Whatcom County North Rotary
Northwind
November 1, 2007
MEETING TO ORDER: President Thulin called the meeting to order at 12:34 p.m. and Rick Staeb gave the invocation.
VISITING ROTARIANS: Ted Mischaikov from Bellingham Rotary; Rook Van Haly, Ron Vekved and Luke Tavis from Mt. Baker Rotary; and of course George Tsakumis from Vancouver, BC.
GUESTS: None
BIRTHDAYS: None
RETURNING ROTARIANS: Elizabeth Barnard returned from a trip to La Jolla, California. I didn't catch what she was there for.
ANNOUNCMENTS: WCNR Board Meeting is scheduled for November 8th and our club's foundation dinner is scheduled for Nov 15th and there will be no meeting during that day. Social hour at 5:30 p.m. dinner at 6:30 p.m. Salmon and Roast Beef will be the choices. President Greg is asking that all members please remember to fill out the fundraising questionnaire, if you haven't done so already. Tim Carpenter announced the District Foundation Dinner is being held November 9th in Canada for a cost of $60, and it is well worth attending. Please let Tim know if you would like to carpool with him. Doug Thomas spoke for Jim McKellar in announcing the phone tree will be active next week so be ready to contact your prospects for donations to the Metcalf Memorial Fund. Finally, Greg Thulin announced that the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement program is being held this Saturday.
HAPPY BUCKS: Jack Curnow is not happy with USC's number 19 ranking but the Blue Duck Tavern in Washington DC is fabulous. Laurie Lloyd is happy about the Oregon Duck's number 2 ranking. Rook from the Mt. Baker Club was happy for Halloween and no blood clot and just damn happy to be here. Dick Nolan lost a tooth and was happy Randy Carr was able to repair it without pain. Paul Cooley gave an "acceptance speech" for being named Store Manager of the year and his Barkley Haggen Store being named Store of the Year. The bonus is on its way. He also attended a memorial for the skydiver's who recently perished in a plane crash. He also recruited Josh Wilund for the proposed "Nude Calendar". Max Legg was happy for a recent trip to Italy where he watched Olive Crushing following which he has sworn off eating olives. Maureen McCarthy is happy more WWU students are using WTA, with ridership up by over 40%. Marlene Sexton is happy someone else is watching her Dad's animals. Doug Thomas was happy to spend the last two weeks on a "business trip" to Hawaii where he enjoyed attending a dinner hosted by David Murdoch, a fascinating health nut.
FINEMASTER: Doug Thomas was our Finemaster today. He gave a very nice welcome to today's speaker Ted Mischaikov indicating that from his perspective he is one of the "good developers". Scott Piper was fined for not getting the memo to wear a crimson shirt at his table. Tim Carpenter was fined for wearing sweatpants or perhaps even Pj's to today's meeting. Laurie Lloyd was fined for being a duck at the crimson table. Everyone who has not traveled somewhere sunny in the past month was fined a dollar. Paul Cooley was fined two dollars for announcing again he is Store Manager of the year for Haggen, but Doug paid $1 on his behalf. Maureen McCarthy was fined a dollar for the good job in increasing WTA ridership, but was asked to take the window tinting off.
Banners: The banners were all hyphenated and no one guessed correctly.
PROGRAM: Greg Thulin announced the speaker, Ted Mischaikov, a local real estate developer. Ted is a fellow Rotarian with the Bellingham Club, a developer of Fairhaven Harbor and past president of Trillium. Ted talked about his proposed new development Larrabee Springs. Larrabee Springs is a proposed new neighborhood in North Bellingham or north of Bellingham. Ted made an excellent presentation and following are some of the things I picked up from his presentation. The project encompasses 581 acres with 38 acres designated for open spaces. MITHUN, a leader in designing livable neighborhoods, was the architect who did the design work. The developers will work with WTA to create a north Bellingham transit corridor. The project will have a self contained commercial center. It is a big project with moderation in size and balance with more density and green spaces than the average Bellingham neighborhood. The project will have a community pool, plus 13-acres allocated for an elementary school, a golf course similar to Lake Padden, 67-miles of trails, a village square, Dog Park, community center and possibly a library. Also included will be land for soccer fields and softball fields, which will be donated to the City of Bellingham.
DRAWING: I missed the drawing because I had to leave early so if someone pulled the Ace of Spades, congratulations.
Editor this week: David Engels