Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show February 17 2011

Greeters COETA CHAMBERS, JOHN MORDO and CLYDE NOEL were waiting for rain splattered Rotarians with their wet hands.

With a heavy rainstorm underway since early morning, members came in wearing raincoats and rain hats. Under such discouraging conditions they were asked, “Which is more important to you today, rain or your weekly Rotary meeting?”  The answer was in attendance with most of the table filled.

The meeting opened with JERRY TOMANEK leading the flag salute followed by STEVE SHEPHERD with his relationship to golf and famous quotes from comedians and their experience with golf.

Of more importance was a requested moment of silence for JOANNE BYRNE who gave up her fight with cancer and died several days ago.

Breaking up the silence for JOANNE, song leader JEANNE MacVICAR requested we all sing “Let me call you Sweetheart” because everybody thought JOANNE a sweetheart and a great friend.  Bing Crosby couldn’t have been as enthused when he made this song popular in the 1940s. 

VP MONA ARMISTEAD asked for visiting Rotarians and two Rotarian guests were present with one from Reno Central and the other from Mountain View Rotary (Judy Hannemann).

Rotarians who had guests today were JOHN MORDO (Jarrett Fishpaw) JULIE ROSE with two guests, GARY MAGGARD with his wife, Sandi, and PP SAM PESNER with his wife Lou.

PP TRACIE MURRAY was fine master today and was proud to announce she graduated from law school, and to prepare for her Bar Exam she asked question about law procedures. Unfortunately it was a cakewalk for TRACIE and the following Rotarians were fined $20;

• LONNIE GARY
• DAN O’DONNELL
• JERRY TOMANEK
• JOHN SINES
• JOE CORRAL
• ESTHER NG
• DICK DUHRING
• JUDY OTT
• BUD OLIVER
• CLYDE NOEL
• ABBY AHRENS
• BOB ADAMS

President DENNIS YOUNG said today’s program would be changed for the meeting to allow more time for the five high school speakers in the speech and debate tournament.
 
Doing his usual masterful endeavor, JACK KELLY explained the contests are open to student speakers in grades 9 through 12 who attend a local public high school within District 5170.  The speech must be original and the theme should be of current news and incorporate at least one of the principles of the Rotary 4-way test.

The first contestant was Akshay Shrivastava, a senior at Mountain View High School. Dressed in a black suit and conventional tie, Akshay’s theme was “A contradiction.” The theme concerned recent changes in Egypt and the use of Face book to spread the message. His question: Should democracy exist and do we need to take responsibility for democracy in the Far East?

The second contestant was Lili Raghian, a freshman at Mountain View High School. Her topic was “Abortion” and her opening statement was ‘Can you imagine being pregnant.’ Lili spoke about religious beliefs to keep your child and abortion is a personal decision only you can make.  She concluded with “your pregnancy is in your hands.”

The third speaker was Abel Gorfu, a freshman at Los Altos High School. His topic was “democracy at a crossroads.” Making reference to the recent Tucson tragedy and Gabrielle Giffords, Abel underscored his theme of why political issues are so controversial.    Forgetting his theme momentarily, he recovered and stated our actions are our own responsibility. “We must be united.”

Fourth speaker was Katherine Liu, a freshman at Los Altos High School. Her topic was “reaching towards tomorrow.” Relying on education as her theme, she said 50 percent of students do not graduate from high school and that is not our type of education.  We have three choices to improve our education. (a) Provide better teachers by pulling them from industry (b) Tenure hurts students.  It is only good for the teachers. (c) Pay should be based on the performance of students.  Education starts at home and we should commit to education 100 percent.

The Fifth contestant was Negin Shahiar, a freshman at Mountain View High School. Her theme was “bridging the cultural gap.” What do we know about Iraq and do we understand their culture?  Do we have an understanding of other cultures? Speaking with good hand movements, Negin stated we need more cultural knowledge to bridge the cultural gap.

