Issues are arranged in reverse order. Scroll down to find the issue you want.

COMING EVENTS

September 5 - Larry Anderson - Petaluma Fire Chief
September 9 - Golf Tournament and Dinner
September 12 - Club dark
September 19 - Raine Howe, Polly Klaas Foundation
September 26 - Bill Schrader, Exchange Bank

President RICK “No” MOSSI, looking quite tan and relaxed from yet another golfing excursion, opened our regular lunch meeting at the appointed half-hour, and immediately led us in the Pledge.

Our Club’s oldest crooner, BARNEY “Fur Elise” FAUSS, led us in song (Gypo and God Bless America), . . .

. . . followed by the Thought for the Day from CLARK “Honeysuckle” ROSEN. The customary handshakes, hugs and busses amongst members ensued.

Next, our special visiting Rotarians were introduced, namely our District Governor (Helaine Campbell), her husband (PDG Bruce Campbell), and her District assistant (Paula Reinhold), followed by the introduction of the numerous guests of Rotarians who joined us for lunch.

The Prez then gave the Sunshine Report (BANO “e.e.” CUMMINGS is on the mend from her hip surgery, and should be back with us soon), and went on to announce the upcoming Rotary Foundation Seminar on September 21 (call him for details) and remind us that the monthly SCARC meeting is being hosted by the Healdsburg Rotary Club tonight (8/29).

GARY “Spin a” BRODIE gave us an update on the upcoming (September 9) annual club Golf Tournament, and confirmed that the dinner will be prime rib.

GREG “Just Say” O’BRIEN made an impassioned plea for more $100 hole sponsors for the Tournament, . . .

. . . and TARA “Cotta” SMITH immediately offered up $250 (without any tequila enticement, no less!) if the Prez would give her a coveted chicken button — thanks, Tara!

The penurious Prez then levied $20 fines each on BARNEY “Toga Party” FAUSS for being an Alumnus of the 2013 #1 party school in the nation (University of Iowa...it must be all the corn, right?!), and . . .

. . . BILL “Redwood” GROVERMAN for his son Justin’s successful hog sale at the Sonoma County Fair this year. Congratulations, guys!

All of the Club’s past-presidents were then called upon by the Prez to tell us their year of service and the name of the District Governor for that year...you might find it understandable that a few couldn’t remember the District Governor’s name, but some of them couldn’t even remember when they served (note to the Prez: see what the stress of Rotary leadership can do to you!!). No matter, it was all in good fun and a worthwhile trip down memory lane!

Carol Fullerton, the spouse and guest of PDG ED “Full Throttle” FULLERTON, then pulled the brown rock out of the raffle bag to win all of the accumulated raffle cash ($75).

Paula Reinhold then gave us a warm, informative introduction of . . .

. . . our District Governor (Helaine Campbell), who shared with us her personal story and Rotary goals for the 2013/14 year. A signed dictionary will be presented to a local elementary school library and a donation made to her favorite charity for a program well received. See you all next week!

Greg O’ Brien and Rick Gorman begged for a photo, so here it is.

Before our lunch meeting the Board met with the District Governor at Exchange Bank. Here are some photos smuggled out of the meeting by ED FULLERTON.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Mike Baddeley

COMING EVENTS

August 29 - District Governor Helaine Campbell
September 5 - Larry Anderson - Petaluma Fire Chief
September 9 - Golf Tournament and Dinner
September 12 - Club dark

PRESIDENT RICK called the meeting to order as everyone rose to pledge allegiance.

LEE REPOSA led a chorus of the club anthem followed by God Bless America.

MIKE BADDELEY heard from the Petaluma Leghorns Baseball team that the Rotary Club of Shelby treated our boys very well while at the World Series last week. Mike read 10 thoughts about summer ending with Mark Twain’s “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

DAVID SOLO introduced his staff members. STEVE OLMSTED introduced his daughter and son in law. RICK MOSSI introduced John Zimmerman. ONITA PELLEGRINI brought along chamber staff members Cathy and Daniella. NANCY COOLEY introduced her son Grant’s dog Shadow.

PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI jumped the gun with the birthday cake and birthday table appearing a week earlier than expected. Everyone sang to PAT SCHAEFER and RICK waived her fine!

Rotarians need constant reminders so once again, PRESIDENT RICK pointed out the locations of the men’s and women’s restrooms.

GARY BRODIE announced the annual members golf tournament is full but we are gladly welcoming spouses and non-golfing Rotarians for dinner. The committee is also thirsty and would appreciate any donations of wine for the tournament. If you aren’t a winemaker, maybe you’ll step up as a tournament sponsor.

It was announced that former RI President Cliff Dochterman’s wife Mary Ellen passed away last week. We all send our condolences and prayers to Cliff and his family.

