IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 By Buffy Francuz Our pres may not have a gavel, but she's got a great watch! At the stroke of 12:15, President Linda clanged the bell with her gavel (commonly referred to as a knife). The meeting then began with the invocation led by Bruce Jagger (who also prayed to be fine free!), yours truly led the pledge and Jim Machado, in bright red, raised our voices to "God Bless America". A video of special photos, accompanied by the tune "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", played on the screen while the attendees chatted and lunched. You just had to be there to enjoy the pics of some pretty outrageous outhouses! We progressed with Cy Pierce introducing our visiting Rotarian, Ray Drake, a Realtor from the Crenshaw-Watts Club. Olivia Ishibashi, outbound Ambassadorial Scholar, was also in attendance. John Cluff, our master clicker, led the group in the Welcome Song. Harold Hanslmair informed us that Satoko, Jack Sugihara's wife, had broken her hip. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Also under health updates, President Linda gave us a report on her recent test showing she is clear of cancer…we like that kind of news! Our announcements followed with Ann Murakami letting us know about the August 20th meeting for Youth Protection Certification (Ron Foster and Carmela Raack have been working diligently on this). Ann also told us of the Literacy Breakfast on September 10th at Lawry's and the District Picnic on September 12th at Seaside Lagoon. Bryon Mooney was next up to announce our booth at the Fiesta La Ballona on August 28th and 29th. Volunteers are needed to tend the booth and sell raffle tickets. Bill Gardner (who should have borrowed Rob Barber's great colorful fish shirt) jumped up to encourage sign ups for the annual fishing trip. September 9th through 12th should prove a super time to bring home coolers full of fish…Bill told about the "dark of the moon" being the best for fishermen (and maybe some other shenanigans as well!). Olivia Ishibashi, former Culver City High Interactor, then took the podium to show some slides of her recent trips to Guatemala and New Guinea. Olivia is a med student from Stanford and is the outbound Ambassadorial Scholar heading for Montreal. Good luck and we look forward to hearing tales of Canada upon her return. And on to Linda's favorite time of the meeting…the hat appeared (along with a sealed envelope to avoid fine interlopers): Bruce Jagger, having brought the Almighty to his aid, was left alone. A few others, not in attendance, were spared for now. Larry Knowles had been caught bragging about his 38 years of wedded bliss and was busted for just under a dollar a year. Janet Chabola, who is carefully guarding the President's Bag O'Gavels, got dinged $25.00 for keeping them too safe back at her office. The daring trio of Phil Tangalakis, Allan Goldman and Andy Weissman ventured to the shore for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, obviously not realizing their beach luncheon was on Wednesday when they should have been in Culver City! Cy Pierce, mindful of his calendar and Wednesday commitment, selected appropriate folded papers from the hat for the trio. There may be some begging going on next week when the trio hears of their fate: $80.00 each! Linda introduced our speaker Melissa Devor from Friends of the Observatory who enlightened us with stories of the beginnings of the Griffith Observatory, the restoration and all the good that comes from this wonderful Los Angeles landmark. Linda read a heartfelt thank you letter from the latest recipient of our club's scholarship for The Most Improved Student. It's so nice to have feedback and hear how our club has helped the students. Cartwright Sheppard give us a few quickies (quote from Cartwright) to send us out. President Linda then knifed the bell and adjourned the fun.