Portsmouth Rotary Log for Meeting of September 21, 2017
By Madeline Warren
Photos by Tube Loch
President Ben opened the meeting and asked Al Lantinen to lead us in song. Greeter Leo Gagnon directed the Four Way Test and John Rice invoked a brief blessing.
Guests and visiting Rotarians.
We welcomed Jan Magnusson from Club 2380 in Anderstorp, Sweden. Jan graciously presented us his club’s banner…Stella introduced a man who needs no introduction, her husband Doug.
Announcements/Raffle.
President Ben made us aware that last Sunday’s Hands-On project volunteer at White Island was not without peril. The volunteers who went are now called the “White Island 9.”They are lucky to be OK after braving Sunday’s stormy seas to reach the remote lighthouse.
Joanie Dickenson is looking for two Rotarians who would like to be advisors for the Interact Club…
Kathy Nickerson invited us to volunteer for the Richie McFarland Center’s Touch a Truck event…
David Holden spookily announced our Halloween meeting will actually be the annual Poetry Hoot…
Jay Gibson won the 50/50 raffle for $40 but did not win the $350 bonus.
Two new members.
The club gained two new members last week. Yvonne Legge sponsored by Aileen Dugan and Mary Gail Scamore sponsored by Lindsey Hery.
Yvonne is originally from Poland where she grew up in the spirit of helping your neighbors. Yvonne, who works at Morgan Stanley, is training for her 3rd marathon. She also enjoys singing.
Mary Gail is a financial planner originally from Seattle, Washington.
Guest speaker: Dr. Annie Kammerer.
John Rice introduced the speaker, Dr. Annie Kammerer, a seismologist and owner of Annie Kammerer Consulting. With a huge earth quake last week in Mexico City, her talk about earthquakes was timely. Earthquakes occur because of plate-tectonics around the globe. When two plates are rubbing against each other, rock breaks and causes an earthquake. Most of the world’s quakes occur on the Pacific Rim, the so-called “Ring of Fire.”
A few earth quakes have been felt in New England, such as the 1755 Cape Ann Earthquake. Many have been caused as the earth displaces itself after being flattened in the Ice Age thousands of years ago.
We also learned not to visit Yellowstone anytime soon. Dr. Kammerer thinks the volcano there is about to blow. Part of the resulting devastation at Yellowstone would be caused by clouds of ash. The darkened skies could prevent summer for many years. The main concern with this is not being able to grow food.
Dr. Kammerer also expressed concern for the location of the Seabrook power plant. The good news is that Dr. Kammerer specializes in risk assessment for critical industries (such as the nuclear power industry.) We should be able to trust her good judgement about where she chooses to live. Since she just moved to Portsmouth, that means we are all safe for now!
Next week’s program will be David Underhill. “Here comes the Gov” is the name of the program and it will be Dave’s Official Rotary visit as District Governor.
Respectfully submitted, Madeline Warren
