Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Tony Hunter asked yours truly to lead in the Pledge. Again today thoughts were not requested from the attendees, however there was music in the air. Thanks to Lynne Tony played Jingle Bells in a key unknown to most of us therefore we can blame, er, credit Tony with the questionably melodious result. Generally speaking the words in the refrain were recognizable.
 
Tony advised all that next week is voting for officers and our Christmas Party. The following week we will meet at Jackpot Veterinary Center owned and operated by member Beckie Penman's daughter, Karla Lombana. Location is 6745 N La Canada Dr. The following two weeks are Christmas and New Years Day and we will be dark (no meeting).
Maeve let us know that honoring Bush "41 the stock market will be closed 12/5/2018. She believes this is the first time this has ever happened.
Roadrunner Hockey this Friday will benefit the needy so bring food and toys. Ten percent of the gate will go to The Rotary Foundation. This event is organized by Stacy Fox the current President of Oro Valley Rotary.
 
Happy Bucks
John-slayed a 14 point buck, the biggest in his 49 years of helping Illinois with their whitetail problem. Saved a car.
Beckie, Denise, Mary and most everyone happy to welcome two representatives of the AZ Air National Guard as our speakers today.
Randy-announced the new member recruiting award of a Paul Harris Fellow was given to Tony and Denise. Congratulations to you both.
Richie-Happy about Kettlecorn and his niece (there was a connection here, but I missed it) and for his attendance at the "muster" Air Force and Army Guard Units at Kino over the weekend. Our guests were happy to learn Richie was among the 4,000 attendees.
No raffle this morning due to no cards. We had numerous decks of cards donated to us a year ago, but they disappeared when a past president who shall go unnamed cleaned out our cabinet.
 
Joke Off
I know most of our usual readers will doubt my assessment of today's Joke Off, but I am tellin ya I think Maeve and Lynne could rival some of the entertainers from the Borscht Belt of old (look it up young'uns). Genuine and loud laughter followed both deliveries. In fact the laughter during Lynne's delivery was explosive. True, it was mostly her laughter, but I am sure the joke was hilarious from what I could hear between Lynne's uncontrolled bouts of spasmatic laughter as she delivered her lines. The joke is too long to repeat here, but I can say it involved a dog named "coffee break" and the impugning of government workers everywhere.
 
Not to be outdone, Maeve came up with what may be the best of her career. Seems as though there are reasons the flight  tower asks pilots where they are from when they ask "what time is it?" Now I could tell you the punch line(s), but then the readers who did not attend the meeting might think there is no downside to sleeping in. Let's just say it was very very funny and just a good thing there were no army guys in attendance.
 
 Next Bob Bishop introduced Army National Guard Commander Andrew Day MacDonald and his companion a Brigadier General in the Tucson Army National  Guard. The local guard trains pilots on the F-16 and the Reaper from numerous countries all over the world. Specifically they are now training pilots from  Iraq and Kazakhstan. Their are 8,200 guardsmen in AZ.
 
 
 
Seventy percent of these Citizen Airmen are full-time and thirty percent part-time. Recently they were able to assist with the California wildfires to assess and deliver information to the fire fighters on the ground of the fires path and growth. The Tucson base is close to 100 acres has, I believe, seventy F-16's. The economic impact on Tucson is judged to be 383 million and the 162 Wing of the Tucson ANG has a 98 million dollar annual payroll. Many thanks to Bob Bishop, who was able to arrange for these two men to speak to our club. They even offered that there may be a way to give us a flight simulator experience to maybe raffle or help in some way to raise funds for our charities.
 
Board meeting at Dooling's office tomorrow at 5:30 pm. All welcomed.