Wednesday’s meeting started with a hearty handshake and greeting from both Ron Nelms and Dr. Joe Nunez.  While Ron was handing out drawing tickets, Dr. Joe was checking teeth (at least mine).  With a furrowed brow and a disapproving look of disgust, Dr. Joe finally let me pass. 

 

President Kay started off the meeting with her trademark “way too much enthusiasm for this early in the morning” as Susan Searey readied herself to give a remarkably poignant invocation.  Senator Steve Shayer led us in the salute to our nation’s symbol of freedom.  Not surprisingly – not one Rotarian took a knee, as we all stood tall as proud Americans.  Stand-in Songmeister Mike Stepanovich (he may even be better than the real one), led us in the patriotic song “America the Beautiful”.  Dave Spalinger introduced the visiting Rotarian – Mike Chertok.  The additional drawing tickets awarded in the “Voices of Angels” competition went to everyone sitting with Wyatt Ward.  Who didn’t see that coming?

 

President Kay announced Past President and Honorary BBRC member Carl Leech is suffering back pains with calcified disks in his back and requested we keep him in our thoughts and prayers.  She then gave the crowd permission to put the brakes on her anytime she hits “Hyperspeach” while leading the meeting.  Hyperspeach is a form of super-accelerated speaking that is only audible to people with “Bionic Ear” hearing aids (available for $29.95 only through this special TV offer – thank you Lee Majors) and can only be understood with the assistance of specialized equipment.  I just want to pause here and personally thank the late Steve Jobs for having the forethought to include a slow motion video feature on my iPhone, without which I would have had to fabricate the entire record of this meeting (what can I say; I’m a slow listener).  After reviewing the video I discovered we actually received 19 hours of Rotary information condensed into 1 single hour.  I have to tell ya, President Kay is an amazing leader.  I only wish I could listen fast enough to understand what she’s saying.

 

Our guests Wednesday were Nick Morse from Merrill Lynch, who was Pat Thompson’s guest and Jerrad Collup who - no surprise here – was the guest of Becky Brooks.  Rotary anniversaries included Dr. Joe Nunez, who has been with us for 29 years (way to go, Dr. Joe).  Ken Quarnberg - was asleep and went into full panic mode when he heard his name and anniversary used in the same sentence.   Once assured he had not forgotten his wedding anniversary it was discovered Ken has been a member of BBRC for 17 years – although he was only awake for 5 of them.  Our own Frank Wooldridge has been a shining example of a Rotarian with BBRC for 8 years.  Our only Rotarian birthday this week was Penny Fulton.

 

For Happy Five Spots, Heather Ward paid $20.00 to announce her husband Paul had had surgery and is doing well. Ron Nelms came back from Minot ND where he had gone to help celebrate his grandson’s birthday.  For this, Ron paid $20.00 and a bag of plastic eggs.  Marianna Buoni travelled to see Dave Price in Virginia and brought back a University of Virginia T shirt and paid a $20.00 fine.  Mike Arriola announced he is now engaged to his fiancée, Candy and is planning a wedding on December 3^rd.  For this, Mike paid $50.00.  Dan Johnson took his wife, Char to a meet and greet with Chris Isaac.  Boom!  Another 20 bucks!  I’m hoping President Kay has a program lined up in the near future covering what Happy FIVE Spot actually means.  The sad fact is:  we plain folk just can’t afford to be happy anymore.  (n.b. from Kay (while sighing)- Oh Ken,  did you miss it is just a "happy spot" or if you prefer "happy bucks"? Isn't it wonderful Rotarians have events in their lives that enable them to be happier than the cost of Starbucks grande caffe mocha? Please share you happiness with us!)

 

Dr. Joe Nunez jumped back into the spotlight with a 29-year track record of officiating local football games.  In last Friday’s game, Dr. Joe threw 5 flags which somehow cost him $20.00.  I see the cost of dental work going up in the near future.

