THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Anyway...Mark liked it!

Mark Roberts said something that Jimmy Johnson said before, but I couldn't bring myself to write down the ravings of a helmet- haired former Dallas Cowboys coach. Something about looking at a person, not as who they are, but who they can become?

VISITING ROTARIANS

Alicia Cragholm - Lafayette noon club

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

Peter Herland, who some years ago came all the way from Norway to be Buddy Burke's roommate in college (well, that's the claim, anyway).

George Figone - Neighbors Cal Lee and Chuck Yeager finally talked him into coming for breakfast

Mariam Worsham - Chuck Yeager's reason for living

Chris O'Keefe - Acalanes High School, and one of our Camp Royal attendees this summer

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

"B&A for two hundred, Alex."   "And the answer is: These Lamorinda Sunrise Rotarians all had the good sense to remember their spouses' birthdays and their pockets were appropriately picked this week.  Oooo, it looks like our champion was the first to buzz in." "Who are George Chaffey, Hays Englehart, and Bob Riegg, Alex?"  "Correct. Pick again."

Alex knows Alex!

"I'll take B&A for four hundred, Alex."  "And the answer is: Four years and two days ago, this Lamorinda Sunrise Rotarian was officially inducted into said hallowed organization.  And this our challenger is first on the draw."  "Alex, I'll say: Who is Alex Arnold?"  "That would be correct."

"And now for Final Jeopardy.  Our category is - Lamorinda Sunrise Kids. Final answer: Katie Rose Ware.  Good luck, contestants." <Musical interlude> "Times up.  Let's go to our reigning champ.  Your question is: Whose 15^th birthday was this week's excuse for fining Steve Ware yet again?  That's right.  You win again.  Tell our other contestants about their lovely parting gifts."

INSERT YOUR FAVORITE "TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE" QUOTE HERE

Are we having fun yet, Thomas?

President Peeks obviously paid close attention at the PETS seminar on "How to Stay on Target fro Fining When Your Year is Coming to a Close and You Have Run out of Ideas How to Separate Your Members From Their Cash."  This week, he had a Badge Sale.  Howzit work, you ask?  Find three members who for reasons known only to themselves decided not to wear their badges today.. Chuck Yeager, Krysten Laine and Thomas Raeth will do.  Then, fine them $5 a head for their absence of ID (although Herr Raeth did have a badge that said "Thomas", but it also said "Black" instead of "Raeth," so he qualifies).  Add to that another $5 from Tom Black for having his name on Raeth's badge (which, of course, wasn't true and wouldn't pass the Four-Way Test), but the club is broke and Peeks is obviously grabbing at $traw$.. Then, just for giggles, crowbar another five-spot from John Fazel. Not that any reason is needed, but it was because His Deposedness-To-Be made some crack about Walt Nelson's not having a badge.

CAMPERS ALL SELECTED AND READY TO ROLL

The line-up is set for this year

David Waal announced that our Camp Royal and Camp Venture campers (two each) have been selected. In addition to guest Chris O'Keefe, Gillett Johnson's daughter Tessa will also be attending this excellent camp that allows its attendees to spend a week in the Trinity Alps learning about leadership and, more importantly, their own potential.

Camp Venture is aimed at developing students who have an entrepreneurial bent,. Brennan Quinn will be attending along with another student whose name I could not catch over the rabble's rumblings.   

All four of the campers we are sponsoring are Acalanes juniors, and all four have no idea what a grand experience awaits.  Thanks, Dave, for heading up the effort to find four worthy campers.

PAUCITY OF WINE EQUALS PLENTY OF WHINE

David Waal also reminded us to bring in our bottles of wine.  We are each to bring in one bottle of wine.  Good wine.  As in $30 per

Please join our Gala Party now!

bottle minimum.  (And no, 15 bottles of Charles Shaw is not an acceptable substitute.  And don't even think about bringing in any Night Train.)  All such bottles will be auctioned, used as prizes in a game of skill, or otherwise used to raise funds at the Motorama Night-Before Gala.  Santa Dave is keeping a list, and he is checking twice.  "Naughty" is a no-no on this list.

