The Wednesday, November 3rd Rotary Meeting convened with the ringing of our Rotary Bell by Bryan Slaba, President for 2020-2021. There were no guests present so Pastor Bill Herrmann was called to give a blessing. He gave thanks for the beautiful day and the bountiful meal prepared for us.

Pastor Laurie asked if there were any birthdays and Jeff Doom, and Patty Frei were serenaded by the club members with the Happy Birthday melody. Laurie proceeded to lead us in singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”, and we were challenged to sing “Smile “without using our songbooks.

Rotarian Ken Cotton quizzed us on geography for his Membership Minute.

Were you aware that the Rotary Club of Reno, Nevada, is farther west than the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, California? Would you guess that the meetings of the Rotary Club of Portland, Maine are farther south than those of the clubs in London England?

Can you imagine that the Pensacola, Florida, Rotary Club is west of the Detroit, Michigan, club?

It’s a fact that the Cairo, Illinois, Rotary Club is south of Richmond, Virginia.

There are 69 Rotary clubs with the word “Tokyo” in their club names.

The Rotary Club of Nome, Alaska, lies west of the club in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Santiago, Chile, club is located east of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Rotary geographers will know that virtually every Rotary club meeting in Australia, is east of the Hong Kong Rotary Club.

What do the Rotary clubs of Quito Ecuador, Libreville, Gabon, Singapore, and Kampala, Uganda, have in common? You guessed right if you said they all meet on the equator.

There are many interesting relationships and things to learn as you become acquainted with the 17,000 clubs in the wide world of Rotary.

Jerry Henke once again had a chance at the drawing but instead of a Queen of Hearts he drew an eight of Clubs

Craig Krsnak gave the Secretary/Treasurer report: The Brunsing Team had one miss for the day and the Woods Team had two for the day. That makes nine for Brunsing and four for Woods.

The football book winners for last week were Todd Doom sold by Jeff Doom and Donna Juffer sold by Kathe Henke

Other business was mentioned by President Slaba that he had recently cleaned the kitchen and there was a table full of kitchen dishes and utensils that the members could have and what is left will be donated to an organization to sell for their own profit.

Slaba also asked Jeff Doom to remove some garbage and an old dumpster from the back of the building.

The program for the day was by Rotarian Linda Soukup on the novel “Free Land in the Dakotas “which was written by James Lee Novak. James Novak is retired from Auburn University’s Department of Agricultural Economic, and Rural Sociology He is the author of many academic and popular publications, including a textbook on the history of the United States agricultural policy. Mr. Novak is the nephew of Joan and Ed Novak and his mother was Ed’s sister Betty, so he can be considered a “Wagner Boy.”

Soukup discovered the book at the Town and Country Salon in Wagner. It was sitting on the counter and she picked it up and inquired about it. Joan Novak had left copies at the beauty shop for sale and Soukup was intrigued by the title about land in the Dakotas. Upon reading the book in its entirety she loved the story that was told about Austrian-Bohemians coming to the United States in the late 1880’s. It very closely resembled the same journey made by her husband’s great-grandfather, Frantisek Soukup in 1870.

The storyline is about Jan (or John) Cihak and his wife, Anna (Podzimek) who decide to come to America at the urging of Joseph Cihak, Jan’s brother, who had immigrated earlier. The inside cover has a picture of Jan and Anna Cihak and their family. “A Cihak Family Story 1883-1947). Soukup went to high school with three Cihaks—Donna, Virginia, and Norman. Ed Novak, Vee Anne Sykora, and Father Paul Sykora contributed to the writing of the book with their recollections.

It is informative about the times in the old country, the hurdles that people had to deal with in order to leave, their sea journey on a ship, the long railroad ride to Scotland, South Dakota; and the many years that Jan and Anna struggled to make a home out of their new country.

Rotarian Jordan Weber was filling in for his father Jerry Weber, who was trying to finish his 2021 harvest and he levied the following fines:

• $2 to Jeff for his missing shoes at last week’s meeting

• $3 to Jamie Soukup for harvesting his sample test plot of corn. Jamie confessed that his dad did it for him

• $5 to Bryan Slaba for talking about football and season tickets at last week’s meeting

• $2 to Kara Frei who is a Vikings Fan and is suffering from the loss of their Quarterback

• $3 to Laurie Kidd for her car starting to honk during the meeting

• $3 to Linda Soukup for the wrong pictures and missing article in this week’s paper ( I have no idea what happened)

• $5 Happy fine from Laurie Kidd for how well the Fellowship Feast went

• $2 Happy Fine from Gerrit for the FF and for getting “slimed” with potatoes at the Feast

• $2 Happy Fine from Gerrit for getting kolaches from a school class

• $2 Happy Fine from Amanda Bechen for her dishpan hands from the Fellowship Feast

• $5 Happy Fine from Jordan Weber for having fun being the Assistant Sergeant at Arms

• $21 Happy Fine from Patty Frei for Bill getting his harvest finished and only having to drive a harvest truck once