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.jpg) Before the Bell
“RICK-EY. RICK-EY. RICK-EY”, the impatient crowd chants.
President Rickey Wilson checks himself one more time in the full length mirror:
-- Leather trousers, check.
-- Leopard skin vest, check.
-- 1967 Stratocaster, tuned and cranked up to 11 on the dial, check.
“RICK-EY. RICK-EY. RICK-EY”
Ready to rock, President Rickey leaps through the doorway, slams down that opening chord, drops to his knees, slides across the floor, leaps back to his feet, and grabs the mic stand.
“GOOD MORNING ROTARY! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!”
The cheering of the crowd rises to a deafening level.
“RICK-EY. RICK-EY. RICK-EY”
Rickey surveys his crowd, “HEY…SALLY GLENDENNING, NO DANCING ON THE TABLE….$10 FINE!”
The crowd responds, “RICK-EY. RICK-EY. RICK-EY”.
Rickey continues working his magic on the masses, “WE GOT A GROOVY SHOW FOR YOU TODAY FOLKS. AND TO START THINGS OFF, I’LL BE JOINED BY JIMI HENDRIX, TO PERFORM THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER!”
Jimi Hendrix walks out on stage, and together with President Rickey they prepare to strike that first note…
BUZZZZZZZZZZZ
President Rick rolls over and slaps the alarm clock. The dream fades. He peels open one eye.
“Crap….11:30…..Rotary starts in a half hour….. (much louder) CINDY, DID YOU FINISH MY ROTARY POWER POINT YET?”
From the other room, Cindy responds, “Yes Rick. And your meeting agenda. And your notes. And I took care of all your emails. And I made your morning glass of Tang. And your cinnamon toast. Oh, and Richard Power left seven messages for you…he wants to talk to you about how you run your weekly meetings, your board meetings, the budget, the 501(C)(3), debunking plans, people who are destroying the club, and how you do your hair.”
Rick mumbles to himself, “Yeah, I’ll return his calls…when pigs fly”.
Rolling out of bed, Rick stumbles on an empty bottle of Jack Daniels, steps over a dusty Turtles album resting on a half-eaten plate of stale brownies, grabs some clothes hanging over the back of a chair, sniffs at the clothes, shrugs, and gets dressed. Then, like a steer in a rodeo cattle chute heading for the arena, he barrels through the kitchen, downs his Tang, gulps his cinnamon toast in two bites, grabs his packed Rotary briefcase, and heads out the door. Just as he leaves he hears the phone ring, and Cindy’s voice, “No Richard, he’s not here. Maybe you can catch him at the meeting…”
Rick glides into the parking lot and parks in his reserved parking space. To himself he mumbles, “The Minister of Rock n’ Roll has arrived!” He enters the Roto-Palace [© HH] where Tom Dilley is waiting to take his briefcase and jacket.
Tom asks, “Can I get you anything President Rick? Coffee? Diet Pepsi? Jack Daniels?”
“NO THANKS TOM. IT'S A NEW DAWN, IT'S A NEW DAY, IT'S A NEW LIFE FOR ME, AND I'M FEELING GOOD. BUT HEY, CAN YOU TURN THEM LOUD SPEAKERS UP A BIT, I HEAR THERE’S SOME FOLKS IN GRATON WHO CANT HEAR ME OVER THE FIRE SIREN”.
Tom, “Yes sir, President Rick, right away sir….”
At the Bell
President Rick strolls up to his podium, ignores the clock, and strikes the bell.
Nothing happens.
He hits it again, harder, louder.
Nothing happens.
Then he remembers. It’s February. Most of the club is losing their hearing by this point.
Into the mic, “GOOD MORNING ROTARY! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!”
The startled crowd looks up, many dropping their forks. Several can be seen adjusting, or removing, hearing aids. A few unpack and insert ear plugs.
 “WELCOME TO THE FEBRUARY 12, 2016, MEETING OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF SEBASTOPOL. LEADING US IN THE PLEDGE TODAY IS BRAD BENEDETTI.
 As soon as “…and justice for all” fades, President Rick declares himself song leader for the day, and with a reminder that it’s Valentine’s Day Weekend, jumps right into the Searchers 1963 hit, Love Potion Number Nine. The club was game, singling along during the first verse, and stumbling along in the second.
By the FIFTH verse it was a Rick Wilson solo act:
“I DIDN'T KNOW IF IT WAS DAY OR NIGHT
I STARTED KISSIN' EVERYTHING IN SIGHT
BUT WHEN I KISSED A COP DOWN ON THIRTY-FOURTH AND VINE
HE BROKE MY LITTLE BOTTLE OF LOVE POTION NUMBER NINE”
 Next up was Dan Rasmus, with the Thought for the Day. Actually, he had a pre-thought for the day, which was,
“Rick, it was fun for awhile….”. (Perhaps a debunking theme there?)
Dan’s thoughts were about his favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day. They were deep, profound, made us laugh and cry, and included a reminder that Monday is discount chocolate day at your favorite retailer. (Your Scribe would have written it out verbatim had he not lost the little 3 x 5 card Dan gave him. Sorry Dan.)
OK, Let's Introduce our Guests and Visitors
Joe Gaz, Rotarian from Sebastopol Sunrise; 
Jean Boal, guest of Jeff Boal, 
Paul fro  m Farmers Insurance, guest of Marisol Vigil;
Peggy Rogers, guest of Bob Rogers;
Emily Davis, guest of Mel Davis;
Walter, guest of Chris O’Neil;
Mira, guest of Michelle Kimble.