ARIANNE IN ACTION

Still enjoying the year with us

The Bolivian Bombshell wished us all a Happy Earth Day.  She also reports that (1) she had fun at the Prom and (2) none of the D's were violated.  Yes, it is possible for both to be true, you cynic.  She had dinner with her host families. Sounds as though a splendiferous time was had by all. 

Arianne also wished Happy Birthday to her Dad (April 20) and her brother (April 22).

SPEAKING OF MOTORAMA . . . .

Who invited Charlie's "vintage" buick?

Hays Englehart showed he is not just a pretty face by passing out cards to leave on the windshields of cars we see that we think ought to be in Motorama.  Excellent idea. 

Krysten Laine showed and distributed the posters for this year's event.  They look great.  She also showed us pictures that look like the shirts we will be selling this year, as opposed to the shirts the Kool Kids -- meaning us -- receive.  A lively discussion ensued as to whether

Visible signs of great progress

the blue shirts we get this year are Dodger Lasorda's blue (completely unacceptable) or UCLA powder blue (cool beyond description or argument).  This reporter claims total and unimpeachable neutrality on this matter. 

Dennis Kurimai reported on his latest successes in getting sponsors and also on the too-cool-for-school auction item he scored; an all day race day at Infineon Raceway from Audi.  You get instruction, behind-the-wheel time in an Audi S4, and then more behind-the-wheel time, only this time in an R8, which is Audi-speak for "car that you will kill yourself in if you aren't suitably prepared."  Way to go, Dennis.

WHO IS THIS PAUL HARRIS GUY, AND WHY DOES HE KEEP HANDING OUT PINS?

Paul Harris is regarded as the founder of Rotary, Back in 1905  he got three other Chicago businessmen (yea, verily, all men - it was deemed OK then) together for lunch.  From such humble beginnings grew Rotary International, the Rotary Foundation, 33,000-plus clubs and 1.2 million members in 200-plus countries around the globe. 

When a Rotarian has given a total of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation, he or she is recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow, as a symbol of that Rotarian's support for the good works Rotary and the Rotary Foundation do.  A special pin is part of the recognition. Each additional $1,000 donated is recognized with a Paul Harris Fellowship pin encrusted with ever-increasing numbers of jewels to symbolize that Rotarian's continued and growing support.

Major congratulations Krysten!

So today, our Man What Am concerning Paul Harris Fellowship recognitions, Cal Lee, awarded a Paul Harris Pin + Emerald to Krysten Laine in recognition of her having donated another $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation and all its excellent works.  Thank you, Krysten.  Your donations (and those of other Rotarians everywhere) help literally millions of people around the world in ways we may never know, but from which everyone on Earth benefits.

THE BANNERS KEEP COMING IN

Dennis does it all

Dennis Kurimai brought a new banner to join our many others.  This one was from the La Jolla Sunrise Club.  Dennis reports that they, like us, are a pretty lively bunch.  This Club also has multiple Members with connections to Jonas Salk Institute.  Dennis learned that Jonas Salk was not just a guy who invented polio vaccine and made some bucks off it.  It turns out that the Institute not only bears his name, but also was funded by him.  He bankrolled the faculty, he recruited leading researchers and scientists, he set the pattern for what the Institute is today, a leader in scientific and medical research that holds out hope for too many people to count who suffer from more diseases and conditions than we have room for.  Thanks for the banner and the update, Dennis.

PROGRAM: PROMOTING READING IN JUVENILE HALL

You'd think that none of the kids in Juvenile Hall would give a fig for reading and the library.  You'd think that the kids who have had run-ins with the law would think books are for sissies.

You'd be wrong.  Today's speaker, Brian Lindblum, showed just how wrong.

Great work Brian

Mr. Lindblum is a Commissioner serving on the Contra Costa County Juvenile Justice Commission, the folks who oversee the County's juvenile justice programs.  The library is most certainly not the only program aimed at giving the kids at Juvie the best possible chance at not coming back (or, worse yet, graduating to the County Detention Facility or State Prison), but it is no doubt one of the most popular with the kids.  It is a flatout success, and Mr. Lindblum wanted to share that success with us.

