Issues are arranged in reverse order. Scroll down to find the issue you want.
June 5 - Club Assembly
June 12 - Elece Hempel, Executive Director, Petaluma People Services Center
June 19 - Deb Dalton, Mentor Me Petaluma
June 26 - Dark for Debunking
June 27 - Debunking, 6pm, Moose Lodge
President RICK “Month to Go” MOSSI, opened the last regular meeting of May at the appointed half hour and immediately led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
BARNEY “Falsetto” FAUSS then led us in a rousing rendition of our Club theme song (Gypo) and God Bless America (loud and proud, just like our beloved Gene “Buck“ Benedetti would’ve done it!).
Next, TOM “Too Tall” BRANDAL delivered our Thought for the Day, followed by a hearty round of handshakes, hugs and busses amongst the members.
JUDI ALLEWELT (that ends welt) introduced the visiting Rotarians who joined us for lunch, along with several guests of Rotarians, including a past Rotary Youth Exchange student (Johannes Alvekrang), a current Rotary Exchange student (Amy Jones) and Joseph Moore.
The Prez then reminded us of the upcoming Manufacturing Job Camp at Petaluma High School (call the Prez for details) and the SRJC Community Breakfast (Thursday, June 5).
JAY “Patty-Cake” PALM was the only birthday boy at the May birthday table, so he got all of the cake and a “Happy Birthday“ serenade, to boot, for a mere $50!.
Yours truly then reminded one and all of the upcoming Debunking on June 27 at the Moose Lodge—invitations have gone out so please RSVP ASAP.
New member MARY “For Love, Not Money” CELSTRE then gave her craft talk, . . .
. . . followed by an excellent Past-President (1999-2000) remembrance by HENRY “Built Ford Tough” HANSEL.
The Prez then fined NANCY “Drew” COOLEY and KATHY “Flannery” O’CONNOR $10 each for chit-chatting, . . .
. . . but for some inexplicable reason the Prez allowed Nancy to pass her fine on to GARY “Spin Me A” BRODY! No such deal for Kathy, who graciously added another $40 to her fine.
Perhaps inspired by Kathy’s generosity (or fearing hidden fees from our banker Prez), TIM “Milan” MORAN gladly paid his first official fine ($50) for a 3 week trip to Venice and Rome with his wife, including an 11 day cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean.
RICK “Rip” VAN BEBBER then offered up $100 (to the local Foundation) for a motorhome fishing trip to Hat Creek.
JIM “Big Game” BECKER tossed in another $100 for his recent trip to San Diego to attend a UCSD graduation and a Giants game, and speaking at the Carlsbad Rotary Club.
Your humble editor then completed the fining by volunteering to pay $25 in honor and memory of HENRY HANSEL’s extreme courage in walking (a bit wobbly, but unassisted) through the gauntlet of new Chevys (absolute kryptonite to most Ford men) to get to the podium at his first meeting as our President, tuning out the Chevy jingles playing over the loud speakers all the while!
Our past foreign exchange student, Johannes, then updated us at what he has been up to since he returned home to Sweden, followed by the raffle, which was won by our current foreign exchange student (Amy Jones), who will no doubt be a big hit when she shows up in Taiwan with a nice bottle of wine!
The Prez then reminded us that our meeting next week (June 5) will be the Club Assembly, and gave us a closing thought (from Maya Angelou), . . .
. . . but not before JIM BECKER reminded us how HENRY HANSEL started an International matching grant fund during his term...with $2000 of his own money (now that’s leadership!).
This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Mike Baddeley.
May 29 - Craig Ramini, Owner/Cheesemaker, Ramini Mozzarella, Tomales
June 5 - Club Assembly
June 12 - Elece Hempel, Executive Director, Petaluma People Services Center
June 19 - Deb Dalton, Mentor Me Petaluma
Rapidly approaching the end of his term (just three more meetings after today!), PRESIDENT RICK opened the meeting, led the Pledge of Allegiance, and called for the opening song.
Songmaster LEE REPOSA warmed us up with I’m a Rambler and then led our traditional God Bless America.
LOU STEINBERG gave the Thought for the Day, something about silliness, which he accomplished splendidly with his brand-new glasses.
There were no visiting Rotarians. JAY PALM brought his mom, Arlene Palm; DANNY FISH brought Police Chief Patrick Williams; and MIKE BADDELEY introduced his guest, Dave Thomas.
CHRIS RANNEY reminded members of the upcoming Debunking, Friday, June 27 at the Moose Lodge on English Street. Invitations will be in the mail shortly.
LEE BEAN, President of the Rotary Club of Petaluma Foundation, reminded members of the upcoming application deadline for the grant award program. All applications must be received (or postmarked) by May 24, 2014.
