On a day that started with the look of rain, but turned quite sunny, President JOHN MOSS chimed the bell and started the meeting promptly at 12:15 p.m.  Arriving Rotarians had been greeted by DICK DUHRING, DAVID SMITH and BOO BUE.  It is always heartening to see some of these new kids out front getting to know all the folks in the club.   
 
President JOHN led the Pledge of Allegiance himself, after confessing that he forgot to ask someone else to help (volunteers for this task should contact JOHN).  JOHN SYLVESTER then led us in song; he pulled out “Moonlight Bay” which seemed unfamiliar to many of the members.  Only young whipper-snappers like the greeters seemed to know this trendy piece. MONA ARMISTEAD, fresh back from a trip to Hawaii (and therefore grateful we had no fines today), gave the Thought for the Day with Hawaiian philosophy, such as “speak softly but wear a loud shirt,” “the best things in life aren’t things,” and “he who dies with the most toys, still dies”.
 
SETH MANNING stepped up to honor visiting Rotarians and Guests.  We had one visiting Rotarian from clear around the world.  SOLOMON LEVY from the Gibraltar Club (42 members strong), graced us with an explanation of why the Pope has such high phone bills.  We also had a very special guest: SHELLY POTVIN introduced us to her 7-month old son.  CINDY LUEDTKE and KIM COPHER also all introduced guests (this appears to be a permanent job for CINDY).
  
NEW MEMBERS AND BLUE BADGERS

Membership Director LARRY CHU had a big job today with two new members and two new Blue Badgers.  LARRY reminded us of the protocol for applauding these folks, and 1/3 of the club promptly forgot it.  The first honoree was DAVID BERGMAN, who had completed all his red badge duties and was stepping up to full blue badge status.  DAVID deserves additional kudos for stepping in to fill the suddenly vacant Sergeant at Arms slot. 

LARRY then introduced our two newest members.  The first is GEORGE STAFFORD, a wealth advisor in Los Altos, sponsored by CINDY LUEDTKE.  Next was GREG DABB, a chiropractor in Los Altos, sponsored by PEN TRACIE MURRAY.

Later in the meeting, a sheepish LARRY came back to the podium to belatedly announce that he missed another new Blue Badger.  Of course, it’s easy to miss CLARI NOLET, because she is already one of our busiest members, giving copious amounts of time to the Art Show and other projects.   She’s blended in all along.   Her sponsor was our own PP SAM PESNER.
 
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
President JOHN had several announcements.  First, he reminded everyone that the club’s crab cioppino fest was coming up Saturday 3/15 at the Garden house.  He noted that last minute signups should be directed to BELLA BERLLY and that members could sign up on the new Club Runner web site.
 
JOHN also reminded us that the 5170 District Conference is coming up April 11-13, and encouraged all, particularly red badgers, to attend the festivities (outlined at the 5170 web site).  JOHN also announced a rare opportunity to see and meet Rotary International President, Wilt Wilkinson, who will be speaking at a special meeting of the Niles Rotary Club at the Sunol Valley Golf Course on April 9.
 
VAL CARPENTER announced that we still need a Rotarian to head up the Young at Art contest that we put on in conjunction with the Art Show.
 
KENDRA GJERSETH, who is heading up out club’s participation in the Relay for Life event to fight cancer on June 21-22, announced that she needs someone to step in to cover he on those dates, because she will be attending a friend’s wedding out of town.
 
DICK BLANDING rose to thank Mayor VAL CARPENTER, for the proclamation honoring Boy Scout Troop 37, chartered in 1918 and regularly supported by our club through LAREF.
 
JERRY MOISON, beloved and much thanked emergency head of the Art Show, announced that we had many sponsors for the show, but we still needed several more to reach his goal of $15,000 raised from sponsorships.  Sponsors will get prominent recognition in the program, When you look at what JERRY is putting into the show, a small sponsorship is the least we can do; let’s fill that board up!  There will also be a revised Rotary Club booth to show art show attendees “What Rotary Does” and if you have pictures of various Rotary Club activities or events, send them to MATT CABOT.
 
