Welcome to another Rotagram! Wednesday 9/12/2012, here we go!

We start our meeting with a very somber announcement. Andy Anderson, Rotarian since 1965, local business owner, and asset to the community, recently passed away. Services will be held at 10:00am on Saturday 9/15/2012 at LDS Euclid Building 225 N Euclid Avenue, Fullerton. He will be greatly missed.

Newest Nine member Steve Savage led us in our flag salute. He has been busy with many projects at the Boys and Girls club. Welcome back Steve, we hope to see you around more often.

Deacon Jay led the invocation. In a moving invocation, Deacon Jay asked for peace in Libya regarding the recent U.S. Embassy murders. In something we can all agree on, Deacon Jay mentioned “We [as humans] cannot keep doing this”.

Thad Sanford, another newest nine member (soon to be graduated!), led us in the four way test for the 2nd week in a row. He is encouraging all members to memorize us this by starting with the Key words: TRUTH, FAIR, GOODWILL, and BENEFICIAL.

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

We should get to 100% club memorization in no time!.

Newest Nine member Susan Smith sang a moving rendition of “God Bless America”. It is good to know we have a more talented singers in the club! As always, we moved right into “Smile”

We had one guest today, Will Abbot from Boy Scouts, guest of Lee Brocket. He is hoping to become a member in the near future. He should help to bring down our average age of membership.

We had several announcements this week. Bob Muschek, mentioned that some Rotarians may not have received the email version of their dues last quarter. If you are unsure if you have paid your dues, please get with Bob and can assist you. We thank Bob for his follow up. Bob ended with Dan Kiernan’s name which brought about a chorus of laughter at Dan’s expense.

Vern Andrews announced the Rotary Foundation is looking for unmet need projects in Fullerton. Applications are due by 10/15/2012. If there is a project that can help improve our community, please contact Vern.

Coach Dan threatened the club with an alumni baseball bat. The Jogathon (Saturday 9/29/2012) needs 15 Rotarian volunteers for administration duties the morning of the event. Over 1,100 students have signed up!! We have raised about $20k toward our goal of $30k. Dan Ouweleen’s tireless passion to our community sets a high bar for Rotarians. Be sure to see if you can help Dan with time, capital, or other contributions.

Marty Burbank informed us that there will be a meeting regarding International Rotary activities at his office on….. after various date confusions…. Friday 9/14/2012. Please contact Marty for details. The club agreed it was Dan Kiernan’s fault that Marty got the dates mixed up.

The unpredictable and always entertaining Zoot Velasco was our recognition master for the day. Right out of the gate, Dan Kiernan was fined $5 for being the source of jokes, many times, earlier in the program. Dan was fined again for no apparent reason later in Zoot’s reign as finemaster.

Zoot fined Captain Dick Daybell for allegedly not telling him it was his day for Recognition master.

Jim Williams was fined for losing one of Zoot’s cards, used in the card deck for the opportunity drawing. He also owe’s Zoot a new card deck. Jim tried to claim he was doing this for the good of the club, insinuating that Zoot is putting used cards back in the deck. Jim’s logic is not without merit…

Jim Young was recognized for his years of work in the Fullerton art and culture community. A special award, in Jim’s name, will be given out to deserving artist from the Muck. Thank you for everything you have done for the community Mr. Young.

In a far stretch of logic, and bow tie seasonality, Joe Lins was fined.

Marilyn Richards was fined for having an anniversary. In a “Who is on first” conversation, Zoot tried to determine if it was Marilyn’s 60th anniversary, 16th anniversary, or their anniversary was on the 16th. Zoot fined Theresa Harvey for giving him bad information. Happy Anniversary Marilyn!

Dan O was recognized for his enormous contribution of time and effort to the Jog-a-thon. It would not be the same without him.

The fun is just getting started, next up was the Opportunity Drawing.

After confusion on tickets, Zoot boldly claimed he could easily rig this drawing “if he wanted to”. Terry Ott had the winning ticket, drew the Jack of hearts (not a winner), and we have one less card in the deck for next week. A card counting commission may need to be formed, to study the activity of the week, followed by regression analysis and a report to President Lean.

Zoot ended his reign as recognition master and opportunity drawing administrator with an obscure fact about a new cologne inspired by the Pope. There were jokes…. You had to be there.

Special Recognition to Joe Lins: When the raffle prize was announced at around $38, he shouted we should round it to $1,000. I’d like to be on Joe’s team during bonus time. Be wary of loud comments around your rotascribe!

Our guest speaker was Erin Haselton from the Fullerton Chamber Commerce. Erin, a young professional in Fullerton, has spent the past six years fostering a favorable small business environment through the chamber. She has been a resident in Fullerton for two years.

Measure W will be on the upcoming ballot. The details, many of which you can find at www.VoteYesonW.com, sound too good to be true…

HERE IS WHY:

Over the past several years, Chevron has been pushing to build houses near Coyote Hills.

Through litigation and negotiation they won contracts to build homes on some of this land.

In return Chevron would spend $30 million on various community projects- a nature preserve at Coyote Hills (they will maintain it), schools, reduced fire risk at coyote hills, etc.

For unkown reasons at our luncheon, an opposition group challenged Chevron’s deal to fund $30 million. This group got enough signatures to bring Chevron’s $30 million spending on Fullerton to the ballot (NOT a vote on if Chevron will build houses- this will happen no matter what).

Now Fullerton residents will vote on whether or not the City will agree to accept Chevron’s $30 million of private funding to the city.

It was an exciting lunch, with one of the longest Q and A’s I’ve seen at a Rotary lunch. You could see the energy as the meeting ended, as Rotarians stayed late to talk amongst each other to better understand the Chevron and Coyote Hills issue.

Don’t forget about our upcoming Jog a Thon.

See you next week Rotarians!