Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show September 30 2010

President DENNIS YOUNG, presiding over a full to overflowing crowd, chimed the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. 
 
Arriving Rotarians had been greeted by JACK HEIDMILLER and JAN MINERS.  WYATT ALLEN was back from his travels, dutifully manning the pay station. 
 
Brand new dad LARRY CHU led the pledge, and JOANNE KAVALARIS provided the thought for the day. We were then treated to a special singer from the West Bay Opera, who sang “America the Beautiful”.
 
VP MONA ARMISTEAD will be missing “on assignment” for the next few weeks.  DENNIS thinks the “assignment” is a round the world flight, but we shall see.  In her stead, DENNIS introduces visiting Rotarians and guests.  Today we had several visiting Rotarians, including Eleanor from Cupertino, George from Cupertino, Judy from Mountain View, and John from Sunnyvale Sunrise.
 
President DENNIS also welcomed Donna Cederval, President of the Los Altos Kiwanis, who was attending today with a whole table of Kiwanis who were there on our club’s invitation.
 
With a popular program on today’s agenda, many members had invited guests.  DICK HENNING, DAVID CASAS, VAL CARPENTER, PAUL SCHUTZ, PAUL NYBERG, GARY WALDECK, JEAN MORDO, DAVID SMITH and GEORGE ESTILL, all introduced guests.
 
DENNIS then reintroduced visiting Rotarian John Thompson from Sunnyvale Sunrise, who announced his club fundraiser: “Cards for a Cause”.  On October 23, their club will host a poker tourney to benefit Fisher House in Palo Alto.  Fisher House provides a place to stay for families of veterans who are receiving treatment for severe injuries at the Palo Alto VA hospital.  The poker tourney will be right here in town at Main Street Books & Café and everyone is invited to participate in this tournament.
 
 

NEW RED BADGER
President DENNIS then invited KATHY LERA and her sponsor JULIE ROSE up to welcome KATHY as  a new member of the club.  Kathy has lived in Los Altos her whole life, is a Los Altos High alum, and has followed her career in high tech with more local work at the Los Altos Town Crier.  As DENNIS prepared to welcome KATHY to the club, he discovered he had no badge and no pin for KATHY.  But luckily, Secretary KENDRA GJERSETH showed up a bit later with the goods, and all was well.
 
 

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Pres DENNIS called LARRY CHU and announced that LARRY had been highlighted in the Town Crier as the featured Rotarian of the Month.  For this, LARRY joined the president’s club.  LARRY, box of cigars in hand, also announced that LARRY CHU III had been born on September 15.
• DAVID BERONIO then stepped up to remind LARRY that DAVID had predicted that the baby would be born on his birthday, Sept. 15.  Since the prediction came true, DAVID gave LARRY the $100 he promised.  LARRY joked that this $100 was a pre-purchase for next year’s president’s club.  Good try LARRY!
• President DENNIS announced that our club had joined with Mountain View Rotary Club to raise almost $2,200 for the victims of the San Bruno explosion.  Our club raised $1,825, with Mountain View adding $350 to the total.
• DENNIS also announced that with the diligent work of KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM, our club had raised $1,970 to support the COANIQUEM Burn Center in South America.  Dennis added another $130 to reach $2,100 so our club could sponsor three children at the Center as we had in prior years.
• DENNIS also announced that our meeting on Veteran’s Day, November 11, will be held at the Los Altos Country Club, not at the Garden House.  DENNIS promised that there would be many reminders at meetings and in the Rotator, so here’s a REMINDER; our meeting on Veteran’s Day, November 11, will be held at the Los Altos Country Club, not at the Garden House. 

• JOHN SYLVESTER stepped up to announce that on October 15, there will be a Wine and Cheese social at CLARI NOLET’s house.
• President DENNIS also announced that the Avenues of Service event will be on October 21, at the Doubletree in San Jose.  All members are encouraged to attend, particularly Red Badgers, Directors, and others, who can learn about the many programs sponsored by Rotary Clubs throughout our District.
• DENNIS also announced that on October 24, there will be a special Rotary walk from the waterfront to the Ferry Building, followed by a special Light Ceremony  at the Ferry Building later in the evening, all to support End Polio Now.  Click here to see a pdf describing the event.  The walk over the Golden Gate bridge part has been cancelled.

THE WEEKLY PROGRAM: CANDIDATES FOR LOS ALTOS AND LOS ALTOS HILLS COUNCILS
 
DENNIS brought ROY LAVE up to introduce the candidates for city council in both Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. 

There are three candidates for two open seats on the Los Altos Hills council.  The three candidates are John Ratford, Gary Waldeck and Joan Sherlock, who all spoke to the club and highlighted their qualifications for the office.
 

There are five candidates for two open slots on the Los Altos council.  Curtis Cole was not present, but his wife, Debbie Meredith, stood in as proxy.  Nancy Carlson, Jarrett Fishpaw, and Val Carpenter also spoke to outline their qualifications and plans.  The last candidate, Matt Sweeney was not present. 

ROY then introduced Gloria Hom from Palo Alto Rotary and the League of Women Voters, who once again helped us in a complicated election year by explaining the nine state propositions, with the arguments for and against. 

The nine are:

• Proposition 19: Legalize Marijuana
• Proposition 20: Citizen Commission to do redistricting of Congressional Districts
• Proposition 21: $18 annual Vehicle License Surcharge
• Proposition 22: Prohibits State from Taking Funds from Local Transportation Redevelopment or other Local Government Projects
• Proposition 23: Suspends Greenhouse Gas Emission law (A.B. 32) until unemployment in California is below 5.5% for a full year
• Proposition 24: Repeals Legislation on Corporate Tax Changes
• Proposition 25: Reduces Vote Required for Budget from 2/3 to simple Majority
• Proposition 26: Requires 2/3 vote to increase states “fees” as well as “taxes.”
• Proposition 27: Reverses earlier state redistricting Proposition 11 and reverts redistricting to State Legislature

THIS THURSDAYS PROGRAM

Betty Auchard was a retired art teacher when her husband, Denny, died. For her, writing became a way to heal, eventually taking on a life of its own. Her stories have been published in the Chocolate for a Woman’s Soul series, the San Jose Mercury News, and other periodicals. In addition to writing full time, she presents the stories from this book to audiences in the Bay Area, including many Rotary Clubs.

These short, upbeat, inspiring stories tell us how this spunky septuagenarian survives – she decides to dance instead of sitting on the sidelines. Betty laughs and cries her way through grief and, ultimately, comes to see her situation as normal. Betty’s presentations are light-hearted and fun because she tackles a serious subject with humor and grace.

She wows her audiences with a sad/funny/uplifting and sometimes hilarious accounting of life after death—in this case, the loss of her beloved Denny, husband of 49 years. 

“Bittersweet yet sweetly whimsical and always touchingly candid, her wonderful stories tackle potentially paralyzing emotional issues and make all the sad stops along the way without becoming the least maudlin or self-indulgent. – Amazon.  She will keep us laughing!