MORAGA ROTARY

NEWSLETTER
October 20, 2015
NEXT MEETING: Oct 27, 2015
Noon - Soda Center, St. Marys College
Program: Devon Brogan:
Richmond Neighborhood Project
Greeter: Tony Schoemehl
~~CLUB MEETINGS COMING UP ~

*Nov 3 - Vi Ibarra: Autism Family Support Project

**Nov 10 Mike Marchetti: Streams, Fish, Salamanders
*Regular Noon Meeting

birthday today of her son . . . Michelle Robbins

gave $3 for the three relatives who visited her
recently . . . .Herb Wehmeyer gave $1 for the one
relative who visited him recently . . . Frank May
gave $2 for his celebrity son. There you have it.
Board action: The Club Board received an
additional $1000 donation to the Wildfire Fund
from Barbara Bruner, and voted to send $4000 to
Rotary Clubs in Lake County and $500 each to
Rotary Clubs in two other counties. Barbara will
be in Lake County next week to present the check.
Raffle: The winning green ticket was held by
Frank May, who picked the lucky white marble,
defying the 2:1 odds, and won the princely sum
of $228. That should keep him in Happy Bucks
for about 4.5 years or so.
~COMING EVENTS~

** Second Tuesday Evening

Dinner and reception with Rotary

International President K. R.
Ravindran of Sri Lanka: Sunday,
January 3 at the DoubleTree Hotel in
San Jose; $80. Moraga Rotary is buying
a table, so contact Cliff to be included.

Interact District Conference: On

Sunday, November 8th at Salesian High
School, 2851 Salesian Avenue,
Richmond (from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm)
The keynote speaker is Cliff
Dochterman. Cost is $15, including
lunch. Theyre calling it Chipotle and
Cliff Dochterman.

~CLUB MEETING ACTIVITY~

Todays meeting was opened by President Roger
with a loud bell ring (hes really getting into it now),
and Peter Metzger gave some suitable quotes as
the Thought for the Day.
Guests were: Stephen Kowalchik, old friend of
The Rajah from (where else?) Scranton, PA.;
Orinda Rotarian Frank Darling and David Van
Etten, our speakers; and Michelle Robbins, a
guest of the Club for the third time.

FUN AND FELLOWSHIP~

President Roger continues to whine about the big
check of recognition he had to write for his
anniversary and birthday in the same month, and
he got the usual sympathy from the members.
Three words, Rajah: Fine Free Hat. . . . Herb
Wehmeyers birthday was today, and received a
rousing Happy Birthday song from the Club, which
it was since HE has the Fine Free Hat. . . . Ron
Mucovich gave $1 for his sons college, Michigan
State, which followed their playbook and beat
Michigan in the closing minutes of their football
game . . . .Evie Michon gave $2 for the 51st

W
arriors End Polio Night Monday,
March 7th 7:00 pm at the Oracle Arena,
Oakland. Cost $55.

CHRISTMAS STOCKING PROJECT~

Signup time for the following:
Nov 7, 3-5 pm Decorate stockings at Juvy
Nov 22, 5 pm Pot luck dinner and stocking
stuffing.
Dec 24 Giving the filled stockings at Hall.

~PROGRAM~
Our speaker today was Frank Darling, an
Orinda Rotarian and perennial volunteer, along
with wife Rhonda, to help us with A Nite at the
Races, and David Van Etten, who served on
the Grand Jury with Frank.

The Grand Jury report devised a financial plan that

could save $100 million per year, but current
pension law and practice, plus political pressures,
make it unlikely to be adopted.
The countys pension fund contributions have
increased from $183 million ten years ago to $375
million now, and the percentage cost of the total
budget has doubled since 2000. Despite these
huge costs, the County has not challenged the
prevailing assumption that California law prohibits
it from negotiating reductions in pension benefits
for employees who entered service before 2013.
The Grand Jury believes that assumption is not
correct.

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

Frank Darling & David Van Etten

Frank and David were on the Contra Costa

County 2014-2015 Grand Jury, which consisted
of 19 people who served the people by
investigating several problems of interest, and
reported on many of them. Frank and David
wrote a report on the financial projections of the
non-security county employees pensions,
published it, and discussed the report with the
County Supervisors.

Oct. 30 TGITLFOTM at Irwins

Nov 7 Decorating Stockings at 3pm at
Juvenile Hall
Nov 21 Rotary Day at Golden Gate Fields
Nov 22 Stocking stuffing & pot luck dinner
Nov 27 TGITLFOTM social at ?? house
Dec 8 Moraga Rotary Christmas Party
Feb 10 Fab 5 Interclub Luncheon at Rossmoor
Mar 12 - A Nite at the Races Fundraiser
Apr 1-3 District 5160 Conference in Woodland

Scheduled Greeter/Invocators:
11/3 Debbie Roessler
11/10 Mike McCluer
11/17 David Kruegel
MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015-16

The intent of the report was not to reduce any

existing or promised benefits, but to provide a
financial framework to be able to afford such
benefits. Most current employees are on a
defined benefit system, where employees are
to be paid a certain calculated amount, and the
county has the responsibility to fund it
somehow. This system has required increasing
amounts of the County budget each year.
New county employees are on a defined
contribution plan, where the County contributes
a specific amount of money to an employees
pension plan, and it is the responsibility of the
employee to manage it prudently.

President.Roger Gregory
President-elect ..........Kevin Reneau
Past President.Debbie Roessler
Secretary........ .Kevin Reneau
Treasurer.... Lad Lynch
Community Service Chair......Barbara Bruner
New Generations....Rich Render
International Service Chair.Tony Schoemehl
Public Relations .. Gary Irwin
Membership.......... Frank May
Director at Large... John Erickson
Director at Large ..Marv Ellenberg
Director at Large Cliff Dochterman
Director at Large ...Linda May
President, Rotary InternationalRavi Ravindran
District Governor.Ken Courville
Assistant District GovernorMark Roberts
Newsletter Editor for October -- Gary Irwin