President Bryan Slaba asked the Wagner Rotary Club members to come to attention for the weekly meeting on Wednesday, July 28 ^th . There was one guest present who was introduced by Rotarian Ken Cotton. He was Curt Kaberna, longtime resident, and farmer of the Wagner Community.

Pastor Bill Herrmann gave thanks for our time together and gratefulness for being able to be indoors out of the extreme heat. He asked for prayers and protection of those who are unfortunate enough to be working outside or do not have adequate shelter from the elements.

Kathe Henke was the song leader for the day, and she chose the first and last verses of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. We were without our pianist Laurie Kidd and did a fair job of carrying the tune, but the pace of the song was slow. We did a little better singing The More We Get Together. Hurry back Rotarian Kidd.

The Membership Minute given by Rotarian Ken Cotton listed some of the “firsts” in Rotary.

Rotary established the “Endowment Fund” in 1917 which became the forerunner of The Rotary Foundation.

Rotary first established the Paul Harris Fellows recognition in 1957 for contributors of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.

The Rotary emblem was printed on a commemorative stamp for the first time in 1931 at the time of the Vienna Convention.

The first Rotary Club banner from the Houston Space Center to orbit the moon was carried by astronaut Frank Borman, a member of that club.

The first Rotary International convention held outside the United States was in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1921.

The first head of state to address a Rotary convention was US President Warren G. Harding in 1923 at St. Louis.

Ken Cotton had his name drawn yet again to try and draw the Queen of Hearts, but he lost a total of $858 which is now the total in the pot.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak continued his report by announcing that the Brunsing attendance team now has five misses to the Woods team's two misses.

President Slaba reminded everyone of the Cancer Walk on August 7 ^th at Wagner Lake and asked for volunteers to help serve the meal. Linda, Amanda, and Becky volunteered. Rotarians Craig, Bill, and Scott served Brats at Super Foods last week and it made a good contribution to our treasury. Slaba also thanked Kathe and Jerry Henke and Jeff Doom for their help in moving furniture and painting and cleaning of the kitchen. There is another revised version of the program and food delivery on each table.

Rotarian Patty Frei gave a report on the District Foundation Grant program. She recently participated in a Zoom meeting about the funds. We have only two weeks to apply for a grant so if anyone has ideas for a project to complete, they should announce it as soon as possible.

Rotarian Ken introduced his program for the day, Dr. Tom Stanage of Yankton Lewis and Clark Behavioral Center. Dr. Stanage started working at the Human Services center about 27 years ago in 1972 right out of high school. This was about the time that Ken Cotton started working there also and the two have remained friends and continue to serve on the Board of the now LCBC together.

In 1972 the facility they worked at was known as the State Hospital in Yankton. South Dakota had no real programs for helping the mentally ill fifty years ago compared to today’s standards. There was a certain stigma to being in the hospital or needing treatment then. Stanage remembers there were about 1700 patients a year going through the hospital. Most states have had more than one facility for treatment; but South Dakota has always had just one. Stanage also remembers the facility had large dormitory rooms with 70 or 80 people lying in beds all in one room requiring treatment. The elderly were all kept in another large room and deaths would spike in the summer due to the intense heat.

Things are quite different today. Patients cannot be admitted or kept in the hospital without having due process first. There are laws defining and governing a patient which require examination and a set of standards to be met before admittance. People cannot be held against their will unless they are proven to be a threat to themselves or others.

Dr. Stanage has spent his entire career working tirelessly to provide long term housing for those who need treatment in an assisted living environment. They now serve about 1,000 patients a year for severe mental illness and each patient and family has a case manager and patients have a crisis assessment before entering the facility. The location of the treatment center is in an area on the north side of Highway 50 and west of the Human Services Center.

Funding for mental health in South Dakota is low. It is hard to acquire the funds necessary for all those who need treatment. LCBHC also works in Yankton, Union, Clay, Bon Homme, Hutchinson, Douglas, and Charles Mix counties. They work in collaboration with the school systems also.

This was a remarkably interesting topic and there were several questions from the club members. A twenty-minute program could easily have been an hour or two program.

Sergeant at Arms Jerry Weber levied the following fines:

• $1 to Jerry Weber for doing a “hitch up”

• $1 to Bryan Slaba for not following the order of the meeting proceedings

• $1 to Bryan for pulling rank and making an executive decision and another $1 for not reading

• $2 to Jeff Doom for not making the doorway wide enough and $2 for having a disagreement with Amanda Bechen over the dessert

• $2 to Gerrit Juffer for using hair tonic on his new haircut

• $1 to everyone at Table # 3 who did not wear a black shirt

• $1 to Ken Cotton for needing help from his guest to deliver the noon meals

• $1 to Kathe Henke for trying to bribe the Sergeant at Arms

• $5 to Jamie Soukup for trying to entrap the Sergeant by calling him during the meetings, even when he was absent the last two weeks