Lion BOb Line with a happy buck.

Todays Meeting

Lion President Melinda led our meeting and called on herself to salute our flag. She then asked Lion Dee to lead us in singing “My Country Tis of Thee” and asked Lion Mark to do the invocation.

Your Roar editor, Lion Roy, won the no fine badge today, a big disappointment to Lion Dee who had plans.

Announcements

Vision screenings:

Today’s secret greeter was Lion Mark, who turned out to be Mr. Big Popular, everyone shook his hand.

This morning’s board meeting:  

Lion Karen’s motion that we give the $250 donated by club friend Judy Fussel was approved. We will provide it to an El Demonte student in Lion Janet McClintock’s name.

The buying of a new Vision Screening machine was also discussed. (we are borrowing one from the Pride Lions now) They are pretty expensive, $7,500, but grants are available, which would pay for at least half of the cost. No decision was made at the meeting.

Happy Bucks 

Lion Karen had ten happy bucks for the week she and her husband Lion Rick spent in Arizona attending spring training baseball games. She noted that the Giants won the two games they went to.

Lion Leigh was happy that he had taken seven Special Olympics basketball teams to Fresno for the annual tournament and that the Visalia teams had taken home several wins. However, they lost the gold medal game by just one point. Leagh also told us that he was asked to leave the bench, but he didn’t go into detail.

Lion Dee was happy that his granddaughter, who lives in Utah, was having another child.

Lion Pete was happy that he was able to celebrate his dad’s 94th birthday last week, but he had a sad buck because his eight-year-old granddaughter broke her arm and is on her softball team’s DL.

Lion Bob Line was happy that he was the only one in the room wearing green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, which is this Monday.

Lion Tom Gaebe was happy that his firm had passed the first tax filing deadline.

Lion Melinda was happy for all the rain we have been having lately.

Lion Roy tried to give a happy 10% to the club from last week’s loto ticket win but he was unable to because he won nothing, zilch, nada. 

Fines

Lion Dee had asked if Lion Bob Line had taken his hat off for the pledge, and apparently he had because no fine was levied.

Lion Dee had his trivia questions for the group:

For Lion Allen: Who was the founder of Lions Clubs?  Allen answered correctly: Melvin Jones.

For Lion Colin: How many Lions Clubs are there in the world? His guess of 15,000 was short as there are 49,000 in the world.

For Lion Bob Line: What is the percentage of Australians living on the coast? Bob’s guess of 90% was right on the mark.

For Lion Pete: What year was LCIF founded?  His guess of 1951 or 1979 was wrong. The correct answer was 1968.

For Lion Leigh: What Canadian city had the first Lion Club? His answer of Victoria was incorrect, as it was Windsor, Ontario.

For Lion Tom Gaebe, how many countries are there Lion Clubs in? His answer, more than 200, was correct.

For Lion Mark: What year was Lions founded, and in what city? Correct answer was 2017 in Dallas, Texas.

Lion Dee demanding payment from Lion Pete for an incorrect trivia question answer. 

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Karen who donated it to the Leo Club.

Lotto ticket: Lion Steve.

The marble drawing went to Lion Roy, who picked a yellow marble and won nothing but that nonwhite marble.

Life is Better with Broccoli:  Lion Melinda Blankinship 

Todays Meeting

With Lion President Melinda presiding, Lion Roy led us in the flag salute, Lion Dee led us in singing God Bless America, and Lion Tom Link did the invocation.

No fine badge went to Lion Allen.

As this was the first meeting of March, we sang happy birthday to Lions Mark and Steve who were both in attendance.

Guest

We had a guest, Stephanie, who found us on our website. She recently moved to Vialia from Lompoc and works as a realtor.

Announcements

Board Meeting: This Friday at 11:00 AM, Left of Center.

2025-26 Slate of officers: It’s time to select the new year’s slate of officers, and the district would like us to make those selections no later than April 15th. If you would like to be one of our board members, volunteer.

District speaker contest results:  Lion Melinda announced that the student who won at our clubs speaker contest did not attend the district contest, and a girl from Exeter won that round.

Secret Greeter: Lion Melinda did not pick a secret greeter and thus put $5 into the pot, which was more than would have been gained from a secret greeter.

Happy Bucks 

Lion Roy was happy that the Dodgers look good this year, that our guest, Stephanie, was with us today, and that he had photographed the Tulare County Special Olympics basketball squad last Sunday. Plus, the big news: his new dog was getting potty trained.

