President Joyce Capelle opened the meeting with Winston Creel leading the salute to the flag of our wonderful country. Bob Savage and Don Ludwig attempted to lead the Rotarians in a rousing chorus of “The Yellow Rose of Texas” but encountered a major new low in song coordination. Was this a revenge for the loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl?

  David Schoen gave the invocation thanking our lord for the opportunity to participate in Rotary, to gain true fellowship and friends in our purpose to do well in our community. He thanked those Rotarians who have passed away for their contributions to Rotary.

  Scott Dowds welcomed visitors, which included only Steve Awh, a guest of Shine Kim and Daniel Kang.

Announcements

  Terri Grassi asked that any Rotarians desiring to advertise in the Directory contact the District as soon as possible. Terri also requested all interested in future program events to attend the Program Committee meeting at Carrows at 7:30 on Thursday, May 18.

  Leslie McCarthy requested help at the Top 100 Banquets honoring our local high school students. The banquets will be on May 25 and May 31 and sign-up sheets were on the tables. Call Leslie if you would like to help.

  Minard Duncan asked for Rotarians to support a benefit for Fullerton Tech.

  Jim Williams asked that Rotarians support the Annual Gathering of the Good Guys on May 24th. from 5:00 to 7:30 PM at the home of Bob & Vicki Gallio’s, 1520 Dana Pl, Fullerton. All of the proceeds will go to the Good Guys Endowment Fund, the support group for the Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton. The fee for the evening of drinks and hors d’oeuvres is $25 per person. Call Rick Doebler at 714-257-4422 if you wish to attend.

  Jim also mentioned that there will be a memorial celebration to honor Jack Hayes on Tuesday May 16^th. from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the home of David and Kathy Neilson at 607 Lovell Pl, Fullerton. We will all miss the ingenious and involved humor and good fellowship that Jack Hayes brought to our Rotary Club for many years.

  Walt Barnes remembered the time years ago that Jack Hayes helped to establish a “Pennies for Paul”(Paul Harris) program to give money to the Rotary Foundation. In 90 days this program developed $3,500 and several sustaining Foundation members. Barnes noted that our average giving is now at $295 per person per year. To get that average above $300 he will be collecting next week to obtain the needed $600 to reach $300/person. Walt also explained that money given to Rotary Foundation can be multiplied now by matching gifts from various sources.

Finemaster

  Joyce Capelle introduced the finemaster, Mike Oates, with a short poem composed by Judge Roy (Mike Oates) Bean as the only law west of the Pecos. Mike came in with his cowboy hat and duster and imposed Texas cowboy justice to those being recognized. Jim Young was fined for not knowing that an artery in Texas is where they sell paintings. Robert Jahncke was recognized for his efforts on the Rotary web site. Allyn Lean and Glenda Stroobant were recognized in absentia and Julie Kemp was fined for not knowing that in Texas bacteria is the back door to the cafeteria. John Phelps was recognized for his anniversary and was fined because he did not know that in Texas a comma is a punctuation mark. Dan Kiernan was recognized for his birthday and fined because he did not know that post operative in Texas means a letter carrier. Mike read a list of 10 items that Texans were not likely to say with number 10 being, “I’ll take Shakespeare for $1000.00.”

Program

  Dick Mathewson presented a talk on “Reading by 9” which aims at having all students reading at grade level by 9 years old. Dick Mathewson and Dick Daybell distribute books purchased by our Rotary Club to local elementary schools.

  The books are provided by the publisher at a significantly reduced cost of $1.75 per book versus the regular cost of about $4.50 per book. Some companies like Home Depot also participate in this program.

  Each year 1200 books are purchased for distribution to the Fullerton schools. Books are purchased for various grade levels with the approval of the school administrations. Due to the limited number of books only 3 to 4 schools can be helped each year.

  Dick Mathewson’s interest in this program was sparked by the fact he could not read until the 5^th. grade. When his father discovered this, he got tutoring for Dick to allow him to read. Dick has acted as a mentor to students at Nicolas Junior High to develop their reading skills.

  Dick also mentioned the program established by Bob Sattler in memory of his wife Resolva. Bob Sattler sponsors a book purchase and reading program called Resolva’s Readers in local schools to help students to read. Bill McGarvey also mentioned a previous program financed by Rotary where $8,200 was collected to fund book purchases for Maple School children.

  Dick Mathewson stressed how vital it is to have children read. This is the essence of entering into the modern technology age. Without reading well, a person is left out of many of the opportunities of this society and faces a life of severe challenges.

  Dick Mathewson is commended for his commitment to serve his fellow citizens in this community.

Raffle

Jay Kremer won the raffle but had no clue as to the question by Joyce Capelle. Joyce asked what was the age when oak trees begin to produce acorns. A guess of 20-years was off by 30-years as it takes 50-years for an oak tree to produce. Perhaps a lesson for our Rotary service goals is here as many Rotarians are of the age where oak trees produce.

Joke of the Day

  Dick Mathewson told a story of two Swedish hunters, Ole and Sven, who bagged four moose in South Dakota. They wanted to take their dressed out meat home with them in a private plane but the pilot said the plane would carry only the two hunters and the meat of two moose.

  The hunters complained that the previous year they had the meat of four moose and the pilot had a similar plane and agreed to take all of the moose meat on the plane. After some persuasion and additional money, the pilot agreed to take all on the plane.

  On takeoff, the plane ran and ran along the runway but never lifted off and ran off the runway into the brush. The pilot and two hunters were shaken up but not seriously injured. Sven shook his head after waking up and said, “Ole, Ole where are we?’ Ole said, “Sven, I think we’re at the same spot as last year.”