The Wheel Las Vegas Rotary Club newsletter, 1977-1978

Zone, District Meets To Be Held Here Las Vegas has been selected as the site of both the district and zone con-ferences of the Rotary club, it was re-ported to the board of directors fol-lowing the 1977 district confab in Palm Springs recently. The zone conference, which is sec-ond only in importance to the interna-tional convention, will be held here starting in January at the MGM. Dele-gates from all of the western states will be in attendance and all of the southern Nevada clubs w i l l play hosts. President Dave Welles, president-elect Jim Corey, Don Ashworth, Darrell Luce, Scott Wallace, Dick Relyea, Dick Basile, Jack Cord, Robbie Robertson and Irwin Kishner represented the Las Vegas club at the confab. President Dave met with Clem Re-nouf, one of the upper echelon in the international field who will be presi-dent of the Rotary club organization in 1979, and while it has been deter-mined the 1981 convention will not come to Las Vegas, it is hoped that one later in the decade will be available. There were not as many honors passed out to the Las Vegas club this year, but the locals did collect the certificate for club development and membership and it was accepted by Robbie Robertson. The annual Las Vegas reception was held poolside during the governor's party and was given high praise from the delegates. The Cross Fire group, which has entertained local Rotarians over a period of years, performed for the affair and received great applause. - Rl - Door-to-door salesman to youngster sitting on front porch: "Is your mother home?" Youngster: "Yes, she is." Salesman (after knocking half a dozen times): "I thought you said your mother was home!" Youngster (skipping off): "She is — but this isn't my house." - Rl - Home: a place teen-agers go to re-fuel. Two Rotarians Are Leaving the Club The Las Vegas Rotary club is losing two members who have been quite active over the past several years. Jack Kling, who has been in and out of the hospital during the past few weeks, has turned in his resignation, effective March 31. Jack was quite ac-tive in scheduling baseball and foot-ball trips for the Rotary members and his loss will be a great one. Christ Brandt has asked for a six months leave of absence, but the board felt it would be better for him to resign, for the time being, and his classification will be held open until he makes up his mind on his future moves. Chris gave the press of business as his reason for the action. - Rl - Two Club Members Honored At Meet The Las Vegas Rotarians were hon-ored at the meeting last Thursday when they were presented with cer-tificates for their devotion to the ten-ets of Rotary. The first one went to President Dave Welles and the second was presented to Irwin Kishner. The certificates were signed by Rob-ert Manchester, president of Rotary International, and Paul Lippold, dis-trict governor of District 530. - R l - A4afee Up Delinquent List Is Growing The non-make-up list continues to grow, according to our secretary, Jan, who reports there were 26 absentees on April 7 who failed to do their Ro-tary duty. On the list were Harry Allen, Black, Blackmer, Hal Boyer, Butler, DeLong, Fong, Geskes, Gedance, Isola, John-son, Kellogg, and Kroplin, McGrew, McNamee, Mi-trani, Neustrom, Ordonez, Pico, Robin-son, Shelton, F. Smith, Wandesforde, Wawerna and Willis. Get on the stick, fellas! Immigrants Provide Patriots To Rotary Scratch an immigrant and he bleeds red, white and blue. This truism was displayed last Thursday when the Ro-tary club was entertained by the sto-ries of six members of the club, all of whom are foreign born. There was an underlying theme to all of the tales, and that was the Unit-ed States is the greatest country in the world and none of those who partici-pated in the program regretted his move to this country. PETER WILSON, who emceed the program, declared that all of those who spoke came here by choice and that the immigrants, no matter where they are, stand first in patriotism and in the voting record. He said the most enjoyable aspect of life in the US is to be able to enjoy the friendships made in Rotary. WING FONG was the first speaker and he related the fact he was born in Canton, China, and came to the US in 1939 out of the rice fields of China. He was unable, at the time, he said, to speak a word of English, but was turned loose in the public schools to do the best he could. He learned Eng-lish in the Fifth Street grammar school, and after high school he went to Woodbury Business College. He re-turned to Las Vegas, got a job as a bookkeeper and while he was estab-lishing himself, his wife, Lily, became the first oriental teacher to be hired by the school system. He said it was a long way for a buffalo boy from the paddies to journey, but he was con-vinced America still is the land of op-portunity. MAURICE GEDANCE said he came to the US in 1928, and while he was proud to be a native Swiss, he none-theless got one of the big emotional thrills of his life when he passed the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. He said it took some time to learn the language and customs of his new country, but he started drifting west and finally wound up in Las Vegas. He said he knows the value of the United States and it still is the best country in the world, bar none. The citizens of America are among the very few living in freedom. DR. JULES JENSEN was born in Co-penhagen in 1898 and left Denmark some time later, believing that he would have more of a chance of suc-cess in a larger country. He went to London first, but a strong feeling that the world was steering a course to-ward communism caused him to leave England and come to America in 1924. He said that, in spite of all the diffi-culties one experiences in the US, there always seems to be someone who will help in solving the problems. He said he was most grateful for this fact and said Rotary was one of the finest experiences of his life. HANS GESKES came out of the low-lands of Europe and wound up in St. Louis f i l l i ng soap barrels for a mere pittance before he realized the free enterprise which was offered here. He declared the US offers equal opportu-nity for all, and Las Vegas, he said, was the greatest and most different place to live. He urged the member-ship to fight socialism and make sure to vote and support free enterprise. ANGELO MANZI said he was born near Lake Como, in Italy, and came to the US with his parents when he was a year old. Members of his mother's family urged the Manzis to come to the US and they found their way to Lyon county, where they settled on a farm near Yerington. He said he came to Las Vegas to get away from the small town and has been exceedingly happy in Las Vegas and delighted with the United States. PETER WILSON closed the program by declaring that England is nearing communist state and he is very happy he left. He went to India and while there he found his treasure, married her and came to the US. He said the US still is a democracy, without social-ism of any form and the citizens would do well to protect the freedom with which they are endowed. It was an interesting program and turned into one of some patriotic tinge because of the feeling these immi-grants have for their adopted country.