Lion Allen was happy that last week’s vision screening at TCOE went well and that the machine borrowed from the Pride Club didn’t need a tent indoors like the old one.

Melinda was happy for Lions Karen and Rick who are in Arizona for their annual spring training trip, as they were w/o kids.

Lion Dee was happy to see our guest, Stephanie, with us today.

Lion Tom link was happy that he was going to Montray for the annual cemetery board retreat and as Tom said, lots of people are dying to go with them.

Fines

Lion Roy fined himself for not being able to go to last week’s eye screening.

Lion Dee had his trivia questions and began with who in the Lions International President: Neither Mark nor Roy knew had to pay a dollar.  The answer is Fabrício Oliveira from Brazil. 

Lion Tom Link was asked where the Lions International Convention would be held, but he could not give the correct answer: Orlando, Florida. 

Lion Tony came close to answering the question: How many years was President Jimmy Carter a Lions club member?  The answer is 72 years. He joined the Planes George Lions club in 1953. 

Lion Dee’s final question was: How many people were helped by Lions Worldwide in the year 23-24? No one could give the correct answer of four hundred and twenty million. 

Lion Melinda draws for the white marble, but came up empty. 

Remembering Janet

Today, we began a new tradition of remembering lions who have passed with the remembrance of Lion Janet McClintock. Lion Roy put together photos he had taken from years past, and members talked about their fond memories of Janet. She was our first female president, serving the 2008-2009 year.

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Leigh who donated it to the Leo Club.

Lotto ticket: Lion Roy, who, as he expected, came up empty. 

The marble drawing went to Lion Melinda, who picked a nonwhite marble, winning nothing but that nonwhite marble.

Lion Melinda won the free add. 

Todays Meeting

Lion president Melinda led our meeting today and called on Lion Leigh to lead us in the flag salute, Lion Dee to lead us in singing “My country ‘Tis of Thee,” and Lion Bob Line to do the invocation.

Non fine badge: Lion Bob Line received the badge today and saved himself a dollar because he did not shake our secret greeter, Lion Dee’s hand. 

Announcements

Lion Allen gave Lion Tom Gaebe his winnings from the Super Bowl pool, as this was the first day Lion Tom had been at one of our meetings since the game. As this is tax season, Tom has been somewhat busy.

Lion Allen announced that the Young Life fundraiser on February 21, for which we were given a table in exchange for our contribution, was a success and fun, especially the desert dash.

Lion Dee announced that ten Leos from our sponsored Leo Club helped out at last weekend’s MD4 convention, putting up the more than 200 flags used for the parade of flags.

Next week, we will start a new tradition for our club and remember the life of Lion Janet McClintock. She had been a Lion for many years and president of our club for the 2008-2009 year.

Lion Melinda announced that Judy Fussel, a good friend of Lion Janet and Melinda, had donated a check for $250 to the club in Janet’s name.

Lion Colin

Happy Bucks 

Lion Roy had a few happy bucks, one for a new dog that he recently adopted from the local shelter, one for being able to ride his motorcycle on this nice day, one for getting to meet the Lions 3rd vice district govoner at the MD4 Convention last weekend and one for receiving an email from our Japanese visitor Tomohir Nishihata who visited our club back in September. He will be president of his club this coming year and plans to make another visit to our club in the fall. 

Lion Mark gave a $10 happy buck because he had been to Montana to see his daughter and didn’t bring anything back. 

Lion Pete was happy he skied in Colorado with his brother this past weekend. 

Lion Karen was happy that she and Lion Rick were going for their annual Spring Training trip to Arizona next week. She was also happy they bought a new Subaru Forester last week. 

Lion Brad was happy that he had traveled to Washington this past week, but this time by airplane, so this time no stopping for “ice cream” along the way.

Lion Melinda was happy that she, along with Lions Roy and Tom Link, attended former Lion Lauri’s wedding this past Saturday. 

Fines

Lion Dee fined Lion Roy because Lion Roy’s daughter-in-law had stories to tell about him when Dee went to his podiatrist’s office this past week, where Roy’s daughter-in-law works.

Lion Tom Link fined Lion Melinda because she did not fine Lion Tom for being late.

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Steve who donated it to the Leo Club.

Lotto ticket: Lion Leigh. Lion Leigh also won the marble drawing, but as was most likely the case with the lotto tickets, he came up empty for the marble.

Lion Brad won the free add today. 

Todays Meeting

Lion President Melinda led today’s meeting and called on Lion Roy to lead us in saluting our flag, Lion Bob Line to lead us in singing God Bless America, and Lion Pete to do the invocation. It was Pete who also won the no-fine badge.

