Rotary Club of Casper WY
Meeting Summary
04/13/2015
President Bill DeGraeve called the meeting to order at 12:28 welcoming all Rotarians and guests to Rotary on this beautiful summer day.
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Martha Rakestraw who also led us in a moment of silence for our dear Friend and Fellow Rotarian, Stan Lowe, who we lost this past week.
Greeters:
Tucker Laprade and Krista Beale were our greeters and Tucker introduced guests:
Chad Nelson introduced Steven Schnell from the Science Zone;
Brenda Peters introduced Charlene Vogel and Noreen Rodgers from the Central Wyoming Kennel Club;
Maribeth Plocek introduced Brady Wilkison and Rachel Hoversland;
Robin Mundell introduced Dan Cantine from the 12-24 Club;
Cori Burton introduced Sgt. Joe Nickerson from Casper PD;
Crystal MacGuire introduced her two daughters, Christin and Mary as well as our exchange student, Giulia;
Tucker introduced visiting Rotarian from Five Trails, Roxy Skogen;
Song and merriment:
Toni Lussier treated us to a good “clean” chuckle and then Gary Pehrson had us “all rise” and led us in singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” accompanied by Brenda Peters on the piano.
Family of Rotary:
Kevin Murphy let us know that today is Percy Anderson’s birthday, so Gary Pehrson led us in singing Happy Birthday.
Clarke Turner then let us know that today is also Bill Mortimer’s Birthday so Gary led us again in singing Happy Birthday.
President Bill let us know that Stan Lowe passed away last week and we are in touch with the family and will keep everyone informed on when the services will be.
Charlie Shopp let us know that Bob Barnard is at Poplar Living Center recovering from his surgery and is doing quite well.
President Bill let us know that Dennis Lower has heart surgery this week so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He also let Robin Mundell and Martha Rakestraw know that our thoughts and prayers are with them as they take care of their husbands and to let us know if we can help.
Robin Mundell then told us some great memories of Stan Lowe on his 80th Birthday party when he told a story about how he gave his cat a pill and how it had everyone laughing.
Susan Griffith then shared a memory of her and her granddaughter taking dinner to Stan and Beau asked him why he had so many coffee mugs, an hour and a half later the story still wasn’t complete. Great memories of a great man, he will surely be missed.
President Bill let us know that Steve Liebzeit will be transferring with his job to Riverton so we will not be seeing him before he moves.
Rotarians of the week;
Tucker Laprade nominated Kevin Christopherson and his daughter for entertaining the cub scouts at day camp, Steven Schnell for teaching the cubs about rockets, and Jim Ruble and Sinclair for all of their help especially with the medic and the van that they supplied to help with day camp.
President Bill nominated visiting Rotarian Roxy Skogen who won the award for Club President of the year at District Conference, the same award that Liz Becher won last year when it was first introduced as a new award.
President Bill nominated all of the members from our club who attended District Conference last week; Liz Becher, Jim Ruble, Susan Griffith, Gary and Jana Pehrson, Lori Klatt, Dick and Wilma Shamlee, Pinky and Jackie Ellis, Gary and Stacey Johnson, Dusty and Vickie Johnson, Dave and Helen Bishop and also President Bill and Chrisa DeGraeve. He also nominated those who donated to the club basket that was auctioned off and raised $320 towards the $7,000 that was raised for shelter boxes to be sent to Nepal. Those Rotarians are: Jim Ruble, Chaz Farnham, Dick Shamlee, John Starnes, Mike Stepp, Steve Schnell, Charles Schoenwolf, Bill and Chrisa DeGraeve, Brian and Jennifer Deurloo, Nick Hill and Q’Doba, Walt Nolte and Casper College.
Brian Deurloo nominated Richard Schwahn for all of his hard work on revamping the tickets for the Duck Derby and getting them out to the members.
Heidi Foy nominated Roxy Skogen and her staff for their work on the College National Finals Rodeo.
Blue Badge Presentation:
Scott Skavdahl received his blue badge today, Congratulations Scott.
New Member Inductions:
Steven Schnell sponsored by Chad Nelson, Joe Nickerson sponsored by Cori Burton, and Dan Cantine sponsored by Robin Mundell, were all inducted into the club today, welcome and we look forward to getting to know you all.
