Meeting was called to order by club president Jim Ripley, for his opening statements he welcomed everyone and recited the four-way test, “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” He gave a shoutout to Joyce Capelle for doing Sally Williams’ orientation. Judy Atwell and Beverly Berryman received a shoutout for filling in for Monica Fernandez who was not present for our meeting. He asked any past president that could fill in for him next week’s meeting. Past president Zoot Velasco volunteered. President Ripley announced a “rummage sale” going on at the side with a table displaying some old Rotary t-shirts and memorabilia, “it’s going to disappear after today’s meeting. If there is anything that you want, you are welcomed to take it.”

For our Commencement Ceremonies, Taz Stachelski gave us our Patriotic Moment. She led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Bob Sadler led us in our Invocation, “We are so blessed in so many ways. No doubt about it, we have our fears, but we’re thankful for organizations such as this one in particular. Amen.”

Our Songmaster was the multitalented Bill Edman, now with a piano in tow. He led us in three verses for a song called “Daisy Doll.” Great job Bill Edman!

Finemaster/Recognition Master was “Everyone’s Favorite Recognition Master” Joyce Capelle. She took the podium and began her masterful performance. “I may have offended somebody somewhere the last time and I am going to try to do that again now,” she said. Joyce pulled out her list and began with Gerardo Chagolla. Our Rota-scribe was recognized and fined for his 1-year Rotary Anniversary. “Do you think that just because you do a invaluable service for this club, you are exempt?” she asked. Pat Hartnett was recognized for his “first wife’s” birthday. He was fined $5. Jim and Sally Williams were recognized for their wedding anniversary, but Sally and Jim didn’t sit with each other on the same table so for that Joyce fined them $5. She then fined them both an extra $5 each for their 52nd wedding anniversary. Joyce asked if the longevity of their marriage is not sitting at the same table. Jim Williams was also recognized for 45th rotary anniversary. Congratulation Jim Williams for your huge accomplishment. Warren Wimer was recognized for his wife Nancy’s birthday on August 17. He was fined $5. Warren made a humble brag that him and his wife just had their first great grandchild. That cost him $5. Congratulation Warren Wimer! Bob Sattler was recognized for his birthday. He was fined $5. Joyce Capelle then asked that anyone who has not been fined to extract $1 from their wallet and asked them to place it in the fine net in honor of “National Dollar Day.” She gave the club a quick history of the U.S. currency and why they call bills greenbacks, “that’s because of the distinctive green ink on the back of the bills.” Great job Joyce Capelle!

Our Program at Hand was introduced by President Ripley, “this man needs no introduction. Please welcome Dick Ackerman.” Dick thanked everyone for having him and began his craft talk, “most of the things you hear today will be true. Anything you want to challenge, the fact checking table is set up right over here,” spoken like a true politician. Dick began his story starting back in 1779, “it turns out my 5th great grandfather was in the revolutionary war. He was also the first city council person for the city of Bedford, New York.” Fast forward to when Dick was born in Long Beach, California, as the only child. He attended Bellflower High where his first contact with a Rotary Club came when he received a scholarship for $200. “I went to Long Beach State for a couple years and I transferred to Stanford because a friend of mine was at Stanford and suggested I do it.” He then went to Hastings Law School, now UC Law San Francisco. He then got married with his wife Linda after Law school and had a few children over time. In 1971, he joined Rotary in Fullerton, with Merrill Rock as his sponsor, and in 1975, he became President of the club. In 1978, he became president of the chamber, and he remembers city council members were anti-business. “Back in 1978, we formed a Political Action Committee, it became popular that we ran two people out of city council.” The following year, he was advised on running for city council, “my entire campaign committee for city council were all Rotarians from South including Bill, who was my fundraising guy. We had a good time.” He says that his time as city council was better over his time as state government because “you can actually do stuff and you can get stuff done if something was not right.” He says his proudest achievement at city council was building the sports complex at CSUF, which was a joint interest between City of Fullerton Marriott and CSUF. He remembers Emmitsburg, Maryland, where they were invited to for a 3-day training, “Emmitsburg is a fun place. We took every city council person, city manager, every department head, and we flew on 2 separate planes.” After some years passed, Dick decided to run for Assemblyman, “I decided to run for that. The kids were all in college. So, I didn’t have to worry about them as much.” He says he was elected at the tail end of the session, “the last 3 or 4 weeks of session.” In Sacramento, you are basically voting on bills, around 200 to 300 bills a day. He remembers Wally Knox, Harvard University educated, Democratic Assemblyman for the state of California, “very liberal, very straight shooter, good guy.” He was advised to vote the opposite of him, “just look and see how I vote and just vote the opposite,” he jokingly remembers. In the year 2000, he ran for State Senate, and was elected for 4 years. During that time, he remembers governor Gray Davis and then Arnold Schwarzenegger, “He [Schwarzenegger] was a very successful business guy, successful movie actor.” Dick has good memories of Arnold during his time at Sacramento, “we were getting news coverage around the world because he was world famous. But, more importantly, I thought it was good.” Dick Ackerman shows the Fullerton Rotary Club members a signed photo of him with former president’s George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, and other leader politicians. Later on in life, Dick taught classes on the legislative process at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley. Dick and his wife Linda are proud grandparents of 4 grandkids. “I have a great family. Water has been a significant part of my life. I enjoy Rotary a lot and I enjoy being with you guys.” He finished his craft talk by taking questions from the members. After his presentation was over, President Ripley awarded him with a certificate for a donation in his name to Working Dogs for Warriors, a nonprofit dedicated to helping our Nation’s Warriors by training and donating service dogs to Veterans and First Responders.

Last thing on the agenda was the 50/50 drawing. Lucky ticket holder 6370649 wins $40. Congratulations to Marty Burbank! Next week’s program is an update on the Rotary International Foundation with past district governor Dan Ouweleen. “Don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe. Meeting adjourned.”