Next Week's Program: 

THANKSGIVING - No meeting

Upcoming Events:

December 1st: RAP program

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To District 5170

What did the rabbit say in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland, “I’m late. I’m late, for a very important date”? The urgency of the moment, the utter frustration for being “late for my own rabbit stew” mentioned by the rabbit is certainly felt by this writer as well.

Not only was the Rotator not out on time last week, but I was late as a reporter for the Rotator at the meeting this week, and I am even late writing it now.  I just can’t seem to catch up.  I missed the pledge, the Thought for the Day, the Song and most of the introductions of visitors and guests.

So, during the Social 10 minutes or so, I spent the whole time asking who did what and what did they say.  You may wonder why this is important that I need to include it in our weekly newsletter.  Well, first of all, leading us in the Pledge is not only an honor to be asked, but a privilege we have.  And a privilege, I might add we are fighting to retain. 

Member VAL CARPENTER fought for and won a seat on our local City Council.  Congratulations Val.  And thanks for leading us in the Pledge.

Our “Thought for the Day” presenter no doubt spent many hours Googling a proper thought for the day. However when I asked members of my table what was said, one gentleman said “Meals on Wheels.”

Actually it points out a growing problem.  I think that there is (seemingly) little respect for the podium.  Fellowship is nice.  But decorum should prevail.  Decorum:  “A central rhetorical principle requiring one's words and subject matter be aptly fit to each other, to the circumstances and occasion, the audience and the speaker.” 

CLYDE NOEL actually read a poem explaining why mice should not wear roller skates in Heaven.

President-Elect SAM PESNER waiting to be come President:   

One interesting note on the meeting was that each table had someone’s name on it.  It turned out to be the name of someone that was on the Mayflower.  An idea thought up by newly-minted Blue Badger KATIE NUTTER.  For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why the names of some of the Mayflower members were on our tables, and why that was important.  Was it because of the food today, the fine weather in crossing the “pond” or what?  Silly me.  Thanksgiving.  That’s why Katie is in charge of this, and not me. 

Slightly related, here is KATIE NUTTER getting her Blue Badge from Membership Chairman LARRY CHU JR. 

Myth & Legend: Pilgrims didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, though descendants made “Forefather’s Day” on Dec. 21 or 22.

Abraham Lincoln established the national holiday in 1863 correlating with anchoring of Mayflower at Cape Cod. Interestingly, they didn’t have ham, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, sweet cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie. The local Indian tribe shared their meal: Wampanoag.  So, as the ad [paraphrased] says, “What’s on your plate this Thanksgiving?”

I was surprised that only 102 passengers and about 30 crew where on the Mayflower back in 1620.  If you want to see a complete list of the passengers go to: http://members.aol.com/calebj/passenger.html.   Someone actually has a website detailing the passenger list.  I thought they kept this stuff confidential.  There is also an interesting website about the voyage, the ship and the crew at: http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/index.php

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ONE OF OUR OWN: RICH FISCHER gets the limelight.  The Washington Post recently highlighted our own Rich Fischer. Rather than try to summarize the article, it is posted on our website.  One big “Ata-boy” Rich.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: DON WITT got a show of hands of who might want to attend PAUL NYBERG’s Open House and parade watching at his Main Street Café on Sunday November 27^th.  The actual parade starts at 7:30.  Don mentioned that our Goose has been revamped.  (Not going to touch that line.) So come out with your family and see what he is talking about.  Also, I understand that SANTA will be there at the end of the parade.  Ata-way Santa, you know who you are, and so do we.  I believe.  I believe, I believe. 

COPENHAGEN/MALMÖ, 2006: Currently, about 10 members and families are going to the International Convention in Copenhagen and Malmö (Sweden).  Take a look at: http://www.rotary.org/events/conventions/malmo-copenhagen/ for more information.  If you want to attend you will need to decide pretty quick, as I understand the hotels book up early. 

If you are going to the convention, would you please email me (Matt.cabot@gmail.com) so I can create a list of participants.   This year I am trying to facilitate communication between members going, and our club in general, through the use of a common blog.

ROTARY PROJECT FAIR IN HONDURAS:  I got an email from ALLART LIGTENBERG about the Rotary Project Fair: in Honduras.  January 19-21. Contact Donna Brown, Hayward Rotary Club.  It should be a good opportunity to find out what WCS-type projects other Rotary Clubs in the region are doing and visit some of these project sites. Additionally, it will allow meeting Rotarians of the other Americas, experience cultures of ancient Mayan civilization and Spanish colonial times, or visit wildlife refuges and beautiful beaches.

CERT Training:  The bad news, and the good news.  The bad news is that probably sometime in our lifetime, there will be a major disaster in our area.  ARE YOU PREPARED?     The good news is that 6 of our members actually took the training, and others have already been trained.  And, believe me, they are more prepared than the rest of us.  Here are some pictures of the participatents. Maybe one is your neighbor.  If not, I would consider joining the next class.                Incidentally, in addition to the knowledge and fantastic fellowship they shared, the group also learned that you do not want to be taped with the black triage tape

Mikado and Rotary Area 10 supper last night? (Marlene, Sam & Lou Pesner, Roy Lave.) Photo is attached.

HOLIDAY PARTY: – STEVE GRUBER is passing around a clipboard for our annual Holiday party which once again will be held at the El Retiro San Iñigo Jesuit Retreat House at 300 Manresa Way in Los Altos on Monday night December 19^th.  Members are encouraged to sign up on the floating clipboard.  The cost is $45 per person.  There is a room capacity limit of 150 people so we are asked to only bring ourselves and our spouse or partner.  PLEASE COME PREPARED TO OUR NEXT MEETING ON DECEMBER 1ST WITH YOUR CHECK. 