SHERRY BURWEN announced that BANO CUMMINGS underwent hip surgery recently and would appreciate a call or card.

RICK gave a nod to president elect MICHAEL CARUANA who ran the meeting last week in his absence. Michael did such a great job that everyone applauded.

CHRIS and SHARI RANNEY just returned from a quick trip to Sweden to visit their son Brian and to finalize his Sept. wedding plans. While there they enjoyed a festive dinner by a rural lake that included wild game and competitions like ax throwing, target shooting and moose rack lassoing. They feasted on wild boar for dinner. They volunteered to pay $50 toward their fine schedule.

NANCY COOLEY survived a trip to Maui with 10 teenagers so she offered $50 toward her fine schedule and $50 to the local foundation.

TARA SMITH’s ranch was featured in a NY Times article which triggered a book deal. The first book is under development but the second book promises to be the tell-all expose about the characters (Rotarians) of Petaluma, many of whom were mentioned by name. She offered up a $100 golf tournament sponsorship.

MICHAEL CARUANA won the raffle and a lovely bottle of wine.

Note: At the Petaluma Valley Rotary Club this Wednesday, Aug. 28, there is one black tee left along in the raffle bag and the prize is $500. Great week to make up at Valley!

DAVID SOLO introduced the program speaker:

Robert Marcus, Director of Operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties.

We also heard from the 2013 Youth of the year, Maria Del Carmona.

RICK closed the meeting by mentioning we are the number one club in the country — in his opinion!

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Joanne Ferris; Photos by Michael Nistler

COMING EVENTS

August 22 - David Solo - Boys and Girls Club
August 29 - District Governor Helaine Campbell
September 5 - Larry Anderson - Petaluma Fire Chief
September 9 - Golf Tournament and Dinner
September 12 - Club dark

Standing in for MISSING PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI was SEMI PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA who opened the Rotary Club of Petaluma’s meeting on this third Thursday in August and promptly led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

It was a hot August day, but the very tasty Thanksgiving turkey lunch (complete with gravy, potatoes and cranberry chutney!) from Sally Tomatoes took our minds off the temperature both inside and out at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club.

ACTING PRESIDENT MICHAEL invited LOU STEINBERG to lead us in song (I’m a Rambler and God Bless America).

Our oft times song leader and overall ramble-rouser, BARNEY FAUSS, led us this day in a lovely prayer that seemed a good fit for Rotarians and a nice alternative to the usual ‘Thought for the Day.’

After club greetings, STAND-IN PRESIDENT MICHAEL asked JIM BECKER to announce Visiting Rotarians and who should they turn out to be but two of our very own club ‘retirees,’. . .

. . . the ever-young JEANETTE CLARK (all the way from Maui, Hawaii) . . .

. . . and the equally youngish LARRY JONAS. It was very good to see both of them back with us!

Rotarians with Guests included DAVE SOLO with a sizeable contingent of the Gambonini family (Frank, Alex, Frankie), RALPH BETTINELLI’s daughter, Kim Jones, and Regina Pozzi, all there for our program that day. STEVE GAVRILOFF introduced children, Natasha and Nicolas (the Supreme Bass Catcher and Turkey Hunter of his family!).

ALMOST PRESIDENT MICHAEL announced August anniversaries for the BENEDETTI’s, SCHARER’s, ELLIS’s and CATTALINI’s...congratulations to you all for hanging in there together!

SOON-TO-BE PRESIDENT MICHAEL announced the upcoming SCARC dinner meeting on Thursday, August 29 hosted by the Rotary Club of Healdsburg Sunrise and advised new members that this was a great opportunity to get this off their ‘newbie’ list.

GARY BRODIE gave an on update on the benefit Golf Tournament coming up fast (on Monday,September 9). Foursomes are still open (check out the club website for a registration form) and members can contact GARY, TOM GAMBONINI and GREG O’BRIEN for more information.

During the fine portion of the meeting...NEARLY THERE PRESIDENT MICHAEL picked up some bucks from a few members who were unlucky enough to be present. KATHIE POWELL passed along $50 for the Argus article about the Petaluma Health Center.

TOM GAMBONINI handed over an unknown sum of cash for something (...clearly this reporter was distracted during a portion of the meeting!)

RICHARD MANSFIELD paid $0 (but got applause) for his new job in Santa Rosa with Scotttrade.

GAIL CARDAROPOLI swore that those two phone calls she got during a recent meeting were ‘emergencies’ (both of them...emergencies) and tossed in $5 to seal the deal.

The day’s raffle found ever-so-lucky JOHN DADO with a blue rock and a nice bottle of wine!

Right in the middle of the photo session, GREG O’BRIEN jumped up to call foul claiming that JOHN pushed him aside at the check-in table to grab the winning ticket. BACK-UP PRESIDENT MICHAEL took control of the situation and fined GREG $10 for letting JOHN push him around!

