President
Jennifer Bennerotte opened the meeting by welcoming us and reminding us of the importance of new members and being sponsors of new members.
Josh Sprague is leading the way with six new members since Rotary International began tracking sponsorship data a few years ago. The membership pillar of the club is ex-President
Scott MacDonald with at least 11 new members over the years.
We were greeted at the door by Sam Thompson, Renee Harberts and Lisa Walker. Assisting at the Front Desk was Hal Harris. Ex-President Steve Slyce led the club in the invocation, Pledge of Allegiance and Four-Way Test. Visiting Rotarians and guests were introduced by Jim Ryman.
Doug Johnson announced that the Club has already lined up several exciting new speakers for the 2016-2017 Rotary year. He encouraged the membership to provide input and suggestions for interesting future speakers to be considered.
Josh Sprague introduced Kelly Jessen, daughter of member Mark Jessen. Kelly is the at-large director for the newly formed Edina High School Interact Club. Kelly announced a fundraiser – Skate to End Polio – coming up on February 13th at the West Rink of Braemar Arena from 5 to 6:30 p.m. All are welcome with tickets sold at $20 for adults and $10 for kids. Enjoy open skating with friends and family along with great music and special lighting. All proceeds go to Rotary’s polio eradication campaign. More details are available on our website.
Sue Spalding with the assistance of Leann Stessman honored our Club’s newest Paul Harris Fellows and Multiple Paul Harris Fellows. Our newest Fellows are Jim Ryman, Greg Yoch, Jim Roberts and Steve Buettner. Multiple Paul Harris Fellows are Don Hutchison (+1), Marie Pribyl (+2), David Clynes (+3), Ron Erhardt (+4), Mike Kallas (+4), Charles McGoldrick (+5), Jennifer Bennerotte (+6), Wayne Harmon (+6), Dan Mott (+6), Dave Kunz (+7) and Jody Kern (+8). Congratulations and thanks to all! Sue informed us of our goal this year ($80,000) and that we are currently at $48,000. Please consider making your contribution soon!
Stan Brown was officially inducted into the club as our newest member by Brad Hepp and Stan’s sponsor, Jennifer Bennerotte. Welcome to the Club, Stan!
Tim Fargo introduced our guest speaker for the day, James Eli Shiffer, Editor and Reporter at Star Tribune. James has been a journalist for more than 25 years and has worked at Star Tribune since 2005 both as an editor and reporter. He oversees a team of investigative reporters and writes a weekly column called “Full Disclosure.”
James’ presentation was entitled “Journey to the Dark Web: Free Speech Zone or Criminal Hideout?” James is a self-professed purist when it comes to freedom of the press and government transparency. Communication on the Dark Web is anonymous and can’t be tracked. James presented both the good uses and bad uses of the Dark Web. The good include freedom of speech in repressive countries, under-cover law enforcement efforts to stop crime and web browsing free from government tracking. Bad uses include online sales of illegal drugs, black market movie sales, porn and other contraband and last but not least, terrorist network communications. Originally developed by the Department of State and the National Science Foundation for good, the National Security Agency and Homeland Security are finding it difficult to crack. It was a very good presentation and shed light on a part of the web that most of us didn’t know existed.
Dave Kunz thanked our speaker and the meeting was adjourned by Jennifer. Remember – Start with Rotary and good things happen.