Meeting Recap - March 15, 2016
Posted by Jay Lowden
on Mar 17, 2016
President Dave Cohen was giddy with delight as he raced to start the meeting on time so our club could hear a “BIG” Announcement from our guest speaker. In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day the room was decked out in shamrocks and the Green Beer was flowing thanks Dave Murphy and John Murphy (John O. Bronson Company). Finally the bells chimed and President Dave stepped to the podium, called the meeting to order and informed everyone that we were in store for a “BIG” Announcement. Thanks were given to Diane Mizell for hosting the wine reception, Frank Quin (Ephraim Ventures) and Gary Bazlen (Nicolaus Optical) our greeters for the day, Kevin Williams (KVIE) and Aaron French (Zanker Road Resource Management) for spinning the tunes, and for taking care of the AV.
John Wood (McGee & Thielen Insurance Brokers) provided a thought for the day with an appropriate Irish Blessing. Following the thought for the day guests and potential members were introduced and President Dave informed them that they picked a great day to visit because there was going to be a “BIG” Announcement. Our sponsor of the day was Roy Alexander (Sacramento Children’s Home) who provided an update on the Home and their 150th Anniversary of serving the community. We welcomed Bridget Tarzwell (Print Infinite) as the newest member of the club. She was sponsored by Tanya Kravchuk (Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento) and PP Susan Sheridan. We learned that Bridget is a Gonzaga Basketball fan, loves chocolate and wine, has 2 sons, likes driving fast and is with Print Infinite. Welcome Bridget!
Following some fellowship, which President Dave said was going to be shorter than normal so we could get to the “BIG” Announcement we had a series of “small” announcements. John Swentowsky (Swentowsky Photography) urged people to sign up for Loaves and Fishes on March 29th; Frank Poelman (Poelman Company) gave one last plug for the Ski Trip, which by the time you read this will have been a sunny success. He also made a final plug for the Ski’s Raffle; the Pony Express Team of Gabriel Gendron (Lyon Real State) and Bob Daly (Financial Network Wealth Advisors) gave an update of the race, thanked new sponsors, talked about the April 9 Training Run. The agenda called for President Dave to promote the upcoming District Assembly and District Conference but he decided to forgo those topics so we could hear the “BIG” Announcement.
The room was restless with excitement as Rob Scherer (Dale Carnegie Training) stepped to the podium to introduce Rick Jennings, Vice Mayor for the City of Sacramento and today’s speaker who would provide us with the “BIG” Announcement. Rick’s talk was titled: Commitment to Excellence, Commitment to Sacramento, Continuing the Dream. Did I mention that there was going to be a “BIG” Announcement? Rick provided us with some background of his career in the NFL where #33 was a member of the Oakland Raider’s 1976 Super Bowl Championship team. He talked about the close relationship he had with Al Davis and his son Mark. He shared with us his concern that the Raiders might once again abandon Oakland and if they were to leave then why not come to Sacramento. Then like a flash out of the backfield Rick hit us with the “BIG” Announcement that we had all been waiting for and told us that a formal offer was tendered to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to relocate the Raiders from Oakland to Sacramento. The applause was overwhelming and could be heard all the way out to the former casino at the end of the hall. Along with impressive renderings Rick walked us through the plan to build a state of the art stadium at Highway 50 and Watt Avenue on land owned by Teichert Construction. He thanked Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation) for making this possible. In addition to the stadium, there would be an Indian casino, retail and from the rendering a nice baseball park. He stated that the stadium would be built with private funds and that the City of Sacramento would only have to commit a small sum of $300 million to the project. A special seven-county ballot measure for a sales tax increase would raise an additional $750 million for the project. Two major health companies are bidding for the naming rights to the stadium. What an amazing announcement. There was fear that the six Raider fans in the room might pass out for the excitement.
But, the excitement was short lived as three of Sacramento’s finest entered the room with a warrant for the arrest of our beloved leader, President Dave. It appears that the “Big” Announcement might not have been so big after all. Past President Brian Van Camp (ADR Services) quickly rushed to President Dave’s side and demanded to see the warrant. It appears that our president was being charged with perpetrating a fraud, and was being charged under Penal Code 484 and 528.5. He was cuffed and escorted out of the room. After reading the charges PP Brian seemed to switch from defender to judge and with all those present serving as a jury President Dave was convicted.
It appears that the much hyped “BIG” Announcement was more of a “BIG” Prank by President Dave, with the help of Past Presidents Brian Van Camp, John Snyder (Snyder Commercial Real Estate), Walter Dahl (Dahl Law) and Rob Scherer and our guest speaker, Sacramento Vice Mayor Rick Jennings.
The meeting was adjourned, President Dave was released into the custody of the club; the Raiders will still be in Oakland, for at least another year, and all that attended the meeting will remember it as one of the better pranks in the clubs’ history.