PRESIDENT RICK then discussed the recently concluded District Conference at which our Club received a number of awards.
TONY WESTERN was recognized for his work with the Petaluma River clean-up project.
The Club won the Youth Service award for its work at McKinley School. Special recognition was given to WHIT HALL and CLARK ROSEN for the Quantum Leap program and to ED FULLERTON for the new Aviation Club.
WHIT discussed the progress achieved in the past two years at McKinley School, some of which was observed by members at last week’s meeting on the school campus. He thanked members for their help and said plans for next year were being developed. Stay tuned!
JIM BECKER was recognized for his work in International Service. He talked about ongoing projects in Latin America and Thailand and announced a November travel opportunity for members to visit Ecuador for 4-5 days with possible add-ons to the Galapagos and the Amazon. Again, stay tuned!
LOU STEINBERG was cited for his years of work directing the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program. Lou, who will be stepping down after this year’s RYLA camp, described the program and announced that he will be succeeded in the RYLA leadership role by our own LEE REPOSA.
PRESIDENT RICK also announced a mystery “Quiet Rotarian” award which will revealed at the Debunking. Next year’s District Conference will be held earlier than usual, April 24-26, 2015, and it will be held out of the District — at Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite. Mark your calendar!
Three Rotarians were fined at today’s meeting. AL KAPLAN was fined $5 for “touching” the President’s gavel during the McKinley School meeting last week. Touching? At least he wasn’t charged with peeking!
FRED FROST coughed up $100 for a delightful trip to South America which included visits to the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon.
LEE BEAN paid $95 for trip taken with his wife, Oralee. Seems they went to Lowes and bought a washer and dryer for their daughter. (Those $100 trips sure beat the $95 trips, don’t they?)
CHRIS ALBERTSON won a bottle of wine in the weekly raffle. Next week’s drawing will be worth $150 — if you pull the correct rock.
DAVID SOLO was up next to introduce our speaker.
Petaluma city manager John Brown discussed the city’s fiscal realities and why the City Council is considering placing a proposed sales tax increase on the November ballot. He is looking for broad citizen input and welcomed questions and comments from our members. More information is available on the Petaluma Vision 2014 section of the City website. Here you can learn more and participate in a survey seeking your views.
PRESIDENT RICK concluded the meeting with this closing thought: “Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much.”
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NEW MEMBER PROPOSAL The club has received an application for induction of the following new member:
If any member in good standing has an objection to this person, such objection should be made in writing to the club board of directors within 7 days of receipt of this notice. |
This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Al Cattalini.
May 22 - John Brown, Petaluma City Manager
May 29 - Craig Ramini, Owner/Cheesemaker, Ramini Mozzarella, Tomales
June 5 - Club Assembly
June 12 - Elece Hempel, Executive Director, Petaluma People Services Center
June 19 - Deb Dalton, Mentor Me Petaluma
It was a warmer than usual (okay...it was hot) Thursday in May as the Rotary Club of Petaluma gathered for our annual meeting at McKinley Elementary School.
Before PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI called us to order we were invited to meet with McKinley’s ‘junior scientists’ in grades 4, 5 and 6 who shared the science projects they had premiered at the McKinley Science Faire the night before. What an amazing display of talent, creativity, enthusiasm, teamwork and scientific method! Bravo to these bright young minds, their teachers and Principal Matt Harris for all their hard work!
PRESIDENT RICK called the meeting to order under the shade of several tents (thankfully provided by LARRY JONAS and MICHAEL CARUANA). He asked who among the club had been president of their elementary school (a couple of hands went up), who had been student council representatives (a few more hands went), and who had spent time in the principal’s office (A LOT of hands went up!!! Why are we not surprised!?).
We had no Visiting Rotarians and though some of us had guests, (ROY MUSICK was there with wife Linda, WHIT HALL was there with wife Sigrid, DAN LIBARLE was there with daughter Nicole...), we left introductions for another meeting.
After being announced by WHIT HALL, four very enthusiastic McKinley students led us (with a few giggles beforehand) in the Pledge of Allegiance. And then another group of students sang and hand gestured two songs (“This Land is Your Land” and “Gold Fever”) from their upcoming play. They were all terrific!
McKinley Principal Matt Harris, gave us a brief report on the progress McKinley has made this past year. He began by introducing Petaluma City Schools Board of Education members in attendance, MIKE BADDELEY and Phoebe Ellis. Matt shared that he first became aware of Rotary in high school when he spent a year in Belgium as part of the Rotary Exchange program. This is his second year leading McKinley (he says it feels like his 10th!) and much has changed in that very short time. Enrollment at the school as gone up from 200 to 270; all 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students have iPads to use in class and at home and a partnership with Comcast has provided low cost internet connectivity for families of McKinley students. Through a strong and growing partnership with the Rotary Club of Petaluma, two new programs have been launched (Quantum Leap...thanks to WHIT HALL and CLARK ROSEN) and the Aviation Club (thanks to ED FULLERTON). Some classes are now taught in English and Spanish as a way to develop the second language abilities of all students in the class.
