VISALIA ROTARY CLUB

PAST MEETINGS

Announcements: Congratulations, Gene Yunt, awarded Rotarian of the Month in appreciation for his dedication conducting the information meetings for new members. Terry Culotta invited everyone to hear Devon Nunes speak on August 20th at the Visalia Country Club, starting at 6:30 in the morning. Please RSVP to Terry, 429-7507. 

Donut Club: Byron Riegel joined in celebration of his third grandchild. (Congrats, Byron!) Matt Bixler joined the club upon receipt of his board packet. Laurie Isham joined the D.C. because her ProYouth Heart Program is now at the high schools doing fabulous work. Kudos (or should that be Donuts?) to Laurie for bringing the most new members into our club! (WOW!) 

Program:  Sheriff Bill Wittman, Captain Mike Boudreaux, and several officers educated us about the gang and marijuana garden abuses in our area. Some of the Department personnel are also sworn deputy marshals. (So, like, they have two badges?) These folks sacrifice their home life, sometimes working 20 hours shifts and being on call at all hours. Dressed in black is the gang suppression unit: they go undercover into gang homes to make arrests early in the morning after the gang members have been partying all night (pretty clever!) Gangs have become generational, with infants raised as gang members and thinking nothing of killing someone. Officers in camouflage compose the marijuana eradication unit: dropped into our mountainous national parks by ropes from helicopters, they find and clear out marijuana gardens. The “gardeners” are heavily armed and damage our lands, streams, and wildlife with chemicals and fertilizers. (Don’t think it’s safe to drink from those clear mountain streams! Sic ‘em, Sierra Club!) Last year 300,000 plants, valued between $3,000 and $12,000, were confiscated. (How do you get rid of that many plants…ya can’t burn them in a great big bonfire!) Their take on legalizing marijuana: marijuana is NOT a safe drug and they do not support its legalization. Gang suppression and Marijuana eradication is only possible by many agencies working together. Working on limited budget, the Sheriff has applied for and received grants to help fund the technology and manpower needed for the challenge faced by gangs and marijuana gardens. They will continue to use all their resources to fight these problems. (As an aside: President Justin mispronounced so many names of people with guns, that they were just itching to tase him!) 

Join us August 25th, when Stan Simpson presents “Insights from Israel.”  September 1st we have an EVENT when our program will be Dale Darling, mountain climber extraordinaire. Next week, August 18th, we are dark at Noon. Come to our meeting from 6 to 9 pm at the Rawhide Ballpark. Look for the Rotary VIP check-in window and don’t bring food or drink into the stadium because it’s not allowed by the Grand High (state? national?) Baseball PooBa’s and besides that, dinner is included with your ticket! We get to sit in the VIP lounge where it’s AIR CONDITIONED! Yes! (I promise to be good this year and not try to bring any contraband water to the game!) OK, let’s play ball!

Announcements:  Mimi Stemkoski invited anyone wishing to attend the Celebrant Singers Homecoming Banquet at the Methodist Church on August 17 (7 pm) to contact her for guest tickets. The Homecoming Concert will be on August 15th at 6 pm in the L J Williams Theater.

November 17th is the wine auction and the Committee is hot after it…let them know what you wish to donate (they hate to call and bother you! Call either Michael Phelps, Joe Pinto, or check your Roster for the committeemember of your choice!)  August 18th we are dark at Noon and will convene at the Rawhide Stadium for Rotary at the Ballpark from 6 pm to 9 pm (includes food.)  Five Dollars of each ticket we buy will go to the Visalia Rotary Community Foundation.)  Thanks to Tom Seidler and the Rawhide for this fun event and for enabling the purchase of a couple of Desktop-Desks for the special needs students. 

