Northwind 5/4/06

Posted by Rick Staeb 
 
Reminder: to access our website go to www.wcnrotary.org and then save it as one of your favorites.

Whatcom County North Rotary Club

North wind

May 4th, 2006

 

Meeting To Order:

 

President Scott Piper called the meeting to order at 12:33pm and Mary Kanikeberg greeted the club in the native language of Arkansas, Pig Latin.   President Scott then led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Tony Cubellis provided today's invocation.

 

Visiting Rotarians:

 

Hillary introduced today's visiting Rotarians.  From the Bellingham Bay Club we enjoyed the company of Stephanie, Shannon and Matt (your editor failed to document their last names).  From out of town, Phil Nevins joined our meeting. 

 

Guests of Rotarians:

 

President Scott introduced his guest Cheryl Fisher from Wells Fargo Bank. 

 

Returning Rotarians:

 

Doug Thomas was back from a Doug Thomas turf management seminar in Orlando.  Larry Pollett was back home after a 5200-mile trip in the family RV.  Tim Carpenter was returning and gave one of his most insightful and eloquent messages that your editor could recall.  Tim was speechless.

 

Birthdays:

 

President Scott was celebrating his special day, today May 4th.

 

Rotary Foundation Minute:

 

Ken Richardson gave the Foundation Minute with an update on how an individual could become a Paul Harris Fellow or how a Rotarian could recognize another individual as a Paul Harris Fellow.  This honor could only be bestowed on an individual and not a company.  He encouraged everyone who would like more information to go to the WCNR website at:  www.wcnrotary.org  Please mark it as one of your favorites for future easy access.

 

Announcements:

 

The club was reminded of the Fellowship Dinner sign up sheets.  The Pete Kremen dinner is June 4th featuring the lively debate between Pete and Mayor Mark on whose government is bigger.  The Bob Bowman Bash is set for July 15th high atop Lummi Island at the Bowman Compound.  Please get your best George W jokes to Audrey early.

 

Jim McKellar again requested that members submit possible donor names that could be contacted for support of the Dick Metcalf Teen Center.  The Campaign Committee was getting very little response and this type of effort is needed for any successful donor campaign.  Please see Jim if you have possible donors names.

 

Bill Grace announced that he was making and selling garden benches for $250 each with proceeds going to the Dick Metcalf campaign.  His goal is to have orders for 10 benches.

 

Hilary was selling T-shirts that were left over from the WCNR Fun Run.   Phil Bratt reminded everyone of an upcoming program that is one of our best each year, the Youth Service Awards that will be presented May 18th.

 

Happy Bucks:

 

Tim could no longer contain his happiness and gave us all the details of his trip south for golf and cards.  Rich Jacobson was $3 happy about his trip, helping Jake Locker with a bank account and the Yeager's sale on school supplies for the Ferndale school district.  Larry Pollett was happy about his cross-country road trip except for the price of gas.  Mary Kanikeberg was very sad about losing her watch but then she was $100 happy when it was found and she paid the reward to the club.  Brian Finnegan was happy about something having to do with going out with the girls and wearing something pink.  We all agreed that Brian would be pretty in pink.  Reality was he was the MC for the breast cancer fundraiser in Fairhaven.  Doug Thomas was happy about his recent trip.   Tina Loudon had some happy bucks for her trip.  Bill Grace was $5 happy about his RV trip and his neighbor's miraculous recovery.  Dick Donahue was happy about Tim's efforts to play poker around the world and Dick's recent trip to New York where he caught a Yankee game. (Went 2 for 3 and threw 2 runners out at second). 

 

Fine Master:

 

Dick Langabeer was today's Master of the Fines and immediately started in on his fine master brethren by fining Larry Pollett $3 for the last minute change in the Fine Master schedule.  Dick made his contribution to the Dick Metcalf Fund with a nice $100 check.  Doug Thomas was fined $5 for driving a large, gas guzzling, difficult to park, global warming, and gaudily clad Cougar pickup truck.  Rich was fined a buck for his appropriate and funny dig at the honorable superintendent of the Ferndale school district. Tim Carpenter was dinged for his lack of knowledge, leadership and effectiveness of the Family Committee.  Adam Finfer and the Planet Earth Committee were commended for the beautiful day and Whatcom County's lack of pollution.  Gary Snyder was fined a dollar just so Dick could spread the joy around the room.  Same with Greg Iwasaki.  All members who hadn't been fined by Dick recently should pay a dollar too. 

 

Stan's Banner Theme for this week was May Day.

 

Program:

 

Lex Ludtke introduced today's program.  Jim Boyle and Cheryl DeHaan from Farm Friends of Whatcom County.  Farm Friends is a non-profit agency whose mission is to build broad based community support to help preserve the benefits of farming in Whatcom County.  They are attempting to connect farming communities with non-agriculture communities. 

 

Jim Boyle gave a very descript analogy of just how much land on the earth was useable.  Consider the earth an apple, one 32nd of that apple would be considered farmable.  The skin of that one 32nd of the apple would be all the topsoil available for quality farming.   Whatcom County's primary agriculture products are:

Dairy and Powdered Milk

Raspberries, Strawberries, and Blueberries

Greenhouse/Nursery

Poultry and Eggs

Seed Potatoes

 

Farm Friends are attempting to support the agricultural community by educating the public through various outreach programs.

            Farming for Life Exhibits at events like the Northwest Washington Fair

            Ag@ School Magazine Program

            Farm Protection Summits

            Milk Makers Fest

 

Farm Friends are working at improving the economic vitality of rural Whatcom County through different methods.

            Encouraging the public to buy local fresh farm products.

Making the public aware of the many farms and products available throughout Whatcom County.

Creating the Community Kitchen Facility at the Public Market building in Bellingham.

Presenting the Mobile Interpretive Display.

 

The farmers of Whatcom County cannot do it by themselves.  They need our help.  Sometimes, even our help can't make it economically viable for a farmer to stay in business.  For more information on Farm Friends go to their website at www.wcfarmfriends.com and remember as Big and Rich always say, "Save a horse, ride a Cowboy".

 

The drawing was held and your editor had the lucky number and drew the 10 of diamonds.

 

Your Editor:  Rick Staeb