DIGITAL EDITION No. 298 January 2, 2019  EDITOR: Layne Bowen PHOTOGRAPHER: Nicole Le PUBLISHER: Richard Lazovick

Welcome to 2019 !!

Our Program For Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Trekking on The
Camino de Santiago de Compostela

Don McMillan

Don McMillan
500 miles , 500 miles: why walk 500 + miles? Trekking on The Camino de Santiago de Compostela

This past September-October Don and his (still) best friend from High School embarked on a hiking trip from the French Pyrenees westward across Northern Spain to an ancient religious pilgrimage destination since the 800’s A.D.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Wednesday January 16, 2019: Margaret Boeger
Wednesday January 23, 2019: Annual Public Safety Awards-2019
Wednesday January 30, 2019: Annual Trivia Contest 2019 – Cathy Vicini

UPCOMING SOCIALS                 

Aug. 19-26, 2019 – Rotary Rhine River Cruise
Jackie says only 3 cabins are left for the 2019 Rhine River Cruise.
                 Click here  for pricing, itinerary, etc.
                 Click here for flyer.
                 Jackie McMillan and Eva Atkin

USEFUL LINKS

Visit our district at: http://www.rotary5130.org
Check out Rotary International at: http://www.rotary.org
Come see us at: http://rotarymeansbusiness

Opening Ceremonies

President Tony called the meeting to order.
Pledge: Michael Moore
Reflection: Cathy Vicini

Visiting Rotarians

Fred Levin announced we have no visiting Rotarians. Don and Jackie McMillan were back visiting today.

Guests

Katelyn Johnson, Ardie Martano

Sunshine

Always great to see Jack Abercrombie with us. Wishing you the best of health this year, Jack. Kim Graves is having hand surgery and will be re-joining us at the end of the month.

Raffle

Kris Anderson announced there are 3 marbles and an undisclosed amount of money in the pot. Steve Olson grabbed the right marble and walked away with the cash.

Cathy’s Clown Show

Cathy blamed Robby Fouts for today’s joke. It was literally a crappy joke…..

Announcements

Little Libraries signups – Tony announced that we’re still looking for a few volunteers to paint little libraries for Coffey park.

Doug – Will preside over what he considers an annual coronation of the Patriots as Super Bowl Champions. It didn’t work out for him last year, but he’ll get the squares going next week, so feel free to bring lots of money to throw away.

Ryan Thomas is looking ahead to the high school recognitions will be February 13th and hopes we have a full house to honor the students.

Karen Ball announced that you’ll notice larger semiannual dues this time around. Part of it is simply that the dues are going up, but part of it is that the dues for Rotary International actually went up last year, but we failed to collect them. Do I have that right?  Tony’s added note:  While this is what Karen reported, the fact is that most of the increase are club, rather than RI, related to meet our administrative costs.  The club approved the increase in July, but invoices had already gone out.

Ted Wilmson will have dictionaries next Wednesday for pick up. Schools will open Monday. Please call to arrange delivery at your school. Extra dictionaries will be available for replacements for those lost in the October 2017 fire storm.

The Rotary Club of Tahoe City is sponsoring its 43rd Annual Ski Challenge.  The event takes place at Northstar on March 1, 2019.  Details can be found at www.tahoecithrotary.org.

Recognitions

Michael Moore, always willing to share his dirty laundry, told of a reunion with his estranged son after 32 years and spent time with him and his family. He donated $100 to the John Brown fund.

Cathy shared her experience of celebrating the first Christmas in her new home. $100 to her Paul Harris.

Nicole Le shared her family’s Christmas trip to Hawaii. $50 to her son’s Paul Harris.

Program

Craig Meltzner introduced his friend and guest speaker Fred Putcha, co-founder of Climbers for Peace.

Fred, a Russian American served 4 tours of duty in Viet Nam. Fred became aware of questionable CIA practices and lies during Viet Nam and has worked to atone for what he felt was his failure to reveal these issues to the public.

Veterans for Peace and Climbers for Peace work to build trust between people from countries who have been have previously been adversaries. Climbing encourages working together to overcome hardships and to build trust.

Fred discussed an international climbing expedition including 6 Americans to Iran, and covered the troubled historical relationship with the US. To keep control of oil, the US overthrew Iran’s leadership and installed the Shah in 1954. This led directly to the overthrow in 1979 and subsequent events in the Mideast.

Fred and 5 other Americans were in a group of international climbers to climb Mt. Damavand an 18,406 ft. peak in Iran.

Fred shared a number of photos of people they met and sites they saw. 
Our speaker also emphasized that Iran is NOT a third world country. Among the photos were a woman designed footbridge, beautiful tall buildings, poppies on the mountainside, and other climb photos. Iran differs in many respects from Arab countries. Women in Iran enjoy much more freedom than most of their Arab counterparts. They can become educated, drive, and work freely in Iran. Apparently, burkas are extremely optional and most Iranian women wear only a traditional head scarf.

Iran, interestingly has shrines and appreciation for poets. Fred shared photos of both secular and religious shrines as well as other ancient cultural sites including a working stone bridge that is over 2,000 years old. Fred’s group found Iranians overwhelmingly friendly and warm and noted that for many Iranians, members of his hiking group are the first Americans most Iranians have seen in person.  

Governor, District 5130

Barb Spangler, Valley of the Moon Rotary Club

 

 

 

 

Attendance Secretary

Debi Zaft P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Board of Directors

Club Service I, Membership, Ryan Thomas
Club Service II, Club Meetings, Jeff Kolin
Club Service III, Fundraising, Steve Baime
Club Service IV, Member Activities, Anne Gospe
Club Service V, Information Technology and Records, Brandon Urich
Community Service I, Member Involvement, Andrea Geary
Community Service II, Youth, Laura Held
Vocational Service, Carolyn Fassi
International Service, Peter Holewinski