THE LAKEWOOD KEY

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Went the Meeting…..

Zooming began precisely at 12 noon on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, with the erudite conversation between Carole Wier and Greg Rediske. Carole is coming out west for two weeks, possibly in May, and will be attending two of our meetings in person! There’s a heat wave going on in Wayzata: 44 and sunny. She loves her Zoom Rotary meetings, but is having trouble with her printer. Greg has Covid, 10 days running. Yuck. Phil Eng joined the high-falutin talk with news of their April 23^rd departure from Indio. Then came David Swindale who has carpet people in the house. John Magnuson was next up, and all erudite conversation came to a close. Perhaps because he’s Swedish, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that it occurred because his Excellency the Mayor of Lakewood and President of Lakewood Rotary politely told us to shut up: all that excellent conversation was putting too high of a standard out there for the remainder of the meeting.
But wait, thought bulletin-writer-by-Zoom Rediske: there’s hardly anyone there at the meeting! Half of the attendees are Zooming! That will mean that there will be a tremendous influx of bulletin readership by those not attending! My hands started to sweat and my eyes bulged and my nose ran (though the nose part was because of the COVID)…..until I realized that there’s no reason to be nervous. I can make it all up as I go, and no one will be the wiser. Whew! Just like a regular bulletin!


Above: Barlow got us thinking about justice

Barlow Buescher gave the thought for the day, prodding us to consider who we will be in order to create more justice in the world. Those wise words were followed by the Pledge, perhaps led by Hank Kerns. Tom George got the main credit for the sound set up, Barlow was at the $2.00 table, Gary Fulton and Joel Vranna were collecting Paul Harris funds, and Walt Richardson was taking photos with his 55-pound camera. Ron Irwin introduced Brennan Lowry, long-time Lakewood-ite and potential member (we hope). Jim Weinand introduced wife Jennie, while El Presidente recognized Puffins Hank Kerns, Joel Vranna and Dick Ferrell. Eric Warn called upon Steve Mazoff to report on seeing Ed Shannon, who is in hospice at home. John Lowney and Jim Rooks also visited Ed, and he is most open to visitors: just call first. Jayne Shannon will be undergoing shoulder surgery.

Paul Harris: There were to be seven presentations, but only Gary Fulton was in the house. Gary is a major, major donor. So major you can’t believe it. (To Ole: That’s “major, major”, not Major Major Major of Catch 22 fame….)

Above: Major Donor Gary Fulton

Rose Stevens took the podium to ask for approval of $3205 of Club money for a water project in Nepal that will service a town of 700. The request was approved unanimously. Over $60K is involved, with participants from Rotary clubs in Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Nepal, and Districts 5030 and 5020 (and RI, of course).

And now for some more news, timely or not……

Famous Lakewood Rotarians: Christopher Kimball
From the TNT, March 25, 2003
“Drummers to target polio, world record”
Tacoma financial adviser Chris Kimball’s “special job” at weekly Tacoma Rotary meetings is keeping time during the national anthem. This week he’s parlaying that into something a bit bigger: helping eradicate polio worldwide by breaking the Guiness record for the most drummers performing together on sets. He’ll attempt it at a “concert” in a Tacoma Narrows Airport hangar, led by Seattle Symphony’s leader, Gerard Schwarz.
The record to beat is 120 drummers, and as of last week more than 60 had signed up.
“When I first joined Rotary 3 or 4 years ago, I didn’t know what it did except fix up parks,” Kimball said. “I found out it has been fighting polio since the 1970s. It looks as though by the year 2005, they will have done it, and polio will be 100% eradicated from the planet.”
Rotary International has already raised $400 million, and estimates needing $80 million more.
Before he had kids 10 years ago and “got a real job,” he was a professional drummer in jazz and gospel bands, even once performing as a guest with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.
Radio personality Pat Cashman, whom Kimball knew from his pro drumming days, agreed to emcee. The radio stations donated $25,000 in advertising. The rock stars---Alan White (Yes), Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), and Mike Derosier (Heart)---cleared their schedules.
“We still need more drummers, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to do it,” Kimball said. “This is like a snowball rolling down a hill now.”

Chris, 2023: The first year we got 264 which broke the record by more than double.
The next year at the Tacoma Done we had 502. The largest was in 2006 at Quest Event Center with 534. Birmingham, England broke our record a few years later with something like 585, then in 2012 China broke the record with 1200 (!) kids playing matching drum sets while wearing matching uniforms, too, I believe. You can see that on YouTube.

However, for two of our Woodstick events we used a webcam to connect our event with 14 other cities across the US and Canada and coordinated over 1400 drummers playing simultaneously. Unfortunately, there was no classification at Guiness for that so it never made it into the record books. I am looking into doing a 20-year anniversary Woodstick this year.

Famous Lakewood Rotarians: Stephen Mazoff:

Steve’s cousin is Jeff Barry, who wrote some of the most memorable songs of the 60's
"Tell Laura I Love Her', 'Da Doo Ron Ron', 'Be My Baby', 'Baby I Love You', 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy' and the Archies’ classic "Sugar, Sugar"