The school garden is growing strong and provided the basic ingredients for a recent Salsa Fest and competition; a homework club is also thriving at the school. Principal Matt expressed his thanks and appreciation for everything our club has done this past year to support the school and club members responded with a ‘back at ya’ round of applause for all he has done to build a strong and vibrant school culture! Kudos, Matt!
PRESIDENT RICK closed by thanking members LEE REPOSA, JAY PALM, RICK GORMAN, TOM GAMONINI, DANNY FISH, ELIAS HUSARY, MIKE STAUBER, ED FULLERTON, AL CATTALINI, WHIT HALL, and CLARK ROSEN for preparing lunch and for making the meeting such a huge success.
He also (sort of) thanked LARRY JONAS and MICHAEL CARUANA for responding to his last minute plea for shade, though one of those tents (was it MICHAEL’s?) nearly fell on those sheltered beneath it!
PRESIDENT RICK’s closing thought for the day...“Fatherhood is pretending the present you love the most is soap-on-a-rope!”
Next week join PRESIDENT RICK back at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club for a presentation by Petaluma City Manager, John Brown.
For more photos from McKinley School, click here.
This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Jane Saldaña-Talley.
May 15 - McKinley School Luncheon
May 22 - John Brown, Petaluma City Manager
May 29 - Craig Ramini, Owner/Cheesemaker, Ramini Mozzarella, Tomales
June 5 - Club Assembly
June 12 - Elece Hempel, Executive Director, Petaluma People Services Center
June 19 - Deb Dalton, Mentor Me Petaluma
PRESIDENT RICK called the meeting to order on time!!!
After the Pledge of Allegiance, LEE REPOSA led the singing of the club song and God Bless America.
LEROY BEAN gave several thoughts for the day.
There were no visiting Rotarians. ROY MUSICK introduced his guest, his lovely wife Linda.
PRESIDENT RICK pointed out the District Conference flyers on all the tables.
We celebrated a list of April and May wedding anniversaries.
TONY WESTERN reported that the 3 club joint river project was completed on Sunday with a special shout out to SHARI RANNEY who stepped up to operate the power tools.
SHARI reported that she felt like she was part of a CalTrans operation with 5 supervisors watching her work.
ONITA, our club foundation chair has a current foundation giving report of every club member. PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI has committed to every member contributing to the RI Foundation this year and Onita is ready to give you and update on where you are towards your first or next Paul Harris. Let’s make President Rick look good!
SHERRY BURWEN was happy to pay a fine after her recent trip to Palm Springs. She and a few friends took a limo ride to Disneyland. She also showed off a Rotary bumper sticker and suggested perhaps Petaluma Rotarians should sport them on their cars.
Kudos to PAT SCHAEFER for Saturday’s hospital foundation gala honoring DAN and Carol Ann LIBARLE with the Gene and Evelyn Benedetti Leadership Award.
MIKE BADDELEY was emcee and gave a few more Dan jokes to the club that could not be printed in the Rota-Teller because even this rag has standards!
JOHN ZIMMERMAN suggested we read the Tuesday SF Chronicle feature from the NY Times regarding a rabbi who met Warren Buffett at a Rotary Club meeting in Omaha years ago. Buffet was in charge of silly fines for his Rotary club. The Rabbi gave 60k to Warren Buffet in the 60’s that is now worth 25 million.
DAN FISH busy fishing and moving — he offered $20 for missing last two meetings.
ONITA has a new car, a Toyota Rav 4 with sun roof. Justin Hansel referred the nice young salesman to her. She reported the car came with a full tank of gas and she was happy to pay a fine!
HENRY HANSEL shared he and son Justin were at the Masters in Augusta last month and ran in to locals Kevin Imm and Matt Blume. Kevin and Matt had won the trip through a golf tournament! Henry’s daughter, Heidi, and her husband, Barry Freidman, just had their 4th child named Beau Henry Friedman on Henry’s birthday. In honor of his latest grandchild, HENRY gave $100 to his fine schedule and $100 to our local foundation.
CHRIS RANNEY was at the New Orleans jazz fest with college buddies. While there, he visited the Ninth Ward and saw Rotary’s work there. He offered to support the foundation with $1 for every drink SHARI consumed on the trip to the tune of $50! He, of course, covered his consumption as well for a total $100.
STEVE POWELL won the raffle and a fine bottle of red! His first time winning in five years!!!
