Friday, October 8

Sarah Culberson

A Princess Found & The Kposowa Foundation

This Friday, September 24

Judge Jim Gray

Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed.

The Measure to Legalize and Tax Mari-

Friday, October 1

James Hirsen, J.D., M.A

Hirsen on Hollywood

Rotary Club of Los Angeles

Est. 1909

www.rotaryla5.org

2010-11

Number 9

September 22 El Rodeo

The ninth meeting of the one hun-

dred and second year of the Rotary

Club of Los Angeles began with a trib-

ute to LA5er Roy Dahlson, given by

his good friend Denny Dynes. Several

dozen LA5 members attended his

beautiful funeral mass at the San Fer-

nando Mission Church.

President Gerry introduced our

speaker, Dr. James Boswell, and

other members of the House team,

including LA5er Stan Augustine.

Erick Weiss again appealed to LA5ers

to bring prospective members to the

reception September 28 at LA LIVE.

President Gerry offered timely obser-

vations about our opportunities and

duties as Rotarians. When life gives

us lemons we will make lemonade,

adjusting gracefully to every experi-

ence. (continued on page 3)

Can You Hear Me Now?

More Teachable Moments

President Gerry Turner greats Dr. James Boswell,

CEO of the House Clinic and the House Ear Institute

Contents

President’s Letter Page 2

Club Leadership 3

Meeting news (continued) 3

LA5 & District Events 3

New member, Joy Stanley 4

Our last speaker, Dr. Jim Boswell 4

Dick Ferris, LA5er, LA Booster 5

Who was Dick Ferris? More next week

Rotary and El Rodeo 5

International, Hiking, Wine Tasting 6

First LA5 stories in the LA Times 6

Candid photos 7

House of Rotary Mardi Gras Event 8

2

I don’t think it is too early

to begin promoting the 2011 Rotary Interna-

tional Convention in New Orleans from 21-25

May!

Many of you attended the Convention held

here in Los Angeles in June 2008. This was

the third convention to be held in Los Angeles.

The first convention in LA and the 13th Rotary

convention was held in 1922. It was at this

convention when the name was changed from

the “International Associations of Rotary

Clubs” to Rotary International. The second

convention in LA was held in 1962. All three

conventions had an event at the Hollywood

Bowl.

The Rotary experience is much more than at-

tending the Friday meetings. Being a volun-

teer on community and international service

projects will broaden your experience.

Through hands-on work you will have “Rotary

moments” when you look into the eyes of a

child getting a Polio inoculation; or looking

into the face of someone who got a wheel-

chair and independence after being carried or

carted by relatives all their life because they

had been disabled since birth.

Attending a Rotary Convention will bring to

realization the “international” in Rotary Inter-

national. You see thousands of Rotarians and

their guests from all over the world dressed in

their native garb and representing countries

all over the world. Plenary sessions are in-

vigorating with top speakers and great enter-

tainment. Visiting the House of Friendship,

you will see projects that Rotarians all over

the world are working on, and there are many

fellowship, eating, drinking and shopping op-

portunities. And, of course, there are the

Host Events and Hospitality that takes you to

local entertainment venues and into the

homes of hosting Rotarians.

District 5280 Clubs are actively exploring the

possibility of going to New Orleans as a group

by Amtrak train, possibly joined by Clubs from

other Districts, and picking up other Rotarians

all along the route. Party on!

After 2011 the conventions will be held in

Bangkok, Lisbon, Sydney, San Paulo and Seoul,

respectively. So after New Orleans, the next

RI convention in the U.S. will be Atlanta in

2017.

One really does need to plan ahead to get the

current $300 registration rate. That is $60 per

day! Local amusement parks cost more than

that per day. After December 15th the rate

goes to $340 and to $380 after March 31st.

Getting a reservation for a hotel is also impor-

tant ... sooner is better than later.

Let’s all go to the Rotary Convention Mardi

Gras in New Orleans!

Yours in Rotary service,

Gerry

President’s Message September 22, 2010

3

(continued from page 1)

Our Rotary values of Service above Self

help us heal our own hurt and help us

heal the hurt of others.

The week before, Diane Netzel asked

LA5ers to buy raffle tickets for The Ro-

tary Foundation Mardi Gras Celebration November 7.

She told of places she and Past Rotary International Director Paul

Netzel have visited, where children, deprived of sustenance and

opportunity, have benefited from the generosity of the Founda-

tion. Of our $60,000 goal for The Rotary Foundation this year, “it

will take all of us together to

make it happen,” she said.

(See Mardi Gras flyer, page 8.)

