February 26, 2009 This Week Program Chair Jim Whitehead March 5 March 12 Wounded Heros February is World Understanding Month U P C O M I N G Kern Co. Grand Jury Claude Fiddler Mojave Airport & Spaceport Stu Witt February 19, 2009 Meeting Ken Secor, Editor Filling in for Prez Harvey, Brad Hannink called the meeting to order on schedule at 12:20 p.m. Past President Brad noted that Harvey had elected to visit grandkids instead of wielding the gavel a nobrainer choice for most grandfather-type Rotarians. Brad moved briskly into his temporary assignment by asking Harry Starkey to give the invocation. As he asked the blessing, Harry focused in particular on the needs of persons in the business community during the current very difficult economic times. Ray Dezember then led those present in the flag salute. Claude Fiddler served as the song conductor for the day, demonstrating some innovation by choosing Yankee Doodle Dandy (some folks in the room struggled a bit to remember the words, but the song evoked memories of Jimmy Cagney and George M. Cohan to others). Brad announced that the roving microphones would be handled by David Plivelich and Ben Taft. Steve Sanders then recognized visiting Rotarians Rick Kreiser (West), Jack Saba (East), and Larry Tiller (Taft), subsequently calling upon club members Colleen McGauley, Shannon Grove, Don Clark and Steve Illingworth to introduce their respective guests. Good News, Announcements, Et Cetera Acting Prez (A.P.) Hannink asked Scott Johnson to stand for a discussion of Scott s winning the Assistance League fund-raiser drawing for an attendance package at the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament. Scott expressed his appreciation to all involved as the authors of his good fortune, allowing as how it all seemed to justify a generous $10 Good News donation on his part. Financial Advisor Hannink then proceeded to list all the gold-plated perquisites that came as part of the attendance package, suggesting that the fair market value might exceed $10,000. After further haggling, Scott s $10 donation inflated to Continued on page 2. P R O G R A M S March 19 March 26 TBA Jim Whitehead Economist of Wells Fargo Mike Swanson Sr.
Continued from page 1. $100. A.P. Brad next called upon Bob Allison, who was looking for volunteer judges for the Kern County Regional Science Fair on March 17. Bob, seemingly motivated by a strong commitment to public service (and apparently fearless of IRA reprisal), noted that the date of the Fair did coincide with St. Patrick s Day, but that the former event obviously took precedence. He continued by indicating that the volunteers need not be scientists to participate and that he required about 70 more judges. Interested Rotarians were invited to sign up on a form Bob had placed on the luncheon tables and either return it to him or mail it in as indicated on the form. A third sign-up possibility would be an on-line response at http://ci.kern.org/science foundation. Barry Zoeller rose to announce that the date for his son s highlyanticipated return from Iraq had been moved out by the U.S. Army from March 17 to April 2. The good news is that he has actually departed Iraq and is in Kuwait, headed in due course via Hawaii on the way home. Barry also mentioned that he had chatted that morning with Joe Drew, who is doing very well and acting like an executive wanting to get back in the saddle. Colleen McGauley also had two items to report hoping that they would come cheaper than Scott s. She said that she would be speaking to the 18-person winter CASA training class that evening, and expects that the participants will be taking their oaths of office on March 5. Also, her organization was thrilled to receive a $40,000 grant from the Aera Energy Fund administered by the Kern Community Foundation that will cover the case management needs of the new CASA class for the next year. A.P. Hannink acknowledged Jim Baldwin, who turned out to be representing his wife and her efforts on behalf of the Bakersfield Music Theater. Brenda annually puts on a fund-raiser variety show for BMT. This year s version will be on February 28 at Harvey Auditorium, with the curtain going up at 8:00 p.m. The songs and music will be selected from newer shows not yet performed in Bakersfield. Tickets can be obtained from the BMT box office. Program With items of Club business, announcements and recognition safely concluded, A.P. Brad moved on to the program of the day. He engaged in a little patter about the program s title, David vs. Goliath. He asked the assemblage to visualize the speaker, Ben Stinson, as David the model being Michelangelo s incredible statue, handsome, lithe, young and complete with hair. Giants like Goliath, on the other hand, are usually seen as huge, ugly, mean, slow and lacking in peripheral vision (not to mention that they are typically viewed as much hairier than Area Meetings MONDAY Bakersfield South - Noon Wasco - Noon Veterans Hall on Poplar Ave. TUESDAY Bakersfield North - Noon Inyokern - 6:00 p.m. Bernardino s WEDNESDAY Bakersfield West - Noon Stockdale Country Club China Lake - Noon Heritage Inn Shafter - 6:30 a.m. Shafter Vet s Hall Bakersfield Breakfast - 6:45 a.m. Taft - Noon Jo s Restaurant Interact - 2:40 p.m. BHS Auditorium #301 THURSDAY Frazier Park Rotary - 5:30 p.m. Los Pinos Restaurant Bakersfield Downtown - Noon Bakersfield Art Museum Tehachapi - Noon Kelcy s Restaurant Delano - Noon Kong s Dynasty Kern River Valley - 6:00 p.m. Ewings FRIDAY Bakersfield East - Noon Veteran s Hall ROTARY OFFICE Continued on page 3.
