President Pingston retrieved us from our breakout rooms (which by the way are a great way to chat with fellow rotarians) at 12:30 and Ring the Bell to bring us to order. It appears we have too many Carmens in the club because they had to thumb wrestle over who would give the invocation. In the end Carmen Hall won out and delivered an invocation of peace and comfort. John Dale Smith performed our patriotic song, America the Beautiful.
President Julie recognized John Person to introduce our visitor, Katie Crick who is on the board of Hospice and is with Cedar River Insurance.
As to the Health of the Club, Scott Keith announced the passing of former member James Butler. President Julie spoke about the funeral earlier today for Jack Draper and his wife who were both 97 years old, and had been in love since high school.
Lansing Rotary will be hosting a socially distanced Social Gathering at Rotary Park; members are encouraged to do what makes you feel comfortable in terms of whether to attend.
In other announcements, Lansing Rotarian Dr. Dean Sienko was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Ingham Health Plan which provides access to basic medical and dental care for low-income, uninsured Ingham County residents. Thanks to Dean for your service with this important organization.
For our special music, we heard from Australian pop opera group Aria showcasing their performance at the 2020 Rotary International Virtual Convention. Performing “The Prayer” and “Nessun Dorma”.
Cindy Kangas intruduced our speaker, Joe Bristol from Joe’s Gizzard City Restaurant. Joe is the father of boys, an MSU graduate, and is active with the Potterville Downtown Development Authority and the Potterville Chamber of Commerce
12:56 Joe Bristol, from Joe’s Gizzard City Restaurant
Joe talked a bit about the history of Potterville, a community of 2403 residents. Joe’s family restaurant has been there since 1960; his grandparents, Ron & Ruby took over the Potterville Inn which specialized in chicken dinners; Ron & Ruby put their own twist. Joe’s dad took over the restaurant from 1968 to 1999 focused on gizzards with such slogans as “say yes to gizzards,” “gizzard power,” and gizzardgate” during the Watergate era. Joe took over in 1999 Joe after some college and some corporate work. Joe put a corporate twist on the family business with local family flair.
Joe was giving us some tips on cooking gizzards – such as pre-cook in a pressure cooker before deep frying to keep them from getting tough – when we were interrupted with a public service announcement:
Crispy the Chicken gave us safety tips to the tune of the Bee Gees hit “Staying Alive.”
• if you’re sick stay home
• wash your hands
• cover your beak
• eat more beef (I think this one is for chicken safety)
In questions and answers, Joe talked about how the idea of the deep fried burger came from his appearance with Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives as well as the challenge facing restaurants because of COVID-19 and number of other interesting tidbits.
Chris Swope's email is: chris.swope@lansingmi.gov