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April 24, 2003
COMING EVENTS
May 1 - Dennis Kelley - Take Control of your Stock Portfolio with Options
May 8 - Tawny Tesconi - All you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, about your Fair
May 15 - All Day Breakfast, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
May 22 - Salute to Agriculture - Community Lunch at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds
May 29 - Jim Becker - International Project
The weather was gloomy and full of showers, but the able staff of Adobe Harvest Catering served a meal of comfort food, meatloaf and gravy. PRESIDENT ED rang the meeting to a prompt order at 12:00 noon. He called on Soprano extraordinaire, LUCIE SWEDA, to lead the group in “America the Beautiful”. BRIAN HOOVER delivered a powerful thought for the day which beautifully illustrated how Rotary’s four way test works throughout our daily lives; after which the greetings, salutations, and general kissing commenced. RICHARD MARZO, introduced our visiting Rotarian, Barbara Schroeder, President of the Petaluma Sunrise Club. Although there were no Interact guests, the club welcomed many adult guests.
SUNSHINE REPORT
President Ed reported that BILL LAWRENCE is doing well, watching the Giants game and welcomes visitors. Please call first. MIKE MADDALENA is currently having some medical difficulty and has our club’s best wishes for a speedy recovery. HARVEY FREETLY will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant and will remain in our prayers until we see his smiling face at our meetings.
PRESIDENT ELECT-ELECT BABE asked all those who have not paid for Farmer’s Night tickets, please do so immediately. This editor was sitting with our Prez elect and he whispered to me that the Portagee Mafia will deal with those who don’t obey the ‘honor system’. So pay up! Trust me when I say, “You DON’T want to be attacked with a linguisa”. LOU STEINBERG announced an upcoming fund-raising event for Sonoma State University Athletic Program, Midnight Madness which will be May 3rd at the Double Tree. Tickets are $50.00 which enters you into a raffle where first prize is a new Ford Mustang donated by HENRY HANSEL. JIM BECKER with all good intentions asked for the mike and introduced a late visiting Rotarian from the “new” club in Sebastopol. Our visitor was a bit surprised to be speaking at the microphone but rose beautifully to the occasion.
JIM MICKELSON reminded us about the upcoming All Day Breakfast, May 15th. Schedules have been delivered. This is a mandatory event for all club members. LARRY JONAS pointed out the pictures on display of club members and Interact students project from last week “Rebuilding Together”. PRESIDENT ED reminded all of us about the A’s Baseball game May 21, 2003, 12:15pm. This sounds like a fun event with 2,500 to 3,000 Rotarians in Oakland Stadium.
It was at this time that attention was brought to the birthday table. Some members were missing, a few were fined and the majority actually remembered it was their month to sit at the birthday table. Happy Birthday was sung after which a stuttering RALPH BETTINELLI was called upon asking to explain why a fish fry which he recently hosted was on a Rotary meeting day. Apparently, Ralph was unaware that the date he chose was a Thursday. PRESIDENT ED then expressed triple disappointment when he learned Ralph included two other Rotarians as guests to his feast when they should have been at a meeting. Without disclosing his cohorts, RALPH coughed up a $50.00 fine and promised to “do better next time.”
JAMES GOTELLI was called upon and congratulated on his marriage and was subsequently fined $100 for flying below the radar of our fining President.
Songbird, LUCIE SWEDA was called upon and our benevolent leader shared with her his disappointment in not seeing her lately. Lucie reported that although her work has taken her to Santa Rosa, she will still attend meetings at our club. She offered up $50.00 to the fine can.
MIKE MADICK was called upon to pull the winning ticket for the day’s raffle which was in the possession of STEVE OLMSTED. who won a bottle of premium white wine. Mike further recognized PRESIDENT ELECT ONITA PELLEGRINI, DAN REED and CAROL FULLERTON for being recipients of the Paul Harris Fellow Award. PDG ART AGNEW presented recipients with their awards and pins.
