The Rotary Club of Dubuque, Iowa

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*Entire Meeting*	*Speaker Only*

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February 7, 2006 Jim Normandin (here with Mary Rae Bragg), is the Executive Publisher of the Dubuque Telegraph Herald. According to Jim, the future holds some significant changes in how news and advertising will be conveyed under the TH brand. Nationally, newspaper readership is in decline, and there are a host of circumstances behind this. Lack of a youth market, our dependence on more immediate forms of information, the Web, and television. However, newspapers' strengths of in-depth reporting, an incredible historical archive, and credibility can be leveraged, believes Normandin, and independent newspapers, such as the Telegraph Herald, could very well lead the way. Click on the photo for a printable enlargement.

Dave Hockenberry was our Fun & Frolic Hostmeister this week, and he probably raised several dollars just off of Jim Schilling. It all goes to our Rotary Club College Scholarship Program. Since it's tax season, are fines tax deductible? Perhaps next time, Schilling should ask for a receipt.

Dave Rusk brought his new pastor in charge of his spiritual salvation, Tom Young, Westminster Presbyterian Church. He's got his work cut out for him.

Bob Woodward's guest this week was John Berg.

As a footnote to this extraordinary meeting, we present the honorable Mike Seyer. There is a raging controversy in the club that business cards dropped into the weekly raffle often get ignored in favor of the pieces of paper some members fold up like mad origami artists in hopes their entries will somehow leap into the hand of the person drawing the winning names. Mike just wanted to prove that business cards actually do work.

Dr. Shafer brings everyone up to speed on the book drive for our troops in Afghanistan. The article about this program is at the top of the left column.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

This is the entire meeting including the speaker's program. If you're a Windows user, it will launch automatically in your browser.This file is about 45 minutes long.	Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. This is the featured speaker alone (about 20 minutes).

January 24, 2006 left of Brent Johns is Roland Imes of the Galena Rotary Club who spoke on the World Leadership Program that their club sponsors among high school students in their district. At right are two recordings, one of the entire meeting (45 minutes) and one ofr Mr. Imes' talk that is about 20 minutes. Photos on this page are linked to enlargements that are printable.

Dan Nye, vocal music teacher at Senior High, came back for lunch this week upon invitation of Brent Johns. Dan lead the wonderful Madrigal Singers back in December and didn't have time for lunch that day. Aren't we thoughtful?

From Galena's club is Dr. Jim Darling who is inviting everyone to their upcoming auction that is really a nice event every year. Let's get a group of Rotarians and go. Tickets are available at every meeting. See Cheryl Kramer if Jim isn't in attendance.

Rotarian Gary Olsen received a certificate of appreciation from club president, Amy Weber, upon the news that he won a national award for his United Way campaign film, "What Matters." Gary provides photography and recording services for each week's Rotary Club meetings. Photo experty taken by our treasurer, Kent Renier.

Prospective member to the right of Mary Ann Gassman is Joy Droessler (Captain Merry Inn) who was a guest, actually, of Stacy Beyer.

Do you have some books you can donate to our troops' libraries in Afganastan? We are doing a community wide collection, and the best place to start is our own club members. See Rich or Geri Shafer. We have a very short fuse on this project.

Michael Coty, manager of The Captain Merry Inn and Spa, East Dubuque, was a guest this week of Mary Ann Gassman.

We had our drawing for Santa Cash at this last meeting, and it was pretty exciting, especially when such diverse winners included the wait staff (below) at the Country Club, Rotarian Chuck Donnelly's wife, and other citizens with the foresight to buy a ticket. If you didn't win, you didn't lose. This was a fundraiser for the Rotary Club's humanitarian projects.

Here's the list of winners:
$5,000 Beichler Electric
$2,500 Deb Donnelly
$1,000 April Finnin
$1,000 Country Club employees (pictured above)
$500 Tom Oglesby

January 17, 2006 Brent Johns introduced fellow member and all around humanitarian, Mike Pratt, as this was the day he would report to the club on his trip to Niger, the poorest nation in the world. It was another leg of the Polio Plus Campaign to rid the globe of polio. Click on the photos to enlarge a printable version.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

This is the entire meeting including the speaker's program. If you're a Windows user, it will launch automatically in your browser.This file is about 45 minutes long.	Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. This is the featured speaker alone (about 20 minutes).

Ping pong balls with numbers corresponding to the numbers on tickets sold at $100 a pop. Paul Hemmer held the tub aloft and began drawing the prize numbers at the start of the meeting.

