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Entire Meeting

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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).
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
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).
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
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 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
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 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
Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. Best results if you're using a computer running Microsoft Windows.
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
Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. Best results if you're using a computer running Microsoft Windows.
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
Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. Best results if you're using a computer running Microsoft Windows. High-quality MP3 file for iPods and similar portable media players. Right click to save on your computer and then use your audio file software to move the file onto your portable device.
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
Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. Best results if you're using a computer running Microsoft Windows.
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.
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.
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.
 
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.
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
Streaming Windows Media file plays automatically in your web browser. Best results if you're using a computer running Microsoft Windows.
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.

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.
Click to play!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 he unflinchingly uses his tiny compact car to transport the dead from the hospital to their funerals. "I sometimes can put two bodies in my back seat, and yes, I do fasten their seatbelts," he described. It proves once again that perhaps the best way one can minister to these people of such wretched circumstances is one individual and one family at a time. For those who attended this presentation, everyone agreed that this was an extraordinary program. We have a copy of Father Lange's video on VHS if you would like to borrow it. Contact Gary Olsen. Meanwhile, if you would like to send a check to support Father Lange's mission, the safest way is to send it to Maryknoll Fathers, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545-0302 and designate on a note with the check that you wish to direct your gift to Father John J. Lange's Mission Account. Photos on this page are linked to larger more printable versions. Just click on them.
Jim Schilling was on hand to remind everyone about SuperShot Saturday, August 13th, where we need Rotarians to help Finley Hospital staff inoculate kids against childhood diseases.
Mike Loveless is counting the cash from the weekly raffle the proceeds from which finance college scholarships among high school seniors in our area. This week we raffled off lottery tickets that could be worth several million dollars. Boy, if you won say a million dollars, wouldn't that be 1,000 Paul Harris Fellowships? You would have to buy several jackets just to hold the pins. Chuck Andracchio gave us an update on Rock 'n Soul, and bottom line is, we came out well ahead. Regardless of this outcome, we did have a marvelous time. This was extraordinarily well organized thanks to the talents of Chuck, his crew that included Kevin Lynch and Paul Hemmer.
 
July 26th – Rick Jones of Emergency Medical Service Center was introduced by Rich Bugalski. His talk was on the facility currently under construction off Seipel Road that will server as a regional training center for emergency services personnel from law enforcement to firefighting, from EMTs to industrial safety officers. (Audio includes the entire meeting... in Windows Media File Format and about 45 minutes long.)
 
Hank Shuerkrup from Wickenberg, Arizona was on hand again this week. Our club photographer decided once and for all to get a really good photo of Hank and to spell his name correctly this time. That's why he included the badge in the photo. You can't beat that for reference.

Guests this week included... okay, a quiz: Who is this former member with Kerin Moldenhauer who was Kerin's sponsor for membership in our club? Here's a hint: She was an award winning graphic designer for many years in Dubuque, and her son followed in her footsteps.

Luke Juran was back from Saudi Arabia. With the heat we've been having lately, he probably felt he had never left. Luke teaches English at a school in Saudi Arabia, and he has tons of great stories of his experiences while serving in the Mideast. He launched his own personal Tsunami relief effort during the recent disaster that affected so many countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.
July 19th, 2005 – Brian Meyer of the Dubuque Boys and Girls Club is introduced by Suzy Koelker, herself a volunteer at the club. Brian did a wonderful job of describing the real impact his organization has on the community, but more importantly, the personal impact its culture has on every boy and girl who belongs to the club. Listen to the audio file by clicking PLAY. The entire meeting is recorded and offered here every week.
Mike Loveless was the subject of a unique trivia game that was part of Suzy Koelker's Fun & Frolic this week. It was a riot.

Hank Shuerkrup was introduced by Warren Wick in one of the funniest jokes we've heard in a long time. You'll have to listen to the audio. Click PLAY above.

Keith Cook hosted Roland Imes at this meeting.

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

Nancy Van Milligen was on hand (guest of Gary Gansemer) and she spoke briefly on behalf of and International Ambassadors project she's involved with, and she was looking for volunteer host families.

 

From Peoria, Illinois, Roger Besay, was a guest of Rotarian Jim Schilling. He's retired from the Labor Relations Board. Here's the funny part. Jim introduced Roger and gave "Peoria, Iowa" as his home. Obviously that got a laugh. Geography was never Jim's strong card, apparently. He once drove to Des Moines and thought he was in Chicago after he discovered the map he was reading was upside down.

Mike Buddy (Advance Data Com CEO) was a guest of Rotarian Tim Duggan.

Doug Stillings hosted this Mike Leik (sp?) The photographer is sorry but there was no name on our Registration sheet, so if we spelled it wrong, apologies are extended (and Mike is going to become a member, too). Anyhow, the photographer couldn't read the name badge because of glare on the badge. And the name was somewhat inaudible when we listened to the audio file. Could someone e-mail and correct this anomaly if it's necessary? Thank you in advance. --G.O.  
July 12, 2005 Representatives from Galena Territory and Eagle Ridge Golf visited Rotary this week. Ron Cadrette (left) is the General Manager of Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa, and Gary Glaser is the Director of Golf at one of the finest golf resorts in the nation according to several independent assessments. Learn more from the audio we prepared. Our meetings are recorded every week, and you can listen to them by just pressing PLAY.
July 5, 2005, The program this week was entitled, "Geopolitics of Oil." Holy mackerel, was this a comprehensive if not scholarly view of our current energy situation! This presentation was provided by Galena Rotarian and veteran of the oil industry for his entire career, Bob Wehrle (above right with Brent Johns). This program is about as complete as you're going to find. It proves once again, you never know the information resources you may have in your immediate area. Our meetings are recorded every week, and you can listen to them by just pressing PLAY.
Patrick Donovan, a native Dubuquer and graduate of Wahlert, joined Rotary this week. He's a finance graduate from Iowa, and he was with the Cincinnati Insurance Company where he served as an undersriter and field marketing rep . He also worked in Minneapolis. He joined Friedman INsurance as an account executive specializing in Commercial Property and Casuaty risks. His wife Libby is also a Dubuque native.