Announcements

Lion Leigh was standing in as Tail Twister in Dee’s absence today and collected a couple of dollars from the fact that Lions Roy and Bob did not shake his hand.

Lion Tom paid for and approvd this ad. 

Auction Items

Lion Melinda had a bag of Saltwater Taffee from the coast, and all the members paid a buck for it. They give it to Lion Karen, who we all know likes them, but she is outside taking a phone call.

Happy Bucks 

Lion Pete was happy to be back from his home in North Carolina, where he spent time visiting his kids and playing chess with one of his grandsons, who beat him one game but not the second one. He was also happy that his grandson, who lives here in Visalia, will attend Green Ackers Middle School next year.

Lion Melinda had a happy buck for a trip to the coast to stay at former Lion’s Ed and Carol’s house.

Lion Roy was happy he had scheduled a date to photograph Tulare County Special Olympics Basketball in March.

Lion Karen was happy the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl again, and she was happy that all of us paid for her saltwater taffy.

Lion Tom Gaebe was happy he had recently purchased a new Jeep.

Lion Allen was happy that his son had spent his 40th birthday in Jamaica. He was also happy that his mom would have been 98 years old today.

Fines

Lion Karen was fined because her phone went off, and she had no badge. 

Lion Tom Gaebe also ponied up a dollar because he didn’t have a badge. 

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Steve, who donated it to the Eye Foundation. 

Lotto ticket: Lion Melinda

The marble drawing went to Lion Roy, who picked a nonwhite marble, winning nothing but that nonwhite marble.

Lion Leigh won the free add. 

Todays Meeting

Our meeting began today with Lion President Melinda calling on Lion Tom Gaebe to lead us in saluting our flag, Lion Dee led us in singing God Bless America, and Lion Bob Line did the invocation.

Our guest today was Matt Van Soyoc, who heard about our club from a friend and came to check us out.

The no-fine badge was won by our guest, Matt, who, as per custom, couldn’t have been fined anyway, but it did feel good to win.

Lion president Melinda did not select a secret greeter so she put $5 into the pot herself.

Announcements

Lion Dee announced that Lion Pat was still suffering from arthritis. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Lion Allen announced that the Young Life banquet will be held on Friday, February 21. Our club has a table of 8, so anyone who would like to attend is welcome.

Lion  Allen also announced that we have a vision screening at Tulare County Office of Education on March 1st. We have done this event for several years now and have many people bringing their kids by to have their eyes tested. The Tulare County Science and Engineering Fair is going on that day, and it’s interesting to see what the students come up with for projects displayed in the exhibit hall.

Lion Dee colleting money from thos triva questions. 

Happy Bucks 

Lion Tom Link had a happy buck because he went out to lunch with Dee yesterday, and Lion Dee noted that he paid $5 for the tip.

Lion Mark was happy his daughter had a new car.

Lion Allen was happy to see our guest, Matt, with us today.

Lion Leigh was happy his son was back in his home near Pasadena after having to evacuate because of the Eaton fire, he was happy to report that his home was still standing and had suffered no damage. 

Lion Roy had three happy bucks: one because he rode his motorcycle today, one that our guest Matt joined us today, and the last one because he has a job taking basketball photos next weekend in Woodlake.

Lion Karen was happy to see our guest, Matt, and also happy that she and Lion Rick were celebrating their 41st wedding anniversary.

Our guest, Matt, was happy to be with us today.

Fines

Lion Tom Link was fined for being late.

Lion Leigh fined Roar editor Lion Roy for his phone going off during the meeting.

Lion Dee had his trivia contest again, this time about presidents.

Q: Who was the first president to die in office?
A: William Henery Harrison, who served only one month in office and passed on April 4th, 1841.

Q: Who was the president that banned alcohol from the White House?
A: Rutherford B. Haze  1977-1881

Q: Who was the last president to survive an assassination attempt?
A: Ronald Reagen  March 30, 1981

Q: Is the first president to serve two non-convective terms?
A: Grover Cleveland: 1885-1889 & 1893-1897

Q: Is the only President to also serve as a Supreme Court justice?
A: William Howard Taft  1909-1913

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Allen, who tried to donate it to the Allen Ventling Foundation but ended up donating it to the Eye Foundation. 

Lotto ticket: Lion Steve

The marble drawing went to Lion Bob Line, who picked a nonwhite marble, winning nothing but that nonwhite marble.

Lion Karen won the free add.