JOHN DADO introduced our speakers for the day; Sue Roffman, of St. Vincent’s Elementary School, Lois Dudley of McNear Elementary School and Barbara Schroeder of Petaluma People Services. These women reported about three of the twenty grants which were funded by the Rotary Club of Petaluma’s Foundation in 2002. Their presentations gave a very personal representation of the gratefulness of the people who directly benefited from the grant monies. The local foundation was established in 1983 and contains approx. $225,000 in principal. The proceeds, $90,000 to date, are distributed to groups within Petaluma High School District area. The deadline for grant applications is MAY 15, 2003. Last year 90 grant applications were received and 20 were funded. The meeting was promptly adjourned at 1:00pm.
This week's Rota-Teller editor: Connie Heizer.
NEXT WEEK:
Fine Can: Heidi Kibbe
Microphone: Nancy Koenitzer
Visitors: Steve Lafranchi
Editor: Al Cattalini
April 17, 2003
COMING EVENTS
April 24 - Our Local Foundation at Work and Paul Harris Awards
May 1 - Dennis Kelley - Take Control of your Stock Portfolio with Options
May 8 - Tawny Tesconi - All you every wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, about your Fair
May 15 - All Day Breakfast, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
May 22 - Salute to Agriculture - Community Lunch at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds
May 29 - Jim Becker - International Project
While our animal friends were out enjoying a sunny spring day many of us took to the Petaluma Vet’s Hall for our weekly Rotary meeting. The cows in the pasture and birds in the trees could not stop loyal Rotarians from today’s meeting.
PRESIDENT ED called the meeting to order and we were on our way. Songbird TED ADKINS rose to his feet and made his way to the front of the hall. With a huff and a puff Ted filled his lungs with air and started singing “ God Bless America”. To the surprise of many several other songbirds joined in and sung those wonderful words of “God Bless America” arose from the hall. Outside a Robin could be seen smiling with joy!
LARRY JONAS gave the thought for the day. Larry talked about Passover and reminded all of us that hopefully we can be thankful for the sacrifices others have made in order that we can enjoy life. Let us all work toward making the world a better place for all.
CLARK ROSEN welcomed our one visiting Rotarian from the Santa Rosa Downtown Club.
PRESIDENT ED then asked for Rotarians with guest to introduce their guest. DON RAMATICI was asked to introduce his guest however Don said that he had no guest at today’s meeting. President Ed soon realized that the only guests present were special guests who would be introduced later during the meeting
PRESIDENT ED then gave the sunshine report. BILL LAWRENCE is at home. Doing as well as can be expected. Bill still likes his chocolate ice cream treats. President Ed sees Bill almost daily and recommended that you call Bill’s house prior to visiting. I’m sure Bill would appreciate a card from his fellow rotary members.
Announcements: The Farmers Night Committee is in the process of closing the corral gates on this year’s event. Please settle with STEVE OLMSTED if you owe any $$$. We would hate to see Steve turn bullish on you especially in the spring of the year.
RALPH SARTORI reported that the ALL DAY BREAKFAST would be on May 15, 2003. Tickets were handed out along with your work schedule. Remember, this is mandatory work even as this is our major fundraiser for the Children’s Holiday Party.
WALLY BRAGDON then Introduced Lee McCann who is the District Chairman for the Boy Scouts of America. We were presented with a plaque for our continued support of Scouting. We sponsor Cub Scout Pack 8 with 32 members and Boy Scout Troop 8 with 31 members. Two club pack members told us of their events and field trips during the year and thanked us for our support of scouting.
In a surprise move PRESIDENT ED then called for the raffle, (actually President Ed wanted the raffle to take place prior to our cub scout guests having to leave). The number was called and I was called forward to try and pick a brown rock from the bag. Well I took a deep breath and pulled out a rock. For my efforts I was given a bottle of wine, which will be enjoyed on Easter Sunday by the Sartori family.
