MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 28 , 2000 By Carew McFall
Welcome back President GINNY LEAR, who has been out a month with an attack of pneumonia and then getting her voice back. HARDY JONES read from a Buddhist phamplet that if you want the world to smile at you, you must smile at the world. He read of different kinds of smiles and the value of the right kind. JOHN SYLVESTER led us in the Star Spangled Banner in honor of our fabulous Olympians with BRUCE CANN accompanying on the piano. Bruce also played before the meeting. BOO BUE noted that our visiting Rotarian from Thailand was head of the Dale Carnegie organization for eastern Asia.
BECKY MILLER proudly pinned a blue badge on her sister PEGGY BUCHANAN, a real estate investment broker. JOHN SYLVESTER did the same for SHIVADEV SHASTRI. SHIV, a graduate of Santa Clara University and UC-Hastings Law School is a civil litigation lawyer here in Los Altos.
ROLAND RENSHAW, former member and former police chief of Los Altos, sent a note and a contribution of $50 from his home in Healdsburg, thanking FIROOZ GHAFFARI for a copy of our 50th Anniversary Book.
JULI ROSE ask for 6 to 8 more volunteers for the Los Altos Fall Festival, October 7 and 8. Many of us signed up for a Progressive Dinner, Friday evening October 27. For that catered dinner, we need a few more hosts for eight and a host for the dessert and coffee for everyone at the end of the evening.
The Rotary International president for 2002-2003 has been selected and he is from Thailand.
The district's annual Avenues of Service dinner will be in Hayward, October 25 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. All Rotarians are invited--especially Red Badgers. Check with President GINNY.
Our Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund has given a $1,700 Sony computer/video editor to Alta Vista High School. This year's Fine Art Show added $64,000 to that fund and $6,000 to our club's operating budget.
JERRY TOMANEK donated and auctioned off two Celebrity Forum tickets to hear Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister of Israel. JOANNA MEDIN took them with a $50 bid.
Three members joined the President's Club ($100) and got double decks of Rotary playing cards. JOHN SINES, BRUCE CANN to celebrate his sky dive from 15,000 feet over Monterey Bay--a long-time ambition, and KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM to acknowledge his 64th birthday and his coming trip to Europe.
SAM PESNER tossed in $10 to note his son becoming a life scout. JOHN MCALISTER was stood up for winning a 2-person, best-ball prize at the August Chamber of Commerce golf tournament with Roger Brunello.
We were honored to have Jinkyu Yang, a new Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, visit us. Rotary International Foundation only awards 1,200 of these scholarships a year around the world. Their purpose is to promote international understanding; Jinkyu is eager to learn about our culture and share his with us. He is from South Korea and has just begun working toward a Masters degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering at Stanford. Jerry Tomanek is his local host for the academic year. If you are interested in serving as a backup for Jerry when he is traveling, or want to introduce Jinkyu to your piece of American culture, let Jerry know.
PAT MILLAR introduced San Jose State University president Dr. Robert Caret. He's from a small town in Maine--has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, has written four
textbooks and numerous articles and been president of an eastern university. Caret kidded Stanford's successive losses to SJSU and claimed the 57-minute lead over USC last Saturday. About 40 percent of our members raised their hands as alumni of SJSU. That school is having to turn to private money--already at two-thirds. Their alumni roster is at 50,000 and growing fast. A total of 27,000 students attend, taught by 3,600 professors, but at other local campuses and through correspondence courses and the internet, 55,000 to 70,000 take courses at SJSU--the oldest university west of the Mississippi--which is 143 years old!
A big emphasis has to be on bringing new students up to a proper level of knowledge and math proficiency--even those with 3.5 grade averages from high school.
Another emphasis is on helping students make proper career choices. And another is in life-time learning--so important in the modern, high tech world and a fundamental need for a democratic society.
Dr. Caret was clear, enthusiastic, and impressive. Thanks PAT.
Today's photo was taken by Baidra Prochnow.
President's Message My apologies to any of you who had trouble hearing the presentation on Thursday. That will not happen again. We will rent a good PA system until we can permanently install one that works, which Operations Director Alex Ng and I will pursue vigorously. It was very frustrating all around.
Festive Progressive Dinner - October 27th. Sign-ups were active this week, and the clipboard will be around again next Thursday. $22 per person. Simple, casual, everyone welcome. Singles or couples. If you're busy, tell your spouse he or she is welcome here. We have hosting offers for appetizers and dinner. We could use two more offers in Los Altos/Los Altos Hills area for dinner for about 12-14 people. And one place to gather all together for after-dinner pie and coffee. Please check with your spouse, and give me a call or an e-mail.
Membership - At the regular meeting, September 27th, your Board of Directors approved the applications of three prospective members which are now being sent to you for approval. We also took action to terminate one blue badge member and four red badge members for extreme lack of attendance, and in four cases, non-payment of dues. This action was taken after reviewing each case individually and carefully. The decision was unanimous, as was the agreement that if their schedules should change, we welcome each of them to consider whether Rotary could again become part of their lives. The members, who will receive a letter from me on behalf of the Board, are Bill Jones, Bob Marshalla, Ed Shrufer, John Sullivan, and Mark Yazdani, While there are too many club members whose attendance could certainly be improved, these five people were obviously not able to make the commitment to Rotary that they had intended. The Board believes this action to be in the best interests of our club. If anyone wishes further details, please call me.
The Board also agreed to offer an Honorary Membership to Bill Jones, who is President of the Los Altos Garbage Company, and works with us on the Fine Art Show. We will not grant this until we hear from Bill as to whether he would accept this offer. This type of membership has been made by previous boards when appropriate.
As she begins her service to us, new LARC Treasurer, Victoria Emmons, won the perfect computer software program, QuickBooks Pro, at the El Camino Hospital Golf Tournament raffle, and immediately donated it to our club. Thank you. Victoria made her first report at the September meeting. Her experience as a Past Rotary President makes her an immediate contributing member. Welcome aboard.
See you Thursday,
GinnyPrograms
October
Oct. 5 - David Hoffmeister, FDA attorney
Oct. 12 - Richard L Henning
Oct. 19 - Supervisor Joe Simitian and Deborah Wilder
Oct. 26 - Rose Johnson, RotaCareNovember
Nov. 2 - Sharon Williams, Exec. Director, OICW
Nov. 9 - Dane Stark, Page Mill Winery
Nov.16 - Partners for New Genarations program
Nov. 30 - World AIDS Day"Information in this newsletter is intended for the exclusive use of the members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos to facilitate the work of the club and to promote club fellowship. It is not to be used for any commercial or outside, unrelated, non-profit purposes. No publication of material in this newsletter should occur without the express permission of the club President or the Editor of the Rotator."
Copyright 2000 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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