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COMING EVENTS

July 4 - Club dark
July 11 - Emiria Salzmann - SSU Women's Soccer Coach
July 18 - Petaluma Police Chief Patrick Williams
July 25 - Dale Biron - Business and Motivational Speaker

Our evening Debunking began upstairs at the Petaluma Sheraton where fellow Rotarians and their spouses quenched their thirst from the heat with many cool cocktails.

Ralph and Nancy on January 31, 2013.

PRESIDENT NANCY COOLEY began the evening with a moment of silence for the recent passing of a great Rotarian and friend to all, RALPH BETTINELLI.

She then proceeded with the Thought for the Day and we all enjoyed dinner.

After dinner PRESIDENT NANCY awarded the following Rotarians with the Service Above Self award for all that they do for our club and the community. AL CATTALINI, MIKE STAUBER, BANO CUMMINGS, TAWNY TESCONI, GREG O’BRIEN, MICHAEL CARUANA, JUDI ALLEWELT, KATHY O’CONNOR, JAMES BURLESON, RICARDO MARZO, WHIT HALL, JAY PALM, MICHAEL NISTLER, MARLENE FREETLY, BABE AMARAL, and RICK MOSSI.

She then went on to thank her Board, KATHY O’CONNOR, DAVID SOLO, ONITA PELLEGRINI, RICK GORMAN, LEE REPOSA, and BRIAN BREEN.

PAST PRESIDENT JOANNE FERRIS was awarded as Rotarian of the Year and received the Avenues of Service Award from Rotary International.

DAVID SOLO honored those who received a Paul Harris Award. JOAN CATTALINI, STEVE & TINA POWELL, JOANNE FERRIS, RICK GORMAN, KIP HERZOG (+4), and WALLY BRAGDON (+3).

Our MC for the night was none other than PAST PRESIDENT TAWNY TESCONI. She told a hilarious story with pictures and all of PRESIDENT NANCY. Then she answered the question everyone was dying to know, “Who wore Nancy’s dress from the Holiday Party?” Well it was disgusting yet hilarious... it was LEE REPOSA, MICHAEL CARUANA, RICK MOSSI, AL CATTALINI, LOU STEINBERG, MICHAEL NISTLER, BARNEY FAUSS, DAVID SOLO, and many others that this editor couldn’t catch. However the #1 person who was “completely” wearing the dress bare back and all was, PAST PRESIDENT BABE AMARAL. TAWNY even had a shot of BABE in his tighty whitees pulling up the dress. Memorable and eye burning!!!

And finally, PRESIDENT NANCY called upon incoming PRESIDENT ELECT, RICK MOSSI. RICK thanked his fiancée Carol and announced his Board.

2012-2013 was a great year for the Petaluma Rotary Club. We brought in many new wonderful members, raised a tremendous amount of money, and had a fun time doing it. We couldn’t have done it without PRESIDENT NANCY. THANK YOU NANCY!!!

Now let’s get ready for another awesome year under PRESIDENT MOSSI at our new and exciting location, The Petaluma Golf & Country Club.

This week's Rota-Teller editor: Brian Breen

COMING EVENTS

June 28 - Debunking (Club dark on June 27)
July 4 - Club dark
July 11 - Emiria Salzmann - SSU Women's Soccer Coach
July 18 - Petaluma Police Chief Patrick Williams
July 25 - Dale Biron - Business and Motivational Speaker

President NANCY COOLEY dutifully gonged a regular meeting to order for the last time during her reign, and immediately had BARNEY FAUSS lead us in song (Gypo/God Bless America).

BANO CUMMINGS then delivered our Thought for the Day (managing stress).

RICK VAN BEBBER introduced the visiting Rotarians who joined us for lunch, followed by the introduction of guests of Rotarians, including SHERRY BURWEN’s (son, Michael), DAVID SOLO’s (past-member, Anthy O’Brien) and ONITA PELLEGRINI’s.

