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COMING EVENTS

President MICHAEL CARUANA opened our debunking meeting to a full house at the Petaluma Golf & Country Club, and immediately led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by our customary patriotic song (God Bless America) led by BARNEY FAUSS and an invocation delivered by ONITA PELLEGRINI. After acknowledging his special guests and family members, the Prez then had us all relax and enjoy a great meal served up by Sally Tomatoes.

 
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After dinner, the Prez then introduced, albeit it reluctantly, your dear editor (MICHAEL BADDELEY), as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. After welcoming everyone, the entertainment commenced with a very artistic, athletic professional belly dancer doing the Malta Shuffle around the room. The Prez was then carried into the room in a sedan chair by his loyal, faithful servants, CHRIS RANNEY and BILL GROVERMAN, who gently placed the Prez in his royal seat at the front of the room.

Then quicker than you can say ’remember that old Carnac the Magnificent shtick of Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon’, yours truly (channeling Ed) introduced our special guest, thusly ’From the bowels of the Himalayas to the southern-most tip of Dubai, across the Red Sea, over the blistering sands of the Arabian Desert on a three- humped camel in heat accompanied by only the Bird of Paradise, the seer of all seers, the soothsayer of all soothsayers, the oracle, the brain addled progeny and bruised fruit directly descended from the loins of Carnac the Magnificent, his last son, the one, the only Carmax the Imbecile’, who was played perfectly by GARY BRODIE! Carson himself couldn’t have done a better job of entertaining the audience while magically divining the funny questions (from hermetically sealed envelopes, no less) to answers about the life of our illustrious outgoing Prez---a good show, lots of laughs, and a great job by Gary!

The Master of Ceremonies then presented the Prez with a nice commemorative gift from the Club, thanked TAWNY TESCONI and her Debunking Committee for a job well done, and turned the microphone back to Prez Michael, who resumed the meeting and issued the following awards: a Good Hands Award to MICHAEL NISTLER, a Special Award to PAUL LOUNIBOS, the Rotary Rookie of the Year award to ELIAS HUSARY, and the Rotarian of the Year award to CHRIS RANNEY, each of whom also received a rousing ovation and heartfelt round of applause for all of the good work they do for the Club.

Next, the Prez gave a special thanks to his very supportive (and much appreciated) wife, Diane, and then personally thanked and presented a gift to each of his Board Members: GARY BRODIE, GAIL CARDAROPOLI, CHRIS ELZI, MARLENE FREETLY, RICK GORMAN, ELIAS HUSARY, RICK MOSSI, GREG O’BRIEN, CHRIS RANNEY, LEE REPOSA, SHERRY BURWEN-SCHEROTTER, JANE SALDAÑA-TALLEY, TAWNY TESCONI, and TONY WESTERN.

Finally, and as his last order of official business for the Club as president, the Prez called up President-Elect GARY BRODIE for the ceremonial exchange of pins, and officially introduced him as our 2015-2016 Club President. Michael then handed the gavel of power over to Gary amidst a standing ovation for both of them! New Prez Gary congratulated Michael and his Board on their great year and for all of their accomplishments. He then introduced his new bride, Heidi Kibbe (a former Club member) and thanked her for understanding and support. Then, the Prez got right down to business with the introduction of his 2015-2016 Board, including GAIL CARDAROPOLI, MICHAEL CARUANA, JOANNE FERRIS, MARLENE FREETLY, BILL GROVERMAN, RICK MOSSI, GREG O’BRIEN, KATHY O’CONNOR, CHRIS RANNEY, LEE REPOSA, TAWNY TESCONI, TONY WESTERN, and MICHAEL BADDELEY.

WHEREUPON, after letting us know that there was a new sheriff in town (as depicted by him on the big screen in a white cowboy hat riding his trusty steed, ’Lug Nut’, looking every bit like a mini-Gary Cooper), new Prez Gary assured us we were in for a great Rotary experience in the upcoming year, thanked Michael again for his service as president, and duly adjourned the meeting!

Hope to see y’all at the Prez’ first regular meeting on July 9 at…dare I say it…High Noon!

This week's Editor: Mike Baddeley; Photos and videos by Michael Nistler.

COMING EVENTS

PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA opened his final meeting of the Club year with a tapping of the bell, a round of applause, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Celebrating the Golden State Warriors, LEE REPOSA and BARNEY FAUSS led the crowd in singing the National Anthem.

Juggling the normal routine, our President called for the introduction of visiting Rotarians. Awakening from her slumber, JUDI ALLEWELT announced that there were none. But we indeed did have a visitor, our cherished Lou Steinberg, now a member of the Greely Centennial Rotary Club.

WHIT HALL introduced his wife, Sigrid and DANNY FISH introduced his guest, Raine Howe, Executive Director of the Polly Klaas Foundation.

RICK GORMAN offered the Thought for the Day inspired by upcoming Father’s Day.

LARRY JONAS reported moving into his nearly completed home and was hit with a $50 fine for the occasion.