Contestants were required to speak four minutes and not go over five minutes. Judges were Steve Wu, Dan Harding and Dick Henning and their decisions were:

• 1st prize: Akshay Shrivastava, cash award $100
• Negin Shahiar - $50
• Katherine Liu - $25
• Lili Raghian - Certificate
• Abel Gorfu - Certificate

With the speech contest over, President DENNIS reverted to the usual program sequence and asked for announcements:

• MARLENE COWAN asks that Rotary members take the program “STARS.” It is a program on leadership and Rotary training and most helpful.  Any LARC member can sign up for this one day seminar.
• STEVE POMEROY drew our attention to two LARC members, RICH CASEY and ALLAN VARNI,  who will soon be in Liberia to work on RAP’s Child AIDS prevention project. Follow them on Face Book.
• MARY PROCHNOW again advised us of JOANNE BYRNE’S memorial service this Saturday at 1:30 pm Feb. 19 at St. Nicholas Church, 473 Lincoln Ave, Los Altos.
• SAM PESNER noted the opportunity to provide recognition to the birthday of Rotary on 23 February 2011. We should take advantage of the double Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) recognition for contributions of $100 or more to the Annual Program Fund.  
  To be eligible, Rotarians must be registered in Rotary’s secure Member Access section of www.rotary.org.   It is important to register in advance if you wish to contribute in the promotion and receive double points.
• CINDY LUEDTKE drew out attention to the upcoming Cioppino Night on March 4. We raised $10,000 last year and we want to go over this year for the Polio Plus program.  We need your participation!  Sign up and bring your friends.  Contribute an item for the silent auction.  There’s room for volunteers to help out that evening as well, so please contact Cindy.
• LONNIE GARY, with the help of GREG DABB drew our attention to the opportunity of sponsorship of the Fine Art in The Park.  
• KAREN FOX needs help because the Russians are coming. They are young professionals and are here to learn about education. They need housing and we are looking for host families. See KAREN if you have an empty bed.

TWO SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL EVENTS
Last Tuesday, 48 Rotarians and 40 guests sat down to a wonderful Chef Chu's Chinese New Years Celebration dinner, honoring the Year of the Hare.  We have posted an album on our website of about 24 pictures.  Take a look HERE.

In addition a select group of members took Dan Gordon of Gordon Biersch to tour their San Jose facility.  Here are a couple of pictures from STEVE POMORY.  JOHN CARDOZA also send in a bunch of pictures.  They are on the website HERE in the Photo Albums.

MONROVIA, LIBERIA

If you recall, RICH CASEY gave a presentation on December 2nd about WORLD AIDS DAY, and he mention a trip to Monrovia, Liberia.  Go back to the December 2nd Rotator HERE and review what was said about the country, and then look at the pictures that RICH and ALLAN VARNI sent us to describe the trip they are currently on.  The album will be updated as the pictures come in. 

From STEVE POMORY:

Allan Varni and Rich Casey have posted their first report from Monrovia, Liberia. 

I spoke with them briefly by telephone this morning.  They have not yet found an internet connection robust enough for them to upload pictures or videos, but they will continue to look.

Click on the link below to read about what they've experienced on their first two days:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=92304345204&topic=1593

The initial pictures are posted on our website under MONROVIA, LIBERIA.  Click HERE to view.

President DENNIS closed the meeting five minutes early and provided District 5170 dates to consider if you have talent or you want to take the Polio Walk at the HP Pavilion.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:

Michael Mondavi
Founder & Coach
Folio Fine Wine Partners
 
Michael Mondavi established Folio Fine Wine Partners in 2004 with his wife, Isabel, and their children, Rob and Dina. With Folio, he realized his vision of forming a company that imports and produces the most exciting quality wines from the world's premiere and emerging wine regions, including Italy, Spain, Austria, New Zealand, Argentina and California.
 
The company also provides sales, marketing and public relations services to every wine brand they represent, so that the wines they believe in find their way onto the tables and into the hearts of American wine lovers.
 
Michael has more than 40 years of wine industry experience. After co-founding Robert Mondavi Winery with his father in 1966, he went on to serve as Vice President of Production responsible for winemaking, Vice President of Sales, President and CEO, and Chairman of the Board. Michael is pleased to bring that range of understanding to a new endeavor that combines his business experience with one of his highest priorities — working closely with his family to share and promote exceptional wines from around the globe.