Paul uses the very bottom of his bifocals to read the number correctly. At least two of the winners were present in the room at the time of the drawing.

Bob Rudzianski did a very fast but effective Fun & Frolic. Even when he throws softballs, he still manages to raise a ton of cash for Rotary Club college scholarships.

Kathy McMullen brought a guest from her office to Rotary Club for lunch.

Geri Schaefer was inducted into Rotary Club. Doug Stillings was the sponsor. Here she's being pinned by president Amy Weber. Above, Reza Ehtessabian brought his son Jason to the podium, and he is now a Rotarian just like his Dad. When Reza spoke to the club about his son, he cracked everyone up with the line, "I've known Jason ever since he was born." You had to be there. Listen to the recording. Remember, all photos are linked to printable enlargements. Just click on them.

Denny Hartough putted well, but it didn't get into the cup in a most unusual Fun & Frolic episode this week. All tables sent a someone to putt for them and each golfer's distance from to hole determined the level of the table's fine (the money goes to scholarships, of course). So guess which Rotarian was the only one wo got the ball in the cup? Put your cursor over the photo of Denny to find out.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

This is the entire meeting including the speaker's program. If you're a Windows user, it will launch automatically in your browser.This file is about 45 minutes long.	Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. This is the featured speaker alone (about 20 minutes).

January 10, 2006 Sandra Gonzales and Rick Dickenson were guests at Rotary. Rick is running for US Congress, and Sandra is on his campaign staff. Rick, as you all may know, helmed the highly successful Greater Dubuque Development Corporation. Listen to his speech by clicking on the appropriate button at right. Photos on this page are linked to printable enlargements.

Mike Seyer and his guest, president of the Key City Coin Club, Ron Amundson.

Stacey Beyer introduced Mark Welbes to the Rotary Club on Tuesday.

Barry Bromberg presented the list of applications for funds from grant requests submitted to our Human Services Committee. Click here to look it over. Chuck Andracchio was host to Val Pickett. Pickett is a name several Rotarians should remember. Yes, Pickett's beer! Val is owner and CEO of Higley Chemical.

Mike Tosky brought Tom Griffin to the club. Tom is a member of the Key City Rotary Club.

Don't you enjoy having a well-tuned piano on hand at the meetings? It's great that we have Paul or Dan to play it, and of course Bob Casper to lead us in song and to hit the high harmonies. Here to boys lead the 70+ in attendence to a chorus of "God Bless America." You can hear it on the recording above. What do you think of a CD fund raiser of "Rotary Club's Greatest Hits?"

Rotarians raised a ton of cash for Salvation Army during their holiday bell ringing season. We did one day, Christmas Eve, and had one red bucket at our meeting location for a couple of weeks. Which bucket did the best? Well, the meeting room bucket raised well over $2,000 alone. Thanks to all of you who participated. Good job Mike Armstrong who is pictured above!

Rotarian Stacey Beyer brought a guest to the meeting this week. This is Joy.

Rotarians enjoyed themselves at Rafters Restaurant for this year's Rotary Club Christmas Party organized by . The tradition of singing carols was maintained, and considering Rafters Restaurant is in a former church, no one was struck by lightning or otherwise smote. However, there were a few people smoted on beverages of one form or another. Click here for the photo album.

Rotarian Stacey Beyer and our foreign exchange student Deborah Chaparro (from Argentina) attended this week's meeting.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

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December 6, 2005: Charlie Winterwood (above with Brent Johns), Friends of the Mines of Spain, spoke on the fund raising effort his organization is conducting in the community to improve and expand the features of this historic and natural area south of Dubuque. It is the site of the original settlement that became Dubuque. There was also a thriving village of native Americans that existed where the water treatment area and softball fields are now. Julien Dubuque's cabin was in the Mines of Spain area, and it is there they found his bones and the bones of his wife. Julien Dubuque was later

buried at what is now the monument overlooking the river. Learn more in this historic presentation. You can listen to the entire meeting or the presentation only by clicking on the appropriate buttons above. Or, you can click on this projector icon at right and be transported to a webpage that contains the DVD that Dr. Winterwood presented at the meeting. Also note: the photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing.

Bob Rudzianski did Fun & Frolic again this week, and he knocked it out of the park. We had 100 members attend this meeting, and it was a new record for both attendance and money raised for scholarships. This photo is a good one of Bob, don't you think? The sweater is definitely Bing Crosby.

Guest of Kent Renier this week was Keith Bibelhausen. Let's get this guy in Rotary Club.

