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President Elect Becky Brunsing called the Wagner Rotary Club to order last Wednesday, May 2 as President Rachel Woods had an unexpected development at her home. One of the fire calls that day was a grassfire in a corn field north of her residence, so she made a quick exit to be there and keep watch over the development. A good reminder for everyone to be on the alert for fires this spring. We are still very dry in this area. Farm machinery can accidentally start a fire when equipment comes in contact with rocks and sparks fly. Use caution everyone.

There were three guests present for the meeting and they were part of the program: Jenny Barnett, daughter of Jerry and Judy Barnett, Sabrina Kreber, daughter of Amy and Mike Blaha, and Kennedy Kourt, daughter of Trista and Dustin Kourt.

PE Brunsing read a prayer that is used when we do not have a pastor present for our meeting. A song leader was not present either, so Jenny Barnett was coerced into playing the melody so that members could sing “Smile”. Thank you, Jenny.

Membership Minute Chairman Ken Cotton gave an interesting reading about the official Rotary Flag which was formally adopted by Rotary International at the 1929 RI Convention in Dallas, Tex. The flag consists of a white field with the official wheel emblem emblazoned in gold in the center of the field. The rims of the Rotary wheel are colored royal blue. The name Rotary International is printed at the top and bottom depressions on the wheel rim.

The first Rotary flag reportedly was flown in Kansas City in January 1914. In 1926, a small Rotary flag was carried over the North Poole by Admiral Richard Byrd, member of the Rotary Club of Winchester, Virginia, USA. In 1920 the admiral carried the flag in his expedition to the South Pole. In 2005, in commemoration of Rotary’s centennial, Rotarians carried the flags to the summits of Mount McKinley and Mount Everest. The Rotary flag is always prominently displayed at RI World Headquarters and all RI conventions and official events.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber took to the podium to assess the days fines: $50 to Jerry Henke for his big win of our Queen of Hearts drawing last week; $3 to Amanda Bechen for having a son who will be attending Boys State; $3 to Scott McAdaragh for sitting in line for an hour and a half to get potato ole’s at Taco Johns, $5 to Jamie Soukup for being a taste tester; $3 to Scott again and anyone else who didn’t show up to clean ditches last Wednesday, with an exception of only $1 less to Patty Frei who was not there; $15 fine to Bryan Slaba who went golfing instead of helping with the cleanup; $2 each to Ken Cotton and Joe Stedronsky for wearing almost identical plaid shirts; $3 to Bill Frei for being a gopher for his son who is doing his planting; and $3 to Linda Soukup for calling Craig Weber Jerry’s Weber’s “son” instead of his brother. Apologies to both! Happy Fines came from Jerry Henke for $5 for the mention of him and Kathe in the paper; $2 from Amanda Bechen for Jenny Barnett playing the piano for us; $10 from Kathe Henke for being thankful to be back from Arkansas and while there she attended a Rotary meeting and said our Wagner Club members are more fun; and $10 from Patty Frei for having two graduations to attend at Brookings this coming weekend.

PE Brunsing drew the lucky ticket and was the first one to draw from a new deck of cards. She drew the nine of Spades.

Secretary/Treasurer Krsnak reported that Jordan Weber’s team had four misses but three were already made up and Jamie Soukup’s team had one miss which leaves Weber’s team still in the lead with only 1 miss and Soukup with two misses.

There is $14 collected for the first week of the Queen of Hearts drawing.

PE Brunsing gave a review of her attendance at the President Elect Training Session in Mitchell last weekend. She enjoyed the Sessions and came away with lots of ideas for our Wagner Club.

Rotarian Patty Frei introduced her program which was Dana Sanderson from 605 Unity Jam. Sanderson was involved in the Wagner Community School for some forty years. His idea for the Unity Jam stemmed from his experiences there and from visiting with community members. This celebration has been held for two years and will be held again this summer in June at Wagner Lake. Please follow the local newspaper for times, events, and contact information.

Support for this event began with donations from the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Wagner Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of this event is to get people to work together and to come to Wagner Lake to increase their cultural awareness of all ethnic groups. Sanderson stated that “Wagner has a gem in Wagner Lake” It is truly something for everyone to enjoy.

He related the story of how the group that does the planning were able to obtain two buffalo statues during the difficult time of our recent pandemic and get them painted and they are on display at each Unity event. During the program he ran a video slide of these buffalo as well as pictures of the events that were happening. If you haven’t seen these buffalo, please try to go this year, they are beautiful. The YST, Tabor Czech dancers, and some of our local Hutterite colony members took part in the Jam event.

Dana asked for comments from the students present to give their input on why they got involved in the event and what they thought they gained from their experience. Planning sessions are limited to six sessions and for one hour each. The students said they thought people interacted more, gained knowledge about each culture, and enjoyed seeing the events that were sponsored. They also commented on how they saw people wanting to make Wagner a better place to live and work with each other.

The group recently took part in a radio interview with none other than Wagner’s very own Karla Brown which will be broadcast on several stations. KSFY has also contacted them for information and PBS plans to do a radio commercial and make public service announcements. The South Dakota Magazine has also expressed an interest in this unique event.

The meeting was adjourned with our usual 4-Way Test: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all Concerned, Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? A fitting way to end an informative program.