Bob Rudzianski did a splendid job on Fun & Frolic this week. He is the master, and we are not heaping praise in hopes of a lower fine. The money he generates goes to our Rotary Local Scholarship Program.

GaryRieniets was a guest of Dave Solberg this week.

Kent Baumen was a guest of Jerry Enzler

Keith Cook brought Thurb Stovell to Rotary this week.

This is Charlie Gardnerk a guest of Mike Brannon.
Chuck Andracchio, volunteer organizer for Rock 'n Soul this weekend, has posted the volunteer assignments. We really are preparing for the biggest fund raising event of the year for Rotary Club. Click here to see where you fit in.
It's always wonderful when Bob Rudzianski hosts Fun and Frolic. He manages to collect the largest amount of fines (for scholarships might we remind you) of any member in the club assigned this duty. And he does it based on anecdotal information that he comes up with at the last moment (he admits he never plans).
Left Jerry Trimble (the Rotary Team project chair), Janelle Koepke (Area Residential Care) and Rotary president Amy Weber present a check for revenue generated with our participation in the Community Games. Thanks Jerry for a remarkable first project as a new member. What a success and fun too! This photo is linked to a larger more printable version. You might be able to read the amount on the check.
We had a lot of guests this week. Visiting Rotarian Ed Ritts was with us from Thomasville, GA. But he is moving here, and he will transfer his membership to our club. Let's get to know Ed, shall we? First of all, we know he has excellent taste and he's a gentleman because only gentlemen know how to tie bow ties.
Happy dollars were flying everywhere this meeting including one from ex-pres Mike Loveless. Of course this was the day after the 4th of July holiday weekend, and everyone was still in a festive mood, apparently. Below he's photographed with the representative of ARC (she's considering Rotary Club membership), Janelle Koepke.
Treasurer, Kent Renier, offered this Indian idol that stands for good luck in Indian culture as a token toward a successful Rock 'n Soul Reunion on the River this weekend. The idol, brought home from a recent Indian tour for the eradication of polio, bears a striking resemblance to one of our members below, Jim Schilling, who is the chairman of SuperShot Saturday at Finley Hospital in August. Sign up with Jim to volunteer giving inoculations to children in our community. Rich Bugalski offered a happy dollar for the fact that the Country Club (which he manages), had a successful 4th of July celebration with fireworks, and no greens nor neighboring houses were set afire.

Guest Tim LeDesma, a Rotarian from Marina, California, visited Rotary Club this week, Here he is with Kathy Curt. All photos on this page are linked to larger more printable versions.

   
   

June 28, 2005, Pauline Leboulenger, our Rotary Club foreign exchange student from France, is here with her Rotary hosts, families who had Pauline live with them during her stay and studies in America. Jack Schmid, Tim McNamera, and Kevin Lynch had one last lunch at Rotary with Pauline. She returns to her homeland before summer's end. The meeting is recorded every week, and you can listen to it by just pressing PLAY.

Rotary Foreign Exchange Student, Pauline Leboulenger, gave a talk to the Rotary Club membership on her impressions of America.

Kent Renier, our esteemed treasurer, brought some wonderful photos of his trip to Chicago and the International Rotary Club event. Just for the heck of it, we photographed a closup of Kent's right lapel. Click on it and see at least half of his onboard pin collection. It's kind of interesting.

Kevin Lynch and Kim Tully said goodbye to the Rotary Board as their terms expired this week. In appreciation, Mike Loveless, outgoing president, presented them with certificates of appreciation.

This photo was taken in Chicago during the Rotary International Convention by Kent Renier, and there are 127 others you can view right here and right now. Just click here and it's like you went there yourself.

 

 

Above, Mike's family was on hand to celebrate the end of his presidency. Morgan, Alison and wife Cheri are photographed here.

Speaking of our president, Mike Loveless was presented with the golden gavel in appreciation for his efforts this past year. During his presidency, the club has had an excellent increases in membership. He also presided over our reorganization of finances, named a new treasurer, and he also helped guide a significant transfer of funds to humanitarian projects. Amy Weber is the incoming president.

One of Mike's last duties is to pin the new president, Amy Weber.

Amy addresses the members as the new president of Dubuque Rotary Club.

Amy also brought a guest to the meeting this week, Ron Thielen, who is also a prospective member.