Letter from Luke Juran

As usual I'm up to no good, hahaha!!

I've been busy teaching mostly Arab and Middle Eastern adolescents, which is always interesting given the current times, the prevalence of terrorism in the world, and the current war in Iraq .

I spent my fall holiday in Paris and Versailles, France. The weather was great and it was both educational and culturally stimulating.

I will be off to the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia for one week each over the winter holiday. I will enjoy the much deserved winter holiday as I relax near the equator.

I have applied to the University of Iowa for a master's program in "human rights and development." It will be through the international studies department which means I am also required to focus my research on a foreign region/country (I have chosen Bolivia ) and become fluent in the native language of that respective place (for me, Spanish). It also requires that one carries out at least 8 weeks of research in the region/country of choice. The deadline for the application is January 31; it is after this date that the department makes its selections. I hope to be accepted as it is a cause I really care about and a career I would like to devote my life to.

Take care and I'll be in touch. --Luke

Guest of Cheryl Kramer this week was Steve Schiffler of the Christian Coalition.

You know what's wonderful about having our meetings at the Dubuque Golf & Country Club? For one thing, there's a really nice piano. Dan Kruse, Kerin Moldenhauer and our Sergeant at Arms, Bob Casper, sang a rousing chorus and we hope it's a regular thing. At least we won't have to wonder about whether we will have a piano or not.

Guest this week included Gary Dolphin, and old friend and the voice of the Hawkeyes, and Ron Sterr, both guests of Amy Weber. All work together at USBank.

Ken Snodgrass did a fabulous job with Fun & Frolic. However, he had a rocky start. Here he's looking for the laugh to his first joke. Nonetheless he pressed on and he created a qu iz, the questions of which, dealt with unknown facts about Rotarians. We simply must do this one again.

Santa Cash! Okay, Rotarians, Paul Hemmer has your winning ticket. We are sponsoring a wonderful raffle concept that goes something like this: Each ticket is $100 (get a group together to buy one or more), and you have a shot at several cash prizes, the largest of which is 5,000. The odds you will win are pretty good, or at least better than most lotteries. And the money goes to our many humanitarian projects. When the winners are drawn, special checks will be printed and delivered over the Christmas holidays by Santa Claus himself! Just like Publisher's Clearinghouse. So get on board this exciting project.

Mike Pratt (above) returned from his trip to Niger, Africa, and he brought back a photo he took of the first child receiving a polio vaccine in that ravaged sub-Sahara nation. Torn by war, famine, and a host of hardships, Rotary International was finally cleared by various intergovernmental organizations to enter the nation to administer the vaccine. Mike Pratt was there. Click on either of these images to reveal the enlargements.

Among Fun & Frolic's best hosts, Bob Rudzianski, levied the fines, and the jokes, and it was profitable for Rotary scholarships. Click on the photo to enlarge, and see who is actually laughing.

This is Diana Teta, PHD, from West Sayville, Long Island, N.Y. Rotary Club.

What a glorious event it was to bestow upon one of our members, Kent Renier, the distinguished Paul Harris Fellow designation. Kent made some heartfelt remarks on behalf of his late father, Jim Renier, himself a Rotarian, and in attendance to share in his special day was Kent's wife, Zeny. Click on the photo to reveal the printable enlargement. This is a pretty cool photo of the entire club giving Kent and his wife a well deserved standing ovation.

This is Dan Paulson, guest of Amy Weber. All images on this page are linked to larger more printable images.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

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November 11, 2005 The program was an extraordinary presentation of photos and stories of the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. Red Cross volunteers Frank Zahn and Karen Sudmeier were introduced by Stan Schwartz, Rotarian and Executive Director of the Dubuque Red Cross Chapter. Interesting to note is the amount of every dollar contributed to the Red Cross that goes directly to victims of disaster. Stan reports that it is 91 cents. The logistical effort to get people relief and to get them back on their feet is, after all, a monumental task, but no other organization does a better and more thorough job than the Red Cross.

Bonus photo for Kent Renier and family. Click to download the enlargement.

Among our guests this week was visiting Rotarian from Galena, Roland Imes. All photos on this page are linked to larger more printable versions.

