Rotary Club of Santa Monica

 

Prior Meetings 

July - August 2002

 

Russ Parsons August, 22 2002

 The smiling face on Our own Hotel man Klaus Mennekes and Russ Parsons  - Food Editor for the LA Times gives you an idea of how much fun Russ's presentation was.
     Russ gave several examples  about what makes food do what it does. Did you know that tomatoes should not be stored in the refrigerator? Did you know to always use a sharp knife when cutting onions? Did you know that cutting your steak while it is being cooked is not the way to tell if it is done? 
     For more information look at Russ's best selling book "How To Read A French Fry". 
     Thank you Russ, by the sounds of the applause after your presentation, you are awarded 5 Rotary Stars!         

 

 

 Jim Hodgson - Former  US Secretary of Labor was our speaker on August 16, 2002 

Jim is shown talking to Clyde Smith on the left and VP Dave Rimer on the right. Jim told us many interesting  stories about his career as US Secretary of Labor and US Ambassador to Japan. He said he never regrets his career as a public servant, he has learned a little about "what makes the world tick". Our roving photographers caught a picture of  new member David Pisarra's smiling face.
   David is a young Santa Monica attorney who specializes in business and estate planning. A hobby he has is to help small business owners develop and grow their businesses. David is certified in scuba and is currently training in rescue.
     David welcome to our club! 		 Now I know why we haven't seen Gene Shank in a while. He's been vacationing in Europe.
     President Bill Crookston recognized Gene for his travels and asked him about pictures of Gene standing in front of Rotary Club signs in England. 

 

Pepperdine Basketball coach Paul Westphal  was our speaker on 
August 9, 2002.
He came to our meeting directly from the funeral for Chick Hearn, which fortunately took place nearby on Sunset Boulevard. He told us about the well deserved tributes that Hearn received from all the notables who were at the funeral, and he then spoke about basketball in general, and Pepperdine's program in particular. After beating UCLA, USC and Loyola-Marymount on their home courts last year, Pepperdine was entitled to claim that they "owned LA". Now Coach Westphal says that he isn't able to get UCLA and USC on the Pepperdine schedule. He is hoping for another good year for the Waves in the upcoming 2002-2003 season.

 

Craft Talkers Joey Perlmutter and Ann Greenspun were our speakers for lunch on 8/02/02

Joey is Executive Director of Development at Santa Monica Hospital. She loves to play guitar and  loves her many  cats. She is a native Californian who has never seen the snow. Joey told us an emotional story about the untimely  passing of her first husband and how she has found love again with her new husband who's name also happens to be Joey. She has volunteered to be our Rota-Monica Editor.
  Joey, it is great to have you as a new member of our Club!

 Pictured above are two of Santa Monica's finest bankers, Dick Lawrence and "Craft Talker" Ann Greenspun. Ann who also is a nurse told us some interesting stories about a couple of her favorite patients Bobby Darin, and Vince Lombardi.
   Ann has been married for 30 years, has 3 daughters and coaches her daughter's basketball team. 
   Ann is very energetic and has a great sense of humor.
   We are all looking for great things from her!		 "Mr. Vacation" Jim Cayton was declared the 2nd annual Con Oyler Wild Shirt Contest Winner. Unofficial judges (your Web Master) declared Chris Baker the 2nd place winner for his Cherokee Indian dancing shirt.

 

Former Los Angeles D.A. Gil Garcetti was our speaker for July 26, 2002

Gil an avid photographer showed us some of his pictures of the World Trade Center after "9/11" Gil explained to Vince Muselli that besides prosecuting criminals it is just as important to devise ways of preventing  crime from happening in the first place.

 

 Jack Riley, expert on gun violence, was our speaker for Lunch on
 July 19, 2002

Jack was congratulated by our brand new president Bill Crookston. Jack told us that the majority of gang violence is not caused by drug deals gone bad, but by fights over "turf".  

By the way Bill is starting to look very "Presidential".

 You are looking at our newest "Rota-Monica" editor Joey Perlmutter. Joey is also one of our new members who gives us her Craft Talk on August 2 . Congratulations Joey, I can't wait to start reading our new newsletters!

Stay tuned, as always all of our Rota-Monica editions will also be posted here in the "Club Newsletter" section.

 

Bill Crookston opened up his first meeting on July 12, 2002, only to be greeted by his Board of Directors who had all "shaved" their heads for the occasion. Bill was surprised, but commented how good he thought they looked. Our guest speaker was best selling author Joel Kotkin.   

Joel is shown next to one of our new members Kris Andresen . He talked to us about his ideas for changing the governance of Los Angeles from the current downtown centralized approach to dividing up the power to several small localized  districts. 
In one of his last official acts as District Governor, Len Wasserstein presented us "The Presidential Citation" from Rotary International President Rick King.

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