Rotary Club welcomes back Russell Brown, seen receiving his pin in the first image. Russell is pictured twice in the second image, first being being inducted into the Club, and second standing on a tractor in the photograph of Rotary Park first being built.  Russell attended Tuesday's meetings with his 3 grandchildren. It's great to have Russell back. 

 

I shop regularly on Amazon, and now have an excuse better than convenience and better prices.  If instead of logging in at amazon.com you log in at smile.amazon.com, Amazon will donate a small percentage of the proceeds to a charity of your choice.  It's pretty simple to set up and, if everyone participates and tells their friends, has the potential to raise a great amount for our club foundation. 

 

Here's the steps:

 

1. Log in at smile.amazon.com or just google Amazon Smile.

 

2. On the "Your Account" drop down list search for "Your AmazonSmile" and click.

 

3. On the right hand side under "Your current charity" click "Change charity."

 

4. Search for "Thiensville Mequon Rotary" and select Thiensville Mequon Rotary Foundation, Inc. as your charity. 

 

5. Every time you make a purchase on Amazon, use the smile.amazon.com website and a percentage of certain purchase items will be donated to the Foundation.    

 

One of our newest Rotarians, Heather Mader gave a thumbnail presentation at Tuesday's meeting. It is always a pleasure to learn a little about our new members. We look forward to hearing from Nick in just a few weeks. 

1. Thank you to last weeks cooking crew, consisting of head chef Pam Koch, Todd Davis, Rob Holtz, Megan Borland and Stan Lind. 

 

2. Congratulations on another successful year with Gathering on the Green. 

 

3. Tickets for August 9th Chinooks game still available. To correct myself, tickets should be requested from Dan Gannon rather than Sandy Custer.  

 

4. Weather this Tuesday is supposed to be clear and warm. High of 80 degrees.

 

Welcome to the Club, Heather and Nick.  Rotary is very excited to have Heather Mader and Nick Moran from Port Washington State Bank in Thiensville join the Club.  Be sure to introduce yourself if you have not done so already and show Heather and Nick a warm Rotarian welcome.   

Congratulations to Chiara our Rotary Exchange Student on her graduation from Homestead High School. Pictured with Chiara are her host families. (Photo by Bob Blazich) (Copied from the Sunrise Club Page, permission pending).

 

Thank you to Atty. Maureen O'Leary for presenting on the 2017 tax law changes and the impact the changes may have on charitable giving. Maureen highlighted the changes to the tax law, including the increased standard deduction and limits on the State and Local Tax deduction, and how less people may itemize their deductions (including charitable deductions) as a result.  Maureen additionally provided shared some strategies for maximizing tax deductions by using Qualified Charitable Distributions to satisfy IRA Required Minimum Distributions, or by "Bunching" to increase charitable giving in a single year and itemizing your deductions for that year, while taking the standard deduction for other years.  

 

Of course, no presentation from an attorney (or subsequent story written by an attorney) would be complete without the disclaimer that nothing in the presentation (or subsequent story about the presentation) should be construed as tax or legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.  You should consult your attorney and tax adviser regarding your personal situation.  If you missed the presentation but are interested in reading about it, please email me at sazinger@willmslaw and I would be happy to send you a copy of the Powerpoint.  

 

24 Scouts and 8 adult leaders of Boy Scout troop 852 are at Camp Tesomas this week in Rhinelander. 

 

Congratulation to Ellen Macfarlane on receipt of her 5th Paul Harris Award. Thank you Ellen for your dedication to Rotary and all that Rotary stands for. 

The weekly Rotary Bulletin is a great resource for reaching Rotarians about upcoming events and the happenings of each week.  There are often a list of highlights and stories which deserve a full story with photographs, but there are other considerations which have brought about the idea of the Rundown.  

 

The Rundown will be a short list and summary of information and reminders that Rotary and Rotarians would like to pass along to the Club which will be included in each newsletter.  Here's some information about the Rundown that might be helpful. 