*Entire Meeting*	Speaker Only

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November 15th, 2005: Kathy McMullen, Dubuque Rotarian, community leader, and manager of Dubuque's Mediacom Cable company, has a long career in the cable industry, and she speaks on the topic of cable television and high-speed-data services with authority and expertise. Her presentation comes on the heels of a recent community-wide vote on whether our city should explore its options as a cable utility provider. The initiative won, but was voter reaction due to a sincere desire for their city to get into this business or was it just a message to Mediacom over their displeasure with rate hikes over the past few years? "I think it was that, and people's lack of understanding of what delivering cable television actually costs," explained Kathy. "You know those big salaries the pro athletes make? These costs are covered largely by broadcast and cable rights, and that, among other things, contributes to the cost of subscription television." And about running a cable company, she adds, "This business is all about customer service, and that's what we are extremely good at providing. We have state-of-the-art technology, but that's not a product until you have the people and the service to install it and service it," she adds, "and we have among the best people in the business."

Stacy Beyer (right) brought a guest, Charity Roberts, this week. Below, the first meeting (official) of the Rotary Club of Dubuque held at our new venue, the Dubuque Golf and Country Club. It was just lovely. It is truly one of the best meeting rooms in the city.

Above, our treasurer, Kent Renier, listens to our president, Amy Weber, as she presides over the first meeting of the Rotary Club of Dubuque at the Dubuque Golf and Country Club. All photos on this page are linked to printable enlargements. Photography by Rotarian, Gary Olsen.

Dan Kruse with his guest, Kyle McNellis.

All photos on this page are linked to printable enlargements. Just click on them.

*Meeting*	*Speaker*

This is the entire meeting including the speaker's program. If you're a Windows user, it will launch automatically in your browser.This file is about 45 minutes long.	Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. This is the featured speaker alone (about 20 minutes).

November 8th, 2005: This is is one of the most compelling presentations we've ever featured on our website. Dr. Mary Gilchrist, from the Hygienic Laboratory, University of Iowa, speaks on the flu, avian (bird) flu, and the likelihood of a pandemic. The question is not if the pandemic will strike but when. And it might not be the avian flu but a deadly strain of virus that could mutate from another virus. In any event, projections of deaths may be as high as 350 million worldwide. Dr. Gilchrist (above with her spouse, Dave) not only discussed influenza viruses at length, but covered the history of pandemics for the last 100 years. This is such an important topic that we broke it into a separate audio file. You can listen to the entire meeting that includes the speaker, or you listen to just the speaker.

We gave our waitress, Andrea, a lovely parting gift of $450. Thanks to all of you who contributed. We will miss her. Next week we are off the Dubuque Golf & Country Club. The management of the Midway thanked us for seven years of patronage.

Ray Quint's guest is Russ Boffeli.

Ray Quint revealed that it's his secretary that accesses the Rotary Club website every week, and then she tells him what's on it. He confessed he hasn't memorized the URL, dubuquerotary.org. Apparently his secretary likes the website very much. Hmmmm... why don't we offer her a membeship. Ray can be her sponsor.

The nicest tie worn to a meeting by a visiting Rotarian belongs to Steven Schmitt. He and the tie are from the Downtown Waterloo Rotary Club.

Audio

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November 1st, 2005: John Markham (middle) and his campaign chair, Gary Skowronik, were on hand for this meeting on the eve of one of the most interesting mayoral races in our city's history. The polite crowd of Rotarians asked questions in a format similar to last week's candidate program (Roy Buol). John Darrah, far right, provided the introduction. Remember that the entire meeting is recorded and made available every week. It's a great way to review what's been happening in Rotary Club, especially if you've been absent. We had a big crowd this week and last week, by the way, that included several out-of-town guest Rotarians. Many go back to their home club's and tell others of our website, the recordings and photos, and our web traffic has increased exponentially.

As we all know, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series, and one of the biggest fans is Gary Gansemer. So he did Fun & Frolic, and in addition to celebrating the victory, he plugged the Annual Hillcrest Family Services Italian Dinner coming up. If you want more details on the dinner, click on the photo above and VOILA! you have all the details.

Carrie Tedore (Diamond Jo) was a guest of Deb Buol this week. Carrie is extraordinarily funny. When the camera was pointed her direction, she didn't disappoint.

As we begin the process of moving to the Dubuque Golf & Country Club for our regular meeting venue, we say goodbye to our wonderful waitress, Andrea, at the Midway. Here she is handing out birthday cakes for our celebrating Rotarians. We are still collecting for a monetary gift for her, and she really deserves our generosity and thoughtfulness. Please help us thank her for her years of service to Rotary Club.

Galena guests, Roland Ins and Connie Shireman were on hand this week.

And so was Dave Carnahan who was a guest of Tim McNamara.

