President Jim Schmidt called the meeting to order asking Bert Millett to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and Geoff White to offer the Invocation.
 
Don LaBarge made an announcement about Salvation Army Bell Ringing.  The first shifts he needs to fill are on Friday, November 29.  The season is a little shorter this year because of Thanksgiving falling so late in the month of November.  He had a sign-up sheet to pass around at the meeting and said he would be sending an e-mail to all members following the meeting.  The expectation is that each member will take three 2-hour shifts during the bell-ringing season.  He will also use Boy Scouts and members from the Westwood High School Interact Club.
 
Guests
Don also introduced Major Scott with the Salvation Army.    Major Scott is a former Rotarian with The Bremington Washington Rotary Club.  He indicated that he arrived in Mesa in June and with the rainy weather being experienced in the community the day Don invited him to visit Mesa West, he said he finally likes the weather in Mesa.  He has served 27 years with Salvation Army.  While he is subject to transfer at any time, he sees no reason that Mesa will not be his final post and that he is likely to retire here.  Darl Anderson introduced Larry Kasperbauer, a visiting Rotarian who has had perfect attendance since 1972.  He is a Rotarian from Barrigade, Guam and wanted to do a make-up meeting while visiting Mesa.  He tried to attend the Mesa Club on Wednesday, but they were dark, so the Mesa West Club won the privilege of making his acquaintance.
 
 
Drawings
Chuck Flint explained that the last microphone disappeared, and that new microphones are no longer compatible with the club's old sound system, so the club was initiating a new system and new microphone at the November 21 meeting.  Chuck explained the raffle.  Tickets are sold for $5 each.  1/3 of the receipts goes into the weekly raffle winnings, 1/3 goes to the club, and 1/3 goes into the accumulating prize, which will be won when a weekly winner is also lucky enough to draw the ace of clubs (which we believe we are) from a deck of cards.  Chuck said that large accumulating prize was up to $721.  If the joker is drawn, the winning ticket holder will win an additional $20, and the joker returned to the deck.  If any other card is drawn it will be destroyed,  Lolita Weisner was the holder of the ticket drawn, but when she drew from the deck, she pulled the ten of diamonds. Ron Thompson's badge number was drawn making him the $5 winner in the weekly attendance drawing.  He was happy that "it pays to attend Rotary."
 
Happy Bucks
Ron Thompson served as Sgt at Arms.  He began by contributing his $5 attendance drawing winnings back to the club, happy to have such a wonderful, beautiful wife, and he felt very lucky to have her.  Carolyn Jones' hip replacement surgery was successful, and she is now recuperating.  Lolita Weisner reported this would be her last meeting with Mesa West.  Her husband, Hans, injured his knee and they were going to have to go home to Canada for medical care.  She said: "We have 4 months of travel coming up. A 30-day cruise in January, 2 months in Portugal, plus a few shorter trips in April. I'm not sure if Hans will be able to accompany me."  Erwin Reimann contributed $58 to celebrate his and Joan's 58th anniversary.  They have both had some serious health issues and they are very appreciative of the good medical care they have received here as well as the support they've enjoyed from their family.  Dick Myren contributed a $1 each for being happy to be a part of Mesa West Rotary.  Warren Williamson contributed apologizing that he would have to leave the meeting early.  John Pennypacker reported he'd had so much rain at this house that his pool was about to overflow.  Polly Cady said she would have to be billed for her sad bucks.  She arrived at the meeting in the rain with no money and no umbrella.  She also said that Judge Tommy Webb has a new book out that is available on Amazon.  Ray Smith was thankful for his tortillas from Guaymas.  Shelly Romine's parents recently celebrated their 59th anniversary.  After returning to Alaska Penny May fell on black ice and injured her wrist.  Dan Coons contributed because he felt bad that the club's microphone disappeared on his watch.  Bob Zarling had banners for President Jim from two different clubs in South Africa.  Chuck Flint attended the Westwood High School Interact Meeting.  32 members were in attendance.  He delivered 51 shirts to their club and he brought two thank-you notes signed by the interact club members which he circulated for Mesa West members to see.  Ron thanked members for their generosity, stating it had been a very productive day.
 
Club Presidential Humor
Rather than getting an immediate groan by announcing he would tell another accounting joke, President Jim said he would share an attorney joke: 

A young couple was on their way to get married when they were involved in a fatal car accident.

They soon found themselves standing in front of the pearly gates of heaven staring at St. Peter himself. Upset, but wanting to make the best of a bad situation, the woman asks St. Peter if they can get married in Heaven, since they couldn’t before they died.

“Wow,” he said, “that’s the first time in all of eternity anyone has ever asked me that. I’ll go check!”

So, for what seemed like an eternity, St. Peter was gone. Innumerable amounts of people were backing up the line at the gates of heaven. He was gone for so long; the young couple began having doubts as to whether they really wanted to be with each other for all of eternity.  Just when they were about to give up hope, St. Peter finally returned. “Good news! Looks like we can make this happen!”
 

“Great!” replied the young man, “but before we go through with it, we were wondering… what if it doesn’t work out? Can we get a divorce in heaven?”

“Good grief!” gasped St. Peter. “It took me four months to find a priest up here, do you have any idea how long it will take to find a lawyer?”