 

Bill Black reminded us of the upcoming Pine Mountain Club social this weekend.  On the docket are nature walks, cocktail hour(s), food and more cocktail hour(s), followed by stargazing, cocktails, guided and unguided snipe hunts (burlap bag included), a chance to watch some of the mountain folk run nekkid and drink moonshine while rounding out the evening with a nice nightcap for the trip home.  Bill mentioned there is an alternate itinerary for those who may not wish to descend the mountain with a higher octane rating than their vehicle.  It’s mostly the same except with about three fewer cocktail hours. 

 

For Youth Services, Bobbie Hake travelled to Golden Valley High School and reported the kids are excited about the upcoming school year and have scheduled a highway cleanup for Saturday, September 24^th at 7:30AM. 

 

The wonder team of George and George (Mike and Shari that is) thanked those who were on hand to help with the Wounded Heroes fundraiser, stating there were over 1800 lunches served.  They also mentioned the need for school supplies for The Seal Center – dig deep, we’re changing lives here!

 

The fundraising twins Mike Stepanovich and Frank Wooldridge mentioned we have received $1,500 toward our fundraiser, so far, and stressed the need to sell tickets.  Frank mentioned he has a system for having someone take you to lunch and then asking them if they would also buy fundraiser tickets (there is a slight possibility I may have confused a fact or two here).  Teresa Waller stated she had a verbal on her tickets and all 5 are now sold.  She was immediately overwhelmed by Rotarians shoving tickets into her pockets asking her to “work her magic” on their tickets as well.

 

On a sad note, Randy Merriman has transferred to West Rotary as his morning schedule has gotten busy.  Gail Braze has taken a leave of absence, leaving open the much coveted position of newsletter editor.  President Kay is looking for a Rotarian to fill the void.  She did stipulate however, it should be someone who at least can distinguish fact from fantasy – which automatically disqualifies last year’s editor.  Liz Rozell’s husband, Paul is having a rough time following surgery and President Kay, with a heavy heart, announced the recent passing of Past President Ray Geigle.  Ray had a tremendous influence on our club and stoked the Rotary fire in many of our members.  Sadly, he succumbed to cancer on September 2^nd. 

 

With all of the club business wrapped up, it was time for our program.  Leslie VoVilla introduced our speaker, Linda Parker.  Linda gave an interesting presentation on the subject of renewable energy in California as it relates to the new energy standards imposed by our California Legislature.  Linda stated Kern County is blessed with 5 sources of renewable energy:  Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Water and Biomass.  I was a little confused however.  Everyone knows the biomass flows to Kern County from Sacramento, but I’m not sure where the water is.  According to Linda, Kern County is currently developing wind farms with the ability to produce 500 kilowatts which are transferred via underground lines.  Over the last few years the wind turbine towers have grown from an average height of 75 feet to new towers, up to 275 feet tall – with blades over 100 feet in length!  Solar energy is also taking room on the 500kw lines as the solar farms increase in size. 

 

Linda stated even the developers of renewable energy sources face challenges in obtaining the permits needed to bring such sources on line.  Condors in California have telemetry which can shut off turbines if a condor is in the area.  Wind turbines must be designed and built with golden eagles, desert tortoises, condors and even endangered Bakersfield Cactus in mind.  If that isn’t enough, some of the best wind farm areas are off limits because the military claims the airspace from ground level to infinity (that’s really way up there).  Through careful negotiations, Linda said Kern County windfarms have been able to secure airspace in selected areas up to 500 feet.  In California, Kern County is currently largest county utilizing renewable energy.  With the increases in renewable energies, these developments are now able to start returning money back to the communities in the way of grants for community projects.

 

As time ran out on this fascinating presentation, it was time for the drawings.  Ron Nelms won the mystery gift card, while Mary Jo Pasek took the Rotary Pop Up.  The 100 Paul Harris Fellow points went to Samy Abiaoui. 

 

As President Kay rang the bell to close the meeting, she left us with a quote by Thomas Edison:  “I never failed once.  It just happened to be a 2000 step process.”

 

Next week’s speaker will be Karen Goh.  Karen will be the first of the two Bakersfield mayoral candidates to speak, followed by Kyle Carter the following week.