This Week's Program: 
• (EOC) Bernadine Fong - Diversity in Education
 

Upcoming Events:

• April 6th:  LAREF:  2570 W. El Camino Real Suite 400 MTV 4:00 PM

• April 6th:  5:30 PM Rotacare social at Trader Vic's

April 8th:  DE YOUNG MUSEUM TOUR

•April 11th:  Chef Chu Dinner

April 12th LARC BOARD:  Heritage Bank Community Room, 369 S. San Antonio Road
3:00 - 5:30

April 13th:  Jerry Shapiro - The Unique Challenges of Family Businesses

April 28 - 29

See our Calendar for all of the important dates.

To see Neighboring Club meetings go to Clubs

To our Website

To District 5170

PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENTS PRESIDENT MARLENE had several announcements.  Today was the last day of March, so it was the final day to qualify for 100% attendance for the MARCH LUNCH BUNCH.  Secretary JOHN CARDOZA, announced the list of qualifiers later in the meeting.  DAN DUTTON noted that his name should be taken off the qualification list because he lost his badge and therefore appeared to be at all the meetings when he actually missed one in March.  The drawing will be held next week.  Last week’s Club attendance was 69.4%, and we would like to get it up to a consistent 75% each week.

Note the improvement in our weekly attenance is moving in the right direction.  Also, please note that make-ups (as discussed in the past two Rotators) have a finite life.  Make-ups can only be made within a two-week window on either side of a meeting (two weeks before, and two weeks after). 

President MARLENE COWAN rang the bell at 12:16 p.m. and called the Rotary Club of Los Altos meeting to order.  We had a capacity turnout working its way into the meeting as it was called to order.  This writer was being greeted at the door by STEVE GRUBER,   JACK KELLY and MICHAEL STADLEN, and missed the name of the person who led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (but they did a great job).  

  SETH MANNING stepped up on a rainy day to lead us in “You Are My Sunshine.”

GIGI CARTER provided the Thought for the Day, reading from the letters of a survivor of Hurricane Katrina.  There was considerable suffering and devastation, but the survivor noted the faces of the aid workers, and their devotion to helping their fellow citizens.  She noted that when we realize that we ARE our brother’s keeper, there is hope for the world.

There were no visiting Rotarians, so SAM had limited duties on this.  LEE LYNCH, LARRY CHU, SANDY BOZICH, JULIE ROSE  , MARY PROCHNOW and President MARLENE, all introduced guests

ANNOUNCEMENTS: KATIE NUTTER announced that we had more signups for the April 8 DE YOUNG MUSEUM TOUR than we had spaces.  She announced that those who had been assigned numbers were on the qualified list, and that everyone who signed up should check with her to see who was on the final list.

SETH MANNING took the mike and honored all the club members (and there were many) who had donated items to the March 23 Red Badge Auction (the donor of the mounted fish was not singled out for special recognition).

SETH then introduced the auction chairs, GIGI CARTER & KIM COPHER.  KIM reported that that the auction raised a grand total of $15,325 for the library in Belle Chasse, Louisiana.  The numbers were  :

$ 3,275 from the silent auction
$10,030 from the live auction
$680 minus $300 for raffle tickets
$1550 from the calendar sales

GIGI thanks all the people who worked particularly hard to make the auction successful.

Red Badger Participation:
GIGI CARTER - Identified Library in Belle-Chase/Co-chair
KIM COPHER - Co-Chair
MIKE STADLEN - Auctioneer
MIKE HARRIGAN - Brochure/photos
MIKE CABOT - Audio Visual
AMELIA HO - Bid sheets/Accounting
JIM REYNOLDS - Soliciting business owners
NANCY SIMON - Decorating, accounting
BO KEARNS - set up/table monitor
GAEL KNIGHT - set up/table monitor
COETA CHAMBERS - preparations

Non Red-Badgers that deserve recognition:

KATIE NUTTER - provided forms & process from 2005 Auction
HERB MARSHAL - Powerpoint assistance
WYATT ALLEN - credit card assistance
JOANNE BYRNE - decorations
SETH MANNING - Auction bid assistance & guidance of Red Badgers.

REMINDER – Gardner Awards Dinner, Thurs, April 6, at 6 pm. Come to honor our awardee, DICK DUHRING, and other honorees from our club: RICH FISCHER (nominated by the Challenge Team) and CLYDE NOEL (honored by the LA Community Foundation). The time is 6:00 pm for no-host cocktails, 6:45 dinner and program at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Palo Alto.  Master of Ceremonies will be: Past President DICK HENNING. Last Thursday was the last day to make reservations, sorry.

CHEF CHU DINNER is Wednesday April 11; Signup now and add your check for $35 each.
Save the date: Thurs, April 27 – Los Altos Chamber of Commerce Business EXPO – Our club will have a booth and share it with Partners for New Generations. It runs from 4-7 pm, it is FREE and it is a great opportunity to learn about local businesses.
The Deadline for the ROTARY SCHOLARSHIP application had  been extended to March 31.
The DISTRICT CONFERENCE is set for April 28-30 (there are free forums & hospitality rooms) Seventeen members from our Club have already registered online to celebrate this Rotary year.  All members and significant others are invited.
PE SAM PESNER provided a last minute reminder that the District Assembly is (was) 5 pm March 30^th at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, and runs (ran) to Saturday April 1.  President MARLENE will made a presentation on the ROTARY AIDS PROJECT.