PAUL LOUNIBOS then recognized our June birthday babes, including RICK GORMAN and DAVID SOLO, both of whom forgot to sit at the birthday table. Rick and Dave were fined $10 each for their transgressions, while the rest of the Junies who remembered they had a birthday in June were fined a mere $5! Either way, they were all serenaded with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday", and we were all treated to cheese cake, courtesy of the afore-fined Rick Gorman...I’ll bet he was glad it was the Prez’ last meeting, right?!

We were then treated to a medley of reports and announcements:

LEE REPOSA reported that the annual RYLA camp barbeque was a big success thanks to all of the good cooks on his committee.

President-elect RICK MOSSI cautioned us that his term of testosterone laden leadership commences on July 1, 2013, and his inaugural meeting will be held on July 11, 2013, at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club.

JOANNE FERRIS reminded us that the Prez’ debunking will be next Friday, June 28 (at the Sheraton) , so if you haven’t yet RSVP’d, please do so ASAP.

After the Prez and BABE AMARAL bantered back and forth about whether or not BABE actually tried on the Prez’ "Rotary thong" in preparation for her debunking, . . .

. . . new member CHRIS ELZI was summarily fined $5 for not wearing his "Rotary pin" after daring to point out to the Prez that people were still eating while she conjured up images of Babe in a thong dancing through their heads! The Prez went on to fine new member TOM GAMBONINI and one of our visiting Rotarians $5 each for not wearing their Rotary pins, as well!

MIKE MADDALENA was then fined a budget busting $100 for the honor of his business (Minuteman Press) being selected as a 2013 People’s Choice Award winner. Congratulations, Mike.

Showing her latent M-names bias, or perhaps just succumbing to a rapturous end-of-days fine frenzy, the Prez fined yours truly (MIKE BADDELEY) $50 for the pleasure of having my college kids home, . . .

. . . and then dinged MARLENE FREETLY $25 for going to Spain and waking up in Paris...Marlene didn’t share how she got there, but she knows she had a great time! Welcome back, Marlene.

JAY PALM then paid $75, and had the dubious distinction of being the last member fined by the Prez at a regular meeting, for his recent Trailblazer ride, his child’s promotion from 3rd grade (the Prez was clearly digging deep while the clock ran out on her), and a missing badge, as Nancy’s nightmare on fine street drew to a close.

The Prez then drew her own raffle ticket (#267285), but remembered enough about the 4-way test to let someone else draw the $$$-wine rock, and still had enough charity in her heart to give away the bottle of wine she won.

Program Chairman DAVID SOLO, after commending his speaker committee, especially CHRIS RANNEY and DAN FISH, for the great job they did all year lining up quality speakers, had Anthy O’Brien introduce our speaker for the day, . . .

. . . Dr. Paula Dhandra, M.D., who gave an interesting presentation on the international ob-gyn work she does with Worldwide Healing Hands in third world countries such as India and Haiti. She received a nice round of applause and a Rotary memento for a program well received.

After reminding us that were dark next week (for the Debunking) and the first week of July (Independence Day), the Prez then happily adjourned her last regular meeting as our fearless leader . . .

. . . but not before she was surprised with a nice bouquet of red roses from her children, Victoria and Grant, both of whom somehow escaped with nary a fine! Thanks for a great year, Nancy!!

Have a great weekend, and make sure you’re at the Debunking to see Nancy off and Rick in!

This week's Rota-Teller editor: Mike Baddeley

COMING EVENTS

June 20 - Dr. Paula Dhanda - World Wide Healing Hands
June 28 - Debunking (Club dark on June 27)
July 4 - Club dark
July 11 - Emiria Salzmann - SSU Women's Soccer Coach
July 18 - Petaluma Police Chief Patrick Williams
July 25 - Petaluma Fire Chief Larry Anderson

President NANCY COOLEY, gleefully declaring only three weeks remaining before the start of the MOSSI era, called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

LOU STEINBERG rallied all the ramblers, gamblers, and gyppos in a fine rendition of our unofficial club song followed by “God Bless America”.

In a fitting almost-Flag Day tribute, DAVID SOLO gave an excellent recitation of Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag”, after which there were spirited handshakes and hugs all around.

