August 29, 2019

Our fearless leader, President Elias Husary kicked off the meeting in grand fashion.

Suzanne Tucker knew all the words to The Pledge of Allegiance.

Joe Tambe added a few words of his own...

Mike Ambrosio was in attendance and it was great to see him!

Anne Gealta and Rick Warner did a fabulous version of Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and it brought tears to everyone's eyes.

Judi Allewelt showed us a bounced check from an unnamed Rotarian for club dues.

Take a look at the fabulous job that our Club did at the Miracle League Field. The Petaluma Rotary BBQ Pavilion will grace the complex for years to come and will help the experience for thousands of children and their famililes.

Lee Reposa showed off his nice summer tan.

Rick Mossi tried to explain....

His recent room inspection at a local hotel and the need for darker curtains.

Michael Caruana made sure to grab the most important gift from the travel basket...

TEQUILA!!!

The Great Editor in Chief, Al Cattalini, walked away with a bottle of wine - and a good one to boot!

Rick Gorman in the house.

Our Speaker was Gary Schlossberg, from Wells Capital Management. He is an institutional money manager with over $340 billion in assets under management---and for other investment and banking groups within Wells Fargo & Co.  

Gary gave an excellent presentation covering current economic conditions and how that affects your 401k. There is conflicting evidence of economic strength with fears of recession and market volatility is high. Thank you, Gary, for your expertise and thoughtful analysis.

This week's Editor: Ricardo Marzo

August 15, 2019

START ME UP:  Our illustrious Prez (ELIAS HUSARY) opened our regular lunch meeting at precisely the appointed half-hour,

and immediately had Club Counselor SHERI SCHEROTTER-BURWEN lead us in the Pledge,

followed by a moment of silence for the passing of local businessman Alan Brody, and the victims of the Philadelphia and Dayton shootings.  Past-President DAN LIBARLE then led us in song (Gypo and God Bless America).

President-Elect ANNE GEALTA delivered our Thought for the Day,

followed by the customary handshakes, hugs and busses amongst our members.

YOUR GUEST IS AS GOOD AS MINE:  There were no visiting Rotarians who joined us for lunch, but a few guests of members did, including Past-President ONITA PELIGRINI’s, Club Treasurer MIKE FERRIS’, and the Prez’ (his wife, Gina).  Golf Committee Chair ANNE GEALTA then reminded us of the upcoming Club golf tournament on September 23.Sign-ups are under way, and the tournament committee is looking for sponsors – call Anne or Tin Cup RICK WARNER if you want to participate in any way.

COMMERCIAL BREAK:  The Prez then made a medley of announcements: (1) the monthly SCARC meeting is on August 28 at the Glen Ellen-Kenwood Club.  Contact the Prez or Club Secretary GAIL CARDAROPOLI if you would like to attend; (2) The Petaluma Sunrise Club still has tickets available for its Oyster Festival on Saturday, August 17; (3) The Fund a Teen in Need meeting is being held immediately following our lunch meeting; and (4) The Club will be dark next week (Thursday, August 22)...instead, there will be a Boozy Bocce Ball Club social on Saturday, August 24 at the Prez’ hilltop palatial estate-see the Club website for details.

SUNSHINE REPORT:  The Prez reported that good guy GREG O’BRIEN’s wife Chris is ill, and Bohemian BILL GROVERMAN is still recovering from hip surgery.  Our thoughts and well-wishes are with them both.

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS: The Prez then called out cell phone scofflaws Past-President MICHAEL CARUANA, Someday President KATHY O’CONNOR, Past-President KIP HERZOG and Bon Vivant CHRIS ELZI for their cell phones ringing during meetings-$5.00 per ring, $25.00 if they answered the call!

During all of this, Rebel ROYCE VAN BEBBER called the Prez on his cell phone just to make sure the rule applied to all. Undaunted, the Prez raised Kip’s fine to $50.00 since  Kip also went to Tahoe with his entire family and took his grandkids to a Giants game, all on his nickel (fortunately, he as lots of them...nickels and grandkids!).

AND THEY’RE OFF:  The Club’s favorite handicapper, Past-President JOHN DADO, was then called to his feet to share his good fortune at a Day at the Races (Santa Rosa Fair), where he won a big $$ trifecta!  Lady Luck was so smitten with John, that his wife Sharon even won $50.00 in a hat contest at the races! John gladly paid $50.00 for his good fortune, and got the Prez to chip in an additional $25.00 for the missed opportunity of “investing” with John on his way to play the ponies! Congratulations, John (and Sharon).

BUSTED: Proving once again that the camera doesn’t lie, Bad Boy BRIAN BREEN was called upon by the Prez to explain how it was that Brian and his boys were featured in the big spender seats at an A’s game instead of Brian working out with the Prez (he of the Heidi Klum arms) as planned - Brian paid $20.00 in lieu of any explanation.

21^ST CENTURY:  The Petaluma Rotary Club now has Instagram – 24/7 Rotary is all the rage!!

The Prez then pulled the winning raffle ticket which was good for a bottle of wine for Club Connoisseur MIREILLE BROUSSARD.

OPENING KICK-OFF:  Yours truly (Past-President MICHAEL BADDELEY) then introduced our speakers, the three local high school football head coaches:

Rick Krist at Petaluma High School,

John Antonio at Casa Grande High School,

and Trent Herzog at St. Vincent’s High School.

They each introduced some of their key players in attendance, gave us their take on the upcoming season, and discussed the benefits and challenges of high school football. They each received a nice $$ donation from our Club for their respective programs, and a big round of applause for a job well done.

CLASS DISMISSED:  Whereupon, the Prez bid us all adieu, and gaveled the meeting to a close.

