Mayor Sukhee Kang

We had the honor of Suhkee Kang, the mayor of Irvine, speaking at our club. He was a member of Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club about 3 years ago. Since then he has become the Mayor. He is the first Korean mayor of a major city in the United States. He gave us an update on the City of Irvine.

For example, on the subject of econometrics, they have put funds away and with the current sales tax, hotel tax, and property tax how the city should be in good shape. Therefore, there are no planned cuts in the many services to both youth and seniors.

They have planned for a safe city by increasing their police force from 150 to 203 officers. One result is; Irvine has been the safest city for its size in the US for the last 4 years.

They have put money aside for schools so they can continue to maintain their class sizes and educational standards. This should permit their continuation of an exceptional educational system.

Finally, he explained the importance of being a GREEN city. and the steps they are taking in that direction.

Our past president, Richard Milo, also spoke today. He was our president from 2003-04. Being an engineer and the efficient person he is, he came equipped with a spreadsheet showing the accomplishments of his year.

He explained the four arms of Rotary service – Vocational, Club Service, Community Service and International – and what we accomplished in those areas. Also during his year was the largest increase in our membership, from 30 to 40 members, an increase of 25 percent.

During his year, he attended the International convention in Brisbane, Australia. He felt the most important element was his goal of making sure everyone was involved, and, after all, that is what Rotary is all about.

OCTA

Our speaker for the week was Peter Buffa, Chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). It was quite timely as there have been a number of newspaper articles about their plans. They are responsible for all ground transportation in Orange County; buses, trains and highways,with exception of the Tollways.

It was no surprise – money is tight. They have been affected and have had to make cutbacks, mostly in the bus system here in Orange county. However, with the stimulus money from the government, they plan to make advances and improvements in our highways, as well as local Metrolink stations to entice more ridership. They look forward to developing a high speed rail system from Anaheim to San Francisco (in about 2 ½ hours) in the near future, as well as someday from Anaheim to Las Vegas. They will be modeled after systems in other countries, and someday even hope to develop an air/rail system. The biggest problem is how to get Orange County people out of their cars!

Woody Jones was our president during 1999-2000. He spoke about what a fun year and a great experience it was for him. The club continued to hold the Golf tournament as well as a Night at the Improv as fund raisers, while again holding the Smiles Dental Clinic.

In addition, members built a house in Tijuana with the Corazon project during his term. He felt it was a fun and worthwhile project. It was such a wonderful experience to see a family receive a home you'd helped to build; something the family wanted and thought they never could obtain. Woody explained how he'd enjoyed traveling to the International Convention that year in Singapore.

We also had the honor of having Ed Hardenburgh's grandson and his mother join us. They extended an invitation to a cystic fibrosis walk on May 2nd. In addition, the club continued its support of the foundation in the form of a check presented to Ed's grandson.

Flying Doctors of Mercy

Today's meeting was presented by Greg Plammbeck about “Flying Doctors of Mercy”. He brought their story to us about their work in Mexico.

The program started in 1934 when doctors traveled to Mexico by horseback and mule. After WWII the program began using volunteer pilots to fly doctors to Mexico to save lives and improve the health of people in Mexico. Today they have established five medical sites in Mexico to give medical aid, from surgery to dental work, using doctors from all over the United States.

They help about 1,200 people a month and fly about 100 trips from throughout the United States to Mexico. They are widely supported by Rotary International, and receive help from several clubs in Orange County. Over the last 70 years they have improved the quality of life for the poor and sick in Mexico .

Roger McGonegal, our current District Governor, was our honored guest this week. He presented Mary Mar with an award for her outstanding work in the District this year. He thanked her for all she did to coordinate and make the District conference the successful event it was.

He also presented Jaap Laufer with his Paul Harris +2 award.

Ed Hardenburgh was our past president's speaker this week. He served as our 6th president from 1997-1998. He took over when Rick Topping was unable to serve due to business commitments. His term began by attending the International convention in Scotland with the previous president, Warren Willard, an enticement he couldn't refuse.

Ed reminisced about the good times and fond memories he had, as well as the promotion and continuation of the Dental Clinic and Golf Tournament started the previous year by Warren. Ed is our current treasurer and has served 4 years in that position.

Identity Theft

The speaker at today's meeting was Gus Searcy. His field is identity theft, the fastest growing crime today. He told us how easily we could be targeted, and what it could mean to our lives if we were. He offers a program to companies on how to protect themselves and their employees from this risk.

Our Past President speaker today was Warren Willard, a charter member, and President during 1996-1997. He was brought into the club by Dale Ford. It was a very busy year for him both personally and for the club. He spent a great deal of traveling that year on its behalf.