 

And to finish off the meeting, we had a vocational talk by Dawn Konrardy. Her profession is Real Estate, and she managed to get a job at the firm of which she dreamed of working. So when she got her certification, she walked into the office and asked for a job. She's still there. Learn more by listening to the recording at the top of the page. Just press play.
June 21, 2005, our guests were our scholarship students for 2005, and they included Jessica Heacock from WD who will be heading off to the Univewrsity of Iowa ($500), Brandon Merritt from Senior ($1,000), Andrew Fondell from Wahlert who will be going to Loyola Chicago ($500), Alex Brimeyer ($500) and Alicia Owens ($500) from Hempstead. Both are going to Iowa State. And from East Dubuque High School, Timothy Kennicer ($1,000). He's going to the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Kimberly Tully, chair of the Rotary Scholarship Committee, says members raise funds for scholarships weekly during Fun & Frolic and Happy Dollars. The meeting is recorded every week, and you can listen to it by just pressing PLAY.
Here are two members with dollars at the ready for scholarhsips. Kevin Lynch (Fun & Frolic) made everyone hold a dollar over their heads as he conducted the Rotary member of the Month contest. After a series of questions (put in your dollar if you haven't brought at least one guest to Rotary in the last 2 months, and put in your dollar if you haven't volunteered for something in the last month, etc.).
Guests this week included Kim Cook hosted by Brent Johns.
New member induction took place this meeting. Terry Kouba received his membership pin from our president, Mike Loveless, and Janet Young (below) with here sponsor, Kathy Schmitt.
 
Dr. Reza Ehtessabian received his pin from his sponsor, Jim Schilling. Reza is a returning member to our club.
Rock 'n Soul Reunion volunteer coordinator, Chuck
Andracchio, holds up the sign-up sheet for the biggest money raising event of the year. Hope you're singned up for something. It's all good, all fun, and it's not to be missed, July 9th!

Suzy Koelker is undergoing treatment for a recurring brain tumor. We will endeavor to keep you up to date on her progress. Our thoughts and prayers are with her.

Brent Johns and his guest Pete Weber attended the meeting this week.
Left, Chuck Andracchio introduced Ben Lewis as his guest.
Paul Pfohl brought to the meeting Patrick Donovan as his guest. Obviously he helped pick out his wardrobe for the occasion.
No, he's not a guest. Mike Stohl is a member, but he's just been away for a while. Welcome back! Of course you don't miss much if you listen to our bank of recordings of every meeting we post to the website.
Bill Strauss was a guest of Tim Duggan this week. Remember, guests who may be prospective members eat free on the club. It's a great recruiting tool, especially on days when the hotel serves meat loaf.
Wisemeister of ceremonies for Fun & Frolic was Barry Bromberg this week. He just looks like a funny guy, doesn't he?
Aggie Tauke gets Rotary Pinned by our president elect, Amy Weber. Congratulations, Aggie!
May 31, 2005: Greg Orwoll, executive director of the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps in Dubuque, presented members of his group's current crop of percussionists. There were selections on the marimbas that were outstanding, and we've captured them for you on this website. Just press PLAY and get the entire meeting... well, most of it anyway since we had a little problem with our memory chip reaching capacity in the middle of the meeting and we had to switch chips. Sorry about that.
   

Above is Brent Walser, son of Cheryl Kramer, who visited us this week.

Here's the tee shirt logo for the Rotary Club team that will be participating in the Dubuque Corporate/Community Games. Jerry Trimble is managing this project, so let's give him all the support we can. And speaking of supporters.... uh.... let's not go there.  

Some photos are just worth taking because the people in them look so darn good.

Here's two of the four musicians who came to entertain from the Colts organization.  
May 24, 2005 John Darrah, coordinator of vocational talks, introduced Rob Apel to the club on Tuesday, and Rob talked about banking and his involvement in it. His story about what inspired him to get into banking was a great one, and you simply must listen to it along with the rest of the meeting by pressing Play. May 31, 2005: Greg Orwol, executive director of the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps in Dubuque, presented members of his group's current crop of percussionists. There were selections on the marimbas that were outstanding, and we've captured them for you on this website. Just press PLAY and get the entire meeting... well, most of it anyway since we had a little problem with our memory chip reaching capacity in the middle of the meeting and we had to switch chips. Sorry about that.
 
Bob Berglin was a guest of Bob Woodward this week. Let's get this Berglin guy into Rotary. He would be good.  
GaryGansemer is looking for "adoptive parents" so to speak who would like to host a Rotary Club foreign exchange student. See him at the meeting to get more information.

See this gentleman? Get to know him. He's with Interstate Power, and he's going to be a new member. Note how Kevin Lynch is making him feel welcome and involved. Many new faces in the club may find it hard to fit in or make new friends, and that's where you come in. Make an effort to welcome new members, introduce yourself, find out a name. It's actually quite simple.

JerryTrimble is still looking for participants in the Corporate Community Games in which we are helping as a club. This is a really fun event, and a great way to meet people in the club. So see Jerry at the meeting and sign up.

KevinLynch provided an update on his project, Rock 'n Soul Reunion on the River. See the story on the top of the left column.

Meet Jody Lawson, daughter of Carole Reed (she is as delightful as her mom). Have we ever had a mother and daughter as members? This could be interesting. Let's recruit her.  
This was the scene at last week's New Member Reception at Four Mounds. The program was an orientation for new members and their guests and food was provided by Rafter's Restaurant. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Kathy Schmitt brought Janet Young as her guest this week, and Janet has been elected as a new member. Her induction is coming up at perhaps our next meeting.

May 17, 2004: Janelle Koepke, Area Residental Care, visited us this week to tell us about their facilties and how they serve the community of special needs citizens. She also spoke on the topic of the coming "Corporate Community Games" fund raising activity that Rotary Club is participating in and will field a team of eight participants. A preview of the games was conducted below with the chicken toss. You put a rubber chicken on a plumber's helper, and toss it into a basket... well, a rim shot counts as a basket apparently.

Th

is is our president, Mike Loveless. No special reason to include his photo other than he looked particularly good in this shot, so why waste it? It far better than the one on his driver's license. Have you seen that one? He looks like a younger version of Yoda.