DAN FISH introduced our speaker:
Steve Bowman, Petaluma Superintendent of Schools, presented the program on Measures C and E on the June ballot. Steve answered questions from the club after his presentation.
Next week, May 15, we will meet at McKinley Elementary School at noon. LEE REPOSA, JAY PALM, RICK GORMAN and a few other suspects will be barbecuing New York strips! Get your RSVP to President Rick if you are going to attend!
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Our May 15 meeting at McKinley School features a stupendous steak barbeque by chefs Lee Reposa, Jay Palm and Rick Gorman with an opportunity to meet with the principal, staff, and students. Come see what your fellow Rotarians have been up to. A good time will be had by all. Guests welcome. Plan to arrive at 12 noon. McKinley School is located at 110 Ellis Street, just down the block from Jack in the Box. Click for map. This ad brought to you by Whit Hall and Clark Rosen. |
May 22, city manager John Brown will be the program speaker. He really wants to hear from us so come to this Q and A program! He’ll take our feedback to the city council.
This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Joanne Ferris.
May 8 - Steve Bolman, Superintendent, Petaluma City Schools, Upcoming School Bond Election
May 15 - McKinley School Luncheon
May 22 - John Brown, Petaluma City Manager
May 29 - Craig Ramini, Owner/Cheesemaker, Ramini Mozzarella, Tomales
Preparing for Cinco de Mayo we lunched today on Mexican delicacies which we assembled from the taco bar.
After some pre-meeting discussion with BABE AMARAL, . . .
PRESIDENT RICK grabbed his gavel and rang the meeting to order.
First up was BARNEY FAUSS leading the crowd in I’m a Rambler and God Bless America.
Our Thought for the Day was delivered by none other than BABE AMARAL. He acknowledged stopping by the post office (“to see if my picture was on the wall”) to determine if the coast was clear and then proceeding up the hill to the Country Club. He blessed us with two thoughts: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass . . . it’s learning to dance in the rain.” And “If your horse dies, get off!” Thanks, Babe. It was great to see you.
You won’t find either of these faces on a post office wall!
There were no visiting Rotarians, but five Rotarians brought guests: TAWNY TESCONI, ONITA PELLEGRINI, ED FULLERTON, JANE SALDAÑA-TALLEY, and TOM BRANDAL. After complaining that “BABE took my purple purse” TAWNY introduced her guest, the Sonoma County Fair’s Director of Racing (whose name your editor failed to record). PRESIDENT RICK asked him which horse he picked to win the Kentucky Derby. After saying he never makes recommendations, the Director said he’d make an exception this year — and picked California Chrome.
PRESIDENT RICK then made a number of announcements:
PRESIDENT RICK then welcomed our newest member, MARY CELESTRE, formerly a member of the Petaluma Valley Club and now a West Side banker (at Summit Sate Bank).
TONY WESTERN asked for volunteers to help Sunday afternoon at a clean-up of the Petaluma River.
JOHN DADO announced that the third annual SRJC Petaluma Campus “Building Community Breakfast” would be held on Thursday, June 5. Contact JANE SALDAÑA-TALLEY if you are interested.
Past President (and Past District Governor) ED FULLERTON was up next to describe the highlights of his 2002-03 presidency. After discussing international projects around the world, he returned to Petaluma with some thoughts on being a Club President. He emphasized that being asked to serve as President is the greatest honor that a Club can bestow and that a member receiving this invitation should immediately accept, knowing that a great support system guarantees success. “The Club will not allow you to fail.”
The first fine of the day was imposed on a proud DAVID BARBIERI. He is celebrating the birth of his first great-grandchild and a scholarship awarded to a very special granddaughter. He is now fully paid up on his fine schedule.
LOU STEINBERG was up next for having been recognized at the PVRC Dinner of Champions as the Rotarian award winner for his contributions to education. Questioning if Lou should be fined for such an honor, our President asked for a show of hands, first from those who recommended no fine, and then from those who recommended a fine. Each of the Rotarians in this second group was then fined $5, thereby amassing a substantial sum for the fine coffers.
Next was a bidding war for a pair of prescription sunglasses left at last week’s meeting. Eventual winner, with a bid of $50, was the rightful owner, GARY BRODIE.
The Raffle: Drawing the proper colored rock this week was our unnamed Director of Racing who won $175 and promptly donated it back to the Club. Thanks, Richard! (See, I now have his first name!) With luck like this, I think we should bet on California Chrome!
CHRIS RANNEY introduced today’s speaker . . .
. . . Vanessa Luna Shannon who discussed the Gateway to College program at the SRJC Petaluma Campus. Launched in the fall of 2013, the program makes college attendance possible for 16-20 year-olds who otherwise would have little hope.
PRESIDENT RICK closed the meeting with this thought: “Follow your heart, but take your brain with you.”
This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Al Cattalini.