Here's a lovely photo of Dr. Schaefer and his wife Geri. This would make a great Christmas card shot. Once again, another advantage to being a Dubuque Rotarian. Click on any photo on this page and reveal the printable enlargement.

Mike Pratt is looking for a little monetary support for his upcoming trip to Niger, Africa, where Rotary Club is waging the war on polio in that Sub-Saharan country. He's got some great opportunities to not only help cure disease, but feed the starving for just a few bucks. Here's the deal... give him the money and it will count as credit when you go to heaven and your contribution will also wipe out that "debt" your incurred back in high school.

Billy Cho, a Rotary foreign exchange student, was a guest of a guest this week (Les Oecke of the Key City Rotary Club). We'll hear more from him in future meetings, no doubt.

And rounding out the guest list this week was Paul Swartzel who is sitting with Paul Hemmer and was a guest of Kent Renier (this would have been a lot funnier if it was Paul Renier). In any event, Paul Swartzel is a photographer and one of his claims to fame is he taught Gary Olsen all he knows about photography.

Frank Zahn just got back from a stint in New Orleans where he worked on behalf of the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Agency. He brought back photos and he'll be doing a presentation at an upcoming meeting.

Also a guest (of Mike Meyer) this week was Ellen Markham, wife of the mayoral candidate John Markham.

For those of you who didn't know, Roy Buol is the husband of Deb Buol, one of our most outstanding Rotarians. In this photo they are apparently checking their instant messages on Deb's cell phone. Apparently Karl Rove is looking for a position with the campaign. "No thanks," says Deb.

Speaking of Fun & Frolic, we need to schedule this guy more often. He does spot-on impressions of your favorite cartoon characters, even some some of the lesser known characters. Jerry Trimble is one funny dude. We think he raised a record one day haul for Rotary Club Scholarships. We had over 70 people this week and multiply that times $3, and you get the picture.

Also a guest this week was Donelle Fuerste. Donelle was a guest of Doug Stillings. Remember that all of the photos on this page are linked to larger more printable versions. Yet another service of your friendly Rotary Club of Dubuque.

Sitting between Dan Kruse and spencer Smith is Ivan Dule, former Rotarian and the alleged inventor of "Fun & Frolic."

Audio Files

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October 25, 2005: Doug Stillings (far left) introduced our featured speaker this week, Roy Buol, Dubuque City Councilman who is running for mayor with election day just days away. Next to Roy is Ric Jones who is running for an at-large seat on the City Council. As always, the questions asked by Rotarians at the end of the formal presentation make the program more informative and entertaining than it would be otherwise. But Roy was remarkably candid about his personal history, and it's not to be missed on this recording. The entire meeting is online either by listening to or downloading an MP3 file for your personal listening device, or you can listen to the Windows Media file version that will automatically launch in your PC browser. Program is about 45 minutes.

*Audio Files*

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October 4, 2005: Vicki Mallory, Rotary Club District Governor, visited our club this past Tuesday, and we provide you with the entire program on audio file for you to listen to at your leisure. Vicki introduced us to the notion of a broader more expansive landscape of Rotary Club involvement in our part of the country. There are a lot of excellent opportunities for our members to become more engaged in the club's international organizational goals and humanitarian objectives, and Vicki outlines some of them in her talk.

Dr. Ted Murray just opened a new facility on Asbury Road in Dubuque near Fidelity Bank, and he was a guest thnis week of Kent Renier. So that's where he gets that great smile. Dr. Murray's speciality is cosmetic dentistry.

Let's all congratulate our newest chairman of our Adopt-a-Highway Cleanup Committee, Jeff Nagle. Let him know you are interested in serving with him on the next cleanup day. It's really a lot of fun, and a chance to meet people you may not have otherwise met. It's a great community project, too.

Reza Ehtessabian brought his son Jason to a meeting again. Hmmmm... we have an idea. Let's get this young man to join. His membership may have an impact on our recruiting efforts among our female target demographic. It's just a thought.

Incidentally, if you would like to see an exceptional book on Rotary Club, Mike Pratt has one that you simply must view. It's richly illusterated with photographs and great stories about Rotary in the world. It's available to borrow. See Mike.

It was a tie for Rotarian of the Year and Paul Hemmer (a previous winner, by the way) and Mike Loveless share the distinction this year, and they both heartily deserve our recognition. Something like the Academy Awards, the Rotarian of the Year is determined by nominations and votes from colleagues, fellow Rotarians.

