Next Meeting - Tuesday, May 20. The speaker will be George Archibald of the International Crane Foundation. We all have read some of the info on how hard they’ve worked to keep the whooping crane species going, and now we’ll get some of the details. Like using an ultralight aircraft as flock leader. SAL AL-ASHKAR is the Program Host. Wonder if the pilot looks like Big Bird?

At our last meeting, Pres. DON NEVIASER presided, located JIM SCHUTZ to lead the song, and PHIL INGWELL gave the invocation. No guests. STEVE BRIGGS commented that we needed a pitch pipe - STEVE, we had one once. BOB SMITH had it, it was bequeathed to one of the previous song leaders and disappeared. Something was said about “these guys couldn’t follow a leader into a bar.”

MELISSA NOVINSKI gave us a preliminary summary of the results of Rose Day. We sold 137 red roses, 190 mixed roses, 230 mixed flower bouquets, and the preliminary figures suggest that we will make about $6900. Of course, this depends on getting the money in - 40% of it is still out. Please turn it in to MELISSA or JODI as soon as possible - our service depends on it. JODI said we sold all the flowers we had, and only had 3 replacements.

Sec. and District Governor elect JOHN JENSON presented a Transporter’s Certificate and Pin to DALE ST. JOHN for his missions for the Eye Bank. Pres. DON also read a “thank you” letter from a recipient of a cornea transplant, thanking Lions for their part in restoring their sight.

JODI announced that we have a Club Picnic scheduled for Tuesday, June 17. Details to follow.

MICHELLE VETTERKIND sends word that we will celebrate Lion Birthdays, honoring our members’ years of service, on May 20. Celebrants are THEMIS FLORES RAMOS, 1 year; Dr. TOM STEVENS, 5 years; DAVE MIES, 12 years; SPARKY WATTS, 13 years; PHIL STOWITTS, 21 years; KEVIN KING, 26 years; STEVE BRIGGS, 27 years; JERRY MILLER 28 years; BOB BOHN, 39 years; DAN STOUDT, 46 years; TERRY SCHAR, 49 years. That’s a total of 267 years of Lion service!

SAL AL-ASHKAR, in his capacity as Diabetes Awareness Chairman, presented WLF pins to SCOTT GROVER and TERRY SCHAR for their work on the recent kidney screening project. SAL also noted that Lions Camp has scheduled sessions for diabetic children from July 26-Aug. 1 and Aug. 1 -8, and medical professionals are needed to fill out the staff for those two weeks. He said that juvenile diabetes is increasing about 3% per year, and being found in younger children, partly because of weight-gaining diets and lack of exercise.

SAL then introduced our speaker, Madison Alderman Michael Schumacher. Iranian by descent, Mr. Schumacher grew up in Germany and has a PhD from UW-Madison in education. He has worked in education, government, private business (operating assisted living facilities), and as a consultant, and brings a level of knowledge and experience to the City Council (where your editor thinks it is badly needed.) He said that City Council policy is greatly influenced by its many committees, and listed a number of them on which he serves. He believes that the Council should concentrate on fixing what’s broken (streets, water supply) and sees a shift in emphasis back to basic services. He noted that the Mayor has a staff to assist him, while the 20 alderpersons are pretty much on their own. There are Citizen Committees on which individuals can serve, and these too have influence on City policy. City employees, many with years of service, bring advantages and disadvantages to the system, which depends heavily on maintaining public trust in the system. He notes that although major industries are leaving the city, the percentage of residents employed in some level of government has actually declined from 79% a few years ago to about 70%. He expects less shared revenue for the city in future years as both state and federal governments have their own fiscal problems. The goal is to provide effective government at a reasonable price, and nobody thinks that will be easy. He ended with a question - “why do they bury politicians ten feet down?” SAM SANFILLIPPO might have known, but none of the rest of us did. Answer: “because deep down they’re good people!” Good speaker, sense of humor, interesting program.