ISSUE NO. 10
SEPTEMBER
15, 2000
OUR 79th YEAR
In 1985 a small group started an activity called “Heal the Bay”. In
later years many Santa Monicans waded in – not only helping with the yearly
half-day drives that cleaned our beaches, but also raising money and churning
out information year-round.
Heal the Bay kept growing. Now it has an office with 21 full-time
workers at 2701 Ocean Park Boulevard, and a $1.5 million budget. Its clean-up
day sweeps 22 beaches from Malibu to San Pedro. Two years ago 12,000 men,
women, and youngsters – a record – bagged more than a hundred thousand
pieces of trash, including 5,000 pounds of recyclable stuff.
Last year the organizers hoped for even more volunteers, but only 8,700
showed up. Why the drop-off? Because rain came down. Yes, here, on a September
morn. That was enough to keep thousands away. This autumn we’ve already had
rain, so the odds are against a recurrence on September 16th.
Organizers hope for 15,000 eager cleaners.
This time our Rotary Club has officially enlisted. Tim Shannon
and his Environmental Concerns Committee are overseeing our share.
The Club urges all members to gather their families, and rally by 9:00
a.m. at any of the public beaches in what we used to call Crescent Bay. You
can park for only $1.00 at the lots. When you arrive, check in with a
coordinator who’ll give you gloves and trash bags, as well as scorecards
because organizers need to tally how we do. For further information, phone
(310) 581-4188.
Heal the Bay is now part of a statewide Coastal Cleanup Day, which some enthusiasts call “the biggest volunteer day on the planet”. Let’s help make it emphatically so.
September
16 (Saturday) – Coastal Cleanup Day, 9 a.m. to noon (see page 1)
September
22 – Natural Healing
September
29 – Getty Museum
October
6 – Visit from Vince Lombardi (sort of)
October
13 – (Friday the 13th) Killer Bees, Fire Ants and Other Pests
November
7 (Tuesday) – Rotary Golf Tournament, Sterling Hills
Reintroducing Senior Actives Edward A. Moosbrugger and William C.
Bullock. Ed, a
member of our Club for a quarter-century, was financial editor of the Santa
Monica Evening Outlook until it closed in 1998, when he retired.
Bill was president of the San Pedro Rotary Club in 1956-57, and a Board member
of our club in 1965-66. His professional career was spent with Southern
California Gas Company, where he started as a night floor-sweeper in 1936 and
finished as division manager, supervising 400 employees.
From the beginning of our Club in 1922 until 1949 we never had vice-presidents.
The work was done by the Board of Directors including a president, secretary and
treasurer. During these years we had contested elections for president. This
often resulted in an unsuccessful candidate who became dispirited.
In 1949 at the suggestion of Frank Blenkhorn we began electing two
vice-presidents each year. This formed a pool of former vice-presidents from
which a president could be selected.
One of the strengths of our Club is that the past presidents stay active. Among
other things, they form our nomination committee. They select our
president-elect designee. I’ve been in a number of organizations and never
seen nor heard of a comparable method.
It seems to have worked well, except for 1982 when Herb Spurgin remarked that
the incumbent was the second best president the Club ever had ….. but there
was a fifty-nine-way tie for best.
Bill Fritzsche, Club Historian
In the article on George Collins, you indicated that five named scholarships were “funded long ago by early-day members”. All those scholarships were initiated, not by those members, but by the various Boards of Directors after their deaths, in their memories.
Richard J. Rice, M.D., P.P.
Suddenly a seat fell vacant on our Club’s Board of Directors. Dan Ehrler
couldn’t serve because he was shouldering additional responsibilities at the
Chamber of Commerce. Who would replace him?
Making a switch required more than a quiet word and handshake with some
experienced Rotarian. The vacancy arose in springtime, when incoming directors
faced their trickiest task: choosing and signing up chairmen of committees for
the Club year starting in July. Dan hadn’t had time to do this. So his
successor must quickly find willing pilots for five of the Club’s busiest
committees.
As part of the electoral process, incoming president John Lehne then tapped
Harris Levey for the pinch-hitting duty. Harris had served on a dozen different
committees during his 16 years in Rotary. His classification had mutated from
entertainment to real estate. In forty years of professional life he probably
hadn’t punched a clock nor sat at a desk for more than brief interludes, if
any. After UCLA he was a professional bowler. Then he caught on with Douglas
Aircraft as a stand-in for future astronauts, locked into a spacecraft for 24
hours at a time while it was tested. Between tests he had weeks of free time
which he put to use as a lounge singer and recording artist, then as writer for
upward-bound artists such as Steve Allen, Jackson Browne and a half-dozen
others. Next came years when he helped concoct television game shows, and
coached would-be contestants how to get on the shows.
Intermittently he browsed in newspapers, looking for bargains. His eye caught
ads that urged “Get a license! Become a real estate salesman!” He did just
that. He worked briefly with Vince Muselli, who was just starting, then opened
an office from which he has dickered for properties since 1976. What better
ad-libber and quick-changer could Rotary find?
As Board member, Harris boldly signed up first-year Rotarians to head three committees: Joyce Khoury for the committee that will arrange the annual Four-Way Test essay contest for eighth-graders in school, the public service recognition day for teachers and firemen and police officers, and the career day for Samohi students; Alonzo Hill for the “Rotary reads to kids” project, perhaps to be expanded to include readings for senior citizens at convalescent homes; and Aiko Brum for the luncheon during National Secretaries Week. In addition, he recruited David Bohn to promote host-hostess dinners, and Hank Walther for craft talks. Now, like other Board members, Harris is sitting back to watch the committee machinery hum along.