October 25, 2001

 

UPSIDE DOWN ON THE 25TH at WVRC

Yes, the Speaker came first - but this report will be in the usual sequence,
since I'm really a creature of habit, as you probably already know. ANN
ELKIN led off with the Pledge, followed by what we could call a pregnant
silence. Turned out that the Song was to be led by YOE hisself, who promptly
forgot to ask everyone to stand up. Anyway, we managed America The
Beautiful, with GREGG ELLIOTT accompanying. MARK BLOCK gave an Invocation,
which was partially in Hebrew. His final word was Peace, which translates in
any language.

DENNIS CORNWELL found that there were no visiting Rotarians, but there were
other guests. SLOSS VIAU brought along Special Guest Kacy Roselle, and
SUSAN ALLEN was with her Japanese student, Yoshiko Umezawa. Pres. GEORGE
came with Bruce Goldberg, who was an earlier speaker to the club. We then
recalled that BILL BLOOMFIELD JR was there with his dad, BILL - it was good
to see them both.  Due to popular demand, Pres. GEORGE had to fine BILL Jr
a hundred big ones.  There was some minor confusion about the legality of this
pronouncement, since there appeared to be no way to insure its collection.
However, there were those in the audience who felt they could run BILL JR
down if pursuit was necessary, and this elicited a huge sigh of relief from those who
apparently suspected that he might not be traceable.

PP JIM SUMNER had a good golf joke - seems this golfer, who was married
(apparently necessary to the story, since maybe some golfers are NOT married
- I wouldn't know, myself). Anyway, his wife put them both on an all-bran
diet. Some time later, they both died about the same time. As they were
strolling through Heaven, his wife pointed out a wonderful golf course they
were passing. This roused the husband to point out that if she hadn't had
him on that damn bran diet, he could have been playing there at least a
couple of years earlier! It was October birthday time, and the following
members were called out: JAYNE SPENCER, Chula Vista on the 8th, PP BOB
WESSLING, Chicago, also on the 8th, RO SHAW, Fujien, China on the 10th, BILL
EDWARDS on the 18th in Bloomsburg - which I'm sure you knew was in
Pennsylvania, STU GILMAN in Los Angeles, again, on the 18th, RUDY ALVAREZ in
San Antonio on the 23rd, PP STEVE DAY on the 25th, in Sacramento, BOB THOM,
Detroit on the 30th, and PETER MORE squeaked into the group on the 31st, in
Shanghai.

PP MICHAEL NEWMAN came forward to induct new member BURLEIGH ARNOLD, who was
sponsored by HENRY TSENG. BURLEIGH (first name John, but he doesn't use it)
is in international insurance , was born in Lewiston, Missouri and is married
to Rebecca., They have four kids, and he lists his hobbies as reading,
golfing and hiking.

MIKE reminded us that we are always seeking quality before quantity in new
members, and BURLEIGH certainly fills the bill.

There were some brief announcements, which started with PP DAVE WHITEHEAD
reminding all that the Computer Class is tonight. He regretted that they had
to change the menu, since they planned to serve venison, but Councilman Jack
Weiss ruined this when he had the road kill picked up! MARK BLOCK told us
about the great new Flag pins which we are selling for $10.00. ALL the money
goes to relief of the victims of the New York attack, since PP JOHN
SINGLETON has donated his cost and thus the income is net. PP RON LYSTER
reminded us of the upcoming District Conference in San Diego starting on May
2nd - many fellow WVRC members are helping him and it should be a real
winner.

Needing money as we obviously always do, Pres. GEORGE asked SUSAN ALLEN what
was new with her. SUSAN'S daughter, Danielle, who teaches at the University
of Chicago, was just awarded a $500,000 grant from the John D & Catherine
MacArthur Foundation. This Fellowship - one of just 23 given this year - is
the result of being nominated by fellow scholars (you cannot apply yourself)
to encourage creative pursuit of their own individual intellectual interest.
Danielle, who has PdD's from Harvard and the University of Cambridge, is a
Classicist and Political Science scholar - and at just 29 years of age, her
future looks bright indeed. Congratulations to SUSAN - sounds like it was
well worth the hundred dollar fine! But we have to suspect that Danielle, if
she really is 29, must have been born when SUSAN was still in grade
school…Also fined was SALLY BRANT - for the same one hundred dollar amount.

SALLY, who claims she has never been to New York, is going, to attend the
World Serious. She has become a devoted Yankee fan, and feels that this is
her direct way of helping the tourist industry in that beleagured city. She
threatened Pres. GEORGE if he did impose a fine, but YOE suspects that it's a
done deal.

PP STEVE SCHERER introduced our speaker, Councilman Jack Weiss. Jack spoke
to us during his campaign, and he has a strong background for public service.
Prior to being elected to the City Council, he was an Assistant U.S.
Attorney, and his educational background is a BA from Princeton and UCLA Law.
He added two items to STEVE'S intro - Jack's dad was a Rotarian, and SALLY
BRANT was the real estate agent when they bought their present home. He also
noted that YOE had helped him with his campaign - and err you forget, I did
note that only four of you applauded this remark!

The City Council today is part of the new generation - over half the members
are new this term. They want to work together, and the acrimony that used to
prevail is notably absent today. This certainly helps to get things done.
He did relate one story - when they were gathering for a group photo after
the election, he first found himself next to Richard Allatore, thought he
should move, and ended up next to Mike Hernandez - when he did settle, he
found Art Snyder had his arm arouind his shoulders. I guess what this
demonstrates is that there are a lot of questionable former City Council
members!

Jack believes in asking questions, probably from his background as a public
prosecutor. He is head of an Emergency Task Force which oversees our
preparedness - their main issues are Intelligence, Protection, Hazardous
Waste, and Explosive concerns. He does realize that he was elected to help
with local issues, and he introduced Lisa Tripoletti, his Westside
representative. He gave a specific example of helping his constituents - as
he drove by the Skirball Cultural Center, there was a dead deer alongside the
road. He called the city department - you get good attention when you're a
Council Member - and they picked the carcass up right away. This was
unfortunate for PP DAVE WHITEHEAD as noted above, but the net result is what
counts, I suppose…

In his Q&A, PP JIM COLLINS asked his opinion of the secessionist movement in
the Valley. Jack has always been against it, and said so during the
campaign. ED JACKSON asked how effective an anthrax detection system would
be, and such equipment is not very close to being available. Jack reminded
us that 100% of current local calls about anthrax are false alarms, but
keeping ahead of the curve on this won't be easy., MARK BLOCK asked if we
had any stockpiles of serum, and we do have some, but not much. Originally,
it was thought that Fire Stations would be the distribution points, but we
then realized that they would be very busy doing other things in any
emergency, and so the City Parks and Recreations buildings will be utilized.
NEAL ZASLAVSKY asked what cooperation could be expected from the city
services surrounding West Hollywood (which is independent), and progress is
being made here. SALLY BRANT remarked that traffic is a serious problem, and
he agreed. GREGG ELLIOTT asked if we could have more sensible borders
between jurisdictions, and it was pointed out that the Census determines much
of this, since areas must contain roughly equal populations. Jack's final
remarks were about LAX - it still needs to expand - now - and unless we do
something soon, it will become unworkable. Jack Weiss, thanks for coming by
to report today.

YOE, Ernie Wolfe