The Teachers
Normally, Lynette Williamson, who started the speech and debate program at Analy, would be at our meeting with her students, but was forced to retire after a diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease. One cannot place a value on all the contributions she has made over the years to the program at Analy.
Tricia Maxon stood in for Lynette. She started the speech and debate program at Analy with Lynette in 1995, before doing the same thing at Maria Carrillo and St. Helena High School. She returned to assist Lynette in 2012.
Ginger Riley is El Molino’s speech coach, but as the result of a last minute conflict, was represented by Assistant Principal, Dani Barese. Ginger has been at El Molino for 5 years after teaching in Tennessee, where her speech and debate students won state titles and competed nationally.
Our Judges:
Bob De Leo has spent
40 years as a career CEO with health and human service agencies. He has served as Executive Director for nonprofits, including United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay, Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County, and the Polly Klaas Foundation.
Efren Carrillo, outgoing 5th district Supervisor, is also this year’s Chairman of the Board. He has been a tireless supporter of our youth activities.
Iris Jamahl Dunkle is the current Poet Laureate of Sonoma County. Her latest book of poetry, There’s a Ghost in this Machine of Air, is about the untold history of Sonoma County, and was published in November, 2015. She is also a Jack London Scholar and working on a new biography of Charmian London. She teaches writing and literature at Napa Valley College.
The Speakers:
For obvious reasons, Our Scribe is not duplicating each student’s speech in the AppleKnocker, but I would like to quote several of the student’s more memorable statements.
One speaker suggested we raise the age of gun purchase to 25, because the youthful brain is still developing to that age, and would give us time to detect whether a prospective gun purchaser had a mental problem. He urged reform, because, as he put it, “Someone may die because we refused to do anything.”
Another speaker said that we should promote technology that would make it more difficult for guns to be discharged accidentally – and education. As he put it, “We require safety training and controls for owning and driving cars, why should guns be treated any differently”
Another student pointed out that most killings in schools involve handguns and minors who got the weapons from home. He felt the Second Amendment gave authority historically to a militia to own guns, not “rednecks.” He pointed the obvious difference between an assault rifle and a musket, which was the weapon owned in the US at the time of the Bill of Rights. They have developed strict gun laws in Japan and gun violence has decreased. We should regulate the purchase of ammunition or tax it to make it more expensive.
A speaker also pointed that with over 300 million guns in the U.S. we really cannot totally control their possession. Maybe we can tighten background checks. She wanted to increase education about gun safety for children, and families.
The last speaker argued forcefully for regulations to control who may own a weapon, especially those with mental instability. She made several succinct remarks, “Guns should not be an easy solution...” (in any scenario) “…they should not be left out where accessible to kids, because they are “powerful and fast.” Her last words for the day: “Let’s slow them down, right now!”
The winners:
Honorable Mention:
Taylor Ramalia, (El Molino),
A
ustin Leonard (Analy),
3rd Place, Makayla Kramer (El Molino).
2
nd Place,
Dylan Reynolds (Analy);
Tie for 1st place,
Seryna Bonacorso (El Molino),
and Kai Eva (El Molino).
The prizes for the contest were $125 (both speakers who tied for first place); $75 to the second place; $50 for third place and $25 for the two honorable mentions.
Larry Ford thanked his fellow speech committee members: Tom Lambert, Tony Given (timer), and Rich Power (runner and vote tabulation).
THE FINAL BELL
President Rick applauded all the participants, say that by getting up and speaking as they did, they were miles ahead. He presented
Larry with a bottle of
Pinot for Polio and adjourned the meeting at 1:30.
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e of Allegiance was led by surprise guest District Governor Erin Dunn. 
led us in singing God Bless America.
We got to see a photo of the “Buddy Bench” at Park Side School. This bench was donated by the club, and Rotarian and Superintendant Linda Irving said that any child who wants some companionship and support may sit on the bench, which signals schoolmates to sit with them.
Tim Moore, following in Pauline Pellini’s footsteps, commented on several photos from his vacation in Cambodia (and Viet Nam?). We were “treated” to the view of a water buffalo being carried on the back of a motorcycle, to be used at another location for plowing. 
Tim also described a photo of what he called Raiders of the Lost Tomb, (A cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Laura Croft, Tomb Raider? Oh well, Tim, we know what you meant.) 
Larry Ford introduced our Speech Contest – which asked students to speak about “Violence and Firearms—Solutions to Address These Tragedies”. We had six contestants from Analy and El Molino who, while presenting on the topic, were judged on clarity of organization, content and language, physical and vocal expression, and overall impact of each presentation.
