Wagner Rotary met Wednesday, March 9th in a very chilly meeting room. Someone, undiscovered yet, turned the heat off last week when they left. It was 7 degrees. Our thermostat is a new breed that is preset, and we all have had strict instructions not to touch it for any reason. President Slaba was beyond disturbed, so we shall see what next week brings. It could go either way, a confession, a lynching, or be totally forgotten. Who knows?

The meeting room was packed. It’s been a long time since all five of our round tables have been filled, but we had five Senior students attending so it made for a full crowd, and everyone was in a good mood. Of course, there was no school for the next two days and our girls’ basketball team had headed out for the State A Championships.

After warning the Seniors that our President gets carried away ringing the bell Slaba produced just a nice ring tone. Pastor Bill Heermann prayed for those in the Ukraine who are in the middle of a terrible war and asked for guidance for us to help those in our community who need help.

Rotarian Laurie Kidd led us in a rousing rendition of “Smile” which all good Rotarians know by heart. Rotarian Cotton went to the lectern to instruct the visiting seniors about our 4-Way Test and why it is so widely printed and quoted. It is THE business ethic of the world. We finish every meeting by reciting it from memory. (See at the end of this article.)

The visiting WCS Seniors were Calvin Wright Jr. whose parents are Calvin and Mona Wright. Calvin is already committed to Dakota Wesleyan where he is going to play football and pursue a career in Criminal Justice, Gordon Shields III parents are Savannah and Wanbdi Fischer and he is looking at going to SDSU and perhaps into medicine; Daelyn Red Buffalos parents are Julian Red Buffalo and Lyndsey Fisherman. Daelyn’s father is a professional fire fighter and Daelyn wants to follow in his father’s pathway and become a fire fighter in the Hot Shots which is a specialized group who fight fires anywhere in the world. Xander Khadka parents are Cicily Weddell and Rojan Khodka and Xander plans on attending the University of Kansas and become a PA. Niko Drapeau’s mother is Jennifer Paiva and he is looking at Southeast Vo Tech at the Mechanical Program.

Rotarian Jeff Doom was filling in for Sergeant at Arms Jerry Weber and the fines were flowing fast and furious. $3 from Jerry Weber for informing Jeff quite late to fill the Sergeant at Arms duty, and $1 for every fine levied against a Rotarian added to Jerry’s total as they piled up. $2 to Bryan for his upset over the thermostat; $2 to Jeff Doom for texting on his phone; $5 to Gerrit for coming back from another vacation; $3 to Jamie Soukup for entrapment by phone; the former fines were from last week. Weber even writes down fines afterwards to be used the following week. This week’s fines were $2 to Bill Heermann for pardoning Bryon Slaba’s fit over the thermostat; $5 to Ken Cotton for his major sewer repair under the sidewalk and into the floor of his building. Happy Fines were offered by Jamie $5 for the Lady Raiders and $5 for the USD girls Basketball team, $5 from Bryan Slaba for the Wagner Lady Raiders and $5 from Jordan Weber for the SDSU basketball team making into the Top 12.

Rotarian Linda Soukup held the winning ticket and was excited to have a chance at drawing the Queen of Hearts. She came up short with the five of Hearts.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak delights in telling the one who gets to draw each week that she could have had $409.00 if she had drawn the Queen.

Krsnak reported that the attendance race is still at 16 misses for the Brunsing Team and 11 misses for the Woods Team.

Rotarian Gerrit Juffer introduced Ruth Bouza for his program. Ruth has recently received her license from the City of Wagner that authorizes her to become a dispensary for medical marijuana in the city. This is a new topic in Wagner and across the state of South Dakota. The bill authorizing medical marijuana passed in the legislature and applicants must apply to the State to even obtain a license and then must apply to the municipality in which they intend to operate. Everything is strictly regulated by the State of South Dakota. Ruth informed us that the fee for even getting the application from the State was $5,000.00 and the fee for applying for the permit from the City of Wagner was $5,000.00 also. These local fees are preset by each individual municipality. Ruth mentioned one city in South Dakota where for license fee was around $40,000.00

Ground was broken recently east of Valley Pump where a new structure will be built. A groundbreaking ceremony will occur sometime in the following weeks. All marijuana purchased at these dispensaries must be grown and processed in the State of South Dakota. Growers are also being licensed and overseen by the State. South Dakota will be tracking each seed that is sold to dispensaries and each sale by a dispensary will be tracked. The reason for the strict measures is to ensure that no foreign substance is being laced into the prescription. This is what has been killing so many of our young people. They buy drugs that are sold by people who have no scruples, and they add ingredients to the drugs that are deadly.

Medical marijuana has nothing but HEMP in it. The ingredient that gets people high from using marijuana is known as THC. Ruth has been selling CBD oils and and other items that are good for many ailments, such as arthritis, pain relievers, colds, coughs, etc. These items contain NO THC. There are other CBD sellers in Wagner also.

Ruth described her new building going up and that is also strictly regulated by the State. There must be a separate entrance for those wanting to obtain a medical marijuana supply. They must first produce a photo ID card, a driver’s license, and a medical ID card that can only be obtained from a licensed physician. There are daily limits to what can be bought, and after the purchase the buyer must depart the building from another separate entrance. There will be security measures in place throughout the building.

This was an interesting and informative topic. The name of the new business will be Ruthie’s. Ruth is presently located at the north end of Main Street on the first block after the stoplight. Access Granted and Custom Touch Limited is also located in this building. Contact Ruth for more information.

“Of all the things we think, say, or do: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENENFICIAL to all concerned?”