Upcoming Events:
Mar. 11 - Cioppino Feed

Next Week's Program: 
Mar. 10 - Donald Wolfe, "Civil Justice Reform from Los Altos to the White House"
 

March 24     Nan Geschke, "Wallace Stegner: Throwing a Large Shadow"  (See Roator suggestion)

Mar. 31 - Art Show Committee 8:00 AM

See Programs for all of the important dates and meeting locations.

To see Neighboring Club meetings go to Clubs

To our Website

 When DENNIS YOUNG announced that his thoughts for the day were taken from the second volume of Don’t Squat With Your Spurs On, we weren’t sure what to expect.  Excerpts included, “The only free cheese is found in a mousetrap,” “it only take money to buy a dog but it takes love to make him wag his tail,” and “never sit on barbed wire fence with no clothes on.”  

 Pres.-Elect MARLENE COWAN introduced two visiting Rotarians with first names none of us were brave enough to attempt our usual custom of vocalizing a visitors first name.  One visitor from India exchanged club flags with Pres. CINDY and JOE LOCONTE presented flags from two Australian Rotary clubs he had visited recently. 

Pres. CINDY congratulated the club on very strong representation at the recent Centennial dinner.  She specifically thanked DICK HENNING for his work as emcee, JOHN SYLVESTER and the Jazz Connection for entertainment, ELLEN YAMANE FLANAGAN for the table decorations and LEE LYNCH for the club table. (Webmaster comments:   We have some pictures, but they are not quite ready for Prime-Time.  I will publish them as soon as possible.) 

MEMBERSHIP NEWS AND INFORMATION JEANNE MACVICAR provided the club with her five minute talk.  Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, JEANNE is from Kansas and wears red shoes (well, sometimes).  She remarked about travel offers to go to Kansas to witness tornadoes by local travel agencies and she left Kansas to get away from them! 

 TRACIE MURRAY reported that BILLY RUSSELL has improved enough to return to Cedar Crest at 797 Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale. He would appreciate hearing from his fellow Rotarians, (408) 738-4880.

 SAM PESNER, using the scientific names of our various phobias, called on members CHIDAMBARUM, COWAN, TRAFFICANTI, McBIRNEY, SUMMEY, O’DONNEL, BLANDING, BERLLY, MURRAY, HASENPFLUG and KELLY with fears that related to their careers, hobbies or appearance.  Quite clever, DR. PESNER!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: ROY LAVE relayed the experience of several Rotarians of our club when they visited Rotary clubs in South Africa.  He was amazed at the level of comment and conversation the “Los Altos Story” stimulates in other Rotary clubs. There was a booklet available at the meeting entitled, “America Responds to “The Los Altos Story.””  It is well worth reading!

Also, there is a campaign to encourage members of our club, and other Rotary clubs, to donate in support of the valuable efforts of Friends of RAP.  Examples of tasks that need funding include the translation of the DVD of “The Los Altos Story” and editions of the book, HIV, Health and Your Community, into additional languages.  Also, there is great need to provide education and care support for AIDS orphans in a number of African nations.  Please be generous when the opportunity to contribute to Friends of RAP as a tax deductible donation is offered at our March 10^th meeting.  As an incentive, donors will receive the latest DVD of “The Los Altos Story.”

DAVE LUEDTKE let it be known that there are still about thirty seats available for our annual Cioppino Feed to be held at the Garden House on Friday evening, March 11^th.  If you haven’t made a reservation and want to attend, let JOE RENATI (650) 968-9795 or DAVE LUEDTKE (650) 823-1061 know A.S.A.P. before the room fills up.

SHIV SHASTRI asked for ideas and comments from all Rotaries if you have any suggestions for our annual scholarship awards.  Give SHIV a call with any suggestions for changes or enhancements to our selections and awarding process, (650)428-1768. 

SAM HARDING announced a cultural event taking place at the Community School of Music and Art Friday evening, march 4^th at 7:30 p.m.  ALISA CLANCY, host of KCSM’s morning jazz program will be speaking on Jazz in America.  If interested, contact JANET HARDING (650) 917-6800. 

 IRENE PRESTON needs additional volunteers to deliver food to the staff of the Mountain View Rotacare Clinic from contributing local restaurants.  If you can pick up food from a local restaurant on a Monday or Wednesday evening and deliver it to Rotacare located near El Camino Hospital, please contact IRENE, cell # (650) 575-8798.

 JEANNE MacVICAR encouraged Rotarians to sign up to walk in the second annual Relay For Life which raises money for the American Cancer Society.  The event will occur over a 24-hour period on June 25^th and 26^th at the Los Altos High School track.   You can walk yourself, donate for a surrogate walker, sponsor another who will be walking or donate in memory or honor of someone who is a cancer survivor or victim.  Contact (408) 879-1031 for additional information or with questions.  Watch for the sign-up sheet at an upcoming Rotary club meeting. 

 VAL CARPENTER encouraged everyone to turn in their availability for assignments at our 30^th Art Show May 14^th & 15^th. 

JACK KELLY brought us up to date on our recent speech contest.  The two participants who tied for first honors will both be participating in the Area speech contest, one sponsored by our club, the other by Mountain View Rotary.  What a wonderful “win-win” ending.

The League of Women Voters and the Los Altos Community Foundation are co-hosting a community dialogue on education March 6^th from 4-6 p.m. at the Hillview Community Center Multi-Purpose Room.  The general topics will be the choices of schools available to students and parents in our area and how they relate to the quality of the education available.  Reservations encouraged: (650) 949-5908, (650) 968-3266 or (650) 938-1931.

DICK FOUQUET provided the Rotary moment by reflecting on the early years of our Art Show.  He related that in the early years, artists didn’t provide their own booths, so members of our club took hours and hours to erect booths for all participating artists.  Also, until recently, many Rotarians fulfilled roles as cashiers and processed each and every sale (the artists now perform this function).  DICK’S favorite Art Show role is to sell beer and wine.  The reason he feels it necessary to make taste tests frequently during the day to assure that proper temperature and quality are maintained.  No wonder he’s so quick to sign up for those booths each year!

Webmasters note:  President Elect, MARLENE COWAN suggested that you might want  to begin reading "All The Little Living Things" by Wallace Stegner, the book selected as the "community read" in order to better enjoy the March 24 program.

PROGRAM NOTES:  BOO BUE introduced our speakers today as representatives from the non-profit program called Crime Stoppers.  JASON PIERCE and CHRIS WALL (son of past Los Altos Rotarian JIM WALL) provided excellent information and example of the role of Crime Stoppers.  JASON is an agent who actively follows-up on tips and leads received.  CHRIS is on the Board of Directors, whose role it is to keep Crime Stoppers funded, and to dispense funds to tip providers.

The organization was established to provide opportunities for citizens to anonymously report a crime or suspicious activity without fear of being identified to the person or persons perpetrating a crime.  Agents follow-up on legitimate leads and tips to apprehend criminals and actually can provide a cash rewards for tips that lead to arrests and convictions.  Most citizens calling in leads and tips do not expect or accept the awards they simply are happy to eliminate the criminal element from our community.  Interestingly, most calls come from relatives of the perpetrators! 

When calls are received, the agents of Crime Stoppers survey all computer data available to determine whether the tip is relatively accurate and likely involve an outstanding warrant or past criminal activity.  From 9 to 10 calls a day, some 700 cases have been resolved by Crime Stoppers.  That’s 700 criminals who are off our streets due to the efforts and accomplishments of Crime Stoppers.

We encourage anyone to report potential crimes or suspicious activity to Crime Stoppers by telephoning (408) 947-STOP (947-7867).