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A "Buena Vista Social Club Tour" of Cuba

Call to Order

President Elect Capuano and self proclaimed "King Louis" filled in for the absent President "Mike" in royal fashion at the SRWRC's February 24, 2003 weekly meeting.

Janet Codding joined "King Louis" & Club Sect's Zmarzly on the podium as Secretary elect. Is there such a thing as Secretary elect? (Well...maybe not until Janet, but hey! We are a club of firsts J -Ed)

Pledge:

Oh well, after a mass genuflection by the entire club, we were lead in the
pledge by Bill Gittins.

Rotary Moment:

Then a moment of silence was endured, as the scheduled Bulletin Reporter:
Chris Rosell struggled to spew forth an appropriate "Moment of Silence" for the club.

"Von" Der Mehden received a rousing ovation for his rendition of the 11 Visiting Rotarians.

Bill Dodson, being one of few who can do so, made certain that the cash count was architecturally correct.

At this point "King Louis" was so successful in quieting the crowd that many thought he was doing an impression of Bob Marigo! He then solicited announcements for visiting guests. Caroline Fox introduced Dan Fryer, an electrical contractor. Bob Zeni introduced Carey Pittson, Piner High School counselor.

Club News Flashes & Announcements:

Chris Parr is recovering nicely from her stint as Crab Feed Co-chair and surgery on her arm. Get well soon, Chris, we miss you. The following members will join or continue during King Louis' reign:

Bill Dodson - Director of Club Service,
Dave McDonald - Director of Community Service,
Chris Rosell - Director of International Service,
Geri Arnold -Director of Vocational Service
Bob Marigo - SOS; Do I hear a hip, hip hurray?
David Wattell - will assume Membership Chair duties,
John Meislahn becomes "party man", i.e. Fellowship Chair
Susan Nowacki replacing Cloverdale's finest, Paula Wrenn, as Program Chair.

Bob Zeni introduced counselor Carry Pittson & four Piner High School Students-of-the-Month and they are:
Congratulations to Kirk Faris & Hank Meisse,	Celia Futch,	and Catherine Young.

This fine group of students hope to help pay for their continuing education with the help of scholarship money granted by the club when we announce the winners of the Students-of-the-Year this coming May.

Fines or Royal Bounty which ever you prefer:

Rich Pratt - $10 for going skiing during tax season.

Bob Reinking - $10 for his wife running the tables in Reno.

Dennis Wilkinson - $10 for giving his business card to 2 Rotarians (lucky King Louis have taken your head for advertising, Dennis).

Pete Lamonica - $10 for spending 7 days in Mexico (who's your travel agent, Pete?).

John Hathaway - $15 for spending one month in the desert...Palm, I believe.

Ginny Pitts got the entire table - Perez, Dansie, Gittins, Harris, Marigo, Meislahn, Rosell - and herself - fined $5/each for her spending 10 days in Roi Tan, Honduras. As usual, Ginny pitched in, too-$20. Just let us know when you go on vacation again!

Bounty continued...

John Withers - $50. Not sure, but I think either for for being a good sport or just being John.

Louis Giacometti, Brian Jamar & Dale Sipe- $5 each for not signing up for swing dance lessons with Piner High School student, Faris. Come on guys, shake a leg.

Joe Perez - $100 for being married one year on Valentines Day to his lovely bride.

Brian Ling & Phil Talamantes - $10 each for being #113 & #117 in Sonoma County's Book of Lists. Whew, "King Louis" rules!

Raffle:

Visiting Rotarian from Downtown Santa Rosa, Clarice Bolles, drew the black marble and bingo!
She won the $275 pot! (Let's see that's equal to what...6 pots at the downtown club? J -Ed)

Joe Perez won the bottle of wine, twice, with #'s only two digits apart. He accepted the second time around after offering to donate it to some worthy cause. Bacchus must have willed him to drink wine, or maybe someone didn't stir the pot!!

Program:

Paula Wrenn introduced Judge Elliot Daum. Judge Daum treated the club to a video and report of his recent trip and "Buena Vista Social Club Tour" of Cuba. He assured us that although he is tall and has a gray beard, he is neither Papa Hemingway nor Lee Harvey Oswald, as some Cubans called out to him on the trip.

This information was quite a relief to our more superstitious members.

Hemingway is revered in Cuba and there's even a museum/bar "The Floridita", built for him. Daum entered Cuba legally and brought back legal "Cubans", as in cigars, which were given to 2 lucky Rotarians, (Von & Joe) for guessing the secret word...or was it Cuban questions?

The tour included stops at the Bay of Pigs, where the Victory of Socialism Museum was built after Castro repelled US forces in April of 1961. Guess we didn't have any stealth bombers or cruise missiles back then!

Havana has a population of approximately 2 million where the average annual income is around $1,200. An electrical engineer quit his government job that paid $10/mo. to become a taxi driver so he could make a better living, and learn how to circumvent the GPS system installed in all taxi's. All automobiles, except some taxi's, are US-made, 1950's vintage due to the embargo. He states that the world's best mechanics live in Cuba, as they are able to keep the antiques running without parts, which are also embargoed. Now that, is impressive!

All in all, a very informative "tour". PS: if you didn't know, the "Buena Vista Social Club" is a movie about the Cuban music scene.

Your Bulletin Reporter: Chris Rosell		Your Editor: Jim Valinoti

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Changes or comments?

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

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