It was the first year for our Golf Tournament fund raiser. It was a great success, and continued to be our main source of supporting the club's various charities until this last year. During that same year the club began to hold its Smiles Dental Clinic. It was also the highest personal contributing club in our district to Rotary International.

The international convention that Year was in England/Scotland. It was the highlight of his term and he will always treasure it. He feels his dearest friends are those from Rotary.

District Conference

by Peggy Stalter

At the District 5320 Sunday brunch, our club joined in honoring our own member, Bret Gerdes, as the incoming District Governor.

In addition to enjoying the festivities, a well-prepared (and consumed) brunch and good fellowship, Diane Kessel Knight, from Rotary International, provided the keynote thoughts to the group.

While it is impossible to bring her spirited words to life in print, here are some of her more salient thoughts for Rotarians to celebrate, as well as ponder and digest:

To paraphrase Helen Keller, “A Rotarian is only one, but still is one. That person cannot do everything, but still can do something; and because he or she cannot do everything, will not refuse to do something.”

Right now Rotarians are achieving wonderful things, both locally and throughout the world. Examples abound in the District:

For our club, notable efforts include our support of the Reading by 9 project aimed at helping kindergarten through 3rd grade students read at grade level by the age of nine, the semi-annual Dental Clinic projects in Mexico, and the Stoves project to uplift living environments in developing countries.

Other clubs in the District distribute dictionaries to 5th and 6th graders to assist their education, bring books for the children of Project Amigo or send needed textbooks to the Sacred Heart Seminar in Uganda.

Globally, more than half of Rotary's 33,000 clubs are attempting to break the endless cycle of poverty and misery through alleviation of mass illiteracy in developing countries. Throughout the world Rotarians have participated in helping bring normalcy to devastated areas struck by natural disasters, and water projects abound to construct water distribution, storage and sanitation systems to millions in the needy areas of the world.

We continue to assist in distributing polio drops in places such as Caborca, Mexico, preventing blindness in India, providing wheel chairs in Korea and aid hospital workers to provide medicine and treatments to ailing poor populations.

As we go forward, our Rotary Foundation, working to fulfill its mission, Service Above Self, must do whatever every one of us can do – no matter whether small or large – to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation has been developing a Future Vision Plan to direct us into another century of work. We have an opportunity to be a pilot district. As we have worked successfully at polio eradication, we now have the support of the Gates Foundation to assist us in working with partners like WHO, UNICEF and Centers for Disease Control.

Every Rotarian has a reason to celebrate. These few examples help explain why Diane is a Rotarian and what she encouraged each of us to consider and become. If you didn't attend, you truly missed something meaningful.

The celebration gave our club a special reason to spread the benefits and opportunities of Rotary as Bret leads our District this next year. Let's give him a Standing-O as he goes forward!

Past President Mary Mar

Today's past President, Mary Mar, told us about her time as our club President and her years in Rotary. Like many others, she was brought into the club by Rick Topping. She was also one of our Charter Members. Mary was the sixth President and served as President from 1995-96. She was President the year the Rotary International convention was in France, which she said was a true honor to attend.

There were 30 members at that time. She assured us she was on time every week during the year she was President. (She does have a reputation of arriving just in time to add her contribution to the day's fining.)

Mary has also always been very involved at the District level and over the years has made many friends at both the District and International level. Next year she will be our District Treasurer.

One of her greatest interests has been the RYLA program for high school students. She also takes a large part in the planning and running of our District Conference and District Assembly. Due to the amount of work on the district she has more accrued make-ups than anyone in the club.

Our speaker today was Michael Tye, who spoke on the possibility of universal health insurance in the future and how it could affect each of us.

Ensenada Dental Clinic

by Austin Wall

Dr. Tozzer and I, along with Dr. Dave Levitt and his wife, and Drs. Stephanie and Peter Dolas drove down to Maneadero to the orphanage on Friday to finish up cases that were started several weeks before at our February clinic. We were helped out  by Dave Cerrie, Dave Wills, Cindy Levitt and John Carlson. We spent about six hours at the orphanage including set up and take down and provided a great deal of dentistry in that period. Ray Sanford and Barbara Foster from the Laguna Niguel Rotary Club came by about halfway through to cheer us on. We then stopped at the (justifiably) famous "Tacos el Poblano" taco stand for a late dinner, then back to the hotel and some sleep.

Up early, we headed for the school selected for us by the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia where we set up the clinic in the classrooms. The roof project for the school's new library was already underway. We were joined there by Rotarians Barbara Foster, Ray Sanford, Bob Yaap, Kummar, Marla Noel and Rick Topping, along with Bharati Kummar and Marla’s friend, Joe. 