PRESIDENT ED then started gardening. He was on a mission to get lots of green cabbage for our club. His first stop was at GINA PITTLER’s garden Seems Gina was out and about these past several weeks. Gina admitted that a trip to an Arizona Casino Garden was very rewarding to her; however the green$$ she received were gone. She reported that an upcoming trip to a Las Vegas Pool Tournament might provide a means of getting some Nevada greens for the club. She also reminded all of the Petaluma Butter & Eggs Parade coming up on April 26, 2003. There will be a cow milking contest and a cow chip-tossing contest at this year’s event. Maybe, just maybe this is why some of our dairymen members were absent today. They must be working on the perfect cow chip. Gina paid a $50.00 fine for her efforts. Thanks Gina.
DAVE AMUNDSEN then asked for the floor. Seems Dave had an announcement to make about our Petaluma Interact Students receiving a Rotary District award for being Number One in activities for the year. President Ed announced that two special $500.00 scholarships would be awarded this year.
RICK OBERLIN was then taken to task by President Ed. Seems there was no signup sheet for members at the start of today’s meeting. Rick admitted that he did indeed forget the signup sheets. He spoke of how he has lots of things happening in his life at this time, and that he did get paper from RICK VAN BEBBER and all members in attendance were accounted for. In the end Rick paid $5.00 for his poor gardening.
RICH POREMBA then introduced our guest speaker Anissa Daaou (who is our youth exchange student from France) then shared with us her information about her hometown in France and her experiences in Petaluma. She is 17 years old and has one brother and one sister. She has missed two family births since her stay, and is enjoying California. She plans to someday have a career in International Business or Relations. She is very active in several clubs at Petaluma High and is grateful for having the opportunity to be in Petaluma.
This week's Rota-Teller editor: Ralph Sartori.
NEXT WEEK:
Fine Can: Vera Ciammetti
Microphone: Lucie Sweda
Visitors: Ricardo Marzo
Editor: Connie Heizer
April 10, 2003
COMING EVENTS
April 17 - Anissa Daaou, Youth Exchange Student and Boy Scout Charter Presentation
April 24 - Our Local Foundation at Work and Paul Harris Awards
May 1 - Dennis Kelley - Take Control of your Stock Portfolio with Options
May 8 - Another interesting program
May 15 - All Day Breakfast, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
May 22 - Salute to Agriculture - Community Lunch at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds
May 29 - Jim Becker - International Project
PRESIDENT ED opened the meeting and asked the rambling gambler, GENE BENEDETTI to lead us in song. After his trademark entry, Gene directed an inspired God Bless America.
GINA PITTER gave the thought for the day, asking us to keep in mind those who are preserving freedom and fighting for it.
NANCY KOENITZER introduced the very numerous visiting Rotarians who were anxious to hear the presentation from the Vietnamese GSE Team.
TED ADKINS gave the sunshine report. BILL LAWRENCE is ill and would like visitors. He is in our thoughts and prayers.
Multiple announcements were made by our visiting Rotarians. If you want to leave home for fun check with President Ed or the other clubs sections on the web site.
Locally:
The only fine today was a fine assessed in retribution on visiting President of Petaluma Sunrise Club, Barbara Schroeder, who must have abused our President at one of the Sunrise Club meetings. NANCY KOENITZER paid it for her to amend for neglecting her title during visiting Rotarian introductions. Seems Nancy forgot to read the bulletin last week and learn she was on duty.
FRED WULFF was the lucky raffle winner who beat the odds and walked away with $250. Nice going Fred!
And finally last, but certainly not least, our President introduced the GSE Team who traveled from Vietnam on an exchange with a team from our district. Notable is that Vietnam has no Rotary Clubs yet but the Team leader Phat assured us that at least one is coming soon. The team made a fine presentation (their first) speaking in a foreign language (English) to a room full of strangers. They gave a view of their professional and personal lives and their hopes for the future.
Since Vietnam is more than half surrounded by water and has numerous rivers and significant rainfall, our visitors livelihoods revolved around water. Two were involved with the environmental state of the rivers. Two were involved with shipping seafood to foreign countries and the leader, Phat, is the president of Phat Fish, a company that raises sea bass for domestic consumption. All are enjoying their visit and warm reception.
NOTE: In addition to attending our meeting, the GSE Team visited the fish hatchery at Casa Grande High School, Adobe Creek, and the Hog Island Oyster Farm on Tomales Bay. For photos of all these venues click here.