Announcements:
- Deb Theriault announced that the International Rotary Exchange dinner will be this Wednesday night 5:30 – 7:00 and if you have not let us know that you are coming to please raise your hand or email her so she can get the food finalized. There will be a presentation from the 3 guests at the dinner and they will also give the presentation at the Five Trails Club meeting at noon on Thursday. Then Thursday night at the Firerock restaurant Pam Walker will be taking her guests to dinner and if you would like to join them please let Pam know.
- Dave Simonson announced that the annual golf tournament is coming up on August 1, 2015 and sign-up sheets are on the table or you can register through the three crown website or by emailing one of the committee members, Sandy Widmer or Anthony Martinez. The proceeds will be going to help build three classrooms for a school in Panama as part of our international project. We are still in need of hole sponsors for the tournament so get the word out on that.
- Bill Schilling announced that this Saturday from 8-12 will be a work day up at the falls for Rotary Park and about 16 volunteers and tools are needed. There is light duty as well as heavier work that needs done and donuts, coffee and water will be provided. He has some pictures on the tables for us to see some of the progress on getting the poles into place. Thank you to all of those who have volunteered.
- Richard Schwahn let us know that there is a paper inside your Duck Ticket envelope that gives some tips on how to sell the tickets. He also let us know that he will be here on Mondays to collect money and stubs or you can drop them off at Altitude Veterinary Hospital during the week. He also thanked the sponsors for this year, Black Hills Bentonite, GW Mechanical, Hilltop National Bank and Farmers Insurance Sandy Widmer Agency.
- President Bill reminded us to look at the flyers on the table for different things happening in the community and to make special note of the birthday party for Whit Bradley.
Program:
Jim Ruble introduced our speaker today, Lt. Stewart Anderson, the coordinator for Natrona County Emergency Management. Jim also thanked Brenda Peters for bringing this program to us. Lt. Anderson gave us an update on what has been happening with NCEM lately. They are updating their emergency response plan which is federally mandated that they have a plan for anything that could happen here. Hurricanes and tsunamis are about the only thing that probably will not happen here. They have been very busy lately with all of the severe storms that we have been seeing; he also christened his new vehicle with a hail storm already. They also have to have a mitigation plan which they have been updating; it is a vital part of the Emergency Management that they are constantly working on. They are also working on the emergency notification system so that they can activate it and control the announcements over the TV and Radio as well as the system for warnings through your cell phones and the loud sirens around town. He encouraged us to sign up for code red that comes through your cell phones. They also have to have an evacuation plan to be prepared in case an evacuation is necessary. Since Katrina everyone around the nation has to have an evacuation plan and the big problem they have run into is that people have pets that they may not be able to take to a shelter. Because of the pets, many people stay behind because they do not want to leave their pets. This just adds to the problems when the home is destroyed and the pets are gone it causes a lot of heartache. So the issue has been how to take care of people and their pets, so now part of the evacuation plan has to be the ability to house pets along with people. Brenda Peters came to Lt. Anderson about 4 months ago with a program to help care for animals during natural disasters and evacuations. Through a program from the American Kennel Club called project reunite, they match local funds and provide a trailer that can carry the equipment necessary to care for and house animals during natural disasters and evacuations. Brenda let him know that they were going to start putting together funds for the trailer but they had to partner with the local emergency management to be able to house the trailer and transport it to the sites when and where needed. He said that the federal emergency management people are very big into the partnering with local people much like a huge Rotarian attitude of service for the community and helping ourselves in times of need. So many people got together to make this happen and it is almost ready to be shipped to Wyoming and will be the first one in Wyoming that can be taken to whatever community needs it. This will be a huge help for our state to take care of this issue with pets. They hope to have it for the parade so that they can let people know that it is now available. The trailer has capacity to house about 65-70 pets depending on the types of animals. The trailer can be staged wherever they need to stage it where there is room for the kennels that it carries. He then opened the floor for questions.
President Bill DeGraeve let us know that our board has decided to donate $1,000 to the Lusk Recovery Project; he then adjourned the meeting at 1:26 with the ring of the bell, reminding us that next week we are back at the Parkway Plaza.
“Light Up Rotary”
