Northwind June 2, 2011

NORTHWIND

June 2, 2011

MEETING TO ORDER:

          President-elect Gary Tomsic called the meeting to order at 12:31pm and led us in the pledge of allegiance. Mel H. provided the invocation; there was no recitation of the Four-Way Test.

VISITING ROTARIANS:

          As can always be counted on, George Tsakumis from Vancouver, BC joined our meeting. Phyllis and Homer Todd from Spokane joined our Club for lunch; and Shannon Terrell from Bellingham Bay joined us as well. Welcome all.

GUESTS:

Nick from Banner Bank.

RETURNING ROTARIANS:

          President-elect Gary Tomsic returned from the Rotary International Convention held in New Orleans. He wouldn’t expand on his trip disclosing that he will provide a program on the subject in the near future (this is called a “teaser”).

BIRTHDAYS:

          President-elect Gary announced that if he interpreted Sharon’s email properly, there were no birthdays to announce this week (really? because this editor’s is tomorrow). After Sharon retrieved the email, she pointed out the paragraph to Gary that read, “birthdays this week: Greg 6/3; Jeanne 6/4”. Happy birthday to us.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

June 30 is the Club’s Installation Dinner. It will be an evening meeting held at Northwood Hall, so we will not be having an afternoon meeting that day. Mark it on your calendars.

July 19 the incoming District Governor will be installed at the Bellingham Country Club; believe it is a dinner event.

Tim C. is still looking for individuals who want to play in Golfun that will take place in Lynden on August 19.

Reminder of a possible Rotarian exchange with Graham Harris’ New Zealand Club next year. Graham will hopefully have more details forthcoming in the weeks ahead.

Saturday June 11 the Club is scheduled to perform litter pickup on the side of the highway. Meet at Bob’s Burgers in Birch Bay for drinks at 10:00am that morning before heading out.

HAPPY BUCKS:

          Norm V. recently had some quality time with his son; Rick S. had a nice trip to see family and friends; Dan P. is going to the M’s game on Saturday; Bill G. had a record turnout for cars at the car show at Boulevard Park; George T. announced that 54 years ago today he followed in his father’s footsteps and came to North America; Ken R. is just happy (surprising for such a grumpy guy); Dale thanked Rollo for taking him to the M’s game and happy about the Canucks; Max L. just returned from a Grand Cayman trip (is he hiding client funds in off-shore accounts….suspicious since its just after tax season). Max was also $37 happy for 37 year anniversary; Maureen attended her grandmother’s 95^th birthday in Michigan; Jake S. announced his granddaughter’s volleyball team came in second at a recent tournament; Rome S. has 2 granddaughters graduating – one from college and one from high school; Chuck T. happy about the nice weather; and Gary T. enjoyed the International Convention and thanked the Club for supporting him.

FINES:

Maureen acted as today’s finemaster and immediately got busy collecting large sums of money from unsuspecting members. Sharon had to pay a $3 IOU; if you didn’t purchase a raffle ticket, $1; if you didn’t have any yellow on your lunch plate, $1; Greg T. was fined for talking with Maureen at the lunch table too much, thus distracting her from listening to other gossip and table conversations to collect worthy fine information (members should have paid Greg’s fine); if there were no women at your table, $1; If you haven’t donated blood in the past year, $1; If you haven’t been in or supported a ski-to-sea racer, $1 (no, drinking and cheering for a racer doesn’t count); if you enjoy mowing the lawn, $1; if you haven’t pulled a weed yet in your yard, $1; Laurie L. was asked by Maureen what today was in the Catholic Calendar…didn’t know, but Chuck T. guessed and got it correct; Pete K. – Maureen hasn’t seen you for awhile, $1; if you are not picking up trash next Saturday, $1; anyone who goes South for the winter; $1.

Banners: there were no banners today.

PROGRAM:

          The speaker for today’s program is our own member, Jim Blaney. As many of you are aware, Jim is a WWII vet where he was a bomber pilot. Jim began the program by telling a story of his first double engine training session. While approaching for landing, the landing gear wouldn’t come down. Even trying to hand crank it down, it would not work. The particular plane he was flying had a tendency to erupt in flames if landed without wheels. As Jim was bringing the plane down, it touched onto the runway and the next thing Jim knew, he saw the flight instructor abandoning the plane by running out onto the wing and jumping off. Jim abandoned shortly thereafter. That particular instructor wasn’t seen from again.

          Jim then described his bomber training that took place in Florida before heading over to Europe. He was in a “replacement” group. The group would replace those who were shot down or who were finishing their tour.

          In 1944 Jim went to Europe as a deputy squadron commander. He recounted numerous stories. Jim was involved in 4 bombing runs on Berlin. He described a mission where his bomber was hit at 32,000 feet and lost two engines. He recovered at 19,000 feet and headed back to England, foregoing protocol because of the dangers he perceived. He made it back safely, but recounted how he was “chewed out” for not following the protocol and landing at a different site (he chose not to at the time because of the anti-aircraft fire he was encountering; believed wouldn’t have made it if landed at the time).

          To be honest, I cannot do justice to the stories Jim recounted during his program. I was more intrigued listening to the stories instead of trying to write down what Jim had to say. If you missed today’s program, you missed some important and unbelievable history lessons that Jim was a part of and a factor in.

DRAWING:

Phyllis Todd, a visiting Rotarian from Spokane, had her ticket drawn; however, she did not draw the ace of spades.

This Week’s Editor: Greg Thulin