There have been some HFH houses built in Dubuque. Learn more as you listen to the entire meeting audio file right here and right now. Press Play

.Is it true that Rich Hall(right) has lost weight? Well, you be the judge. His profile is quite remarkable. Now he'll need a total body lift and perhaps Oprah Winfrey will pay for it if he agrees to go on the show and tell how this all changed his life. Well, if you lost 400 pounds, you would have excess skin, too. It prompted one Rotarian to comment, "I'll stay fat but taught if you don't mind." Excuse me? He lost 40 pounds, not 400? Sorry about the extra "0."

 

Kevin Lynch reported on the status of the Rock 'n Soul event on the Riverfront, and it promises to be an incredible event with Vince Vance and the Vallients. Meanwhile, tables are going fast. See Kevin for a table reservation. It's reasonable, and you can bring your friends, family or guests with you for this premier summer event.
Barry Bromberg was recognized above by Mike Pratt on Barry's accomplishing his second Paul Harris Fellowship awarded by Rotary International for his financial support of the Polio Plus Program among the many things that Barry does for our club.
This is Candace Eudaley from Loras College who will head up our college chapter of Rotorac. Jim Schilling is her sponsor and this is one of our first efforts in organizing college student Rotary Clubs in our local chapter.
Gary Gansemer was Wisemeister of Ceremonies for our famous Fun & Frolic that is designed to raise money for college scholarships. That event of presenting the schloarships at graduation ceremonies is not far from now. Any volunteers to attend graduations ceremonies to hand out the cash? It's a lot of fun.
Kathy McMullen, General Manager of Mediacom Dubuque, was invested in Rotary Club on Tuesday, and here she's being pinned by our President Elect, Amy Weber. Her sponsor, Mike Pratt beams with pride. The next question, now that we have the Mediacom Cable TV manager as a member, can broadcast of our meetings me far behind?
May 10, 2005 Lisa LaDue is with the Foundation for Human Enrichment and she spent time working with Tsunami victims with post traumatic syndrome. She provides her insights on trauma and the psychological aftermath.
Hey, guess what happened to two of our members? They got married! President elect Amy Link married Dr. Dave Weber, and, well, it was a match made in heaven. Wait, is this heaven? No, it's Rotary Club. For more photos, click here. (Photo by Gary Olsen)
May 3, 2005 Habitat for Humanity and Mr. Jim Fudge was on hand to speak to Rotary Club about the virtues and progress of this fine organization in America. There have been some HFH houses built in Dubuque. Learn more as you listen to the entire meeting audio file right here and right now. Press Play.
Barry Bromberg is organizing the highway cleanup as part of our Adobpt-A-Highway commitment. It's a great family affair. Bring rubber gloves.

Guy Gard who is is not only one of the best club recruiters we've ever had (he helped round up the Pope candidates in Rome last month), brought Jim Law to Rotary Club. Jim is owner of Mr. Quick's Printing.

Among our guest this week included Kathleen McMullen who wishes to be a member. Welcome Kathy. Kathy is the General Manager of Mediacom Cable of Dubuque, and her first order of business as a member prospect was to contribute a Happy Dollar to celebrate the inking of the City of Dubuque/Mediacom Franchise Agreement that occurred Monday. Congratulations on two counts: Applause for the agreement, and applause for wanting to join our organization.
Jim Schilling did a great Fun & Frolic this week on the topic of food and drink. Only one Rotarian got one of his quiz questions correct (the answer was "vodka" and you can guess what the question was). Listen to the audio for this excellent feature. In fact, every week you can listen to the meeting from bell to bell. It's even more entertaining to come to the meetings, but we hear from a lot of members who listen to the audio as well even though they attended!

Kathy Schmitt brought Janet Young as her guest this week.

Paul and Jan Hemmer are with a contingent from Dubuque in this photo at this past Sunday's Rotary Big Band Affair at the Lakeside Ballroom in Guttenburg, Iowa. The event was like stepping into a time machine. Below Paul belts out a number with the ever popular Hunter Fuerste and his Vintage Orchestra. If you go somewhere on behalf of Rotary, or if you're attending a Rotary sponsored event in another village, by all means take photos and submit them to Gary Olsen for publishing on this website. Just e-mail them as an attachment to Gary.  
 
April 26, 2005 Bob Batten and Rod Bakke pose for a snap above. Okay, this is the funniest audio we've ever recorded at a meeting so far. Not only is this retired radio executive and broadcaster funny, but the rest of the meeting is pretty humorous, too. If you have high-speed Internet service, you'll have no trouble listening to the audio. It will stream into your browser immediately and your computer will play like a radio. It's very cool, and we are one of the only Rotary clubs in the world that offer this on our website.
   

April 12th – Carisa Marovec of Junior Achievement was introduced by JA Boardmember and Rotaryian Bob Woodward. The entire meeting along with Carisa's presentation is a click away. Press Play.

Dr. Reza Ehtessabian, former Rotarian and now returning guest (and soon to renew his membership) is with his host and friend, Jim Schilling. But don't hold that against him.

This is Debbie Donnelly, wife of member, Chuck Donnelly, who was a guest this week. Debbie works for Stone Cliff Winery.

Above, Rich Bugoski, manager of the Dubuque Golf and Country Club, is now a new member of the Dubuque Rotary Club. Also Rotary pinned by Guy Gard, at left, is Jerry Trimble. Welcome to Rotary Club!

Our perennial favorite Galena member, Jim Darling, with information about the upcoming Galena Rotary Club Auction which is a stellar event with lots of great auction items.

Sue Moran, manager of the Grand River Center is a guest of David Hockenberry's this week.