Audio Files

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October 11, 2005: State Representative, House District 32, Steve Lukan paid us a visit, and his emphasis was on energy and how policy nationwide and in neighboring states will affect commodities and agriculture right here in Iowa. The questions from Rotarians were particularly good, and if you want to listen to the entire meeting, you can click on one of the buttons at right. Also, the pictures on this page are linked to printable enlargements. Just click on them to download the larger image. Brent Johns, above left, is on our speaker program committee and introduced State Representative Lukan.

This is our treasurer, Jim Renier. He's smirking because he just announced, "If you didn't see your badge in the Rotary badge box, this means you have note paid your dues. Your dues must be paid before you get your name badge restored to the badge box.

Pictures on this page are linked to larger more printable versions by just clicking on them. Maybe you'll want to print this one and put it on your refrigerator to remind you to pay your dues. It's just a thought.

Did you know that our own Mike Pratt was honored recently with a humanitarian award from his state Realty organization? He received a heartfelt congratulations from club members upon hearing this announcement.

Among our guests this week included Roland Imes of the Galena Rotary Club.

Okay you new Rotarians in the crowd. We will be having a new member orientation very soon, and you new members who have joined in the last 6 months or who haven't been to one of these are invited. See Guy for reservations. It's up at the Mound, and it's always a good time. You can bring your spouse, and in fact, it's encouraged.

Mr. Ken Snodgrass was our Fun & Frolic WiseMeister of Ceremonies this week, and he did a very interesting table-by-table get-to-know one another better deals. So, do we know each other better? Probably not, but it was funny anyway and raised a bunch of cash for Rotary scholarships.

Before the meeting with the membership at large, Vicki met with board members. Mike Loveless is left, and Amy Weber is right.

Keith Jakel was a guest of Brent Johns who managed to crack him up during the introduction. Wow, if this guy laughs this easily, make sure you tell Schilling about this, and let him know there's someone who will probably laugh at his jokes, too.

Audio Files

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September 27, 2005 Wow! What a meeting this week! It was a dual topic program with Kevin Stevens, representative of the Municipal Cable Initiative on hand to speak about the upcoming vote to keep our community's options open on how we obtain our high speed Internet, Cable TV, wireless and all that this technology implies. It's very interesting. The vote in November merely guarantees our options as a municipality and another vote must take place later if we are to proceed with a real business plan. Then this program (and Q&A session) concluded and another club-wide issues-and-answers session was conducted on the topic of our meeting location change (see story top of left column). The ballot for this decision is in the left column. Most have voted by paper already, but if you haven't gotten the chance to vote on this important issue that will impact the club's future, by all means vote. Remember, all photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing. Just click on them.

The Dubuque Golf & Country Club was the location for one of our evaluation meetings to decide whether we will remain at the Midway or move to a new location for our meetings. It turns out that in a vote of membership the DGCC won the contest.

Hiram Melendez brought Matthew Watters to the meeting this week. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Barry Bromberg is cutting back on some of his chairman duties. To learn more, listen to the meeting file by clicking the PLAY button above.

Gary Olsen brought two of his students to Rotary Club to help with recording duties. Left is Andrea Ternes and right is Kerry Sivia.

Connie Shireman was here from the Galena Club. Click on the photo to enlarge.

September 20, 2005 Candidate for US Congress from Bettendorf, IA, Brian Kennedy, spoke to Rotary Club this past week. He was obviously very well versed on the issues, and he shared with us highlights of his personal platform. He's a Republican. Remember, all photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing. Just click on them.

We are now offering our audios in podcast format (MP3). Let us know how the quality of this is. We are still working on details of functionality, file size and convenience, but so far this experiment is working pretty well. If you wish to just play the audio on your PC, click the green button. If you wish to download the podcast file to your computer for your personal MP3 player for maximum portability, right click here and choose "Save Link Target As." You can save the file to your computer and transport it via your MP3 Player software to your iPod or what have you.

Chuck Andracchio kicked some serious butt during Fun & Frolic at DGCC. We managed to raise some wonderful cash for scholarships in the process.

Guy Gard with Brian Blodgett, who, several months ago was a guest (a few times), and then he disappeared for a while. Well, now he's back, and though we don't recall ever inducting him into the club, we looked in the badge case, and wouldn't you know it, we have a badge for this guy. Welcome!

Dr. Tom Lally was a guest of Jim Schilling this week.

Gary Olsen brought two guests this week... Wally Brown and Carrie Fleckenstein. Carrie is a student at Clarke College, and she was on hand to help with recording and photography at the meeting.

