Janesville Blackhawk Golden Kiwanis

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
May 20^th, 2026

President Elect Tom Neumann presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.

Today’s meeting location was Oak Park Place.

Ray Szczepaniak led with the singing of America, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation: Bob Knudson, mentioning friendship, the energy to do good and the children.

Member Health: Dale Henning had a status update on Ray Cummings, who is in Intensive Care receiving three types of therapy.

Other Announcements: John Janes spoke upon the last of the trees, which went to an individual named Rusty, who bought 175 at full price and then added another $25 for an even $500.  David Soderberg’s grandson Bob Wyss received the rest, for use with the Boy Scouts of America.
John Janes spoke upon a ‘Thank you’ letter received from the Rock River Valley Woodcarvers, for giving them $100 to plant a tree at Beckman Mill.
John Janes spoke upon the Renaissance Faire, started in 2006 by the Janesville Jaycees, it now had 114 vendors and 6 stages this year.  They had a new record 6,500 people on Saturday, and provided Kiwanis with a $1,500 check!

Jim Farrell introduced the day’s speaker, Katy Myers.  Katie is a mother, wife and owner of a State Farm Insurance agency.  She has a podcast, “Rock Solid Community Podcast,” which has 120 videos covering the GM/JATCO data center proposal, and boasts 80 million views in 2025.  Fifty million of those views were data center related.  Katie has interviewed nearly every big name in government and no data center, including Lahner, Kuborn, and many others.  She proceeded to share her experience with the topic.
Katie mentioned State Farm is the largest insurance company in the country, and on the Fortune 50 list.
Katie wanted everyone to understand she tries to maintain a non-biased opinion.
She started by stating she believes the city did nothing nefarious.  The officials are in the positions they are in because they have a true passion for helping our local community.
There are 4,700 active data centers in the USA, and 500 of them are ‘hyperscale’ with large resource requirements.
Katie visited Elk Grove, Illinois, where seven are active.
GM/JATCO was vacant for 18 years.
Kiwanis member Jim Farrell contributed, “There were no kickbacks. I did the job of City Council for eight years without a cent.  What can you tell us of the committee that will move forward if there is no data center?”  Katie responded, “Stantec was hired to evaluate site options.  The site has a $30 million pollution cleanup price tag.”
Kiwanian John Janes inquired, “Will we have too many data centers?  You were near the 7 and said jets are louder.”  Katie replied, “The need is growing.  There are smart devices everywhere, and things like health care records, and many other examples.”
Kiwanis member Ray Sczcepaniak asked, “How did GM get away with selling the site?”  Katie answered, “They sold it to Commercial Development Corporation.  The details are unclear.”
John Jaynes inquired, “What about the water versus GM?”  Katie replied, “Less than Milton Avenue car washes.  The same as the hospital.”
Jim Farrell asked further, “What about electricity in the long term?”  Katie, “Legislation is in progress.”
The first hyperscale data center was built in 2006.
Kiwanian Bob Wilcox, “Where is a good place for research?”  Katie responded, “There is too much.  For example, my husband uses peer-reviewed scientific research.”
The data center offered money to fund an electronics program at Blackhawk Technical College.
In reference the GM/JATCO site, Katie mentioned the city may someday need an operations budget infusion or experience a cash shortage, partially as a result of the lack of options.
Kiwanis member Greg Turco inquired, “The Public Utilities Commission is difficult to negotiate.”  Katie replied, “Agreed.  The Sierra Club has a response playbook.  The P.U.C. is complex.”
Jim Farrell asked about the referendum.  Katie answered the petition, “Any $450 million-plus investment goes to referendum at GM/JATCO.”  Someone’s opinion was shared that it is anti-development.  Too many people are involved.
Kiwanian Maury Frey asked, “CNN said Google said data centers may be constructed in space.”  Katie had heard of such developments and noted, “as well as the ocean.”

Jim Farrell thanked Katie Myers for speaking and presented her with a Kiwanis Parker pen.

Tom Neumann adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:55AM.

