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Speech / Audio-Video Contest

Opening Boo-boos:

It was just another typical Monday, and of course my time had come again to write the bulletin.

With a clang of the bell at 12:20 pm, President Mike Moore began the meeting early today to accommodate the annual Speech and Audio/Video contest featuring some outstanding presentations by students from three high schools.

Pledge

The bell clang was President Mike's high point of the day. He forgot to acknowledge Steve Wright as the cashier.

He forgot to acknowledge Caroline Fox as the photographer. He forgot to inquire whether anyone was doing the Bulletin. Ken Prouty had to remind him about the raffle. Otherwise, when President Mike was in the back of the room listening to the speeches, it was a great meeting.

Gary Lucas did double duty today. He led a flawless pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag. He then followed with a prayer that our government and military leaders, both in Washington and in the battle fields in Iraq, make wise decisions so that the war with Iraq be successful and be concluded as quickly as possible. Amen.

Chuck Baker introduced six visiting Rotarians from the Santa Rosa downtown club, one from the Windsor club, and one from the St. Helena club, all of whom were warmly greeted.

Neil Silverman introduced his lovely wife, Susan. Terry Galazzo introduced her guest, Diane Cox, the Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Santa Rosa. Kyle Stelling introduced a future Rotarian, his new daughter, Caley, age 6 months. Kyle explained that she was the reason he had not been seen recently at Rotary meetings.

Harry Rubins then presented the pin that was mysteriously missing at last week's Paul Harris recognitions to Phil Talamantes.

The Program: "Polio Eradication - What It Means To Us Today"

Jeri Arnold (pictured here with Past President Jim Benoit) organized a wonderful program devoted to the polio eradication theme. She introduced the distinguished judges and the speakers and audio/video presenters.

There were six contestants from Analy and Piner High Schools, each of whom was allowed six minutes to speak about polio eradication, and six contestants from El Molino High School who created four-minute videos about polio eradication.

The speech & audio/video contestants were:

Speech: Frot Gebrescael, a junior at Piner; Aaron Barone, a senior at Piner; Evan Durlester, a freshman at Analy; Michael Maloney, a junior at Piner; Kristene Nellessen, a sophomore at Analy; and Anna Mattinson, a junior at Analy. They were accompanied by teachers Lynnette Williamson from Analy and Brigette Mancell from Piner.

Audio/video contestants from El Molino High School were: Daniel Bacci, a senior; Matt Johnson, a senior; Nick Higgins, a junior; Mo Linder, a junior; David Adams a sophomore; and Craig Johnson, a junior. They were accompanied by teacher Rick Massell.

The judges were: Sheryl Stockton, Vice-President at Sonoma National Bank and Alicia Cronbach, Past President Brian Herndon's daughter...

...and then a welcome face in former member Tom Boylan, owner of The Boylan Point.

And the winner is... They were all winners! The speeches were thoughtful, well researched, well organized, and very ably presented.

The speakers explored the history and impact of polio eradication to date and Rotary's goal of eliminating this dread disease by 2005 in the remaining countries in Africa and Asia where it is still prevalent.

The audio-video presentations were innovative, technically well crafted, and visually excellent. Although the theme was the same for all contestants, the presentations were different and all were stimulating. The judges had a very difficult job in selecting first, second and third place award winners, but they did so, and here are the awards:

First Place, Speech: Michael Maloney, who won $100.00;

Second Place, Speech: Anna Mattinson, who won $50.00;

Third Place, Speech: Aaron Barone, who won $25.00.

First Place, Video: the team of Nick Higgins and Mo Linder, who won $100.00;

Second Place, Video: the team of David Adams and Craig Johnson, who won $50.00;

Third Place, Video: Daniel Bacci, who won $25.00.

Congratulations to the contestants and many thanks to their teachers. All Rotarians who saw and heard you were extremely complimentary of your efforts and your excellent presentations.

Announcements:

By Susan Nowacki: Anne Abrams will host a Fireside at Multi-Cultural Child Development Center, 1650 West Third Street (at Knox Presbyterian Church), Santa Rosa, on Thursday, April 10, 5:00-7:00 p.m.. Please RSVP to Anne at 544-0104 or anneabramsAaol.com

By Susan Nowacki: Fred Zmarzly at Zmarzly Estate Ranch Vineyard, Hopland, on Saturday, May 17, with hors d'oeuvres and wine tasting in the vineyard at 11:30 a.m. and lunch with more wine at the house at 12:30 p.m.. Fred will e-mail directions on how to get to the ranch. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Double-up in cars. The guest list has been over-subscribed and closed.

By Phil Talamantes: Past-President Patsy Barnes is in a care facility in Fresno. She has an intestinal and neurological disorder and she has had surgery. The address is 5204 North Via Trevi and her telephone is (559) 432-1112. Please send her a card. She would love to hear from you.

By Terry Galazzo: The Rebuilding Santa Rosa day this year will be on Saturday, April 26. The project involves construction of a fence around a house. The owner, a retired policeman, tends to wander off. Sign-up sheets will be on the tables at future meetings. Please join this work project. Our club has donated $3,000 to it.

By Janet Codding: The next Membership Committee meeting will be at Janet's house, 3362 Miraloma Drive, Santa Rosa, on Monday, April 7 at 5:00 pm. Janet also asks that you call her if you are interested in joining her company's humanitarian effort to provide food for the children of Iraq.

By President Mike Moore: The District Conference is May 1-4 at the beautiful River Lodge in beautiful Fortuna. The club with the best representation will receive a $300.00 prize. On Thursday there is a golf tournament and an awards banquet. The meetings and lunches and dinners are on Friday and Saturday. Chuck Stark will be our representative in the Rotary "know-it-all" contest. He should be a winner. Nobody knows Rotary better than Chuck.

Fillers And Fines:

Between the speeches today, while the judges scored the contestants, President Mike was pretty much at a loss for words for the very first time in his tenure, and so he had to search his memory bank for some filler stuff. He recovered brilliantly.

Joe Perez was recognized for his recent purchase of an already-built experimental kit airplane that cruises at 200 mph, which is about 200 mph faster than Brian Herndon's airplane and can outpace Gil Lucas' airplane. Joe knows how to invert it in flight, but he is sticking to the wheels down landing pattern. In view of a recent heavy-duty fine of $100.00 levied by President-Elect Lou Capuano, payment of which is still under study, President Mike was very sympathetic and fined Joe only $5.00.

Chris Rosell, who craves excitement in downhill skiing 60 degree slopes, kayaking shark infested waters, and bicycling into fence posts, said that nothing really exciting was happening currently. He was given a $25.00 boring recognition fine.

Raffles:

Ray Schofield had the raffle ticket number drawn by Fred Zmarzly, but he had left early, so Roger Olson drew for him. No joy on the black marble.

John Palmer had the second raffle ticket number, thereby winning a bottle of De Loach Zinfandel, but he too was not there. Phil Talamantes accepted the wine for him as trustee and promised to deliver it to John sometime. Check on this next week, Mike.

Your Bulletin Reporter: Scott Bartley

Your Bulletin Reporter: Jim Hinton		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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