Welcome and good day to all Breakfast Rotarians. I am hoping this newsletter finds you all in good health and spirits. And I think spirit is what we all received last Wednesday morning at President Ron Nelm’s final program.

 

It is hard to believe a year has gone by. Ron has served us well and we will remember his service to our club for years to come. Now some things will be a little out of order in this edition and some of you know that as being “ass-backwards”.  Well, I thought it was permissible to use such vernacular since President Ron invited guest Beauford Schwartz to take the podium. Beauford was showing his a___, so there! More from Ron, or I mean Beauford later.

 

Please be advised if you don’t have the time, or desire to read the entire Beacon, know that President Ron’s demotion will be Friday, June 28^th and we want everyone of your pea-pickin’ hearts present. We want to give President Ron something he’ll never forget… See or contact Denise Haynes ASAP for reservations and details!   runnerchick1005@gmail.com

 

I served as co-conspirator with David Spalinger in the 10 for $5 ticket grab as Dan Johnson serenaded us with the Beach Boy’s California Girls. As you know we love guests and Marvelous Mike O’Doherty hosted CSUB Foundation representative Heath Niemeier, and Queen Jackie from traveling abroad brought her beau Tom Roddy. Welcome one and all!

 

Someone is celebrating a wedding anniversary and that would be none other than Darin Blunt. 20 years Darin! We admire you and what your family is doing to contribute to our Rotary Club, particularly the much needed calories from those Girl Scout cookies over the years. Congrats!

 

I am sure we are excited about the President Elect Nominee proposal Jeff Haynes, but he didn’t seem to be! He is the only one in the room who voted “Nay” at his vote of approval. Well too late now Jeff, you’re in! Officially! See what you get for being such a good guy.

 

Our guest speaker was the newly appointed Executive Director of the Kern County Farm Bureau Arianna Joven. This is Arianna’s first visit to our Breakfast Rotary club but she did not seem intimidated in anyway. Having to speak about a difficult topic, farming in Kern County, Arianna took the “bull by the horns”. That’s cowboy talk Beauford.

 

Arianna seems to be very groomed for this important position at the bureau. As a Cal Poly graduate, Arianna has held various positions as a field representative for local politicians, and a big part of her job is to inform and educate our local farmers of law proposals that may have consequences for their industry.

 

Arianna taught us all about the crops that make Kern County the leading grower and shipper of farm produce in the world. We all know in Kern County Beauford where grapes, almonds, citrus, pistachios, carrots and cattle come from. Noooo Beauford, not from the refrigerator, from our local agriculture industry… Farmin’.

 

What a lot of us do not always remember is that the vital resource of water is a necessity if we will continue to be leaders in this industry. Water management is cri-ti-cal! I know this because even in my office our water attorneys feverishly represent our clients in the course of ensuring their accessibility to sufficient, and heavily regulated water. Water that comes to Kern County according to Arianna through the State Water Project and Central Valley Project is regulated, and with the addition of SGMA regulations that will take effect in the year 2020, farmers will be directly in the crosshairs of this law. In essence, SGMA is the acronym for the state regulation of our ground water reserves. I will bet we will hearing a lot more about SGMA as we draw closer to regulation compliance.

 

Hey here is a test, if you can be the first person to tell me at our next meeting the answer of how many farms are family owned in Kern County, I will personally give you a prize. Yes, it pays to come to meetings, read the Beacon, and pays to pay attention.

 

Beauford, does that make sense?

 

This Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing with our President Ron has me freaked out. Prez Ron does Beauford so well. Too Well! Well at least Beauford was generous enough to express gratitude to all those that served on the Board and in various other capacities for our club this past year. The recipients received spiffy Rotary coffee mugs and Dewar’s Chews. Beauford don’t need no “teef just gums” to enjoy them there chews…eh boy! Oh yes, Rotary District Governor Sandi Schwartz was watching the whole episode that Michele McClure was posting live on Facebook of Beauford. See it is fun to be the President. 

 

This week’s winner of the 50-50 was Ken Quarnburg, again. Okay two weeks in a row. So, I promise if Ken wins next meeting I will report to his place of employ and spend 3 hours testing some of the new equipment that is received in his latest shipment at his shooting range. Ah, somebody’s gotta to it.

We are dark for the next two weeks, and when we reconvene there will be a new regime.