Today’s light crowd at the weekly Burlingame Rotary luncheon gave weight to the theory that most members and friends are “in training” for next week’s blowout extravaganza produced and directed by Jerry Winges:  The Debunking of a President” loosely based on the life and times, the sayings, humor, and heft of the one and only Fritz Brauner!”

 

Today, in a rare visit back to the mainland from his year-round Hawaiian retreat, President Fritz called our club to order, asking Phil Siegle, our incoming president-elect to begin the meeting by leading us in the pledge of allegiance.

 

Past president Joe LaMariana was called on to further set the tone of the meeting by giving our day’s invocation.  Joe first thanked “president and past-president Fritz” for his service of leadership to our club.  Then he gave us these words to live by:  “You get everything you want if you help others get what they want.”

 

President Fritz was clearly enlightened as he then noted for us all that today is the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere) and thus the day with the most sunshine of all 365.  He then introduced guests:  Sultan Beardsley, a new transplant from SoCal, making his first visit to the Club and presented by Doug Person.  Marilyn Orr then presented our speaker for the day:  Dr. Rachel Curtis-Robles and her assistant Elizabeth.

 

 

The Club was reminded of the upcoming services for deceased Melinda Horwitz on Friday 10:00am at St. Catherine’s and 11:30 reception at Peninsula Golf and Tennis Club.  Rosary Wednesday, the 21^st at 6:30p at Crosby N Gray.

 

Rotary Scholarships come in three versions, Jennifer Pence reminded us.  First are the College Incentive scholarships for 8^th graders going into high school, valued at $1000 if they stay in the program for 4 years.  Then there are Four Year scholarships for graduating high school seniors.  And there is a Make a Difference fund for students entering Community Colleges.  At the Burlingame High School awards night, Cary, Jay, and Marilyn represented our Club and named the recipients of our scholarships, which are a major outreach of our club.  Members who were part of the selection interviews and process include:  Jennifer Pence, Mike Kimball, Cary Koh, Sheryl Young, Christine Krolik, and Fritz Brauner.  Jennifer read us a thank you note which came from our faculty contact at BHS, Jonathan Dhyne, for the helpful and thoughtful scholarship program we have developed and implemented. 

 

 

Notice of a meeting of our governing Board at +Joe La Mariana’s home 4:30 on Wednesday, June 28.

 

President Fritz asked Club members to name memories of this past year that were, for them, highlights for which they are particularly proud.  Responses included:  ***  New “annual” talent and restaurant dinner show.  ***New school opened in a rural and underserved hometown in India of our member Bobba.  ***Catering weekly by Jonnie and Sapore Italiano.  ***Ten new members (reputedly a “record breaking” number, and all high quality!).  ***A new trend of couples joining at the same time [and receiving a sweet discount).  ***Stimulating speakers who expand our horizons.  *** Successful golf tournament.

 

President Fritz recognized and thanked members of this year’s Board of Directors.  Rotating off—Joe La Mariana, Jennifer Pence, Marc Friedman,  John Delaney.  Continuing forward:  Phil Siegle, Mark Lucchesi, Doug Person, Jerry Winges, Christine Krolik.

 

Three Special recognitions went to:  ***Chris Ramirez for not only being our treasurer, but our weekly Audio-Visual manager.  ***Marilyn Orr not only as Club secretary, but for maintaining our reports, numbers, stats, Club Runner and etc.  ***Jennifer Pence for a first-ever award:  The Above and Beyond Award for all her unseen thinking, planning, working, and executing on behalf of our whole club.

 

 

Program time!  Marilyn Orr introduced Dr. Rachel Curtis-Robles, the Public Health Education and Outreach officer of the San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District.  She hit us right off the bat with the fact that mosquitos are the number two killer of human beings (number one killer being other human beings).  Malaria is carried by mosquitos, and annually kills thousands upon thousands, especially children.  California is at the national forefront in combating these insects, with a mosquito district in every county, and multiple ones in some counties, like San Mateo, which has two.  If you haven’t noticed being pestered by mosquitos, it is because the district is doing a good job of holding down their number. 

 

 

Our district was one of the first ever formed, by a joint commitment from San Mateo, Burlingame, and Hillsborough.  Maps from the late 1800’s show huge marsh lands on our eastern border.  These marshes bred so many mosquitos that they often made it unpleasant to be outside during some months, with some photographs of that era showing clothes that were almost entirely covered in brown mosquitos.  Business owner joined residents in complaining that nobody was drawn to come and visit our fair cities for several months a year due to this scourge.  Thus, the abatement district was formed.

 

At first, there were two major ways to combat the mosquitos.  One was “ditching,” which involved digging ditches where the tidal marsh waters came in from the bay so that there was constant movement in the water from the tides, and mosquito eggs did not have a chance to advance the process of growth which needs still water.  The second way was to use horses to drain the marshes and to spread oil onto the water, which made it impossible for eggs to be laid and for ones in the water to come up to the surface for air (in the pupa stage).  Modern techniques follow the same principles, though the district no longer needs to spread oil on the waters since it has less ecologically harmful chemicals.  Horses are no longer used, and a transition from mechanized vehicles to drones is under way.

 

There are two dozen different species of mosquitos in this county, each with habitats unique to itself.  Only the females bite humans.  No male mosquitos bite people because they gain all the sustenance then need from pollen and flowers, while the females need to add protein in order to produce viable eggs and thus seek out mammals’ blood. 

 

 Mosquitos have four distinct stages of their life cycle, three of which depend on water; it begins with eggs, then larva, then pupa—all will die if they don’t have water to be immersed in.  The last is the adult stage.  Mosquitos can live from 2 weeks to many months, depending in part on which type (of six different ones in our county) they are.

 

The district requests that all citizens tend to standing water on their properties, dumping any out at least weekly, and reporting such sites to the district.  There are over 120,000 sites likely to produce mosquitos in standing water in the county that are being tracked.  If you ever saw the helicopters spraying the wetlands, those were not from this district nor for mosquitos, but for West Nile Virus, when it was rampant.  The district also will put mosquito fish into certain waters, as these eat the larvae of the mosquitos, thus ending their life cycle before they become adults.

 

Q&A produced a question of how to tell the difference between male and female mosquitos, and it turns out this requires examining their antennae, since males have antennae which are in a confused appearing tangle, while the female ones are straighter.   Got it?  Good; enough said.

 

President Fritz gave our presenter a certificate of the five polio vaccines we donated in her name to help eradicate that disease worldwide. 

 

 

Finally, we were all reminded that next week is the Debunking of Fritz, so come early to get a) a parking place, b) a seat at a table with a good view, and c) a chance to see Rotarians who may have been AWOL a bit but now are not about to miss this unique fun.  Since we won’t be making any celebration bonfires in the building, you can leave your makings for s’mores at home.  Dang.

 

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