President Katie welcomed Justin Paul, the Fergus Falls Police Chief, and Nathalie Paul, proprietor of Pebble Lake Chiropractic. Also visiting us for the first time was Sara Servillo, our new exchange student from Torre Annunziata (a town of about 40,000 inhabitants located between Mount Vesuvius and the sea) in the province of Naples, Italy. Other guests included Marcie Cole, Wally's wife, and Wally's long-time friend, Brad Meyer. Tim Hunt offered our invocation and after recital of our pledges, Keith Olson led us in song. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz based on the September Rotary Magazine, with two of three questions answered correctly (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as chili jam). We were reminded of the 3rd Annual Gathering at the River at Spies Park on September 16, 2026, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and of the joint Sunrise and Noon Rotary picnic social on September 30th at Broadway Park, starting at 5:30 p.m.; no noon meeting on the 30th.
Deb Maertens led off the bragging, paying for missing some meetings and to say that Sara is happily settled in with Brian and Danyelle Tjaden; the prior weekend Deb held the required orientation for District youth exchange students at her lake home, which included not only Sara but students being hosted in Thunder Bay (from Thailand), Duluth (Brazil), Bismarck (Germany), Moorhead (also Brazil) and I believe Ely, although I did not catch the country from which that student hails. While doing some water activities during the orientation weekend, the student from Germany was reassured there were no crocodiles in the lake, and none were encountered. Keith Olson promoted a concert by Men of Note at OLV this coming Sunday evening, September 6, starting at 7:00 p.m. He also told us of the sad news that former Noon Rotarian Dan Johnson's mother (Judy) was in a bad car accident the day before, with many bone breaks and lacerations, was air flighted to Fargo, and that Dan, Judy and their families are in need of our prayers. This writer talked about presentations he will be making at an upcoming continuing legal education seminar on real estate that historically has about 1000 attendees.
Wally Cole then presented the program, employing PowerPoint slides, on "Foundations of Health & Human Alignment." He started with making an analogy to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and how engineers used various tools in the last century to reduce the leaning to prevent it from falling over. Chiropractors do the same for the human body and Wally told us there are 188 different types of chiropractic practices, all of which get results. He also compared what a chiropractor does to high-voltage electrical towers which need foundations of up to 60 to 250 feet deep to maintain their structural integrity, with humans having two footings to support the rest of the body. The method Wally employs in his practice uses activators and he has been employing this practice since 1976. Chiropractors treat the whole body and do not just provide symptomatic care as in the case of medical physicians. He said the first chiropractic adjustment occurred in 1895, with the first college curriculum for this profession developed in the 1930's. From the research Wally has done, he said the first chiropractic doctor in Fergus Falls was a Dr. Cederhorn, who practiced from 1904 to 1922. In the early 1920's a Dr. Waylander established his practice, and he would train others (about 15 in total) in the profession, including a Dr. Christianson whose practice Wally purchased in 1986. There are now 15 chiropractic providers in Fergus Falls, including son-in-law and fellow Rotarian Zack's. Wally described the American Medical Association (AMA) as thwarting the federal government's classification of chiropractors as health care providers; over the years that has resulted in less Medicare dollars for chiropractors, meaning patients have to pay more out of their pockets if they are seeking chiropractic services. Our guest Nathalie was invited to the microphone by Wally, and she said that in the 1960's the AMA tried to eliminate chiropractic care and that Ron Hubbard from the Church of Scientology prevented it from doing so.
