1. MONTE CARLO NIGHT UPDATE. A sign up sheet will be circulated at the meeting next week, and Mike Ojeda will have tickets available. Mike Real said that the food will be catered by The Derby and Cafe Opera. The event will be held on March 17, from 6 to 10 PM, at the Community Center.
2. ROTARY WHEELS OF LANCASTER:  Lancaster West Rotary is hosting  an opportunity to drive the hot cars o f your dreams – drifting, carting, etc. Food , and fun for all. Sun April 7, 2012 from 9:00 AM to  7:00 PM.
3. Board of Directors meeting at the Methodist Hospital Tue. Feb. 21, 2012.
4. Planning Commission Meeting re: the Santa Anita Race Track.  Also honoring Don Penman, the long time manager of the city of Arcadia, who is retiring. Thur. Feb. 23, 2012, 9:00 AM – 12 noon.
5. OKLAHOMA! Mimi exuberantly reminded us of the upcoming performance  at   the Arcadia High School Theatre, March 22-31,2012.  Tickets are on sale  at the school’s web site.
6.  Mimi once again encouraged us, in her gentle manner to sign up to give the invocation, flag salute, introductions  or to be a greeter ( good way to get to know the members).  Don’t want to sign up, no problem – Mimi will sign you up!

Jim Rider proudly announced that his son, Eric, has joined the Rotary Club of East Portland, Oregon.  At Eric’s recommendation, Jim was recognized for $50.

A second grandson has joined Matt Weaver’s family and Matt was happy to be recognized for the traditional $100 grandchild fine.

Bob Novell, a graduate of Claremont Men’s College, now Claremont McKenna College, had to face the music for recent controversy surrounding his alma mater, to the tune of $50.

For her enthusiasm in promoting the Arcadia High School production of “Oklahoma,” as well as a recent trip to Egypt, Mimi Hennessy was recognized for $30.  Another educator went on vacation as Joel Shawn was recognized for $25 for his recent safaru to Africa.

Frank Griffith provided the Finemaster with a photograph purported to be connected to David Hu in some fashion.  David did not recognize the building, apparently in Japan, so he was fined $50.  Frank was fined $40 for the unconnected photo.

President Brad Miller was recognized, with no fine attached, for a newspaper photo touting Arcadia Rotary’s work at Camp Trask.

Jay Harvill was fined $20 for not recognizing a photo of a person … we never found out who the person was.  Then Matt Weaver was fined an additional $5 for a photo of a house that Finemaster Brian was suggesting for him.

Tom Crosby’s wife was mentioned in the paper as joining the Shakespeare Club, resulting in a recognition for Tom of $30.  Tom added that his daughter had also joined the club, increasing the recognition to $45.

Member classifications resulted in the final two fines of the day:  Roger Grant was fined $40 for his classification of “Wealth Management” on the grounds that he must have money available.  Then Art Killian was called upon to explain his classification of “Screw Machines,” which earned him a fine of $25.

Jon Richards was born in Pasadena and attended Arcadia High School. He is happy to be back in Arcadia, working on land reclamation.
Jon attended BYU and after graduation started in the construction business. After that he started the Jon Richards Company and retired in 1995. That didn’t last long. He then was involved in the United Hardwoods Company, a company which did flooring.
While in Barcelona with his wife Maria, he came up with an idea about women’s undergarments and how to make them invisible to the casual observer.
A year ago he returned to Arcadia and started to work for Arcadia Reclamation Company. He resigned in December, but continues to work for it as a Special Projects Consultant. Currently, they are working on filling an 87 acre site in Arcadia near El Monte. This was a sand and gravel pit and it is gradually being filled 12 inches at a time. As a part of the project, the company is required to secure the abutments and slopes adjacent to Lower Azusa Road. Critical to the work is the compaction rate, because ultimately this site can be used for building construction of offices, plants or housing. There are over 700 truckloads of material than are dumped on site daily, however the project is only half complete before the pit is filled and stabilized.
The Jon Richards Company is still in business fabricating structures for theme parks, such as California Adventure and Knotts Berry Farm. The fabrication process utilizes drawings prepared by the company, materials such as plastics, foam products, and acrylics, and the assembly of the materials into various works. The work is very creative, involving fabricated structures such as the Universal Studios Globe, the world’s largest Hour Glass and signs for Tejon Ranch. Many of the works created by the company are used in TV commercials.
Jon’s family includes Maria and three children. He loves Arcadia

This annual speech contest starts at the Club Level.  The winner of the Club Level proceeds to the Group Level.  The winner of the Group Level will then proceed to one of the 4 Regional Contests.  The 4 Regional winners compete at the District Conference in June.  The winner of this last contest could win $5000, and the runners-up could win $1000 each.

Our contestants are all from Arcadia High School.  One was a senior and the other three were sophmores.  Ralph Orr who was the Rotarian Host and Emcee past the hat and each drew their position of giving their talk.  The length of the speech must be no less 6 minutes and not longer than 8 minutes.  The judges are in the audience.

Each student was to base their talk on the Rotary International theme “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity” and each speech was  to reflect the Four-Way Test.  The Four-Way test is as follows:

First……Is it the TRUTH?

Second..Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Third     Will it build GOODWILL AND BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

Fourth    Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Student #1 was the senior.  He basically brought to the forefront as how you would greet people and make the person your whole attention.  Look the person in the eyes and shake their hand.  We as people, he continued do not take time to discover the history of the people around us.  Do not act superior and realize that we are not always the best.  He continued his talk and brought in the four-way test and concluded that this is how you become a good friend.

Our 2nd speaker started his speech by using scripture “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  Humanity, and what is it really?    It can be the action to protect one another.  There is effort in all that you do in a world full of violence.  You must feel good about yourself and to feel empathy for shattered lives.

