Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show January 20 2011

President DENNIS YOUNG called the meeting to order with a welcome to the “best Rotary Club in the world.” Birthday and anniversary guy LARRY CHU, Jr. led the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
RICH CASEY reflected on the tragedy in Tucson and quoted from President Obama’s speech about the young girl who was killed saying that we should do everything we can to live up to her expectations. Rich believes that should extend to all children.
 
SONG FOR THE DAY
JEANNE MACVICAR, led us in “You Are My Sunshine” and remarked that we should hold that little girl in our hearts forever so it was a rather sober rendition after those thought provoking words.
 
Dennis thanked Greeters TED SORENSON, FRANK VERLOT and STUART BOWEN, photographer RANDY GARD, Sergeant at Arms LEW FRASER, MIKE ABRAMS and FRANK VERLOT and cashier JOANNE KAVALARIS helped by KAREN OWEN.
 
VISITING ROTARIANS
The newest grandmother in the club, MONA ARMISTEAD asked visiting Rotarians to stand for introductions. We were pleased to welcome former LARC member Bill Walters, visiting us from the San Mateo Club.  (Mona was able to hold her newest grandchild in Nashville on the very day she was born.)
 
AND GUESTS…
KENDRA GJERSETH introduced Wayne, CEO of Pan Pacific Bank, and the LOHL (That’s texting language!).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• First on the docket was a friend from neighboring Mountain View Rotary  who invited all of us to come out for a “Taste of Crab” on January 29th at the Buddhist Temple in Mountain View. He thanked our club for its support and in particular “good guys” like MARY PROCHNOW and SAM HARDING who make a donation to the club even though they don’t come to the annual Crab Feed.
  
• JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA urged all to attend “An Evening with Jose Antonio Vargas”, a fundraiser for the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project, to be held on Tuesday, February 8. Tickets are available online at www.rotaryaidsproject.org and flyers are ready for anyone who can make an announcement at a nearby Rotary Club. Please sign up for this exciting evening that will benefit the Child AIDS Prevention project and help save lives in Liberia.
  
• Sister Cities was meeting on Thursday night as announced by CHUCK LINDAUER.
  
• JERRY MOISON wants everyone to go online and sign up for the March 4 Cioppino Feed at the Garden House.
• STUART BOWEN requested donations for the silent auction that will be held that evening.  He is also looking for sponsors and program advertisers for the annual art show coming up soon.  Please call STUART or GREG DABB if you want to be included.
• FRANK VERLOT announced that the WCS committee will meet on Tuesday at 8:00 at First Republic Bank and are looking forward to hearing first-hand all about Haiti from BUD OLIVER and ALAN VARNI who have just returned from that country.  Turns out they stayed at the same hotel as the infamous “Baby Doc.”
  
• ABBEY AHRENS shared her experience with the Charleston Rotary Club having just returned from a visit to the south.
  
• LARRY CHU, JR. wished everyone a giant Gung Hei Fat Choy and assured us he was not wearing a traditional Chinese birthday suit because he had that on underneath his festive garb.  Get ready for a big blowout Chinese New Year with all the trimmings, including entertainment, at Chef Chu’s on February 15.  It’s only $60 and you need to sign up ahead of time and can do that online.
  
• PP DICK HENNING had a sunshine update on PP LEN MCBIRNEY that was really sunny.  Len has finished his radiation and the docs are very pleased, declaring him cancer free.  That’s the best news.
  
• President DENNIS announced that DAN HARDING and STEVE SHEPHERD signed up their spouses but not themselves for the Chef Chu New Year so he fined them $10 a piece for IT training.  Steve said he was so IT-challenged he had MATT CABOT do it for him and wanted him to match the fine.  Matt agreed.  Dan said he didn’t mind paying the fine because he heard there was going to be top shelf liquor at the event and it was well worth the cost.
  
• There are some upcoming District events in May including a talent show. First auditions are January 29 at Los Gatos High School and then on February 6 at the Saddle Rack in Fremont.
  
• Two late-breaking news items:  There will be six Russian educators here on April 8-16 thanks to the work of KAREN FOX. LAREF just received a bequest from the estate of Bruce Caan for $45,000 and Dennis reminded everyone that you, too, can leave something to LARC.

Speaking about donations.  One of the places that your money goes when you donate to LAREF, is to is the local Boy Scouts.  Here is an email from PP DICK BLANDING:

Matt:  Here's a report about a recent activity involving our LARC-sponsored Troop 37. I thought it might be interesting to our members, to see what sorts of things Scouting is teaching these days.

Dear Dick,

It's a great day to be a Scout! 2010 Merit Badge Midways.  What is a Merit Badge Midway? It's a chance for Boy Scouts to work on Eagle-required and fun Merit Badges and finish incomplete Merit Badges.

