October 20, 2008 Spokesman: Revised

Announcements:

• Sunday, Nov. 16^th, there will be a multi-club function at the KPC, featuring Penny Legate, talking about Rotary International.  Rotarians are encouraged to bring guests as this program will provide information on the scope of work of Rotary around the world.  Cost is $10 per person.  This event will take the place of the regularly schedule Monday, Nov. 17^th, meeting.
• Everyone had a wonderful time at the Oct. 18^th John Woodbery Memorial Bunko night at the Shinstrom's.  Many thanks to Alice Volpe, Steve and Patty Shinstrom for the planning and execution of the party.  A total of 44 people attended, and some were even able to find their way home afterward!
• There will be a Theatre Party on Saturday, Nov. 1^st at 8:00 pm at the KirklandPerformanceCenter.  We have a block of 20 seats reserved to see "Defending the Cave Man". This one man performance is the longest running play on Broadway and has received rave reviews.
• Many thanks to Dave and Anna Aubry for organizing the club Wine Tasting trip to Yakima's wine country.
• Pat Swenson announced that this is the last day to sign up for the JohnMuirElementary School "Reading Buddies" program.  The program runs from Nov. 4^th to December 18^th.
• A card is being passed around and signed by all wishing Bob Gassen a speedy recovery.
• Brandon Honcoop requested assistance to help interview students for Student of the Month. He immediately received help from Barb Seaton and Rich Bergdahl.

Happy Dollars! - Chuck Brockway (the disappearing man)

            Much hilarity surrounded the collection of Happy Dollars, especially with regard

            to the successful Bunko night.  Thanks to the entire club for your generosity!

Our program was given by our Exchange Student, Pascal Kuntz.  He gave a talk about his country, Switzerland, and his family and hometown of Worb.  He even played a little of the Swiss National Anthem as performed for the recent Olympics in the Swiss-German language common to Switzerland.  We learned that there are more than 7.6 million people living in Switzerland, a land that is approximately 16,000 square miles in size.  It is made up of 26 "states", and the capital is Berne.  The largest city is Zurich.  Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, with a strong economy, many banks, and a lot of gold!  The country uses francs as its currency, one of the few European countries that does not use the Euro.  The country was founded August 1, 1291, making the United States seem quite young by comparison.  The common languages spoken in Switzerland are German, French, Italian, and Romansch.  Pascal's village is Worb, located in the state of Berne.  Worb has a population of about 11,000 and is located more than 1,900 feet above sea level, and is Famous for its Blue Train and Egger beer.  (We are not quite clear about the Blue Train story.  I think we will need to delve deeper to find out.)  Pascal showed us a picture of his "old room", saying that it is now occupied by a very messy Canadian girl.  Pascal's father, Daniel, runs the family business, a Peugeot dealership that sells and services cars and also has a body shop.  His mother, Alice, works with his father in the family business, once owned by his grandfather.  We were treated to pictures of Pascal, looking quite dapper in his tux, along with his date, Dakota, as they went off to their homecoming dance.

Responding to questions from the audience, Pascal said that school is tougher in Switzerland, not as much homework, and more independent study.  Pascal speaks 5 languages (very impressive!).  When asked which foods are not available in Switzerland, but that he has learned to like here, he specifically mentioned burritos, bagels, and fruit rollups.

Bob finished up the evening with an accounting of our membership status, as many people have been wondering lately how we stand.  We currently have 74 active members, down from 91 a year ago.  We have 2 new members:  Makaylaa Powers, and David Tucker.  We have 4 members on Leave of Absence: Dennis Newell, Jack Danforth, George McAfee, and Katherine Kehrli.   We have a total of 9 members who have resigned in the last year: Miriam Gilbert, Julien Hoisington, George Lawson, Jeanne MacRae, Elizabeth Kemmish, Deborah Wakefield, David Friedman, Jim Mock, and Sara Lalande.  We have 3 people who are currently counted among our membership but are moving to join other Rotaries elsewhere:  Jack and Cheryl Bloodworth in Southern California and Gary Schuster in Leavenworth, WA. 

Honeypot:  Alex Love had the winning ticket, but did not draw the winning duckie!

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 by Pres. Bob, who ended with quotes from Ronald Reagan, Mark Twain, and Thomas Jefferson. 

Submitted:  Pat Dye