“THE ROTARY CLUB” of Fullerton’s January 9^th meeting was opened by “THE PRESIDENT” of “THE CLUB”, Tom Meyer with a smile and warm welcome.

We pledged our allegiance with the able assistance of Dr. Ken Kaisch, and joined Don Ludwig, Howard Wood and Randy McFarland in a poorly rendered version of “Give Our Regards to Rot’ry” and a rousing round of “Smile.”  Howard welcomed a capacity crowd today with well over 96 people.  Way to go with the perfect attendance New Years Resolution fellow Rotarians!  Paul Harris was able to descend from the heavens to lead us in an invocation.  (Rumor has it that Paul Harris has possessed the mind of our very own Dr. Jim Young.)

Thank you to Mark Zane for introducing our guests.  They included Sunrise Rotarian Owen Dean.  Drew Napolin introduced us to two attorneys, Casey Hull and Marty Burbank; Leroy Fulton brought Andrew Carroll, a CPA graduate of CSUF; Jimmy Williams introduced us to his much better half, Sally and also at their table was Jeanie Stockwell, Dean’s wife and one of newest nine Blake Smith brought his wonderful wife Irene; Leslie McCarthy introduced her niece (and lifesaver) Katie Fitch.

It was a Great Day for New Member inductions lead by Jimmy Williams.  We were treated to a short bit of his thoughts on the diversity of the uniforms of Rotary.  He moved from Elvis’ 72 birthday, to Group Study Exchange in India, traveled by oxcart, bicycle and elephant to discover the evils of gambling on backgammon, touched on George Washington’s dress uniform, Frank Kawase’s apron, Joe Lins’ bow tie, Maryalyce Jeremiah’s coaches attire to finally arrive at the thought that the only mandatory uniform of Rotary is our pins.  Wear them with pride wherever we go and discover friends in placed you never expected!  Remember a coal hauler, tailor, attorney and mining engineer were our First Four.

Tom and Ray Hansen were able to induct 4 new members today!  Vern Andrews introduced Clare McKenna, Executive Director for North Orange County YMCA and a lifetime Fullertonian.  She started in Y in 1987 as a bus driver.  Welcome another graduate of CSUF in liberal studies, Acacia School, Ladera Vista, and Troy.

Dr. Jim Young, introduced Dr. Irene Lange, Chair of Marketing Department in the Department of Business at CSUF.  Dr. Lange has been a member of the staff of CSUF for over 40 years and department chair for 32.  Her life has been the university, but she recently expanded her interests to the omnibudsman program for Council on Aging and looks forward to her experience with Rotary, being particularly interested in the international aspects.

Jimmy Williams spoke for Blake Smith, a great neighbor and fellow car show enthusiast.  Blake is known as Mr. House Perfect.  He is the owner of Corbett-Smith and in his spare time has been involved with the City of Hope and FCLO with Griff Duncan. Blake has lived in Fullerton 50 years.  His uncle had 60 years of perfect Rotary attendance out of CT, but Blake doesn’t know if he will be able to match that.

Tom Meyer introduced us to Vimal Seth who was impressed with our website.  Thank you again Bob Jahncke!  Tom tried to soft sell Vimal on our club, but had to bring in arm twister Terry to apply high pressure tactics.  He has been a 4 year US resident and has a sister in Fullerton.  Vimal is a Business Project Manager for AAYRA, Inc. in Fullerton.

Announcements

Randy McFarland announced the need for help hosting 50 visitors for the International Convention, on the 16^th of June.  Please call Randy at (714) 871-1547 if you are able to help him!

• Rick Crane has Community Investment Award Forms.  If you are interested, please complete them and return them to Buck Catlain this month.
• Bob Savage, Terry Grassi and Joyce Capelle are all undefeated coaches of CSUF Women’s Basketball team.  On 2/7/08 Tom Meyer (the most experienced of the four) will be trying to uphold our winning streak.  Call Rick Crane at (714) 525-0363 to attend and show your support!

• Concert Awards are due 1/28/07 per Joyce Capelle.  Those who are not chosen for Concert Awards will have their applications forwarded to Buck for consideration in the Community Investment Awards.
• Jim McKamy (dressed by his mom) specifically for his appearance today announced a three way Rotary Poker Tournament on will be sponsored by THE Rotary Club of Fullerton, Rotary Sunrise and Rotary South.  Proceeds will go to benefit Preventable Blindness and more information will follow next week. 
• Minard Duncan announced the next Ayuda Dental Clinic for kids in grades 2-8 without dental insurance.  It will be Saturday, January 12^th.  Call Richman School for scheduling an appointment at (714) 336-6910.  He also needs members for photo ops on that day.
• It only took $100,000 to build a Rose Bowl float and all labor was 100% volunteered.  Rotary’s message was able to reach an audience of millions.  Great bang for the $3.00 cost to our members.  Bill Peloquin is to be Rose Parade Chair in 2 years.

Recognition Master.

Bill Mathy, a mighty Blackfoot built an new endowment for the Rose Parade Float with his generous assessments.  Paul Dudley (1/3/08) for his 61^st Birthday was fined $1,000,000.  His wife’s name is Karen and Paul had to correctly spell it for Bill.  Robert Hathaway (1/6/08) had a spousal birthday.  As his wife’s name was spelled with too many vowels he was fined $1,000,000.  Scott Dowds’ (1/8/08) 30^th wedding anniversary was spent with his wife and two children and he therefore escaped fine free.  Bob Hillhouse (1/8/08) was given rock climbing equipment by his wife who promptly doubled his life insurance also escaped a fine.  William Mathy (1/8/08) was 58 years old yesterday and promptly rendered FINE FREE the rest of his life.  Grandpa Frank Kawase (1/8/08) had the addition of twins Ella and Julia to his great family.  Maryalyce Jeremiah of CSUF is one of 22 who will be inducted into Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame.  She is in top 50 most wining coaches currently in the game.  Dan Kiernan was fined for assaulting Santa Clause because he was given coal again this year and Dan Ouweleen (1/8/08) had his marriage contract renewed for his 25^th year.   Bill you were wonderful in your endowment fundraising efforts, but you should lead by example so the Club revoked your Lifetime of being FINE FREE and assessed $2,000,000 to you to be donated to the Rotary Float Building Fund.

$170 should have been won by Chet Schultz.  But as we all know there is no joker in the deck he only received $10 from Bob Hillhouse.

Program:  Economic Impact of Art on the Fullerton Community

Jay Kraemer brought us Susan Petrella who has a BA in International Communications and an MBA from the University of Illinois.  She has 25 years in the education field revolving around marketing and business development.  Susan is a member of CSUF Marketing Department and Chair of the Ad-hoc Arts Committee for the City of Fullerton which is studying the financial impact of art in Fullerton.

As a result of a study of the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences it was determined by American Study of the Arts fi Washington D.C. that Fullerton Arts and Cultural Organizations support:

$69,000,000 in economic activity

1,349 jobs

$4,140,000 in government revenue, ($1.7 city and $2.3 state)

Next week we will have the long anticipated show by Dr. Nate Kvetny and trusty sidekick Jimmy Williams.  A Craft talk from Dan Ouweleen of the newest nine will also occur.  He has promised us all he will teach us to correctly say his name.  We should all be able to master “Dan” by the end.

Tom Meyer closed with “Success is the peace of mind in knowing you made the effort to do your best.” by John Wooden.