Donut Club:  Drew Sorensen took a trip to Hawaii and brought back and “adult beverage” (i.e. strong coffee) to go with President Justin’s donuts.  (Thank you Drew for joining the club…but, wait…hey, where’s Drew donut? He didn’t get a donut!)  Bruce Nicotero joined the club and received his board booklet/binder.  He’s proud of his 10th anniversary of JoAnn’s Fabrics in Visalia and also his daughter is getting married. Brian Hyde also returned from Hawaii where his daughters thought to gift President Justin with a grass skirt (shake it, Baby!) and coconuts (yes, THOSE kind of coconuts!)  Interesting look…coconuts with a tie! NOW the donuts are passed out to the new club members.  Thanks for joining, y’all! 

Program:  “So, you want to write a book?”  Al Fisher and Dick Isham related their adventures in book writing/editing/ publishing.  From the perspective of Al’s poodle, Samson, if you can’t find a publisher for your book, then form your own publishing company! Al has published several joke books and a cookbook (Al loves to cook but, he found the cookbook more difficult to write than the joke books.)  Dick knew he wanted to write a book but he really didn’t know how it would end…or how it would begin, for that matter! Dick also discovered that editors as a class became extinct shortly after World War II.  There are very few who can really “edit.”  His editor turned out to be a buddy from law school.  Everyone has a book inside of them…I guess some just have more/bigger books than others? Next week we have Sheriff Bill Wittman and “The State of the County.”  September 1st we are expecting Dale Darling of National Geographic who is one of top climbers in the world! Looking forward to September 8th our program will be “Shave the Brave.”  Stay tuned to see who from our club will shave their head for the cause…will it be President Justin? Gerry Schneider? Susan Lucas???? Or will someone else step forward to save the day?

Welcome back Joe Mackey and Vic Surroz (or was it Frank?...President Justin said “Vic” but I only saw “Frank,” so ‘welcome’ to whomever!) Also, “Congratulations” to Terry Culotta on the receipt of his Blue Badge! (So, how’s that whole red badge/blue badge thing working? Any feedback?  Is it worth it?) 

Donut Club:  First off, Lindsay Mann joined the club in celebration of the new World Class Robotic Surgery System at KDDH. (There is less blood loss, it’s less invasive, and it promotes a quicker recovery time…pretty soon it’ll be like “Star trek” where you wave a wand over the body part, hear a whirling sound, and “Poof” it’s all better!) “Thanks” to the community of Visalia, in these trying economic times, for raising the two million dollars to make this addition to KDDH possible.  Second, Larry Akey returned from a medical mission and gifted President Justin with a bag of coffee beans from the smallest coffee co-op in Honduras. (Ok, so what’s the equivalent of “Irish Coffee” in Honduras?) Third, Bill Whitlatch joined the President’s club for $500 so he could have free fresh donut(s)at the bakery instead of a stale (?) donut at the meetings…then another $250 was added for a total fee of $750 because Presidents love to fine Bill! 

Announcements:  The Visalia Rotary Community Foundation, represented by Paul Sonier, awarded $65,000 to 7 recipients, based on need and maximum community impact.  Karen Cooper of Family Services and The Blanket Ladies were on hand to receive their grants.  Mark your calendars for August 18th when we’ll be dark at Noon to attend Rotary Night at the Rawhide Ballpark.  $5 of each of our tickets will go to the Community Foundation. 

Program:  Cydney Oster, representing the Youth Exchange, was on hand to introduce Oscar Rios, Talia Eager, and Chantal Yunt (daughter of Gene Yunt). Oscar is bound for France (his host family lives near Cannes and owns a private plane.  Life is rough!) Oscar promised to learn as much as he can and remember to thank everyone.  Talia has returned from Argentina with an impressive number of pictures depicting her adventures. Her year can be summed up with two words:  INCREDIBLE and AMAZING! Her year taught her to appreciate home (You betchya!)  Chantal is looking forward to her year in Thailand. I can speak from experience that the year these kids spend abroad will have a tremendous impact on their lives.  (After over 30 years since I went to college in England (11 months) and France (1 month) I still remember the year like it was “yesterday!”)  Join us next week when Al Fisher and Dick Isham answer the question: “So you want to write a book?”