 

1. If you have an item that you would like to have included in the Rundown, please email me (sazinger@willmslaw.com) or drop a written note to me at meetings.  If you email me, please email before or shortly after the meeting as the Rundown will be drafted Tuesday afternoons for the following Monday meeting. If you send me something to be included after 2pm on a Tuesday and request that it is included in the following Monday's Bulletin I will gladly do so, but you will be fined $5 payable at the next meeting (assuming I'm allowed to fine people and Shelly will follow through on collecting). 

 

2. Items that could be included in the Rundown would be reminders about events, important brags (published after official brags or by Rotarians who were unable to attend that weeks meeting), or any other information you would like to pass along. 

 

3. Please do not be offended if a News worthy story is included in the Rundown as opposed to as a separate story.  The determination factors for if something is included as a separate story versus an item in the Rundown will be based on things such as if I have time to write a separate story, if there is a photograph, or if I was at the meeting. 

 

4. If you feel an item in the Rundown is worthy of a separate story and would like to see it published as such, please feel free to write a story and send it to me to be published on the Website and in the next issue of the Bulletin.

 

Hopefully this format will be fun and a good way to convey certain information to the Club going forward.

1. If you're reading this before 9:00 AM and don't have plans, feel free to hop on over to Rotary Park to help Sandy get the park ready for our summer meetings. This shall also serve as a reminder that our meetings from June 26th until further notice will be held at Rotary Park.

 

2. Gathering on the Green is just around the corner.  Pam Koch will be sending out emails requesting you RSVP, but if you don't get the emails (and do get the bulletin) please feel free to talk to Pam. 

 

3. Rotary Chinooks Night will be Thursday, August 9, 2018 to see the Lakeshore Chinooks battle the Battle Creek Bombers. Tickets are $35.00 and include dinner and 2 drinks on the Leinenkugel's Dock.  RSVP to Dan Gannon if you would like to attend. dgannon@gmail.com or (262)327-2925. Ticket costs will be added to your Rotary Bill. 

 

4. Changing of the Guard will take place Tuesday at 5:30 PM at the Mequon American Legion.  There will be no regular afternoon meeting. Join Rotary in the evening to witness the passing of the Rotary Torch from current interim President Tim Vertz to President Elect, Tim Vertz.  

 

5. There will be no meeting on July 3rd in observation of our nation's independence.

 

6. No Newsletter went out on Memorial Day, May 28th, so I would like to take this opportunity to remember those who gave their lives for our country, and to thank those Rotarians who served: Sandy Custer, George Witte, Robert Jacobs, Dan Gannon, Stan Smith, Jack Wiese, Karle Naggs, Herb Hillman, and Jim Ott.  

 

I first met Karl Hertz about a year ago at one of my first Rotary meetings.  Karl was one of the first Rotarians to engage me in conversation, and I was quickly taken in by his charm. Writing an article for the T-M Rotary about a man with such great accomplishments whom I have only had the pleasure of knowing for one year will be a great challenge, in particular due to his background in education and his indubitable ability to identify plagiarism. That being said, here is a link to the JS Online article about Karl's recent Pillar of the Community Award. 

 

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northshore/news/mequon/2018/02/08/karl-hertz-honored-pillar-mequon-community/315962002/

 

I will also encourage you to read the excellent article in the News Graphic written by Gary Achterberg from Thursday if you have not done so already, however I was unable to find a link.

 

Finally, the question I may be the only one asking, why does Karl not have a Wikipedia Page (yet)?

 

So, what would Karl's Wikipedia page say? It would certainly start with his history, his family including his beautiful wife Carol, his career from teaching to being the superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, and his commitment to the community.  Karl served as President of T-M Rotary for the 1989-1990 year. He also served as Thiensville Village Trustee, Village President and Ozaukee County Supervisor (anyone would be welcome to add dates to this service on his Wikipedia page). Among other things, I do not think it would be a stretch to say Karl could do the best Christopher Walken impression. 

 

I think of Karl every time someone from outside of our community mentions they are "looking for a good school for their kids." Thanks in great part to Karl's contributions, we have some of the greatest public schools in the country. This in particular we cannot be grateful for enough.  

 

What is next for a man who has accomplished so much? I'm sure Karl is open to a conversation about his future plans, and is certainly approachable. I cannot think of a person more deserving of being taken out to lunch by anyone who wants to experience what it truly means to be a Rotarian.