ROTARY FOUNDATION MONTH:  As you by now know from Past President SAM HARDING’S antics, November is Rotary Foundation Month.  We all have seen the envelope, the letter from Sam, the tickets in the envelope and surprise, surprise, the return envelope, most of which is sitting in the ‘to do’ section of your desk.   Well, there is no meeting this coming Thursday, so you have plenty of time to write your check to the Rotary Foundation, and mail it back to WYATT ALLEN (aka: Moneyman).  Currently we are at 25% participation.  Can we make it 100% participation by Thanksgiving?  Aren’t we thankful? Don’t you wish we could spread some of that thankfulness to others in the world less fortunate? 

The Mikado Fellowship event for 6 clubs in our area 10 (E. PA Bayshore, Los Altos Sunset, MV, PA, PA Univ, LA) was held last Sunday, or was it Sunday before last.   Here is a picture of some of our members who attended. 

WORLD AIDS DAY – 2005 The Los Altos Story will air on the following dates and stations: 

AT&T San Francisco
November 30th 7:00 p.m.

Cupertino Channel 26
December 1 at 5:30 p.m.
(possible repeat after city council meeting)

KSAR Saratoga Channel 15
December 1 at 10:00 p.m.
(they will also air it throughout the weekend but don't have time times set yet.)

KMTV Mountain View/Los Altos Channel 6
December 1 at 4:00 p.m. and
Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. throughout December

KTEH Channel 54
January 1 at 6:30 a.m.
(but looking for a better air time and will call back later in December)

ROTARIANS FOR FIGHTING AIDS. LARC has more RFFA members than any other Rotary club in the world! For non-members (and members, as well), please go to the RFFA website (www.rffa.org) and click on "What's New" (newsletters, click 'read more'; and a profile of the Rotary AIDS Project. By clicking on the "Site Map" tab, you are able to see photos of those Rotarians representing you as Directors. Also, for their current newsletter, if you did not get it, take a look here.

THE BIG GAME wasn’t.

CLUB HANDBOOK ERRATA:  The club handbooks have been available for the past several weeks.  PLEASE come to a meeting and pick up yours.  It is painfully obvious who has not come by the number (and names) of member’s handbooks in the box.  Don’t be a no-show.  They will only be out there a little while longer, and then not. 

Also, PLEASE look at your entry in the handbook.  A number of errors and (mostly) omissions have crept in.  We will print one errata on December 15^th.  Please send corrections to: Matt.Cabot@gmail.com. 

RED BADGE AUCTION:  KIM COPHER and GIGI CARTER announce that LARC members should save the date of March 23, 2006 for the Red Badger Auction.

DISTRICT GOVERNOR NOMINEE:   President MARLENE announced that the DG nominee is San Jose Rotarian, Gary Citti.

WEEKLY PROGRAM:  BUD OLIVER introduced our speaker. Judge Leonard P. Edwards spoke to us again.  He is a judge in the Superior Court of Santa Clara.  In 2004, Judge Edwards was the recipient of the 2004 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence by the National Center for State Courts.  One of the most prestigious judicial honors in the country, the Rehnquist Award is presented annually to a state court judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and professional ethics.    “Judge Edwards is one of the most effective and progressive trial judges in America, especially in the area of juvenile and family courts”, said Mary Campbell McQueen, President of the National Center for State Courts.  The award went on to extol the merits and accomplishments of Judge Edward’s 25 years of service on the bench.  The complete text of the award is here.

But I think we got ample proof of his Honor’s merits and accomplishments as we listened to him during the presentation.    He showed a brief video of the Drug Court, how it is working to surround the enrollees with the needed services to succeed in graduating from the Court’s influence. 

One thing that rang true with me, was Judge Edward’s conviction that “Positive reinforcement works better than threats.”  Here is a lesson that we should all heed.

He talked about how he has traveled to Brazil with Rotary International to train and educate judges and individuals on how to work handle child abuse cases and work with individuals to help the children involved. 

He spoke about Family Finding, and how important that has been in solving many many cases of child neglect and abandonment. 

Judge Edwards says that the number one problem associated with child abuse and the common thread is substance abuse.  He says that 75% of all cases in some way are associated with substance abuse, and the number one substance being abused today, [in this area] is methamphetamines.  The drug is readily available, cheap to make, and highly addictive.  [Writer’s note:  While I was making up at a Rotary Club in Oregon recently, they had a very frightening and informative program on meth labs, meth substance abuse in Oregon, and the horrific consequences of meth use.  So this problem is not unique to Santa Clara Valley.]

The Superior Court’s solution to substance abuse is the Drug Court where over 300 substance abusers are evaluated and some (currently about 50) are actually enrolled in an intensive program to surround them with the services they need to become a non substance abuser. Asked how we, as Rotarians, or individuals, could become involved, he pointed to the Child Advocates program of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  But he admitted that that may not be for everyone.  He suggested that anyone interested in the problem visit him in his court, or go through the Child Advocate training, with or without becoming a Child Advocate.   Contact BUD OLIVER who could arrange for such a meeting. See Bud’s email in the directory.

IN CLOSING.  As webmaster, I get a lot of emails from other Rotary Clubs around the world, trying to get me to include links to their club newsletters.  Usually, I just pass on them, and that is that.  However, awhile back I got this link  that I thought I would share.  Not because it is a better or worse newsletter than ours, but just different.  Naturally we won’t recognize any of the pictures, or the people’s names, but it does give, at least to me, the sense of community.  The newsletter is from India, I think, and it includes a whole bunch of jokes, which is great.  But it also includes humanitarian projects that they are doing, which are similar to the projects we are doing through our very active WCS committee.  It also puts faces on real people.  Take a look, and enjoy.