Chuck's dad was in the audience (on the right) for the ceremony. Here he is with Larry Wolff.

Matthew Fiegen is pinned as an official member of Rotary Club by his sponsor, Guy Gard. Matthew is son of Chuck Fiegen of Capri College in Dubuque where Matthew also pursues his career as an Accounts Payable and Purchasing Manager.

Kudos to Bob Rudzianski. This guy, with very little preparation, handled Fun & Frolic on Tuesday thanks to a scheduling snafu. Kevin, Gary and Jim were nowhere to be seen, so Amy pressed our best into service for scholarships. He hit it out of the park as you will hear on the audio file of the complete meeting. The nice thing about Bob is, he fines himself every time.

Aggie Tauke was a guest of Cheryl Kramer. Remember her daughter? We helped send her to study in Europe.

Rotarian Kent Renier brought two awards our chapter won recently in some sort of district assessment. Apparently the judges were listening to the recordings of our meetings and viewing our website. We get about 1500 visitors a week.

Bob Casper looks on as our newest member, Leon Jensen, Omaha native raise in Nebraska and now a funeral director at Egelhof, Siegert and Casper Funeral Homes, is inducted into our Dubuque Rotary Club. For once someone is pinning something on him. Okay, was that joke over the top? Should I take it out? Oh, what the heck.

We must confess, it's always nice to have a member of the clergy visit our club. It cuts down on the cursing (kidding). Father Bob Davies was a guest of Rod Bakke's this week. The first thing he did after the meeting was pray for us. Usually he's asked to do invocations at the beginning of gatherings, but he thought we needed a little extra help.

Please, would someone call Joe Graham and tell him that this is a wonderful photo of him and his lovely wife, Ruth? Do it right now. Here's the number 582-3760. Also, explain to Joe how to click on the photo above to download the printable enlargement suitable for printing on your little Hewlett Packard. Or, better yet, you print it out and bring it to him as a little gift. Go ahead... do it now before you forget. Click on the above image and the enlargement will automatically download into your browser as all images on this page will do.  
April 19th – We had Terry Duggan, Mayor of Dubuque as our guest this week. He was introduced by Suzy Koelker. The mayor had many things he talked about including transportation issues (Southwest Arterial Project), business development, and he took several questions from the audience. Listen to the whole meeting from bell to bell and you can hear Terry himself as if you were at the meeting. Click Play.
April 5, 2005: Above left, Rotarian, Gary Olsen, and Dubuque historical memorabilia expert, Bob Reding, collaborated on Gary's latest artistic endeavor entitled, "Dubuque Main Street" a large full-color print that combines objects from Bob's vast collection of historical artifacts of Dubuque. During the three months it took to photograph select pieces of Bob's collection and integrate them into the print, Gary also filmed the process with a video camera and brought a 20 minute version of the documentary to Rotary Club this week. Bob was also along with some particularly precious objects some of which were featured in the print and the motion picture. You're in for a real treat. If you have access to high-speed Internet, you can watch the movie right here from this website. Click on the Windows MediaPlayer button right here. To learn more about the Dubuque Main Street Print Project, click here which is a link to a website dedicated to the project which was commissioned by Dubuque Main Street LTD.
Sitting with Ken Snodgrass (right) is Craig Nowack. Craig works for WGN in Chicago and he owns a summer home at Specht's Ferry. He's been visiting our Rotary Club website for several months now, and he has also toured the school district site, Dubuque Chamber Ambassador's website, and he has come to a life changing conclusion. He is moving his family that includes two young children to Dubuque permanently. True! He says, "I've fallen in love with the area." Craig was a guest this week upon invitation from Gary Olsen with whom he has been corresponding.
Celebrating Light Yellow Shirt Day (always the first Tuesday of April according to the Gregorian Calendar) was Don Rochino and his host Jim Kennedy. Just so you don't forget, next Tuesday... it's Pale Green (or Mint Green) Shirt Day. Don't forget to wear your pale green (or mint green) shirt, blouse or sweater.

Sue Moran was a guest of David Hockenberry's this week. The photographer asked these two to step together a little closer, and one thing lead to another, and well, we have a hug.

Kent Renier brought a new club flag to add to our impressive international collection. This one is from a chapter that just started in New Delhi, India the place Kent visited this past winter where he administered polio vaccine to children (see the link to Kent's movie below in this column).

Theresa Stajskal was a guest of Cheryl Kramer's this week. Both work together at Project Concern. Theresa is a brilliant student in the Communication Department at Clarke College.

   

March 29, 2005 "Becky the Gardening Girl" from Ace Hardware is holding a giant bulb for a giant plant. Can you guess what it is? No, it's not a sweet potato. It's called and elephant ear.

The bulb produces a plant with enormous leaves that is quite showy. Listen to her presentation and the whole meeting for that matter from the opening Pledge of Allegiance to the final bell. Your Dubuque Rotary Club produces recordings of every meeting and posts them on our website so you don't miss a meeting! Click on the green button to hear the meerting.

Mike Pratt used this occasion to tender his resignation as club secretary due to pressing business demands. He has been a great secretary (and treasurer) these past three years, and his wisdom will be continually relied upon. Thanks Mike! A successor will be named for the position which will be turned over this coming July.

Rich Bugoski was a guest of Guy Gard, and Rich is a new member. Last week we misnamed him in a photo caption. The photographer thought he looked like Chuck Fiegen (father of Matt, another prospective member). He may look a little like him, but he's not a Fiegen.

Leon Jensen was a guest of Mike Brannon. Mike is in the funeral business. Somewhat of a coincidence, Mike is in the monument business. So this was a business lunch one would assume.

