Roast Beef and Orange Potatoes? I’ve heard of green beer for St. Paddy’s Day, but this one was new to me. Then someone explained that these were “sweet potatoes” (not yams which are darker and sweeter).

After Prez Terri Grassi gonged us to order we pledged allegiance to a United States Flag present only in our collective patriotic imagination. We then sang a tribute to that same “Grand Old Flag” penned by that great Irish-American patriot and songsmith, George M. Cohan. After that, all we could do was “Smile” and hope that the world smiled with us.

Our Distinguished Visitor for the day, District-Governor-Nominee Greg McGonigal, offered the invocation. (After the delegates vote at the International Convention, Mr. McG. will --- barring some upset ---become “District-Governor-Elect”!)

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Kaisch introduced visitors and guests of whom, this week, there were but two: Minard Duncan’s guest, Kathleen Rhee, and the aforementioned Greg McGonigal visiting from the Newport-Balboa Club. Past-Prez Ray Ashcroft then stood up to recognize LTC (USN Ret.) Buck Catlin (“Beat Army”) for his outstanding work in selecting recipients for our annual community charitable donations. In recognition of Buck’s efforts Ray passed along a plaque which had been awarded to our club by the Assistance League of Fullerton.

Past-Prez and all-round factotum Jim Williams announced the annual Good Guys party, June 20th at the home of Dexter Savage (Past-Prez of the other club to the “South.”) Minard Duncan reminded everyone of the upcoming Art Symphony at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center on Saturday June 9.

YWCA director, Diane Masseth-Jones reminded us all of the upcoming Monopoly Tournament. This is an official event sanctioned by the International Monopoly cartel. The winner will win a ride on the Reading Railroad and a fistful of Monopoly Dollars. No hotel on the Boardwalk, however: Donald Trump ain’t selling.

Club Treasurer Don Ludwig took to the mike to remind members of the importance of paying Rotary billings in a timely fashion. He asked us to help Prez Terri wind up her year in the black. He also suggested writing your invoice number on your payment to assure proper credit.

Finemaster Mark Geiss  turned the recognitions into a comedy program, offering to mitigate fines if the Rotarians selected for recognition could answer the trivia questions he posed. In all the hubbub it was sometimes difficult to tell whether the answers were correct and who, if anyone, had actually answered them. Accordingly, the following account may be somewhat incomplete:

Drew Napolin’s 24th Anniversary June 4th and he had to answer a question about Naked Olympics. Frank Kawase was assessed $50 for something. Dr. Nate Kvetny offered a surefire way to remember your wife’s birthday: “Just try forgetting it once.” Warren Wimer was asked what happened fourscore and seven years before the Gettysburg Address. Warren correctly answered July 4th, 1776, but was accused of getting help from the audience.

Recognition (continued)

PDG Jim Young volunteered that today was his 86th birthday!  Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” each in his own key, of course. Dean Heiser admitted to being 75 although everyone agreed he didn’t look a day over 74. Randy McFarland admitted to 55.

After running out of birthdays, Mark began fining members based on the length of their boats. Claude Jones’s Boat is 42 feet, Dick Daybell’s is 34 feet, and Police Chief Pat McKinley’s is 29 feet. Each was fined a dollar per foot, except Buck Catlin whose 300-plus feet WWII submarine dwarfed the others; Buck was excused from a fine because the boat was used in defense of the country. (And, hey, it wasn’t his!)

The winning raffle ticket was purchased by Prez-2-B Tom Meyers, but he didn’t manage to draw the one ACE left in the deck.

Program:

The program by the Fullerton Police Department covered two interesting topics: new weaponry by the police, and the “Downtown” situation.

Following the highly-publicized North Hollywood bank robbery of a few years ago, police departments in Los Angeles County and throughout the Southland agreed to arm their police forces with AR-15 combat assault rifles in order to give the police some equality with heavily-armed criminals. These military weapons required special training in their use, and as officers trained in their use were promoted out of the field into investigative and administrative work, new recruits were not trained in their use.

Recently, therefore, the Fullerton Police Department has adopted a simpler but equally effective semi-automatic rifle from Sturm Ruger which has manufactured reliable police weapons for many years. The Ruger rifle is backed up by a Remington shotgun, and radio cars will soon carry both weapons.

To minimize the incidence of lethal confrontations, the department has also been issued special guns which fire large sponge-rubber pellets the size of marshmallows. These are intended to discourage rioters without causing serious harm. The other “less lethal” tool is the TASER which shoots out two electric wires with hooks on the end which embed themselves in the skin of the target while passing a 50,000 volt electric charge between the ends. This tends to disrupt the nervous system of the targeted felon, making it easier to bring him into compliance.

Much to the surprise of many of us old fogies who are in bed by ten o’clock, we learned from Chief McKinley that downtown Fullerton has become the main magnet for hardcore young Orange County drinkers looking for a wild party scene.

This has posed a challenge for the Fullerton P.D. to keep order and prevent accidents and mayhem in the streets. We were shown slides of young party animals milling about. Some expressed their displeasure at being photographed by the police by rendering the classic one-fingered salute. Our club’s message to the Fullerton P.D.: “Keep up the good work!”