Rotary Club of

Los Angeles Est. June 25, 1909

Club Leadership President Gerry Turner

President-Elect Megan O'Rourke

VP Program Chair Jay Richardson

Secretary Christina Chanpong

Treasurer Don Robinson

Immediate Past President Marc Leeka

Club Fellowship Carol Shafer

Elizabeth Wheeler

Communications Noble Trenham

Funding Art Kassel

LJ Rivera

Diane Netzel

Membership Jon S. Gibby

Barrie Segall

Christina Hurn

Jose Rivera

Service Projects John Langfitt

John Green

Gus Oppermann

New Generations Margaret Todd

Alan Bernstein

Sergeants-at-Arms Anthony Bourg

Anthony Calloway

Robert Donahue

Executive Director Jon S. Gibby

jon@rotaryLA5.org

Executive Administrator Jennifer Gregg

Rotary Club of Los Angeles Office

900 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 418

Los Angeles, CA 90017

Telephone 213 624 8601

Fax 213 624 2694

Website www.rotaryLA5.org

District 5280

Governor Doug Baker

Website www.district5280.org

Directors:

John Green

John Langfitt

Diane Netzel

LJ Rivera

Barrie Segall

Carol Shafer

Margaret Todd

Alan Bernstein

Christina Hurn

Art Kassel

Gus Oppermann

Noble Trenham

Jose Vera

Elizabeth Wheeler

LA5 Events

Sept. 24 Regular Meeting

Judge Jim Gray

“Why Our Drug Laws Have

Failed and The Ballot Measure

to Legalize and Tax Marijuana”

Sept. 28

Membership Reception

5:30 pm at the Lucky Strike

Lanes & Lounge at LA LIVE!

800 W. Olympic Blvd

Complimentary Hors d’oeuvres

No Host Bar

RSVP to Kate Rosloff:

krosloff@marchofdimes.com or

(213) 637.5035

Bring a prospective member!

Oct. 1 Regular Meeting

James Hirsen

“Hirsen on Hollywood”

Oct. 8 Regular Meeting

Sarah Culberson

"A Princess Found and

The Kposowa Foundation”

Oct. 15 Regular Meeting

District Governor Doug Baker

and Club Assembly

Oct. 21 Evening Hike

Griffith Park Watch for news

from the Hiking Committee

District Events

Nov. 7

Save the Date!

Paul Harris Foundation

Mardi Gras Celebration

House of Blues, Hollywood

8430 Sunset Blvd.

West Hollywood

(Please see flyer on page 8)

Feb. 17-21, 2011

District Dominican Republic

Humanitarian Service Trip

(Details on District Website)

Above: Diane Netzel on The Rotary

Foundation’s Mardi Gras, Nov. 7.

Left: Roy’s Dahlson last Rotary

photo, here with Ninon De Rosa,

June 11, 2010.

4

A Tool to Get New Members

Two postcards, each with a

unique message. Conveniently

pocket-sized, upbeat, colorful

and informative. They give mem-

bers a chance to pass along an

invitation to prospective mem-

bers when the opportunity pre-

sents itself. The reasoning: you

never know when the right can-

didate and the right moment will

strike, so be prepared to give a

prospect their first connection to

LA5.

We have plenty of both cards

on hand at the registration

desk. Keep one or two in your

coat, case or bag, ready to pre-

sent like a business card at a

business or networking event.

The cards have meeting informa-

tion on the back, including our

presence on social networking

sites Facebook, Twitter and

LinkedIn, a familiar and conven-

ient touch point with many up

and coming professionals.

Created by LA5er and graphic

designer Howard Schneider.

Dr. James Boswell

PhD & CEO of the House Ear In-

stitute and the House Clinic.

Dr. Boswell explained the out-

standing work of the

Clinic, founded by Dr.

Howard House, an ear,

nose and throat specialist,

nearly seventy years ago,

and the research Insti-

tute—”two Houses under

one roof,” dedicated to

helping people hear —

“from the work bench to

the bedside.” Among its

other innovations the Institute

developed the first digital hear-

ing aid.

Dr. Boswell discussed the prob-

lems of returning veterans—up

to 30% experience hearing loss—

and children exposed to high

decibel MP3 players, whose

hearing problems he said, are

“completely preventable.” Five

billion dollars are spent annually

on just the hearing problems of

children one to five years old.

The Clinic today has eight ear

specialists and a neurosurgeon.

The Institute has nearly 200 re-

searchers and other profession-

als. The two work together for

better hearing health.

A New Member

Please Welcome Joy Stanley

Joy Stanley (B.A., UCSD; J.D., Loyola Law School)

interned with the Honorable

Richard Denner in the Los An-

geles Superior Courts family

law division and since 1992 has

exclusively practiced family

law, specializing in complex

marital and domestic partner-

ship litigation and mediation.

