MEETING OF APRIL 1, 2004
By Dick Blanding
Judging from the quality of our singing the past two meetings, it may be time to bring in a consultant from the high school to perk up our performance a little. Seth did his best to have everyone on the same page of "Put on a Happy Face", but the effort was terminated early to a chorus of boos usually reserved for finemasters. Ginny did much better with her offering of a thought having to do with plumbers and philosophy.
A visiting Rotarian from England announced that his club had doubled the number of female members since his last visit, from one to two. Now we can better understand the environment from which Brian Ward's joke emerged.
Red Badgers raised $9000 with the big auction last week, including the last six bucks and change chipped in by Dennis Young, to round out the number. Congratulations to all the Red Badgers on this tremendous success!
President-elect Cindy announced the first ever Relay for Life event, to benefit the American Cancer Society. We'll walk at the High School on June 26th and 27th, to raise thousands for this worthy cause. See Cindy or Mary Prochnow for more details.
The annual dinner at Chef Chu's will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7.
Sam Pesner said to hurry up and get your signup sheet in for the big Art Show, or else risk being assigned to the Trash Disposal Committee.
Highlight of the meeting was the fabulous video, featuring several Rotarians but starring Steve Shepard, inviting us all to participate in the upcoming club golf tournament, BBQ, and poker night. Prizes include a huge, bright and shiny trophy Cup for the Women's winner, and a much smaller, tired-looking old cup, badly in need of polishing, for the Men's winner. Sign up for the day at lunch during coming weeks, or by calling Steve at 650 917-5369.
A seminar called the Rotary Peace Center will be held on Sunday April 25th, at the Wells Fargo Room of the Haas School of Business, 220 Piedmont, UC Berkeley. It costs $15 per person, and you can learn more about students involved with the Berkeley Peace Scholar Program. Call Gayle Tully, chair, at 510-537-0508 to attend.
Kathy Berry, new Rotarian and an attorney for the county, gave her five minute speech. She talked about her work having to do with roads, airports, libraries, low income housing, environmental waste, and other issues.
Kathy grew up in Lexington, Nebraska, near the Platte River. Her grandparents, who lived close by, played a big role in her upbringing, including inspiring her to follow their lead in playing the violin. At fifteen, her family moved to San Jose, where she completed high school and earned her degree in Political Science. She went on to receive a combined JD/MBA from the University of Santa Clara, and still plays in their symphony orchestra.
Kathy is very proud of her two daughters: one is studying biology at U.C. Santa Cruz, and the other is in a special program at Mountain View High, aspiring to become an ambulance driver. Kathy wished us all the best of luck as we aspire to reach beyond our current level of success.
Finemistress Marge Bruno (who volunteered for the job immediately upon hearing Brian Ward's joke a few weeks ago), announced the beginning of a new fund to create a School for Sensitivity Training. She suggested Brian might like to be the first in line to donate, or else. No longer in much of a mood for confrontation, Brian meekly agreed to a very modest $5 fine and a weekly public humiliation, the precise nature of which is to be voted upon by the club's female members at a secret meeting tonight, April first.
Our speaker today was Liz Kniss, County Supervisor. She was elected in 2000, following eleven years on the Palo Alto City Council. Roy Lave announced in her
introduction, that our Art Show is held on County property, and that Marty Spangler's dad had been a County Supervisor years back.
Liz told of having grown up on a farm in the days of 3 digit phone numbers, party lines, and the operator on duty at the switchboard. Her family "moved to town", population 600, where she learned about government at Town Meetings with her father. She went to college in Boston, and came west in the late 60's.
The budget of the county comes from three sources: 40% from local taxes, 40% from state taxes, and 20% from federal taxes. The general fund expenditures for our county's welfare, public health, safety, and other well known services, is two billion dollars a year. Other expenses for particular items come under "Enterprise Funds", and those come to another 1.6 to 1.8 billion dollars. The current county budget shows a 240 million dollar excess of expenditures over revenues.
Some 60% of property tax goes to schools; another 21% to cities and counties; six per cent to community colleges, and the balance to special districts like the flood district, etc. Liz gave a detailed breakdown of all of the costs incurred by the county when a criminal is picked up by the police. He is booked, given a medical screening, and then all of his medical and dental needs are taken care of at county expense. This may involve hospital care at over $1000/day, or even psychiatric treatment at a cost of eight to ten thousand dollars. Public defenders are paid over $100K per year, and probation officers' salaries exceed $80K per year. Then there are counselors to teach released prisoners how to earn an honest living. Despite all of this, the average criminal returns to the prison system four to five times after his first encounter with the law.
Programs and Events
April
April 7: Dinner at Chef Chu's, 6 p.m.April 8th - Mountain View High School Madrigal Singers- Spring Program
April 15th - Michael Marlaire, NASA Ames- Development of the Research Park at NASA Ames
April 22nd - Los Altos Police Officers Susan Anderson and Officer John Korges
May
May 6th -May 7: Golf Tournament
May 13th -
May 15 and 16: Rotary Fine Art Show
May 27th - Rotary Scholarships
June
June 3rd - Partners for New Generations Recognition Luncheon
June 10th - LAREF Annual Meeting/ Art Show Recognition
June 17th - Rotary Aids Project- Update
June 24th - End of Rotary Year Celebration
June 25: Kickout Dinner
OTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES
On-line Meeting: www.rotaryeclubone.org
MONDAY
Palo Alto: Rickey's Hyatt House, 12:15 p.m.
TUESDAY
Los Altos Sunset: The Echo Restaurant, Los Altos, 7:15 p.m.
Sunnyvale: Ramada Inn, 12:15 p.m.
Mountain View: Adobe House, Moffett & Central, Mountain View, 12:15 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Menlo Park: Menlo Park Recreation Center, Menlo Park, noon.
Woodside/Portola: Woodside Village Church, Woodside, 7:30 a.m.
Sunnyvale Sunrise: Wild Woodys Grill, Sunken Gardens Golf Course, 7 a.m.
Cupertino: Quinlan Community Center, 12:15 p.m.
East Palo Alto Bayshore: Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, 2031 Pulgas Avenue, East Palo Alto, 12:15 p.m.
FRIDAY
Palo Alto University: Sheraton, El Camino, Palo Alto, 7:30 a.m.
"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 2004 The Los Altos Rotary Club