Rotary Club of Marana
President Holt rang in the meeting at the designated hour. We all rose in unison and recited the pledge. In light of our speaker being US Congressman O'Halleran, President Jo quoted the Happy Warrior Hubert H Humphrey when he observed " I have seen more (enter a lengthy list of platitudes here) in the halls of Congress than anywhere else in the world."
No song today and the die hard singers did not complain. It seems they have lost the battle. (There goes my sunshine, my only sunshine, it makes me happy when skies are gray).
Moving on, The Congressman did bring along two or three staffers, but I did not catch their names except for Max Oliver at the Constituent Office at Ina and Shannon.Javier has recovered nicely and there are no plans by the club to revisit The Village Inn anytime soon.
*******************TOUR DE COOKIE NEWS**********************
61 registered riders(180) last year. 13 Cookie Booths
Thirty families served by Jo and Denise at the Ortiz Clinic/Food Bank distribution center Tuesday. Thank you ladies.
Sad news-Lori Malagone is leaving Rotary.
Happy Bucks
John-Daughter's Birthday
Tony-Has no money. Ha, wait until he is married and kids. He'll look back on these days as rolling in the dough.
David-Enjoyed telling a falsehood to his kids. For several hours they thought the car was traveling to the Grand Canyon. At some point they figured out Lego Land was the destination.
Harold-Happy he figured out how to change Mary's email address on our website.NOTE-He was happy for less than a day. Down again.
Denise-Last weeks vacation
Benner-Putting a crib together not as hard as he had been told. Richie, you will not find that to be true in raising kids.
Randy-Marched for ending the gun madness. His first march since vets against Viet Nam war.
Denise raffle ticket drawn and there was much, dare I say giddiness in the room when she drew the Q of Clubs!
The Congressman took the stage and spoke of his 58,000 square miles of district. Twelve Indian tribes, Kingman, Sedona, Pinetop/Lakeside, Oro Valley, you name it he's got it.His background is unique in that he has been a bond trader, a cop, an elected Republican state official and an elected Demoratic US Congressman.
He spoke of:
Helicopters-we are losing some
Infrastructure Bill-Not happening
111 in session working days in Congress-Not enough to do the work
Loves Congress
Trade/Tariff Wars-Dan still not sure of what to do about steel contractor bids on the new school
Water-Twenty Lake Mead's worth of water in District 1 subsurface that could be brought to the surface with solar. We still got a problem and maybe a desalinization plant in the Sea of Cortez where the Colorado enters may be a good idea. No time to discuss subsidence or cotton subsidy/water consumption.
Cyber Security-ASU has a Cyber school and the Government and private industry must work together as Private industry cannot protect us alone
Medical- Violence in America, Opioid epidemic and 3-6 billions of dollars for mental health.