Northwind February 19, 2015

President Rocky called the meeting to Order at 4:30pm and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Gary gave the Thought of the Day on Membership.

Guests included Linda Quinn and Lynn Ruese.

Visiting Rotarians:  Joe Coons of the Bellingham Club, our speaker for today.

Announcements:  President Rocky informed the club about decisions that were reached:

1) The last meeting of the Month will be a Fellowship/Fund Raising meeting beginning March 26^th.  Other Club business will be discussed during these more casual meetings.

2) The board is looking into alternative venues for our regular meeting beginning at the start of the new Rotary year.  At this time, the Ferndale Library is the leading candidate but the board welcomes further input from the members.  If you have ideas, contact Ken Richardson.

3) As reported by Julie at the Board meeting, with fewer members, we are pretty tight on finances this year.  The one unbudgeted item is meals for the YSA meeting at Northwood Hall on May 14^th.  The board will determine the total costs over and above the individual members’ meals and possible divide that cost amongst the club members.

Dale provided a “draft of this year’s Career Fair brochure and is looking for any corrections or suggestions.  The Career Fair is Wednesday April 1^st.

Laurie reminded us that the March 5^th meeting is a tour of the Whatcom Unified Emergency Coordination Center located at 3888 Sound Way, near the airport.

Happy Bucks: Bill was happy to see Jake here already when he arrived and Bill is glad he is working on a Pet Project:  The lumenation of the St. Paul’s Church Cross.  Laurie was happy her niece received a Rotary Scholarship. Ken was happy about the Cross lighting on St Paul’s Church. Pete had $5 sad bucks since he found out that his doctor can read the output of his newly installed Pace Maker to know how little exercise he is doing. Stan was $20 Happy and he wrote it down so he got it all in…He recently had a nice conversation with his daughter in Alaska about the beautiful Northern Lights, his other daughter helped corral some runaway horses running down Church Road and he and Margaret were celebrating their anniversary of their first date 75 years ago. Rocky was $5 happy.

Fine Master: Dale took the podium and immediately fined Gary $5 for using all his good Rotary Fine Stuff for his thought for the day based on Membership.  Jake was fined a buck for being so early.  Bill was fined for squealing on Jake. Ken was fined for being late but he explained the delay he had in the bar.  Various members were fined for not knowing the first president of Rotary, Sylvester Shield, not Paul Harris.  If you didn’t know that Paul Harris was a Lawyer, you paid and if you didn’t know the first woman joined Rotary in 1978, you added to the coffers.  Did you know the Rotary Wheel symbolizes Civilization and Movement?  The first Community Project for Rotary was a comfort station in Chicago.  The first Rotary Club did not have Dues; they used $.50 fines to cover their expenses.  The Fining then quickly turned from Rotary to Hockey.  You paid if you didn’t know the current 4 divisions of the NHL: Central, Atlantic, Metropolitan and the Pacific.  Who is the best team in the NHL you asked, The Nashville Predators.  What place are the CaNucks and how many points out of first are they?  3^rd place in the Pacific Division and they are 3 points out of first.  With all the Hockey questions, we figured the Fine Master would know the Original 6 teams of the NHL but he missed by one.  They were:  New York Ranger, Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and the one he missed, Detroit Red Wings.

Program: Fellow Rotarian (Bellingham), Joe Coons was our speaker.  Joe is a former Broadcaster, is a Paul Harris Fellow nine times over, He and his wife Judy have been married for 55 years. He knows Jim Blaney as a World War II pilot because Joe lost his brother who was also a pilot in the war.  Joe spoke today about the book he has recently written, USFactsFirst.  Joe got tired of hearing half-truth and undocumented opinions on the important subject of interest to every American.  In his non-partisan book, he puts the issues into perspective and gives you the basic key facts from authoritative sources so you can understand then.  He also offers discussion questions so you and your friends can come to your own conclusions.  Whatever your   political feelings, this book will help you understand the challenges facing American and their possible solutions.  For more info on the book you can go to www.USFactsFirst.com   A very informative and interesting program.

 

 

Drawing:  Bill Grace drew the 9 of Diamonds.  As they say around the state, “the pot continues to grow”.