PROLOGUE -
PP JOHN SINGLETON led off with the Pledge, and YOE congratulated him on knowing all the words…This led to our song, conducted by BRUCE HARRIS with BILL MAXWELL on the squeak box, and they took us through America.  PAUL SORRELL quoted a poem, The Man in the Glass, the theme being that's you staring back at yourself - and if you are doing things right, you will like what you see.  Good thoughts, PAUL.

Visiting Rotarians were introduced, both by JIM GREATHEAD and Prez. STEVE - they were Larry Bender, Assistant Governor, from Hawthorne, and Erdal Kesebir and his daughter - Erdal belongs to the Ankara-Emek Club in Turkey.  Prez STEVE again had us meet Neal Zaslavsky, President of the W. Hollywood Club, and PP JOHN SINGLETON had with him former member BOB BOE, now living in Palm Springs.  Prez STEVE had another guest, Joel Kabaker.  Our own TERRY M. WHITE was with us after an absence, no doubt in anticipation of his birthday gift to be expected this month… But alas, when the birthdays for July were announced, their only reward was our usual rendition of "Happy Birthday, Dear Rotarians"!  For the record, these included GEORGE REED, HANK HEUER, MAX LICHTENBERGER (Stier, Austria), BOB YOUNKER, HENRY TSENG (Yokohama, Japan), CLAWSON BLEAK, DANNY SKINNER, PP YOSH SETOGUCHI, DICK DAVIS and the
aforementioned TERRY M. WHITE.  Two notes may be appropriate here - those without birthplace identification following their names were born in the
mundane confines of the US of A, and perhaps more to the point, those of us
who will be serenaded NEXT month are beginning to salivate already in
anticipation of what OUR gift may be. One might hope that a word to the wise
may be sufficient here, as the saying goes…

RUDY ALVAREZ was accompanied to the podium by PP BOB WESSLING, who was presented with a complete book of Windmills for his Rotary Year 1999-2000 - a nice touch, and a tradition to be continued, certainly.  RUDY once again mentioned our need for housing for our Japanese Exchange Students - they will be with us during the first week of August, and some visiting Russians also need housing..  SUSAN ALLEN spoke of the opportunity for two of our members to be Counselors for a couple of incoming Ambassadorial Scholars - a number of us have done this, and it is most interesting and worthwhile.  The demands are not great, but the rewards can be - see SUSAN for details, please. PP HOWIE HENKES next introduced our newest member, KEN KILPO, who is in Capital Management, and was sponsored by BILL MICHAEL.  This portion of our meeting concluded with PDG ANDY ANDERSON being nicked for a hundred bucks, since he
dragooned last week's speaker, CLARENCE CHAPMAN, into substituting as our speaker on his day off!  Think what it could have cost if he had to come back into town from vacation…

POTPOURRI -
The inevitable announcements started with July 25th - District Breakfast at LAX Marriott, the good news being that PDG BILL GOODWYN will be making a presentation. 
August 3rd - a doubleheader:  ANN SAMSON is calling a meeting of Community Service, starting at the very early hour of 11 am.  MARK BLOCK, who is obviously easier, wants his Youth Committee to meet at 11:30.
August 5th -Summer Fun Party at Marian and LEO TSENG's - checks for $25 pp to Petie Henkes, please.  Starts at 6 pm, go north of Sepulveda through the tunnel, left on Fond Drive, left on Jeannine Lane to 16017. 
And save the date of Sept 24th - the SISKEL Picnic, with our Ambassadorial
Scholars  as our special guests.

PROGRAM -
YOE has to confess that he seldom lists those at the Head Table - but this
group deserves special mention, since they all are fliers - PETER MORE, DICK ROBINSON, PP JIM DOWNIE, PP JIM COLLINS, and BILL EDWARDS (we probably have others, but the Head Table seating isn't unlimited)  They were up there because our Speaker, Bob Trimbom, is the Manager of the Santa Monica Airport. He was introduced by maybe the busiest member of WVRC, PETER MORE.

Some statistics:  The airport covers 227 acres, and serves about 500 aircraft
- of which less than a dozen are jets.  The runway is 5,000 feet and l50 feet
wide - but cannot support the heavier aircraft, such as 737 and larger.  It
is one of the oldest in the whole country, having been first used in 1919 -
just 15 years after the Wrights made their first flight. In 1922 Donald
Douglas started his Round The World flight here, and two of the original five
aircraft still exist.  This 'stunt' made Douglas a name in the industry, and
he went on to design and build the DC3, one of the stalwarts of commercial
air transportation.  During WWII, his factory started with 20,000 employees,
and at peak had 40,000!  This 'mob' completely changed Santa Monica, into the cosmopolitan city it has now become.  Bill Lear started his career here,
inventing the autopilot, for instance.  When he was testing this device, he
had his two small children with him, and accidentally flew into restricted
airspace.  He noticed a military fighter coming up to check him out, so
turned on the autopilot, had his 3-year-old stand on the seat, and hid from
view.  When the fighter came alongside and saw the kid, he simply peeled off
- this wasn't anything he wanted to be involved with!

 Bob learned to fly when he was 14, starting at Hawthorne, and becoming its
Manager.  Then he moved to Sparks, Nevada, which serves Reno.  He has been at Santa Monica since 1996, and is very pleased to be where he is.  In 1980, the airport was reconfigured to its present status. A continuing problem is noise, since about 500,000 people live within five miles - and Santa Monica does the best it can, but it will never really be solved.  There are several restaurants on the property, plus many hangers and service facilities.  The Museum of Flying is a feature, and if you haven't seen it, you should.
Among the community services they are involved in is rewarding local students who get good grades with free flights.

Q&A - 
Difference between S.M and Burbank - S.M. is owned by the city, and
Burbank is owned by the city of Los Angeles.  What is your safety record? 
They have never had anyone killed on the ground, and accidents are so rare
that they always make the news, as compared to the vastly larger number of
auto accidents, which are simply ignored by the news media.  Why are cars
parked in some of the hangers?  That's how it was when he arrived, and it's
tough to change, obviously.  About 20% of the hangers have cars in them.
There are no landing fees at present, but the airport is self-sustaining,
with income from the many suppliers located on the property.  Bob, thanks for
your excellent report - and you are welcome to 'get involved' with WVRC
anytime!

                            YOE, Ernie Wolf