ISSUE NO. 2
JULY
14, 2000 OUR
79th YEAR
FRIDAY WE TRADE NEWS WITH VICKI
Every club in
Rotary gets an annual visit by its district governor.
Dates are scheduled to meet the governor’s convenience.
Our date this year is next Friday, July 14.
The encounter follows a pattern, but it’s more than a ritual.
It’s the one big opportunity for a governor to size up each club, and
vice versa. Whatever special plans
the governor cherishes for the district must be sold during the governor’s
talk during the club meeting, or will almost surely lapse into limbo.
Likewise if a club thinks the district should make some change in its
ways, this is the best chance to say so.
During the morning of July 14 our six officers, six additional directors,
and many of our 38 chairmen to committees gather with the governor.
Each stands and speaks ad lib for about 90 seconds, explaining his or her
goals and plans. Governors frown on memorized set speeches.
They want impromptu statements which can lead to question-and-answer
exchanges. If a club’s
representatives haven’t actually been doing much, or haven’t thought much
about future problems, a governor often sees through them during this morning
session. (Such hidden weaknesses
have rarely come to light during our club’s sessions with district governors,
it should be said.)
A visiting governor is always the featured speaker at the club meeting on
the day of the visit. As the only
representative of Rotary International whom the club is likely to encounter, the
governor usually tries to talk about any organizational problems on the horizon.
This year such problems are noticeable.
(See the condensed statement from the R.I. President elsewhere in this
bulletin, touching on “declining membership,” a
“threat of regionalism,” and “training for club and district
leaders.”)
Our district’s new governor (governess) is the famously energetic Dr.
Victoria “Vicki” Radel, just a few days into her year in office.
She holds a Ph.D. in stress management from UCLA, and is a consultant in
stress management for the Los Angeles Fire Department, Mexicana Airlines, two
cruise lines, two hospitals, and eight other sizable clients.
She joined Rotary in Redondo Beach in 1989, and served as club president
six years ago. She travels widely,
attending Rotary meetings wherever she goes.
She is often the only female at foreign club meetings. She has represented District 5280 in Tangiers, Bangkok,
Berlin, Barcelona, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Cape Town, and elsewhere.
Vicki is married to another Redondo Beach Rotarian, Dr. Steve Friedman.
They have two sons, one an Air Force major and the other an attorney in
San Francisco.
Jack Siegal and Con Oyler, two members of our club who have
been prominent in District 5280 doings, often tease Vicki about the time she
“led them astray” at a big Rotary gathering in Palm Springs.
Vickie, the great believer in prolonged exercise, took the trouble to lay
out a three-mile jogging course and to challenge Rotarians to run it.
This means, of course, that she would be running it herself.
When she did so, Jack and Con set out with her.
They found that they could not keep up, but did manage to keep her in
sight. What none of the trio knew
was that Vicki took a wrong turn off the route that she herself had mapped out.
This didn’t matter in her case, because a Rotary limousine soon found
her and picked her up, to get her to a meeting of governors.
This left Jack and Con without any guide.
By the time they found their way back to the starting point they had run
five miles instead of three.
COMING CLUB
MEETINGS
 |
July
2l
Ronnie Jayne, songstress and entertainer |
|
July
28
Dr. Larry Hornbacker, executive vice chancellor, Pepperdine
University |
|
August
4
Craft Talks |
|
August
11
Debate: Living Wage Proposals |
District Face
Challenge, Warns International Head
Our themes for this year and next year are asking for changes in
attitudes that will make Rotary stronger and more attractive to new members.
Both of them mandate action on the part of Rotarians, recognizing that
our organization can no longer remain rooted in outwork traditions.
Rotary faces challenges -- from declining membership to the divisive
threat of regionalism. Many
Rotarians have also expressed concern about the quality of leaders at the
district level. This issue must be addressed through better selection and
training.
The R.I. Board has made key decisions regarding the effectiveness of
clubs, the size of district, and training for club and district leaders.
These will help us meet future challenges.
Let us continue our efforts to strengthen Rotary and move forward to
Create Awareness and Take Action with Consistency, Credibility and Continuity.
Carlos Ravizza, President R.I. in June 200 The Rotarian Magazine
LOOKING BACK
“What’s
the heaviest fine ever assessed in our club?”
Jim Cayton privately asked President Bill Fritzsche, who
looked into it and determined that $1000 had been paid a few years earlier.
Jim,
who had been president in 1976-77, asked, “Can I beat that record?
I’d like to do something for the club.”
This was March 1983. He had
just sold his business, Louvredrape. It
was the world’s leading manufacturer of venetian blinds, which Jim had
invented and steered to success.
The
next Friday, at fine time, President Bill called on Jim, congratulated him on
the sale, and asked how many employees. The
answer: 375. “That will be
$375,” said Bill.
Jim
shot him a look of disappointment and sat down.
“Not
so fast,” Bill said. “How many
units did you ship last year?” The
answer: four hundred and fifty thousand. “At
a tenth of a cent apiece, they’ll be $450, make your fine $825.” Bill said.
Jim sat down again. Bill
pressed, “Stand up! How many
years were you in business?” Jim
said thirty years. “They’ll be
a dollar apiece,” Bill told him. “That
makes your total fine $1,125.” It
is said that two guests fainted.
Bill
Fritzsche, Club Historian
FRIDAYS ARE HIS TRAVAIL TIMES
(One
of a series on this year’s directors)
On almost any Friday noon, the uneasiest member of
our club is likely to be Paul Gaulke.
In his fifth year as a Rotarian, he is program chairman.
If a scheduled speaker doesn’t arrive, our trusty program chairman is
counted on to provide a substitute program immediately.
(Paul also endures occasional mid-week anxieties while waiting to learn
whether an undecided invitee will agree to appear.)
Nevertheless, Paul doesn’t fret visibly.
He keeps one or two members of our club in readiness to step up and
deliver 25 minutes of talk whenever asked.
Should they happen to be absent when a pinch-hitter is needed, the
program chairman might be expected to ad lib a speech himself.
Paul probably would remain unruffled.
As an attorney with eighteen years’ courtroom experience, he isn’t
likely to be stricken speechless.
Since Rotary doesn’t pay speakers, a program
chairman might expect difficulty in signing up star performs. But this year our members’ annual comment sheets
recommended more than fifty notables who might accept invitations. Paul has already scheduled about a third of them.
He has been with the same law firm (now LeBel &
Gaulke) since he emerged from Southwestern Law School in 1982.
At that time he wasn’t planning any job search.
Instead he looked forward to years pursuing an advanced degree or two.
“I was the student type,” he recalls. “But
my parents said, ‘No, you go to work and start paying off your student
loans.’ So I sent resumes to
thirteen law firms in this area. LeBel
called me immediately, and I never talked to anyone else.
He began handling minor cases for the firm, but a few
probate suits were among these. He
dealt felicitously with the, and soon was a probate specialist.
The work caught his imagination.
“An inheritance case is dramatic to clients,” he
says. “It’s part of the loss of a family member. Sometimes siblings disagree about a parent’s will.
I usually can show them that mediation or a settlement out of court will
save time and legal fees. I only
see a contested will go to court about once a year, on average.”
More frequent, he finds, are struggles over assets while the parent is still alive. As more people live into their nineties, some fall prey to ailments that can impair their judgment. Their children or even their grandchildren sometimes try to take charge. Dealing with custody battles can be harder than finding Rotary speakers.