Written by Patrick Hart

 

As he winds up his presidential year, Tom Zengeler presided over our meeting one more time this week.   We also had Dennis Kratohwil returning live, to lead us in song. Only this week our beloved songmeister not only led the choir,  he also composed a special song for Father’s Day, since he thought the occasion deserved recognition, and he had failed to find an appropriate piece among the vast supply of musical numbers that rattle around inside his brain.

 

 

 

John McDonald told us about his grandson, who is doing very well on the Vernon Hills soccer team, and who has been accepted at Carthage College, one of the world’s premier centers of higher education.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

John Blair is doing very well in his recovery. He has started to speak, and he will be returning home shortly.

 

Our Rotary minute this week reminded us of Rotary Fellowship events where Rotarians from all over the world can gather and make new friendships.

 

Please consider giving to the Rotary Foundation this month, so our club can receive credit during this Rotary year.

 

Our installation golf outing will be next week on June 23, with tee off times around 1:30. We already have approximately twenty players signed up

 

Our installation dinner will be a week later on June 30, at Tom Zengeler’s house.

 

At our meeting next Wednesday, we will be presenting a Service Above Self Award, and everyone is encouraged to bring guests.

 

The club is looking for another bulletin editor.  Contact Pat Hart if interested.

 

Dennis Kratowhil wheeled himself for failing to mention Howard Jaffe’s birthday, and he then paid an extra $5.00 for the fun of wheeling Tom Miller, who paid $20.00 rather that conducting our next Bingo night.  And as long as we were on a roll, somebody wheeled Howard Jaffe, and he had to pay $10.00.  I am unclear what all these villains did to earn their punishments, but it was felt that since we had no Fun and Frolics today we needed some form of alternate entertainment.  Robin O’Connor will be wheeled, as soon as we manage to catch her, for her failure to provide us with Fun and Frolics this week. 

 

Our program this week was Nels Leutwiler and Rebekah Snyder of the Lake County Forest Preserve Preservation Foundation.   The Lake County Forest Preserve was founded in 1958, after the voters approved its creation.  The agency holds 30,971 acres of land, which makes it the largest landowner in Lake County, and to date they have developed approximately 20,000 acres of the that land.  The Preservation Foundation is a charitable organization, which works with the forest preserve district in a public private partnership trying to preserve natural land in the county.  The tax revenue the district receives has declined in recent years, because the collapse of property values a decade ago reduced property tax collections, and state laws capping taxation have not been allowed to increase the tax imposed as quickly as property values have recovered.       

 

Rebekah highlighted several projects which the foundation has been engaged in.  Once of these has been an effort to save Blanding’s turtles.  The Blanding’s turtle is an endangered species which the foundation is attempting to help by restoring their habitat and protecting them from predators. To aid in this endeavor they have initiated an adopt a turtle campaign, in which you can pay $120.00 to support a turtle.

 

 

 

The foundation has also established a green youth farm which was designed to provide jobs to teenagers working on raising crops, and they have turned some former farmland in the county into wetlands, which is good for the water table, and for the health of wildlife.

 

This week Tucker Olson won $29.00 weekly prize, and left the meeting with a smile on his face.  Meanwhile Jeff Harger was not so lucky, as he pulled the six of spades, which failed to win the $582.00 progressive pot.  We still hope Jeff has a happy Father’s Day though.

 

Greeter and Prayer:  Tom Zengeler

 

Fun and Frolics and Bingo:   Tucker Olson