Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 22 2010

On a nearly perfect Los Altos Thursday, Rotarians were greeted by BARBARA SMALL, JUDY OTT and ALLART LIGTENBERG.  Rotarians were gathered at Shoup Park for the regular meeting of the Los Altos Rotary Club.  President DENNIS YOUNG rang the bell promptly at 12:10 and asked JOHN SYLVESTER to lead the pledge, which he did with suitable patriotism.
 
PP CINDY LUEDTKE served as cashier and collected funds to pay our wonderful caterers for their service of our luncheon.
 

Thinking
BARBARA SMALL presented the thought for the day, a remarkable video palindrome, that when read forward, set forth a negative view of our world, but when read backward reflected a uniquely positive view.  The palindrome video was an award-winning effort by a 20-year-old for an AARP competition titled “Lost Generation.”  You can Google it or find it on YouTube if you missed the meeting. 
 
SHIV SHASTRI led the group in the 80's version of the Giants “Bye Bye Baby.”  President Elect Mona Armistead introduced visiting Rotarians and Rotarians with guests.
 
New LAREF Board
President Dennis announced that JEAN MORDO is the new president of Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund, JEAN NEWTON FRAGULIA shall serve as vice president, HERB MARSHALL is secretary and PHIL ROSE will continue as treasurer. 
 
Chef Chu Booth
President Dennis also announced that the Chef Chu booth, so wonderfully and generously supported by LARRY CHU, JR., sold 1194 chicken salads and generated $5,720 in sales.  This is a net of $2,919 for the club.  Event Chairman, JACK HEIDMILLER advises that this is the second largest sales on record.  Thanks to captain Jack for all his effort and to the volunteers who so ably manned the booth during the Los Altos Village Association Art and Wine Festival.

 
More News
JOHN SYLVESTER reminded everyone that the wine and cheese social event of the month is Friday, except for JOHN SINES, for whom it will be on Sunday, at DICK BLANDING’S house. 
 
World Community Service Committee Chair, FRANK VERLOT, invited all members, and especially Red Badgers, to join him at First Republic Bank conference room at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 27th for the regular meeting of WCS.
 
DAN HOLDEN got his LARC Directory, did you get yours?
 
MARLENE COWAN was tricked by DICK HENNING into bidding for the exchange gift of the East Oakland Rotary Club. Her bid of $220 will be counted toward her Paul Harris for benefit of the Rotary Foundation.  DICK tried to get away with the gift for a mere $50, but President DENNIS stepped in to prevent the mishap. This may have been a set-up job. Except for the sly grin, DICK appeared to be acting in earnest, but it was hard to be certain of that. 

Speaking of District Governor Roger Hassler, which we were, because he brought the gift from East Oakland last week if you remember.  Here is a link to his monthly newsletter.  BTW, there is a permanent link on our website (top banner area) to the new District Website.  When you are visiting our site, take a look at it. On the right side of the home page for the District you will see a link to each month's newsletter.  

Special Announcement:  [Matt Cabot - webmaster. Here is an announcement that we missed in the last week's Rotator] 

Last week, CLARI NOLET mentioned that Ennovationz is having a contest, and as a 501c3 entity, Los Altos Rotary Foundation stands a chance of being awarded $10,000 if enough people sign up for Ennovationz's home environmental evaluation/education program.  The contest runs until September 3rd.  If we (Los Altos Rotary members) sign up more members than other 501c3 groups, the prize is ours.  Take a look at these two pdfs on our website.  CONTEST and Rules.  You also might google Ennvovationz to see what individuals and communities say about the company.  This seems to be a very worthwhile effort.  Probably everyone wants to shave several hundred dollars off their energy bill.  

In addition:  Clari made an announcement last week, that was covered by the Rotator staff about her hearing loss, and a solution that involved BONNIE BURDETT's daughter.  Some of us (read ME) were very interested in the details, so here you go:

Finemistress Mary Prochnow
MARY PROCHNOW looked very nice today, said MIKE SPENCE.

• Mary said “Thank you”, then proceeded to fine him $40 for the compliment.
• BILL MOISON paid $20 for his wife’s birthday.
• LEN MCBIRNEY asked for a $50 rebate for all the money he has contributed over the years, but Mary charged him $20 instead.
• DICK BLANDING paid for his 43rd wedding anniversary.
• ROLAND PAYNE chipped in $20.
• LOUIS BOREL said he will be 80 soon and paid $20.
• DON HULL contributed for a host of reasons including his 50th wedding anniversary.
• DAN HOLDEN was happy to pay $40 to celebrate his son’s wedding and daughter’s college graduation.
• JERRY TOMANEK paid $20 for the privilege and honor of soon being called “Grampa Jerry.”
• BAIDRA PROCHNOW MURPHY paid $40 to celebrate her birthday which falls on the same day as her mother, Mary, who also agreed to pay $40.
• BEVERLY TUCKER announced that she has attended the Rotary International Convention in Montreal and that she was thrilled to represent our club.  She made connections with other Rotarians for sister projects and learned that DUDE ANGUIS is a Rotary Rock Star. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
Our speaker was Pulitzer Prize winning editor and Mercury News columnist Gary Richards – otherwise known as the famous “Mr. Roadshow”.  His six-day per week column receives several hundred questions and letters a week.
 
Gary has been the transportation reporter for the San Jose Mercury News since 1991.  Before that, he was a sports editor and assistant city editor.
 
In 1979 he was named top sports writer/columnist in Iowa, and in 1981 his column on the assassination attempt on President Reagan and the NCAA's decision to play the college basketball title game -- they should not have played, he said -- was cited as a chief reason his newspaper was named the top sports section in the state.
 
In 1989, Gary was an editor on the team that helped the Mercury News win a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake.  In 1994 he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the opening of Highway 85.  He was again nominated for a Pulitzer in 2005 for community reporting.
 
Gary is a native of Iowa, graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in political science. He also attended graduate school in journalism.
 
He's worked at the Ames, Iowa Tribune; the Des Moines Register and the Quad-City Times. He joined the Mercury News in 1984. Gary and his wife Jan live in San Jose.  He has a daughter who is a graduate of UC-Berkeley and an 18-year-old son about to march off to college.
 
Gary said he has two major criteria for his column:  
1) Does the question make him laugh?
2) Is a safety issue involved?
These two issues generally make it into his column.
 
He told the story of a writer who said he was driving on Highway 9 and advised Gary that CalTrans had one of the most beautiful women flaggers he had ever seen stopping cars on the construction project.  After Gary posted that in his column, another writer sent a note agreeing.  A third writer advised that he had taken some flowers to the lovely woman.  Gary will keep readers informed of where this goes.
 
Mr. Roadshow said he gets flooded with strange things people see when driving, like one women who was driving erratically because she was using a breast pump, another who was changing her nylons. 
 
One recent column features a CHP officer’s tale of stopping two French tourists for speeding at 95 mph.  When stopped, they were dumbfounded at what they had done wrong, saying they had read the traffic rules carefully and that the book said California road signs were in black and white and pointed to one nearby that said U.S. Highway 101.  They got off with a warning.
 
Gary told a number of humorous stories and then fielded questions from Rotarians ranging from use of the car pool lane to the future of road projects and transportation in Santa Clara County.
 
Thanks to Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, for an entertaining and educational program.  We’d like to have you back again someday!