April 3rd, 2006 Spokesman

VISITING ROTARIANS/GUESTS
There was one visiting Rotarian, introduced by Mike Hunter - Mike Hendrickson, a member of the Bellevue Club.
Elizabeth introduced our Student of the Month - Ronak Gala, who is a senior at Lake Washington High School.   Ronak is interested in pursuing a degree in Accounting when he graduates.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Joanne announced that the Annual Auction the previous night was a big success, raising approximately $7,800 for our Foundation.   Many thanks to Craig Neal and his planning team for a great evening!

John Overleese gave an update on the Duck Dash, thanking Patty Sims for designing the tickets this year, and Alice for organizing the venues once again.   Ticket sales has begun, and it is expected that each member will sell (or buy) $500 worth again this year.   John also mentioned that we have three times the number of prizes this year, including a new KIA as first prize, courtesy of Brett Johnson and Lee Johnson Chevrolet/Mazda/KIA.   Many thanks to all!

President Joanne announced that WSU will be endowing a scholarship in Al and Louise Ayers' name.   Very nice tribute!

BLUE BADGE CEREMONY
President Joanne conducted a Red to Blue Badge ceremony for Duncan and Vernell Sutherland.   Gary Bruner was their sponsor, and also Vernell's mentor.   Congratulations to Vernell and Duncan - Kirkland Rotary's newest active members!

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE
We were very fortunate to have with us five visiting business professionals from Bavaria, along with their Rotarian Sponsor, Johann Heinz.   The group are part of Rotary's Group Study Exchange, which started in New Zealand and is now functioning world-wide.

The group are visiting Rotary clubs throughout the 5030 District this month, each one speaking a little about their backgrounds and finally favoring us all with a native song.   The members of the group included:   Stephan, in Financial Law;   Katie, in Social Services; Heller, in Education;  Gunner, in Engineering;  and Thomas, in Corporate Law.   It was a delightful visit and a truly a real treat to have them visit!

SPEAKER
Dennis Newell introduced our speaker, the honorable Norm Maleng, who has been a prosecuting attorney with King County since 1978.   Mr. Maleng currently heads up the King County Prosecutor's Office, the largest in the state.   Mr. Maleng shared with us a lot of what it takes to  run the largest prosecutor's office in the state, flavoring his talk with personal stories and examples of what his office deals with on a regular basis.   I'm sure he didn't share a lot for propriety's sake, but his talk was very interesting and provided a wonderful set of insights, after which he entertained several questions from the membership.    Thank you for being with us, Mr. Maleng - it was an honor to have you!

HONEY POT/CLOSING
Fortunately, one of our visitors from Bavaria had the winning ticket and, even more fortunately, chose the "lucky card" from the bag and won the honey pot.   Congratulations, Katie!

President Joanne then adjourned the meeting at 7:40 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
         Steve Brown, Scribe for the Evening