Promise Yourself!
Lance MasseyJack Larison,
Optimist Club of Coronado
Post Office Box 180251
Coronado, CA 92178-0251
January 1118, 2007
Meetings at 7AM on Thursdays at
Coronado Yacht Club
This morning sixty of us showed up for our
Thursday morning feast. The breakfast com-
ment sheet at the front table has disappeared
so I guess we are all happy. Or maybe we are
just tired.
BJ and his fellow Glorietta Bay traffic
monitor Bill Jepson counted all the money.
Jack struck the bell at 7AM. Off again into the
adventure of another Optimist meeting. Carla
Fargo tickled the heart of the Greensheet edit-
or by using a recent page two as a prayer. It
was pretty good. Then Jerry Thummel lead the
pledge,
We introduced Carl Boyd as a guest,
but really he said he was with us in memory of
his good friend (and ours) Ted Stearns. Toni
McCabe came with Marilyn Schaefer, but she
is member although an infrequent attender.
She has found a better breakfast somewhere.
Stu Powell got to tell the joke of the day,
and it was a reminder to be polite to the
counter people at the airport, because they
hold the fate of your luggage in their power.
Joe Petrucci had a double treat for
birthday kids Leslie Crawford and Roy Mantz,
but only Roy was here to enjoy the harmonica
and the singing. Joe has figured us out. The
smaller part the club has in the production the
better things sound. That is something that
former songmeister Fred Hauck. Speaking of
Fred, he returned his Greensheet to me com-
plaining that the flag postage stamp was af-
fixed upside down indicating either trouble in
the club or carelessness. Would it be appropri-
ate to ask Fred to forget the mistakes of the
past.
And speaking of those mistakes of the
past, the Dingmaster was back from foreign
shores and ready to help us make our Optim-
ism come true. First he got Jack Couture for
wandering into the meeting after the bell. Then
Lee saw a resemblance to Gooch in an ad for
a new play at the Old Globe about old aviators.
When he propose fining Gooch John Freeman
upped the ante and suggested that all old avi-
ators be fined. That seemed ok with Mr. Car-
gill, and so they all stood up and gave back
some of that flight pay. Lee wasn’t through yet
because he he fined Chris Massy for being a
realator and Paul Dudley for playing golf with
someone who dragged him into the winner’s
circle.
Jerry Thummel won $47 in the 50-50
drawing, and he gave it all to the Youth Fund.
Jerry is making it hard on those whose chil-
dren need new shoes if we ever win.
We had significant Optimist Anniversar-
ies this morning. Leading the pack was Jake
Sloan who has 34 years in the club this week.
Next was Barry Mitchell with thirty years. Then
President
Jack LarisonDiana Drummey,
Pres. 20007-086-07
Joan Gillem Art Jones, Extern-
al VP
Ledge HakesLeslie Crawford,
Internal VP
<www.sportsfiesta.net> Jack DavisStu Powell, Secret-
ary
John Freeman, Treas.
comes Roy Mantz Rosania, Sloan & Mc-
with 26 years. Al Ae- Clure,USNA ’45 Publishers
gerter has 13 years, McCrary and Gowan
and Ann Boyd has Bob Sheridan, Editor
eleven. Let’s see. In that group we have one
District Secretary Treasurer, one Governor,
one Lt. Governor, three past presidents (one
distinguished). Of particular note was the col-
lection of over 9,000 aluminum can pull tabs
during the “Yes We Can” effort to help provide
a dialysis machine to a young man in Vallejo.
That was Jake Sloan’s work. Ah, remember
the day of correcting dumpsters full of alumin-
um. The smell of stale beer and deciding which
Optimist got to climb up on top to keep the
cans moving to the back of the container.
Someday we should have a program on that
old program. Does anyone have slides?
Did you know that if you can’t change the bat-
teries in your smoke detector the Coronado
Fire Department will dispatch somebody to do
it for you? Talk about service. In 2005 the fire
department responded to 1085 calls in medical
emergencies. There were 170 structural fires
or desmoking calls. The department respon-
ded to 158 vehicle accidents. There were 306
“other” type responses. I guess the cat in the
tree is in this category. Our Fire Chief Kim
Raddatz told us all about his department in-
cluding the good fact that the goal is to get a
first unit to the scene in under 6 minutes 90%
of the time. They do it.