Her practice is largely devoted

to mediation with both

spouses or domestic partners

hiring the firm to handle their

entire matter from start to finish without ever ex-

periencing a courtroom. She is an expert in alcohol

and substance abuse issues as they relate to cus-

tody and misappropriation of community funds. She

is an avid supporter of changing the evolution of the

field of family law toward mediation and resolution

outside of the courtroom.

Joy volunteers for the Westside Children's Center,

an organization that provides support for families

and children in need in our

community, and supports

several youth mentoring pro-

grams in the Los Angeles

area. She supports several

non-profit drug and alcohol

rehabilitation facilities in Los

Angeles, such as the Clare

Foundation and Friendly

House.

Joy Stanley was sponsored by

Bruce Murdoch, here shown

pinning her with a Rotary pin. Her father has been a

Rotarian in San Francisco, she said. She has been

interested in joining herself for several years. She

has a “lifetime interest in service, helping people in

need.”

5

Two (rather academic) Questions:

Ever wonder where El Rodeo comes from? Or for

that matter, Rotary?

It all goes back to Latin, naturally. Rota was

wheel in Latin and roto (infinitive, rotare) meant

rotate. (Well, a lot farther back than that: hro-

teh meant wheel in some language spoken long

before Sanskrit.) Around 1800 rotary came into

use in English. A century later the Rotary Club

took its name from the fact that the early Chi-

cago members held their weekly meetings at

their businesses, rotating each week to a differ-

ent location.

Latin rotare emerged in softer forms in Spanish

as rodar and rodear. The first means rotate, the

second surround. Rodeo came from rodear, the

place where the cattle were surrounded or

“rounded up.” So Instead of rotating among

members’ offices, Rotarians in Los Angeles usu-

ally met in one set place.

Rodeo is one of a bunch of cowboy words that

came into Southwestern English from New World

Spanish. Other examples are lasso, pinto, lariat,

chaps, buckaroo, bronco, desperado, mustang,

poncho, corral, ranch and stampede. We’re in

good cowboy company. Rodeo mostly refers now

to a rough and tumble cowboy competition.

According to Club Historian John Schmid, in 1927,

the Club had a Rodeo, at that time a “stag outing

for members only,” at Fryman’s Ranch, featuring

baseball, three legged and sack races, horseshoe

pitching and other contests, followed by a dinner

barbecue.

Curiously, a common meaning in Spanish of

rodeo today is evasive speech, that is, speaking

in a roundabout rather than straightforward way.

If you say something “sin rodeos,” - without

beating around the bush - you speak the way we

want El Rodeo to, though its name may suggest

otherwise.

Ever wonder where El Rodeo goes?

So do we. Does anybody ever read it? (Why are

you still reading it?) Why don’t most LA5ers read

it? What should we stop doing and what should

we start doing, to make El Rodeo deserve read-

ers? Let’s hear, por favor, sin rodeos.

Rotarians Who Made a True Difference

As a founder and director of

LA5, Dick Ferris had a bold

imagination. In 1910 the city

was looking for new ways to

fuel its growth and prosperity. The Los Angeles

Harbor had just been finished, with its massive

breakwater. The Owens Valley water project, rival-ing the Panama Canal in scope, was under con-

struction. Civic leaders thought that with our favor-

able climate and wide-open spaces, we were an

ideal location for the new aviation industry. What we

needed to do was to promote our advantages.

On September 11, 1909, the Los Angeles Herald

headlined: “Rotary Club Starts Fund to Bring Great

International Aviation Tournament to Los Angeles,

With Money Already Pouring In.” It went on:

“Aviation received a big forward impulse in Los An-

geles when Dick Ferris addressed the Rotary Club

on the possibilities of securing the second annual

international [aviation] contest.” He urged that

efforts to secure it be made by a united effort of

businessmen generally, without the least interven-

tion of profit for any individual.

A site and date were selected - Dominguez Hills,

January 10-20, 1910. Promotion began. Organizers

invited pilots of monoplanes, biplanes, balloons,

and dirigibles. Forty-three aviators would compete

for $75,000 in prizes. Grandstands for 60,000 and

an aviators' camp were built.

As it concluded, the LA Times called it "one of the

greatest public events in the history of the West.”

A quarter million tickets were sold. Streetcars from

downtown ran every two minutes .

It was the first international aviation meet in the

United States. Among the records set:

• a new air speed record of approximately 55

miles per hour,

• a world long distance record — a round-trip

from Dominguez Field to Pasadena, and

• A one hour, 49 minutes endurance record.

LA5’s Dick Ferris was the leader among the many

boosters who brought aviation to Los Angeles.

By Club Historian John Schmid (adapted from El Rodeo of March 26, 2010). See LA Times article on page 6. More on Dick Ferris in the next issue.