Henry Alker introduced Jon Holte, nursing student at SRJC, one of the recipients of the club’s SRJC scholarships. There were 61 applications, and four scholarships were awarded.
Announcements
 President Rick woke us up again: “ MIA DEL PRETE, CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING NAMED THE SEBASTOPOL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR. $25! HEY, DID YOU KNOW JEFFERSON AIRPLANE HAD AN ALBUM CALLED VOLUNTEERS?”
President Rick continued: WE GOT A LETTER FROM JIM CORBETT, MR. MUSIC, THANKING US FOR OUR SUPPORT OF THE PEACETOWN MUSIC SERIES. GROOVY, YOU KNOW, THAT MAKES ME WANT TO GET ON THAT PEACE TRAIN, BECAUSE I'VE BEEN HAPPY LATELY, THINKING ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS TO COME, AND I BELIEVE IT COULD BE, SOMETHING GOOD HAS BEGUN!
President Rick: ALSO, BIG THANK YOU TO EDWIN & DIANA WILSON FOR CHAIRING THE QUEEN OF HEARTS EVENT LAST WEEK AND HEY, DID YOU KNOW QUEEN OF HEARTS IS A JOAN BAEZ SONG? OH YEAH, JOHN BLOUNT WAS GREAT AS EMCEE, AND THANKS TO PATTI TOO. IT WAS FAR OUT!
President Rick: BEGINNING MARCH 1 THE LUNCH PRICE WILL INCREASE TO $20. DAMN, THAT’S MORE FOR THAN I PAID FOR A TICKET AND WEED AT MY FIRST STONES CONCERT!
 Aleia Coate and Richard Power announced the winners of the Super Bowl Board. Score changes, $10 each – Russ Cunningham, Ken Silveira, Frank Mayhew, Bob Cary, Robin Maybury, Cindy Carter, and David Still. Quarter winners, $110 each, were Lynda Puccinelli, Jeff Boal, and Robin Maybury. Final score winner was Dick Zimmer, $210.
The big winner was the Sebastopol Rotary Education Foundation, which received $400.
Recognition and Remembrance
Membership Committee Chair Ken Jacobs then took the podium, to recognize Rotarians who have sponsored new members in the past half year. Ken reminded the club that everyone is responsible for sharing Rotary, and recruiting new members. All you need to do is invite a friend to lunch, fill out a very short form, and your guest’s lunch is on the club. Then, if he or she shows interest, just contact a member of the membership committee, and we’ll take it from there.
Rotarians honored included:
- Linda Johnson for sponsoring Michelle Kimble
- Jerry Warren, Brad Benedetti, and Dave Madsen for sponsoring Russ Cunningham (Jerry, Brad & Dave actually could not recall who they sponsored, but in any event did agree to share their single sponsor pin);
- Rick Wilson for sponsoring Cindy Carter
- Brian Langermann for sponsoring Donna Pantzer
- Jim Passage for sponsoring Andrea Schmitz (even though Andrea left the club less than two months later, Ken explained that this is like first grade soccer, and Jim is being recognized for effort regardless of results).
- Ken Jacobs for sponsoring Steve Zivolich.
- Gene Nelson for sponsoring Jeff Boal
- Jim Pacatte for sponsoring Scott Briggs
- Harry Polley was due to receive a special gold ringed pin recognizing that he’d sponsored multiple members. However, since the rules were “must be present to win”, and the envelope said “Harry” on it, membership chair Ken gave the pin instead to Harry Simms, with instructions to either pass it along to Harry Polley, or sponsor two new members and keep it for himself!
 At this point President Rick invited Dave Madsen to speak about Rotarian Al Carrion, who died on February 7. Al was a Past President (1981-82), and was a member continuously since 1964. During his career Al was a police officer, was the Administrator of Palm Drive Hospital, and spearheaded the construction of the current hospital facility. Al was a pilot ( Your Scribe remembers Al telling him about how every summer they would bulldoze a dirt runway on the Laguna, east of town), sportsman, chaired the Grand Jury, was a member of the Trailblazers, and was always an active Rotarian. Al is survived by his wife Lenore.
Dave said he will always remember Al’s big smile, mischievous personality, and positive attitude. The club stood and observed a moment of silence in memory of Al.
Harry Simms then took the mic to speak about Rotarian Vince DaLuiso, who also died last w  eek. A Rotarian since 2013, Vince was a musician, who Harry described as one who loved to perform so much that making money was almost an afterthought. During the 60s and 70s Vince played with many of the “biggies” in San Francisco, and in fact at the time was a neighbor of Bob Cugini.
Vince’s partner, Hosanna, told President Rick that they family was short funds for Vince’s cremation, so as Rotarians we passed the hat and raised over $800 for Vince’s family. The club stood and observed a moment of silence in memory of Vince.
President Rick then came back to the mic. RICHARD POWER, $15 FOR A TRIP TO OREGON. Richard explained they spent Christmas in Bandon visiting family and enjoying the Oregon coast.
KEN JACO BS $25 FOR A TRIP TO THAILAND. Ken noted that this was a 50 th birthday trip with a friend from law school, that he got an advanced SCUBA certification, and hung out with elephants.
The Raffle(s)
Today’s mega-raffle resulted in Russ Cunningham winning tickets to Sebastopol Sunrise Rotary’s Casino Mardi Gras Ball on February 20th, Ken Silveira winning a book authored by today’s speaker, Brooks Palmer.
Marisol Vigil won the chance to draw for $150, which didn’t quite work out in her favor.
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Barbara Beedon introduced Brooks Palmer, Professional Clutter Buster and Organizer, and best-selling author of 