-one was the magic number of chilly Op-
timists who broke fast together. Jack Chilton
and Lance Massey made change. They appar-
ently were so engaging in their chatter that
somebody dropped a five dollar bill on the
deck and didn’t notice it. Lance said he would
return it to anybody who could give him the
serial number.
The seven o’clock meeting started on
time with Jack Larison ringing the bell. Zeke
Zaludek had a nice prayer with a quote from
Eleanor Roosevelt, but many couldn’t hear him
because the person detailed on the Watch
Quarter and Station Bill to turn on the micro-
phone was asleep at the switch. Executive Of-
ficer McKechnie put that right in time for Tom
Nickoloff to lead us in the pledge.
Rob Dunlap was introduced as a guest
of Lee Cargill. We had two guest speakers
from the Coronado SAFE program. Samantha
Bowman runs the organization and Arlene
Griffin is her right hand. But more about that
later.
We learned that the service for our
good friend Del Cummins will be on Saturday,
January 27, at 1 PM. It will be at Sacred Heart
Church. Those who might want to send a card
to Pat can send it to her at 560 Alameda Blvd.
 We sang HBTY to Pat Kelly, Chris Mas-
sey, and Paul Dudley. Stu Powell kept things
under firm control again and it sounded better
that usual. Clint Conway marks his third an-
niversary as an Optimist and George Bruce hit
number 27. That is a long time.
Jack Davis told us a good story about
why the Three Magi wear firemen’s helmets in
Tuna, Texas. It was cute and got him a free
breakfast.
The President dropped a bomb on us
with the news that the Spring Concert will be
followed immediately by a Spring Fling. At
least this is what your inventive Board of Dir-
ectors is thinking about. They are using the
successful model of the Sports Fiesta and con-
sidering a cookout. Maybe the fiddle players
will join us and we can dance all night.
The Dingmaster said that he had a lot of
quality dings but the quality dingees were ab-
sent. What does that say about the quality of
Harrison Chilton who was fined for the great
article about Peg and Jack in the Lifestyle
magazine, or Doug Leland, or Al Aegerter, or
Ledge Hakes, all of whom were fined. And
then Lee fined Diana Drummey because last
week Kim Raddatz mentioned her in his pro-
gram. This opens up a whole new potential
source of fines. Somebody stop him.
Lance Massey told us that the Silver
Strand is looking a little tarnished and needs
the attention of the pickers. We will hit the road
on Saturday, January 27, at 0800. Lance
passed around a sign-up sheet that filled
quickly for the Southern Grouping at the Navy
Housing. The pack that meets at the NAB
southern gate is short a few good men and wo-
men. So sign up next week.
Joe Adkins won the 50-50 drawing and
took home 45 bucks.
This week our program was supposed
to be about what our Coronado kids are doing
right. That is certainly a worthwhile topic. For
some reason it called to this confused mind an
instance of when our kids knew something that
none of their elders knew. This was about
twenty years ago and it involved our surf shop
know as Emerald City and the prominent dis-
play windows the shop has on Orange Avenue.
In those days the manager placed a python in
a well-camouflaged enclosure in the window.
All the kids in town knew this, but the citizens
didn’t because they never examined the win-
dow. The kids also knew that the python was
also fed on a certain day, and his ration was
one live little duck.
This went on for several months with the
citizens in the dark until one day a young
mother wondered why all the teenagers were
gathered at a window making strange sounds.
She walked over with her little toddler and was
horrified by the sight of nature in action. That
was the final feeding at Emerald City. It may
have also been the genesis of PAWS.
(My supervisor said that I dreamed all
this so I need some confirmation. Does anyone
else remember this?)
The Program: I’ve wasted all this space
and haven’t told you about the organization.
Go to their website <coronadosafe.org>. SAFE
stands for Substance Abuse Free Environ-
ment. We gave them a check for $500 so they
must do good work. Samantha and Arlene told
us about all the programs, and you will profit
by a look at the website.
They told us about a logical approach to
dealing with substance abuse by our young
people. This is a problem that costs us money
when the kids wreck cars, lamp posts, and
lives. They asked us to get involved in their
programs which they say are based on solid
research and proven methods.
Next week an interesting topic: Human-
itarian Mine Removal in Iraq. Retired Army Col.
Daniel Layton will be our speaker and Dick
Beh will do the introduction.
