Cogitator Oct 5, 2011

VISITING ROTARIANS

Marcus Mitchell, Lieutenant Commander, United State Coast Guard and Providence Rotary Club member joined us today.  Marcus was invited as our guest speaker.  

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

Warm birthday wishes today, October 5th, go out to Robert Allen Greene.  

And happy double anniversary to Judy Pratt, who apparently likes to do important things on October 8th.  Sixteen years ago, Judy Abosamra walked down the aisle to share wedding vows with high school sweetheart, Jonathan Pratt.  And on October 8th, 7 years ago, Judy was inducted into the Rotary Club of East Greenwich.  (I'd say that makes two good October 8th's--for Jon and for us!)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

We already have $400 in Citrus orders!  These orders are mainly from our association with East Greenwich Little League, to whom our Citrus proceeds will be directed (the Cragan Field Lights Project).  

The final tally on Phonebook is in--we finished with $61,000 in gross revenues.  'Print is not dead,' says President Mike Gemma, as he congratulated Betsy DePrimo, Phonebook Chair, and, the entire club for a job well done in raising that kind of revenue during 2011's tough economic times.  

Betsy also told a brief story about recently working with a local landscape professional, whose demeanor changed for the positive when he heard Betsy was this year's Phonebook chief.  He was pleased that his advertising dollars turned out to be both an excellent value to him, and, of very good use in our club's Charity Funds.  So, the message for all of us...keep spreading the word throughout the entire year to local business folks with whom you work, and help keep our annual Phonebook Campaign alive and healthy for years to come.  

A quick reminder about Rotary's End Polio Now Night at The Dunk, Friday, October 21st, 7pm.  Be there for a great P-Bruins game...it sounds like President Mike has a good number of Rotarians, families, and friends already signed up.  Tickets are only $12 (of which $5 goes to District 7950's End Polio Now efforts).    

POLIO WALK OCTOBER 26TH  

Speaking of the District's End Polio Now campaign, President Mike has organized our club's own event on Wednesday, October 26th.  We'll be joined that day by a polio victim from New Jersey, John Nanni, who will be our guest speaker.  After our meeting, we'll begin an End Polio Now symbolic walk from Chianti's Restaurant to Main Street, East Greenwich.

HAPPY BUCKS

-John Wolcott announced that our District still needs Group Study Exchange candidates for the 2011-2012 exchange with India.  

-Bill TenEyck's daughter, Skyler, has taken up tennis.  Look out opponents--she's a natural.  

-Bob Greene gave away the secret of just how many birthdays today makes for him in (very) generously donating $84 to the East Greenwich Rotary Scholarship Fund.  

-Beth DeGerlia was happy to report on a recent Rocky Hill fundraiser, held at Potowomut Golf Club, which netted $50,000.   (Nice work, Beth!)

-Andy Erickson's grandson, Drew, is now a member of Yale's oldest a cappella group in the US, the Spizzwinks.  (Upon brief Google research while making sure I had the correct spelling, and noting that I'll need to pay a buck at the next meeting if I'm mistaken about this, it appears we now wait to see if Drew will go on to be a Whiffenpoof when he's a senior.  Good luck, Drew!) 

-Vin Meola spent some time in Vermont recently with his cousins.  It was wonderful to catch up with family and to pass on stories to the younger Meolas about 'the old days.'  (They were all nodding their heads, listening to iPods while he was rambling about Sunday dinners and his marches to school, five miles each way, in the snow.)

-Stan Reuter reported that his young grandchild said 'papa' for the first time.

-And yours truly gave a very happy buck for four-year-old Griffin Cooper, also celebrating his birthday today.  (Blink.  Four years.  Wow.)   Secondly, just wondering aloud, isn't it more of a natural condition for us Red Sox fans to experience this kind of October turmoil?  Missing the playoffs again, a manager being fired, and a general manager probably on the way out the door...ahhh, fall is here.  (That World Series Championship business, twice in four years to boot, was very confusing.) 

SPEAKER/PROGRAM

Marcus Mitchell, Lieutenant Commander, United States Coast Guard, and, President of Shere Enterprises

Marcus Mitchell cited several known functions of the US Coast Guard, like search and rescue, Homeland Security assistance, and drug traffic intervention.  However, Marcus has a unique Coast Guard job.  He is an alien hunter.  He searches for strange creatures, the likes of Dreissena Polymorpha, Carcinus Maenas, and Eriocheir Sinensis.    

Invasive aquatic marine species, often brought to our shores via ballast water of large cargo vessels, have become a major problem for our native ecosystems.  They also pose huge economic problems in our seafood industry and beyond.  The shellfish industry is particularly hard-hit since 'alien creatures' affect the entire natural food chain.  

Zebra mussels have basically taken over the Great Lakes.  As hard as that may be to imagine, Marcus pointed out that each mussel alone can produce two million eggs.  Zebra mussels are wonderful filtration organisms which can basically 'clean' an entire lake every three days or so.  The bad news is that they filter everything, including the food necessary for fish and other creatures to live.  That makes for a devastating situation, now being managed as a full blown crisis.   http://online.wsj.com/article/AP607a6f7dfd5b4131acb1e111c0eac0c1.html 

Zebra Mussels (Dreissena Polymorpha)

Locally, a major invasion of green crabs continues almost unchecked.  A Martha's Vineyard salt pond that once supported 30-40 shellfishermen now sees only 2 workers on an average day.  These 'new' men aren't digging clams; the quahogs and scallops are long gone.  These men are 'bounty hunters,' harvesting green crabs for research, and, destruction.   http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/marinenotes/mar-apr96/   

Green Crab (Carcinus Maenas)

The Chinese Mitten Crab, called this because it appears to have mittens on its forearms, is a particularly difficult invader to hunt, since it lives and thrives in both salt and fresh water.  In California, there have been sightings of literally tens of thousands of Mitten Crabs walking across a road, searching for new territory to call home.  http://www.iisgcp.org/exoticsp/chinese_mitten_crab.htm    

Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir Sinensis)    

Various invasive plants also make their way into the United States to wreak their own form of devastation.  Marcus and many other 'alien hunters' never know which invading species will 'take hold' once introduced.  His job is to be vigilant, and act quickly.  Early intervention is the key.  Marcus mentioned to us that his phone line is always open, as is that of the US Coast Guard, should someone see strange creatures or plants at the beaches or in the nearby ocean or lakes.