2/23/26 Meeting Minutes
Attendees: Catti, Adam, Cindy, Lynn, Bob W., Hubert, Bob F., Casey, Ron, Rich
Brag bucks:
Aaron Juergens birthday is today!
Bob F. – Knights of Columbus running state bowling tournament out at Starline Lanes
Club news:
Guest bartender event – 3/25 at SideTracked (old brewery); make sure you mark your calendars to help out; flyer on Facebook already so if you have Facebook, please share to get the word out; best advertising is word of mouth so tell your friends to come and support us!
Speaker update:
3/2 – Gene Meiners and Scott Johnson
3/9 – Ellen Zimmerman with US Grain Council – via Zoom
3/16 – Ashley Wink – Scouting America
3/23 – Casey Berlau and John Steffes with school updates
3/30 – St. Anthony’s update
4/13 – Jean Voege and Dawn (city clerk in Manning) with Wall that Heals program; portable Vietnam War memorial coming to Manning
Program:
Rich Hartley – Manzanar War – has visited the site and said it is very interesting
- Lone Pine, California
- 750 westerns were filmed there
- After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 10 internment camps were created there
- 120K Japanese American’s were housed there; 10K were housed in 1 square mile
- 36 blocks of 20 barracks; 25x100 in size; each barrack was divided in 25 apartments; 4-5 families sharing each barrack
- How did Rich discover this? He was watching CBS Saturday morning 2 years ago.
- To learn more, watch the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/Spo1Khmp2U4?si=iVm6pDFU7-3YOlRH
- Japanese were told that they were being evacuated so that they could be protected and that it was in no way a concentration camp.
- Hot in the summer; bone-chilling in the winter and always windy
- No freedom or privacy: communal showers
- Worst memory: they were prisoners
- Feb of 1943 you could leave the camp but must have a job, place to stay and can’t go to 3 pacific coast states; had to be fingerprinted so they knew if you committed a crime; you were given $25 and a ticket to wherever you wanted to go
- No arrests of conspiracy or espionage after the war
- US apologized for “The mistake” that was made and offered a monetary gift to make up for the wrongdoing.
- Due process was formalized and enacted.
Next meeting is 3/2 with Gene Meiners and Scott Johnson from the County Supervisors office.