Mid-August - the 15th, at WVRC
Alas, it's hard to complain about my lack of BD
presents when today's meeting is named in my honor - Gelati, after my favorite
food! But to refresh your memories, you will perhaps recall my subtle innuendos in the
last two Windmills about August 11th, coupled with the cleverly phrased hint
that
 such gifts might influence editorial policy when the giver needs special
treatment. However, the day has now come and gone, with no discernible result -
thus, my beginning this report with Alas… Of course, I was also going to point
out that this birthday leads me into the fourth quarter of my life, which
obviously entitles me to be a paragon of great knowledge and philosophical
genius - but regular readers are already aware of these traits of mine, I'm
sure.
But I digress. Prexy TED spoke of his visit last week to the "sunny barrier
Islands of South Carolina" which then segued into a reminder that SUNNY JIM
SUMNER hails from that part of the country. Naming PP JIM as the Senior Senator
from South Carolina cost JIM a hundred clams, however. We then started with the
Pledge, led by BILL MICHAELS -  (Which reminds me, was ownership of that fancy
Lear Jet in which BILL was last seen ensconced ever determined? Really, TED, you
cannot allow such consequential loose ends to slip by incomplete, OK? ) But
there I am, digressing again. Our two D's - PP STEVE DAY and PP JIM DOWNIE
provided leadership for the song - When the Caissons Go Rolling Along. LENNY
FRIEDMAN allowed us to be seated before providing a good Invocation.
RAY ZICKFELD then introduced our Visiting Rotarians, of which we had three.
Dr. Renu Sharma belongs to the
 Delhi
Pitampura Club, where she also serves as Secretary. In her spare time she is a
gynecologist - and her sari worn today was certainly attractive. Chris Baker is
an attorney, who belongs to the Santa Monica group, while David Carroll is in
trucking sales, and he hails from the Columbus, Ohio club. PP BOB WESSLING
again introduced his Special Guest, Skip Tisherman. Skip is a headhunter, and
is officed in Westwood. ELLIOTT TURNER brought Vicky Morales, who he introduced
as the Queen of the Ensenada RC. YOE wasn't aware that such terms of royalty
existed in an egalitarian organization such as Rotary, but she certainly did
brighten up the room…
SALLY BRANT reminded us of the upcoming Joint Meeting with LA #5, which will be
held on November 22nd, Friday, at noon. They meet in the Reception room at the
just-opened Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral downtown. Bus transportation will
be available for five bucks from the WUMC parking lot, and there is a rumor that
the UCLA Cheerleaders will be seated among our membership - another reason to
attend, certainly.
PP STEVE DAY invited HARLAN LEWIS up front to
be acknowledged as a new Benefactor of the Rotary Foundation. HARLAN, thanks
for your good help here. PP GEORGE DEA was complimented by Prexy TED for
making special friends with the Editor in Chief of the Rotary International
Magazine while in Barcelona. GEORGE has written an article on the Parkinson's
PLLUS Exercise Therapy Program, for submission to the magazine. If published,
it will provide worldwide recognition to the Parkinson's PLLUS program and be a
special honor for WVRC. GEORGE, this is just one more example of your constant
help and efforts to promote Rotary. Thanks, from all of us.
Methinks there was a bit of subterfuge involved in my being seated at the Head
Table.
As is usual, those so placed were introduced, with Prexy TED noting that he
"wasn't sure why I was up there". Turns out that some questioning of me by TED
provided verification that my favorite food is Ice Cream, also known as Gelati
in other climes.
 Further
inquiries led to my admission that our 95-lb Doberman, Bentley, also favors
Gelati. That, combined with my email address being Gelati and my car license
Gelati, the meeting of today was thereby christened Gelati Day. All this led up
to the presentation of a dish, entitled BENTLEY, containing FIVE scoops of
Gelati. It was of course delicious - but a hundred bucks for dessert?
Seriously, TED, Thanks - Bentley will enjoy his new water dish, and I'll be
looking forward to more Gelati as your term progresses.
PP RON LYSTER is again doing a wondrous job, now as our Webmaster. He has
provided two different email addresses for each of our four WVRC topics.
Now, I don't want to be the one giving away any
secrets, BUT if you look carefully above, you can access any of our sites by
using either @wvrc.net or @westwoodrotary.org, preceded by Members, Board, Chat,
or Forum, OK?
Our Speaker was
Ellis Stanley,
General Manager of the Emergency Preparedness Department of the city of
Los Angeles.  Ellis has spoken to WVRC before, and is a good friend of Prexy
TED, who introduced him. He has a distinguished background in emergency
management, working with the Olympics, the Democratic National Convention, Super
Bowl games and the World Series. Since his prior visit with us was BEFORE 9/11,
his perspective on changes and events since then are particularly timely.
On the Rotary level, our Club is looking to partner with Ellis's department in a
Rotary Partnership for Community Emergency Preparedness.
Ellis reminded us that disasters are local, and if you are prepared, it helps, a
lot. An example of a recent high point was his appearance on the Emmy Show with
Chick Hearn -they highlighted Angel Flight and their Air Response Wing, which
provided 8 aircraft and coordination of ALL the aircraft in the recent
successful rescue in the San Diego area. As a result of recent disasters,
equipment to measure radioactive exposure has been redeployed in most police
cars. On the air, someone asked Ellis who would run the city if all the managers
were killed in a disaster? His reply, "the secretaries, just like they do now!"
In the 9/11 disaster, NY lost their Emergency Operations Center - and we were
able to provide them with access to ours. We now have FOUR backup systems in
place. LA has voted to build a permanent new Emergency Operations Center, which
will incorporate all the latest communication equipment - providing what is
called a Circle of Help, so we can move closer to disasters as they occur. His
department is now training people to operate these systems. When they checked,
they found there were over 800 reported incidents - and they realized that the
severity of each one varied. So they now evaluate each one much more carefully
before a decision is made as to how - or if - to respond.
Congress has allocated forty billion dollars for preparedness, with NY getting
half. We will get our share of the rest, with the money mainly being used to
provide better risk communication. Some of the new regulations now in effect
include workers who need access must carry ID saying so, and the various types
of terrorism have been greatly redefined for more precise response. Everyone
recognizes that whatever money comes in must be prioritized so it will be spent
wisely.
Q&A - PP STEVE SCHERER - what is your worst disaster. Earthquakes, in this
area, but floods can be terrible also. Explosives and terrorism in general has
many varieties.
RAY ZICKFELD - what other terrorism targets are important. Cyber terrorism, and
of course bio terrorism. We must learn to share intelligence better. CATHY
REZOS -why don't we hear anymore about Civil Defense. It just faded away almost
forty years ago, but the new Homeland Security will replace it. LENNY FRIEDMAN
- do you expect a major attack on this coming 9/11. We have no advance word,
but have talked to the Mayor. Schools are not to be closed, for instance. PP
RALPH WOODWORTH - After Chernobyl, people returning from Europe had trouble
finding out if they were affected. Is this still a problem. Fire trucks now
have Geiger counters, and the National Guard has some capability. An interesting
capability, which exists already, is that your present TV can be turned on to
broadcast terrorism announcements - but it hasn't been turned on.
Ellis Stanley, thanks for your timely update on the state of our emergency
preparedness.
YOE, Ernie Wolfe
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