Announcements:  Save the date of August 18 for Rotary at the Rawhide Ballpark.  $5 of each ticket sold goes to the Visalia Rotary Foundation. Our club Roster has arrived.  Thanks to Wayne Yada and Premier Color Graphics for a great job! 

New Member:  Al Fisher interviewed our newest member, John Pree, sponsored by Justin Mosley.  John was born in Alaska and moved to Visalia when he married his wife, Marta. John is a motorcycle police officer (dig the boots!) and also teaches at COS. Welcome, John! 

Donut Club:  Dena Cochran returned from Menorca and Majorca (Mallorca) and brought President Justin a mini bottle of gin and a keychain with a miniature pair of tire-tread-sandals, for which the area is famous. (Pick a donut!; thanks for using the tongs!) Mike Schauffele brought President Justin a stamp and a moose magnet from Yellowstone Park (couldn’t find a moose donut…is that a euphemism for something else?) Mike just became a U.S. citizen and Justin gifted him with a cherry turnover instead of a donut or apple pie.  Congratulations, Mike! Many “Thanks!” to our new Donut Club members! 

Club Assembly:  President Justin introduced his board.  Each member described his position, encouraged everyone to look at the Roster and find their committee assignments, and joined the Donut Club.  President Justin brought back some special Rotary jewelry pins from the convention in Montreal gave Susan Lucas a swan pin with a Rotary emblem on it and “Thank You” pins went to Lisa Nunes and Francie Langley for their efforts writing the bulletin articles. We need a backup writer for the few times neither Lisa nor Francie are available to write the meeting summaries.  Please contact Francie at francie@smlcpas.net or 625-3200 if you’re interested. Justin announced he is not “president” he is “servant leader.” His emphasis for his year is twofold: 1) Let’s rejuvenate our club, 2) Let’s get back to Paul Harris’ goal: shop and support our members. (We’ve lost some members because of these difficult economic times.) 

Program: Kyle, who we sponsored, is returning to Brazil.  Sporting bleached hair (to look more American or to shock his family and friends back home?) and a jacket of various pins and plaques collected during his visit here, he presented a brief slide show and thanked everyone for his amazing year.  He’s finding it difficult to say “goodbye” to all of his new friends so it’s “see you later” (but he intends to return.)  Next week: Oscar Rios, Rotary Exchange Student bound for France, and Talia Eager, returning Rotary Exchange Student from Argentina will relate their adventures to us!

Today wasn’t just a meeting, it was an EVENT! We had the privilege to honor two very special individuals.  First, our club paid for a memorial plaque in memory of SPC Daniel Paul Unger U.S. Army and presented it to his parents, Mark and Linda Unger.  Daniel was the First Tulare County soldier killed since the Vietnam War.  The plaque will be mounted inside the entrance of the National Guard Armory. Daniel gave his life to insure the safety of civilians he was assigned to guard.  We salute Daniel and his family for their ultimate gift to our country.

