours. If you would like more information about these warm and interesting people, Chris can email you. Or better yet, meet them in person at our district conference in May!!

Reported By: Jeri Arnold

Edited By: Jim Valinoti

Here are the Bulletin Writers through June 01:
Apr. 30 - John Meislahn
May 07 - Bob Harris
May 14 - Chuck Baker
May 21 - Chris Parr
May 28 - DARK
Jun. 04 - Jim Hinton
Jun. 11 - Jeri Arnold
Jun. 18 - Lisa Greenfield
Jun. 25 - John Meislahn

STANDBY WRITERS ARE:
John PALMER & Tom LAENGLE

Changes or comments?

Contact Jim Valinoti at valinoti@sonic.net or (707) 829-2300.