JIM BECKER recounted the eleven months since his cancer diagnosis, the completion of chemotherapy this week, and the diagnosis that he is now cancer free. President Michael, a bit reluctant to fine Jim for this news, offered to pay Jim’s fine — the $5 remaining in his annual fine assessment.

Extending thanks to the unrecognized people who make our weekly meetings possible, PRESIDENT MICHAEL thanked MIKE STAUBER for the weekly set-up and our Sally Tomatoes servers, Kyle and Victoria who, as you see above, lurk in the background).

In an apparent first for the Club, we had a joint craft talk by two “new” members, RENÉE HAYES and CARLI THOMAS. Renée reported enjoying the intergenerational relationships of Rotary, such as getting to know and work with Carli (who is younger than Renée’s youngest child). Together, they introduced the Luddites in the room to mobile apps such as MapMyWalk and Skype.

CARLI was born and raised in Healdsburg, graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in Political Science followed by a Master’s degree in sports management from USF. She spends her work hours in the development office of Petaluma Valley Hospital and free time playing soccer.

RENÉE was born in San Francisco and raised in San Anselmo. She is a graduate of College of Marin and Dominican University and has a Master’s degree in Library Science from San Jose State. Now a retired librarian, she and her husband, Pat, have three children. She enjoys gardening, including tending her olive grove.

Now, from the vast Rota-Teller archives, we bring you a new-member craft talk from the past. This talk occurred on June 19, 2003, some twelve years ago.

CRAFT TALK - Who’s the gentleman from a family of 10 who came to the U.S. in 1952 from the island of Malta? Detroit was their home until the cold brought them to California. He served time in Vietnam and finished college to become an engineer. He had a successful air and gas machinery business and now does consulting. He and his wife Diane have 3 boys. It’s MICHAEL CARUANA, who’s grateful for the U.S. and the opportunities it has given him.

It was time for the last raffle of the Club year and our PRESIDENT found himself with $175 in the kitty and four rocks in the bag. So he decreed that we’d draw three tickets with the person grabbing the brown rock getting the cash. DAVID BARBIERI was up first, drew the brown rock, and donated the proceeds to the Paul Harris fund. Thanks, David!

Well, it was time for the program. Or was it? PAUL LOUNIBOS rose to inquire why we had failed to recognize June birthdays and anniversaries during luncheons this month. PRESIDENT MICHAEL acknowledged this misstep and we sang Happy Birthday to LARRY JONAS, ONITA PELLEGRINI, CLARK ROSEN, SHERRY BURWEN, and RICK GORMAN. When the singing concluded BRIAN BREEN rose to ask, “Where’s the cake?” To which our PRESIDENT responded, “Marie Antoinette ate it!” Touché!

Also recognized were the June anniversaries of Lou and Julie Steinberg, WHIT and Sigrid HALL, PAUL and Mary Ann LOUNIBOS, JOHN and Sharon DADO, and WALLY and Marilyn BRAGDON. Cheers!

Well, finally it was time for the program. Or was it? DANNY FISH rose to remind our fast-fading PRESIDENT that there was another event on the schedule. So up to the podium came Raine Howe to accept a $500 contribution to the Polly Klaas Foundation from our Club.

Finally, it really was time for the program. SHARI RANNEY, filling in for absent CHRIS RANNEY, introduced our guest speaker.

Dr. Andy Cohen, owner of eStuff Plus (a.k.a. Sebastopol Radio Shack) gave an interesting presentation on 3D printing. You can find out more at SonomaCounty3DPrinting.com.

Next week: The Debunking!

This week's Editor: Al Cattalini

June 27:
Editor: Mike Baddeley

COMING EVENTS

OUR fearless leader again led us in the Pledge to our Flag followed by LEE REPOSA bursting into song with “God Bless America”. CHRIS ELZI substituted for MICHAEL NISTLER giving the “Thought For The Day”.

QUEST by the Symons family to bring home their daughter after two years away was successful! Attending to hear Jaime Symons speak were parents JIM and Sue, uncle RICK MOSSI, and two family friends.

IS GARY BRODIE hiding a secret? GARY introduced Michael Wagner, guest and spouse of TAWNY TESCONI who appeared in a wheelchair!! CHRIS RANNEY presented his guest Suzanne Tucker and JAY PALM brought his son, Jim. One visiting Rotarian was Juli Lederhaus, general manager of the Petaluma Hotel.

TO stimulate more participation, TONY WESTERN announced free libations for all volunteers for our latest fund-raiser. We have ten and need five more. This event is the beer booth at the Sonoma County Fair during the horse races which run from late July into mid-August. Some training and instruction is required.

FULLY committed to serving the Petaluma area, DAN LIBARLE announced that Lace House Linen will celebrate 100 years of business with an open house from 1:00 until 4:00 on Saturday, June 30. When DAN joined Rotary in 1966 (almost 50 years ago), he received the classification of money laundering!

