Sun City Clubs

Canasta

Scoring 89,250 points, Kathy Wilsek and Mickie Wiecek took first place in triple play canasta Jan. 30.

Bridge invitational

Winning the American Contract Bridge League duplicate bridge invitational Feb. 2 were Nancy Berg and Kay Burda for north-south and Donnelle Brosseau and John Diehl for east-west. Runners-up for north-south were Irene Crawford and Betty Smith in second place, and Naomi Cartwright and Karen Richardson in third. Mike Elliott and Robert Heuel placed second for east-west, while Ann and Pat Danna were third.

Duplicate bridge

Janet Clark and John Papaleo took first place for north-south in duplicate bridge Feb. 1. Sandy Johnson and Fran Logan placed first for east-west. Also in the top four for north-south were Jan Koerner and Betty Smith in second place, Dave Germaine and Gini Leopold, third, and Paul Clark and Irene Crawford, fourth. Playing east-west, Shirley Bruns and Ardythe Edwards came in second, Bill Fisher and Jeanne Shore, third, and Geri Kaiser and Marie Nugent, fourth.

In duplicate bridge Jan. 28, Naomi Cartwright and Grace Selby placed first; Ann Durgin and Karen Richardson, second; Marilyn Bailey and Mary Ann Harju, third, and Janet Clark and Harry Leopold, fourth.

Contract bridge

Harry Leopold turned up 6,730 points to score first place in contract bridge Jan. 30. Pat Danna placed second with 6,470. Jan Koerner took third place with 6,290. Jean Clifton tied with Shirley Bruns for fourth place at 5,910. John Papaleo was fifth with 5,860. Betty Beard took sixth place with 5,100.

Winners of pairs contract bridge Jan. 29 were Chere and Tom Anderson with 6,790 points. Geri and Larry Dale were second with 6,340. Marilyn Bailey and Jan Koerner placed third at 6,070. Ann and Pat Danna were fourth with 3,620.

Euchre

Leading euchre Jan. 31 was Arlene Boyle with 67 points. Helen Suarez placed second with 61. Ralph Wehnes took third place with 59. Don Glasgow placed fourth at 55.

Cribbage

Bob Ferraris and Jerry Jarvis tied for first place in cribbage Jan. 30 when both scored 484. Posting high individual hands were Tom Fleming with 24, Jim Jemilo, 22, and Susan Sennot, 21. Marge Herschberg and Sue Chiodo played two hands of 20. Jemilo and Terry Burkhardt each had one hand of 20. There were two skunks.

Current events

Matt Meyer informed the current events club Jan. 29 that the Gates Foundation announced a grant of $42.8 million over four years to Heifer International. The goal of the grant is to help one million people living on small farms lift themselves out of poverty by providing them with an opportunity to produce and market milk in a more profitable way. It includes training for 10,000 farmers to grow nutritious animal fodder to sell to dairy farmers as a supplementary livestock feed.

Coaches should stick to their game--The moderator brought up an article about Rick Majerus, basketball coach at St. Louis University, stirring up a ruckus by publicly supporting abortion rights and stem cell research. The school that employs him is Catholic and these two stands go against the teaching of the Catholic Church. Two points of view were expressed in the discussion. Member Jim Kerrigan was of the opinion that you do not have the right to talk against the policies or beliefs of the company or school that employs you. Member George Sebastian expressed the view that the educational sector follows the concept of academic freedom and he has the right express his opinion even if it is contrary to the university.

Snopes.com, rumor has it-- As a follow-up to the previous current events session, the moderator read an explanation of Snopes.com. It is a website that is most widely known for validating or debunking urban legends, internet rumors, e-mail forwards and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in popular American culture.

State of the union speech--A survey of members was taken to see who watched President Bush's State of the Union speech. No survey was taken to see who stayed awake for the entire speech. Jim Kerrigan was of the opinion that the speech was well received and the reviews were good. Alan Mogilnor stated that the president's speech was his same concept of my way or the highway. There was also discussion of the Democratic Party response by the governor of Kansas.

Waiting for the rebate bill--Members discussed the rebate bill and the changes that may be made by the Senate before they pass it. Senate Democrats would like to include rebates for seniors and an extension of unemployment benefits. There was also mention that the government will be giving money that it does not have. Member Norris Bretsen was of the opinion that the United States is borrowing money from China to rebate to American taxpayers.

Political Races heat up--Discussion centered on the primary elections and especially on the race between Sens. Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Alan Mogilnor brought up the Sen. Ted Kennedy endorsement of Obama and the opinion that the biggest help of this endorsement would be in fundraising for the candidate. Barry Marcus indicated that the endorsement of Obama by Kennedy and other members of the Senate was an indication that they have difficulty working with Clinton. As the two presidential candidates emerge from the primaries current events members expect this to be a continuing subject for the group each week.

Bowling

Standings of the Sun City Bowling League at Brunswick Zone, Algonquin, as of Jan. 23 have the Heat in first place with a 26-9 record. The Suns were second with 24-11. The Trailblazers took third place with 23.5-11.5, and the Wizards were fourth with 23-12.

In individual scores for women, Jeannie Bulmahn took high game scratch with 224 and high game with handicap with 274. Pat Rzeszutko had high series scratch with 553 and Kitty Bell took high series with handicap with 704. In men's scoring, Michael Neigebauer won high game scratch, 225; high series scratch, 619, and high series with handicap, 687. Bob Murphy took high game with handicap with 251.

Pinochle

High scorer in morning pinochle Jan. 28 was Art Merkelz with 643. Ginny Macaione was low scorer with 449. Judy DeMay and Tom Fleming each took a double pinochle. Joe DeMay, Judy DeMay, Jerry Pajak, Pat Runtz, Marlene Tresp and Marilyn Winter each played an all-trick hand. Viktor Weber took the round house.

For afternoon pinochle, Carol Charpentier scored high with 659. Margene DePino took the low score of 413. Double pinochles went to Carol Charpentier, Elaine Hanson, Melba Knust, Art Merkelz, Lou Poitras, Ed Redker, Bernie Rodeo and Dolores Senft. Playing all-tricks were Carol Charpentier, Norma Schroepel, Alan Swanson and Rose Marie Zakula.

--Garry Winter