September 13, 2005 Keystone Education Agency's Gloria Klinefeller, with Brent Johns, spoke about Special Needs Children at Home Program she facilitates. We are now offering our audios in podcast format (MP3). Let us know how the quality of this is. We are still working on details of functionality, file size and convenience, but so far this experiment is working pretty well. If you wish to just play the audio on your PC, click the green button. If you wish to download the podcast file to your computer for your personal MP3 player for maximum portability, right click here and choose "Save Link Target As." You can save the file to your computer and transport it via your MP3 Player software to your iPod or what have you.

Reza Ehtessabian brought his son Jason to a meeting.

Barry Bromberg's formula for Fun & Frolic Success: "Anybody who has any money on them at all, please raise your hands. Okay put it all in the box for Rotary Scholarships." Thank you.

Prague Rotary Club meeting from our president, Amy Weber, who was just there recently. Above, Amy poses with the president of the Prague Rotary Club, Thomas Tietjen.

September 6th, 2005: Three new inductees and their sponsors highlighted this week's meeting held at the Downtown Holiday Inn. Here they all stand with the club members providing a standing ovation. New members and their sponsors are pictured below as they receive their Rotary pins from President Amy Weber.

Kathy Kessler, whose background is accounting and investments, is a Dubuque native who came back to Dubuque to serve as director of Workforce Development for the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce. She's a marathoner in her spare time.

Wayne Breckon is a banker from Monmouth, IL, and joined DB&T last May. He and his wife of 15 years, Kris, have three children, two at Roosevelt Middle School and one (first grade) at Table Mound. He loves golf.

Reverend John E. Burkhart is a native Californian who transfers to Dubuque's Rotary Club. He's an author, lecturer, has traveled widely, and he's married to Virginia, and they have three grown children. He enjoys photography, music and swimming.

Our program this week included Theresa Caldwell (Elm Street resident and community leader), and David Harry, Director of City Housing and Community Development for the City of Dubuque. Both spoke on progress with neighborhood revitalization. Fascinating talk, and perhaps we should have the back someday in the future to see how they are progressing. There already has been some noticeable progress in the Washington Street and Elm Street Neighborhoods. The objective is to increase the number of property owners vs. just renters in these areas. Normally we have a recording to the meeting, however, there was a malfunction of the recording machine, and we are sorry for this inconvenience.

As the meeting got underway, we circulated a basket to collect cash for Katrina victims.

Kathy McMullen brought her boss to Rotary Club, Regional Vice President of Mediacom, Scott Westerman.

This is Doug Lyons, a guest of Doug Stillings. He's from Portage, WI.

Remember, all photos on this page are linked to printable versions. Just click on them.

Mike Seyer's guest this week was Ron Amundson. Ron is a well known Dubuquer, and perhaps we should get him to join Rotary Club.

Guest this week included two students from Clarke College, Morgan Richardson and Mike Dalsing.

Our club President and Treasurer (right) were on international trips this past month, and they attended meetings in the countries in which they visited. Kent Renier was in the Philippeans with his family, and he attended Rotary while there over the summer, and Amy Link was in Prague where she attended a meeting. Both brought back flags.

Visiting Rotarians and guests this week included Marilyn Williamson (yellow) from Washington Dulles International Airport Rotary Club and guests Irene Klosterman, Karen Curran, Marlene Woller, and Darlene Link. Remember, all photos on this page are linked to printable versions. Just click on them.

August 23, 2005. First of all, this was a wonderful meeting with Gil Spence (above with Brent Johns). Gil manages the Liesure Services Department for the City of Dubuque. But then we had an unexpected visitor just prior Gil's talk. (Below left) It was from none other than Vito Corleone of the famed Corleone Family of New York and Las Vegas, Nevada. It was all part of our weekly Fun & Frolic segment that brings cash to our Rotary Club Scholarship Program. Listen to the audio file of the meeting and the guest presentation. It's a riot. Just press PLAY.

One of our guests this week was Charlie Gartner of the Five Flags Civic Center (he's the new manager).

There's an exciting art project that Tim Macnamera and Chuck Andracchio are collaborating on in one of Tim's buildings in the rennovated Warehouse District of the city. Learn more about it from the audio file. Press Play above.

Our Guest from Reno, Nevada's South Reno Rotary Club is Bob Hardinbrook.

And before we forget to mention, Guy Gard (president elect of Rotary Club) had a chance to sub for our current president, Amy Weber. And he did a splendid job as he reminded us that we were able to adjourn promptly at 1:02 PM. He acknowledged that this was perhaps due more to luck than his skill as a meeting manager. Nonetheless, not a bad first outing. Congratulations, Guy!

