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Newsletter for August
1,
2007 |
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coming soon: President Sally opens the meeting. Forrest leads the flag pledge. The latest fad among Rotarians...   Thought for the Day: Pamela Tuft on a Rotary Foundation Thought Paul Harris contributions support Rotary Foundation programs in our community and across the globe. The great feature of your Paul Harris donation is that half of your contribution will come back to our district in three years for use in the humanitarian and educational programs that we choose. Our club has used more than our fair share of these funds, which we receive in the form of Ambassadorial Scholarships, Matching Grants, and District Simplified Grants, for many of our PVR programs so please continue to give generously towards your Paul Harris contributions. Guests: Butch Harfield, auto detailer. Suzanne Martin, the new principal at Sonoma Mountain Elementary. Jerry Porter, Sunrise Club.  Phil Carson, Windsor Club and owner of Rooster Run. The Tuft Family: Sam, Stephanie, Katrina and our own Pam. Sunshine and Showers: Gardner Bride’s airplane got near missed and flipped over while taking off at the Oshkosh, Ohio airshow this weekend. He forgot to put on his seat belt and crushed two vertebrae in his neck. He’s still walking and driving around though but please send him your best wishes for a rapid recovery. Chuck Hartley is continued doing well, maybe here for next week’s meeting. He’s going a bit stir crazy though so drop in on him at PVH or send him a line. With these medical mishaps, Connie is organizing a member’s assistance program for the club and need help with that so contact her if you can help out. Announcements: If you have bought items from the Pelican Arts auction, please get items from Shadi soon. Thanks. First Friday this week at Sally’s house about 6pm. Please sign up if you are coming. Membership Foundation meeting this Saturday at Cotati police station, 9 am. Fines Jerrie Patterson celebrates her 60th adopting a new 2.5 lb feline. Meow!  Shadi
celebrates both her birthday and her new CD release by throwing a party
and giving $100 to her Paul Harris. Good luck with the new CD!Diane Zimmerman went to Italy, fighting the crowded with lots of other Americans as well as with fifteen family members. Bet that’s enough family time for a while, eh D?! Russell Rice makes an Inside Passage Alaska trip and sees lots of glaciers and coldness thereby stating “What global warming?”. Russell, it used to be the Outside Passage. Mike Rabette celebrates a recent trip to Disney World, Florida. Ron Johns went to Tahoe for two weeks, enjoying his semi-retirement. Sally, Will, Coral Anne, and Todd also did Tahoe last week and spoke with members of the Incline Village Rotary club.  Dawn came back from Utah with lots of goodies and flags for the club. Rotary on the River Weekend will be held on Saturday and Sunday, Sept 8 and 9 th at Odd Fellows Park, Guerneville. This year the event will not be a a fund raiser this year, just a fun raiser with all the family invited to canoe racing, Russian river and beach fun, picnics, softball, bocci ball, shuffleboard, playground structures, and an evening BBQ (bring side dish or dessert.) You can rent a cabin overnite (about $75) or park at a RV site (about $40). Saturday night hors derves, Sue’s strawberry daqiueres or Walt’s margaritas. Sunday morning breakfast. All for a easy $15 per person so come on down and dunk Russell for all those fines last year! A focus group is looking into forming a Rotoract club at Sonoma State. With Connie as the district chair with Phil and Monica on the board, they are looking for four former Interactors to become Rotoactors (an after high school age Rotary group) and are interviewing interested students at SSU. If you know of some 20-30  year
old who would like the values of Rotary, contact them. If formed,
this will be the first Rotoract club in the district in many years.Paul Harris Award honors Stephanie Tuft Pamela, who has already established Paul Harris fellows for husband Sam and daughter Katrina, now honors her youngest daughter Stephanie as a Paul Harris Fellow as well. Stephanie has recently been admitted to the MBA program at Dominican College, referring in her application to her many Rotary experiences since she was five years old. Congrats Stephanie, and thank you Pam for involving the whole family in the family of Rotary and setting an example for the rest of us to emulate. Good job Tufts! Harold Alexander Fellows honored. The Hal Alexander Award, named after the founder of Petaluma Valley Rotary club, is used for to fund high school scholarships for current graduating seniors. The award has different levels of fellowship. Today we feted two new Platinum Fellows: Joann Pozzi and John Strong whom each have