Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show Spetember 12 2013

Official greeters and occasional Rotarian publicity seekers fall in line to welcome Rotarians who arrive early.  The official greeters today were MIKE ABRAMS, DEBRA PENDER, DUANNI HURD and GEORGE STAFFORD.

Banker JOANNE KAVALARIS took in the cash for lunch and Rotarians found a seat next to a sociable member and at 12:15 sharp, President JACK KELLY rang the bell to start the meeting.

ROY JONES asked us to salute the flag and LONNIE GARY asked us to help memorize yesterday as a salute to 9/11.

GARY WALDECK also provided a thought for 9/11 quoting former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani saying he will never forget the sight of people fleeing from the falling towers. “That memory never leaves you, it stays with you forever.”

Rotarian songster RON STEFANI did a solo with the preamble to God Bless America as the entire membership accommodated RON in song.

During a short break in the proceedings, STEVE POMEROY asked members to look at the main hall ceiling. As a surprise, the entire ceiling was festooned with acoustic tiles to improve the audio. “We are halfway there for a better reception and next week we will have a new microphone,” said STEVE.

PE KENDRA GJERSETH took over introductions with only one visiting Rotarian from India named Nash.

Rotarians with guests included: PP SAM PESNER, PAUL SCHUTZ, PP DICK HENNING, PP JOHN SYLVESTER and GARY WALDECK.

President JACK KELLY is still looking for bloomer donations. With District Governor ANGIE HASSLER arriving next week JACK wants to show his respect with an armful of bloomers to be given to CSA.
Inductions:  Membership Director JEAN MORDO took the podium to call attention to three members, one new to the Club, and their new status with the Rotary Club of Los Altos.

Becoming full members with a blue badge were:
TOM POWERS, sponsored by PP DENNIS YOUNG and returning member JOAN ROSSELLE, sponsored by PAUL SCHUTZ.

Receiving a red badge as a new member of Los Altos Rotary was BRANDON SMITH, sponsored by PP DENNIS YOUNG and VON PACKARD.  BRANDON, from the Sonora area, was following a quest since his father is an active Rotarian in Sonora.  After the induction the membership audience rose and applauded the new Rotarians.

Announcements:
JACK brought our attention to next year. On March 6, 2014 the Los Altos Rotary Club will be celebrating 65 years of existence and JACK wishes to have a huge celebration.

PP SAM PESNER. substituting for PP CYNTHIA LUEDTKE announced that TRF contributions and pledges should be in before next meeting because we want to show a good response for the District Governor on September 19. Especially more double sustainers.

HARRY PRICE reminded Rotarians of the social hour at PP SAM PESNER’S home this Friday. We hope everybody had fun.

Red Badger MARK ROGGE reminded members of the Red Badger auction to benefit Vida Verde will be held October 10. The Red Badgers will be serving wine so you can enjoy all the wonderful items to bid on.

JERRY MOISON mentioned the LAREF Board will be giving away grants in October and anyone interested in participating in decisions on where funds should be given should contact him for more information.

In short announcements, GARY WALDECK reminded members that the new handbook is available.

BRIAN WARD said tickets to the Opera were now reduced for the weekend. PAUL SCHUTZ would like to hear from the membership on ideas for a community capital project. 

PP MARLENE COWAN reminded us about our commitment to the COANIQUEM BURN CENTER and provided a short history of recent contributors, including the late BRUCE CANN who personally supported on child each year. $1,000 provides a year’s burn treatment for a child and MARLENE noted that we have so far allocated $1,000 for Paola and $440 for Elise. If fifteen Rotarians contribute $100 we will have enough to support Elise and Fabian. Also, don’t forget the Fiesta Afloat dining cruise on October 6.

10-Minute Talk:
When things don’t work right you need an adlib, and the master at that was today‘s 10-minute speech by CHARLES (CHUCK) LINDAUER with humor and his adventurous life from coast to coast.
Born in New York with a musical background, he felt at home in high school science. He met his wife Ilona in college and after numerous jobs in the east Chuck moved to Los Altos.

With his present head of decreasing hair, Chuck wished to show what that perfect head look like in his formative years, but the house computer didn’t work and we can only visualize because the screen was black.

After 12 years at Foothill College being involved with computers and in charge of the Foothill computer program, Chuck is now doing his own thing for money and occasional pro bono creating databases.

With two wonderful grandchildren, Chuck is glad he moved to Los Altos. Taking a trip to Africa with a Foothill Group, Chuck became friendly with other safari members and found out they were mostly Rotarians so he joined the club.

First time Fine Master:
JOE EYRE’s first time a fine master was an easy gig because every person fined was a volunteer.  The were:

• PP SAM PESNER married 35 years to Lou so the fine was $35.
• PP STEVE ANDERSON volunteering as “screw up” a la PP DAN DUTTON for $30.
• DUANNI HURD volunteered and paid $30.
• JANE REED: a Sept 8, 1962 anniversary with John cost her $51.

The Main Speaker
After a short introduction by PP DICK HENNING, Dr. Philip Yun kept the audience intrigued because they have had little actual information on North Korea. A former U.S. Department of State official, Dr. Yun’s title was “The Problem of North Korea”.

“Despite our best efforts, we remain in the dark about the internal leadership dynamics of the Republic of Korea. Many assessments of young Kim Jong Un rely on hearsay,” said Dr. Yun. “North Korea was called out and bluffed but gained stature in the process.”

Dr. Yun mentioned that North Korea has no intentions of giving up its nuclear program and its reliance as a deterrent will increase in the future.

One of the problems we have to consider is what happens to the nuclear weapons if North Korea collapses? They may want to sell the weapons to the highest bidder. It is an unstable country in which the new leader is pushing the envelope, Yun commented.

Dr. Yun’s basic observations:
No one really understands what is going on in North Korea, but they are not crazy.
We understate and overstate North Korea’s capabilities. An example was their Dec 12 missile test.
There will be no attack on the United States because their missile technology can’t reach us presently.

Kim Jong Un will be under great pressure to demonstrate bold leadership and this could mean a surprise on the political or economic front.

Presently, Dr. Yun is executive director of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation. He previously was involved in diplomatic efforts toward North Korea at the State Department from 1994 to 2001.

This Thursday's Program:
Angie Hassler - "District Governor Visit"