The Grapevine Official Publication of the Rotary Club of Selma

Founded 1924 Selma, California. Volume 86, Week 12

Scott Bailey, President

Floyd Quenzer, Secretary Bob Allen, Treasurer

www.Rotary5230.org/Selma

September 22nd, 2009. An eerie sound of silence pervaded the room as the ding of a continued “Real Gavel” hit the bell. So far, Prez Scott Bailey still has the fully dressed Mr Gavel. Joining us today was Mary Dalton, the new Pastor of United Methodist Church and UMC San Pablo, as a guest of Floyd Quenzer. Talk about how the paper comes alive. Mary was fea-tured in last week’s Selma

Enterprise as a bilingual leader of both the in-town church and the Spanish speaking congregation on the south end of town. Richard Garabedian rings the bell to celebrate

his birthday on Sunday, his Wedding Anniversary week, AND this 14th year since opening his office! DING! Thanks for your work on the Rotary Foun-dation as Chairman. And to recognize all those somewhat famous people on his own birthday today,

Prez Scott rambled on and on and on with names of real famous people. Proba-bly indicating that today is somewhat special. Happy Birthday Prez Scott! Cartons ahoy! Mark Sut-ton lifted and dropped his Polio Plus carton filled with change… and a Bell Ringer! Thanks Mark for your contribution toward

the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation toward the eradication of polio in the

world. Robin, Albert, Joker, Pen-guin, Catwoman… beware, the “Bat Lady” is here!

Mike Derr introduced Burleigh Lockwood, Fresno Chaffee’s Zoo educator and preservationist. Burleigh’s last 36 years in studying bats began in San Luis Obispo along with 300 other individuals in an at-tic of an old adobe home near the coast. Yes, 300

bats. She described her

initial experience of hun-dreds of tiny furry crea-tures trapped in an up-stairs room and she at the apparently only open win-dow. A creaking sound sur-prised her and her new friends, and in just mo-ments, the soft belly bod-ied mammals with wings of silk emptied the room with just the sensation of wind blowing by and not a

touch. Many of the exciting facts of the bats included the smallest ones only an inch in size… the Bumble-bee bat living in the lime-stone caves on the River Quay in Thailand weighing barely 1.5 grams. The Western Pipperstraw is the smallest in North

America and resides in California. The Mastif Bat is the largest in California and has a long and narrow wingspan as you look in the Yosemite cliffs. The Fly-ing Fox peaks at 2.5 pounds and showcases a 7 foot wingspan, along with its appearances in movies because of its size.

Unfortunately, bats in California only eat insects and the largest bats are the fruit eating ones… but none reside in North America. Bats hang and are really unable to walk, but keep a great blanket around them in the rain forests to keep

dry and warm. With an appetite of nearly 600 mosquitoes a night, bats locally can control

insects and keep that dreaded West Nile Virus down. As for rabies, very few

bats contract this ugly disease, but with the sto-

ries abound with Vampire bats sucking the blood of another mammal (the cow), no wonder we’re afraid of this airy crea-ture. Ask Stan Louie what he thinks about what that

Draculin and Vampirin drugs are used for in pre-venting clots from sur-gery. Ewww! Thanks Mike for a GREAT PROGRAM!

Congrats Mary Dalton on winning the $10 Raffle to-day… it pays to attend Selma Rotary! Next week, remember Senior Bingo at the Sen-iors Center at 9:30am… and for the EARLY RIS-ERS, Band Festival Meet-ing at Char’s office at 7:30am. Both on Tuesday, September 29th.

# # # And why so many photos of John Martin? He felt there were too many of Prez Scott… so if we aim just right, we’ll have a crown over John...