Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
August 27th, 2025
Roger Willeford presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
An Executive Board meeting occurred today.
38 members were in attendance today.
Richard Johnson led with the singing of America, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Bob Knudson, mentioning the children.
Raffle: Hamish Martin oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $xx and the big (Joker) pot was $xxx.
Dave Figi drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 483. Congratulations to the winner, Don Kellogg.
The deck of cards has 22/53 cards remaining. Don Kellogg drew the 6♥.
An additional ticket # 496 was drawn by Dave Figi for a Dale Henning to win a box of Girl Scout cookies.
Roger Willeford thanks greeters Jim Farrell and Bob Wilcox, invocator Bob Knudson, rafflemaster Hamish Martin, and server Glenn Disrude.
Happy Box: Don Kellogg announced he is happy because he won the raffle, and is donating his proceeds to the Salvation Army.
Dan Heerey announced he is happy because he is off to winter in Florida with his girlfriend. He will miss the Golden K!
Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke about a job interview. The interviewer had three potential hires: a mathematician, an accountant and an economist. The interviewer asked, “What does two plus two equal?” The mathematician answered, “Four.” The accountant answered, “Generally four.” The economist answered, “What would you like it to equal?”
Member Health: Linda Bontly had a status update on the Hays. They are continuing to improve.
Linda Bontly had a status update on Jerry Burhans, who is having difficulty getting around, and isn’t attending.
John Janes had a status update on a past member, Hesselman, who was a shop / mechanic teacher at Parker. He has dementia.
Other Announcements: The Kiwanis Golf Outing and all members Breakfast was Thursday! Fun was had by all!
Committee Reports: Tom Neumann announced the upcoming Chicken Roast, Saturday, September 6th, from 11am to 3pm, and the Senior Fair, the following Saturday – sheets are being passed around for signup.
John Janes announced Monday and Tuesday’s Blood Drives. Monday took in 55 pints! Tuesday was a slow day due to multiple drives, and received another fifteen.
John Janes announced the Truck on Ice for 2025, starting soon! John has already secured three sponsors, and encourages everyone to follow suit. ABC Supply, the UAW and Grainger will be first to help the children this year!
Gregg Dickinson introduced the day’s speakers, Colleen Johnson and Paul King. Colleen and Paul are with the Rock County Land Conservation Department. Colleen’s background includes a century-owned farm with beef cattle, and some swine and hens. The group oversees several initiatives, including the Land and Water Resource Management Plan (LWRM Plan), mapping the county’s bedrock (new this year), monitoring nitrate levels and many other goals.
Wisconsin is unique! Each county has its own Land and Water Resource Management Plan, by state statute.
Rock County’s Land Conservation Department found our county has the worst nitrate water contamination levels in the state.
Every ten years, the Land Conservation Committee (LCC) rewrites our LWRM Plan, which is on the Department’s website.
Kiwanis member John Janes asks, “what affect do large farms have on the environment?” Colleen responded, “Generally it is lesser, because of scrutinization.”
The Land Conservation Department have a yearly tree sale! The Highway Department orders their trees in the Fall for Spring pickup. They generally sell out, recently at around 7,000 trees. The sale has a web page.
The Department hosts an event named, “Clean Sweep.” Citizens are able to take hazardous chemicals to the county location, twice yearly, for disposal. Pre-registration is required.
Kiwanian Tom Neumann asks, “Does the Land Conservation Department oversee pesticides and herbicides’ management?” Colleen responded, “No, those are mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Since 2001, Rock County UW-Extension has facilitated a garden plot rental program. In 2022, the RCLC Department took it over. Over 120 plots are available, across 3.5+ acres.
Paul King spoke at some length upon the mines residing in the county, and the county’s support for pollinator prairies.
The Rock County Land Conservation Department can be found on the web, at https://www.co.rock.wi.us/departments/land-conservation
Gregg Dickinson thanked Colleen Johnson and Paul King for speaking and presented them with a Kiwanis Parker pen.
Roger Willeford adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 11AM.
Reminders: The Buckley Picnic is next week!
Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, and Ryan Lewis, photographs.
On This Day:
1859 Edwin Laurentine Drake struck oil while drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania, becoming the first driller of a productive oil well in the United States.
1883 Krakatoa volcano, located west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 200 megatons of TNT, killing approximately 36,000 people
1912 National Tarzan Day, the popular tree-swinging and ape-raised character, made his first appearance. Tarzan debuted in the novel Tarzan of the Apes, which was originally published in installments in The All-Story magazine, starting with the October 1912 issue, which came out on August 27. The novel was published in full in 1914. Its author, Edgar Rice Burroughs, was influenced by the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus when writing it. He had held a large series of jobs before starting writing and decided to take up the venture after becoming disappointed with the pulp fiction he had been reading.
1964 The musical film Mary Poppins, an adaptation of P.L. Travers’s book, had its world premiere in Los Angeles. It became a Hollywood classic, especially noted for the performance of Julie Andrews, who was making her screen debut.
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. 08-05-2025
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