FIVE MINUTE TALK
Red Badger SCOTT RICHES    gave a five minute talk.  He’s a local boy who went to Pinewood school his whole life, before heading off to Brigham Young University for college. He came home to Pinewood to first become the business and operations manager, and is now the president of the school, with three campuses.  He is married with three young children.  He related the founding of Pinewood School by his grandparents; actually by his grandmother.  His grandfather was leaving on a long business trip, and she asked him what he expected her to do with their brood while he was away so long.  He said “Why not set up a school?” So she did, and had it up and running before he got back.

ABOUT SHAYNE CORNWELL:  Shayne has been published to our members for consideration of membership to LARC.  Unfortunately, the initial publication did not include his biography.  Please take a moment to review his biography on the web. or in PDF format.

ART SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: Get your shirts!  Anyone who doesn’t already have a LARC shirt should get one for the show.

SPECIAL ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PROPOSAL: President MARLENE announced that ROTARY INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON LEGISLATION may consider a proposal to establish a standing committee to address population concerns.  District Governor ARLENE GREENBERG has sent us a message and a draft of the proposal which appears on our website.

As background:  At Rotary International, the Council on Legislation sets the course for Rotary and meets only once every 3 years. It receives thousands of requests each year, so only about a dozen requests receive action unless attention is focused on them. Many people in District 5170 have supported the Fellowship for Population & Development, and this Fellowship wants RI to establish a standing committee to consider population concerns throughout the world. BRAD HOWARD, Past Governor of District 5170, strongly supports this proposal to create a standing committee. The RI fellowship suggested that each Club Board of Directors discuss this proposal (which has been done here at LARC’s Board), and then have their club members vote in a Club Assembly. Our Club will vote two weeks from today (April 13). This is NOT a debate, nor is it an expression of anybody’s opinion on world population; it only concerns the establishment of a standing committee at RI to study the subject.

The full text of Governor Arlene’s message and the proposal is on the website.  Please take the time to look at it, (or in PDF format)  and respond with your ballot, which will be emailed.  Please bring your ballot to the LARC lunch meeting of April 13. Remember to cut off your name or identifying information on the paper so that your ballot is secret. To preserve anonymity, do not fax or email your ballot; please bring it personally to the April 13 lunch meeting and our club will forward or not forward the proposal received from our District Governor and Brad Howard based on the majority of ballots received.

FINES
Past President GINNY LEAR  took the podium as finemaster.  She got CLYDE NOEL for $20 for not knowing the year Paul Harris was born.  She also fined AMELIA HO, and pointed out that Paul passed on the important word “tolerance” to his children.  JOANNE BYRNE announced that the Gardner Award dinner was of special importance to her, and she chipped in $40.  GINNY also announced that she became a grandmother within a few hours of MARY PROCHNOW, but in deference to the sacred status of “grandmotherhood”, neither was fined.

THE WEEKLY PROGRAM
JULIE ROSE introduced Laura Bajuk of the Los Altos History Museum, who presented a lively slide show history of Los Altos, entitled, “Renegades, Rascals and Rabble Rousers.”

Ms. Bajuk   traced the history from the first days of the Ohlone Indians and the Spanish explorers who founded the Presidios and Missions.  After these initial steps, the Spanish set up Rancheros, including the Purissima Ranchero that included most of the local region.  Later, the territory became part of Mexico.  The 1846 war between the Californios and the Mexicans resulted in the separation of California, and a fair amount of chaos in land ownership. 

Speeding forward a ways, we come to the later 19th century, when, in an effort to extol the virtues of our area as opposed to the lowlands next to the bay, promoters dubbed the region “Los Altos” (the heights).  She showed us a slide showing that the vast downtown area of “the heights” once consisted of two buildings.   Of course, the real growth of the region is intertwined with the growth of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the Shoup brothers. 

As the SP extended a spur to Los Altos, coincidentally setting up the station across the street from the Shoup house, the population began to expand.  However, the real growth occurred in two main stages.  First, the huge post WWII growth into a bedroom community with many orchards (and the local founding of Orchard Supply & Hardware), followed by the continued business growth in the 70’s and 80’s into the “Silicon Valley” where business parts replace orchards.

Ms. Bajuk timed her presentation perfectly to end at 1:30 and at the conclusion of the presentation, and the meeting was adjourned with a reminder to remember “Service above Self.”

[Webmaster's note:  We are experimenting with the use of PDF as a format for the Rotator.  If you don't know what that is, take a look here.  You can also view this Rotator as a PDF document here.  The advantage is that it is easier to distribute, and may be more readable.  Another advantage is you can do a search on the document by name, or word.  But you will need the free PDF reader called Acrobat Reader from Adobe.  If you don't have it, get it here.

Let me know if you have a preference.  We will probably pick one format to distribute the newsletter in, so please let me know if you have a preference.  Contact me at matt.cabot@gmail.com as soon as possible.  Thanks, Matt]

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