The first Wednesday in December turned out to be December first and the Wagner Rotary Club was called to order by President Bryan Slaba. Rotarian Gerrit Juffer had brought his wife as a guest and Marty Overweg who happened to be his program for the day.

Karen Schneider was also a guest who was filling in at the piano for Rotarian Laurie Kidd. Kathe Henke is the song leader for the club and introduced the Christmas song “Deck the Halls” which everyone knew. The Rotary song was “Sing Out a Song of Rotary” which we did not do so well at. Karen received a round of applause for being our piano player.

Ken Cotton, Membership Minute Chairman chose to talk about the tolerance of differences in areas of the world. Occasionally there is a temptation to criticize the laws, customs and traditions of another country which may seem strange or contrary to our own. In some instances, illegal practices or customs of one nation are completely lawful and acceptable in another.

As members of an international organization dedicated to world understand and peace, it behooves Rotarians to exercise restraint in judging our Rotary friends and citizens from other countries when their behavior seems unusual to us. A Rotary policy has existed for more than half a century relating to this dilemma of international relationships.

The statement, adopted in 1933 says that because it is recognized that some activities and local customs may be legal and customary in some countries and not in others, Rotarians should be guided by this admonition of tolerance.

Rotarians in all countries should recognize these facts and there should be a thoughtful avoidance of criticism of the laws and customs of one country by the Rotarians of another country. The policy also cautions against “any effort on the part of Rotarians of one country to interfere with the laws or customs of another country.”

As we strive to strengthen the bonds of understanding, goodwill and friendship, these policies still provide good advice and guidance.

Rotarian Jordan Weber was filling in for his father Jerry who was busy with farm work. He levied the following fines: $4 to his Dad for only giving him four hours’ notice to be the acting Sergeant at Arms; $3 to Jeff Doom for talking too much; $3 to Jamie Soukup and Rachel Woods for missing Rotary the previous week due to forgetting that their kids would not have school that day; $3 to Gerrit and Michelle for the recent Husker wins; $1 to every member except Scott McAdaragh for not greeting Jordan as the Assistant SAA; $2 to Bryan Slaba for ringing the bell so loud he scared Linda Soukup and made Jordan’s ears ring; $2 to Linda Soukup for not being able to find Jimmy Carter in the latest Rotarian magazine.

A Happy Fine was offered by Rotarian Linda Soukup for the playoff volleyball games this week that DWU was participating in.

Rotarian Jeff Doom offered an “embarrassment fine” for the recent abdication of the Notre Dame coach to the LSU football team.

Bryan Slaba had a chance at the Queen of Hearts but drew a five of Diamonds.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak reported that President Slaba had lost out on $199.00 that currently sits in the Queen of Hearts drawing. Krsnak also mentioned that the attendance race tightened with today’s meeting. Brunsing had four misses and Woods had only one miss which leaves the Brunsing Team with ten misses and the Woods team with a total of fourteen misses.

Football book winners were Bernie Koupal sold by Becky Brunsing and Lavern Rezac sold by Jamie Soukup.

Rotarian Gerrit Juffer introduced his program, Mr. Marty Overweg from New Holland. Overweg discussed the new redistricting areas that the South Dakota legislature recently adopted. The legislature is constitutionally required to review all legislative districts after a national census is taken. This is to ensure that there is equal representation available to all South Dakotans. The boundaries that will be implemented will be in place for the next ten years when the new census will be taken. The new boundaries will not go into effect until 2023.

South Dakota has a population of 886,667 people according to the most recent census. There is an average population per Senate District of 25,333 people.

District nineteen which Overweg is presently from consists of Bon Homme, Douglas, Hanson, Hutchinson, and McCook. Counties. It was represented by Overweg, Kent Peterson and Kyle Schoenfish.

You can find the new maps for the redistricting at sdlegislators. gov/legislators/find