DECISION DAY at WVRC, plus the meeting on August 5th
To almost no one’s surprise, the vote was 66 to stay at the Bel Air, and
8 to move to the Luxe. So that is behind us – and we didn’t even have
any ‘pole watchers’ checking on us as we counted! The immediate task
before us is to grab the moment, while we have their attention, and
upgrade and diversify the food. Your suggestions are most welcome, and
if you speak before our Board Meeting next week on August 10th, your
views will certainly be heard. Phone or send comments to DON or YOE,
please.
ANN SAMSON led us in the Pledge. Senor RUDY tried to slip in the
Invocation next, but the rumblings against such heresy brought him back
to reality, and so the Song was next up. PP JIM DOWNIE was on the piano,
and the leaders were LENNY FRIEDMAN and JACK HARRIS – the song being
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. At this point,
ED GAULD came forward, having been ‘in the wings’, so to speak, since
Senor RUDY’S earlier attempt to insert him BEFORE the song. We welcomed
the suggestion that we sit down, and the ED spoke about Leland Stanford,
who was devastated by the death of his only child. In a dream, his son
reminded him that he could still help others in their quest for an
education, and thus, Leland Stanford Jr. University was founded. (No,
this isn’t a typo – he really used the Junior in the name). In the
prayer that followed, “Stir us to be active in the service of others.
Teach us to give, and help”. Another good job, ED – Thanks.
In what was the poorest recitation of Birthdays ever, the following
were, more or less, named as coming along in August. (Editorial note –
by meticulous research, your humble Editor has surfaced the further
details that should have been included. To wit…) KACY ROZELLE, choosing
Basking Ridge N.J. on the 1st, RALPH SMITH, jumped aboard on the 4th
while passing through Brockton, Mass, BRUCE ROLF (and he loved the card,
which was delivered today) landing in McPherson, Kansas on the 8th,
while YOE stayed with the 11th, in good old LA. JACK HARRIS thought that
was such a good idea that he allowed LA to be his choice, on the 13th.
August 16th came along, and DAN PRICE agreed that LA was fine, his date
being the 16th. MARK BLOCK liked Passaic, N.J., and he chose the 25th,
which LENORE MULRYAN agreed with, but in nearby Lompoc, CA.
Sad to say, MARK’S father-in-law, Bob Berman, was his guest and thus
present to see this sad performance. After the Song, PP STEVE SCHERER
collared KACY, and pointed out that this was a BIG B.D. for him – turned
out to be his 40th! RUDY recovered somewhat by suggesting that we should
honor him for bringing the average age of the Club down.
Senor RUDY then introduced PDG Len Wasserstein, from Beverly Hills
Rotary. After some delay, HARLAN LEWIS was allowed to name other
Visiting Rotarians. As noted above, PDG Bob Berman, from Jackson, Miss,
was introduced – he is in the Food Distribution and Investment business.
Michael Graves, a Urologist, was from the Plainview, Texas club. He had
a flag to present, and when Senor RUDY asked BILL MICHAEL to shoot a
picture, BILL gamely said, “I’ll take it again, if you want”. Curt
Smith, who is in Insurance, was from nearby Century City. Curt was
accompanied by his son, Trevor, who has just graduated from college. DON
NELSON introduced his Granddaughter, Marissa McIntosh, who graduated
from Cal a year ago and is now a teacher at the John Dye School. KACY
ROZELLE brought a Special Guest, Reza Bundy, who is the CEO of Viatrade,
and an old friend
Four announcements – we have TEN members attending the first District
Breakfast, which will be at the LAX Marriott on August 11th – that’s
real participation! SEAN McMILLAN needs volunteers to help with the
Japanese Student Exchange – we will have the Japanese students with us
on a Thursday, soon. Drivers are needed – please call SEAN for more
information. On August 27th, there will be a Literacy Breakfast at
Lawry’s – contact is LEE DUNAYER. And on November 6th, the Paul Harris
Centennial Celebration Dinner will be held – save that date. JOHN
SINGLETON and RALPH WOODWORTH did not provide satisfactory answers for
Rudy’s World, so they are subject to a fine, I guess. There are about
twenty members who do not have computers, but it doesn’t seem fair for
me to list them – they cannot participate in Rudy’s World, of course.
