Bulletin for October 27, 2008
Bill Fishman Recounts Jewish History in Petaluma
By Jim Hinton
Preliminaries
 A New Face At The Podium: Past President Peter Lamonica opened the meeting at 12:30 pm. and introduced himself to those in the audience who might not know him. He explained that he was the club president in 1975-1976, that he was a lot younger then, and that he was substituting today for President David McDonald who was ill. |
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| President Pro Tem Peter ran the meeting with great skill, much good humor, and 32 years of additional wisdom gained since he last stood at the podium as president. | ||||||||||||
Introductory Stuff: Visiting Rotarian Henry Alker from the San Francisco club led the Pledge of Allegiance. |
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| Chris Rosell gave the Rotary Moment, thanking God that "this election is almost over." Ginny Pitts introduced five visiting Rotarians: Henry Alker, Larry Miyano, Nhisher Doctor, Michael Flannigan, and Dave Hansen. |
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 Larry Miyano |
Laura Buehler,
Manager of the Exchange Bank branch in Larkfield, who wishes to become a
member of our club, was introduced as a guest today for the third time.
President Pro Tem Peter
thanked the members who assisted in today's meeting:
Chris Young
(Cashier), Chuck
Baker (Set-up),
Gail Johnson
(Tickets), Ginny Pitts
(Greeter), and Jim
Hinton (Bulletin).
Announcements and Such:
Harry Rubins thanked Pam Davis for subbing for him last Monday on Rotary Foundation collections.
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Jim Valinoti
donated six bottles of wine signed by Carol Shelby to the Crab Feed.
Chuck
Baker asked for job shadow mentors to
sign up.
Phil
Talamantes offered tickets to the
Veteran's Day Event on November 6th. They're $15.00. This year's
program features four-star Admiral Robert Foley, Jr., former
Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as the speaker.
Mike Merrill
gave a summary of the club visioning meeting on October 22nd. Eighteen
members attended and participated in discussions about strategic goals of
the club over the next five years. The resulting Five Year Strategic
Plan will be presented at a club assembly in December by
Tarina Hall.
(Mike referred to her as Princess Tarina, but she actually prefers Queen
Tarina.)
Gail Johnson
announced a membership committee meeting at her home on November 5th at 5:00
pm.
The Chris And Mike Auction Show:
It was something of a mistake that Crab Feed Co-Chair
Chris
Young actually handed the microphone to
Mike
Moore because Mike "works alone" and
"doesn't like to share." However, Mike put on a good show as an
auctioneer
and Jim Valinoti
outlasted the throng of bidders for the privilege of advertising on the 2009
Crab Feed raffle tickets. His winning bid was $475.00, surpassing
countless others.
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Then, through a telephone link-up handled by
Bill
Dodson, our esteemed President
David McDonald
matched that $475.00 for advertising on the Crab Feed admission tickets.
Many thanks Jim and David for your great support.
Recognitions
Richard Pratt thought he was merely making an announcement when he thanked Mike and Maureen Merrill for their hospitality in hosting a BBQ and wine tasting at their home for the participants in a bicycle trip around Windsor, which he had purchased at a previous Crab Feed. Well, it seems that there was more wine-tasting than bicycling by some, although iron-woman Chris Parr was described as a sheepdog in keeping the bicyclists in something of a straight line. President Pro Tem Peter cleverly turned this announcement into a $20.00 fine.
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Englishman Ken Dansie
got fined $10.00 for not speaking real English while making an announcement
about sign-ups for auction donations. (President David, please note
how an experienced president pro tem adroitly turns announcements into fines
to benefit the club's coffers).
Joe
Perez was rightfully fined $25.00 as a
result of a feature article in the Press Democrat about "El Dia de los
Muertos" which included a large scale color photograph of Joe and his wife,
Deirdre, painting paper mache skulls in commemoration of this major Mexican
holiday. There is a romance story here. Joe and Deirdre met in
Mexico at former member Rene Ocana's home.
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Bill Dodson was also tagged for $10.00 for attending an event at the Lancaster Winery on Chalk Hill Road, even though he was just trying to get a donation for the Crab Feed.
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Jim Hinton had a birthday yesterday and was fined $10.00. Same for Bill Fisher, whose wife Ann's birthday was on Saturday. Jeff Ray also had to pony up $5.00 for Cheryl's birthday last week, which she celebrated by singing in a dress rehearsal of a women's choral group about to go to Honolulu to participate in international competitions.
And to top it off, President Pro Tem Peter fined John Withers $20.00 because more than 20 years ago John scoffed at interest rates banker Peter was quoting. That's a really looooong memory.
Raffle
| Yes! He Got It: Ken Dansie's number was drawn, and he pulled out the black marble for $575.00. Way to go, Ken! |
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| And Terry Galazzo won a bottle of wine. |
Program: Bill Fishman Recounts Jewish History in Petaluma
Bill Fishman, a Petaluma attorney and formerly a construction worker,
surveyor, political campaign manager and legislative consultant, was our
speaker today. He grew up on a chicken farm in Penngrove, a "country
kid" he said, aware as a boy that he was Jewish but whose parents were only
minimally involved in the Jewish community.
His grandparents emigrated to the United States from Russia in 1913
to escape harsh lives and persecution under the Czarist regime there.
Jews were prohibited from owning property in Russia, and his grandfather, as
a Jew, was assigned menial tasks and was frequently roughed up by his
superiors when he served in the Czarist Army. They settled in the
Petaluma area and started raising chickens. Ultimately they bought
some property in Penngrove and established a chicken farm there.
During the 1950s a good many Holocaust survivors from middle and eastern
Europe settled in the Petaluma areas and became farmers and merchants there.
Mr. Fishman talked about their progress, as well as their discomfort in the
McCarthy era.
Although he has extensively studied the history of the Jewish community in
and around Petaluma, Mr. Fishman described himself as not being actively
involved in Jewish affairs today.
Thank you, Mr. Fishman, for an interesting program.
| Your Bulletin Reporter: Jim Hinton  |
Your
Bulletin Editor: Jim Valinoti  |