Originally setting out to be a recording star, Jeff Barry became one of the most respected pop songwriters within the Brill Building complex of the '60s, not an easy accomplishment considering the fact that Barry's in-house competition included Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Neil Sedaka. A struggling New Yorker, Barry's fortunes changed considerably when he met his future wife and songwriting partner, Ellie Greenwich, at a party in 1962. Within a short time of teaming up, the duo had an appointment at Don Kirshner's songwriting factory, New York City's famous Brill Building. Ushered into the business by Leiber & Stoller, Barry and Greenwich began writing and arranging for the groups signed to Phil Spector's Philles label. The smash hits "Da Do Ron Ron" and "Be My Baby" resulted from the time spent with Spector and, by 1964, Barry and Greenwich were an integral part of the staff at Leiber and Stoller's newly formed Redbird Records. Largely regarded by pop aficionados as the mecca for the "girl group" sound, the staff at Redbird, which also included producer George "Shadow" Morton, produced tightly crafted, musically sophisticated songs that were the pop equivalent of the kind of rock operas the Who would later write. The Barry/Greenwich-penned "Leader of the Pack," with its revving motorcycle engine and girlish screams of terror, was a fine example of the songs that the label was crafting at the time. Barry and Greenwich continued to write hit records throughout the '60s, such as the seminal "River Deep, Mountain High" and the Beach Boys' 1969 hit "I Can Hear Music," their songs changing with the times, but still retaining the essence of their earlier Brill Building days. After the marriage broke up, their creative partnership did as well and while Greenwich went on to become a session vocalist, Barry became a staff producer at A&M Records. Throughout the '70s, he worked with Neil Diamond, the Monkees, and Van Morrison, among others.



Photo: Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich Courtesy of Greg R.

Steve says, “No autographs, please.”

And Lakewood Rotary itself is famous! See the article written by Leanna Albrecht in the CPSD Inside Schools magazine:

https://app.eduportal.com/share/bbb53db2-cf0d-11ed-88ba-06c64aa3b8d4

And now, we bring you back to our regularly scheduled meeting….
Past President, Past Assistant Governor, Past District Governor but still number one in our hearts, Greg Horn recognized dates of significance in the absence of virtually all of the people aligned with the significant dates. It was, as alluded to, a light turnout. Birthdays went to Betz, Clapper, Edgecomb, Irwin (Donn), Livingston, Titus, White (Bill) and Williams. Marlin, Saalfeld and Spriggs are all 7-year Rotarians, Prentice is at 17 years and Kimball at 22. On the marriage front: Bob Cammarano has been married for 68 years to Stacia!

Aloha and Generous Giving:
Donn Irwin, $100 ($5 for his birthday, $95 for 38 years of marriage to Debbie)
John Magnuson, $39 for Bonnie’s 39^th birthday.
Bill Potter, $50 for being on the winning side of marriage (to Sue) and with First Citizens Bank, which recently completed their 22nd bank acquisition since Bill joined the company. Coincidence? I think not….
Tom George, $100. Tom recently met a fellow Rotarian with whom he had a lively conversation about fellowship among other things. Days later, Tom learned he had died. Tom accidentally dialed his phone and ended up talking at length to the man’s 22-year-old daughter, which became a satisfying and emotional conversation. Bravo, Tom.
Joe Quinn was MIA, meaning Kris Quinn was able to join the Rotary ski vacation solo. She had a good time, so Joe paid $10. Aghast, Steve Mazoff called Joe “cheap”, and chipped in an additional $10 because having Kris was a delight.
Lastly, Mary Horn paid nothing for announcing the Ladies Night Out event on May 5 at Farm 12. An early Mother’s Day gift, all???


Above; State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti

Program:
The good mayor of Lakewood introduced the 24^th Treasurer of the State of Washington, Mike Pellicciotti. Mike was elected in the 2020 election after serving two terms in the State House. He is a former Fulbright scholar, which according to Jason pales in comparison to his being educated at Gonzaga. After directing praise at our own superb treasurer, John Lowney, he noted his four job oversights:

1. Manage $35B of investments
2. Manage $22B (bonds) of debt
3. Monitor $1/3T in cash flow yearly
4. Participate in financial policy management, including $180B in pension fund oversight.

Mike was quite proud of shepherding five bills through the legislature this session dealing with modernizing and improving previous money management policy rules. A key role for him is advising the legislature on all things finance, particularly: 1. Pension management (Washington ranks either #1 or #3 in the nation for pension management); 2. Debt service ratio---keep it at 5% or below; 3. Replenish the savings (10%) that were spent during the Covid crisis. Washington’s credit rating is AAA, reaffirmed recently. Questions:
Bob Martin: Change the name of Tax Increment Financing: it has nothing to do with taxes! Mike said, agreed, let’s call it TIF.
Chris Kimball/Jan Gee: 7% Capital Gains tax: what about it? Mike responded that he encouraged the delay of implementation until the legal results came in: which was decided at the State Supreme Court. He doesn’t expect a US Supreme Court challenge to markedly affect it.
John Magnuson: What about funding on PERS 1 and TERS 1 (oldest pension funds)? These are the least funded (65%), but are not in danger, said Mike. The overall strength of pension funding allows the Board to use a good balance in investments, including real estate and other long term investments.

Joe Quinn: Thanks for the LOCAL funding help available to local governments and especially fire districts (Joe’s particular interest).
Bill Potter: Security and fraud risks? Mike’s department checks weekly with federal authorities (FBI, etc.) to access potential dangers. They do deal with 20-25 fraudulent checks/payments every month.
Excellent work, all. Does my heart good to know we have such smart people in this club to ask such intelligent questions, demanding good answers.

And the winning ticket for the drawing went to: Troy Wilcox! $5.00! (not $630)

Steve Martin:
"Boy, those French—they have a different word for everything!"

And lastly, from the Post Meeting Peanut Gallery:
“For those who haven’t heard PP and Secretariat Greg Rediske, Commissar of Lakewood Water District, is being recognized today as the Lakewood Washington Honored Representative for National Beer Day. He comes to this honor through decades of attention to the consumption of beer. Let’s hear it for Greg!” (Ole)
“I couldn’t be hoppier to hear this!” (Steve Saalfeld)
“I can barely contain myself with joy for GR. I almost had a malt down.” (Donn Irwin)
“Oh Donnnnn and Steve! You are true BUD ing punsters!” (Ole)