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The Summary of the July 11th Meeting

This was Mike Blach’s first meeting, and (clearly) he’s off to a fine start. He rang the bell at about 12:20, welcomed fellow Rotarians and guests and asked RAY SILVA and PAUL TUMASON to lead us in singing God Bless America. The invocation was delivered by Peter Pabst, a short talk in which he asked for blessings for our club and its members. At my table there were murmurs of approval.

PRESIDENT MIKE thanked the board of directors for welcoming us today and then asked Red Badgers to introduce themselves before taking the walking microphones around to Rotarians with guests and to visiting Rotarians. The two mike-carriers were LEAH TOENISKETTER and JENNIFER RIVA-KIRK.

JOHN MCLEOD READ THE NEWS, including a new feature – a brief review of happenings on Rotary’s International scene. He also told a couple of jokes. One involved the lawyer and the crocodile who went into a bar. I’m trying to reconstruct it – something about the lawyer getting a drink and … nah, I can’t remember.

PRESIDENT MIKE then said he’d like to talk about some of the things he’s going to focus on this year.
He said that his number one focus would be on the planned Rotary PlayGarden, adding that we will receive monthly updates on the progress.

Some changes in the structure of the meetings:

# He’d asked John McLeod to include news about Rotary International Projects.

# New members will be introduced as they had been in the past –namely, with 90-second intros provided by the sponsors of the new member. At my table, there were expressions of approval.

#He wants to start a bell-ringing feature. He noted that presidents used to fine members – but that we’d departed from the custom during this economy. But he felt he should reinstate it – in a friendly way: Members would have the opportunity of sounding off on some subject or report something that had occurred in their individual lives or businesses Each participating Rotarian would then have the choice of ringing the bell a given number of times that would indicate how much money they would be donating -- $100 for each ring. NICHOLAS ADAMS will be the administrator of this feature, so Rotarians wishing to speak and to donate should approach Nicholas.

There followed several bell ringers, and I regret that I failed to record the details. Rotarians discussed such things as the fact that they’re moving to another city and they‘re encouraged to discuss or report birthdays, anniversaries, etc. A good way of giving members an opportunity to speak … and to raise additional money for the club.

PRESIDENT MIKE then announced that DENNIS BRACH will head the membership committee. And our new president spoke eloquently about the fact that most large clubs have experienced shrinking memberships in recent years, but that our club has pretty much held its own. He urged us all to recruit new members.

Mike is our new president, and we should respect his right to urge actions that he believes will help the club. With respect for him and for those who will disagree with me, I suggest that recruitment should be very careful. We are honored as a significant organization in San Jose. Indeed, it’s believed that our members are San Jose’s leaders. Let’s not recruit simply for the purpose of increasing our size. Let’s do what we used to do. Let’s look for people who enhance our reputation – people who have significant positions in our community and who have a record of participating in community affairs. Those used to be the criteria for membership. Let’s hold to those criteria.

PRESIDENT MIKE also reported that CHRIS DISALVO will be the chairperson of the Testimonials committee. She’ll be selecting members who will tell us “what Rotary means to them.”

CARL CILKER gave a very moving (yet low-key) presentation about the Rotarians who traveled south of our border to correct cleft palates, mostly of children. It’s a project, as Carl explained, that goes back to the late SANDY ELLENBERG. It is really one of the most wonderful things that out Rotary Club does, and the before-and-after pictures that were on the screen behind Carl illustrated what the project has done for the lives of so many young people.

CATHERINE TOMPKISON-Graham announced the Sabor Del Valle event, a valuable fund raiser which is scheduled for June 20.

In a quick ceremony, PRESIDENT MIKE called on President-Elect CARL SALAS, and noting that he was wearing a Rotary President’s pin, gave Carl the president-elect pin which he (Mike) had been wearing.

President MIKE than reminded Rotarians that the Rotary Golf tournament is scheduled for August 3 at La Rinconada Country Club .

Also – in a very good departure from what we’ve been doing for years--he told us that next week’s speaker will be JEFF APPLEBAUM. It should be fun. Titled “Today’s World of Comedy.” What a good change! It always seemed ;to be so disrespectful of the current speaker to say, immediately after he finished, that next week we’d have (a really good) speaker on the subject of such and such. Making that announcement before the day’s speaker makes more sense.

DAVID GINSBORG, chairman of the program committee, introduced the speaker, STEVE BEAL, who apparently is a public relations man for Johnny Walker Scotch. Because of discussions we’ve had in the program committee, some of us started our stop-watches when David began. But he did his job in very reasonable time, and he had us laughing several times in his short intro.

Beal turned out to be a jolly representative of the liquor company, although he didn’t nuzzle up to the microphone sufficiently, and some of us (including at least one who does NOT have a hearing problem) found that we missed a lot of what he said.

So my notes are far from complete. But here are some of his thoughts:

He used to be a minister, but he moved into Scotch – thus trading one spiritual experience for another. His job, he said, continues to be evangelizing people.

Whiskey, somebody said, is the water of life. And the secret of life is in a grain of barley. Barley, he told us, was a form of money in the Middle Ages.

All whiskeys, he said, are made from a grain, fermented naturally and distilled at least twice. In oak barrels for at least three years. Some whiskeys are made from corn. Scotch and English whiskeys are made from Malt.

Curious: he said that the true flavor of whiskey comes out after a drop of water has been applied to it. That caused ALI BASSIRI to approach the speaker after the talk and to question him about that, since many of us drink our Scotch on the rocks.

Richard Romney observed that he’d been told that a great way of enlivening oatmeal is to add a drop of Scotch to it. What followed was a little confused, so I never quite understood Beal’s response.

TOM HASTINGS asked a question that certainly is on MY mind when I drink Scotch: Is there really a difference between Johnny Walker Red and Johnny Walker Black and the relatively new (and highly expensive) Johnny Walker Blue. And what IS that difference. The speaker says that it’s a matter of aging. Black Label is aged for 12 years. Blue is much older … and much “smoother.”

Part of the presentation rested on little bottles of Scotch which he had placed on the tables. A lot of the bottles were opened, and small amounts were poured into glasses on our tables. We tasted it. And he asked us to literally hold our noses while doing so. I never quite understood the purpose of that.

A fun program.

Summary by Bob Kieve

Photos by Paul Tumason

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