In 2010 we had two Merit Badge Midways. Our main one was in February of last year, and our Science & Technology Midway was held in December.

600 Boy Scouts signed up for the main Midway in February, and they earned 691 merit badges! Merit badges offered were:

CORRECTION TO LAST WEEK'S ROTATOR:
Eagle eyed STEVE POMEROY pointed out that the date for the STARS training is on March 12, not March 17th.  See the District Newsletter HERE See page 8.

ONE FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Dennis announced that nominations were open for three director seats and that the annual club meeting would be held on February 10.  If you would like to be considered or want to nominate someone let him know, as the nominating committee will be meeting.

TEN-MINUTE TALK
KENDRA  GJERSETH started her talk by saying she was really scared, but she then proceeded to tell us all about herself with aplomb.  Time flies when you are having fun, so Kendra’s first xx years were a blur, though there was a recurring theme that revolved around her hair.  More later.

A FINE TIME
PEN JOHN SYLVESTER assured anyone who had a problem with signing up online for Chef Chu’s that he could help because MATT CABOT had taught him everything. 

• John called on LARRY CHU, JR. so he could pay for his birthday and anniversary.
• PAUL NYBERG joined the president’s club and paid extra for a commercial announcement that the Los Altos Town Crier fund will distribute funds to 15 non-profits on February 15.
• BILL BALSON had not paid one cent but celebrated his 39th anniversary so John asked for $40 but Bill said to round it up to the nearest $100.
• DAVE BERGMAN joined the president’s club because he hadn’t been at a meeting in a long time.
• NANCY SIMON paid for her wedding anniversary.
• STEVE BIANCHI wanted to pay 10000 lire but settled for $50.
• MONA ARMISTEAD did pay for her newest grandmother status, though she said it was really priceless.
• DAVE BERONIO said he got a parking ticket and wondered if he could ask the Chief of Police and our program speaker, whether he could donate the $35 to Rotary instead of writing a check to the City. John mentioned something about selling him a bridge. . .

THE ROTARY PROGRAM
VALERIE CARPENTER introduced our speaker, Los Altos Chief of Police Tuck Younis.  Younis came to Los Altos in 2007 after serving 29 years and as second in command for the San Jose Police Department. Younis talked about the state of Public Safety for the City of Los Altos, but started by saying he couldn’t do anything about Dave Beronio’s ticket, saying it probably wasn’t from Los Altos since parking ticket’s in the city were $54.  He said the goal of the police department is to make Los Altos a safe place to live and raise a family.  He realizes that 50% of the City’s operating budget goes to police and fire.  They provide 24/7 service. 

In addition to patrol service, there is a K-9 ; unit, a SWAT team, investigative force, traffic and code enforcement, and 911 dispatch for emergency calls.  They run a lean operation and it’s quite different than San Jose with 29,000 people instead of 1 million and 1800 employees of which 1400 carried guns compared to Los Altos with 48 employees and 30 carry guns.  He’s proud to report that the crime stats from the FBI that are reported annually show that in 2010 there were 280 reported crimes which showed a reduction of 24 percent. 

For burglary there has been a 38% reduction.  He is very proud of his officers and cited several cases that have been very successful, including a molestation case with multiple victims where a suspect was arrested and now awaits trial.  When asked what frustrates him, he said nothing frustrated him thanks to the support of the city and community.  He said one challenge is he would love more staff. Then he was asked what he thought about the current issue of retirement benefits and pensions and he responded that he thinks the public is being heard and that there will be some kind of pension reform, perhaps a two tiered system. 

When asked about the Internet and bullying, he replied that this has not been a concern in Los Altos, where the police have a great working relationship with the schools.  Other questions were about the dangerous crossing on San Antonio Road, the cost of doing business as it relates to business owners and thefts, leaf blowers and the use of videos in catching criminals.
 
Dennis Young thanked the Chief for an informative talk and adjourned the meeting.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:  Jan 27th

Dan Gordon, Gordon Biersch   Dan Gordon graduated from Berkeley in 1982 with a degree in economics. But instead of looking for a job in finance, he enrolled in the famous Weihenstephan Technical University in Munich - the only American in a class of 96.  Five years later, in 1987, he received his degree along with 17 classmates.  He was the first American to graduate in over 50 years.  “I learned German the hard way:  I took classes at Berkeley, was an exchange student in Northern Germany and took an intensive German class for six weeks before classes began.  I took my final orals in October, 1987 and we opened Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant in Palo Alto in July, 1988,” Dan said.  From the start, the beer was German-style, mostly lagers.  In Bavarian tradition, all their beer follows the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law which allows only barley, hops and water (yeast was unknown and the code was stretched to include wheat). The food also made the place a destination.