PROMISE YOURSELF…A definite nip
was in the air this morning. Hallelujah!! Food
again and
Sixty-One of us filed by Buck Rogers and Dick
Madouse reading the guest list, taking our
badges, and looking over the breakfast com-
ment sheet. Someone, remembering the mis-
takes of the past had written, “You call this a
breakfast!”. Yes, Virginia, the mean-spirited do
live among us.
President Jack invited Carla Fargo to lead us
in prayer, and she did so in rhyme. Captain
Stark led the pledge. Our lone guest was Mark
Rogers, son of Buck.
Immediate Past President Lance Massey told a
joke about men’s underthings that will in the in-
terest of taste be omitted. I thought that I only
had to omit one item per meeting to pass the
censors, but then, later in the meeting, our pro-
gram speaker finished that hope off with a tale
of bestiality in colonial America. Does anyone
know where I can find a bleep on my key-
board?
Joe Petrucci redeemed this part of the meeting
by playing a foot stomping version of “Sugar
Blues” or “Azul Asucar” in our new national
language. Joe is our star on these cold winter
mornings when he unwraps his harmonica to
get our blood moving. We had birthdays of Joe
Huber, Wynn Fester, and Ann Eades to celeb-
rate and the “Sugar Blues” was just the num-
ber.
Jim Cooper celebrates thirty-one glorious
years as an Optimist this week, and Bill Parry,
who we don’t see too much of these days, has
nineteen years with us.
Jack Larison reminded us to keep the evening
of December 21 free for our Christmas party. It
will be at the Yacht Club at 7PM.
The traveling midshipmen choral group
gathered as they do each year at this time to
salute the Army Mule. Yes, it is that time of
year when the Black Knights of the Hudson un-
der our own Bobby Ross face off against the
Midship-persons in their white hats. Saturday Thomas Granger who was discovered to be
is the 107th rematch of the game and the res- engaging in unhealthy practices with a wide
ults have been an amazing 50-49 edge for range of farm animal needs a special filter.
Navy with seven tied games. Barry Mitchell (or
someone posing as Colonel Mitchell) called Frank promised help for any folks who are in-
the editor to say that he and Bruce Williams terested in genealogy. Sounds like a great of-
are covering all bets and giving no points. fer.
They want all the Navy money that you can
Next week you can get See’s Candy from Mrs.
wager.
Gooch. The program will be from the Virtual
Speaking of money, Stu Powell won the 50-50 Reality Medical Center of San Diego. We will
drawing with a white ticket. hear about using virtual reality technology to
treat phobias and post traumatic stress dis-
The Dingmaster was disappointed that Charlie orders. Would this have helped poor Thomas
Ahern was not with us. But he took money from Granger back in Plymouth?
his own wife who contributes to Lamb’s Play-
ers. Jim Cartwright left before paying his fine,
and Ledge had to give a dingpass back for a
letter to the editor in the spirit of dear departed
Carol Cahill.
Lance Massey recovered from his joke to an-
nounce that the Silver Strand will be picked up
and restored to its beautiful pristine state by
the Optimist Club on Saturday, December 9.
He needs a few more pickers.
Tomorrow night the elves of the club will hand
out cookies and cider to those who mill around
Christmas in Coronado. Come see John McK-
echnie and Chris Massey with their cute little
pointy elf shoes.
Frank Osgood found out when in his fifties that
he had roots on the Mayflower. One great-
great -…-great grandfather was a church elder
while another was a non-pilgrim member of the
party with a troubled, but adventure-heavy
past. Frank told us about his research into the
lives of these two men and of their roles in the
first English settlement in the New World that
had self government.
Frank’s tale was fascinating. The hardships of
the first year, when the little band of 102
people lost 47 to death, tried the hearts of all.
They sailed in a leaky “Mayflower” in Septem-
ber 1620 and arrived on Cape Cod in Decem-
ber in the dead of Winter. After exploring the
area by small boat the group came ashore at
Plymouth on Christmas Day, kneeling to give
thanks.
Franks told us about William Brewster, his
church leader ancestor who, even when the
people were dying from starvation, preached
with power of God’s gift of new Jerusalem
they had come to. Franks other ancestor was
Steven Hopkins, A “stranger’ recruited by the
London company managing the colony for his
savvy and experience. He had been in
Jamestown earlier and been shipwrecked in
Bermuda. Hopkins came with wife and several
children.
The talk was quite fascinating and brought to
our minds the hardships that were overcome
by those who settled this wonderful land for us.
I think we could have listened to Frank for
hours, but his story about the unfortunate