Meeting Recap for January 30, 2012
We had a watered-down version of a Rotary meeting this week (you’re about to discover how bad a pun that was), as our guest speaker was Lester Snow, current director of the California Water Foundation (see?), and former director of just about every government-related water entity in the River City and elsewhere.
Before Mr. Snow, we had a flood of meeting activity (bad pun #2 and counting…), starting with the wine reception that featured some of the Rotary Rooters accompanying Paul (Like a Rolling) Stone on piano, while the wine and conversation flowed (#3….).
We then we moved onto the birthday boys – the Emperor, Wes Yee, born on this very meeting day, and Mead Kibbey, celebrating his 90th trip around the sun this past January 12th (and if that’s not impressive enough, given how vibrant Mead remains, consider that he’s currently enjoying is 58th year in the club!). To give you an idea of what Mead has seen over his life so far, the year of his birth (1922, for the more innumerate among us) featured, among other developments, President Warren Harding installing the first radio in the White House, the Supreme Court striking down a challenge to the 19th Amendment (giving our fairer sex the vote), the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial and – ever so thankfully – the birth of Ava Gardner and the forming of the Molly Pitcher Club to set about the repeal of prohibition (all from Wikipedia, so you know it’s true…kind of….a little bit…probably not).
After the usual festivities (Thought of the Day by Don Meyer, pledge, intros, etc.), the club’s own energizer bunny, Past President and Bankruptcy Attorney Extraordinaire, Walter (If You’ve Hit the Wall, Give Me a Call) Dahl commanded the podium to introduce our latest Sacramento Rotary Fellow (the highest honor the club bestows, for you newer members) – rabid St. Louis Cardinals fan and former legal eagle, Joe Wojciechowski (just say it like it’s spelled). Congratulations, Joe, on ascending to the rarified air of Rotary!
New members David Teel and Edward (Give Him a Mile and He’ll Take An) Inch were welcomed into the club (welcome aboard, gents), and then Sponsor of the Day, Jim Leet, did a fantastic ventriloquist act, with fellow Boutin Jones cohort, Iain Mickle seemingly doing all the talking during their allotted 3 minutes (I swear, I didn’t see Jim’s lips move once!).
Ok, so do you want to make a unique and rewarding contribution to the club? One of our Rotary Youth Exchange Students, the very sweet Abby Lin of Taiwan, is in need of a host family for her April thru June stay as our guest. Abby attends C.K. McClatchy High School, and is in need of a new temporary home so that she can finish the school year here. If you’d like to make a significant impact on Abby’s situation, contact John Shelby for details.
Want to meet your fellow Rotarians outside of our regular Monday meetings? There’s a bevy of ways coming up to do so – you can attend the February 8th Fireside, hosted by newer member, Steven (I jumped out of one too many planes, and now I need a) Walker, or the Happy Hour party on February 28th at Morton’s, or volunteer during our stint at the KVIE phone bank on March 8th (Leslie Botos’s birthday, y’all [had to give a shout out to my lunch partner today]), or Jim Phillips’ Yosemite Snowshoe Walk on March 10th. Oh, and there’s always breakfast with President Ken at the next President’s Breakfast on February 8th.
With no one in the mood for voluntary tithing (and Prez Ken giving a hall pass to the gathered throng on that front), we moved onto our water expert, introduced by the king of the water lawyers in our fair city, Past President George (Count) Basye.
Now, you might think that a water expert would be dry (ha!), but not the case with Lester, as he exhibited a charming sense of humor while proving quite enlightening (it was he, after all, who pointed out the irony of a water guy named Les Snow). Offering an interesting lesson on California’s water system and its history, the takeaway from Les’s chat was (among other issues) the need for California’s business community to get engaged in California’s water debate, noting that water is a fundamental business resource; that it’s imperative that California increase its groundwater storage (as it is the “holding pen”, accumulated in good times to support us during droughts); and that water conservation, reuse (i.e. water recycling), and the capture of storm water (rather than losing it to needless runoff into the ocean) are keys to increasing our groundwater supply. An entertaining speech delivered by the Snow man. Have a good week, and let’s find Abby Lin a home for the Spring! JBW