October 2018

October 25th

Hello Rotarians:

In president Dave’s absence, Phil Blohm assumed the duty of leading the troops for last Thursday’s meeting. After Mike Renberg led everyone in the flag salute, Ken Dodderer gave us our prayer for the morning. Joe Villareal did happy bucks and one memorable comment came from Ken Dodderer. He informed all that it was one year ago that his wife Kris received her heart. With that he rang the bell.

Phil reported the following:

  • The club Christmas party will be held at the Spaghetti Factory on Wednesday, December 5th. This will take the place of the Thursday, December 6th meeting.
  • Thursday, December 13th will be our last meeting of the year. The club will remain dark until January 3rd.
  • The Salvation Army bell ringing will be on Thursday, December 6th. A sign-up sheet will be made available for those that want to volunteer.
  • The food basket distribution is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, December 15th at Cambridge High School.
  • Phil reported that the meeting with the club’s new web site manager will be tentatively held on Saturday, November 3rd in the early afternoon. All members are invited but for now only Bob and Jacque and himself have signed up.
  • Pete Pulos reported that the Fresno Unified School District has agreed to purchase the property that used to house the Fresno County Juvenile Hall. The 12-acre parcel is being sold for $1.2 million and may be the future home of Cambridge High School, a health center for students and several other schools and offices. Pete suggested that this was a long-term project that could take several years to complete.

Phil introduced Larry Hopper as our speaker for the morning. Larry spoke about the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Its purpose is to ensure better local and regional management of groundwater use and it seeks to have a sustainable groundwater management in California by 2042. It emphasizes local management and formed groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) from local and regional authorities.

Agriculture is the main user of groundwater with consumer use second. For years more water has been taken out of the ground than has been replenished. This is called over drafting. Larry discussed why the management of groundwater was so important and how if not managed well, how it will negatively impact not only the agricultural industry but consumers as well.

Next week Alan Uyemura will introduce Thomas Dodd with his model A presentation. Mr. Dodd is attempting to arrange two other members to come to the meeting with their cars. Joe Villarreal will lead this Thursday’s meeting. Ken Dodder and Dennis Falk will be our greeters and Larry Hopper will give us our thought for the day.

October 18th

Hello Rotarians:

Phil volunteered to lead last week’s meeting in Dave’s absence. Since Dave’s business activities will keep him out of town for the next two weeks Phil will again lead us this Thursday (Oct 18th) with Joe finishing out the month, leading us on October 25th.

The Cambridge students were in attendance last week and awards for the outstanding girl and boy of the month were recognized with certificates and gift cards.

This week Larry Hopper will make the introductions regarding our speaker for the week. The greeters will be yours truly and his significant other, Jacqueline Smith Garcia and our thought for the day will come from Alan Uyemura.

See you then.

October 11th

Hello Rotarians:

Last Thursday Robert Howk stepped in for President Dave and presided over the meeting. Mike Renberg led us in the flag salute and Hymman Wood led us in prayer. Tripp Pound was introduced by Phil Blohm as a visiting Rotarian and Hymman Wood introduced his guest, Jacob Lang from Nigeria. Joe Villareal did Happy Dollars and the following reports were made:

Phil Blohm reported that Seattle Software will be our new web site manager. The owner has agreed to meet with members to receive input as to what we want on the web site. Phil is to arrange a time and place and will invite all interested parties to meet with him.

Wayne Thomas reported that the Story Land/Play Land fundraiser is this Saturday, October 6th. He named several Sunrise Rotarians that will be joining him and stated that he had more tickets available if anyone else is interested in attending.

Hymman Wood presented the club with a flag from Jos Tin City club of Nigeria West Africa. Hy exchanged flags with this club on his recent trip to Nigeria.

Robert Howe reported that his business had recently been hacked with ransom ware. He reported this hack to the FBI and worked closely with them while he worked to rid himself of this virus. Robert reported that this has been a valuable learning experience and suggested having an FBI agent speak to us about this problem. He thought other Rotarians outside of our club could also benefit from this information. It was agreed that the membership would be interested, and we would invite other clubs.

Ben Krikorian introduced Ralph Kachadourian from the City of Fresno. Ralph is the supervisor planner/high speed rail impacted business assistance manager and is charged with assisting businesses who are impacted by high speed rail. Ralph gave us an overview of where high-speed rail is being built and how it has impacted businesses in Fresno. One of the many benefits the city has received from high speed rail is that they are building, at no cost to the city, several under and over passes throughout the city that will bypass the trains that run through Fresno. Ralph has worked with 254 businesses that have been impacted by high speed rail. He acts as their ombudsman and helps them streamline issues such as building permits and fees. Fresno is expected to have a rail station and hopes to house the high-speed rail repair facility in the future.

Next week the Cambridge High School will be in the house. Greeters are Phil Blohm and Jason Obenauf. Our thought for the day will come from Joe Villareal. Gentlemen, Alan has the cash box and he will see you there.