RICHARD MANSFIELD was flawless in his first introduction of a visiting Rotarian, RON HODGE of the Newport-Irvine Club.

AL CATTALINI introduced guest Captain Chuck Fosse, the new commanding officer of the Coast Guard Training Center.

SHARI RANNEY put the spotlight on Lynard Khan, who had been lured to the meeting by advance news of our featured speaker and decided to spend his birthday with us. He was treated to the traditional birthday song, as only we can butcher it.

JIM BECKER asked us to welcome Ross Jones, who will be our town’s newest hotelier with the building of The Petaluman at the corner of B Street and the Boulevard.

President NANCY was beaming only slightly as she introduced son Tom, a sophomore with a 4.6 GPA at Petaluma High School. Evidently inherited most, but not quite all, of his mother’s brilliance. NANCY thought it was worth a $50 contribution to the club for her shameless bragging.

WHITNEY HALL brought his lovely wife Sigrid, also interested in learning more from our guest speaker about United States history. We forgot to ask WHIT about Sigrid’s grade point average.

PAUL LOUNIBOS read the impressive list of Rotarians celebrating wedding anniversaries in the month of June.

LOU STEINBERG reported that RYLA Camp gets underway on June 16 with full participation from Eureka to Petaluma, including 4 students from Petaluma High and two each from St. Vincent and Casa Grande. LOU reminded us that Wednesday the 19th is the evening of our club’s barbeque for the RYLA campers. Club members can pitch in and have an opportunity to glimpse the leadership experience gained by the exceptional teens who attend the camp.

President NANCY delivered miscellaneous announcements, including one about items mysteriously missing from her wardrobe. She wondered aloud if these clothing articles will be worn at her debunking by someone whose figure will not be flattered. It remains to be seen whether this possibility will sell more debunking tickets, but members are encouraged to make reservations promptly for the June 28 event. Before her reign is concluded, our President has offered to equip the needy with Petaluma (Chicken) Rotary pins. Speak up if your lapel is bare.

GREG O’BRIEN could not escape punishment for his sojourn around the U.S. with wife CHRIS. It wasn’t just that he was able to enjoy a lot of great sights; having logged over 9,000 miles there aren’t many sights he missed. A celebration of 25 years of marriage and a new grandchild stimulated extra generosity, as GREG added $100 to the $45 fine.

JIM BECKER received a merciful “non-fining” recognition for being pictured in the Shanghai Rotary Club’s newsletter. JIM was able to speak to the club about Heartbeat International, and the Shanghai Rotarians have made a commitment to the project. Nice work, JIM.

STEVE POWELL paid the lowest fine on a per-pound basis, having lost 61 pounds “so far”. The soon-to-be-invisible STEVE was also proud to have a grandson experiencing a first birthday.

TOM BAKER was the lucky raffle winner, drawing a blue rock for a bottle of wine.

A second raffle drawing for a flash drive donated by our speaker was won by visiting guest ROSS JONES.

PAUL LOUNIBOS introduced historian/author Arnold Kunst, author of “Lincoln 365”. MR. KUNST’s address on the wit and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln was worth many times the price of admission.

This week's Rota-Teller editor: Clark Rosen

COMING EVENTS

June 13 - Arnold Kunst - Abraham Lincoln
June 20 - Dr. Paula Dhanda - World Wide Healing Hands
June 28 - Debunking (Club dark on June 27)
July 4 - Club dark
July 11 - Emiria Salzmann - SSU Women's Soccer Coach
July 18 - Petaluma Police Chief Patrick Williams
July 25 - Petaluma Fire Chief Larry Anderson

SHE’S STILL THE PREZ...AND AFTER THIS HAS JUST THREE MORE MEETINGS (COUNT ‘EM AND WEEP ROTARIANS)!!!

