Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
April 22nd, 2026
President Elect Tom Neumann presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
President Elect Tom Neumann led with the singing of America, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Bob Knudson, mentioning beautiful weather and the children.
Raffle: John Janes oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $10 and the big (Joker) pot was $73.
John Sarnow drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 639. Congratulations to the winner, Maury Frey / Glenn Disrude. The deck of cards has 48/53 cards remaining. Maury Frey drew the 6♥.
Tom Neumann thanks greeters John Janes and April Wright, invocator Bob Knudson, rafflemaster John Janes, and server Bob Knudson.
Happy Box: Maury Frey / Glenn Disrude announced they are happy because they won the raffle, and are donating the proceeds to the Tree Sale!
Jokes: Joker Jim Farrell had a good joke about someone asking a priest about holy water.
Other Announcements: Ryan Lewis spoke upon the Programs Committee, which needs members!
John Janes spoke upon the Tree Sale, which needs shifts filled!
Greg Turco spoke upon Rotary, who has offered to have a Kiwanian attend the ribbon cutting for the new greenhouse.
Linda Bontly spoke upon Meals on Wheels, coming up in the last week of May.
John Janes spoke upon the Milton 4th of July parade, which could use some extra truck decorations for the 250th anniversary celebration.
Jim Farrell introduced the day’s speaker, Larry Nitz. Larry is the secretary/treasurer of the Rock River Aero Modelers Society, a role he has held for 30+ years. Self-employed for 20 years, Larry previously owned and operated a camera store, and a bicycle shop. Larry worked at Woodman’s for 23 years as the photo category manager, and import and close-out buyer. He is a lifelong resident of Janesville, married 51 years, with one son, and has been retired for 17 years. Model planes have been his lifelong hobby. Larry and three other members, Publicity Craig Severson, Vice President Dave Hinz and President Mike Ast proceeded to present upon their many exploits with detail.
The Rock River Aero Modelers Society began in 1932 as a club named “Hangar 13” because of its 13 original members.
The club met twice a month at the Beloit YMCA, where it started. Dues were 10 cents.
In ’35, it joined the NAA (National Aeronautic Association), which later became the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics).
Name and location changes occurred a few times. A deal was made, and the club now finds itself meeting at its own 20-acre airfield, the Turtle International Airport, at Turtle Township at Shopiere.
Members in the modern era have around 95% electric planes, some gas and maybe 1% rubber band.
Per FCC regulations, planes cannot fly above 400 feet, and must be at least 0.55lbs. or more. With a special exemption, 7-800 feet can be temporarily accomplished.
Modern planes generally use 4ch remotes, which go up to 24+ channels for advanced machines.
Rock River Aero Modelers’ Society, RRAMS, has over 100 members!
They donate to the Turtle volunteer fire department regularly.
The RRAMS club is active on social media, and has a full website (rrams.net).
They are active on social media, and survey members yearly to find out what improvements are needed.
A newsletter goes out with letters from the president.
Larry recommends balsa wood is generally a good fit. Some members have taken to using 3D printers.
“Part of the fun of flying around is watching the birds and trying to ride the same thermals. Hawks and vultures give good hints.
Gliders can go for 30 meters or more.
Near year’s end, RRAMS have their big event, the Flying Circus. Join them! for a day of fun in the skies.
Jim Farrell thanked the Rock River Aero Modelers’ Society members for speaking and presented them with two Kiwanis Parker pens.
Tom Neumann adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 11AM.
Reminders: There is an executive board meeting next week.
On this day:
1056 Supernova Crab nebula last seen by the naked eye
1145 19th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
1692 Edward Bishop is jailed for proposing flogging as a cure for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts
1793 President Washington attends the opening of Ricketts’s, the first circus in the US
1817 Curaçao prohibits the use of white paint due to intense sunlight
1823 British inventor Robert John Tyers patents an in-line roller skate he calls the “Volito” with a single row of five wooden wheels, a wooden sole, and a curved iron bar at the front as a rudimentary brake
1838 English steamship “Sirius” docks in NYC after crossing the Atlantic, providing the first transatlantic steam passenger service
1864 US mints 2-cent coin, first appearance of “In God We Trust”
1876 Philadelphia native Tim McGinley of the Boston Red Caps scores baseball National League’s 1st run, in Philadelphia
1876 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completes his ballet “Swan Lake”
1884 Thomas Stevens leaves San Francisco on the first bicycle trip around the world, which takes him 2 years and 9 months
1903 American Power Boat Association forms
1906 New rule puts umpire in sole charge of all game balls
1934 US Division of Investigation (later the FBI) under Melvin Purvis botch an operation to capture the John Dillinger Gang at Little Bohemia Lodge, Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, with 2 dead and 4 injured
1954 NBA adopts 24-second shot clock and six-team foul rule
1959 Yankee Whitey Ford strikes out 15, beating Senators, 1-0 in 14 innings
1966 The Troggs second single “Wild Thing” released; tops the charts in July
1969 First human eye transplant is performed
1969 Robin Knox-Johnston ends 312 days of non-stop sailing to become the 1st person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe
1970 First Earth Day celebrated, founded by Gaylord Nelson
1971 Soyuz 10 launches as the world’s first mission to the first-ever space station (the Salyut 1) however the docking was unsuccessful and the cosmonauts returned to Earth
1972 NASA Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke ride the Lunar Rover on the Moon
1976 Barbara Walters becomes the first female US nightly network news anchor (ABC News)
1978 Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Earl Anthony
1979 Keyboardist Brent Mydland plays his first concert as a member of the Grateful Dead at the Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California
1981 More than $3.3 million is stolen from the First National Bank of Arizona in Tucson in one of the largest US bank robberies in history
1983 Soyuz T-8 returns to Earth
1991 Intel releases the lower-cost i486SX microprocessor
1992 6.1 earthquake under the Little San Bernadino Mountains, near Joshua Tree, California
1993 Web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released
1994 World’s largest lollipop, weighing 3,011 pounds, made by BonBon, a candy factory in Home-Olstrup, Denmark; record later broken
1995 General Tire World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Mike Aulby
The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. Prior to this, there was virtually no environmental movement. Factories pumped toxins into the air, recycling was almost non-existent, and gas guzzling vehicles were the norm. The seeds of the modern movement had been planted, however, with the publishing of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962. This book raised the public’s awareness of pollution and its effect on health. In 1969, water pollution and chemical waste disposal came to the attention of the public, after the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire.
Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, and Ryan Lewis, photographs.
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. This content may only be reproduced without alteration and with credit to the original author(s).
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