Anywhooo, the photographer got deservidly fined this past week from Suzy Koelker during Fun & Frolic.

Above are two new members inducted at this week's meeting and they include Dawn Konrardy (left) being pinned by Suzy Koelker.

This is Dave Heiar who was a guest of Cindy Steinhauser. Both work for the City. Cindy is assistant city manager as we all know, and Dave is some sort of economic something or other. (Oh, oh.... I smell another fine. I should listen more closely to the audio).

At left is Stacy Beyer being pinned by our president, Mike Loveless, however her sponsor for membership was Stu Hoover. Stu couldn't handle the pinning. Last time he did it, he pinned his necktie tie to his thumb. It took 10 minutes to stop the bleeding.

March 22nd, 2005– Kent Renier spoke on the topic of his trip to India where he engaged in the enterprise of inoculating children against polio as part of an international entourage of Rotary Club members from across the US. Perhaps the most effective storytelling device Kent employed was a 25 minute video that was shot by Kent and edited by Gary Olsen of our club. The video took members on a tour of Dehi and Jaipur and included a a jaunty ride aboard a live elephant, accompanied by the music of an authentic snake charmer and his cobra. A ride through the Old Delhi marketplace on a rickshaw is fascinating, and side trips to a rug weaver and a maharaja's palace are among highlights featured on the video. Also you visit the "Foot Factory" where artificial limbs are manufactured and custom fitted for under $50 a limb. Arms and legs are constantly being lost as the poor insist on hopping trains, and they frequently fall between or under the cars. Kent's video also took us into the operating room of a Rotary Club financed hospital that corrects limbs deformed by polio. Sometimes patients (mostly children and youth) must undergo multiple surgeries to correct a withered limb. Before the video, Kent entered the room in a custom silk suit made for him while he was in India. Maharaja Kent received a standing ovation from club members at the conclusion of his talk. You can watch the movie right here on the website if you have high speed access. We've produced a movie and have included a special page on which there is a photo album. Click here and enjoy.

New Member Chair, Guy Gard brought Rich Bugalski to another meeting. Let's make this guy a member for heaven's sake.

Jane McCall was promoting an event that will benefit the Human Society this coming Friday. The Fifth Annual Garage Sale Extravaganza sponsored by DuTRAC Community Credit Union.

Jim Darling from the Galena Club was on hand to promote their upcoming auction. Did you get the date for this? It's April 30th! Check their website for details. This is an incredibly successful fundraiser for this club because of the types of merchandise on hand. It's incredible. Bulls tickets, condos and hotel rooms, golf packages, even automobiles!

This photo above best illustrates this week's Fun & Frolic masterminded by Kevin Lynch. The concept was to help celebrate March Madness and at the same time introduce a little more frolic in our fun and frolic. Kevin passed a ball from table to table, and tablemates bet on whether the receiver would catch or drop the ball. If you click on the photo above, you will see that Kim Tully indeed catches the ball with her eyes tightly closed! It was quite something! She did this even with tenacious defense from Jim Schilling!

Fun & Frolic Hostmeister this week was Chuck Andracchio. He fined everyone a buck and called it "the ticket price" for the movie we had today from Kent Renier. Not a bad deal. And several of the members had already bought the popcorn.

Denny Hartogh brought his dauther, kari to our meeting this week. She laughed through most of the meeting, especially upon witnessing our basketball antics.
Greg Orwoll brought with him William Intrilligator of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. If he joins the club, he can conduct us in our weekly singalongs! See below. A special citation was awarded Bob Woodward for his contributions during his first year as a Rotarian. As a new member, he devised a sure-fire money raising project that we sponsored that involved the Thunderbirds Hockey Club, and it raised significant cash for the Tsunami Victim Fund. Chuck a Puck it was called. Congratulations, Bob, and thanks for being a Rotarian.
 
The Rotary Singers, Mary Ann, Bob and Kerin, did a good job on a nice Irish tune you'll have to hear on this week's recording. Feel free to sing along.  
 
These guests of Guy included Rich Bugalski, Matt Fiegen, and Jerry Trimble. However, the photographer only knows Guy and we probably have these names out of order. Sorry.  
Bob Casper bought along Leon Jansen to the meeting.  
We had a nice induction of a Paul Harris Fellow this week and Mike Armstrong was ribboned by his wife who was on hand for the celebration (Marcy). Congratulations Mike.
March 15, 2005 Mark Henning, Community Coordinator for E-Community, a partnership between the Dubuque Area Labor management Council and Alliant Energy, is seated at our head table with his host, Brent Johns, as he prepares to discuss a new community based program of energy conservation laced with incentives to pass savings on to organizations in our community in the form of cash. The Dubuque Rotary Club could be a benneficiary of such a program. You'll have to listen to his pitch to get the details, but this could be very important to our club and our many humanitarian projects. Click the button (about 40 minutes but includes the entire meeting). The photos on this page are linked to larger more printable versions.

The meeting this week was lead by our next Rotary Club President to serve, Amy Link. She did a splendid job, naturally. A report was made by her team that successfully conducted the recent Rotary Club Radio Auction that raised an astonishing $6,000+. Final figures are pending.

