Meeting Notes and Club News Wednesday, January 16, 2002
Volume 61, Issue 26		Written and reported by Jim Blackburn

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Judy Pappe delivered a fine thought for the day, quoting from a 1950s sermon from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His thoughts about the evils of violence are just as pertinent today.

Guests and Visiting Rotarians:
Ronnie Hewett introduced Lewis Lagano, who visits us each year from a Rotary Club in Washington. Lewis has 58 years of Rotary perfect attendance.
Visitors included: Jonathan Marshall - guest of Debra Koff; Kathy Campanelli - guest of Chris Hunt; Beth Jahncke - guest of her fortunate husband, past president Bob Jahncke; Al Tetreault - guest of Jana Bogart; Jan Flory - guest of Don Bankhead; Dick Gloss - guest of past president Ray Hansen; Jim McKamy - guest of past president Wally Bartelt; Jerry Brown - guest of Harry Brown. Jerry is the head guy at the Fullerton Inter-faith Emergency Services (FIES) and presented us with a plaque recognizing Rotary's support of New Vista, FIES' shelter for homeless families with children.

An official welcome to Damon Dragos, principal at Sunny Hills High School - our newest Rotarian.

Announcements (almost a world record):
* Warren Wimer pridefully announced that the goal of $25,000 for the Fullerton Rotary Room at Cal State Fullerton has been exceeded, i.e. $31,000 has been raised. WW was understandably "crowned" Rotarian of the Week.
* Warren also invited all present to Chez Wimer in Mammoth for the Rotary Winter Festival (weekend of March 22).
* Winston Creel and Griff Duncan gave the Annual Concert another push - Saturday, January 26^th.
* Mike Oates encouraged the recruitment of "young men and women" to be Rotarians (Young is obviously not a required criterion).
* Chris Fraschetti needs all the members without a "Y" chromosome re the Valentine's Day program.
* Bill Kincaid explained the quarterly invoices and bills. Apparently some of us are confused. (Just pick the largest number on the page and pay it!!)
* Dan Kiernan mounted podium to ask for RSVPs re the Fellowship "Dinnahs".

Opportunities and Recognitions:
The Honorable Don Bankhead had the winning ticket, but did not know how Mark Twain became Mark Twain.
Daniel Kang was recognized for his B'day in early January. Bill Kincaid was recognized Shirley's birthday. Dennis Ullrich was especially recognized for Hydroflow's groundbreaking for a re-location to Fullerton.

A Plethora of Bond Issues AKA A Way to Improve Property Values:

Mike Escalante (Fullerton Joint Union High School District Superintendent) and his splendid staff presented a substantial program concerning Ballot Measure AA.

The high school district as well as the elementary and community college districts have bond issue measures on the March ballot. The secondary school bond issue would raise property taxes by less than $20 per $100,000 dollars of property values and yield $70 millions of dollars that can be used to match state bond issue funding for capital needs.

California ranks 40th among states in terms of per pupil expenditures for public education; but the Golden State ranks 8th in terms of teacher remuneration per student. This imbalance is necessary to attract and retain teachers, but it results in a relative shortage of capital improvement dollars in the annual budget.

As a result, many buildings are old, crowded and in need of infrastructure updating. At the same time, the demographics of the district are such that 2,500 to 4,000 additional HS students will join the district in the next 10 years. Building new high schools is virtually impossible due to a shortage of adequate sites - Can you spell "Belmont Learning Center"??? Therefore, one new building is needed on each of the existing six high schools. Mike showed concept drawings of each new building and graphic illustrations of need for other improvements. The capital improvement project and the bond itself have received high marks, and Mike made a fine case to support Measure AA on the March ballot.

Editor's comment: "With the possible exception of a pristine beach, nothing improves property values more than good schools."

Next Week: High School Speech Contest