Corrected Northwind July 29th

Somehow last week's Northwind included some old news.  Please see the following for the real deal:

 

Call to Order:   After requesting a standing ovation for Marlene, President Dale called the meeting to order and led us in the flag salute.

Invocation:  Jim Blaney provided the invocation. 

Visiting Rotarians:   Nancy Jordan (B’ham club) and Bob Moles (B’ham Bay club.)   Welcome!

Guests:   Marcus Morris and Joe Franzen were today’s guests.  Welcome to both of you!

Returning Rotarians:  Rollo returned from his Hawaiian vacation.

Anniversaries and Birthdays:  Ken’s birthday is July 30^th and Laurie’s husband Ric also celebrates his birthday.  Jim S. celebrates 6 years in Rotary and Ken celebrates 17 years.

Announcements: Dale reminded us that this year we are really making a push for increasing membership in the club.  He passed around a sample letter to help us to recruit good members.  He also reviewed the need for Corporate members and challenged us to get names of potential members to him by next week’s meeting.  You can also email him with any names and some ideas of how to approach them.  **Tim shared how he strikes up a conversation with others about Rotary and he had just talked to a new bank president from Blaine.  Keep your eyes and ears open to potential members!  **A reminder about the Duck tickets and the very real need to sell those tickets! Tim also reminded us to sell those tickets sequentially.  (Ken, that means in numerical order.)  Bring tickets stubs and money next week or give them to Rollo, Tim, or Ken.  The last Duck Ticket push will be at the Fair from August 15-20.  We will have a booth by the food court and performance state.  Look for the sign-up sheet.  **There will be a board meeting at Dale’s office on August 3^rd.  (1270 Barkley Blvd.)  This will be at 4:00 and should be over by 5:30. **November is Foundation Month so be thinking about Paul Harris fellowships.  The dinner will be on the 10th at Northwood Hall.  Mark your calendars!   

Happy Bucks:  Dale started things off with HBs and a thank you for Nancy, Marcus, Joe, and Bob for coming to the meeting.  He also had $ as his dad passed his cognitive tests with flying colors!  Nancy was $10 happy for her “shameless plug” for the display of the Lummi Nation’s fishing history and a reminder that the display is for the community to see.  Julie was happy that Bob will have his knee fixed very soon.  Pati was happy to have our guests and for Ken’s birthday.  Sharon is still happy to see Dale at the podium and she was also happy for the display and the opportunity to see the Lummi Nation Stommish festival and the Nisqually canoe journey.  Eric was “just happy” and Marlene was $10 happy that Julie and Bob gave her tickets to the Beer Festival, but unhappy about the ferry and traffic on Slater Road.  Jim S. was “just happy’.  (It should be noted that Eric was “just happy” and sitting to Marlene’s left and Jim was “just happy” and sitting to Marlene’s right…coincidence?) Laurie had “frustration bucks” for the traffic and road construction all over the county and she was happy because the Mariners can’t lose today.  (Not playing.)  Rollo was $5 happy for a great vacation and Rocky was $5 happy for Dale’s dad’s health improvements, as well as having guests.  Ken was $5 happy that he isn’t afraid of needles since he had about 20 of them in his shoulder, allowing him to ride his motorcycle again.  Bill states he has lots to be happy about including shaking things up at the entrance to our meeting.  He also was happy to have been at the Beer Festival and his neighbors became great-grandparents today.  Tim was $5 happy for Blues, Brew, and BBQ and that their little dog will be fine after having a tumor removed.  Dale returned with HB for the Blues, Brew, and BBQ attendees. 

Finemaster:  Rocky answered the call and fined Dale $1 because Marlene had to assign herself as chair of the Finemaster committee.  Anyone not wearing Rotary pins got dinged.  Anyone who missed the Bellwether festivities got fined.  If you do not have a lawn to mow, it cost you $1 and no fine for anyone that mows their own lawn.  Laurie got fined for not knowing the 2 teams that have never played in the World Series and Ken was fined for giving the wrong answer.  Tim was fined for not knowing the date of the first pre-season football game and Rollo was fined for not knowing who plays in the Hall of Fame game.  Anyone that has been watching the conventions was fined $1 and $1 for anyone who has not signed up for Duck Ticket sales.  Bill was fined for ratting Marlene out as being the last in.  And another fine was added if you have not attended another Rotary club meeting or if you have not brought a guest for one of our meetings.  There was a $1 fine for anyone not wearing shorts.  Rollo, Ken, Marlene, and Julie were fined for not coming in the right door.  Anyone with a car less than 2 years old was fined and a $1 fine if you graduated from B’ham H.S. And last, but not least, Jim S. was not fined for conducting business outside.

Banners:  Tim cracked the code…43 years for WCNR, 121-year anniversary of Old Settlers Picnic, and 9,000 years of a welcoming greeting from the Salish, indicating that the Old Settlers weren’t actually the first settlers. 

Program:  Our program today was provided by Ferndale mayor, John Mutchler.  Mayor Mutchler presented after the invocation and he began with 5 Happy Bucks to plug the Old Settlers Picnic, which begins today.  He was on his way to the picnic where he was meeting up with the Grand Marshall, retiring Police chief, Mike Knapp. (It was agreed; the Mayor has big shoes to fill with this vacancy.) Mayor Mutchler gave us an update on the goings-on in Ferndale.  He described the “Ferndale Fresh” project that is sprucing up the city and giving Lynden a run for its money.  He talked about the redevelopment in downtown Ferndale, including sidewalk dining and the Farmers Mkt. He filled us in on the $19 million collected to connect Thornton Rd with I-5. (Total cost will be $32 million.)  The Mayor gratefully acknowledged our club’s donation of $7,000 and our hands-on volunteering at the now complete, Star Park.   (Altogether, 2,200 volunteers and nobody got hurt!)  He described his most satisfying accomplishment as naming 2 streets after WWII heroes and POWs, Joe Moser and Dick Stone.  Mayor Mutchler states he is very accessible and if you need to talk with him, he can be found at Wood’s coffee on Monday mornings and at the Ferndale Fit walk every Wednesday at 5:15. (The walk starts at the Locker Room and goes to Hovander Park and back.)  Another event Ferndale is looking forward to is the visit of 12 citizens from their sister city in Japan.  This summer will mark the 25^th anniversary of being “sister cities” and in Ferndale tradition, the goal is to show great hospitality.  As it against the law for the city to use funds for meals or entertainment, they are looking for donations from non-profits and others to provide hospitality expenses.  This was a great program and proof that Ferndale is growing and healthy.

Drawing: Bill won the door prize which was a beautiful bouquet of Dalia’s from Pati’s garden.  Stan did not get the ace of spades, but did win the consolation prize of a vase, which Bill filled with Dalia’s for Margaret.   The Pot grows and is now almost $1,000!