March 8, 2005. The Dubuque Historical Society has partnered with Leadership Dubuque, of which these two representatives, Christine Krambeck (US Bank) and Dan Schieltz (CES Computers, Inc.) made a presentation to our club on the topic of the launch of the Dubuque Museum project at the Old Jail. The project is in the collection phase at the moment as the Historical Society with the help of this group are looking for donated items representing Dubuque business, industry, culture, education, historic families, and anything that would be of interest either photographic or artifact. Listen to the audio of this week's meeting to get the particulars (about 25 minutes). Incidentally, the always entertaining Rich Hall was wisemeister of ceremonies for Oscar Trivia for this week's Fun & Frolic. We love the hat, by the way, and we should probably make everyone who does Fun & Frolic wear it, don't you think?

Mike Pratt, our former treasurer and bean counter on this project made the report and thanked everyone who helped on that day, especially people like Tim Duggan whose company wrote the software program that made it all possible and Tom Reilly (below) who made sure credit card transactions were double checked on auction day

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Tom Reilly, before the meeting, lead the Gateway Project Committee in a meeting to begin the next phase of fund raising for the next Rotary Club Welcome Signs for Dubuque. We are currently looking for two sponsors to fund two new signs... one west of Dubuque and the other at Locust Street at the intersection in front of Thompson's. The City is building a park like environment with landscaping, and they asked Rotary Club if they can use our sign design as the focal point for the project. The cost of each sign is approximately $25,000, however, the downtown sign will likely cost less since it's smaller in size.

February 22, 2005 The State of our Club was the presentation this week by our esteemed president, Mike Loveless. Listen to the program and most of the meeting by clicking on the button here. The file is in Windows Media Player and is compatible with most PCs and popular browsers. Every week we post recordings of our meetings here on this website. If you miss a meeting or just want to share the fun we have at Dubuque Rotary Club. share this website with friends, colleagues and family.

Another certificate was awarded to Mike Pratt for his wonderful contributions to the club and our International Rotary Club organization on behalf of Polio Plus. In the past year, Mike has been to Africa and India providing vaccines to children in an attempt to wipe out polio in this decade.

Among the president's remarks was special recognition of members in our club who tirelessly work behind the scenes often times to make our meetings run smoothly. Walt Kurfmann is one such person who often arrives a half hour before the meetings and helps with setup. He received a special honor.

Paul Hemmer is one of the most creative and knowledgable Rotarians you'll ever find. the president awarded him with a certificate of appreciation for all of the original and successful programs he's organized on behalf of Rotary this past year and ever since he became a member. Some of our most successful events that occur every year were his ideas.

Sue Wheaton was wisemeister of ceremonies for our weekly Fun & Frolic, which had a decidedly Valentine flavor.

Above, Robert Wasson, Fergus Falls, MN Sunrise Club, swapped banners with our secretary, Mike Pratt. Bob has been working on a consulting job locally, and he attends every meeting he can while in our city.

Finally, Don Schrack was a guest of Bob Rudzianski.

 

February 15, 2005: Our guests this week were the deans from the University of Iowa College of Public Health. James A. Merchant and Lawrence D. Prybil. At left, they are introduced by our own City of Dubuque Public Health representative, Tim Link. It was an interesting program on the myriad of public health issues we are facing today in our state and our nation and how the University of Iowa College of Public Health is meeting this challenge of keeping our population informed, educated, and healthy. We have the entire meeting from the Pledge of Allegiance to the final bell right here and right now in Windows Media Player. Just click and you're there. Another service provided by your Rotary Club of Dubuque.

Above, Guy Gard (right) and Bob Rudzianski with guest, Ron McDonald. Don't these fellow make a great photo?

The photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing at home on your trusty Hewlett Packard.. Click on the Gallery button at the top of the page in the navigation strip, and you can see past photos that have appeared on this Web's front page. It's our permanent image archive.

 

 

Stu Hoover apparently believes one can exercise one's eyes by holding notes at arms length. He's pretty good at this as you can see. He's introcuing his guest,Stacy Beyer.

This is Brad Scardino, a guest of Stan Schwartz.

Right is Pauline Leboulenger, our Rotary Club foreign exchange student from France, who was a lunch guest this week of Kevin Lynch.

Guests this week included Jim Schumacher (Lamar Advertising), a guest of Vicki Bechen.

BarryBromberg was our wisemeister of ceremonies this week for Fun & Frolic. He is a wonderful host of this weekly event. His fines were all in good fun, and they benefit our scholarship program.

Suzy Koelker invited Dawn Konrardy to the meeting. This is we believer her second visit. Perhaps an invitation to become a member would be good about now if it hasn't already happened.

Guy Gard, our membership chairman, has set a new goal for our club membership. We are going for 170 members. Last year we reached our goal of 150, and we've experienced a slight falloff for a variety of reasons. But our new New Member Mentor Program that puts an experience member with a new member is an innovation designed to improve new member retention. Become a mentor!

Chuck Donnelly just came back from his trip to Germany, and he made up for lost attendance credits by attending a Rotary meeting while in Europe. He brought back a nice flag for our collection, and, according the Chuck, the memory of a slight hangover. "This particular Rotary Club meets in the evening," explained Chuck, "and quite a bit of drinking takes place, especially since the president allegedly spoke for the first 45 minutes of the meeting. I had a translator otherwise I wouldn't have understood a thing he said."

Photos on this page are linked to larger versions suitable for printing. Just click on them to reveal the enlargements.

February 1, 2005 The always informative and entertaining Voice of the Hawkeyes, Gary Dolphin was the keynoter at this week's meeting. Above he sits with Hawkeye superfan, Jack Kenna... more on this later. Gary's take on this past football season and the incredible capper of a bowl victory against LSU is told as only Gary can tell it. He provides so much "under the hood" data on the Hawkeyes and anecdotal references that are just plain fun to listen to, even if you're not an avid fan. Gary is a regular sportsepedia, too.

