Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.

The Kiwanis Club of La Cañada meets every Wednesday at Noon
Visitors are Welcome

Van de Kamp Hall in Descanso Gardens
1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada, CA 91011

Upcoming Events

April 8, 2009
Rody Stevenson - Hydrogen Cars
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

April 15, 2009
David Dreier- US House of Representatives
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

April 22, 2009
Dr Arnold Bresky – Brain Tune Up
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

April 29, 2009
Flintridge Prep Key Club Takeover
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

May 6, 2009
La Canadian of the Year
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

May 13, 2009
LaCanada High School Key Club Takeover
Wednesday Lunch Meeting @ Van de Kamp Hall, Descanso Gardens

May 7, 2009
Club Board Meeting, LCF Community Center- 7:00 PM

Kiwanis Board Of Directors Meet The First Thursday Of Each Month
At The La Cañada Community Center– 7:00 Pm
February 5, March 5, April 2, May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3,
October 1, November 5, and December 3.

Click on the following button to view
the long term calendar

TRAVELOGUE SCHEDULE

April 28 Corscia and the Riviera Stan Walsh
May 16 Cruising Russia Clint Denn

OPENING

Ed Moulton leads all to singing a rendition of “God Bless America”

Gigi Schueter leads the Pledge of Allegiance

Norman Johnson provides an invocation with the theme about the origins of April Fools Day. It all comes down to the confusion about the dates due to the transition from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Tom and Meredith Reynolds are to be honored as La Cañadans of the Year

Howard Backer reminds all about the Cal-Nev-Ha Kiwanis Doctors

and to drop a donation in the cans located on the tables.

Board meeting to be held April 2 at the community center. (cancelled)

Community center will have e-waste collections all day on Earth Day. Donate all your unneeded electronics.

Nick Berkuta, interclub chair, announces Congressman David Dreier will be our guest speaker on April 15. This is a collaboration with the La Canada Chamber of Commerce.

Union Street School reading opportunity with the help of Kiwanis Wendy. (Editor’s note: Wendy’s last name escapes me.)

Wendy also wishes to offer a Chihuahua that she is unable to keep.

Brian Fuller announces a tea party rally to be held on the steps of city hall in Pasadena on Saturday, April 11, 12:30pm -2pm. Guest speakers include Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, former talkshow host John Zieger, and Brian Fuller himself.

Diane DellaValle announces the activities of the nominating committee.

Frosty Boyd provides us an update on members of our club. Al Thomas is mentioned. (Editor’s note: my apologies regarding the details.)

Ed Moulton expresses his profound thanks for celebrating his life and achievements.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Tom Slaughter has not six but twelve “terrific kids”. A rainout had brought us a doubling.

Isabella Austin brought her sister and dad. She enjoys math, piano and is working on her bronze award in girl scouts. Isabella is a terrific kid.

Rodrigo Torres brought his mom. He enjoys math, science, golf, chess and piano. He is a friend to all. Rodrigo is a terrific kid.

Noah brought his dad. He enjoys the outdoors, motorcycles, violin, guitar, math and is a boy scout. Noah is a terrific kid.

Kayla brought her mom and dad. He is an avid reader and is a member of the book club, Math and gymnastics are her favorite interests. She is a girl scout pursuing her bronze award. Kayla is a terrific kid.

Todd Murray brought his mom and dad. A member of Peacemakers, Todd is on the student council, plays football and baseball. He is involved with the children’s program at the Presbyterian Church. Todd is a terrific kid.

Jeade (name?) brought her mom. A member of the orchestra, she enjoys math, science and speech/debate while also playing basketball. Jeade is a terrific kid.

Haley brought her mom and dad. A sports enthusiast, she is a bronze award recipient in girl scouts, aspiring to be a marine biologist. Haley is a terrific kid.

Sam Brown brought his mom and dad. Sports is a passion of his. And when he is not playing baseball or football, he can be seen flyfishing or working on cars. Sam is a terrific kid.

THE PROGRAM

Bill Watts is our program chair. This week we were pleased to meet Charles Bausback, resident of La Crescenta, and researcher for Huell Howser’s California’s Gold. Originally a resident of New Jersey, he and his family moved out west for health reasons. The story is that La Crescenta was the best place for those seeking a respite from germs. The logic behind it is that La Crescenta has quartz rocks which reflect ultraviolet rays upon the surface sterilizing them free of germs. Admittedly, that is a tall tale of dubious medical value. His travels to California were perilous. Roads were nearly non-existent. New Mexico had been a challenge to traverse with the Rio Grande wiping out any passable roads during flood stage. At one point, the local Red Cross reported the deaths of his family. Their appearance before the Cross quickly put an end to that erroneous report. It wasn’t just the roads that became a challenge but also the dialects. They found themselves as Easterners puzzled by the pronunciation of Spanish words. They had no idea Junta was pronounced with an H. Quick on the spot was his father’s retort, stating that they were from New Hersey.

Speaker Charles Bausback

Charles explains his association with Huell Howser. Huell wanted to get beyond the local news of KCBS and explore the stories of regular Californians. Videologue was the genesis that lead to California’s Gold. Charles is an explorer. He travels the backroads of California to towns such as Volcano. The trips to Gold Country bring about a heightened interest to Huell and also folks at Huntington Library where Charles had participated as a docent. He tells us of the sixteen to one mine where an ingenious idea was pursued to extract gold from a once thought exhausted mine. Use metal detectors. The gold miners had no idea that they were passing by a huge nugget of gold at the entrance of the mine. But beyond the use of the mine for the precious metal, it also served as a perfect site for musical performances. The acoustics are perfect. A sound man from San Francisco was amazed at the perfect conditions.

The stories of Black Bart who was a stagecoach robber that enjoyed loquacious banter were also mentioned. He sure enjoyed the moment where an elderly woman was able to take on the robber with her own quick wit. Of course this recreation was not real but some on the tour were fooled. Stories of how the Yosemite Firefall came about. It came about from a lazy ranger who dumped the embers over the cliff and did not realize that the tavern below would have witnesses amazed at the sight. It became a regular feature.

Charles Bausback has stories to tell and we welcome them. Thanks to Charles for speaking before our club.