President Becky Brunsing rang the Rotary Bell to bring the Wagner Rotarians to order on Wednesday, February 28th. Members present groaned at her ring and urged her to try again. And again. And finally, she gave the bell the proper “whack” to get it to ring loud and clear. She needs to practice her swing.

Pastor Rotarian Bill Heermann gave his blessing for the food and the sunshine and asked for guidance in determining all our wants and needs in our Wagner Community.

Song leader Gerrit Juffer announced that we would be “trying” to sing My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. On a scale of one to ten, it was a four.

Membership Minute Chairperson Ken Cotton focused on Training and Skill Building in Rotary. Rotarians can take courses on topics that interest them in the Learning Center or at rotary.org/learn; or join Rotary discussion groups to exchange ideas with other members. Each Rotary district runs the district vibrant club workshop and grant management seminar for all interested members. All districts also hold annual district conferences to celebrate the year’s accomplishments. Club members and their families are invited to attend and enjoy the inspirational speeches and entertainment and the acquaintances they make. These training meetings and events are great ways to meet people who share an interest in service and the community. Districts also hold role-based training events for Rotary club presidents, secretaries, treasurers, and committee chairs and for members who serve as assistant governors and district committee chairs. When you get involved, you will learn skills like project management, public speaking, and event planning that can also help you in your personal and professional life.

Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup was anxious to get to the podium as he commented “I’ve got some good stuff today!” Fines were levied to: Jerry Weber for talking over the President and $2 for an infraction at last week’s meeting; $2 to Jeff Doom for questioning Amanda Bechen’s bookkeeping skills and for being on his phone; $2 to Bryan Slaba for his “certain” comment at last week’s meeting; $2 each to the Southwest corner table, a group fine for not being quiet; $2 to Bryan Slaba for only eating the dessert; $2 to Jamie Soukup for having a double serving and another serving of the dessert; $2 to Becky Brunsing for bad bell rings. Happy Fines came from Craig Krsnak; $5 for missing the coconut dessert at last week’s meeting; $2 from Gerrit Juffer for the coldest vacation ever; $5 of happiness from Jeff Doom for winning big at the American Legion Drawing; and $3 from Jerry Henke for winning three times at the Legion Drawing.

Rotarian Joe Stedronsky tried to find the Queen of Hearts but only drew three Clubs and missed $483.00.

Rotarian Krsnak reported the dismal results of the attendance race: Gerrit Juffer team thirteen misses and Bill Frei Team five misses.

Regular business items included notice of our annual Scholar Recognition Day on March 20th at Two Spurs restaurant. Ditch cleaning was discussed, and a tentative date of March 13th was set with Bill Frei and Jerry Weber in charge of the details.

Rotarian Gerrit Juffer introduced Lee Qualm of Platte South Dakota as his program. Qualm is going to be a candidate for the District 21 seat in the House legislature as Rocky Blare has decided not to run for that office again.

Lee talked about several of his concerns and most of them come under the heading of “Personal Freedom: There were fifteen bills dealing with Eminent Domain in the legislature this past year and they all failed. There were many programs established with the COVID money that the Federal government dealt out and he is concerned how we are going to fund these programs in the future on our own. Teacher pay and Medicaid expansion are other concerns also.

Mr. Qualm mentioned that he gets a lot of information from Dakota Scout. It is an alternative news forum to other outlets of news information. You need only to Google it for locating it and reading or subscribing to it.

The meeting adjourned in its usual fashion: The Four-Way Test: Is it the Truth? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIP? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?