Whatcom County North
Northwind
April 12, 2007
MEETING TO ORDER: President Ken called the meeting to order at 12:30 and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pete Kremen gave the invocation and managed to fit in the Civil War, the Mariners, and all the folks running for mayor of Bellingham.
VISITING ROTARIANS: Paul Cooley introduced (very enthusiastically!) the Visitors. From Bellingham we had Phil Gubbins. Visiting from Mt. Baker we had (Dandy) Randy Bode and (Rambling) Ron Vekved. Out of town (All the way from Little Amsterdam, AKA Vancouver, B.C.) was George Tsakumas.
GUESTS: Tim Villhauer introduced his friend and NASA/Apollo contractor, Ken Welks.
BIRTHDAYS: Mary Kanikeberg was absent, but we wished her a happy birthday.
RETURNING ROTARIANS: There were no returning Rotarians this week.
ANNOUNCMENTS: President Ken announced the District Assembly meeting in Surrey, B.C. this Saturday. The club will pay for 5 people to attend and a good time is promised. Ken also announced the District Conference at Harrison Hot Springs from May 31- June 3. You may register at the District website at: www.district5050.org. A meeting was scheduled today after lunch to discuss fundraiser dates and Ken reported that at this morning's Board meeting, finances were discussed and the quarterly payment for lunches turns out to be a good idea; saving the club $4,000 to $5,000 a year (to put towards other programs) and not to subsidize lunches. Hilary Baumstarck announced that next Saturday, April 21 there will be an outdoor expo needing 2-3 volunteers from the club to promote "Tour Whatcom" which benefits the Boys and Girls Club of Whatcom County. The "Tour" is on August 4th and there will be a 20, 40 and 100 mile ride. We will also need volunteers to help with registration on August 4th. Please let Hilary know ASAP if you are interested. Jerry Landcastle announced that the Ferndale Century Celebration continues with a Chili Cookoff on May 19. Registration is $25.00 for individuals and $75.00 for restaurants. You may get applications on line @ City of Ferndale or call Jerry and he will send you a fax. Adam Finfer announced that on April 28th, Planet Earth will do the stream enhancement project at Shell Creek near Ferndale City Limits. This event takes place from 9am to12pm and a list was passed around for interested volunteers. Tools and refreshments will be provided and we were reminded that the club had done some planting for this project a few years ago. Tim Carpenter announced that a trailer is now available for storing donations for the rummage sale (which will PROBABLY be July 21). The trailer is located at Lex's yard off Bakerview. You may call Lex or Tim or drop things off at Trailer TV41. It will be unlocked in the secured yard. Start gathering those donations! Marlene Sexton had a final plea for RYLA candidates. You may call or e-mail with any hopefuls. The deadline is April 21, but the sooner, the better!
HAPPY BUCKS: Brad Peterson had happy bucks for the courage of Mayor Jerry Landcastle to speak up and be direct about how things are. This brought much laughter and applause. Rick Staeb, noticing Bill Grace's absence, felt it only right to give a happy buck in Bill's honor. Maureen McCarthy had a couple of bucks, one for Kathy Vander Giessen's return and one because WTA ended up on the front page of the Herald and it was good news (expanding service) AND they got all the facts right! Kathy Vander Giessen was happy that she sold her Canucks tickets and missed a long overtime game. Brian Finnegan had happy bucks that he was able to recruit Josh Wilund to canoe with him at the Sea to Ski. Tim Villhauer gave happy bucks to acknowledge that Maureen's bus schedule meeting was pulled off without any arguing [as he glanced at Jerry Landcastle] Sharon Robinson gave happy $ for her excitement of the Whatcom Literacy Council's Trivia Bee which will be held tomorrow (April 13) at Bellingham High School. Her hero, Ken Jennings of Jeopardy fame will be there as well as Zervas Architects if folks want to come and cheer them on. Hilary Baumstarck claimed to be out of $, but made the sad announcement that he will be leaving the club. The good side of this is that he got a promotion and will be moving to Anchorage AK. He promised to come back to visit. Bob Bowman had happy bucks for two events. The first being a memory of Tim Carpenter planting trees at Shell Creek and falling into the water. (Tim is grateful for the memory) and another $ for Greg Iwasaki who fixed his computer. Greg gave Bob the [Stan Brunner discount which saved Bob 100% AND Greg paid for the parts, as well. Good discount!
FINEMASTER: Tim Carpenter was the finemaster today, but directed any and all complaints to Roger Lehnert. With that said, Tim questioned Hilary Baumstarck on how he would commute from Anchorage to Bellingham to carry out duties as the President. Tim was so sad about Hilary leaving, that he just couldn't fine him, but then had a change of heart and fined him $2.00. Hilary opted to pay with an IOU. Those born South of the Mason-Dixon Line were fined for starting the Civil War. This included Jack Curnow, Rose Abbaspour, and Max Legg. Jack was fined an extra $ because he had come to the meeting during the tax season. Max was not fined extra because he is a nice guy. As it has been said many times, we do not fine guests. However, Randy Bode made a comment about Tim's casual attire and left Tim only one option; collect the $ from Jack Curnow. Adam Finfer and Dick Langabeer were both fined for sitting at the wrong tables. Anyone who was suppose to be at the Foundation Board Meeting this morning that didn't show was fined. The only person absent was Tim Carpenter. It probably isn't right to fine yourself, so Jake Smith "loaned" the $ to Tim. Anyone who was wearing a shirt with a logo was fined. This included but was not limited to Jerry Landcastle, Tim Villhauer, Phil Gubbins, (yes, a guest!) and Tim Carpenter (again, fining himself!) Kathy Vander Giessen was welcomed back, but the club lost the opportunity to fine her in her absence. Tim requested Volunteers for fining and Brad Peterson gave a wholehearted plea to fine Chuck Tull as it had been awhile since he had been fined. (What are friends for?) And since we also don't fine the President, (it is a breach of honor), President Ken was fined for his comments to Jerry Landcastle, Tim found Ken's remarks to be deeply personal and lacking in compassion, noting we don't ALL have crocodile skin like Jerry and by paying his fine, Ken might learn a little compassion. Jake Smith was not fined (professional courtesy?) for wanting to start the Jerry Landcastle Award for censureship. Most were in agreement that Jerry is the Censure Person Poster Boy.
Banners: Where was Stan? No Banners today.
PROGRAM: Our guest speaker was Karen Ssebanakitta and her program was Advanced Care Planning. This was a great program with many useful handouts dealing with Health Care Directives (living wills) and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care. She provided us with many forms to consider when talking with loved ones about our End-Of-Life wishes. Karen coordinates a free "Five Wishes Workshop" every month at St. Luke's Community Health Center. In this 2-hour workshop, participants explore ways to direct their own treatment should they become too ill to speak for themselves. A completed "Workshop" booklet is recognized as a legal Living Will in most states. This program provided us with lots of good information and ways to begin the conversation of our last wishes for maintaining dignity at the end of our lives.
Editor this week: Marlene Sexton