Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup once again assumed the responsibilities of those absent at the head table. Harvest is still in progress for some of our farming Rotarians. Soukup rang the Rotary Bell to bring everyone to attention. Attendance was a little down due to the harvest and other work commitments. After a blessing prayer for the meal, we ate a delicious meal from Valley Pump of vegetable beef soup and a large wrap. Our meals are coordinated with our programs. The Rotarian in charge of the day’s program is also responsible for obtaining the meals from Valley Pump, Two Spurs, and Booms. It is always interesting to see what is on the menu. Wagner Super Foods always provides water, tea, and punch and Geri McAdaragh always provides us with a delicious dessert.

The Wagner Community School students visited us and gave their introduction speeches. Preston McFayden was present, and his parents are Chris and Amanda Mc-Fayden. Preston loves basketball and is thinking about getting an education degree. Gabriel Houseman’s parent is Darius Honomichl, and he is considering a state college and becoming a physical therapist. Frank Soukup is the son of Kim and Lynn Soukup, and he is going to attend Mount Marty College and play baseball. Parker Petry’s parents are Steve and Cherie Petry, and his favorite class is PE. He would like to play football and is considering becoming a guidance counselor. Hunter Lhotak is the son of Gina and Jeremy Lhotak, and his favorite sport is football. He is considering becoming a Chiropractor.

Song leader Gerrit Juffer chose “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as our song in honor of the football playoffs which will begin this week. Membership Minute Chairperson Patty Frei spoke about an article in our monthly Rotary magazine entitled “The Shot Heard around the World.' The article was written by Dr. Peter L. Salk who is the son of Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine that has saved countless lives. Many readers can remember the fear of polio that was evident all over the country. After clinical trials, the vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was declared to be 90 percent effective in preventing polio.

In 1955 more than 10 million children received one or more injections of the Salk vaccine. Within one year polio cases and deaths had been halved. Rotary helped found the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and it continues to put a major emphasis on getting polio eradicated. All donations during World Polio Day are matched 2:1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tripling the impact of donations.

On Thursday, October 24th Rotarians Gerrit Juffer, Rachel Woods, and Becky Brunsing met at Wagner Lake while it was still dark and walked around the lake.

Rotarian Rachel Woods assumed the SAA position for Jerry Weber and levied the following fines: $10 to Jeff Doom for just about anything; $5 to Bryan for all his photos on his world tour; $1 to Patty for sitting at a table with all the “studs”; $1 to Ken Cotton and Joe Stedronsky for looking so “dapper” for the day; $2 to Jamie Soukup for his two and possibly more pieces of dessert; $2 to Gerrit Juffer for “maternity leave” and $3 for a “bad song”; $5 to Scott McAdaragh for a phone infraction and also for his Chief’s winning; $2 to Rachel Woods for her Vikings losing again. A generous Happy Fine of $37 came from Jamie Soukup for winning the Queen of Hearts drawing last week.

Rotarian Joe Stedronsky was the lucky person who had a chance to draw from a new deck of cards for the Queen. He managed to get the right suit, but it was only the seven of Hearts. Treasurer Craig Krsnak announced that there is only $12 in the current drawing for the Queen. Team attendance totals are still dismal with seven misses for the Doom Team and twelve misses for the Frei Team. Football winners were Jay Fitzgerald sold by Becky Brunsing and Andy Steele sold by Amanda Bechen.

The program was introduced by Rotarian Jeff Doom which was Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton. Hunhoff is the owner and editor of The South Dakota Magazine. His program was devoted to talking about the Initiated Measures and Constitutional Amendments on the ballot for the upcoming election scheduled for November 5, 2024.