WEEKLY BULLETIN • JANUARY 23, 2026
Thanks to his week's correspondent:
Mike Willis

Good news Bad News

Good news, I managed to eek out this edition of the Spoke. Bad news is my new lazy way of doing things (record, transcribe, let ChatGPT write it) didn't work today. Apparently, my Memo app understood about every other word that was spoken. In the transcription, there's many instances of the word “Devil Ippers.” Which I THINK is actually the word "Developers." Also, there's about a million words describing parcel maps, so many that ChatGPT seized. I think I used about 20 Megawatts of power trying to distill it down to newsletter format before it gave up.

_________________________________

Intro Prayer: Clint Trimmer

Flag Salute: Devil Ipper

Song: President Jefé

 

Good News Announcements

See above.

Guests

Memo fumbled this as well. But I'm pretty sure Juan had a guest named Hugo Garcia. He may be the former dictator of Venezuela, or a butcher.

Program

Shafter City Engineer Ravi Pudipeddi

In summary, Shafter is under a barrage of development. Good on them! Lots of new housing. Should double their population in a couple of years. They'll probably go all Trump on us and try to take over Bakersfield. On the commercial side, a couple of cold storage facilities, high-speed rail that will never happen, and Wonderful is building 1 million square feet warehouses like they were 7-Elevens.

Picture in your mind a lot of slides that look like this:

Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Kristin Hagan
November 2
 
Amy Travis
November 4
 
Jordan Kaufman
November 4
 
Steve Sanders
November 5
 
Toni Harper
November 10
 
Ben Laverty
November 12
 
Nikolas Boone
November 13
 
Jorge Barrientos
November 14
 
Dave Whelden
November 16
 
Jeff Gutierrez
November 17
 
John Phil Bentley
November 19
 
Girish Patel
November 21
 
Spouse/Partner Birthdays
Jennifer Sampson
November 16
 
Mike Springstead
November 20
 
Phyllis Oliver
November 23
 
Anniversaries
Dave Turner
Faye
November 2
 
Kat Clowes
Jarred Clowes
November 7
 
Patrick Beck
November 9
 
Ken Beurmann
Gianna Beurmann
November 22
 
Join Date
Emily Duran
November 3, 2022
4 years
 
Jason Cater
November 5, 2015
11 years
 
Lyle Martin
November 5, 2009
17 years
 
Gary T. Friedman
November 6, 1975
51 years
 
Erin Estelle
November 7, 2024
2 years
 
Sean Hart
November 7, 2024
2 years
 
Sam Newland
November 9, 2017
9 years
 
Steve Roach
November 13, 2003
23 years
 
Girish Patel
November 15, 2012
14 years
 
Joe Gregory
November 16, 2017
9 years
 
Anthony Tobin
November 20, 2025
1 year
 
Julie Irvin
November 21, 2024
2 years
 
Jay L. Rosenlieb
November 29, 2001
25 years
 

Area Meetings

Tuesday @ noon
Bakersfield North

at the Petroleum Club

Wednesday @ noon
Bakersfield West
at the Stockdale Country Club

Wednesday @ 6:45 am
Bakersfield Breakfast

at the Petroleum Club

Wednesday @ 6 pm
Bakersfield Twilight

at The Hungry Hunter

Bakersfield  Downtown
at the Museum of Art

Friday @ noon
Bakersfield East

at Bakersfield Museum of Art

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Upcoming Events
Veterans Day Tribute Panel
Nov 12, 2026
Author Javier Chavez
Nov 19, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
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Nov 26, 2026
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Dec 03, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
OFFSITE at CALM!
Dec 10, 2026
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Dec 17, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
DARK- Merry Christmas
Dec 24, 2026
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Gordan McNally 
Rotary Club of South Queensferry, England

District 5240 Governor

Marta Golding Brown
Rotary Club of Oxnard

Bulletin Editor
Mike "Willieboy" Willis

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P.O. Box 1628, Bakersfield, CA 93302 • (661) 325-0696 • FAX: (661) 322-2311

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