Where do I begin?  Most important where do I end?  What a meeting!  Again, Terri Grassi received a huge round of sincere applause when she opened the meeting.  I think it’s because we are all happy that we are not her, or maybe just a great honeymoon!

OPENING TRADITIONS     

Diane Masseth-Jones led us in the pledge to our great American Flag and of course the standard “beat Army” by Buck Catlin.

Howard led us through “Sing out a song of Rot’ry” to the tune of Give my regards to Broadway accompanied by the talented Don Ludwig on the piano.

Mr. Oates gave us a few thoughts to ponder, as a matter of fact, very few.

INTRODUCTIONS:

Lee Myhre did a great job in reminding us that we are all in good company while doing the introductions;

Diane Jones’s guest was Johana Capurso.

Paul Dudley proudly introduced his much better half Karen who joined us for lunch before retiring to the O.C. Fair for the afternoon.

Bob Bean introduced his grandson, Nicholas, from Nevada who challenged him to the basketball game of “horse” with $100 going to the Rotary Foundation after Bob shows Nicholas the ways of the court!

Vern Andrews was replaced by Jim LaPak by introducing Vern's guest, Lanny Couvillon.

Art Levine introduced Joe Grana.

Kathy Allred overachieved by bringing and introducing two guests, Joe Dale and George Del Campo.

Ray Hansen introduced Marsha Bujan with St. Jude Memorial Foundation.

Bob Savage introduced Zelda Schule as his secretary.

Jay Kremer proudly introduced his wife, Gloria, his neighbor Leon and Liz Leyson who happened to be the program riveted with emotion.  Jay also introduced his additional guests Bill and Patricia Rhoades.

Randy McFarland playfully introduced Jim Jones who was unable to make it today, thereby standing Randy up!

VISITING ROTARIANS:

Allan and Saundra Stark the Past Governor of District 5320. PDG Cliff Nelson, from Orange North, Rob Chatterton, and Andy Ersek from Orange North.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

J Richey reminded us of the Fullerton Flyers event on July 30 that Rick Crane is organizing.

Theresa Harvey has plenty of Demotion night pictures available.

Minard Duncan let us know that Allyn Lean is on the road to recovery after a very serious illness.

Ed Little was happy to let us know how wrong he was last week regarding Mr. Stox.  They have not closed and will gladly accept reservations.

Jim Mc Kamy thanked everyone for making last weeks Poker Tournament a success.  Jim Williams was the big winner and Scott Dowds had some explaining to do when the Big Boss called and asked what the green tables were doing in the lobby of Farmers and Merchants bank and why beer was stashed in the vault.  Hope to see you next week Scott.

Jim Williams let us all know that the phone number to Mr. Stox is 634-2994 and you can have a romantic dinner for $75 per person and he hopes that will reinforce the fact that they did are not closed.

The best announcement of the day was when Bill Schenk offered a time share for the next two weeks for free as his wife had just informed him that they would be unable to go.  Location, Beruit.  Price, Free!!!!!!!

Andy Anderson thanked Mr. McGonnagel and the Rotary Foundation for his use of their Time Share, as he just returned from Beaver Creek and a few days with his family.

Mike Oates is looking for Host Families during the week of August 4 – 12.  Call Mike at 871-6206.

President Terri thanked a noticeably absent Scott Dowds for hosting the Poker Tournament.

RECOGNITION MASTER: The Honorable Phil Silverman presiding;

Phil confirmed that Bill Schenk had the best announcement and fined him $50.

Don Ludwig celebrated his birthday today at 73 with a $30 fine.

Buck Catlin got off cheap on his 88^th birthday with a $20 contribution.

Bob Bean is celebrating his 74^th birthday and therefore fined an exceptional $100 to prove who is best at “HORSE”.

Bill McGarvey noted for not one but two pictures in the paper for his donation to CSUF.  Bill was not there and avoided the fine while Lee Myhre was fined $10 for having the name of the chime on the tip of his tongue.

Not to be outdone, Leroy Fulton got up and set us all straight by letting us know that Lee Myhre’s brother is the best carillon player around.  I still can’t remember the name of the carillon but Leroy gets to add $10 to the cause.

Phil then proceeded to ask Wally Swatowski if he know how much a popcorn cart at Disneyland grossed in a year.  Wally missed by $950,000 and was recognized by $20.  The answer, $1,000,000!!!

Phil also recognized John Davis and thanked him for being there and congratulated him on his real retirement.  No fine applied, credit for time served.

Paul Dudley was recognized for being out of uniform by wearing shorts and a $20 assessment was levied.  Karen, Paul’s wife, then got up and set the record straight by saying it should be $30 because he has great legs.

Good Job Phil

PROGRAM

I must admit right now that there is no way I am going to properly convey the message given today.  Jay Kremer introduced his friend and neighbor, Mr. Leon Leason, a survivor of holocaust, the mass murder of Jews carried out by the Nazi government.  Leon was 12 years old and spent 5 years of his life in Nazi persecution.  The emotional story of a young boy whose father was transferred to Poland with his family of 4 boys and 1 girl with Leon being the youngest.  He spoke of fear and hunger and rules put in place for the sole purpose of dehumanizing the Jews.  He told us about his oldest brother, who was 17 on the car with his girlfriend.  He was given the opportunity to get off yet refused to because his girlfriend was not given the same opportunity.  In his words, “He finished his life as a 17 year old”.  Leon could not understand the mass murder because of who they were, not what they had done.  He spoke of the time spent in the ghetto, a place where the walls were high and no opportunity.  He would run errands for the women to be rewarded with an extra thick piece of bread with lots of butter spread across the top.  He would bring that bread home so his mother could split it up and spread the butter across all the pieces.  Leon praised this great land of America and what a great place to call home.  Leon is an Honorary Member of Rotary and he and his wife Liz have 2 grown children.  Their son Danny is an Olympic water polo veteran coaching at a local school and their daughter Stacy is married to a Pilot.

President Terri adjourned the meeting at 1:42pm