ENGAGE was the key word of the day as MICHAEL NISTLER announced his engagement to Grace, and GARY BRODIE changed his status from engaged to married by eloping with Heidi on May 24. Congrats!

ROTARY continues to make its presence known worldwide. SHARI RANNEY announced a meeting of the World Community Service Committee next Thursday after the regular weekly luncheon meeting.

BY this time of the meeting, JIM BECKER realized we had another visiting Rotarian. JIM introduced former member Nit Anderson, member and Past President of the Bangkok Rotary Club. Welcome back, Nit!!

CHANGING hats, RYLA District Chair LEE REPOSA reported that 65 high school juniors from District 5130 will assemble at RYLA Camp next week. Please contact either RICK GORMAN or LEE if you can volunteer at the dinner next Wednesday, June 17 at 5:00. Come and meet our future leaders!!

OTHER recognition went as follows: TOM BRANDAL, an eight day cruise across the Atlantic from Texas; STEVE POWELL, skipped Rotary to attend a Giants’ game with JIM BECKER; BANO CUMMINGS who was “thoughtless” last week; and RICK MOSSI for being the uncle (and the godfather) of the speaker, Jaime Symons, who won the raffle and received a bottle of red wine.

PEOPLE’S lives in Namibia were covered at length by our guest speaker, Jaime Symons, who gave us an excellent presentation. Please see the information about her talk later in this Rota-Teller.

LIVES are changed by Rotarians, and some changes will take place right here at the Golf Club on June 27. Please RSVP now to your invitation for the roasting of MICHAEL and for the installation of newly-wed GARY!

Proud papa JIM SYMONS introduced his daughter, Jaime Symons, who is a 2003 PHS graduate and an alumna of Oregon University. Having visited thirty countries on five continents, Jaime began her travels at age ten (per Papa Jim) and visited Kenya at age 20 (per Mama Sue).

Jaime has been living and working for the Peace Corps in Namibia for two years, and she arrived home on Saturday, June 6 for the first time in that span. She talked about daily life in Namibia which is the second least populated country in the world.

Jaime learned that people in Third World countries are all related. She began to interact with them after being assigned to provide HIV education, which is a widespread and serious problem in that country. She spearheaded a program called Youth Exploring and Achieving in Health (acronym YEAH!!).

Passionate about her life and her work, Jaime started a garden project which became a fund-raiser to combat HIV, has worked with men and women who are living with HIV, and provided a meeting place for the patients to meet and talk. Blessed with a “heart of gold”, Jaime is returning to Namibia next month to work under the auspices of the CDC.

This week's Editor: Paul Lounibos

COMING EVENTS

Barney leads the crowd in song.

Reaching for his gavel the presider introduced himself as PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA who has only two meetings left before the Debunking and Installation on June 27, 2015. Please R.S.V.P. to CHRIS RANNEY no later than June 20th.

Only our PRESIDENT would call upon an absent member for the “Thought For The Day”, so our wise and witty Leader offered this gem: “A man from Long Beach (not our weekly visiting Rotarian, Charlie Stuart) fell into an upholstering machine; but he emerged fully recovered!”.

The only member with a guest was CARLI THOMAS, who later was recognized for abandoning her microphone duty which GARY BRODIE assumed. Seems that CARLI felt she was too “well-heeled” for the job, but she was really “pumped up” about paying her first fine. Woo Hoo!!!

Acknowledging that she had finally completed her new member tasks, PRESIDENT MICHAEL awarded a chicken badge to SHEHERAZADE HAMIDI and also commended her for her donation of the raffle winnings back to the Club.

Rotary was featured in the report by JANE SALDAÑA-TALLEY on the SRJC address to the community by Frank Chong. For three years our Club funded the construction of Rotary Plaza at the SRJC Petaluma campus.

Youth will be served again as RYLA Chair LEE REPOSA asked the members to attend the RYLA barbecue on June 17th and participate in this annual event. Especially helpful for new members, please contact either RICK GORMAN or LEE REPOSA if you have any questions.

World Understanding took a giant step backward when our resident expert JIM BECKER was at a loss for words! SHARI RANNEY (never at a loss for words) reported that our club donated $2,000 for two Shelter Boxes in Nepal, and that the WCS Committee would meet after the regular weekly meeting on June 18th. Kudos to our club for its support!

ONITA PELLEGRINI reminded our Leader that he overlooked an important event: ONITA, CLARK ROSEN, and TODD MENDOZA all gathered around the podium while Onita inducted Todd as our newest member with gratitude to his sponsor, CLARK.

Raffle winner GAIL CARDAROPOLI was elusive as she scurried around the room performing her duties. GAIL finally stopped long enough to draw a blue rock for a bottle of organic wine.

Keying his remarks to his intimate knowledge of Petalumans, quasi-member and Past President RALPH SARTORI gave an excellent presentation on the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery where he was the plant foreman before retiring.

See you next week! And remember to respond to your invitation to the annual Debunking AND installation!!

This week's Editor: Paul Lounibos