Today’s Greeter: Gerry Carrier greeted the crowd and exhorted the club to pray on their own before telling a “barely” appropriate joke about engineers. Attendance: - Bow Rotarians: 33
- Visiting Rotarians: 0
- Guest: 0
- Guest speaker: 1
A Total of 34 earned a rousing “hip hip hooray” from Chris Parkinson. Announcements: - President Bryant Stevener made the following announcements:
- RLI and PETS are coming up
- Career Day is next Friday
- Four Way Speech is in two weeks 3/28, 6:30 BFL- Please try to come!
- Peter Imse asked for election and meeting volunteers.
Sergeant at Arms: Ben Kiniry Fines: - Logos: Jon Ruggles for R&T Electric.
- Pins badges and other discretions: none.
- Ben fined himself for missing his greeter duties last week and for his picture in a local paper.
- Birthdays: Alan Kanegsberg, Sandy Eldredge and Linda Lorden have the same birthday.
- Sandy had a great year with her family.
- Alan gave $100 to the foundation and had a quiet celebration. Life is good.
- Matt Gatzke looking forward to a family celebration in Nashua. Good year with some work changes on the horizon.
Happy Bucks: - Dave Gazaway gave news on George Descoteau’s move to assisted living in MA.
- Michelle Fortin visited a son who is in the process of getting engaged finally after 7 years.
- Dick Bean shared his new White Mountains Travel Guide and shared about the wall murals that were created for various places.
- Dean Cascadden honored Robert Louf for 9 years of service on the Bow School Board. He served 5 years as chair and provided stability and leadership. The club gave him a standing ovation.
Raffle Winner: Mike Griffin had the winning ticket, but not the joker Program: Judy Goodnow introduced Heather Faria the executive director of the Pope Memorial
SPCA. Heather shared resources and anecdotes about her work in caring for abandoned and homeless animals, and the work in connecting owners to pets. Heather is president of the state organization and sits on the Governor’s Commission dealing with large scale issues of animal cruelty. Issues surrounding care of large numbers of animals from these cases were discussed. She discussed possible legislative responses to the issue. Increased licensing, regulations of breeders and the lack of controls in NH as opposed to surrounding states were shared as possible solutions. Issues with paying for care of large number of animals for long terms is a real concern. SB 161 would change the definition of pet vendor bringing more operations under licensing, regulations and oversight. This would allow intervention in cases before they reached a critical stage. SB 77 would create a preliminary hearing within 14 days to talk about how to care for animals involved in these types of cases, and strengthens banning ownership for people convicted of animal cruelty. Both bills have wide support and have passed the senate with strong votes. These bills would help NH better serve our people and their pets. Heather asked the members to pay attention to the bills as they go through the legislative process. Bryant Stevener closed the meeting with a toast to Rotary. Respectfully Submitted, Dean S. T. Cascadden |
