JUST A TREE
“You’ve seen one tree, you’ve seen ‘em all,” said the Gipper.  Maybe so; could have been any apple tree that gave Newton an idea. It could have been any cherry tree that George chopped down.  Well, maybe there are some trees that are a little special.  The Gernikako Arbola, the oak which is the symbol of the traditional freedoms of the Basque people, for instance.  Hitler tried to bomb it into oblivion, and he failed. 

The there was the oak against which the wounded Sam Houston reclined as he accepted the surrender of Santa Ana after the Battle of San Jacinto.  How about the burning bush (short tree?) where Moses got his short list.  And then there’s the Rotary Tree.  A blue spruce planted in 1964 at the intersection of State and Main when every other tree within 10 miles was an apricot tree.  A tree which climbed to the heavens, against all odds, sort of like Jack’s beanstalk, except it stood for peace, for oneness with Nature (“Koombayaaness” to the aging hippies out there), for beauty, and for all we’ve lost and for all we hope to regain, if not for us, then for our issue.  So ten years ago the City said let’s chop it down and put up a parking lot (yes, Joanie Mitchell).  We said OK, since it would improve circulation. 

We felt a little guilty, so we planted a mini-tree in a planter, and when that died, we planted another mini-tree, and that tree died, as well.  Should we plant another?  We need Stephen King to fully explain what is happening, but this Club Reporter will try.  We cannot make it up, guys.  Let’s buy the City enough exotic flower seed to last a century and leave it at that.  For the brave, there will be a new tree decorating ceremony on November 25, according to JOHN HAMBLIN.  Just remember what happened to the archeologists who opened up King Tut’s Tomb.

CLEARCUT
WALT SCHOLEY, self proclaimed “Clearcut Walt,” former Rotarian now living in Temecula, where the last tree was removed some time ago, attended with friend and exprez BOO BUE. 

HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, UNTIL THEY CUT DOWN THE TREES
ALLART LIGTENBERG introduced STEWART CONWAY, of TREES, WATER & PEOPLE, a Colorado nonprofit which shares ALLART’s dream of transforming the world for the better for under $1.00.  When you travel to rural Central America (this Club Reporter believes this is true for all rural, backwards areas everywhere on this planet), you find that people are living and dying in hideously polluted huts. 

The huts are polluted because the stoves burn fuel inefficiently, and the gases are not evacuated from the huts.  Every year 1.7 million people die from indoor air pollution caused by horrible stoves.  So TW&P designed an efficient, cheap stove with a chimney, distributed it, then got the idea to encourage mini-capitalists to take up the fight to make money.  So they did, and the rest is history.  In Honduras, 8,000 or so of the “Justa” stoves have been installed, and there’s no reason to think all 700,000 crummy stoves in Honduras will not be replaced with “Justa” stoves sometime soon.

PARTNERS FOR NEW GENERATIONS, ETC.
MARY MARLEY advises that PNG needs more volunteers, and that it has recently had great success in recruiting new volunteers through presentations made at local churches, synagogues and other houses of worship.  Contact MARY if you believe you can provide an entré to your local organization (it doesn’t have to be a house of worship) such that PNG can make a presentation to those who might be interested, at 650-209-1561, or mmarley@apr.com.   

ROTARY FOUNDATION MONTH
SAM HARDING reminded us that this is Rotary Foundation Month.  We will soon be receiving Foundation raffle tickets to sell to raise money, unless we pay first.  Contact SAM if you wish to pay now. 

ROTACARE
MEL KAHN is the President of ROTACARE BAY AREA, which has 9 free clinics for those who cannot pay for health care.  In 2005 the entity served 15,000 patients.  JACK HIGGINS is on the Board, as well.  MEL introduced CHERYL CANNING, Coordinator of the Mtn View RotaCare Clinic, who presided over a short film and gave an award to JOHN CARDOZA for his tireless and valuable work for RotaCare.  Unlike his dad, SAMMY KAHN, MEL cannot carry a tune, so he is probably unaware that CHERYL is also an accomplished guitarist and singer.  This Club Reporter noticed that being associated with RotaCare restores eyesight.  Both MEL KAHN and SETH MANNING appeared on the RotaCare film and were able to read their cue cards without their glasses.  Anyone who has observed them trying to zero in on a free throw in the last quarter-century will agree that this is truly a great benefit.  ROTACARE is a creation of Rotary and is worthy of our support. 

ROTACARE STICKS IT TO US:  ROTACARE, as a fundraiser,  provided flu shots today to our club. 

PROPOSITIONS, PROPOSITIONS
ROY LAVE, GLORIA HOM and LIZ KNISS went through the 13 propositions which we shall be voting on next week.  Thanks to them for their efforts.

Webmaster's note:  We are testing the Google Calendar as an alternative to our custom Calendar. 

Please click on it on the Google Calendar icon in the left panel (or below), and review the calendar. 

I am mainly interested in knowing if you can see the new calendar, and if it is more (or as) convenient than using our own website calendar.  One advantage of it is it should be visible to non Los Altos Rotary members if they do a Google search of Rotary calendars. 

Also, If you use Google as your homepage, you can also add this calendar to your homepage.  Another advantage is that we can allow specific club members to update the Rotary calendar, such as the Program Chairman, Fellowship Chair, WCS Chair etc. This should allow for a more complete and uptodate Los Altos Rotary Calendar.  

Tell me at "webmaster@losaltosrotary.com"  what you think.  Naturally, the Calendar on our website will be maintained in parallel during this test period. 

Also, I am looking for pictures from last spring's Art show.  I want to put them on the web for promotional purposes.  Please send them to the same email address above. 

While I am at it, I should appologize for the late delivery of the Rotator.  We will try harder to maintain the "by Monday at noon" publishing objective.