It was really good to have PP HOWIE HENKES back with us. He is still in
something of a testing mode, since they aren’t sure just where his
internal bleeding came from – but he’s up and about, and certainly that
is good! BRUCE ROLF remains at Berkeley East, at the corner of 20th and
Arizona, and he can have visitors. The next best thing to a visit is a
card or note, and BRUCE needs the encouragement, please. And while on
the subject of illness, DANNY SKINNER has finally closed his flower
shop, which was on Westwood Blvd. DANNY tells me he has only been
working one day a week recently – and after that, he spent the next day
in bed! Cards, or a phone call, would be most welcome. Do it - it will
make your day – and DANNY’S, too.
SALLY BRANT introduced our Speaker, Harry Jacobs. Harry is a Rotarian,
from the
Whittier Club, and he is currently volunteering with the Dept of
Registrar-Recorder’s office of the County Clerk. His task is to tell us
about the shortage of Poll Workers, and to enlist some of us in helping
with the problem.
Harry had some excellent visuals to tell his story. His group has
already made almost 100 presentations to Rotary Clubs in four Districts,
and they have other volunteers speaking to Kiwanis and other service
clubs. He noted the nationwide decline in Volunteerism, which has been
increasing over the last ten years. The numbers for Los Angeles County –
we have 4,571 polling places, which require 22,000 poll workers to staff
them, and we are short by almost two thousand workers. If we have to
staff them with government workers, not volunteers, it raises the cost
of the election by a huge amount – we are budgeting forty MILLION
dollars for the Primary and General elections, because not enough
volunteers are coming forward.
Part of the solution to this problem is to have corporations provide a
limited number of their employees for the one day of the General
Election on November 2nd. They need to be at the polling places by 0630,
and will have to stay until 9 p.m., so it is a long day.
In addition, volunteers must complete a 90-minute training session. 50%
of the present volunteers are over EIGHTY years old, and in declining
health. They now need to pick up all the supplies for a polling place,
take and install it, and then return the booths, etc, to where they were
picked up. This new requirement is almost impossible for many of the
present volunteers – and it was not in effect until recently, but must
now be handled, somehow. There is now legal permission for 16 to 18 year
olds to serve as poll workers. They expect to recruit many volunteers
from the colleges and universities – and if they have at least 25
volunteers from one Rotary Club, their total pay of $2000 will be
donated to defray the other costs
Q&A – DON NELSON, Does voting by mail help the problem? Yes, but not
enough at this time. PP STEVE SCHERER, Do you have people assigned
already? We are planning to overstaff this time. SALLY BRANT, Do you
allow split shifts? Technically, yes, but pay and training must be
shared. PP JIM COLLINS, 16 and 17 year olds seems young. The training
session will bring them up to speed. PP MIKE NEWMAN and PP PETER MORE
questioned how the signatures can be authenticated if voting by mail. It
is now necessary, and it will certainly add to the cost. KACY ROZELLE,
What is the future of Internet Voting? It will come in time, but the
potential for fraud must first be solved. HANK HEUER asked for advice on
how you stuff the ballot box…And as a serious answer, with five polling
workers at each polling place, they would all have to be involved, and
that just isn’t likely to happen. JACK HARRIS, What are we doing about
chads? This was only a problem in TWO COUNTIES in the whole United
States – both in Florida, and it has now been solved. CATHY REZOS, If we
have a Rotary Emblem at the polling place, doesn’t that suggest a way to
vote? That’s probably a bit of a stretch.
Senor RUDY, Could the State Legislature mandate election services. No,
we will need to do it voluntarily. Final note – I have copies of the
Volunteer Registration Form – so please ask, OK?
YOE, Ernie Wolfe |
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