President Joe Hay rang bell to start meeting at 12:10. Amy Travis led our invocation, Kat Clowe our flag salute, Jacob Frost was our greeter and Ed Tomlinson led our song.

 

President Joe pointed out Bonnie and Clyde were killed on this day in 1934. Joe also showed us letter from Clyde to Henry Ford praising a Ford he owned (bulletproof I hope).

 

 

Visitors introduced were Skyler and Cadence Rodrigue daughters of Steve Rodrigue, Stacy Wingate wife of Kurt , Puuya Saha of Little Guide Bakersfield guest of Kat Clowe and Scott Garrison former partner of Jim Damian.

 

Cathy Abernathy encouraged signups for “1000 Flags” Memorial Day and Kat Clowe boasted she has accumulated tons of grants and scholarships for worthy students and nonprofits.

 

 

Pres Joe then convened our annual meeting, where we voted to ratify four new board members that will support President-Elect Kristen Watson and our future leader to follow Jeff Gutierrez in 2026 / 2027. This is an important governance responsibility and a tradition that has served our Club well. This year’s nominating committee was led by Justin Leland, and the other members included Joe, Jim Damian, Doug Pierce, Joe Gregory, Andrea Hansen, and Jerene Battisti. New nominees for the board are Aly Soper, Nik Boone, and Justin Salters. Apologies for anyone left out. The nominee for the 2026 President is Toni Harper. All were approved by voice vote.

 

In addition, a motion to amend our Bylaws to permit a wider range of investment options other than the CDs we are currently limited to at Mission Bank was approved. Speaking of investments, our Club is fortunate to have a strong financial position, thanks to the stewardship of previous leaders. Our financials are reviewed annually by Brown Armstrong, and any member is entitled to receive a copy at their request. If you are interested in receiving a copy, please email Jean: staff@bakersfield-rotary.com. She will send one your way.

 

 

Our speaker this Thursday was a real treat. Jeremy Adams, of Bakersfield High School, discussed his new book "Lessons in Liberty: Third Party Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans." Jeremy gave an impassioned speech lamenting student ignorance of basic US freedoms and worried about their dissatisfaction with life and their opportunities for success. He blamed much of this to the widespread use of cell phones and recommended they be banned in class.

 

Jeremy identified great Americans like Washington, Adams, Hamilton and Madison who were inspired as founding fathers by great Roman and Greek leaders such as Cato, Cicero, Caesar and Publius. But he said we have had more recent great Americans – Daniel Inoue and Arthur Ashe among others – who promoted the ideals of patriotism and change.