contributed over $1000 level. Well done Missy P and Johnny Strong! In addition, the last Golf Tourney with its Hal Alexander matching funds incentive helped many members achieve some new levels. Our newest Hal Alexander Gold Fellows, with over $600 in contributions, are: Kevin Downey, Laura Frey (Forrest), Jim Firulli, Moe Jacobson, Dave Johnson, Mike Levine, Elizabeth Marquardt, Connie Tuck, and Pamela Tuf  t.Alongside them, we honored our newest Hal Alexander Fellows, at a level of $300 donated, are: Rickie Roarke (whittled away at it over the years in 15 donations), Sheila Bride, Dawn Davis, Jon Fitzgerald (Libby), Kathy Flynn, Linda P., Russell Rice, Jan Rosselle, and Jim Tuck (Connie). Good job gang! Raffle: Honored guest Stephanie Tuft draws but alas no luck. Jon Strong donates a raffle item from his latest trip to England, a soccer shirt from Liverpool- Russell F. wins (who sells it to Phil with the proceeds to go to a Rotary fund). Speakers: Danny Holmes Wine Country Racing Sonoma County Fair, July 18 to August 6 Danny is the author of “Ten Steps to Winning”, a how to book on winning at the races and co-hosts Santa Rosa’s Racing Seminar at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Miller Shade Park Stage. His book has won 3 national awards being the best written book about winning at horse racing as well as being the largest selling book at the Gamblers Bookstore, and his seminar has been rated the best in the US and has been nationally televised. One of the ten top handicappers in the US, he has been nicknamed “The Wizard of Odds”. First off, Danny invited us to come to the races. There is no fee to see the races, no parking or entrance fee. In addition to good race horses, the track boasts a new $3 million dollar grass turf course, the only one in California, and the best in the US. This year there is an additional six days of racing following the fair, an experiment if does well, may expand to a month next year. This is sponsored by three local restaurants including Rooster Run with the intent of generating excitement in racing. Post time is 12:45 daily except Friday at 2:15 (no racing on Tuesday). Patrons can also wager on races from Del Mar, Saratoga, Arlington, and other tracks. Danny’s Racing Seminar is at 11:15am daily and is free. The seminar attracts nationally acclaimed guests who share their experiences, including jockey Russell Base, the winningest jockey in history. In addition, there is the Jockey Club, Sonoma County’s only establishment offering year round pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing on Canadian and US tracks. The club features 8 big screen and over 50 other TVs (admission is $3).  Danny himself wagers on 3-4 races per day. He wrote his book when he was very ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. Since then he now knows most professional horse gamblers, gotten lots of celebrity’s autographs (a lot of them horse race), has owned 135 thoroughbreds, participated in two Kentucky Derbys, and once won $130K in a race. His wife, who is also an enthusiast, can read horse body language very accurately (and sometimes bets against him!). His winning rate is about 70 percent which is a lot better than the 30 percent of most other methods. He achieves this great rate via smart money management which sets goals and endpoints precisely. He bets on 3 horses every race, with a 50 percent goal net profit on any single day. For example, a $1000 goal per day needs $600 per race needed. He quits at the goal- he is not in it for the action, but rather more as investment method. He states that when the odds not your way, stop playing. He states that horse racing people tend to be numbers people: lawyers, accountants, etc- there are two players in New York who wage $1 million every day- they were ex-stockbrokers. He also believes however that most players play to lose, they like the action too much. Q&A: Economically, the race track gets 17 percent of the gross receipts and has no interest in who wins. In fact, the Sonoma County Fair makes 70 percent of its revenues in first two weeks via racing. Although there is less attendance betting, more on-line, off-track betting is exploding. And prizes have gone up from $5,000 to $15,000 in ten years for the same race contest. The Fairgrounds get a less percentage for off-track betting but they still do pretty well. Will there be a two year old horse racing prohibition- probably not due to Kentucky Derby reasons- no ban is anticipated. Is it the horse or rider? It is probably- 80 percent horse, 10 percent jockey, 10 percent trainer contribution. Advantages of turf course: turf racing makes for tighter turns and blocking out the favorite horse sometimes- makes for exciting endings. Great talk Danny- ran out of time before you could tell us what an exacta is exactly. GW signing off. Meeting Adjourned |
