Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
September 3rd, 2025
Roger Willeford presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
35 members were in attendance today.
Richard Johnson led with the singing of America, and the National Anthem the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Richard Johnson, mentioning the fine meal, and the children.
Raffle: Linda Bontly oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $20 and the big (Joker) pot was $426.
Darlene Johnson drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 5411. Congratulations to the winner, Roger Willeford. The deck of cards has 21/53 cards remaining. Roger Willeford drew the 5♣.
Roger Willeford thanks greeters Ray Cummings and Ray Szczepaniak, invocator Richard Johnson, rafflemaster Linda Bontly, and server Glenn Disrude.
A collection was passed for the Salvation Army.
Happy Box: Luci Cramer announced she is happy because she is going on vacation again, a yearly with her sisters.
Glenn Disrude announced he is happy because his birthday is this month!
Roger Willeford announced that Ryan Lewis brought a guest today, his mother Diane Lewis.
Jokes: John Janes had a good joke about a fisherman who heard a magic frog. She called to him, “Kiss me! I will be a princess, and we’ll live happily ever after!” The fisherman ignores the frog. The frog cries to him again, “Kiss me! I am a beautiful princess, and we’ll live happily ever after!” The fisherman, perturbed, finally replies, “I’m 85 years old. I can do better than a talking frog!”
Member Health: Linda Bontly had a status update on Don and Linda Hanneman. Don is continuing to recover at Cedar Crest, while Linda has improved, and will move to join him soon.
John Janes had a status update on Steve Skelly, who is experiencing strong vertigo, and hopes to improve and be present next week.
Kiwanian Glenn Disrude has a birthday this month on the 26th, and a song was sung.
Other Announcements: Greg Turco spoke upon dues are being paid. A new option, credit card, is available for the three percent processing fee.
Richard Johnson spoke upon the catered Buckley Picnic today, provided by Knutes! Induction will be at the month’s end.
Gregg Dickinson introduced the day’s speaker, Dan Pico. Dan is a movie director, and owns a production company. He always loved movies as a kid, and filmed since he received his first PXL2000 camcorder camera as a Christmas gift.
Dan moved back to and has lived in Janesville since 2021, and was married in 2023.
Dan grew up in the area. His family were all movie buffs. His father had an enormous VHS movie collection growing up.
When Dan was in high school, he took Columbia College courses for film making. He went on to graduate college in 2002.
Recently, Dan’s company was tasked to create a movie in 48 hours, which was shot in Janesville. Of the 148 groups involved, Dan’s won! It then went on to take third place in the Filmapalooza international competition. It was a legal drama, seven minutes of which was played for us. The Senior Center building, and a Janesville Jolly Jingle sign were in a shot.
As a young adult, Dan personally knew and was inspired by Roger Corman, who claimed such titles as ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and many others.
In two weeks, Dan’s latest project, Solstice, a movie featuring this zombified English actor (flown in from England), will release. It was shot in two weeks, roughly ten pages per day. Dan notes, by comparison, in Hollywood, 1.5-2 pages are generally accomplished. The entire production was shot in budget in two weeks.
Dan explained he had the idea for Solstice one night, and it is important to immediately scribble some notes down when the ideas come to you. The guidelines for the film he built were it needed to be a horror film at least 80 minutes in length.
Dan was recently interviewed for episode 14 of JATV Media’s Loving Life Creatively with Lizzie Menz.
Many Kiwanians had questions for Dan, including:
Kiwanis member John Janes asked, “What are your sources of inspiration?” Dan responded he has always been a large fan of Steven King.
Bob Wilcox asked, “Where can your films be viewed?” Dan replied, “Gala Films has eight episodes of one series. Many are available on Tubi, and some find them at ‘Daniel J Pico’ on Facebook.
Carl Cramer asked, “What is your opinion of artificial intelligence on the movie industry?” Dan responded, “he believes AI takes away jobs, and is a plague upon the industry.”
Ryan Lewis asked, “Can you give any tips for amateur video editors?” Dan said, “Sure! Try some stock footage. For a small subscription fee, Motion Array is a good start.”
John Janes asked, “Where does the movie budget incentive come from?” Dan responded, “The state has five or ten million dollars to encourage film makers to do business in our state. The baseline for a film requires a $100,000 budget for the state to contribute.”
Gregg Dickinson thanked Dan Pico for speaking and presented him with a Kiwanis Parker pen.
Roger Willeford adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:45AM.
Reminders: Members stuck around for the large spread of pot luck and Knutes luncheon.
Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, and Ryan Lewis, photographs.
On this day:
1752 Britain and the British Empire (including the American colonies) adopt the Gregorian Calendar, losing 11 days; people riot, thinking the government has stolen 11 days of their lives.
1783 The Treaty of Paris is signed in Paris, ending the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States of America.
1894 Labor Day was celebrated as a legal holiday in the United States for the first time.
1895 The birth of ten-pin bowling is considered to have taken place in 1895 in New York City, and bowling leagues started forming soon after. On US Bowling League Day, we celebrate leagues and the fellowship and healthy competition that they provide to bowlers. In a bowling league, teams bowl against each other during a season. Each match usually has three games, and teams usually face each other once a week or once every other week. A team often consists of four players, but three and five player teams are also common. There are male, female, and mixed leagues.
1928 Future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Ty Cobb records his 4,189th and final career hit as a pinch hitter for the Philadelphia A’s in a 6-1 loss against the Washington Senators
1939 World War II: Britain declares war on Germany after the invasion of Poland; France follows six hours later, quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada.
1976 Viking 2’s Mars landing – After a nearly yearlong journey, NASA’s robotic spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars and began relaying information about the planet’s atmosphere and soil as well as color photographs of the rocky surface.
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.
