THE Express Rotary-West Newsletter 5/6/08


May 6, 2008	Scribe: Paul *Thomas*	Publisher: Phil Adams

Call to Order:	Paul Blatz
Flag Salute:	Ross Atkinson
Invocation:	Paul Blatz

Guest Introductions Sara Beeby Featured Speaker
Cody Doolittle Student of the Month
Dwayne Bower
Halina Garbecz from the Friday Club

Also visiting was the Doolittle family: Father Craig and mother Rhonda: His older sister Alexa is a junior at Nordhoff. Cody's sister Nicolette is a 6th-grader at Miramonte, and his sister Ballee, is a 4th-grader at Miramonte.

Club Announcements:

President Paul Blatz

All of the following were
indicted as members on May 1^st:

Cliff Norton (1985)

Ross Atkinson (1994)

Paul Blatz (1994)

Duncan Nelles (1995)

Dennis Jackson (1985)

Gayle Childress (2000)

Keep up the good work!

A BIG Thanks to Dennis Jackson, at left, above, and his crew for a Tennis BBQ well done. (Or was it medium rare?)

President Paul read a thank-you letter from one of the students we sponsored to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) . "It's actually open to folks as old as thirty, but most of the attendees are students," he said. Another note can be seen below, in Correspondence.

Dennis Jones and Sgt. Pepper will be performing this Friday (May 9^th) at the Village Jester. If you plan to see the Bangles in Libby Park that evening , take the short walk to the Jester so you can hear a real band.

Thanks to the patient PR work of Stephanie Midgett, our club's disaster video project is featured on the Rotary National Web site.

CLICK HERE to see the article.

Stephanie said: "I called to thank the author and got Senior Editor Jenny Llakimani. She said that the article was written for Rotary Magazine and they still plan on putting it in the July issue.

Any comments you can make at the website: www.rotary.org about the article would be GREAT and sure to have them consider the importance . Also, send it to all your friends."

Stephanie also wanted all to watch out for Living Treasures (including Linda Taylor) in the upcoming Oakview Memorial Day parade on May 26^th.

Mike Caldwell had three announcements:

Everyone is welcome to the San Antonio Art Auction & Social on Saturday, May 10^th. It runs from 4:00 p.m. til 8:00 p.m.

Ojai Golf Classic to help out the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation and Ojai Education Foundation will be held on May 19^th. Many Ojai-West members participate.

Wednesday night, May 7^th at 5:00 p.m. there is a board meeting at Boccali’s in Oak View for the Ojai Band.

Jim Halverson notified the club that we met our goal for Wine Festival Sponsorships.

This year we totaled $11,450, thanks to a last-minute contribution from Dennis Jones and his firm, Myers, Widder, Gibson, Jones, and Schneider LLP And the Ojai Valley News.

Good job by all!

If you have a Paul Harris Fellowship (many members do) and would like to present it at the upcoming demotion party, please notify Jim by next Tuesday, so he can put you in the program.

Sid Cohn, who will continue his service to the club as an event planner next year, thanked Jim Halverson for suggesting Bil Lepp as the Social Hour storyteller last week.

He asked any and all with ideas like that to bring them on.

Click to see the District Bulletin for May

Student Of The Month

Cody Doolittle

We honor Cody, who is a Nordhoff sophomore.

Cody was recognized by the Nordhoff counselor Carly Futoran and other staff due to his scholastic improvement from his freshman year. He's maintained a 3.0 grade point average this year. As a result, he's back on track to apply for college.

"He worked hard to retake the classes that he needed to, said Jim Halverson. "As a result, he will be taking challenging college-prep classes as a junior."

"Each of Cody's teachers commented on his commitment. His Spanish teacher noted that Cody is always on task. His History teacher, Mr. Buck agreed, saying that Cody is an active and engaged learner. Cody's English teacher cited the independent reading Cody has completed. Football Coach Farrar noticed the same dedication in Cody's Weight Lifting class, as Cody has prepared for a second year of Junior Varsity football."

"Cody has also visited Mexico with his church group to help build houses for those who cannot afford to buy them," Jim added.

Cody was presented with a check for his upcoming college expenses, and a certificate of achievement from the Rotary Club of Ojai-West.

"I want to thank my family for their support," Cody told the group. "And I want to thank you guys for acknowledging the students at Nordhoff and giving out your support."

Congrats Cody!

Happy Buck$ We had a few happy Rotarians this morning and they were...

