This Week...
AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLAR MILONI plus IDENTITY THEFT SHARE July 9th
GEORGE COX led the Pledge. JOHN WOODALL provided the Invocation – We thank you for the gift of life, for the gift of food, for the gift of fellowship May our lives be filled with purpose, may our words be kind, may our actions be just. AMEN. JOHN, I’m sorry I missed the very beginning, and thank you. Prexy ED had some elucidating insight into LENNY’s prior background, pointing out that he (Lenny, that is) had turned down a career with the Vienna Boys Choir since he knew his voice would change…Overcoming this intro, LENNY then took us through God Bless America, which we did good.
No Visiting Rotarians, but Jack Paul was a new visitor, who used to be a Rotarian. He wants to look us over, and we hope he will return. SUNNY was of course with LENNY, while two of our Honoraries, MARIE ROLF and PP BOB LUSK joined us again. The Head Table was occupied by Vice President ED JACKSON, MILONI GANDHI, and PP CHRIS BRADFORD, while the other table seated Presxy ED, STEVE PETTISE, and our Speaker, Gus Searcy
Prexy ED provided another history interlude, which are always worthwhile. John Adams and Tomas Jefferson both died on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Unaware that Jefferson died earlier that day, Adams last words were “Thomas Jefferson still lives”. And so he does. Without question, Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence. It was Abraham Lincoln himself who recognized the importance of its first two paragraphs when he wrote, “all honor to Jefferson – to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times” where it continues to stand as “a rebuke and a stumbling block, to the very harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression”.
I was pleased to ask PP SEAN MCMILLAN to come forward, to receive a notebook containing all the copies of the Windmill which appeared during his tenure. The District Breakfast will be held on July 14th, and we are holding ten spots. There are a couple of spaces left – check with Prexy ED to be sure you can attend, please .PDG ANDY ANDERSON next spoke about the upcoming Rotary Auxiliary Fun Party, which will be held on Saturday, August 8th, in the gardens of SHIRLEY and PETER MORE’S home in Westwood. It begins with a cocktail reception at 6pm, followed by the August Moon Festival, with a Chinese buffet and some talented Chinese dancers and musicians. Cost is $40 per person, and one third of the sixty total tickets have already been sold – so get your checks in to Margie Downie right away, to be sure you make the cut!
At this point an aura of mystery was introduced. A person in costume, topped by a helmet and with a mask over his eyes, holding a mean-looking two-foot sword, approached Prexy ED. Before he arrived, Prexy ED challenged PP ERIC LOBERG, of all opeople, to name the Monarch who was ruling when the oldest bodyguard in England was established. PP ERIC blasted out with George the 7th – and of course we all knew the right answer was Richard the 1st.
Since this occurred in 1189, it’s another tribute to the lack of history some of our members suffer with. Perhaps ERIC would have been helped if Prexy ED had given him the name of the Body – the Sergeant of Arms! This cost poor PP ERIC twenty five clams, but payable in dollars – the good news being that with this donation he received some sort of Shadow Box, which no doubt he will find to be most useful. Anyway, all this led to the following exchange between the mystery man and Prexy ED. “Your name, please?” “TOM LENEHEN”. “What in your background prepares you for being Sergeant of Arms?” “Past President of the order of Viking former hangers-on who were stationed in Ireland” Pause. “And SEAN, I’ve looked carefully, and have found none of your relatives!” “What is your position on taking prisoners?” “It will be frequent, and only as a last resort”. “What is your modus operandi?” “Hamlet, This above all, to thine own self be true”. Based on the obvious evidence, this appointment was roundly applauded
And YOE, temporarily abandoning his otherwise usual impartiality, can only add, Good Choice!
It was birthday time, and those who elected July were feted. Prexy ED and HENRY HEUER started things off on the 4th, ED in Long Island City and HENRY in nearby Yonkers. RICK CULLEN liked LA on the 8th, while Clawson Bleak preferred the 10th in St. George, Utah.
PEGGY BLOOMFIELD brought us back to California, in Ocenside on the 12th - the date she shares with HENRY TSENG, who claims Yokahama — but he is ahead of the game, since this is his 102nd! GORDON FELL got us back to LA, on the 18th, which Dr YOSH SETOGUCHI liked the next day, but still in LA. This brought up DAVID FRIEDMAN, who liked the 22nd, in Santa Monica. The next day, the 23rd, ALY SHOJI came along in Hawthorne, while TOM BARRON was just two days later, the 25th, in Pasadena. SALLY PHILLIPS took us all the way to Cooperstown in N.D. on the 29th, and TERRY M. WHITE returned us to good old Santa Monica on the very last day, the 31st. All were of course properely serenaded.
Now may be the time to report on the successful completion of the Yearling Book Drive. We have collected well over one thousand excellent books, which have been sent to the source who will resell them. We receive 30% of what is collected, plus we are turning over to the Westwood Library a large number of useable books which they can resell. But the real story is how many members and friends stood up and were counted as contributors. MARCIA and RICK BROUS led the charge – they are demons! Others who helped include Bobbie at Westwood Hills Christian Church, of course MARK KRAUSE, and the other Ministers who stored books – SUSAN KLEIN, JOHN WOODALL, Rabbi BOBBI SHARON BROUS, MARSHA HUNT, ED GAULD, DEBBIE SCHERER, CARMEN LAMBERT, ED JACKSON, DWIGHT HEIKKILA, YOE, LEAH VRIESMAN, SCOTT FITCH, JOHN HEIDT, MADISON GORITSAN, LEE DUNAYER – and I hope we listed everyone! It was a job truly Well Done!
Our Program Chair for Prexy ED’s entire year is STEVE PETTISE. He introduced our Speaker, Gus Searcy. Gus has a most varied background, having been declared an adult at age 16 since his parents realized that he knew what he was doing in the Stock Market, and he needed to be identified as an adult to Trade on the telephone. At age 26 he became an Associate at the Magic Castle, of which our own DAN PRICE is also a member. Ten years ago he was the victim of identity theft, and it cost him $25,000! So he now spends his time talking to companies to explain the new laws that now apply. It’s no surprise that he’s a fast talker!
Gus began by asking if anyone in the audience knew anyone who had been the victim of identity theft. A few hands went us, and he commented that most of us were lucky. His figures show that Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the world, overtaking drugs. There are a great many areas where it can occur – car ownership, credit cards, banking, drivers licenses, medical records – the list goes on.
The banking industry has lost a lot of money because of prior laws, and they now have some new ones on the books. One is that your company must have a designated person who is the Information Security Officer. Also, the terms and conditions of your new insurance specifically state they do not cover economic injury of employees. That means there is no company protection of employees.
Several times in his presentation he mentioned that they can cover these problems at no cost to your company. Since there was no question and answer period, I guess you can assume they have companies who take on these issues on a cost-plus basis. He says they can provide your employees an ID Theft Protection service that offers legal access, monitoring, and restoration.
His company is T.B.S. Marketing, (714) 767-2976, mastervoice@mail.com.
