July 2, 2010  Volume 90, Number 01

ROTARY'S FOUR WAY TEST "Of the things we think, say or do: 1. Is it the TRUTH?  2. Is it FAIR to all concerned? 3. Will it Build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

JULY - POLIO ERADICATION AWARENESS MONTH

Greeters were Jeff Peterson and Marcia Baragary.

Inspirational Moment was provided by Ray Fields saying "A Rotarian is an ordinary person who believes that 'Service Above Self' is more than an ideal - it is a belief that transofrms an ordinary person to an extraordinary member of the world community."

 

Flag Salute was led by Van Keck

President Bruce Dickson introduced Al Owen, filling in for Darrick Price.
Maureen Chapman and Jack Price were off celebrating their birthdays.

 

Paul Elias acknowledged both his birthday, which was awhile ago, and his 16th wedding anniversary with checks to both the club and to Rotary International.

Brandon Malloy and his wife are celebrating 2 years of marriage.

 

Abraham Hanson’s Vocational Talk:

Abe is a 28 year old criminal defense attorney, practicing here in McMinnville. He said that when he was young he wanted to be doctor, but since he’s no good at math or science…it pretty much had to be law school!

He’s a “fan” of the constitution and the rights of the individual—he feels his work protects those rights for all of us.

Abe has been married to Sarah for six years and he has two children. He has four siblings—two of them brothers who are entering the law profession, as well.  His wife’s family is also filled with attorneys.

Abe says he loves doing jail visits in the evenings, though it makes a long day and keeps him away from home quite a bit. He meets interesting people he wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to meet. But his favorite part of the job is the time he’s in court with is clients.

He attended Brigham Young University before leaving on a two year mission to Brazil for his church. He spent three weeks in a Portuguese language “crash course”, and then headed off to Sao Paulo to begin his work. Sao Paulo is a city of 30 million people and once he spent seven hours trying to just get across the city. (And we complain about our traffic!)

Brazilian society is very stratified—there are the very wealthy and the very poor and almost no middle class. Abe attributes this to the education system. The free State colleges accept only the best-prepared students, who also happen to be the wealthy ones. So the poor students’ only choice are the expensive private colleges—out of reach for poor families. This class oppression perpetuates the system.

After returning from Brazil, Abe spent time in Mexico and picked up the Spanish language, which helps immeasurably in his work with Spanish speaking clients. The clients he represents often come from countries with vastly different judicial systems and Abe appreciates the opportunity he has to “shepherd” them through our legal system.

While in México, Abe became involved with an ecology group in Baja—the group tracks the migration patterns of different species. After he and his wife were married, they spent two months in Mexico with the group. They made a Spanish-language educational film to be shown in the Mexican schools—about responsible and sustainable commercial harvesting practices. Abe said Sarah is a very good editor. He said they’d like to get back to Baja once or twice a year—whenever they can get away.

When Abe was quite young, his dad said it was time for him to get a job. Dad, Eric Hanson, drove him around to construction sites until he found a contractor willing to hire him. The whole time he was in high school and college, he worked summers for various construction companies. He’s grateful for the experiences he had and he feels that work was invaluable for developing his work ethic. One of his projects was a group of 15 beach houses over in Netarts. He also built large horse arenas with custom built trusses to support the large structures.

Another of Abe’s interests is gardening with his children.  He grew up on a 40 acre farm in McMinnville so he’s no stranger to growing things and finds it relaxing to putter among his vegetables. He also loves bicycling—when he attended Willamette University  law school, he RODE HIS BIKE to and from his classes each day. He admits to owning 10 or 11 bikes now and calls it an addiction.

At the conclusion of Abe’s presentation there were several questions from the audience. When he finished, President Bruce said Abe was supposed to sign the book for the Early Readers’ Program and of course he’d get to keep the Rotary pen—but there was no book, so he’ll have to sign it later.

 

 

President Bruce Dickson asked Jeff Sargent, chair of the 2010 Uncorked Auction, to give a status report of the event. Jeff said we still have tickets—we aren’t at 300 yet. Kelly Odegaard, Volunteer Coordinator for the event, said that if anyone wants to volunteer or usually volunteers but hasn’t yet mentioned it, to please let him know so he can plan the work load.

President Bruce spoke about his theme for the year. His goal is to enhance the vitality
of the club and keep it viable in changing times. He says we have the opportunity to address and alleviate the root causes of problems both in our community and in the global community. Our best days are ahead of us as a club. We are fortunate to be Rotarians and to have the support of 33,000 clubs worldwide joining together to make the world a better place.

Norm Goss reminded the club about the many make-up options available online. In keeping with our international theme for the year, he said there are numerous opportunities to participate in e-clubs. You have to stay logged on for at least 30 minutes for it to count as a make-up. There’s incredible diversity— and it’s a great way to see what other clubs are doing!

After asking the club to “feed” the little red baskets for the polio eradication fund, President Bruce thanked Ken Till, Johannes Goddik, and Ray Fields for set up and tear down of the meeting space.

And he gave a special thanks to Ray Fields for the slide show presentation before the meeting. The slides are from the Rotary International Convention in Montreal last month.

 

Meeting Make-up Options Onlinee

"When meeting day comes around, I do not have to decide whether to attend or not, for that has already been decided for me . . .
it was one of the obligations I accepted when I joined Rotary." -- A Rotarian 

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