See you in two weeks!

This week's Editor: Mike Baddeley

August 22 - DARK

August 8, 2019

Did you ever drive down East Washington Street and . . .

. . . see those weird metal sculptures . . .

. . . and wonder what was behind that fence?

Well, follow President Elias . . .

. . . and he’ll give you a tour.

This is Reared in Steel, the studio of local artist Kevin Clark.

President Elias opened the meeting by announcing that lunch was served.

The delicious meal was catered by Tequila Sunrise Mexican Grill.

After lunch President Elias introduced . . .

. . . Kevin Clark, a most gracious host, who discussed his projects.

Here he points out . . .

. . . a scale model of the Fire Cathedral which he is constructing for this year’s Burning Man Festival.

The Fire Cathedral, currently under construction in his outdoor yard, is 50 feet wide and 40 feet high but collapses to a single truckload for transporting to the site on the Nevada desert.

It features about 100 fire jets which are synchronized to music.

Here are pieces of his Medusa which will be assembled on site.

Here is what it looks like when it’s assembled.

Thanks, Elias and Kevin, for a delightful field trip!

This week's Editor: Al Cattalini

August 1, 2019

President Elias Husary called the meeting to order on another beautiful day at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club. Side Note - Elias rang the bell twice to bring the meeting to order: "I'm liking this bell ringing and having control of the microphone" uttered the President!

Brett Shinn belted-out the Pledge of Allegiance (glad to see that your arm is in that position without a sling!).

Chris Ranney handled the duties of singing God Bless America (his second head is growing larger each week - next week we may see a full eye in the frame!).

Sveinn Sigurdsson handled the 'Thought for the Day' and discussed the importance of listening (often times it's better to remain silent, as you'll learn something important).

Royce Van Bebber's son, Garrett - A.K.A. 'G-Man' helped Elias with the raffle and pulled the winning ticket, which belonged to Raine Howe.  

Raine had a one-in-three chance to pull the winning rock for $150 and luck was on her side. Not only did she win the $150 cash, but she donated the winnings to the Polio campaign, which will be triple-matched!

Rick Warner gave an update on the Rotary Golf Tournament taking place on September 23. He attempted to disguise his voice in low tones (sounded like a kid who got in trouble). He mentioned he needs golfers to sign up, volunteers to help and sponsors to sign up!

President Elias attempted to fine Chris Ranney for his recent family trip to
Switzerland. However, the former Prez was one-up on the new Prez, as he brought home chocolate from the Lake Brienz area in Switzerland. Elias cut him some slack and auctioned off the chocolate, which sold for $130 to Anne Gealta. The back story is that Elias ran the bid up to $125 and once Anne bid $130 the Prez immediately ended the auction!

Anne was all smiles after she was the high bidder for the Swiss Chocolate! The smile looks more like "you got me again Elias! Just wait until I'm president!!!"

Rick Gorman did his best to talk his way out of a fine for his recent golfing outing with one of his "clients". However, after a verbal jousting match with the Prez he agreed to pay a $25 fine and mentioned that if he had to pay a fine for every time he goes golfing he'd be broke!

Judi Allewelt told an amusing story about her 2 year-old grandson's birthday party - apparently, when he woke up from a nap the once inflated Jumpy had deflated because Judi didn't want to hear the air blower running while he was taking a nap. She said he cried for 10 minutes, but once the Jumpy was re-inflated he stopped crying. Judi's story ended with an agreement to pay a $50 fine and she also donated an extra $50!

Judi's grandson turned 2 - the deflated Jumpy aged him quite a bit! Happy Birthday!

Elias announced some important events looming on the horizon:

1) "For The Children" Rotary Pasta Dinner Monday, August 5, 2019 from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Brewsters in Petaluma (229 Water Street North).

2) Petaluma Sunrise Rotary Oyster Fest on August 17, 2019 - $60 per person.

3) Petaluma Valley Rotary Club is meeting on 08/28/2019 at noon at Rooster Run (RSVP by 08/20/2019).

4) Next week (08/08/2019) our club will be on a field trip with Kevin Clark/Reared in Steel on East Washington Street in Petaluma and will not be meeting at the country club. 

This week's guest speaker was Peter Phillips, a Professor of Political Sociology at Sonoma State University since 1994. Peter discussed his new book: Giants - The Global Power Elite. He's the former Director of Project Censored from 1996 to 2010 and the President of the Media Freedom Foundation from 2003 to 2017.  He has been editor or co-editor of 14 editions of Censored, co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney 2006, editor of two editions of Progressive Guide to Alternative Media and Activism 1999 & 2004. His most recent book is Giants: The Global Power Elite from Seven Stories Press – published in August 2018. He was a co-host of the weekly Project Censored show on Pacifica Radio with Mickey Huff from 2010 to 2017 originating from KPFA in Berkeley and airing on 40 stations nationwide. He teaches courses in Political Sociology, Sociology of Power, Sociology of Media, Sociology of Conspiracies and Investigative Sociology. He was winner of the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in 1997 for Best Political Book, PEN Censorship Award 2008, Dallas Smythe Award from the Union for Democratic Communications 2009, and the Pillar Human Rights Award from the National Associations of Whistleblowers 2014. He lives in a redwood forest near Bodega California with his wife Mary Lia.

And more importantly, he was my professor at Sonoma State University in 1995 when I enrolled in the Project Censored course. He was instrumental in guiding us through the documentary film process when me and Christopher Oscar co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced our award-winning film ‘Project Censored the Movie: Ending the Reign of Junk Food News’.

This week's Editor: Doug Hecker