President Brad began today’s meeting by greeting the group, and launched immediately into a warning about the bubblegum that was sitting on each table, one for each of us. Minister of Fun, Larry Halgren, smiled slyly as Brad told us we better start chewing our gum right away.
Announcements:
After a song by Don Anderson and an invocation from Paul Grey, Brad announced that there will be a Board of Directors meeting this Thursday, September 11, at 4:30 p.m. at the Dorothy Haggen Building on the third floor.
Website Sponsorships are still available at $250 each. There is room on the website for 10 sponsors, and it's a great way to advertise your business to members. Check out our Home Page on the Website for an example of what they will look like. They also show up on the Tattler home page. Contact Sandee for sponsorship information.
District RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) sessions will be held September 20 in Mount Vernon and November 22 in Surrey, B.C. This is a series of 3 sessions and they must be attended consecutively. The Rotary Club of Bellingham will reimburse you for the $85.00 registration fee. Contact Sandee and she will help you register on the district website.
Brad also announced the Rotary Night at Mount Baker Theatre, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. The show is "Little Shop of Horrors", and Rotarians can purchase tickets for one-half price, which includes the performance and a social event in the Black Box theatre.
Judge Chuck Snyder, chair of the Service Fund Committee, then introduced Mike Wallace from the WSU County Extension Office. Our Club has funded a donation to this organization’s 4-H program, which is hosting a district-wide team rally for kids from counties up and down the Puget Sound region. The rally this year will focus on Drug and Alcohol Prevention, and our donation will help kids get to the rally so they can learn, then go back home and spread the word!
Guests of Rotarians:
John Moon brought Dean Fearing, Executive Director of Kulshan Community Land Trust.
Dominique Zervas brought John Moffett, retired Prosecuting Attorney in Snohomish County. He has now moved to Bellingham.
Yvonne Cartwright introduced Becky Crowe with Homax.
Chuck Snyder introduced Michael Wallace with WSU Whatcom County Extension.
Presentations:
Minister of Fun, Larry Halgren, took to the podium for a “lightning round” of fines levied at Tom Grinstad for missing his 50th High School Reunion, to Jamie Vos for the lovely external remodel of Security Systems, and Teri Treat for her redevelopment of Delft Square in Lynden. Larry wanted to be sure that there would be no Sunday meetings, no mowing of grass, but perhaps dancing might be allowed during the project.
Then the moment we’d all been waiting for arrived. With jaws chewing in rhythm, most Rotarians accepted the challenge to blow a bubble – there would be prizes for the biggest bubble, the strangest shaped bubble, etc. This proved much more difficult than you would think; even our seasoned bubblegum-blowers with many years' experience were having a hard time accomplishing this task. Finally, to everyone’s relief, Mike Diehl blew a passable bubble and was awarded the prize.
Program:
Today’s program was very interesting and entertaining. Dr. Ira Hyman from WWU’s Department of Psychology spoke on the dangers of cell phone use when driving.
People using cell phones while driving are four times more likely to be in an accident. Cell phone use and its impact while driving is comparable to drunk driving. Rather than engaging in “selective attention” (focused on driving), when using a cell phone people are dividing their attention between driving and talking. This can cause what Dr. Hyman calls “Inattentional Blindness”.
He then took us through some very fun exercises devised by him and his students to determine just how distracting cell phones can be. These included videos of basketballs being tossed back and forth around a dancing bear, an experiment staged in Red Square at WWU where a unicycling clown tried to get the attention (not very successfully) of students crossing the square while using their phones, and finally the old “Money grows on Trees” trick – dollar bills were attached to low hanging leaves along a narrow walkway. The bills were impossible to avoid, and even required dodging to miss them. Still, only 5% of those walking the path while using their cell phone saw the money.
In the end, Dr. Hyman proved that people using their cell phones, whether walking or driving, are severely impaired by Inattentional Blindness. The take away? Hang Up and Drive!
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