DAVE SOLO introduced guest speakers, . . .

. . . Regina Pozzi, Alex Gambonini, and Frankie Gambonini (our local Dairy Princess), members of the international award winning dairy judging team who gave an amazing presentation and put us through the paces of what it was like to judge dairy cows...winning team from our club was the “Baker Brothers and Bano!” The real winners were these talented and incredibly well-spoken young women who made us all proud! A great presentation!

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

COMING EVENTS

August 15 - Stacey Gambonini - FFA
August 22 - David Solo - Boys and Girls Club
August 29 - District Governor Helaine Campbell
September 5 - Larry Anderson - Petaluma Fire Chief
September 9 - Golf Tournament and Dinner
September 12 - Club dark

It was another beautiful Thursday at the Country Club as PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI declared that it was "Round 5" and gaveled the meeting to order.

After leading the Pledge of Allegiance he called on LEE REPOSA to lead us in song. Guess what we sang? After warming up on I’m a Rambler . . . we sang God Bless America.

WALLY BRAGDON was up next with his Thought for the Day. He cautioned us to watch our thoughts because they become our words which become our actions which become our habits which become our character which becomes our destiny. Nice!

CHRIS ELZI introduced our lone visiting Rotarian, a member of Petaluma Sunrise. Many Rotarians brought guests: ED FULLERTON (former member Al Kaplan), MICHAEL NISTLER (two videographers), JAY PALM (his 4th-grader son, Jim), JIM BECKER (a health care administrator), and PRESIDENT RICK (his brother-in-law Jim Symons, attending for the third time).

GARY BRODIE discussed the upcoming September 9 Golf Tournament and Dinner. He is busy putting together foursomes and asks members to sign up soon. He announced that the dinner would have a new, exciting menu and that his committee was working on a surprise celebrity guest.

GREG O’BRIEN is heading the operation to sign up sponsors for flags, holes, and carts. Flag sponsors will have their name emblazoned on the flag which will be presented to the sponsor after the event.

GREG gave special recognition to TOM BRANDAL who has already signed up to sponsor a flag, a hole, and a cart. Thanks, Tom. Now let’s see other Rotarians step up to do the same.

Club members rose for a moment of silence for Jeff McCaffrey, son of JIM and Mary McCAFFREY. PRESIDENT RICK noted that he grew up with Jeff and that our hearts go out to Jim and Mary on their loss. Services will be tomorrow.

JIM BECKER, chair of the World Community Service (WCS) Committee/Travel Committee announced that the committee’s first meeting is at the Exchange Bank Board Room at 5:15pm on Wednesday, August 21.

LEE BEAN, President of the Rotary Club of Petaluma Foundation, then convened the annual meeting of the Foundation. Lee discussed the many grants awarded for FY 2012-13 and then conducted the election of officers. SHARI RANNEY, JUDY ALLEWELT, and BABE AMARAL were nominated for 3-year terms as directors and were unanimously elected. So was PAUL LOUNIBOS who was nominated as Secretary.

JAMES BURLESON, the Foundation CFO gave a brief financial report. Briefly, in FY 2012-13 the corpus grew from $444,322.25 to $481,628.83 and $22,124.00 in grants were distributed. More information about the Foundation will soon be available on the Club Website.

PRESIDENT RICK then sought the owner of a hat left at the last meeting.

CHRIS ELZI claimed the hat and agreed to buy it back for $10 but, first, our President had a plan.

He had CHRIS pass the hat to collect tips for our delightful servers, Matt and Amanda.

Then the fines began in earnest. BABE AMARAL rose to acknowledge he had missed some meetings because he’d been run over by a backhoe. He was banged up a bit but was proud to report that he had "saved his testicles." We compute the $20 fine to be $10 per testicle. Pretty cheap, if you ask me!

Then it was STAN LAWSON’s turn in the spotlight. Rumor has it that he will be named Sonoma County’s "CFO of the Year." Stan commented that it was an interesting accomplishment for someone who had majored in Italian Literature. He fessed up to a Jamaica trip ($10), a Hawaii trip ($30), and, with $10 thrown in for the award, ended up with a $50 fine.

LOU STEINBERG had a lot to be fined for. A June trip to New Jersey to visit a grandson. A jaunt to Pennsylvania to watch Cal win big in rugby. The RYLA Conference. A trip to Greely, Colorado to visit the other grandson and attend Stampede Days. His son engaged to be married next year. And his first day (today!) with new hearing aids. LOU offered a $100 fine to the local Foundation and said he’d be back later in the year with fines for the Club.

The raffle was won by JAY PALM’s son, Jim, who pulled the blue rock and walked off with $50.

PRESIDENT RICK then presented the hatful of tips, an estimated $140, to Matt and Amanda.