Everyone pitched in and helped where they could and things went pretty smoothly except for a couple of the younger kids (ages 3 and 4) who made things tough for some of us. Joining us in the clinic were Tristan and Megan Galloway (USC Dental and PA student at Loma Linda) who worked together well and helped carry the load along with Fabiola, a dentist from the local Ensenada club. 

Ofelia and several other members of the Ensenada club helped with translation and keeping the kids (and parents) under control. Take down went very smoothly with everyone pitching in, making it as easy as it gets. We then went to dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant named Haliotsis where everyone seemed to have a good time. We were joined there by past RI Director Paco Creo and his wife Lupita who is a PDG, a real Rotary family.

The border crossings went smoothly both ways as the Mexican customs people liked our paperwork.

Dr. Tozzer and I thank everyone who participated in the clinic and hope it was a satisfying experience for all and hope to have more participation next time, later this year.

Laguna College of Art & Design

Sammy Macias and Patsee Ober, from the Laguna College of Art and Design, were our guest speakers. We learned this is a fully accredited private non-profit college located in Laguna Beach. It offers both BFA and MFA degrees in a variety of disciplines.

You may recognize the campus by the statues in front of the campus as you drive down Laguna Canyon Road. The school has 360 students, making for small class size (5 to 15) and the ability for personal attention for the students. The school teaches all forms of fine art, drawing, animation, game art, illustration and design, as well as watercolor, oil, painting, and various art forms. They seek to promote the development of an artist's talent and awareness.

The college encourages visitors to enjoy their student's talents, and offers both individual or scheduled group tours of the college. Call Patsee Ober at 949-230-3774 for more information about visiting the school.

Another former president, Toni Fenton, also spoke to us. She was the 5th president of ISR; only two years after women were able to participate in Rotary International. She served on our Board of Directors for 7 years. Here are some of the key things she shared for future leaders of the club:

• Enlighten everyone; keep members informed on what is happening, and what the club's needs are.
• Engage everyone and give all members a chance to participate. Sometime people just need to be asked; they are willing and happy to step up and be involved.
• Search out talent from people in the Club; be aware of the skills each member brings and how it can benefit the club.
• Talk to former leaders in the club; ask, as they are happy to share from their experiences.

By Peggy Stalter

U.S. Border Patrol

Jose Ortiz, of the Border Patrol, was our guest speaker. He has been with the Border Patrol for seven years, and shared a few of his experiences during this time. This was great timing in view of our upcoming trip with our Dental project to Ensenada.

We learned many interesting things. For example, by the end of 2008, the federal government had already completed 500 of the 670 miles of congressionally mandated fence between Mexico and the United States. The San Diego sector in which he works has increased their ranks to 2,300 agents. These new agents are part of the reason the Patrol has successfully increased the number of apprehensions of illegal crossings, and substantially increased the amount of seizures of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin coming across the boarder. Their current goal is to curb violent attacks, which recently escalated. With their increased fence infrastructure and dedication of personnel to this, he felt 2009 would lead to further successes in his sector.

In addition, Bob Yaap spoke about his years as president of our club. He was our third president. At that time we had only 35 members. He explained what a great learning experience it was for him and how very much he enjoyed it. He told how great the President Elect Training (PETS) program was and encouraged anyone who is interested to take up the challenge and enjoy an experience of reward; both working the membership and seeing the good that is accomplished in the community and larger world, because of it.

Ambassadorial Scholar

February18th was our President's Day meeting. We were honored to have Dale Ford (1993-94), Toni Kay Fenton (1994-95), Mary Mar (1995-1996), Warren Willard (1996-97), Ed Hardenburgh (1997-98),  Woody Jones (1999-2000), Rick Topping (2000-01), Kris Khurana (2002-03), Richard Milo (2003-04), Dr, Bob Larsen (2004-05),  John Alcorn (2005-06), and Ray Sanford (2006-07). That is 12 of the 18 Presidents since the club was formed. Most are still active in the club, but some are unable to be involved. It was a real treat to have them with us and to share many stories of fun times. The tradition continues. This week we are gaining a new member, Gregory Lambourne. He will be our 59th active member.

Our speaker was Drew Curiel, one of Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholars, who studied in South Africa and will be starting his new career as a foreign service officer with the State Deparment next week. Drew applied, and was accepted, to study in South Africa as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

His graduate work was to study the causes and effects of poverty. He spoke of his experiences in Africa and how he and a fellow student lived for 3 months on the average income of a poor person in Africa. He shared how the experience had changed his outlook on what you really needed in your life; the difference in 'wants' and 'needs'. These differ. In America, we want a cell phone, but also have land lines. In Africa, cell phones are needed since there is no telephone infrastructure.