 
Induction of New Member
Polly Cady spoke briefly about our new member mentoring program before inviting Shelly Romine to come forward to be inducted by Lucinda General who will be Shelly's mentor.  Since Shelly is a transferring Rotarian from Idaho, Lucinda interviewed her so members could learn about highlights from her previous Rotary experience.  Shelly first joined the Post Falls club and was a member there for eleven years.  They had 30-35 members.  She later transferred to the Coeur d'Alene club, which was established in the early 20's.  They had approximately 200 members.  It was a very active club with lots of members - many of whom travelled to Arizona to spend the winter months.  When asked what she liked best, she reported she enjoyed being President in 2012.  She enjoyed lots of support from her fellow-members.   She helped apply for a grant from The Rotary Foundation for a Community Garden in Post Falls, but it was declined because some of the funds requested would be used to construct a building to be used for gardening education.  She later wrote and received a TRF grant for a bike rack project.  When asked about the worst job she'd ever had, she spent one summer working in retail in a major department store.  She was assigned to a different department every day and never did feel like she knew what she was doing.  At Horizon Community Bank, she is a commercial loan officer.  She loves it because no two deals are ever the same.  When asked how she met her husband, Scott, Shelly said he was a bartender where she waited tables.  She was dating someone else at the time.  She tried to fix Scott up with her sister, but - thankfully - that plan didn't work, and they've enjoyed a wonderful marriage.  Last October they took their adult son to Spain for two weeks and had a wonderful time.  Shelly was given a Certificate of Membership, club information, her name badge and a new Rotary pin with a magnet.  Shelly received a standing ovation as members welcomed her into the club.
 
Announcement

President Jim reminded members that we still have a long way to go to get to 100% of our members signed up for contributing to The Rotary Foundation through Rotary Direct.  When we get to 100%, we will receive $2000 in grant funds from our District.  CLICK HERE to download a form to enroll in Rotary Direct.  CLICK HERE for a list of commonly asked questions.

 

President Jim introduced Mesa West Member Lola McClane to present the program.  Lola said "Parental discretion is advised when she describes her life as a court reporter.  She was a court reporter for thirty-three years.  She served in county and Federal courts in both civil and criminal cases as well as recording depositions.  She confessed to having a very dark sense of humor because she was exposed to some pretty dark situations on a regular basis and it was easier to cope with what she was hearing if she could see the humor in her work life.  
 
Lola said a high point in her career was when she was filling in in Federal court.  It was not a trial but the swearing in of new United States citizens.  She said there were tears, lots of hugs, and it was very touching to be present in such a special moment in each of their lives.
 
Lola first started her career as a court reporter with three other people.  They subbed in court and took depositions.  She remembered one man who was sitting a chair with wings on it.  He had a hand on each wing and spent his time in the chair flexing his muscles.  She recalled one case in a domestic relations court (which is now called family law court).  Sometimes Lola's allergies would cause her eyes to water.  One person who was telling their sad tale leading up to their divorce case thought Lola was sympathetic.  One case in county court was about a woman's son and daughter-in-law who had brought suit against a funeral home.  At the open-casket funeral, it was obvious the person in the casket was a stranger but dressed in  the mother's dress, which was very ill-fitting.  She never did know how that one came out as it ended up being settled out of court.
 
In 1989, Lola moved to London England and worked in Central Criminal Court.  They were still using pen and paper there and they wanted their reporters to become computer compatible.  The protocol was very different, and not explained to Lola in advance.  She created some trial-stopping moments when she would ask for someone to repeat or clarify what she had heard.  She eventually learned that if she had a question, she had to tell the "coordinator" who told the judge who then told the witness to repeat what had been inaudible.
 
One case that stood out while in England was when Guinness from Guinness Beer was found guilty of cooking the books.  Lola felt sorry for the younger guy on trial.  He was about 40.  When the judge was reading his punishment, the young man's legs gave out.  He fell an hit his head on a table and knocked himself out.  Mr. Guinness died of cancer while in jail.  She and her husband enjoyed their time in England.  They don't work there as much as we do in the US.  She said there were lots of 4-day weekends.
 
Later, she had an opportunity to work for a couple of years in Trinidad and Tabago. She said there were no memorable trials there, but remembers lots of laughter, fun parties and having a good time.  
 
In a trial in state criminal court, she remembered a big, tough guy who had shaken a baby to death.  When it was time for his sentencing to be read, there were undercover cops in the galley in case things would get ugly.  When he heard the work guilty, he sat down, crossed his arms on the table, put his head on his arms and cried like a baby.
 
Lola's most memorable case is one the reader will have to ask her about for themselves.  Some things are so ugly that editorial discretion prevents putting them in print.  Lola warned us...
 
After Lola retired in 2005, she and her husband took care of an equestrian park in Kansas.  They spent lots of time outdoors and she enjoyed watching the birds that visited the various bird feeders.  One day while watching the birds, she wondered if a bird was ever born that was afraid of heights.   She pondered that thought enough that she wrote an published a book about such a bird.  She gave five autographed copies of her book to the club.
 
Announcements
  • There will be no Rotary meeting on Thanksgiving
  • The December 5 speaker will be Dr. James Blessman from South Africa.  Our Assistant Governor, Lee Holmes, will also be at the meeting 
  • The auction for the three-day stay at Tim and Angie Troy's new vacation rental in Cornville will also be a December 5 highlight.