Karan Bates-Gasior called the meeting to order right on time. We had a full house (about 50 Rotarians) as all were excited to listen to the Fraser Singers. Ryan Murphy led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. The group was accompanied by pianist Gary Felts in a rousing rendition of the national anthem. Eric Pierson guided us through “The Four-Way Test,” and Tom Davies gave a stirring invocation after which we broke for a tasty lunch of chicken Parmesan, bow tie pasta, green beans and salad. The aroma of garlic wafted through the room.
The only presidential announcement was that there would be no birthday / flowers at today's meeting as there were no flowers to hand out. Karan also reminded us that next week's meeting was cancelled as we would all be meeting Thursday evening for the annual Christmas dinner.
Steve Krankota introduced our visitors: Gerrie Brown (guest of Gloria Murray), Sharon Bernabei and Elaine Johnston (guests of Frank Bernabei), Kerry Jantz (guest of Steve Krankota), and Lois Pierson (guest of Eric Pierson.) Although not announced, Linda and Larry May were observed sneaking in to join us as well.
There was no singing by Rotarians today, as we would soon be put to shame by the Fraser Singers.
The lone Sunshine Report came from Dana Camphous-Peterson, who shared with us her impending trip to the dentist for a root canal. Groans of empathy cascaded through the room. In fact Larry Neal was so touched, he fined Dana's table mates 1$ each during recognition.
There were four announcements today, one of which (Kris) would result in a $4 fine:
· Sam D'Angelo let us know that Rotarians will be traveling to Martha T. Berry the 
following Wednesday to sing Christmas carols. Everyone is welcome.
· Kris Howell shared details of the MDC's Christmas show at the Emerald Theatre on December 14.
· Don Carnaghi gave an update on 50/50 sales for the Party of the Century, and encouraged us to encourage our friends to purchase tickets at the Rotary Christmas dinner.
· Julie Huttenlocher seconded that notion, explaining there would be gift boxes available for the aforementioned 50/50 tickets. Julie also encouraged those that haven't done so to pick a tag off our giving tree, or provide a cash donation that she would use to go shopping (for the kids, not for herself!).
RECOGNITION
Larry Neal had an impressive list of items for recognition. In addition to the two fines mentioned above, the following people were singled out for their few seconds of fame and glory:
· $2 to Bob Lee for embellishing during his singing of the national anthem.
· $2 to Dave Meldrum for being late.
· $1 to Ryan Murphy for a bulletin foo-pah (I can't wait to see what I will be fined for 
my excellent reporting of this meeting).
· $2 to 3 University of Michigan graduates (who shall remain nameless because I didn't write down their names) for the wonderful football performance the Wolverines put on against "The" Ohio State University.
$1 to Glenn Burton who spelled Gowanie correctly, but still got fined for being a member of Gowanie. He tried to get Eric P., but to everyone's surprise he demonstrated his spelling prowess by correctly spelling Zonjic.
$1 to any Rotarian who got a free pass on the holiday work by going to someone else's house (or a restaurant) for Thanksgiving dinner.
Larry also forewarned us that fines would be forthcoming for Rotarians who don't purchase their "Party of the Century" 50/50 tickets before the last meeting of the year.
The Fraser Singers took the bite out of all of that recognition by putting on a great performance. Their singing was flawless, and covered a wide range of tunes, from traditional tracks such as "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "O Holy Night" to Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells" and Old Blue Eyes Frankie Sinatra's version of "Wish You the Merriest.”
To cap off the meeting, our good friend and friendly Rotarian Paul Woodring won his second consecutive 50/50. Congratulations Paul, I guess it does pay to turn 90!
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