Kiwanis International

In the late 1960s, when the United Farm Workers union was spearheading a lettuce boycott aimed at pressuring growers to allow field hands to unionize, Frank DiNoto recalls his daughters' saying one day that their high school teachers had asked them to support the boycott. DiNoto was troubled by what he saw as the school's failure to give the farm owners' side of the dispute.

Kiwanis clubs in San Fernando and Sylmar have donated $1,200 to a local tattoo-removal program that helps young people break the visible connection to a gang. The contribution pays for rental of state-of-the-art laser equipment used at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center's weekly tattoo removal clinic. Clients undergo an average of seven treatments to remove a tattoo, depending on how deep it penetrates the skin and what kind of ink was used, officials said.

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim has installed Burton I. Fink as its new president. Fink will be serving as club president on the worldwide Kiwanis leadership team with Kiwanis International President Walter G. Sellers of Ohio. Kiwanis International's major service focus is a program called "Young Children: Priority One."

The North-South All-Star softball game, in danger of not being played this season, was saved Wednesday by the Kiwanis Club of Anaheim Hills/Yorba Linda. The club voted unanimously to sponsor a game June 9 after an appeal to the club by Canyon softball Coach Lance Eddy. The game had been sponsored in the past by Soroptomist International of Brea/La Habra, which held the game at Brea Olinda High.

The board of Kiwanis International announced today that it will recommend that the service organization accept women as members. Kiwanis International President Donald Williams said the board voted unanimously to support adoption of a women's membership amendment when club delegates convene in Houston in June.

The board of Kiwanis International, faced with legal challenges to its men-only membership policy, has endorsed the admission of women to the 70-year-old service organization, its president said Wednesday. Donald E. Williams said delegates representing 300,000 Kiwanians will vote on the proposal during the organization's convention June 22-26 in Houston. A two-thirds majority is needed to amend the Kiwanis' constitution to admit women.

Emboldened by this week's U.S. Supreme Court decision that women cannot be barred from Rotary clubs in California, the 12-member Kiwanis Club of Chatsworth elected a woman as its treasurer Wednesday in defiance of Kiwanis International's standing order to drop her and another woman from the club.

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim has installed officers to serve in the coming year. They are William H. Spehn, president; Paul V. Bostwick, president-elect; John S. Peterson, vice president; Richard H. Smith, treasurer; William F. Marshall, secretary; and Allen H. Ellsworth, sergeant-at-arms. A new board of directors also was chosen. Spehn will serve on the worldwide Kiwanis leadership council with the international president.

Kiwanis International members turned down a board recommendation to allow female members in the worldwide service club, marking the 11th time in as many years that such a proposal has been rejected. But the vote at the annual convention in Houston was the closest ever on the issue. Last year, 77% of the voters were against the proposal, but this year, the 'No' vote was 53%.

Kiwanis International, a service organization with clubs all over the world, ended a 72-year men-only tradition in a matter of minutes Tuesday with an overwhelming vote to let its 8,200 clubs admit women. "I'm delighted and relieved," incoming president Tony Kaiser said after the vote. "It's time to put this controversy behind us and get on with the real business of the service club movement."

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim has installed officers to serve in the coming year. They are William H. Spehn, president; Paul V. Bostwick, president-elect; John S. Peterson, vice president; Richard H. Smith, treasurer; William F. Marshall, secretary; and Allen H. Ellsworth, sergeant-at-arms. A new board of directors also was chosen. Spehn will serve on the worldwide Kiwanis leadership council with the international president.

Margie Rice, a Westminster councilwoman, was recently installed as president of the local Kiwanis Club. The 29-member nonprofit club, which was founded last year, performs community service projects for youths. She said she is looking forward to expanding the programs offered to children. Rice, 69, has lived in Westminster for 43 years.

Members of the Kiwanis Club of San Fernando were looking for a way to celebrate the organization's 75th anniversary this month. They considered, of course, the old standby--the anniversary dinner. But planners nixed that. "Let's not do the traditional 75-year dinner where we just invite the members and slap each other on the back," said Gregory Kory, a member and past president of the organization. So someone suggested a weekend-long event to showcase the club's varied historical artifacts.

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim has installed Burton I. Fink as its new president. Fink will be serving as club president on the worldwide Kiwanis leadership team with Kiwanis International President Walter G. Sellers of Ohio. Kiwanis International's major service focus is a program called "Young Children: Priority One."

A monument to former City Manager Arthur E. Cook Jr. will be paid for by the local Kiwanis club, ending a months-long controversy over the planned use of city funds to build the $8,813 monument. Residents objected to the city paying for the monument, which is essentially a large stone plaque denoting the newly renamed Arthur E. Cook Jr. Water Production Facility. City officials estimated it would cost $15,000 to build the monument.

It may not be considered hard labor, but for the dozen or so local business people taken into custody Tuesday, working the phones for donations was their ticket to freedom. Arrested on a variety of made-up charges ranging from tardiness to withholding hugs, the individuals were detained in a makeshift jail in front of JC Penney on the San Fernando Mall until they raised enough cash to satisfy their jailers.

It would have been her first professional award. But veteran teacher Linda Smith turned it down because the sponsor, the Kiwanis Club, refuses to admit women members. "I couldn't be proud of an award from an organization that limits access and opportunity," said Smith, 38, a math teacher at Los Alisos Intermediate School in Mission Viejo.

The Canoga Park chapter of Kiwanis International will install its first woman president Saturday, a big change for an organization that started admitting women less than four years ago and still has only three female members. The new president, Teri Weber, a real estate agent and mother of two, was the second woman to become a member of the service group. Hers was a quick rise in the 66-year-old organization, which admitted its first woman over strenuous objections from some members.

Kennedy High School has won the annual Kiwanis Bowl and is displaying the trophy in its gym for the first time. Kennedy's 10-student team defeated Green Valley High School of Boulder City, Nev., in the annual competition, in which students answer questions on subjects ranging from current events to science and literature.

This year, the Kiwanis Club of Reseda will reach out to a new group of needy--public schools. The service club, which is part of an international organization serving the poor, the disabled and the victims of disaster, has added two local schools to its list of downtrodden. The club has "adopted" Reseda Elementary School and Shirley Avenue Elementary School. The two will be singled out for special attention by the club, including donations and volunteer work.