CHRIS RANNEY, a board member of COTS, introduced our guest speaker.

Mike Johnson, CEO of COTS, discussed the wonderful work being done by the Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) and its goals for the future. A great presentation about a fantastic organization.

When the program concluded, our PRESIDENT appeared, wearing a hospital gown. Complying with cries to "Don’t turn around!" he explained that his doctor had prescribed a special treatment to be accomplished next week at the Bandon Dunes Golf Club in Oregon. Since he’ll miss our Thursday meeting, he’s arranged for PRESIDENT-ELECT MICHAEL CARUANA to conduct the meeting.

With that, the meeting was adjourned.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Al Cattalini

COMING EVENTS

August 8 - Mike Johnson - COTS
August 15 - Stacey Gambonini - FFA
August 22 - David Solo - Boys and Girls Club
August 29 - District Governor Helaine Campbell

It was another beautiful day at the Country Club and another beautiful meal.

Carefully removing the gavel from its theft-proof location, PRESIDENT RICK rang the meeting to order and welcomed the crowd to "Round Four."

After the Pledge of Allegiance BARNEY FAUSS warmed up the crowd with I’m a Rambler . . . before launching into God Bless America.

JIM McCAFFREY delivered a two-part Thought for the Day. First were lines from Joaquin Miller’s poem in honor of "Burns and Byron":

      In men whom men condemn as ill
      I find so much of goodness still.
      In men whom men pronounce divine
      I find so much of sin and blot
      I do not dare to draw a line
      Between the two, where God has not.

He followed up the poetry with a traditional Irish blessing.

There were no visiting Rotarians but four Rotarians, RICK GORMAN, STEVE OLMSTED, LEN MYGATT, and MIKE BADDELEY, introduced guests.

PRESIDENT RICK noted that he was probably wearing the oldest tie in the HARVEY FREETLY hand-me-down collection of Rotary ties. He claimed finding inside the initials of PAUL HARRIS, DENMAN McNEAR, ART AGNEW, and HARVEY FREETLY. He proudly paid a $30 fine for the sartorial splendor.

PRESIDENT RICK reminded members that next week’s meeting will include the annual meeting of the Rotary Club of Petaluma Foundation. This prompted PAUL LOUNIBOS to rise and discuss the circumstances of the Foundation’s founding in 1983.

Contact the President right away if you are interested in participating in a Rotary trip to West Africa in October. It could be your last opportunity to give polio vaccine to a third-world child. With this our President segued into the need for member to serve as the Club’s point person on polio issues. Up jumped PAUL LOUNIBOS again to volunteer for the job. Thanks, Paul!

GARY BRODIE reminded everyone to get cracking on the upcoming September 9 Golf Tournament and Dinner.

Among the 11 members who attended last week’s SCARC dinner in Sebastopol was TONY WESTERN who thereby completed all requirements for his Chicken Badge which was dutifully presented by our President. This led to another segue.

We will be working with the Valley and Sunrise Clubs on a three-club Petaluma River project (details to come; stay tuned!) TONY WESTERN will be our Club’s point-man on this. And next . . . another segue.

TONY sponsors the Teeing Off on Cancer Golf Tournament which will be held at Rooster Run on Friday, September 13. He encouraged our members to, after playing in our tournament on Monday, show up on Friday to tee off on cancer.

With the announcements completed it was time for fines. First up was SHERRY BURWEN with a lot to boast about. First, her husband Michael has just published his first book Easy Gourmet Recipes for the Frugal Cook: Mikey Likes It! available as a Kindle ebook. (Check it out, it’s getting great reviews.) Second, Sherry is celebrating 17 years in Rotary. And third, she is celebrating 17 years cancer-free. To celebrate all this she contributed $25 to the Foundation.

STEVE GAVRILOFF’s photo was used again in an Argus-Courier advertisement. The law of diminishing returns was applied and Steve was fined only $10.

JOHN DADO was next. A photo of his wife Sharon is appearing in publicity for "Hat Day at the Races" this Saturday at the Sonoma County Fair. So let’s segue into another event in racing history. Exactly 10 years ago today, on August 1, 2003 John was a big "Pick Six" winner at the county fair racetrack. John will try his luck at the track tomorrow but today he paid a $100 fine for the photo and the history.

STEVE POWELL seems to be doing well as a day trader. He actually made money on Facebook stock (enough to sponsor a hole at the Rotary Golf Tournament) and agreed to pay a $100 fine.

KATHY O’CONNOR won the raffle and a bottle of fine. Next week the pot goes up to $50.

DAVID SOLO introduced the Executive Director of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board,

Ben Stone, who gave an interesting presentation "Sonoma County – Better Times Ahead" which discussed the current economic recovery and projections for future growth.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Al Cattalini