Next week - Get a view of France from Anissa Daaou.
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 10 days of receipt of this notice:
This week's Rota-Teller editor: Mike Madick.
NEXT WEEK:
Fine Can: Gina Pittler
Microphone: James Gotelli
Visitors: Clark Rosen
Editor: Ralph Sartori
April 3, 2003
COMING EVENTS
April 10 - GSE Team from Vietnam
April 17 - Anissa Daaou, Youth Exchange Student and Boy Scout Charter Presentation
April 24 - Our Local Foundation at Work and Paul Harris Awards
May 1 - Dennis Kelley - Take Control of your Stock Portfolio with Options
May 8 - Another interesting program
May 15 - All Day Breakfast, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
May 22 - Salute to Agriculture - Community Lunch at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds
May 29 - Jim Becker - International Project
After feasting on succulent roast chicken accompanied by rice, carrots & snap peas, and dressing, President Ed called the meeting to order and quickly quieted down the tone with a promise of a $5 fine for those still talking. BARNEY FAUSS led us in song with “God Bless America” and your humble editor delivered the Thought for the Day (the stirring words were forwarded by President Ed). HARVEY FREETLY introduced the visiting Rotarians and BARNEY FAUSS was fined $5 for “dissing” the Prez.
BABE AMARAL recapped a very successful Farmer’s Night. Over 300 people attended and a good time was had by all. BABE cited RALPH BETTINELLI for mysteriously disappearing from clean-up duty, but Ralph did make sure the stew and polenta made it home safely - to his refrigerator.
FRED WULFF informed the Club that a GSE group from Vietnam will soon be visiting our shores and they will have an opportunity to see San Francisco and the North Bay. PRESIDENT ED announced 10 new scholarships, $500 each, that will be available to qualifying high school seniors from area schools. The deadline is April 25th and we are encouraged to pass the word. These scholarships are available to relatives of Rotarians, which is not always the case. There will be a “Day at the Ballpark” on May 21st, for an Oakland A’s game against Minnesota. The Club will provide transportation and there will be some tailgating prior to the game. All are encouraged to join the fun.
The money portion of the program began when ED called on GENE GIORGETTI and congratulated him on his hard work and tasty efforts for the recent Farmer’s Night. ED was fishing for cash, but GENE initially offered more stew and polenta. They settled on $50, but CONNIE HEIZER stepped in and offered to pay the fine on behalf of her mentor. Nice job, Connie.
NANCY KOENITZER gave us an update on her recent travels to Hawaii and to New York, where her dog competed in the Westminster Dog Show. All the canine buffs will agree this is the premier event for competition and some film buffs will recall “Best in Show.” Congratulations to Nancy and thanks for the $50.
NORM SANTOS graced us with his presence and donated $25 for his not so recent football pool winnings. KIP HERZOG paid $50 for his recent press clippings and proved it's good to keep a PR rep on retainer.
Past Prez JIM MICKELSON won the raffle and carefully selected a bottle he didn’t donate. AL KAPLAN called on our help for the Butter and Eggs Day float. He will be out of town for the event and needs a hand in representing our Club in the parade. So put your chicken suits aside and help put together a great float!
JIM MICKELSON introduced our guest speakers, Jack Kiddioo and Rich de Lambert, of Kunde Wine. Rich and Jack entertained us with a discussion on wine, wine tasting, food pairings, and some history of Kunde. These gents were knowledgeable and exuberant. Things got even better when the wine started flowing, accompanied by cheese and fruit. Here are a few tips your editor learned: When sampling wine, do not rinse with water. It’s better to leave wine in the glass than water. Chew to taste, first in the front of the mouth, then the middle, then the back of the mouth. This allows all the flavors and aromas to circulate.
The program was a very insightful and entertaining. Thanks to Kunde and JIM M.
See you next week.
This week's Rota-Teller editor: Ricardo Marzo.
NEXT WEEK:
Fine Can: Steve Gavriloff
Microphone: Steve Lafranchi
Visitors: Connie Heizer
Editor: Mike Madick