Bulletins - 2007 - 01/24/2007
This
Week's Bulletin Was Written
By Carrie Leising
President Carol Jensen called the meeting to order as the full house rushed to get to their seats. After the invocation by Chris Carstens, Gary McElroy led the club in the salute to the flag. Rosalie Kramm and Linda Jalving conducted the group in a spotty rendition of Blue Suede Shoes.
Rosalie Kramm fined several members for upcoming birthdays and other notable dates. A large pot was created as by a multitude of folks who fined themselves for a worthy kudos.
Our guests and visiting Rotarians were welcomed as always by Pete McGuire. We had a great club turn-out this week so there were not many empty seats.
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The funeral service for Mary Dawe’s son, Jeremy is this Saturday. See Thursday, January 25, 2007’s SDUT for more information.
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Maureen Eberle gave financially-correct examples about how easy it is to become a Paul Harris Fellow. She presented Alex Kwoka with a sapphire pin for her multiple contributions toward her Paul Harris Fellowship and the Rotary Foundation. Carol Jensen and George Mullen gave Alex her blue badge. George tried, creatively, to hand-off the title of chair of the golf tournament to no avail.
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Dave Ferguson announced that the 2006 golf tournament for JDRF raised $20,909.
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Jeff Hogue announced a community service project to serve lunch to seniors on Sundays.
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Carol Jensen needs people to help distribute backpacks for Monarch Schools on Tuesday, the 30th from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This week's speaker was Andy Fichthorn, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of SeaWorld. He was assisted by Dave Koontz, the Director of Communications. Andy and Dave did a fabulous slide show on the history of SeaWorld and all of the amazing projects going on today.
SeaWorld opened in 1964 on two acres in Mission Bay and first had 4,000 visitors. In 1966, Shamu arrived. In 1970, the sky tower was built. Today they have more than 15,000 animals, a new Shamu show called Believe and the most extensive rescue, rehab and release program in the world. They have a variety of conservation, educational and research programs in place. Then came the exciting part of the presentation—the SeaWorld animals.
First we met the penguins. Two South African penguins waddled around the University Club enlightening our morning. We learned about their ability to adapt to their climate both in and out of the water in different areas of the world. Then we were presented with a beautiful owl that has been at SeaWorld since 1990 and flies around the campus, never going far from home. The owl humored the group by turning its head 360 degrees (or so it seemed!). The most fascinating animals were small red ibis birds. These birds flew around the University Club and decided to make themselves at home on the arms of Margaret Oppliger and Tom Sayer. After the initial shock wore off on the two Rotarians, the birds continued to fly around and perch on the arms of eager and brave Rotarians who were fascinated by the bright red birds. Last by not least, a white cockatiel gave the final performance of the morning. She waved herself in and showed off by barking, clucking, dancing and playing dead. Her best trick was to pretend to be an eagle, much to our delight! What an exciting and educational morning!
Efrain Cornejo and Mimi McDowell have been proposed as new members.
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