SHIRTS!! Jerry also reminded all of us, and particularly the new members, to see ROY JONES and order an official Rotary Club shirt.  All sorts of problems and questions come up during the show, and folks need to spot a Rotary Club member for help.  The shirt shows others who we are.
 

Jean (John) Mordo sent us this email concerning the FRENCH FAIR at Hillview on March 29th:

Dear Friends and Francophiles,

JOHN CARDOZA (via email) reminded everyone about the Filoli trip:  Filoli House and Garden Tour, Saturday, April 5th.   Thursday, March 20th is the last day to sign up for the guided two hour tour.  Payment has to be made to Filoli that week to maintain our tour reservation.  Cost is $25 per person, including lunch.  Please bring a check or cash to next week's meeting. 

STEVE SHEPARD (also via email) remind everyone about our Annual Golf Tournament:

DATE:               June 20, 2008
PLACE:            The Golf Club at Moffett Field
TIME:                Registration/check-in at 11:30 am
BBQ DINNER:   Steve & Bev Shepherd Residence
                        465 Cavalier Court
                        Los Altos, CA 94022
TIME:               Cocktails at 6:30 pm followed by BBQ dinner at 7 pm.
AWARDS:        8:00 pm followed by Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament
COST:              Golf Entry Fee - $65 per person
                        BBQ Dinner - $40 per person
                        Poker - $10 per person

RICH CASEY reminded all that there was a meeting with him and BAIDRA MURPHY to plan the genealogy presentation for next week’s show.
 
KIM COPHER announced that the local ROTARACT club is in the midst of a drive to find 500 unused bikes to send to Africa to help people get over long distances better.  Just call KIM for delivery, or she will come by and pick it up from you.  Deadline is April 5.
 
BELLA BERLLY, fearing the President JOHN had not given the cioppino feast sufficient praise, stepped up to deliver the key information that, yes, JOE RENATI and DAVE LUEDTKE are returning with JOE”S authentic cioppino recipe.  Come for the good stuff. (NOTE:  The Cioppino Dinner was held LAST Saturday Night.  Go to here for 40+ great pictures of the event.) 
 
SAM PESNER then announced that the Potter Award will be given to Ginny Lear on May 28th.  With a little help from the crowd, SAM finally recalled the RIGHT information; The Gardner Award will be bestowed on past president MARGE BRUNO at a special dinner on April 3.  With MARGE’s long and outstanding work for our club, it is hoped that the club will bring a large turnout to the dinner.  You can signup online on our web site, (the name of which escaped SAM’s recollection).
 
TEN-MINUTE TALK CLYDE NOEL stepped up to give a “10-Minute” talk, but with Clyde’s long history, we knew he would stretch it. Clyde, a MWRM, noted that he has see 87 years of water under the bridge.  Although he has lived in California for the last 50 years, he was born in eastern Pennsylvania and grew up working on a farm.  It was a youth of hard work and strong values, and Clyde reminded us that it was a wonderful bygone era when a little kid could still buy a balloon in the men’s room at a gas station.  It was also a time when a major trip was to go to Philadelphia to see a Big League game. 

At 12, Clyde saw the great Jimmie Foxx hit 4 home runs (something a kid would never forget).  Clyde was not enamored of the hard life of milking cows at 5 in the morning, and happened to be “saved” when WWII broke out and he moved from a career on the farm to one in the Navy.  Clyde served 6 years from 1941-47, then took advantage of the GI bill to go to the University of Pennsylvania and NYU.  He met and married Lois, and began working for U.S. Rubber, selling sporting goods and shoes, to dozens of pro and college teams. 

The job brought him to California and eventually he set up his own sporting goods distributing company, which he ran for 50 years, working with teams such as the Raiders, the Chargers, the Portland Trailblazers and over 30 colleges.  The most memorable though, was working with Charley Finley and the Oakland A’s. 

