Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
November 5th, 2025
Tom Neumann presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
The meeting was led with the singing of America, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Bob Knudson, mentioning thanks for the good food and drink, weather and the children.
Raffle: Linda Bontly oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $12 and the big (Joker) pot was $62.
Michelle Laube drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 748. Congratulations to the winner, Bob Knudson.
The deck of cards has 48/53 cards remaining. Bob Knudson drew the 5♣.
An additional ticket 739 was drawn, and two more, by Linda Bontly for some ornate pumpkins.
Tom Neumann thanks greeters April Wright and Nikki Bennett, invocator Bob Knudson, rafflemaster Linda Bontly, and server Glenn Disrude.
A collection was passed for the Key Club at Rock University, to raise money for food pantries. It was noted that Rock University is 20th in grades statewide.
Tom Neumann announced that a guest is present today, past Kiwanian Hamish Martin.
Jokes: Joker Steve Skelly had a good joke about a woman at the doctor. “It hurts everywhere I touch! It hurts here (she touched her elbow), it hurts here (her shoulder), and here! (her hip). Doctor, “You appear to have a broken finger.”
Member Health: John Sarnow had a status update on his health. He had lymphoma, which is now absent.
Tom Neumann had a status update on Bruce Jorenby, who is home, with assistance, and receiving Meals on Wheels.
Linda Bontly had a status update from Luci Cramer. The Cramers are back in Minnesota, assisting their daughter, who is having problems healing and requires plastic surgery where her brain tumor was removed. Please pray for her.
Other Announcements: Tom Neumann spoke upon a ‘Thank you’ letter that arrived from the Rock University Key Club.
Linda Bontly spoke upon thanks to all who assisted with the Kiwanis Meals on Wheels teams. We hope to grow it back to the old force again.
Greg Turco spoke briefly upon the approved year’s budget, which was approved at the recent board meeting.
Tom Neumann spoke upon the approaching Christmas party, for which the dancers are booked.
Gregg Dickinson spoke upon the Kiwanis shirts for sale. Please ‘pay Turco!’
Committee Reports: John Janes announced the Truck on Ice banner deadline is next week. We need sponsors!
Jim Farrell introduced the day’s speaker, Michelle Laube. Michelle is the Janesville City Assessor. She presented upon many budgetary concepts, including how the value of homes is determined. The process is complicated, and mandated.
Some facts about properties’ values:
There was a referendum last year to increase the tax bill via the school district (not the city!) which passed.
Fair market value is formulaic. It is not and should not be sale value.
Kiwanis member John Janes asked, if a property is listed and has multiple buyers bid up the price, does that increase the city’s valuation? Michelle’s answer, “Yes.”
John Janes later asked, two houses on his block recently burned. How are they assessed? Michelle responded, the value is taken on January 1st. If homes burn down or have repairs, after the first, the value won’t be reflected until the next January 1st.
If a property is partially damaged and replaced, a calculated formula is utilized to determine the date of the property for depreciation.
Jim Farrell thanked Michelle Laube for speaking and presented her with a Kiwanis coffee mug.
Tom Neumann adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:55AM.
Reminders: Some members stuck around for a quick board meeting.
On this day:
1492 Christopher Columbus learns how to grow and harvest maize (corn) from Cuba’s Indigenous population
1499 Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany). Breton-French-Latin dictionary written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc was first Breton and French dictionary
1500 -6th Nov astronomer Copernicus observes a lunar eclipse in Rome
1572 Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observes a bright new object with the naked eye in the Cassiopeia constellation, which he believes to be a new star but is now known as a supernova, a massive explosion of a dying star
1605 Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot. The plot is discovered, and Guy Fawkes is caught, tortured, and later executed along with seven others. Celebrated ever since as Guy Fawkes Day, his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, accompanied by fireworks.
1639 First post office in the colonies is set up in Massachusetts
1773 John Hancock is elected as moderator at a Boston town meeting that resolves that anyone who supports the Tea Act is an “Enemy to America”
1781 John Hanson elected first “President of US in Congress assembled”
1846 Robert Schumann’s 2nd Symphony in C premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting
1872 Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the American women’s suffrage movement, cast a ballot in the presidential election, and she was later arrested for voting illegally and convicted in a trial she called “the greatest outrage history ever witnessed.”
1895 First US automobile patent is granted to George B. Selden for a gasoline-driven car
1900 Under US military control since the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Cuba now calls its own constitutional convention
1905 Roald Amundsen reaches Eagle City, Alaska, to announce to the world by telegraph his is the first expedition, in 400 years of attempts, to complete a Northwest Passage [1]
1911 Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena, completing the first transcontinental airplane flight in 49 days after leaving Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17
1911 American cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers—who starred in films and television shows, often alongside his wife, Dale Evans—was born.
1913 British actress Vivien Leigh—who achieved motion picture immortality by playing two of American literature’s most-celebrated Southern belles, Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois—was born in India.
1930 3rd Academy Awards: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, George Arliss (Disraeli) and Norma Shearer (The Divorcee) win
1930 Social critic Sinclair Lewis won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first American to receive the honor.
1935 Parker Brothers launches the board game Monopoly
1946 John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) elected to US House of Representatives
1955 Date returned to in “Back to the Future” by Marty McFly
1956 “The Nat King Cole Show” debuts on NBC, the first variety program to be hosted by an African-American
1966 The Monkees score their 1st Billboard No. 1 – ‘Last Train To Clarksville’, written by Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce
1973 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen’s second album “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle”
1974 Ella Grasso (Ct) elected first woman US governor not related to previous governor
1978 Oakland Raider’s John Madden becomes 13th coach to win 100 NFL games
1987 An iceberg twice the size of Rhode Island breaks from Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf
1988 “Kokomo” single by The Beach Boys from the film “Cocktail” goes to #1
1988 Cornell confirms a graduate student is the source of a major computer sabotage known as the Morris Worm, initially created as an experiment but spreading rapidly due to a programming error
1992 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky in an unofficial match in Belgrade dubbed the “Revenge Match of the 20th Century”
1994 Space probe Ulyssus completes the first passage behind the Sun
1995 STS 73 (Columbia 18), lands
American Football Day celebrates the popular sport, American football. Like many sports, the rules of the game changed a lot over time to be what they now are. The roots of American football are in rugby football and association football—which is commonly known as soccer. The first American football game is seen as being played on November 6, 1869, but the rules were the same as soccer at the time.
Eat Smart Day, held on the first Wednesday of November, encourages all to be mindful of what they are eating so they make healthier food choices. The holiday is not only about eating healthily for one day, but about starting with small changes and committing to healthier eating going forward. Eating smart is especially important as the holidays and winter months approach, when it’s easy to overlook healthy meals and weight gain is common.
Doughnuts are deep-fried yeast pastries, and today they are given all of the appreciation they deserve. The first doughnuts in America were little “nuts” of dough, and they were brought to New England by the Pilgrims, who had learned to make them while they were in Holland from 1607 to 1620. The first mention of doughnuts in print was in Washington Irving’s 1809 book History of New York, which talks about Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. By the middle of the nineteenth century, doughnuts with a punched-out center became the norm, and doughnut corers were even being sold by mail order catalog!
Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Ryan Lewis, photographs.
Note: Kiwanis and its members are not responsible for errors or omissions. We are open to discussion if you would like to request an alteration.
rev. 10-21-2025
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