Gary Dolphin sitting at the head table with superfan and friend of Brent Johns, Jack Kenne (middle), is warming up for a spellbinding talk on Iowa football and the coming season. Even these three Cornhuskers enjoyed the talk. Nonetheless, Iowa may be on the verge of the greatest season in modern history in terms of talent. Want to listen to Gary's talk and the rest of the meeting? We have an audio that will be deployed later on Wednesday morning. Watch for it here.

Saturday, August 13th, 2005: Supershot Saturday was a wonderful success on many levels. We had excellent participation among those families needing inoculations against childhood diseases, and we had loads of Rotarians on hand to help, and for that we are eternally grateful.

The morning was filled with anticipation and, perhaps, a little anxiety. This little girl is waiting her turn. Rotarians helped in several ways, processing, holding babies, and handing out toys to brave little kids. For more photos taken by Gary Olsen, click here.

From Bellevue's Rotary Club visiting this week was Larry Fruhling and Peter Meder, Linda Nudd, and Frank Wetzstein.

Above left, Gary Dolphin sitting at the head table with superfan and friend of Brent Johns, Jack Kenne (middle), is warming up for a spellbinding talk on Iowa football and the coming season. Even these three Cornhuskers enjoyed the talk. Nonetheless, Iowa may be on the verge of the greatest season in modern history in terms of talent. Want to listen to Gary's talk and the rest of the meeting? We have an audio that will be deployed later on Wednesday morning. Watch for it here.

Kim Tully with guests.

Perhaps it was summer or that fact that we had Gary Dolphin as a guest speaker, but we had six visiting Rotarians this week, and that's a record in recent memory anyway.

This is Bob Hardenbrook from Reno, Nevada with his guest (how often does a visiting Rotarian bring a guest? Fantastic!) Erik Hogstrom, who, by the way, is a reporter with the Telegraph Herald. Welcome both!

Ed Babka introduced John Burkhart, a prospective member of our club. Welcome John.

August 9, 2005: Cheryl introduced from the Galena Rotary Club, Vince Toepfer and Tony Heindel. Vince is a retired lumber company owner who became a home building consultant on the Internet. Tony is as Illinois State Police CSI investigator based in Mount Carol, IL. Both of these guys are scuba divers and they brought with them a video they shot diving the Galapagos, Islands. It was fantastic. Sharks of all sizes including one as big as a city bus (the whale shark)! It was a fascinating afternoon. You can hear the program along with the rest of the meeting by pressing PLAY. We tried to post the movie to our website, but it was in a format that lacked proper compatibility. Nonetheless, we have a self-launching video CD if you want to check it out and view it. See Gary Olsen.

Click here to hear the August 2nd – Father John J. Lange talk and the rest of the meeting. Father John visited Rotary from his home in Nairobi, Kenya, where he serves the Maryknoll mission in that corner of Africa, and he brought back a compelling video of his good works in that country ministering to the poor and sick.

Shot from last year's Swingin'in The Vines. This was the volunteer crew who made the vent happen at Stone Cliff Winery. Yikes... which one is the designated driver?

Kim Tully is back! Okay, the photographer will grasp at any excuse to take a photo, and this one was certainly worth it. Click on it to download the printable enlargement.

From the Galena Rotary Club, visiting us this week is Dr. Jim Darling. Now for those of you who don't know Jim Darling, that's his real name and not just what Cheryl Kremer calls him.

Bob Rudzianski is the best darned Fun & Frolicmeister to ever serve up a joke. He killed again this Tuesday. Thank God we are recording these so that we could publish a CD compilation as a fund-raiser. It's just a thought.

The photographer hates to admit it, but can't quite recall what Barry talked about here, but it was probably important. Once again, you'll have to refer to the audio file to find out what this was about. Sorry.

Ed Ritts, our newest member of Rotary Club, is the director of the Dubuque Museum of Art. Ed is a long-time Rotarian, and he transferred his membership here from his former club

August 2nd – Father John J. Lange (seated next to Keith Cook) visited Rotary this week from his home in Nairobi, Kenya, where he serves the Maryknoll mission in that corner of Africa, and he brought back a compelling video of his good works in that country ministering to the poor and sick. The Dubuque native is truly a gifted humanitarian, and his approach to this mission is exceedingly practical and straight forward. For example, he personally takes people to the hospital and then h