Rotary International Website.. click here

District 5130 Website.. click here

Petaluma Valley Website.. click here

 

Ex-presidente Russell Rice is pinch hitting for absent president Sally.

Forrest leads the flag pledge.

Thought for the Day:
Derek Stefan quotes President John F. Kennedy:
“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.  And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the pursuit must go on.”

Guests:
Anthony Hopkins, owner, Dream Dinners.
Ronn Flagg
Bob Kirk, World Affairs Council of Sonoma Council.
Russell fines one table without any guest but two other tables quickly talk themselves out of that predicament.



Presentations
Diane Zimmerman presents a certificate of appreciation to PVR and Lend-A-Hand chairs Libby Fitzgerald and Bob Hill who did a spectacular job raising $3312 for the teacher and kids.  Great job guys!

Russell passes the bucket for the District Adopt a Village program which sponsors a town in Nigera.

Announcements:
Rickie, sadly, announces a St Patricks Day celebration on March 17- so come have fun and quit your crying.

Connie proudly announces the formation of not one but two Rotaract clubs: one will be based at SSU while the other will be community based.  If you know someone who might be interested, contact her.
 
The deadline for District Assembly registration is coming up so contact Walt.

Interact will be here on Mar 19,with  "Rent-a-ract", their  auction of jobs, ie spring cleaning, etc.

Jim Furuli- we need help this Sat from 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm at Luchessi Center to help with the Sonoma Mountain Elementary Auction tending their open bar- if you are free at that time, come to just watch Jim serve em up!

Kathy Flynn- husband Bill is giving the Petaluma downtown club an archeological presentation next Thursday.  Relentless Rice promptly fines her for self-promotion.

Julie Restad announces the next Healthy Happy Hour will be on March 4, 6:30-7:30pm at her Serendipity Chiropractic Center.  Free chair massage, our Phil Pascal will be speaking, and you can go for the raffle prize.   Russell promptly zaps her too.

Fines
With a mandate from absent Sally, President Russell goes hog wild in his natural environment as the coffer catcher-upper:

Gordon’s (me) and wife Lynn are featured on the front page of the Petaluma Chamber News at the grand opening of Lynn’s chocolate cafÈ, Viva Cocolat.  Take a check Russell?

Julie Restad gets fined for doing a fine business- helping Russell get his knee mojo back.  But Russell does covers half of the fine. 

Jim O’Grady gets dinged for his 21 years of marriage, as does Sandy Campbell for her 30 years of marriage.  That’s 51 years married to the same person.  (that is..to there respective spice..not each other!)


Christine helps her 16 year old teen son celebrate his birthday with a WHOLE day of XBox.  Man, she’s strict!  Don’t let my son talk to your son!

Terri Bryant fined for her hair color du jour.  Rasberry I think it was.

Libby thinks up a fine for her two new grand-nephews.

Dave Johnson is offers up for one son moving to Marina district, and another who is remodelling new old house.  He and Karen also want a new dog- a golden retriever.  Missing the kids, eh Dave?

Ellie announces a first for Cinnabar- opening weekend is sold out for an opera, Cosi Fan Tutte (School for Lovers).   The Mozart’s comic masterwork features great voices, great cast, and great stage director (ahem, Ellie).  Come enjoy!  Thru March 23.

**Derek fined for record attendance in the last two meetings- he attended both.
****Rickie gets it for $10 bucks for being Rickie.
*******Joann Pozzi gets it for her for new cute puppy.

Mike Levine invites us all to a Sunday 10am Church Choir- ask him for details- I got lost them trying to type in his joke about the  dyslexic insommiac agnostic who sat up all night wondering if there was a Dog. (we only report them, folks..)

Walt reminds us that February is the month in which both Rotary in 1800’s itself was founded as well as our club starting back in 1974.

Raffle:  Christine wins some dinero as no marbles were drawn since Sally lost the marble bag!

Happy Dollars
Daughter, sister, and Pamela Tuft were in San Diego recently and caought the show “Wicked”- great fun and highly recommended!

Diane Z. mom turned 80 and celebrated by visiting in old haunts in San Francisco.

Jim Furuli-  Chris got a new job and is going to work again after 5 yrs.

Forrest- his daughter, who hates attention, turned 60 and took off for Phoenix trip- whereupon landing they had a plane announcement and birthday banner ready for her!

Russell, wife, and child Aiden had a fabulous weekend with exchange student Pedro took up skiing and snowboard very naturally.


Guest Speaker:
Robert Kirk speaks about the World Affairs Council.

Mr. Kirk is a traveling lecturer, history teacher at SRJC, and past president/ current board member of the World Affairs Council of Sonoma County (WACSC).

WACSC tries to bring the world to the local community.  First founded in 1918, it is made up of local citizens with 88 councils in the US.  There are about 8 in California including a large San Francisco one with 11,000 members with a director and building.  The national organization is based in Washington DC and has speakers like Condolizza Rice and Colin Powell at its annual convention.  WACSC also sponsors trips abroad-  Mr. Kirk has been on one in Egypt, meeting officials from lands in the region there.
 
WACSC itself was founded in 1988, and has 465 members.  Its main component is the 12 board members and the program committee which looks for good, credentialed speakers like diplomats, authors,  and commentators on international affairs.  There are two meeting per month typically.

WACSC is not widely known since it is not heavily advertised.   Mr. Kirk, who lectures on cruise ships occassionally, himself found out about WACSC during a cruise 8 yrs ago.   However Mr. Kirk did get some attention for the organization when he announced  the story of South Seas pirates who had attacked the cruise ship  two of its members were on (the members emailed him some good photos).   He did a media circuit  and got the Press Democrat to send a reporter to cover their next meeting!

WACSC speakers over the years include lecturerers from the Stanford Hoover Institute, the consul general of Israel, a founder of Saudi Arabia Oil, past US ambassadors to Vietnam and Afghanistan, and UC professors on internatonal affairs.

Within WACSC, there are four books clubs and three discussion groups which work on topics such as the endgame for the Iraq occupation, the changes at the EU, and watching China’s increased influence in the Asian region..

WACSC have Great Decisions meetings where members voted  on international topics and send in their vote and recommendations to Washington DC and President Bush (good luck with that).

If you are interested in world affairs and WACSC, their next meeting is on March 24, 7:30pm at Spring Lake Village auditorium, 5555 Montgomery Dr, Santa Rosa. 

That days topic is entitled: “Turkey: A Pivotal Nation” given by Abdullah Akyuz who is president of the Turkish Industrialis and Businessmans Association.  This talk will include discussion of the justice and development party, and what its Islamist program means for Turkey’s future, the debate between secular Turks and fundamentalist Turkish Muslims, US/Turkey relations, and Turkey’s application into the European Union.  Mr. Akyuz is a scholar of economics, government, and social policy.  An economist, he served as an executive of the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

For further information, call 573-6014 or their website at www.wasc.org. 

Thanks for a great talk Mr. Kirk.



Peace out.