Ross Atkinson		Three Happy Bucks... Went back to Drew University in New Jersey to see daughter's Senior recital, she will graduate with two degrees in a few weeks…..and she already has a job, performing with a mariachi band in Trenton..
Phil Adams		Five bucks... Enjoyed the social at Howard and Edie Smiths. Also provided a few of Howard’s hard earned bucks for Sid Cohn's help and the fabulous pics taken by Ray.
Les and Alice Gardner		Celebrated 23 years of marriage to his lovely bride Alice, who coincidentally has been married to Les for 23 years. He said it's been wonderful. Alice seconded the emotion. (It was the 25th.)
Bob Beeby		Thanked the club for their support.
Reggie Wood		Five bucks... Daughter Jocelyn will be attending UC Davis.
Linda Taylor		Son won a grant from Keene Shoe Foundation, and was able to do his humanitarian project in Mexico.
Dietrich Pahnke		Two bucks... Happy Jackie is recouping, and also wanted to thank those who worked on the cemetery clean-up project.

Colin Walker is happy about the birth of his grandson last Sunday night.
How he has enough for a foursome.

Fines

Dennis Jones

This week was Presidential Trivia – Part II

Rob Long	How many men have served as President? 42. George W. Bush is our 43^rd pres. But Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice as our 22^nd and 24^th president.
Rick Gould	Nine presidents never attended college. Who are they? Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman
Bryan Crawford	What is the most common religious affiliation among our presidents? - Episcopalian.
Steve Frank	Eight Presidents were born British Subjects: Who are they? Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, J.Q. Adams, Jackson, Monroe, and W. Harrison.
Lou Torres	The ancestry of all 43 presidents is limited to seven heritages. Name six of them. Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, and German.
Michelle Henson	Who was the youngest man to become President? Teddy Roosevelt was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who resigned the post after he had been assassinated.
Paul Thomas	14 Presidents served as Vice Presidents. Name six of them: J. Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Nixon, L. Johnson, Ford, and George H.W. Bush.
Bob Beebe	How were vice-pres originally chosen? – V.P.s were originally the pres candidates receiving the second-largest electoral votes.
Paul Blatz	Name four of the six Presidents on U.S. coins. – Lincoln, Jefferson, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy, Eisenhower.
Reggie Wood	Name six Pres. on paper currency. – Lincoln, Washington, Jackson, Grant, McKinley, Cleveland, Madison & Wilson.
Rene	How much is Pres Bush’s salary? - $400,000.

Congrats to Rob Long and Paul Blatz for answering their questions correctly.

Featured Program:

Today we heard the story of how the Ojai Band got started,

as told by Sarah Beeby.

The band has been providing fun music to the Ojai for 17 years.

Our club has sponsored it for the past eight.

IThe Ojai Band has been a dream of Sara's ever since she met Whit Tilestone, who was the 85 year old director of his small town Chatham, Massachusetts Band. She was driven to this goal by the tragic death of her younger brother Bruce in 1989.

After her return to Ojai, she began lobby for a band with Ojai City Manager Andy Belnap, who was supportive as long as no money came from city coffers. Nordhoff music teacher Bill Wagner agreed to audition musicians. "That fall and winter, musicians came out of the woods to try out," Sara remembered.

By 1991, she had twenty eager amateur musicians, but no Director until Bill Wagner finally agreed. The first concert took place in July of 1991, aided by a small grant from Ojai's Arts Funding project. "My mother attended every concert. That first concert was dedicated to my brother, Bruce."

In 1993, Sara began the effort to secure a new venue for the Ojai Band. There were so many volunteer musicians that they filled the gazebo and spilled out of it. But half of the city council thought the old Gazebo in the park was good enough. Councilman Joe DeVito finally broke the deadlock. Mark Whitman volunteered to design the replacement for free. A 35-thousand dollar contribution from the Ojai Civic Association put it within reach. Smaller contributions from fans made up the total of 50-thousand. Tim Reid of Ventura Roofing contributed the entire roof for the new structure. (His elderly Dad played flute and piccolo in the band.) A final, additional 7-thousand dollar contribution from Ventura's Smith-Hobson Foundation covered the wrought ironwork.

Bill Wagner passed the baton to Joe Boccali after seven summers. Joe met his bride Stacey at the band shell, where she plays flute and piccolo to this day.

"The Rotary Club of Ojai-West deserves accolades for the Band's continued success," Sara Concluded. "You have given hours of joy to so many people. I know that Whit Tilestone, the Music Man of Chatham is with us in spirit, pleased to know that there will always be a band."

"Thanks also to my husband Bob for being my right-hand man whenever I got into a bind."

Sarah took some questions and played a recording of the first Ojai Band concert. (They've improved considerably since then.). President Paul presented her with a speaker's mug. The members presented her with a long and loud round of applause.

The Ojai Band now performs during the summer months on Wednesday nights in Libbey Park. First performance will be July 3rd.

Photo by Rick Gould

Correspondence

The Lineup

May 13th	The ancient Science of Feng Shui
May 20th	Dr. Steve Boshoff " Understanding Addiction"
May 27th	Ojai Valley Green Coalition

The Billboard

THE VILLAGE JESTER PRESENTS Friday May 9, 2008 9:00 p.m.
At The Village Jester 139 E. Ojai Ave. Ojai (805) 640-0885 Never A Cover Charge

Parting Shot...