Clyde finally retired, but was too restless and began to write for a small Cupertino paper.  This eventually led him to the Los Altos Town Crier, where he wrote columns for 12 years.  He now a fully retired “Married White Redneck Male” who still stands by those strong values built on the farm long ago.  But the proudest accomplishment of his life, is his marriage of 64 years to Lois who has put up with him all this while.
 
Because CLYDE ran 97 seconds too long, we did not have time for STEVE ANDERSON to hand out any fines (much to the disappointment of everyone present).  STEVE vowed revenge when next he takes the podium.
 
WEEKLY PROGRAM:
President JOHN then introduced this week’s speaker, Stan Arterberry,  Chancellor of the West Valley College District to speak on the topic of “What I’ve learned as CEO of the West Valley College District.”  Mr. Arterberry noted that CLYDE was a tough act to follow, and quipped that maybe CLYDE should have been the program and Mr. Arterberry the 10-minute talk.
 
Mr. Arterberry has been CEO of West Valley Community College District for over 20 years.  He regaled the crowd with a detailed history of “junior colleges” in California. The concept actually began in Chicago in 1889, as a continuation of high school for the working classes who did not go to university.  Fresno City College was formed in 1910 as the first junior college with 20 students and 3 teachers.  Mr. Arterberry explained that the junior colleges were for many years intertwined with the K-12 program.  He noted that from 1849 to 1907 the K-12 had no provision for this, until at last, in 1907 a bill sponsored by Hermione Badderly allowed high schools to offer post graduation education.  In 1909 there were 214 high schools in the state and only UC (at Berkeley) and the agriculture college at Davis in the university system, until Fresno JC came along in 1910.
 
Mr. Arterberry, looking to dazzle the crowd with even more details of the system, asked DICK HENNING to help with the name of the current head of the De Anza district.  DICK, somewhat startled out of his reverie, fumbled the ball.  Luckily, Dick had the help of ever-friendly and respectful MEL KAHN, who gave DICK a couple of hints to come up with Brian Murphy’s name.
 
Mr. Arterberry then turned to some of the many important things he has learned as CEO of such a varied and complex “business” as the JC system.  The lessons include “Change does not come easy”; “You have to learn the respect of the people who work for you”’ the CEO must always see and promote the Big Picture”; the CEO’s deeds must match his words.”  Mr. Arterberry brought along a list of 19 important thoughts for a CEO:
 
THOUGHTS ON BEING A CEO
 
~ Change does not come easily.
~ As CEO you do not have immediate respect - you must earn respect.
~ You must see the "Big Picture," not the nuts and bolts or day-to-day operation.
~ You must walk your talk. Your deeds and words must match.
~ As CEO you are a symbolic leader. Your presence to represent your institution is expected at social and other events. You must be seen on your campus - be visible and accessible to staff.
~ Be appreciative - let people know that you appreciate their contributions.
~ Empowerment - trust your subordinates.
~ Do not outdistance your organization, staff, and community; you must stay in touch.
~ Resources - we will never have enough resources to meet our real educational needs.
~ Focus on 'us' not 'me." There is no 'I' in 'team.' A CEO's success is dependent upon others.
~ Do not let people get you down. Keep things in perspective.
~ Do not negotiate your values. You cannot sell your values to keep a job or get support. You must stay true to your values and principles.
~ Show respect to those who work with you.
~ You will not have answers to all of the questions - be honest, ask for help.
~ Stay focused. Define your target and then keep your eye on it. We tend to move toward what we focus our attention on. When you focus your energy on the obstacles in your path, you spend time and energy dealing with those obstacles rather than getting where you want to go.
~ All staff want to be successful. Allow success to be achieved. Think positively and pay attention to positive people.
~ Civility is a virtue of a successful person.
~ Save face. Allow opponents to have an out. Create a win-win situation.
~ Be visionary. If you only look at the present, you will fail. You must look at the future. Ask yourself, "Where do we want to go as an organization?"
 
At the close of Mr. Arterberry presentation, President JOHN chimed the meeting to a close at 1:30.