This week's lunch marked the Club's first meeting since a new code of conduct was unofficially suggested at last week's meeting. 
There was nervous anticipation throughout the room as we assembled before the flag and began this new chapter in civilized Wheaton Rotary History, ironically, on the same day in history as the following events;

-"Anything Goes" closes at Beaumont Theater New York City after 804 performances
-Max speedometer reading mandated at 85 MPH
-L.A. Court orders Clayton Moore to stop wearing Lone Ranger mask
-All political parties forbidden in Bangladesh
-Communists form North China People's Republic
-Federal judge upholds detention of Japanese-Americans
-New York City law requires all "pool" rooms to change name to "billiards"  and finally,

Hitler orders extermination of the mentally ill, a decree which wipes out two-thirds of the membership in  Germany's Rotary Clubs. It seems that the fun, frivolity. and spirit of the Christmas Season have provoked subsequent  countermeasures for generations.

Anyway, I was so proud to be a Rotarian today, in awe over the fact that we made it all the way through the  invocation, before reverting immediately to our old irreverent ways, when the Lath offered up some public criticism  of the prayer's lack of relevance to the Lath.   It was great of  the Lath to volunteer to take a spot on the sign-up sheet and handle a future invocation. Well, it looked like the Lath's handwriting on the sign up sheet...........

Our guests were, The Young Henry Kuntzer, Margery Schrubbe, and Vic and Leslie Trautwein from "Kids Alive".  Chuck Mattingly, from "Furry Critters, Dead" provided a  Yin to The Trautwein's Yang

It  was a  good week to miss if you are trying to lose Holiday weight, as the lunch was a huge plate of spaghetti  topped with breaded chicken and a desert tray so tempting, it would have made Kirstie Alley draw the blinds and wallow in self-loathing for days ......The garlic bread was a surprise change from the standard dinner roll, very nice.

Announcements-
*The Boy Scout Cabin project at Northside Park  will start soon....I have that on Scouts Honor.
*HSP needs drivers in addition to Bob Lyon. Cheryl is looking for someone besides Ed Lowrie to step up to the plate here, it's only an hour.....
*Russ is old, as another Birthday and his unmuted ringtone of  the "All Dive!" submarine signal horn proved (twice)
*Jeffers celebrated 13 years in Rotary, even though he has been on the Christmas Inn Committee for 18 years. Note to Finemaster, trade your .75 readers in for something stronger.
* Bob Lyon has been with Rotary for 6 years
*Gordie has been a Rotarian for 20 years, 51 weeks, 1 day ,12 hours, and 27 minutes, at the time of this writing. According to Gordie, it is actually a full 21 years, but I am just going by what the Finemaster with the outdated prescription readers announced.

Happy Fines
Cheryl has completed her last treatment. Way to go!!
Loren Hetrick is volunteering at HSP

On to our Speaker.
Vic Trautwein is a serious and sincere speaker, and  a passionately committed missionary.  After listening intently to his entire presentation, I seriously doubt, as may have been obliquely suggested last week, that his Jesus is less tolerant of the human condition than the average Rotarian's Jesus.  No matter, he gave a very nice if not moving presentation, and is someone who is really making a difference with his remaining daylight. Vic has an engineering degree from Dartmouth and a PhD from Stanford if I remember correctly, and was very successful in business before entering his "second career" at Kids Alive....

The Kids Alive program operates primarily in the Dominican Republic. It serves roughly 1200 children in 9 towns, providing food, immunizations, education, refuge, and most importantly, hope.  Among the facts shared by Vic is that the D.R. ranks last in Latin American Educational standards, wresting the title away from Los Angeles County, California. However, the graduates of the Kids Alive educational system are often the most qualified to fill teaching positions when they finish the program.

Much like Gordon's work in Peru, Kids Alive looks to rescue the young and forgotten and  provide them with a way out and a way up.

Vic strongly encouraged us to come and work with his program in the D.R., adding that hardly anyone ever contracts Typhoid Fever, Malaria, or any other deadly diseases, and the most danger which you would ever likely face there would be  loudly-patterned  tourist shirts and rabble-rousing members of the various local civic organizations. 

In other news, the board will convene at St. Carmela's The Confessor, to discuss replacing the raffle basket with a swear jar.

Oh, the humanity!

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