Todays Meeting

Lion President Melinda led the meeting today and called on Lion Leigh to lead us in saluting the flag; Lion Bob Line led us in singing God Bless America, and Lion Aaron did the invocation.

No fine badge: today, it went to Lion Tony

Lion Melinda had selected no secret greeter, so she put in $5 for that error; most likely, that was more than a secret greeter would have garnered anyway, so it worked out well for the club.

Announcements

Lion Dee let us know that Lion Pat was having some issues with arthritis and to keep him in our thoughts and prayers.

Lion Aaron gave us some news on his wife, Lion Betty’s heart issue, and that she is set to have an EKG at home that will be monitored by the doctors at Stanford Medical. We hope they can find out what is causing her issue.

Board Meeting:

In today’s board meeting, we discussed the merger with Sequoia Lions, which was still in limbo.

We also discussed the idea of moving to an every-other-week meeting schedule. We are putting out over one hundred dollars a week because we are not meeting the quota of people required by Left of Center so that we can have the room to ourselves. Going to every other week would then save us money. This was discussed at the regular meeting, with some members being okay with it and others feeling that attendance would drop even further if we did go to it every other week. At this time, it’s just an idea. 

We also talked about coming up with a mission statement for the club. Lion Colin brought up a point that, as a club, we don’t have a concrete mission as to what we are all about. To promote the club and give prospective members a reason to join. Lion Melinda stated she would give this some thought, and the other board members would also. 

One idea Lion Dee had was to work with other clubs on something that the club did about twenty years ago: a sports and pleasure show. We had put this on for three or four years at the Convention Center, and it raised a lot of money. 

Lion Bob with a happy buck. 

Auction Items

Lion Tom Link had been to the coast and brought back a bag of Salt Water Taffee that he auctioned off to Lion Karen for $12. 

Happy Bucks 

Lion Bob Line had a happy buck because his grandkids and their parents had been to Grant Grove, and the info was that they didn’t need chains, but they hit an icy patch, slid into a tree, totaled the car, and one of the grandkids went to the hospital, but she was OK, and all others in the car were okay. 

He also had a happy buck because his relatives who live in Pasadena had come up to Visalia because of the fires in that area, and so far, their home was OK. 

Lion Aaron was happy Stanford Medical was making some progress with Lion Betty’s heart issue. He was also happy that Professional Pickleball was starting up again. 

Lion Leigh was happy that his son, who lives in Eagle Rock, had to evacuate because of the fires, was OK. 

Lion Roy had a reply to Lion Aaron’s talk about Pickleball. He had seen a bumper sticker in Indio that said: Pickleball-for those that suck at tennis. 

Lion Bob Line had a golf joke. A guy takes his grandson golfing, and they come to a hole where the grandfather tells the kid, “When I was your age, I hit it over those trees, cutting off a stroke or two.”  The kid tries and can’t get it over the trees; he asks Granddad, “How did you do that when you were my age”? The grandfather confesses, “When I was your age, those trees were just little saplings. 

Lion Karen had a happy buck because her whole family was over norovirus, which they all got over the holidays. 

Lion Melinda was happy that Lion Karen insisted on getting everything together from the last two meetings, even though she was sick. 

Lion Tom Link was happy his two daughters went with him to Moro Bay and took him to the Vintage Press for his birthday. 

Fines

Lion Dee asked if anyone knew who was walking with the Lins floot in the Rose Parade from the local area; Lion Mark was fined because he assumed it was a man. Lion Roy correctly guesses it was our district governor, Lion Cheri Provancha. 

Lion Leigh had a couple of questions for Lion Dee: What year did BYU start playing football? It was 1922, and Dee paid a buck because he didn’t know. 

Lion Tom Link fined Lion Dee because he had not held up a years-long tradition of each one buying the others lunch on their birthday. Tom’s birthday came and went, but he didn’t hear a peep out of Lion Dee. Lion Dee said the one-dollar fine was Lion Tom’s birthday present. 

Lion Mark fined himself for having to leave early. Lion Melinda also gave him his new replacement badge. His other one was stolen out of his truck a few weeks ago. 

Lion Melinda paid a fine for mixing up Lions Link and Line. 

Drawings 

The $5 drawing went to Lion Melinda, who donated it to the Lions Eye Foundation.

Lotto ticket: Lion Colin (same guy every week)

The marble drawing went to Lion Bob Line, who picked a nonwhite marble, winning nothing but that nonwhite marble.

Lion Tom Gaebe won the free ad.