Speaking of guests, Ray Quint brought with him his pal, Jim Sykes. Get this. He introduced him as a "former drug dealer." Okay, his friend was a salesman in the pharmaceutical industry... drugs, yes, but not the recreational kind, a conclusion quickly jumped to by most in the audience. Anyhow, it caused a wave of twitters as you might expect.

In our weekly Fun & Frolic, hosted by Kevin Lynch, Gary was the go-to in case a table didn't know a Hawkeye sports trivia question. He was called on frequently, and he was correct on all but one question! But why are we explaining all of this. You can listen to Gary yourself and the entire meeting this week by pressing the green button above. By the way, the photos on this page are always linked to printable versions you can download for your very own. Above, top photo: Sitting next to Gary, is a super Hawkeye fan and another guest, Jack Kenna, who was brought to the meeting by Brent Johns. He got a place of honor at the head table next to his favorite broadcaster, Gary Dolphin. Such a nice gesture.

January 25, 2005: Mike Pratt returned recently from a Rotary International sanctioned trip to Lagos, Nigeria and the surrounding environs. The objective was to immunize as many children as possible in one of these last nasty holdouts for the vaccine. "Lagos is an extremely dangerous place," reports Mike. His party was almost never without armed guards. Religion and culture has prevented immunization efforts from the west until a vaccine could be manufactured in a Muslim country despite the fact that half of Nigeria's people are Christian. Nonetheless, Mike and his team of Rotarians accomplished their mission, and there were many tales to tell at this week's Rotary meeting. Mike was dressed to the nines in native costume, a beautifully tie-died and hand tailored ensemble, complete with hat, that is allegedly the thing to wear in that country's incredibly hot and humid conditions.

But don't take our word for it. Listen to the meeting and Mike's program yourself right now. The entire audio file is nearly one hour in length, but it's thoroughly entertaining. Or, if you have a nuculear powered computer with high-speed connection, you can download Mike's PowerPoint show and photographs. He included some of his best photographs (Mike is quite a good photographer and visual storyteller). This is a real treat. Click on the projectormat right to begin downloading the show which will deploy automatically in your browser with forward and backward controls. Be advised tht you should have a high-speed connection to even attempt to download this.

Check out Bob Rudzianski's Fun & Frolic gig (it's on the tape above and is available just by clicking on it. High speed Internet is recommended). Bob is arguably the best at this in the club, quite frankly. We could say Bob is the Johnny Carson of Fun & Frolic, but alas, Johnny died, God rest his soul.

Principal of the new Roosevelt Middle School is Dale Lass. Dale is the former principal of Washington Junior High (now Washington Middle School), and the school will be opening on time this coming fall. "Construction is on or ahead of schedule, and you can read all about it and see photos and a video on our website: www.dubuque.k12.ia.us/Roosevelt. Dales was a guest of Rotarian Gary Olsen

The Dubuque employees of Mediacom represented by their manager Kathy McMullen contributed this check for $500 to the Rotary Club to add to our total going to the American Red Cross of well over $5,000. Thanks Kathy and the employees of Mediacom!
Guests this week included Monica Vernon of the Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary Club. Obviously if she was looking for tips on how to run a boring meeting, she didn't find them today.
Bob Wasson, Sunrise Rotary Club, Fergus Falls, MN, is making attending meeting in Dubuque a habit. It's much colder in Fergus Falls. Dubuque is considered the equivalent of the Florida Panhandle to Fergus Falls residents who probably will be flocking to our Mississippi River shore by the hundreds now that Bob has shown the way. "The only problem with Dubuque," says Bob, "is a lack of $300,000 condos on the river front That would be the ticket." Upon hearing this, Loras Bleile immediately stirred from his afternoon nap.

Youth Hockey booster and Rotarian Bob Woodward brought one of the prizes for an event his organization is running that will include several pieces of sports memorabilia such as this football signed by University of Wisconsin Barry Alverez and Company. Talk to Bob about tickets for his event that's coming up shortly.

The foothball will be auctioned off in a silent auction at the ThunderBird games this weekend is a Rotary event (run and staffed by Rotarians) that the ThunderBirds are cooperating with. Youth Hockey isn't involved in this project.

If you want to promote something on this website, write it down or bring a flyer like the dudes below, and we'll put all the details here. Thousands log on to this website every week. You can either bring it with you to the meeting, give it to Gary Olsen, or e-mail it to golsen@dubuque.k12.ia.us. Just a thought. Isn't this a great photo of Bob, though?

Galena Rotarians, Jack Morehead and the president of Galena's club, P. Carter Newton, were on hand to sell tickets their Centennial Celebration that will be at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. The event is scheduled for February 23, (it's a Wednesday) 6 to 9 PM. Call 815-777-2290.

Brenda Dodge from the Iowa City Downtown Rotary Club came to the meeting to see how we run things. She can't wait to get back to Cedar Rapids to tell her compadres what great food our host hotel serves.
This is Stacy Beyer, a guest of Stuart Hoover's.
And Pauline Leboulenger, our Rotary Foreign Exchange Student from France, is planning an excursion to New York City for educational purposes, and she is raising a little cash among Rotarians for this enterprise. Here she is with her host, Tim McNamara, who extolled the virtues of having a student like Pauline live in his family's home. "She's simply wonderful!" He exclaimed. Tim encourages everyone in the club to give hosting a student a try. Incidentally, all the photos on this page are linked to enlargements suitable for printing. Just click on them, and they'll automatically download into your browser window from where you can save them to your hard drive.
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