Northwind, April 14, 2011

MEETING TO ORDER: Marlene called the meeting to order at 12:30 and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mel gave the invocation.
 
VISITING ROTARIANS:  George Tsakumis - Vancouver; Bill Kirby - Carson City; Bill Gorman - Bellingham Bay; Bob & Diane Becker - Bellingham Bay
 
GUESTS: Jerry Landcastle's guest was Earl Green, who Jerry later praised Earl for his fine work in carving walking canes for disabled veterans; Bill Grace introduced Bob Becker's wife, Diane; Orphalee Smith introduced the Group Study Exchange Team from Ireland.
 
BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES:  None
 
RETURNING ROTARIANS: Tyler returned from his trip to the Bahamas.
 
ANNOUNCMENTS: (1) The Rotary District Conference will be held May 5^th-8^th in Canada; (2) The District Assembly was a very worthwhile event; (3) There will be no meeting on April 28^th, BUT that evening at 5:00 p.m. Sue Sharpe will be leading a Strategic Planning Session; (4) Jerry will be attending a New Member Seminar; (5) Bill Grace announced the process is underway to update the Club Roster; (6) Laurie mentioned that the Therapeutic Riding Center mentioned in its newsletter that is was bestowing the "True Grit" award to Whatcom County North Rotary for lending a hand with projects during one of the coldest days of this last winter. (7) John and Rollo received their permanent badges for having accomplished all of their new member tasks - congratulations; (8) Jerry Landcastle stood up with his guest Earl Green who is a member of the Combat Veterans International Group - Earl is an artist/painter/woodworker. $1,500 of these canes was sold at the auction and the funds provided to Earl to buy more materials to carve more canes. Earl's a true patriot.
 
HAPPY BUCKS: Marlene was happy to welcome the GSE Team from Ireland; Bill Grace was glad for Don Easterbrook's talk on Global Cooling last week; George Tsakumis was $10 happy for a visit to Arizona to be with his daughter's family and for the surprise snowfall; Jerry L was $1 happy to bring Earl to the meeting; Tim V was a few dollars happy for the Youth Fair and the surprise snow; Gary T was happy to have the GSE Team here; Jake Smith says that he would welcome a future speaker on the Global Cooling issue as counterpoint to Don Easterbrook's presentation; Tim V popped up again as he's happy about planning a trip to Ireland; Tyler was $2 happy for his vacation, the rum he drank and for driving on the wrong side of the road; Ray was $2 happy for the Youth Fair which hosted 724 kids, and for the snow; Laurie has some sad bucks for missing the Youth Fair and was $2 happy for heated seats, woolies, and was sad that Don Easterbrook was right; GSE Team Leader was $1 happy for being at the club; Orphalee was happy to have the GSE Team as was Bill Gorman, Maureen, Paul C and Sharon. Dale Holt was happy for a South Dakota trip. All Good Stuff!!!
 
FINEMASTER: Maureen was the Finemistress today. The "Wallace Rule" was in effect (but an exception was later made for Tim V and his marshmallow shooter). $1 if no yellow/red/green food colors on your plate. $2 is you didn't buy a raffle ticket. $1 if you've not been to Ireland. $1 to everyone for the blizzard. A "no fine" welcome to Derrick. $1 to Greg Thulin since Maureen hadn't seen him in awhile. $1 to each member of two tables without women lunch mates. $1 to Rome for his ringing cellphone. $1 for anyone wearing short sleeves. A "no fine" congratulations to Tyler for all of his hard work on the Career Fair, but a few dollars for drinking and driving in the Bahamas. $1 for anyone liking the yucky Easter Peeps candy. $1 to Dick Donahue for being the last one in the door today. A fine for Randy for not being happy about something, but he said he was just waiting to be fined rather than paying twice. $10 to Tim V for his marshmallow PVC pipe blowgun. $1 if you weren't wearing your Rotary pin. $1 for those who didn't attend the Youth Fair. $1 to Jim Sands, Chuck Tull and Mel Hollinger since Maureen hadn't fined them in awhile. Way to rake in the bucks Maureen!!!!
 
BANNERS: A panel of banners noting historic events. Nice Stan.
 
PROGRAM: Orphalee Smith introduced the Group Study Exchange (GSE) Team from Northern Ireland representing clubs in District 1160. David Faulking was the Team leader and lead off with background about himself, some history of Ireland, some information about the Team and about Rotary Clubs in Ireland. There are 72 Rotary Clubs in Ireland with ~2,500 members. David is in the oil and gas industry, and is involved with a number of volunteer projects in Ireland. Team member Tracy Rosborough is an accountant sponsored out of the Londonderry Club. Patricia Campbell is from Ardbo. She is a primary school teacher and has about 20 - 4 year olds who are missing her greatly. Julie McKee is from Hillsborough County Down. She's employed by the Department of Justice and was sponsored by the Lagan Valley Rotary Club in Hillsborough. Janet Miller is being hosted by Bob and Diane Becker. Janet works for Women's Aid addressing domestic violence. In Ireland she helps set up domestic abuse prevention programs. Nice to have this GSE Team with us, and we hope they have safe travels with here and a safe journey home.  
 
DRAWINGS: Rollo had the winning raffle ticket but drew the wrong card.