Saturday, June 16, Mesa West Rotarians, with their spouses and friends enjoyed a rare, cool and comfortable June evening on the patio of Don and Chris LaBarge's home in Mesa.  Chef Mike Krueger, prepared delicious brisket and ribs for all to enjoy along with the appetizers and desserts provided by those who attended.

 

Following dinner, Chuck Flint started to MC the honoring of outgoing President Allan Cady and installation of 2018-19 President Chris Krueger, but was interrupted by Ima Snitch (aka Pam Cohen) of the Rotary Rumor Recorder, who wanted to litigate impeachment proceedings against President Allan.  After booing from the crowd, Judge Jones allowed her to present her case, which she did with an extensive slide show showing what she believed to be irrefutable evidence that Allan had operated under the name of his alias,  Allan Cady, along with his accomplice, also operating under an alias, Pollyanne Cady, but were actually Alonso Cadini and Polly Panache, who were using the alias names after being relocated with new names by the witness protection program.  Ima Snitch's slide show attempted to prove that Alonso and Polly had reverted to their old ways, gathering money from illegal sources, storing it in peanut butter jars and shipping it out of the country where they partied with other accomplices.

 

Attorney, Bert Millet, used the same photos with his defense of President Cady demonstrating what he felt was irrefutable evidence that President Allan and Pollyanne had acted in completely selfless ways throughout the year doing good in the community and internationally.  After the defense rested its case, Judge Jones asked those present to serve as the jury and vote "guilty," which would result in President Allan's impeachment or "not guilty." which would allow him to retire  and continue to serve the club with the honor of being our Immediate Past President Allan.  The not guilty vote was nearly unanimous with only Ima Snitch voting to impeach.

 

Following the trial, President Allan honored those who had served on his team during his Presidential year, giving each a Rotary 4-Way-Test Coin.  He also named those who had perfect attendance during his tenure:  John Benedict, Don Boucher, Allan Cady, Polly Cady, Pam Cohen, Dan Coons, Chuck Flint, Lucinda General, Chris Krueger, Don LaBarge, Jeanie Morgan, John Pennypacker, Jack Rosenberg, Jim Schmidt, Ray Smith, and Warren Williamson.  He handed out perfect attendance certificates those named who were present.  He surprised Jeanie Morgan, naming her Rotarian of the Year for her work in developing the Messenger electronic newsletter and promotion of the club through social media.  He also had help surprising Jeanie with a flag to hang in our meeting room honoring her service as District 5490 District Governor in 2009-10.  He also remarked that he had not realized until this event how well connected Don LaBarge was with our creator, but was impressed that Don apparently called in some favor to end the Arizona drought and lower the typical June temperatures so his guests could be comfortable for the changing of the guard.

President, Allan Cady opened the meeting by asking members to observe a moment of silence honoring those who lost their lives in the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion before Jack Rosenberg led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Ray Smith led those present in singing the minstrel song, "Camptown Races" to get members in the mood to enjoy the Belmont Stakes coming up on June 9.

 

Guests present at the meeting were Takuma, our inbound Youth Exchange Student from Japan, Carolyn Jones, Alex Hopkins (a soon-to-be Past District Governor from District 5030 in Washington, Andrew Martinez, and Dana, President-Elect from the Tempe Downtown Rotary Club.

 

Don LaBarge was almost a "triple-crown" winner at the meeting.  His badge number was drawn in the attendance drawing.  Next, the raffle ticket drawn was held by him, making him the winner of the record breaking $71 weekly pot.  He very meticulously shuffled the few cards remaining in the deck and carefully chose a card.  He apparently did not understand which card he needed to draw.  He drew the 8 of clubs rather than the Ace of Clubs, so the accumulating pot (now up to $1,651) will roll over to the June 21 meeting, when the odds of winning will be even greater.

 

Donna Goetzenberger paid happy dollars for the opportunity to enjoy the District Conference June 1-3.  Ted Williams paid happy dollars for a new grandbaby in their family - number 47.  Counting great grandchildren, there are now 57.

 

Jim Crutcher paid $100 happy dollars.  Berge ford won the Triple Crown with Ford.  In 2015, the dealership won the President's Award placing in the top 335 in Customer Satisfaction and won 1st place in their group.  In 2016, they won again.  In 2017, the rules changed.  The Berge employees were all committed to win it.  They had to be a Presidents Award Winner, be a Premier Parts and Service Winner and place in the top 100 in the nation in sales.  In July, they were falling short and only had three months remaining.  They had a good October.  In December, they sold 42 cars to employees or their family members.  On December 7, Craig Berge died.  Nancy and her daughters came to the rescue asking his loyal employees to "Do it for Craig!"  On December 20, they knew they qualified for the President's Award.  December 21, the dealership was closed so all could attend Craig's celebration of life where there was standing room only.  December 22 everyone went back to work with lots of dedication from family and employees.  They moved from 132 to 80th place in five months.  They won the triple crown.  In March, they had a big celebration with employees, spouses, kids, and vendors at Rawhide.  Nancy Berge went to Florida in May to celebrate the Triple Crown win.  Jim had sent a story about the inspiration and dedication of their staff.  The story was used to highlight the celebration at the Florida event.

 

John Pennypacker paid happy dollars as a proud son of Capt. Jack Pennypacker, a World War II Pilot who was in the lead echelon of bombers during D-Day.  In 2016, John visited the base in England where his dad was based.  Pam Cohen paid happy dollars for some extraordinarily good customer service at Berge Ford.  Polly Cady paid happy dollars for the outstanding group of Inbound, Outbound and prior Youth Exchange Students that were present at the District Conference.  Allan Cady paid $5 happy bucks because we met our donation goal for Interact DGE, Colton Cagle's upcoming Crutches for Africa trip, because the District Conference was great,  because Mesa West had twelve members in attendance at the conference. and for the District Achievement Award he received for our club while there.

 

Soon the second year of our sponsorship program will kick off.  

 

President Allan called for a vote in the President-Elect and Secretary positions.  voting on the ByLaws has been tabled for the time being because of something that came to light that may need to be corrected before the new governing documents are ready for club approval.

 

Announcements:

Don LaBarge had an award to present.  At International Conventions, typically a unique convention pin is sold to help support the costs of the convention.  In Houston, the pin looked like a Sheriff's pin.  At the 2007 Salt Lake City Convention, the International President asked a small team (of which Don LaBarge was a member) to seize some pins about which there was a dispute about registration and trademark.  Somehow, Don ended up with a few that were not destroyed.  He presented one of those pins to Takuma.