Continued from page 2. the David statue). The A.P. postulated that Ben s job as speaker was to convince the audience of the aptness of the analogy suggested by the title. Brad noted that the task was greatly eased by the fact that Stinson s Stationers occupied a much respected historical and still extremely viable position in the local business community. Dick Mallard moved to the podium to introduce Ben Stinson III, not a difficult chore considering the speaker s long and colorful history as a member of Bakersfield Rotary. Ben is a graduate of local schools, Highland High, Bakersfield College and California State University, Bakersfield; he holds a degree in Business Management from CSUB. His extensive record of community service includes past presidencies of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Bakersfield and the CSUB Foundation Board. Ben and wife Lisette have two teen-age sons, Si (18) and Mark (15). Dick noted that he had asked Ben to speak about how a relatively small local business can succeed against big box chain competitors, dubbing the presentation David vs. Goliath. Ben began his remarks by commenting that, in President Harvey s absence, he had felt able to leave his can of haggis at the office, where it constituted a key item of curiosity for the employees. He also asked his new best friend, Scott Johnson, when they were leaving for the Masters Tournament. Moving on, Ben claimed that his presentation would only last 14½ minutes and that he had promised to keep everyone awake for at least 11 of those minutes. He took a moment to question the validity of the David vs. Goliath analogy, since he feels that Stinson s Stationers is a Goliath in its local market so who s the David? Ben then stated that he was particularly proud of his business team, many of whom were in attendance at the meeting. He proceeded to introduce some 16 individuals (one other had begged off, indicating that he had been to Rotary meetings before), giving a capsule version of each person s role on the Stinson team. He also indicated that many other valuable Stinson s personnel were absent, keeping the shop open for business. Ben concluded this portion of his presentation by freely admitting that he had just indulged in an orgy of shameless self-promotion! Ben continued by giving a brief history of the origins and development of Stinson s Stationers. Ben s father had his teaching career in local schools interrupted by WWII and a stint in the U.S. Navy. He returned to Bakersfield to continue his teaching career, but was encouraged by his young wife to do something more. Although discouraged by Ben s grandfather, previously a very successful grocery merchant until shut down by the Great Depression, Ben s father responded to the wifely pressure; and subsequent to touring the state to check out business possibilities, the couple opened Stinson s Stationers in 1947. The business prospered, and after operating at a couple of smaller locations, Stinson s took over a vacated J.C. Penney store site at 1108 Baker Street in 1966 and considerably later, a second sales site was opened at 4500 Stine Road. Along the way, Ben himself became a part of the organization (President in 1981). Although maintaining its traditions of quality and sound customer service, the company s team of office product professionals Continued on page 4. Harvey McCown... President David Price... Secretary Neil Sawyer... Treasurer Steve Sanders... Sgt.-at-Arms Board of Directors 1 year...joe Drew...Ed Paine...Steve Roach...Mary Trichell 2 years...eric Matlock...Colleen McGauley...Carla Musser...Ben Taft Past President...Daphne Harley President Elect 2009-2010...Duane Keathley R.I. President Dong Kurn Lee Korea District 5240 Governor Anil Garg Simi Valley, California Assistant Governor Brad Henderson Bakersfield West Group Representative Frank Trippichio Bakersfield South Rotary Office P.O. Box 1628, 93302 FAX: (661) 322-2311 evelyn@bakersfield-rotary.com www.bakersfield-rotary.com
