The Rotary Bell was rung Wednesday, October 25th by President- Elect Jordan Weber. It was a learning experience for Jordan as he was informed it was a very weak tone and he gave it a heavier tap to make it official. There were four Senior guests from the Wagner Community School present: Jace Kuhlman, whose parents are Mike and Jamie Kuhlman. Jace is presently planning to attend MTI and major in Precision Agriculture; Blaine Anderson whose parents are Chad and Kathy Anderson and Blaine plans on attending SDSU for Agronomy. Blaine’s twin, Jake Anderson plans on attending SDSU for Animal Science; and Bain Kuhlman whose parents are Jeff and Rhonda Kuhlman has plans to apply for his CDL license and go into farming upon completion at Wagner Community High School.

Pastor Rotarian Bill Herrmann offered a prayer of thankfulness for our cool fall weather and our meal which was from Valley Pump. The Membership Minute was given by Rotarian Ken Cotton and was a brief overview of Rotary History. The first Rotary Club was started in Chicago, Illinois, in 1905 by an attorney named Paul Harris. In August 1910, the then 16 Rotary clubs in the United States formed the national Association of Rotary Clubs, now Rotary International. Today, there are more than 36,000 Rotary Clubs and 10,000 Rotaract clubs, and they are in almost every country in the world.

Song leader Gerrit Juffer led the membership in not one, but two songs for the day. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, and “Viva La Rotary!”

Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup, promptly fined the missing president Becky Brunsing $2 for blurting out her mother’s age at the last meeting; $4 to Gerrit Juffer for being wrong about the location of the Game Day for the USD Coyotes; $2 to Jeff for questioning his health; and another $2 for bumming a ride to the Rotary meeting and using Jamie as his taxi driver; $2 to Bryan Slaba who will be going on another fun trip; $2 to all the Rotary members who did NOT make it to the polio walk yesterday and kudos to all those who did make the walk! (Patty and Bill Frei, Gerrit Juffer, Amanda Bechen, and Ken Cotton). $2 to Jerry Weber for backing up into a gate and damaging his trailer; $5 to Jordan Weber who should have opened the gate. Happy Fines of $5 came from Jerry Weber for parking in a good spot and $5 from Jordan for being finally done with harvest!

It was Gerrit Juffer’s lucky day to have his ticket number drawn but he didn’t have any luck drawing the Queen from the deck of cards. He only found a five of Clubs. He missed out on winning $217.00.

Rotarian Rachel Woods was acting as the Secretary/Treasurer and reported that the Juffer team has 2 misses, and the Frei Team has only one miss. Football book winners were Tess Ringling sold by Linda Soukup and Barb Johannson sold by Becky Brunsing.

Rotarian Patty Frei spoke again about World Polio Day. Rotarian Bill Frei donated $100 to the Polio Fund and stated he would buy a T shirt for anyone who matched his donation. These funds will count toward the Paul Harris Fellowship Foundation and the donation will be matched by $200.00 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Polio Fund.

Rotarian Bryan Slaba was the Program Chairman for the day. He introduced Wagner’s new Area Growth Director, Margaret Doom. Margaret is no stranger to Wagner. She was born and raised in Wagner and graduated from WCS.

Wagner Area Growth, Inc. is a non-profit development corporation that is dedicated to boosting the local economy and strengthening our community. Since 1985 the corporation has been helping our local entrepreneurs by offering loans, workshops, and an environment for business owners to collaborate and succeed.

Through partnerships with entities such as the City of Wagner, Planning and Development District III, Dakota Resources, and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Wagner Area Growth, Inc. has been able to offer services to small businesses not otherwise available in our rural area, such as business planning, business mentoring, and training.

The new location for Wagner Area Growth is right on Main Street in the Frei Insurance Building. Be sure to stop in and visit with Margaret if you have ideas or questions about starting a new business and helping to maintain a business you already own. She is very enthusiastic about her new position and will be able and willing to help you. Margaret gave a brief presentation on her new position. She has only been on the job for three weeks presently. It was obvious she is a skilled presenter and very knowledgeable about her subject. There is a more detailed article about Margaret and her new job in this week’s edition of The Wagner Post.

The meeting adjourned with a recitation of The Four-Way Test: Of 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 beneficial to all concerned?