| Meeting Date | Speaker and Subject |
|---|---|
| Oct. 3, 2007 | Tom Aminikharrazi, Financial Advisor and Investor |
| and | Arturo R. Gabaldón, President, Community Water Company of Green Valley |
| Nov. 7, 2007 | Dr. Fred Goldberg - Global Warming ~ Human Caused or Natural |
| Dec. 5, 2007 | Colonel Gail Halvorsen (Ret.) - Berlin and Back on Two Sticks of Gum ~ The Quest for Freedom |
| Jan. 2, 2008 | Brigadier General Patrick J. Moisio - The Air National Guard and the Mission of the 162nd Fighter Wing |
| Feb. 6, 2008 | Dr. Yar Petryszyn - Mexico and Central America |
| Mar. 5, 2008 | José R. Martinez, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent |
| Apr. 2, 2008 | Joseph L. R. Mills, M.D., F.A.C.S - University Medical Center Hospital |
| May 7, 2008 | Sgt. Brian Groseclose, Sahuarita Police Department - Elder Abuse |
For our very first meeting of the season, we will have two speakers, so you will want to come a bit early to pick up your membership card if you paid for this season last spring, or, if not, pay for your membership for this season. The coffee and donuts will be ready at 8:30 a.m. for the early birds. Expect the intro and jokes by our President, Bob Mitacek, to begin about 9:15. Tom Aminikharrazi, Financial Advisor and Investor will be our first speaker at 9:30. He will be followed by Arturo R. Gabaldón, President, Community Water Company of Green Valley at 10:15.
Tom Aminikharrazi is a Regional Vice President and a 17 year veteran in the Financial Services Community. He provides personal financial coaching and services to over 5,000 clients and manages over 50 Pension Plans.
He is instrumental in providing financial education for many community employees such as Police and Fire Departments, City and Municipal organizations and a number of local Federal Agencies and Senior groups. His coaching and educational approach make him a valued assets to all his clients.
Mr. Gabaldón is the President of Community Water Company of Green Valley. Born in Merced, California at Castle AFB, he grew up in Tucson, Arizona. He has worked for the water co-op for seventeen years, first as the controller and then general manager. From 1990 - 2003 he also taught at Pima Community College as an adjunct faculty member and in 2000 was recognized with the Apple Award for teaching excellence by Pima Community College. Arturo is an officer of the Green Valley Elks Lodge and serves on the board of the Green Valley/Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce. He is a CPA, earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Arturo has worked for Coopers & Lybrand CPA’s, the University of Arizona, NASA and the US General Accounting Office. He feels strongly about water issues and the future of our water supplies.
Arturo and his wife, Rosanna, live in the Green Valley area and have a son, Adres, who attends college in Tucson.
Fred Goldberg has, all of his life, been interested in polar history research and therefore traveled extensively in the polar regions, North and South. He has made many nature films shown on national TV and made historical documentary films about Roald Amundsen and his Polar flights, the airship Italia disaster and coal mining on Svalbard just to mention a few.
Colonel Gail Halvorsen (Retired) is best know as the “Berlin Candy Bomber,” “Uncle Wiggly Wings” or his personal favorite “Der Schokoladen-Flieger” (“the Chocolate Pilot”). In July 1948 he volunteered to fly C-54 Transports in “Operation Vittles,” better know as the Berlin Airlift. He earned his nickname dropping small candy laden parachutes to the children of Berlin.
Colonel Halvorsen was scheduled to be our speaker in December 2006. He was forced to cancel at the last minute due to his knee surgery last fall. He promises to be in tip-top condition this year.
Colonel Halvorsen wrote and coauthored two books. One is in every major school in the US and the other is written for children. He would like to sign and sell both of these books at the December meeting for $15.00 each. Bring Cash or Check. If demand exceeds what is on hand,you should receive your books by Christmas. The first one is called "The Berlin Candy Bomber." The one for children is called "Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot, a True Story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy That Dropped from the Sky."The Arizona Air National Guard, Army National Guard and the mission of the 162nd Fighter Wing will be the topic or our January speaker, Brig. Gen. Rick Moisio, commander of the 162nd Fighter Wing, Arizona Air National Guard Base located at the Tucson International Airport, Tucson, AZ.
Dr. Yar Petryszyn, retired June 30th, 2007 as professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the U of A, without any doubt, gets our vote as our most popular speaker in the last 10 years. He has talked to us about his journey to the North Pole on a Russian Nuclear Icebreaker, the Natural History of East Africa, the Galapagos, Antarctica and, most recently, about his visit to the Amazon. He is back this time to talk about Mexico and Central America. We already know that Yar will once again run out of time. If you haven't heard him, hold your coffee to one cup because you won't want to miss one word of what he has to say.
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent José R. Martinez is a native Tucsonan, attended St. John the Evangelist Catholic grade school and graduated from Pueblo High School. He attended Pima Community College.
José completed the United States Border Patrol Academy's 176th session in March 1985. His first duty station was Alamogordo, New Mexico Border Patrol Station, El Paso Sector. He was stationed in Alamogordo, New Mexico for 12 years and enjoyed being in Alamogordo. In June of 1997, he was promoted to Senior Patrol Agent and transferred to El Centro Station, El Centro Sector. In June 1999, he was promoted to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent. He worked in El Centro for 8 years and in 2005 was lateraled to Tucson Station.
José is currently the Community Relations Officer and these duties include; Community Relations events and Ranch Liaison and International Liaison.
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent José R. Martinez will be joined by Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Ryan McRae who is involved with Bike patrols, ATVs, Ground Surveillance Radars, is an EMT.
Agent Ryan McRae has worked in Nogales, Casa Grande, & Tucson.
Dr. Mills, board-certified in vascular surgery, general surgery and surgical critical care, is a vascular surgeon who has special interests in aortic aneurysm repair, carotid surgery to prevent stroke, and lower extremity bypass surgery for limb salvage. His research focuses on vein graft stenosis and intimal hyperplasia.
Brian is back with us for a discussion of the unpopular topic of Elder Abuse. As you may recall, he is a Police Officer with the Sahuarita, AZ police department, where he has been since 1998. Prior to that we has with the Bullhead City Police Department, following his time in the US Marine Corp. He is a graduate of Marana High, making him a home grown asset to Southern Arizona.