POTPOURRI AND PUMPKINS
Last week your Club was presented with another perspective from one of our very own. Rotarian Jeff vonKaenel, publisher of the Sacramento News and Review (including Chico News & Review and Reno News & Review), provided very timely remarks on medical marijuana, following the Federal government crackdown on California dispensaries the previous Friday. Jeff also walked us through the 22 year history of the Sacramento News and Review.
To put this controversy into perspective, Jeff touched on his remarkable personal background (including a $13,000 loan from his mother to finance the venture as well as his colorful interface with Frank Whitaker at the Bee, Sacramento’s 800 lb media gorilla). The paper is one of the first alternative print newsweeklies in the country (1973) originating in Chico then to premier in Sacramento in 1989 and eventually Reno. Jeff further remarked on the paper’s significant involvement and influence on many key events in and around our community over the past 20 years.
Unknown to many of us was the involvement of Jeff and the paper in developing numerous regional events, many of which we continue to enjoy to this day including the local music scene with the Sammies shows and the Friday night downtown concerts in the park, Second Saturday, attracting thousands of art and cultural patrons every month, The Call for Unity Interfaith Music event which brought different religious groups together and the Jammies, supporting and recognizing the exceptional musical talent within our local high schools, to name a few.
We learned that the News and Review has a different mission than mainstream media. Jeff remarked that the paper focuses on bringing different voices into a community-wide discussion and forum and the paper’s philosophy to cover more controversial stories, including controversial advertizing, all of which has resulted in a circulation of 344,000 readers monthly. A brief Q & A followed.
This week, the program featured U.S Attorney, Ben Wagner’s informative remarks on the topic of the US/ Mexico border situation and our relationship in various arenas with the Mexican government which you can read all about below in this Pulse.
Speaking of foreign relations, if you have never enjoyed the occasion to host or if you wish to host again, our Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) students, Abby Lin from Taiwan and Basil DuPont from Belgium are still in need of housing accommodations during their one year visit to the Sacramento region. Abby needs a host family for the three month sectors of this coming December through February 2012, then March 2012 until June 2012. Basil is in need of a host family for March of 2012 until June 2012. Both students attend McClatchy High, so host families in the vicinity of McClatchy are preferred. Thank you John Shelby and family for hosting Basil beginning in December. This is an experience you will not regret. Contact Thom Gilbert (thomg@gilbertcpa.com) and the office for more details.
It’s about that time of year again as Ted White, Jim Culleton and their team gear up to distribute approximately 1000 dictionaries to 3rd grade children in 20 grammar schools in and around Sacramento. Thanks team for your good work with this desperately needed resource in our community.
And brace yourself for the 800 pound pumpkin; yes 842 pounds to be displayed at the Club luncheon on Halloween day, Monday the 31st, grown by none other than your Past President Pinkney, the pumpkin purveyor! Perhaps a photo op with that day’s program speaker, Mayor Kevin Johnson Tim!
Welcome to the Club new members, Jeff and Becky Wotzka. We are delighted to have you join our Rotary family!
Many thanks to JD Lauppe for our October wine and beer receptions, to our meeting sponsor, Jim Martin and the Boy Scouts of America (love that caramel corn), to Jim Relles, flanked by his two brothers and becoming a Mountaineer in recognition of the 65th anniversary of a Sacramento institution, Relles Florists and to Brian Van Camp becoming a Mountaineer in recognition of his wife’s notable achievements state wide in the board rooms of many corporations.
Enjoy a terrific week, strive for your summits!
Ken Noack, Jr.