Speaker #3 was the only girl.  Her talk was to promote that we are not alone.  We are here together.  When you are embracing someone, you are also embracing yourself.  It all begins with you.  We build a foundation for a better world,  Take time for family.  The world can be a happier place.  We can be so much better. We can all benefit from loving one another.

Speaker #4 told about driver in China.  He drove over a child.  No one came to help.  The driver in his attempt to leave, drove over the child again.  The child died one week later in ICU.  There is a struggle for survival.  We must reach within ourselves to embrace life.  Helping in the community is one way to make change in time of chaos.  Help an individual.  “I can make a difference in this world!”.

The above is only an essence of each speech.  They were all well presented and each brought in their speech the Four-Way Test.

The judges left the room to decide who won the speech contest.  It was during this time that we found out the personal side of each student.

Our first speaker, Amit Akula, was the senior and is very active at school in many organizations.  He is Varsity Captain, belongs to the Inter-act club.  He is also an Eagle Scout and has applied to all colleges.  He is interested in business law/medicine.

Our second speaker, Allison Chang, is in speech and debate classes.  She is a biology student, church youth leader.  She plans to go through the UC college system and is interested in studying law.

#3 contestant, Andrew Dang, has high interests in computer sciences, Ipod, hands on electronics.  His choice of college is MIT “or bust”.  But he would consider UCLA or Cal Tech.

#4 speaker, Rohn Ananl, loves Karate, biology, history.  His past time is video games.   He is interested in radiology and John Hopkins is a future choice.

The judges returned and the winner, a hard pick, was Rohn Ananl and he received a cash prize and will go on to the next level.

The teacher for this class is Ashley Novak and she was present during the whole contest.  She graduated from San Diego State and has been a teacher since 1999.

This was a great program and to see the diversity of the students, but all aim to be good caretakers of tomorrow.

Phyllis Corliss

A few points that Sebastian had touched on in his speech was how in 2009-2011 Political Power of social media was recognized. He showed us an example by showing us the cover of Time Magazine and on the cover for 2010 was a computer monitor and in the middle on the screen it said “ You “ . Shortly after in 2011 Time Magazine had a statement on the cover named “ The Protester” and below that in smaller writing it said “ From the Arab Spring to Athens from Occupy Wall Street to Moscow” . Social Media was everywhere and still is today.

One of the most important topics that Sebastian had talked about was the “ Arab Spring”. You could just tell by his body language and how serious he took this matter that he really wanted to explain it well, and to make sure that we understood what is really going on over in the Middle East.

Sebastian filled us in that an awakening of a New Beginning has begun in the Middle East. History has proven to the World that when people are oppressed or a tyrant belittles its own citizens, the people will unite and speak out with immense courage to stand up against those who deny them of simple life giving liberties. December 18, 2010; this date will have a chapter in our history books but more importantly this date brings the foundation of new beginnings and a new way of life for the Middle East. The “ Arab Spring” also known as the “ Arab Awakening” has taken a domino effect in the Middle East. Countries after countries have fallen to the protesters who demand change in their government. Tunisia is located in North Africa between Algeria and Libya, this country was the first nation where its people demanded that President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali be thrown out of power due to food inflation, high unemployment, freedom of speech, poor living conditions and other forms of political freedom. On January 14^th 2010 the Tunisian people succeeded in overthrowing their leader. When people from other countries such as: Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Saudi Arabia, witness such a powerful win for the working people, they soon carried out their own fundamental ideas and protested against their own oppressed governments. These uprisings let to the ouster or deaths of some leaders of these countries. The people of Egypt Succeeded in overthrowing President Hosni Mubarak who had reigned over Egypt since 1981. Soon after Libya began its civil war and eventually their leader Muannar Ghaddafi resigned on February 11^th 2011. even though the media does not cover this story as much in today’s news papers or on television, the “ Arab Spring” is still a fight and a struggle for many people in the Middle East who will triumph in their beliefs.

Thank you so much Sebastian for coming and speaking to our Rotary Club about such important matters that are going on in our world today that we should know about but not always get the chance to really hear about the truth. Like Sebastian had said we have learned a lot from the Arab Resolution and we must press on and look into the future.

{Nikki Adams}

• 1)     2012 Monte Carlo Night Fundraiser, March 17, from 6 to 10 PM, at the Community Center: Mike Real encouraged us to bring guests to this event that is taking the place of the Pot-O-Gold. It is our only fundraiser and will provide the funds necessary to support our club’s many endeavors. Frank Hall announced that we have 11 plus  gaming table sponsors and need some more. If interested, please contact Frank.
• 2)  Day at the Races, Feb. 3: Don Milefchik has a few tickets left, so if you haven’t signed up, please contact Don. We will be dark at the Ramada.
• 3)  Community Garden Project: If you are interested in working on this project, contact Matt Weaver. The garden will benefit the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.
• 4)  Long time member, John Tyler, is recovering from a hip injury, suffered after his brain surgery.  We wish him well and a quick recovery.
• 5)  Networking meeting with the Chamber of Commerce Feb. 16, 2012.  More to come later.
• 6)  Music Man: Mar.24-25, San Gabriel Civic.  Tom Crosby will be showing his talents in multiple roles.
• 7)  Outbound GSE team – Reception. University Club Feb. 4 (?), 10:00AM to Noon.
• 8)  Mimi reminded us  re: Salad alternatives  for lunch.  Order on the clipboard available at meetings. You can designate salads on a regular basis, or one at a time order. Further, there are several types of salad to choose from. But you must designate ahead of time on the clipboard.
• 9)  Board of Directors training: Feb. 17, 2012, Ontario.  Check with Eric Barter.