Continued from page 3. have attempted to keep abreast of the constant changes in their retail marketplace and adapt to them. Ben asked the assemblage what they thought was the most important basic asset to a businessperson. After listening to several suggested answers, he pointed out that it was their time. Stinson s understands that concept, and focuses heavily on providing sales and services that help clients conserve that asset in any prevailing economic climate. The speaker then fast-forwarded to 1987, when his company celebrated its 40th anniversary. Stinson s was moving along in its traditional mode with an understood array of competitors, when suddenly the big box chain stationers concept began to evolve. The first chain into the marketplace was Staples, soon followed by Office Club, BizMart and numerous others; in subsequent years, numerous mergers and consolidations have occurred, with Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax now the Big Three but other organizations like Walmart, Kmart and Target have entered the competitive mix. As a result the number of independent office products dealers nationwide has shrunk from some 15,000 to about 2,000 since 1987; in Bakersfield, only two remain. For Stinson s, about 90% of the market is still out there, meaning that about 90% of office products are purchased from other than locally-based vendors. Ben encouraged the audience to think of the Triangle of Business, Price, Quality and Service; he stated his personal guarantee that no one pays more to do business with Stinson s, and that the highest levels of quality and service are maintained by his company. He also noted that it was unlikely that anyone present would ever meet Mr. Depot, Mr. Max or Mr. Staples. When Ben asked for questions, Bart Hill noted that he remembered when Ben had very long hair, and then asked him to comment on the future prospects for Stinson s. Ben stated that he hoped that his outstanding business team would allow the company to remain agile and adaptable. He believes that the really important competition is engendered by the need to respond to changing societal needs and values. Pauline Larwood recalled that Ben had played basketball at CSUB, and asked if such experience had been helpful in managing his company; he responded that it had been invaluable in team building. Ken Carter asked about the obvious longevity of the Stinson's team; Ben attributed it to the creation of a sense of shared community, a sort of familial relationship. A gratifying number of Rotarians present then rose to offer testimonials that Stinson's did, in fact, practice the Triangle of Service concept in transactions both large and small. Chuck Michel, Morgan Clayton, Greg Gallion and Riley Parker all seemed to be doing so without prompting or promise of payment from Ben. Acting President Hannink finally shut the meeting down at 1:06 p.m. Area Meetings MONDAY Bakersfield South - Noon Wasco - Noon Veterans Hall on Poplar Ave. TUESDAY Bakersfield North - Noon Inyokern - 6:00 p.m. Bernardino s WEDNESDAY Bakersfield West - Noon Stockdale Country Club China Lake - Noon Heritage Inn Shafter - 6:30 a.m. Shafter Vet s Hall Bakersfield Breakfast - 6:45 a.m. Taft - Noon Jo s Restaurant Interact - 2:40 p.m. BHS Auditorium #301 THURSDAY Frazier Park Rotary - 5:30 p.m. Los Pinos Restaurant Bakersfield Downtown - Noon Bakersfield Art Museum Tehachapi - Noon Kelcy s Restaurant Delano - Noon Kong s Dynasty Kern River Valley - 6:00 p.m. Ewings FRIDAY Bakersfield East - Noon Veteran s Hall ROTARY OFFICE Continued on page 5.
Continued from page 4. Pictures of the Day Harvey McCown...President David Price...Secretary Neil Sawyer...Treasurer Steve Sanders...Sgt.-at-Arms Board of Directors 1 year...joe Drew...Ed Paine...Steve Roach...Mary Trichell 2 years...eric Matlock...Colleen McGauley...Carla Musser...Ben Taft Past President...Daphne Harley President Elect 2009-2010...Duane Keathley R.I. President Dong Kurn Lee Korea District 5240 Governor Anil Garg Simi Valley, California Assistant Governor Brad Henderson Bakersfield West Group Representative Frank Trippichio Bakersfield South Rotary Office P.O. Box 1628, 93302 FAX: (661) 322-2311 evelyn@bakersfield-rotary.com www.bakersfield-rotary.com