6

Hiking and Wine Tasting Bob Firring & Mike Hainkel, Chairs

The next event will be an evening

hike at Griffith Park, October 21.

(The moon will be full the next

night, at 6:38 pm, October 22.)

Said Mary Forgione in a posting to

the Los Angeles Times, “hiking at

night in Griffith Park is an open

secret: Those who discover it be-

come hopelessly addicted. I am

forever dragging potential con-

verts along with me, hoping to

hook them with the lure of aston-

ishing city views and a heart-

pounding workout. Over time, the

park has become my personal out-

door gym, my dirt treadmill, my

trail time to catch up with

friends.” Google the laparks.org

website for more information.

Among hikers and tasters on the

September 4 outing at Will Rogers

State Park were Carolyn DeVinny

and Mark Gordon, Bob Firring, Jon

Gibby and wife Deborah, Mike

Hainkel and wife Jill, Nancy How-

ard, Don Robinson, Steve Schultz

and daughter Taryn and friend

Ray Salinas, and Brad Turner.

Food for Thought

ROTARY CLUB’S BANQUET

The annual banquet of the Los Ang-eles branch of the National Rotary Club was held last night at Levy’s. Covers were laid for 100 members. W. Ora Morton was toastmaster. John W. Mitchell, who spoke on “What Los Angeles Needs,” and Charles Wel-bourne on “Is the Present Administra-tion Conducive to the Best Interests of Business?” Capt. A. E. Mueller’s sub-ject was “Aerial Navigation.” The Rotary Club was organized one year ago and now numbers 175 members.

Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1911

ROTARY JINKS

The first annual high jinks banquet of the recently organized Rotary Club was held last evening at the Gamut Club. One hundred and fifty of the 200 members were present. Charles F. Edson, president of the Gamut Club, was toastmaster.

Los Angeles Times, Feb. 5, 1910

INTERNATIONAL

AERO CLUB ENLARGES PLANS

FOR BIG AVIATION CONTESTS.

[……………………………………..] Dick Ferris, since his return from the East, has interested himself in a winter aviation contest, and if he so requests, the aëro club will ask for sanction from the national body for such an event. He has interested the Rotary Club in the project and about $2000 in subscriptions were taken yesterday.

Los Angeles Times, Sept. 11, 1909

THE CITY IN BRIEF

NEWS AND BUSINESS

Consolidation the Topic

At a luncheon of the Rotary Club at the Hollenbeck yesterday the guest of honor and chief speaker was Oscar E. Farish, Democratic Mayoral can- didate. His address was devoted chiefly to consolidation. R. P Pro- basco, vice-president, spoke about the chances for trade with the west coast of Mexico and Central America, in connection with the free harbor project.

Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1909, its first reference to the Los Angeles Rotary Club Italics added

News of LA5 Committees

LA5 Kodak Moments! Please review your LA5 photos for the year and

submit the “BEST OF 10” for a PowerPoint presentation at the Club As-

sembly on October 15. Each photo should feature at least two members

of LA5 and catch the spirit of the Club. Email them to Marjorie Heller at

2MarjorieHeller@gmail.com by October 8th Thank you!

International Service Rita Lee, Chair

SAVE THE DATE! February 17th-

21st, 2011. Join District 5280’s

humanitarian trip to the Dominican

Republic. Our base will be Santi-

ago, where LA5 will sponsor a pro-

ject to provide insulin for diabetic

children, distribute wheelchairs

and take part in several other pro-

jects. Participating members and

friends will visit projects, attend

evening fellowship events in his-

toric locales with local Rotarians

and take fascinating day excur-

sions. You can extend your trip to

visit world-famous beaches, like

Punta Caña or Puerta Plata. The

Registration Deadline is October

15th. Airfare, hotels and meals

will cost $1,600. For more infor-

mation or to sign up, contact Rita

Lee at ritaasialee@gmail.com

(or Elsa Gillham at

elsa@larchmontdatainc.com).

Experience Rotary fellowship and

help others in great need.

7

Denny Dynes delivering a moving tribute to Roy Dahlson, who passed away

September 7, before Christina Cham-pong and President Gerry Turner

Below, Past President Ben Tunnell

Photos by official LA5 photographer Tony Medley

Above: the Real LA5 meeting. Below left, Carole Donahue (with Bob Donahue in the background)

Above, Erick Weiss, pitching the Membership Reception September 18

Right, Eleanor Van der Ahe and Ninon de Vere de Rosa. Right, be-low, Jim Balbin and

Jim Simonds

Above, Executive Director Jon Gibby and President Gerry. Below, Past President Kathy Turner, Nila Barkley,

Beth Lochmoeller and Bill Lake

8