Northwind March 23, 2017
Posted by Julie Johansen on Mar 26, 2017
Call to order: President-Dale Holt led us in the pledge of allegiance and Deb Wiggs led the Moment of Reflection.
Visiting Rotarians: Scott Wallace from Bellingham RC.
Guests of Rotarians: Sam Mitchell was a guest of Tim Villhauer. Sam is the operations manager for the Men’s Warehouse in Bellis Fair mall. Marge attended as a guest of Scott but both Scott and Marge are WCN RC family so it is hard to consider them guests.
Returning Rotarians: Dale is back from his vacation to Hawaii where he enjoyed seeing an active volcano. Rick Staeb is back from his winter escape to AZ for fun and sun.
Program: Ferndale HS FFA Debate Team:
The order of the meeting was flipped to allow the FFA students to present their program and return to class. The FFA students were practicing their presentation that is to be part of a statewide competition in May in Pullman (WSU). They chose an agricultural topic of some controversy, completed their individual research on the topic, and then presented arguments for and against the issue. They used a radio talk show format to interview the participants (students) about the issues and the impact on the various stakeholders.
The issue presented was fresh water Pipeline Proposal to divert Columbia River water via a pipeline to farms in California. California draughts are impacting the ability for farmers in CA to grow crops and feed livestock. The loss of California crops is considered potentially devastating to the food supply of everyone in the US. California sees the water in the northern states as plentiful and wants to bring some of it south. The suggested pipeline would be built along Highway 197 E from The Dalles to California; taking water from the Columbia River at The Dalles and transporting it over the high desert to CA. The CA farmers see this as a good solution to their draught problem; they are willing to fund the construction to get the water.
The students presented the pros and cons of this idea without bias or opinion. The loss to Oregon and Washington farmers of water needed by them (and diverted to CA) is equally devastating to those constituents; reduction of crop land and loss of property values plus the impact on salmon harvests. The construction of such a pipeline would create good jobs during the construction period but dry up upon completion. This is clearly a controversial topic which is the intent of the FFA debate team competition. The students researched their various views as stakeholders in such a project and presented how this would impact them, if it were actually built.
After the mock “interviews” were completed, the students were peppered with questions from the audience. This is clearly a topic of broad interest and strong feelings. One to watch.
Birthdays: Julie is 68 on 3/31. Happy Birthday song by Deb. Thank you!
Anniversary: Ken and Susan, Tim and Pati, Rocky and Sylvia..wedding anniversaries. Congratulations to everyone! Combined they represent well over 100 years of marriage; impressive.
Announcements: Career fair (3/30/17) still need a disc jockey and a veterinarian. The collating process will be Monday 3/27, 5:00 PM at Dale’s office; WA Fed Bank at Barkley and Sunset.
All members are asked to arrive at 8:00 AM at BTC on Thursday the 30th (unless you are in Hawaii J) to help set up. If you can only spare an hour, come at 11:00 to move the chairs from the main auditorium to the cafeteria where they are needed for lunch at 12:45. The Interact students will be on hand to assist as well. This is always a great event so show up just to watch if you can’t work.
Rubber Ducky Derby sponsors still needed. We have stalled at $8,250 in sponsorship support and we must have a minimum of $12,000 (to cover prize money) and preferably $20,000, to hold the race. A firm cutoff date is the April board meeting (4/19) where a “fish or cut bait” decision will be made. We need sponsors to hold this event so keep asking. Dale said we cannot depend on the Silver Reef to come through as a title sponsor ($5,000) so we need to look elsewhere and preferable to Ferndale businesses as this is a Ferndale event.
Ferndale Chamber of Commerce lunches are the third Wednesday of the month. Dale wants someone from the club to attend this luncheon every month; he will be attending the 4/19 event and needs company. Check your calendars and call him!
Sharon, Tim and Rollo attended the March lunch and had a good experience. Both Tim and Sharon suggested this will be a good source for Duck Derby support (tickets and sponsors) but it will need to be worked aggressively if we are to see results. Sharon is working on a business card for Rotary, that we can give to other attendees.
Youth Service Awards lunch is scheduled for May 18th at Northwood Hall. ICU is again the matching sponsor for the student awards. Thank you ICU! Greg Iwasaki is working on the logistics.
Fund Raising committee meeting held every Monday morning, 7:00 AM, at Little Cheerful. Ken and Tim would love to have greater club participation!
Happy Bucks: Tim was $18 happy for his half of his and Pati’s 36 years and another episode of the Hawaii luau he and Pati attended a couple of weeks ago. It sounded like a wonderful event.
Sharon was happy to experience her annual quilting workshop with only 50 weeks until the next one. Jake was happy for the UW women’s basketball team and encourages us to watch whatever games remain. Bill was happy to be here today and for a good board meeting last evening. Ken was $50 happy for his 48 years of marriage and happy to be here today. Marlene is happy to be leaving for Hawaii soon and for a pedicure date with her 5 year old granddaughter (who is far too experienced with such dates). Scott and Marge are just happy to see us (we miss them) and Deb is happy for her continued comings and goings with a very busy travel schedule. Julie was $68 happy for another year on the planet with all her original parts and good health, even though she is really old now. Rick was happy to be back from AZ but was happier to have spent the winter months playing (lots of playing) in the sun. Pati covered her half of the 36 years of marriage to Tim plus $2 for the FFA program today. Dale covered his IOU’s and was happy for his Hawaii trip last week and coming home to a house still standing. Seems his daughter did a great job of dog sitting and kept the house safe.
Fine Master: Marlene Sexton dispensed the fines today. Standard $1 fines for wearing shorts or not wearing your Rotary pin. Pati was fined for what appeared to be a glass of Chardonnay with her lunch (Marlene is just thinking ahead to Hawaii vacation). Bill was fined for his image on the Hospice publication and anyone not going or having been to Hawaii in recent weeks were also fined. Ken, Tim and Rocky were all fined for too much information about their respective anniversaries on Face Book. Deb and Dale were fined for making too much of Julie’s birthday, Rocky gets an IOU for a photo on FB of he and Sylvia on their way to a funeral but appearing to be having too much fun. Anyone with artificial parts was fined $1 and Rick was fined for having far too much fun in AZ while we all suffered in the snow. Tim was fined $2 for not contributing sufficiently to the 36 years of marriage to Pati.
Raffle: Deb Wiggs won the door prize and Jake drew the 50/50 raffle; he did not pick the ace of spades; the pot grows. Winners take next week is $236.50