With a ring of her much loved bell PRESIDENT NANCY COOLEY opened the Rotary Club of Petaluma’s meeting on this first Thursday in June and promptly led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The day was cool and cloudy; a good day for a lunch of fried chicken, corn and salad at the Sheraton Sonoma County - Petaluma. PRESIDENT NANCY invited BARNEY FAUSS to lead us in song (I'm a Rambler ...yeah, so what’s new? And our National Anthem...oh, okay that one surprised us!).

After club greetings, PRESIDENT NANCY asked for Rotarians with guests and called on Herprez-ness since “first husband,” Bob Cooley was the only guest. She roughed him up a bit because his phone rang during the SRJC-Petaluma Campus Building Community Breakfast earlier that morning (The Rotary Club of Petaluma hosted a table at the event and this reporter is heartily grateful for their support!!) and then took everything in his wallet (all $3) for his guest ‘fine.’

PRESIDENT NANCY then turned to those who attended the breakfast that morning, asked them to stand (it was quite a group) and asked which of them was wearing their Rotary pin. Anyone caught without paid a $5 fine. Then she turned to everyone in the room who did not attend the breakfast (that was also quite a group) and levied a $5 fine on any of those caught without a Rotary pin! This is no lame duck prez, my friends!!! She’s out to squeeze every last dime out of us for the remainder of her term...keep your pins close and your wallets closer!!!

PRESIDENT NANCY gave us an update on LARRY JONAS who sent the club thanks for all the cards and calls he received following the passing of his daughter. He’s working through the loss and just needs some time to heal before he’s back with us. PRESIDENT NANCY then called for a moment of silence.

PRESIDENT NANCY announced the Vocational Service Opportunity made available by DGE Helaine to sponsor a business card in the Rotary District 5130 Directory or a yellow pages entry in the Rotary District 5130 website, or both.

PRESIDENT NANCY asked BABE AMARAL to say a few words about the Debunking, so he did...things like “it’s payback...your a** is in trouble, and everything that goes with it!” He got fined $5 for profanity unfit for a daytime meeting and another $5 for showing PRESIDENT NANCY one of his body parts (on his HAND...his HAND!). BABE got so worked up he couldn’t remember what time it all gets started on June 28 (at 6:00 PM with no-host cocktails), . . .

. . . but was rescued by co-host KATHY O’CONNOR. The PREZ is off beforehand on a dude ranch trip, but should be back in time to see what BABE and his posse have in store!!

CHA-CHING!!! During the fine portion of the meeting...PRESIDENT NANCY picked up some big bucks from a bunch of members she’s been chasing for a while. PAT SCHAEFER passed along $80 for her new grandbaby.

WALLY BRAGDON handed over $50 for a recent train trip to Cinncinati (he was black and blue from his nights on the top bunk...though flew home first class)!

DAVE BARBIERI paid $100 for his two grandchildren who recently graduated from high school and one who moved out (whoohoo!).

SHARI RANNEY gave up the rest of her fine schedule for the trip she will make to Sweden in mid-October for her son’s wedding and for her daughter’s very exciting trip to Africa.

MICHAEL CARUANA handed over another $5 (he got nabbed in the earlier pin scam) for leaving his ‘Cheap Sunglasses’ (with apologies to ZZ Top) in the bar before the meeting.

TOM BAKER lost $5 for an article in the Argus about the Boy Scouts and a former member (Adolph Callegari) who claims he comes to Rotary meetings.

Finally, BRIAN BREEN tossed $100 to the Foundation for the “Huge...really HUGE...I mean HUUUUGGGGE...just H-U-G-E” award he and his business partners were receiving that evening.

Tom Gambonini delivers his Craft Talk.

The day’s raffle found teetotaler BARNEY FAUSS with a blue rock and a nice bottle of wine (what’s he going to do with THAT???)!

KIP HERZOG introduced . . .

. . . guest speaker, Will Travis, who spoke on climate change and what he views as the economic imperative in the Bay Area to address the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. He gave a fascinating presentation...want more information? Read High Tide on Main Street by John Englander. Well done!

Join us next week for PRESIDENT NANCY’s continuing countdown...three...two...one!!! DEBUNKING!!!

This week's Rota-Teller editor: Jane Saldaña-Talley