Greeter - Jerene Batiste
Flag Salute - Jason Cater
Prayer - Randy Saunders
Roving Mic - Andrea Hansen
Guests
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Assistant District Governor Quon Louey
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Mike Willis brought Cris Jimenez
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Juan Bustamante brought Leo Barrison, Christian Hernandez and Pedro Chavez
Good News and Announcements
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Ashely Sodegren thanked Joe Gregory for allowing the Make-A-Wish Board Meeting to take place at his office. (Rotarians helping other Rotarians to make things happen!)
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Mike McCoy thanked Joe Gregory for the donation of the computers for the Kern Historical Society. (Joe’s generous spirit makes up for his lack of attendance, indeed!)
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Shannon LeBarre had a fantastic announcement that her husband will be playing in a PGA tournament! Wow! She wouldn't commit him to free lessons for the Club!
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In honor of Dan Hay’s birthday last week, the family threw a surprise party for him and has established a scholarship at BC in his honor! The Hay family never cease to support the community and our educational institutions. Thank you to all of them.
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Rotary hosted highschoolers to go to RYLA in Ojai. Thanks to Ashley Vorhees, in collaboration with Steve Sanders, who were able to arrange a bus to transport to experience this awesome opportunity.
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Just a reminder there is no rotary April 27.
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Get Lit at the Kern County Museum is April 29. Contact Mike McCoy for more information.
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Volunteers are needed for the 1000 Flag celebration at Riverwalk. Please email Mary if you are interested in volunteering on Memorial Day weekend.
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Roaming with Rowdy featured Jean-Luc Slagle. He was able to attend the iHeart Music Awards and be on set with the audio team. See him to get the T about who sings live and who is lip-synching to tracks.
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We welcomed a new member, Ben Laverty, COO of California Safety Training Corporation. Ben went to Cal Poly SLO, is married and has three daughters. He's been with the company for 24 years and is excited to get to know his fellow Rotarians.
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We held the annual meeting hosted by past president Ken Beurmann. Joe Hay introduced his Board for the next Rotary year. Everyone is certainly looking forward to it!
Next Year's Board:
Joe Hay - President
Jim Damian - Past President
Kristen Watson - President Elect
Doug Piece - Treasurer
Ashley Sodegren - Secretary
Nik Boone - Sgt at Arms
Louis Gill - Board Member
Brad Barnes - Board Member
Shawn Shambaugh, MD - Board Member
Ben Taft - Board Member
Ashley Voorhees - Board Member
Jason Cater - Board Member
Lizette Patterson - Board Member
Program
This week's program was Kelly Steinbeck from 420 Kingdom, a cannabis business that specializes from seed to sale. They grow, manufacture, and distribute throughout California. They have a non-storefront retail business in Arvin, California. When asked if this is legal, Kelly indicated from a federal standpoint it remains a Schedule I drug, but in California, it is medicinally and recreationally allowed. She discussed the regulations being similar to what she experienced during her time at Nestlé, including the USDA, FDA, and state and county agencies. She indicated that the biggest competition remains the black market which makes up the great majority of cannabis sales. The product is taxed through legal distribution is about 30 to 35%. She indicated they have 103 employees, pay an $80,000 license to the state annually, and quarterly taxes to the city of Arvin roughly $160,000. During Q and A, all questions were prefaced with “my table mate wants to know…” Thanks to Justin Salters (program chair) for bringing Downtown Rotary another first – legal-ish drug distribution!
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