Next meeting
Wednesday August 31, 2022

Ed Davis 

PLEASE NOTE: In-Person & Zoom meetings returned!  Please register.

–> Debi Zaft will email you the link for online, once you have paid.  Use this link to pay.  CLICK HERE!

Wednesday September 7: Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan
Wednesday September 14: DG Jennifer Strong
Wednesday September 21: Farm To Pantry

Click here for the current calendar (Subject to updates).

UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS  

Redwood Empire Food Bank

The next workday at the Redwood Empire Food Bank will be
Wednesday September 14, from 5:00 to 7:00pm

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

Watch The Meeting:  Did you miss the meeting?  Here is a link to the recording of last week’s meeting:
(Click here for recording ) 
Please note it is only available to view until: 9/4/22

Opening Ceremonies:

“Welcome to the rotary club of Santa Rosa where we imagine a world that deserves our best; where we get up each day knowing that we make a difference.” says President Kris. Casey Carter, or as we have just found out it is really Kara or KC = Casey. she read us some quotes on friendship

Visiting Rotarians:

None today. They are all coming to Thursday’s Sonoma County Area Rotary Clubs (SCARC) meeting. Debi Zaft says 24 of our own members are coming! You make your president so proud!

Guests:

Only Laura Shepard (please note that she has completed an application and just needs to do Rotary Informational to be inducted as a member) today, but after they see Trudy Rubin’s editorial in today’s Press Democrat, they might want to see what we are all about. If you want to read the article, just let me know and I will send it to you.

Sunshine Report:

Our beloved Will Haymaker has had a stroke, but he is doing OK. Joanne says to please send your good wishes to jwhay@pacbell.net.

Raffle and Second Chance Drawing:

We start off this week with 10 marbles after Dan Balfe won last week. Today’s pot was $19.00. Bill Hatcher had his number pulled, but he pulled out a yellow marble. Ann Gospe got the second chance drawing, and she selected a Scratcher, but it was not a winner.

Announcements:

1. The Santa Rosa Cycling Club ride(s) is this weekend and a bunch of us will be out there by 11:00am to serve desserts.
2. Karen Ball has finally counted all the coins put into the Polio Plus pails on June 23, 2022. It was $74.70 not including the foreign coins. President Kris suggest that Karen tell us what she has, and we can give it to Rotarians to take with them when they are traveling to those countries.
3. Casey Carter’s Spanish classes will start Wednesday October 5, 2022, at her office. She is not charging, but if you would like to donate, you can.
4. The next workday at the Redwood Empire Food Bank will be Wednesday September 14, from 5:00 to 7:00pm
5. Need to fill up the Rotary Squares! $10.00 per square to get a chance for an instant Paul Harris Award or one of our other prizes.
6. Larry Miyano’s memorial service is Sunday, October 2 at Sally Tomatoes. See the flyer at the meeting (and above in the UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS  section) for information on how to contact Mary Miyano so that she knows you are coming.
7. Steve Olson thanked the Rotarians that went to the Elsie Allen Ag Boosters event. He estimates that they probably raised $50,000 for the agricultural program.
8. Sam McMillan announced that on September 24, the Youth Ag Leadership for the 4-H will be having their fund raiser.
9. September 14 is when our District Governor, Jennifer Strong will be here to visit. The board will be meeting with her from 10:00 – 12:00 that day before the meeting. If you have a story about your Rotary experience, let President Kris know. Julia Parranto has her story of friendship. Rick Allen has his story about World Community Service. We could use a couple more.

Today’s Program:  Assistant District Attorney Caroline Fowler on Consumer Affairs

Caroline Fowler has been a practicing attorney since 1983. She came to Sonoma County after practicing law in Los Angeles County for eight years. Ah! The stories she has to tell! The heart of the law is the Unfair Business Practices Act. If a person/business violates this act, whether it is national or local, the fine is $2500 per violation. Some examples:

Overstock.com sold a man a patio set they said was worth $1000 and he bought it for $500. When the patio set arrived, it was in a Walmart box that said the cost was $225. The price from Overstock was misleading and inflated deliberately. How many times did Overstock.com do this? The courts could only guess, so they went back four years times 365 days times $2500 and produced a $6,000,000 fine.

Johnson and Johnson sold a “Pelvic mesh” even though they knew it was harmful to women and they got a $300,000,000 fine.

Food, Drug and Medical “Advice” is ripe with fraudulent claims. If something states that it can “cure” a disease…. run.

Rent-to-Own was fined $15,500,000 for over inflating prices. Turbo Tax advertised “free tax filing.”  No, it was not. Mike Lindel of “My Pillow” fame claimed his pillow cured sleep apnea.

Did you know that if you have a gift card with less than $10.00 on the card you can request that they give you the remainder back to you in cash? Her department follows up with weights and measures to make sure that when you pay for a gallon of gas, you are getting a gallon of gas. They check store scanners to make sure the price charged is the correct price. Target Stores have been fined for this. If you do not complain it will not be brought to Consumer Affairs’ attention.

“Green Washing” is newer problem. Pet stores may sell you compostable bags to get rid of our doggie poop, but that does not mean the bagged poop can go into your compost bin. Biodegradable is a term often loosely applied to products. Be careful!

“Auto Renewable” is when they give a free trial of a product but do not inform you that you will be automatically sent more, at full price, every month. The terms of purchase must be prominent, and it must be easy to cancel..

Do not forget all the telephone swindles; the IRS, jury duty, grandson is in jail, etc. Make sure all your phones are on the Do Not Call list. Fishing emails: complete this 15-minute survey of which during that time they are hacking into your account. Criminals duplicated the Zappos shoe website and got thousands of people’s credit card information. Do not post your vacation pictures until you get home. Price gouging after a disaster. When there is a declared disaster, prices can only go up 10%

Club Job Openings:

Still need a few bulletin writers. Need a person on the board for Vocational Service Recognition

Program Slides

No Program Slides This week

Additional Pictures:

(Click on image to view additional meeting pictures)

NEW – Obie’s Adventures

Obie took a break and stayed home this week

Governor, District 5130

Secretary

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

Board of Directors

Kris Anderson – President
Ann Gospe – President Elect
Casey D’Angelo – President Elect Nominee
Ray Giampaoli – Past President
Debi Zaft – Secretary
Karen Ball – Treasurer
Julia Parranto – Club Service- Membership
Andrea Geary – Club Service – Club Meetings
Matthew Henry – Club Service – Fund Raising
Charlie Howard-Gibbons – Club Services – Member Activities
Pete Lescure – Club Service – Records and Outreach
Casey Carter – Member Involvement
Mary Graves Community – Service – Youth
Position open – Vocational Service
Scott Bartley – International Service
Paul Hamilton – Foundation Representative

DIGITAL EDITION No. 469 August 24, 2022  EDITOR: Kris Anderson PHOTOGRAPHER: Jeff Gospe PUBLISHER: Richard Lazovick