On this day:
1609 William Shakespeare’s Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe
1639 Dorchester Massachusetts forms 1st school funded by local taxes
1704 Elias Neau forms school for slaves in NY
1734 1st Jockey Club forms in South Carolina
1775 Citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence from Great Britain
1830 Douglass Hyde receives the first US patent for a fountain pen
1830 First railroad timetable is published in a newspaper (Baltimore American)
1862 US President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act to provide cheap land for the settlement of the American West (80 million acres by 1900)
1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets
1875 International Bureau of Weights & Measures formed by the signing of the Metre Convention treaty by 17 states and prototypes of the meter and the kilogram selected
1891 First public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope to members of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs
1892 George Sampson patents clothes dryer
1895 First commercial movie performance is held at 153 Broadway, NYC
1899 First speeding infraction by a New York cabbie driving an electric car at 12 mph on Lexington Avenue
1900 Second modern Summer Olympics (Games of the II Olympiad) opens in Paris and continues for five months
1902 United States withdraws its troops from Cuba as the first Cuban president, Tomas Estrada Palma takes power
1922 Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel, previously suspended by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, return to the NY Yankees lineup and go hitless
1926 Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes
1927 At 7:40 AM, Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross the Atlantic for Paris aboard the Spirit of St. Louis in the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight
1932 Amelia Earhart departs Newfoundland on her journey to become the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic
1939 First regular transatlantic airmail is delivered by Pan Am from New York to Marseille, France
1940 First successful helicopter flight in the US: Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky demonstrated to the public at Bridgeport Airport in Stratford, Connecticut
1940 Trailing 7-1 in 9th to Pitts, Phils win 8-7
1946 American singer and actress Cher, who was known for her flamboyant style, was born
1954 Decca Records releases Bill Haley & His Comets’ hit single “Rock Around the Clock”
1960 13th Cannes Film Festival: “La Dolce Vita,” directed by Federico Fellini, wins the Palme d’Or
1966 19th Cannes Film Festival: “A Man and a Woman” directed by Claude Lelouch and “The Birds, the Bees and the Italians” directed by Pietro Germi jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1967 BBC bans the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life” due to the line “I’d love to turn you on” being construed as a drug reference
1973 25th Emmy Awards: The Waltons, All in the Family & Mary Tyler Moore win
1977 Long-distance train service the Orient Express departs Paris on its last trip to Istanbul (began 1883)
1978 US launches Pioneer Venus 1; produces 1st global radar map of Venus
1979 Elton John is the first Western pop star to tour the Soviet Union
1980 Drummer Peter Criss quits rock band Kiss
1983 “Every Breath You Take” single released by The Police (Billboard Song of the Year, 1983)
1985 38th Cannes Film Festival: “When Father Was Away on Business” directed by Emir Kusturica wins the Palme d’Or
1985 Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,300 for 1st time
1986 Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-tv
1989 Walter McConnel, 57, is oldest to reach 27,000′ Mt Everest top
1990 Hubble Space Telescope sends its first photographs from space
1991 44th Cannes Film Festival: “Barton Fink” directed by Ethan and Joel Coen wins the Palme d’Or
1991 Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan is named the NBA MVP
1991 Soviet parliament approves law allowing citizens to travel abroad
1992 India launches its 1st satellite independently
1993 10m meteor comes within 150,000 km of Earth (1993KA)
1993 The 274th and final episode of “Cheers” airs on NBC
1994 Bobcat Goldthwait charged with misdemeanors for fire on The Tonight Show
1994 Neak Sre (The Rice People), directed by Rithy Panh and starring Phan Peng, premieres at the Cannes Film Festival
1994 Sony Theaters & Cineplex (NYC) hike movie ticket prices to $8.00
1996 49th Cannes Film Festival: “Secrets & Lies” directed by Mike Leigh wins the Palme d’Or
1997 Thor-2A Delta 2 Launch (Norway/USA), Successful
First celebrated on May 20, 1996, at the National Association of Psychometrists’ first conference in Madison, Wisconsin, National Psychometrist Day recognizes psychometrists and their profession. Under the supervision of clinical psychologists and clinical neuropsychologists, psychometrists administer and score psychological and neuropsychological tests. The tests measure cognition, mood, and behavior, and may focus on memory, attention, planning, organization, and academics.
Psychometrists have worked alongside psychologists and neuropsychologists since the 1930s. To complete their work successfully, psychometrists must have strong interpersonal and analytical skills and must have accuracy and standardization at their core. They must be able to accurately score assessments and provide detailed behavioral observations. Besides administering and scoring tests, they may collect demographic information from patients and undertake clerical and administrative duties.
National Rescue Dog Day brings “awareness to the countless number of amazing dogs in shelters around the country who deserve a second chance at a forever home.” It was founded in 2018 by Lisa Wiehebrink, an author of children’s books and the Executive Director of Tails that Teach, an organization that teaches children how to treat their pets with care. Lisa’s rescue dog Cooper was the inspiration for the day. She rescued Cooper from a shelter in Los Angeles in 2009, after he had been found in a vacant parking lot. Because of her positive experience with Cooper, Lisa wanted to encourage others to consider adopting a dog from a shelter.
In 2014, the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association came up with the idea for World Bee Day. A resolution for the day was proposed to the United Nations by Mag. Dejan Židan, Project Manager of the World Bee Day Project and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia. On December 20, 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution. All UN countries adopted it unanimously, and 115 countries signed on as co-sponsors. The day was designated “to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.” Put another way, according to the UN, the day’s objectives are to bring to the attention of those in power that protecting bees is important, to remind us that we rely on bees and other pollinators, to protect bees and other pollinators in order to help solve problems related to the global food supply and the elimination of hunger and to stop the further loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems.
Slovenia has more beekeepers per capita than any other country, with about one out of every 200 citizens there being a beekeeper. The country suggested that World Bee Day take place in May because bees in the Northern Hemisphere are most active at this time and start reproducing then. It is also at this time that pollination is most needed in the hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is a time when bee products are harvested. Besides honey, these products include the likes of pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, and propolis. The 20th of the month was chosen as the date of the observation because it is the birthday of Anton Janša (1734-1773). A pioneer of modern beekeeping techniques, Janša worked in Slovenia and was one of the most important experts of the eighteenth century in his field. He was the first to teach the modern techniques, doing so at the Beekeeping School in Vienna.

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).