Northwind January 21, 2016

Call to order: President Sharon Robinson led us in the pledge of allegiance and Jim Blaney provided the invocation.

Visiting Rotarians:  Loren Vander Yacht from Mt Baker RC and Bob Moles from Bellingham Bay RC.

Program:  Border Patrol (BP) Dog ‘Bruno’:  Since the dog handler and Bruno needed to get back to their duties, the program was launched immediately after the invocation. Brandon Longacre is the border patrol handler for Bruno and he told us about the hiring, training and detection process for the patrol dogs.  The BP dogs are used to detect drugs, humans, guns, ammunition, bombs, produce (ports of entry), track and trail and find human remains. Each dog is trained for a specific substance or task so as not to confuse the dog or the handler. Bruno is a narcotic detecting dog and provided a demonstration of his exceptional detection skills.  All of the dogs in the system are always on call. If there is a need for a specific “nose” the dog and handler respond regardless of whether they are on duty.  The dog is assigned a truck, a handler, a kennel and lots of dog related gear and each dog works 7-10 years. When the dog retires, the handler has first choice to keep the dog as a pet. Obviously the dog and handler have bonded after many years of working together.
Brandon explained that the dogs are selected for this work based on their exceptional “nose” and most of the dogs in the US patrol network come from Europe where they breed for “nose”. The US ACA kennels breed for appearance and generally do not have the highest standards for nose work. The dogs are trained using a reward system and they work hard for their special reward (a PVC pipe). We saw this method in action with a small amount of narcotics hidden in the room for Bruno to detect. Once Bruno detects the drugs he sits and waits for his handler to determine it was a good “detection”. It is called a passive alert and he does not get the desired reward until the handler finds the drugs. Once Bruno had his PVC pipe, there was no taking it away from him!  High energy is an understatement when describing Bruno.
The north border area has seven to ten dogs in our sector (Port Angeles to Cascade Mountains). The dogs are trained for different tasks so they go where they are needed when called. Bellingham Police Department has a good bomb sniffing dog and works cooperatively with the border patrol and customs. It takes lots of training and financial investment in each dog but they generally pay for themselves with the first drug bust or whatever their specific training calls for. This was very much a “show and tell” program and one we all especially enjoyed. After the ‘demo’ Bruno made the rounds and greeted everyone in the room; we all appreciated that he is on duty protecting our borders.

 

Fines and happy bucks:  We were out of time so this was very short and was a sad buck paid by our Mt. Baker Club visitor Loren Vander Yacht (President Elect for MB RC) to announce the passing of long time Rotarian Jim Sinclair. Jim was the primary driver behind the Nepal Orthopedic Hospital in Katmandu that the Mt Baker RC sponsored for so many years and Whatcom County North participated with supporting, as well. Jim is a revered Rotarian and will be missed. There is a good article about the hospital in the July 2003 Rotarian magazine and can be found via Google, if interested.

Announcements:  We need Duck Race sponsors. All members are strongly encouraged to bring in at least one sponsor.  We need $21,000 to cover the costs of the race and the winning tickets. We have $4,000 pledged to date and we need the sponsors before printing the tickets, time is of the essence!
The Career Fair is slated for 3/31 and will be held at BTC.  Dale secured the key note speaker Alex Parker, who worked on the Pluto project. http://www.alexharrisonparker.com/curriculumvitae/  check it out. A doubly huge thank you to Dale for his coordination of this event.
Important dates:   Saturday 1/30 RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) held in Mt. Vernon. This is a four part series and every Rotarian should go through this program. If you have not attended yet or need additional sections, please attend on the 30th. It only takes a few hours out of your Saturday and is well worth it to enhance your understanding and participation in Rotary International. Saturday 2/6, District Grant seminar in Mt. Vernon- Dale must take someone from the club with him to this (two attendees required) and 2/26-28 Dale will be attending the Presidents Elect Seminar (PETS) - beginning his training to be our leader next July. Wednesday January 27th is the club board meeting (fourth Wednesday of the month). All are welcome to attend and new members working on their red badge are encouraged to attend to take care of the checklist item.

Induction of new member: Eric Battles was inducted to the club as a new member today. Eric is a realtor with Sterling Real Estate Group in Ferndale. He is a California transplant and a welcome addition to the club. Thank you to Tim Villhauer for sponsoring Eric.

Banners:  a grouping of club banners representing the major tourist attractions of Washington State. 

Raffle:  Eric Battles won the day prize (wine glasses) and Pati drew for the 50/50 raffle. She did not pick the ace of spades so the pot grows.  Winners take next week is $344.