Make no mistake, Juvenile Hall is a jail for youth.  Most of them are between 14 and 18.  The Juvenile Hall in Martinez is divided into six housing units, with 20 to 30 kids per unit.  This facility is used for "pre-disposition" cases, meaning the case has not been adjudicated.  Once the case has been adjudicated, the kids go somewhere else, including the other CoCo County youth facility, the Orin Allen Boys Ranch in Byron. 

The youths at the Allen Ranch are required to attend school.  The assumption, one borne out by the data, is that the best way to direct kids away from a life of crime is to get them educated.  So school is mandatory.

Supporting the idea that education, and literacy in particular, is the key out of crime is the popularity of the library program.  The Betty Frandsen Library at the Martinez facility is open four days a week and has a full-time librarian.  In addition, each of the six housing units has its own mini-library, with selections that rotate around each of the units.  The Orin Allen Boys Ranch library is smaller and is only open 2 days a week, It is staffed by volunteer librarians.

These libraries may vary in size and staffing, but they all share one trait - they are extremely popular with the kids.  At the Martinez facility, on the average day, 80% of the population has at least one book checked out and 42% have a book on hold at the library.  At the Boys Ranch, 95% of the residents have a book checked out on the average day and 26% have a book on hold. 

But making books available in a passive way is not the only thing going on here.  Volunteers mentor kids one-on-one to help them develop their Internet skills.  The library staff teaches groups of residents general library moxie, including skills exercises (cleverly disguised as mildly competitive games). 

And then there are the Late Show Readers.  Volunteers read aloud to the residents around bedtime over a public address system.  Reading aloud?  For teenagers?  Yes, and it is a hit.  A startling number of the residents report that no one has ever read aloud to them before.  Put simply, they like it.  A lot.

An equally startling number of the residents have never before read a book all the way through.  For most of them, that changes at Juvenile Hall and at the Allen Boys Ranch.  As a group, these kids are voracious readers.  Granted, the library has a captive audience (pardon the pun). But since they have no access to TV, video games, or much else in the way of entertainment, reading is pretty much the only game in town in terms of free-time fun. 

And boy, do they take to it.  Mr. Lindblum reports that, on his regular inspection visits to the Martinez and Byron, he routinely asks residents what they like and don't like about the facility they are in.  Most rate the library and its programs near the top of the list of good things, second only to the food.  (Mr. Lindblum reports that the kids are fed pretty good food.) 

Mr. Lindblum also described the impressive variety of other programs put on by the library staff. There are author visits.  There are guest visits, including celebrity visits and talks by practitioners of various professions who talk to the kids about what they do and what it takes to go into that line of work.  There are summer reading programs.  There are poetry and art contests.  Some of the poems are published and read in the community.  For the past three years, there has been an Artist-in-Residence program, in which visiting writers, visual arts and performance artists work with the kids to help them find their own voices, be it literally or figuratively.  Many Juvenile Hall or Allen Ranch residents have found a new and powerful way to express him or her self in an art form via the encouragement of an experienced practitioner of that art form. 

So how can you help this great program move forward?  Mr. Lindblum offered several ways.  You can become a 3T "Tech for Teens in Transition" mentor.  You can volunteer to be a Late Night Reader.  You can shop at the "Hall Closet," the library program's thrift shop. 

Of course, there's always cold, hard cash.  Donations are needed to pay for pretty much everything except the librarian's salary (that is already covered).  Or you can check the library's Amazon.com "wish list."  To learn more about this wonderful program, to sign up for volunteer duty, or to make a donation, call 925-957-2704 or go to www.ccclib.org. 

Thank you, Mr. Lindblum, for telling us about this valuable program.  Many of us may not have heard about it before, but we certainly are very pleased to know it is real, and making a difference. Our tax dollars unquestionably at work, and working successfully.