Our second privilege was to experience our speaker, Elaine Geller, Holocaust Survivor. I tapped away on my netbook and filled 3 pages with notes which I cannot totally reproduce here.  Our program today was like taking a time machine back to meet a famous person in history.  I never thought I’d ever experience “living history.”  Elaine, in her early 70’s, is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors, whose average age now is 83.  Our knowledge of the Holocaust comes to us from extensive documentation by the Nazi’s themselves. Elaine was imprisoned in Poland at age 4.  Her purpose in telling her story is to encourage us to teach children that we don’t have to like everyone, but every human being should be treated equally by the law and that life is not forever.  The Holocaust was the planned murder of 13 million Jews targeted for genocide by educated and supposedly civilized persons.  Hitler’s goal was to eliminate Jews from the entire world.  When her father realized there might be a war, he hired a tutor to teach Elaine to pass as a Christian child, teaching her songs and bible stories. However, when the day arrived for him to take her to the Christian home that had agreed to shelter her, he witnessed other Christians turning children over to the SS officers claiming they did not know the children. As the Christians turned to return to their homes the SS officers shot them as a warning to all.  Elaine’s father chose to keep her with him.  In the camps the daily allotment of food was 400 calories consisting of dirty water and a triangle of black bread.  You only received food if you were “counted” and as a child she was not counted, so her aunt, imprisoned with Elaine, shared her food. (Prisoners were counted daily to determine how many had died.) The soldiers played a game of killing children. The guard dogs were set upon the prisoners daily (even now when confronted with a pet Elaine becomes that small terrified child.) At age eight and a half when liberated by the British, she was eventually united with what members of her family survived and traveled on the first refugee ship after the Holocaust to New York to live with an uncle. She has not forgiven the Nazi’s, but if her sixteen year old sister who was gassed in Auschwitz forgives them in the afterlife, Elaine is OK with that. Receiving a 4-Way Test Plaque and Rotary coffee mug, Elaine is now an honorary member of all Visalia Rotary clubs. After hearing Elaine speak I researched the Holocaust and was horrified anew.  My question: How did ANY Jews survive the Holocaust?  What an amazing tribute to the human spirit. Join us next week for our Club Assembly…Rah!

Welcome our new president, Justin Mosley, the Muffin Man! (I think it’s official, even Justin is saying it! We had Petite Fours for dessert today…the benefit of a baker for president?…I love it!) You might expect Justin to wear a white baker’s tunic and “top hat” for meetings, but he reigned over his first meeting wearing a suit and tie as he delivered the cool PowerPoint (complete with audio!) of his trip to the convention in Montreal.  (Justin, I think Brian’s prediction that you will be an energetic and awesome president is true given your first meeting…good job!) Just as a suggestion, in addition to the gifts of booze, Justin might needsome ties…by the look of it, he’s going to wear out this one! One of Justin’s first official acts was to present Ex-president, Brian Hyde, his Past President Badge, gavel plaque and…Justin is re-instituting Past President pins.  Justin also presented past president pins to Al Fisher, Ed Sullivan, and Don Estes who didn’t receive pins in the past.  

Announcements: Congratulations to Ralph and Betty Bookout for 50 years of marriage! Randy Groom resigned from the board and his replacement is Rocky Pipkin.  Congratulations, Rocky!  Randy, we’re going to miss you and your wit!  (Not to mention fodder for my articles!) Justin extended thanks to Greg Meis for his dedication setting up for our meetings and putting out the Rotary flag display.  Greg, you are an inspiration! A reminder: you can makeup meetings online at: www.rotaryeclubone.org 

Welcome New Members: Fred LoBue and Rosemary Cosa.  Fred, sponsored by Al Fisher, was born in Porterville and is chairman of the board of his family business, LoBue Farming. (Don Hutton is thrilled to welcome Fred, because they see eye to eye!) Rosemary Cosa, sponsored by Toni Benevento, was born and raised in Tulare and is the Executive Director of the YMCA.  Welcome!  (Rats! My NetBook just rebooted all by itself! What’s with that? DARN computers! I love this thing, but I think it might be possessed!) 

The Donut Club: The Muffin Man introduced the Donut Club.  Marilyn Mitchell, Visalia’s Woman of the Year, was Justin’s first member.Eric Shannon, with a gift from Hawaii of a mug and t-shirt, was the second member. Phil Mirwald brought tequila from Cancun (Brian missed out on the booze once again! I’m not sure traveling members were aware that Brian was of legal drinking age…he looks SO YOUNG!) Do n Estes also joined the club but he wanted the tequila not the donut!  Now, how would that sound: The Donut and Tequila Club?…Hmmm…I’m thinking the theme for next year needs to be the DIET CLUB!) Thanks to all of you for joining the Donut Club. Join us next week for a joint meeting of all the Visalia Rotary Clubs here at the Marriott.