Northwind 3/15/07

Posted by David Engels 
 

Whatcom County North Rotary

Northwind

 

March 15, 2007

 

 

MEETING TO ORDER:  President Ken called the meeting to order at 12:35 and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Pete Kremen gave the invocation.

 

VISITING ROTARIANS:   Lynn Masland from Sunrise Rotary; Dewey Dessler and Fred Sexton from Bellingham Rotary; and George Tsakumis from Vancouver Rotary.

 

GUESTS:  Adam Finfer introduced his guest Mike Kent 

 

RETURNING ROTARIANS:  Brad Peterson returned from a short hiatus.

 

BIRTHDAYS:  Gary Snyder and Stan Brunner celebrate their birthdays in the month of March.  Happy Birthday Gary and Stan!

 

ANNOUNCMENTS: Paul Cooley announced the career fair, which will be held on March 30th.  Out of 30 total presenters, he still needs presenters for Sign Design, Computer Web Design and someone from the construction industry.  He passed out sign-up sheets for collating the student selection forms and help during the day of the event.  Rick Staeb announced that the half-time score of the WSU/Oral Roberts game is Oral Roberts 28 and WSU 26. 

 

HAPPY BUCKS:  Jerry Landcastle for the Ferndale Centennial Celebration coming up this Monday the 19th of March.  He challenged everyone to show up for the group photo scheduled for 6:30.  Lex Ludtke was also happy about the upcoming Ferndale Centennial.  Winton Smith was happy to attend a recent Trade Show in Las Vegas.  Jack Curnow was happy USC beat WSU in the Pac-10 Tournament.  Phil Bratt was happy to have Brad Peterson back and for Sharon Robinson fitting right in at the "rowdy" table.  Sharon Robinson was happy to be part of the "rowdy" table and for getting a new puppy, which she brought with her today.  Gary Tomsic was happy to be back from vacation, (I didn't hear from where but I think it was someplace with a warmer climate).  Randy Carr was happy for his new baby girl, Addison Aloha, who is 11-days old today.  Marlene Sexton was happy that she will be in California by this time tomorrow.  Addie Brown  is sad because she has a manager's meeting scheduled for Career Day, so she will miss participating, and she was happy to be at Rick Staeb's table at the Business Pulse Banquet last night.  Brad Peterson was happy to be back from his short hiatus.  Paul Cooley was happy to have made 1,506 jumps (did I get this right?) rather than the 15 reported in last week's Northwind and that his store employees are okay after some guy went crazy in the pharmacy area and punched three people including the Police Officer who finally arrested him.  Mel Hollinger is happy that Brad is back and that Mike Kent is today's speaker.  Rick Staeb reported that with 15-minutes left in the game, WSU leads Oral Roberts by the score of 40 to 30.  Adam Finfer is happy to have Mike Kent as today's speaker.  Brian Finnegan had a couple of "scooter" bucks and reminded everyone to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this Saturday.  Dan Parsons for March Madness and St. Patrick's Day.  Bob Bowman for the Lummi Island Ferry and he noticed that Fred Sexton was sitting next to Marlene Sexton and they are not even related.  Rome Sarwas for something about WSU (my hearing is starting to go). 

 

FINEMASTER:  Today's Honorable Finemaster was Tim Carpenter.  Randy Carr was asked to pay his IOU plus $11 more for the joy of having an 11-day old daughter.  Bill Grace for having to collect "fines" today.  Rome Sarwas for bringing up something about the editor of the Northwind miss-stating last week's fine about his "message taker", which sorry to say I missed again.  Dick Nolan for being the last one in today.  David Engels for introducing George Tsakumis as "last of all", to which I offer my heartfelt apology because I really meant to say "the one and only".  All WSU Attendees for being here today rather than sitting in a Sports Bar somewhere watching the game.  Everyone who is not wearing Cotton Pants (specifically wool or polyester) today.  Multiple Question Time: (a wrong answer costs you a buck)  Daddy Yankee is a Honduran Rapper.  Naros �?�.. ("Money is us") is not a Micro Lending Project.  Sammy Sombreros is not a business in the town of Copan, Honduras. 

 

BANNERS:   Today's theme was a celebration of the Spring Equinox and no one guessed correctly.

 

PROGRAM: Adam Finfer introduced today's speaker Mike Kent, who talked about the local real estate market.  The real estate market is down somewhat because developers got ahead of themselves.  Many homeowners got into homes they couldn't afford because of "exotic loan" products, i.e. interest only loans and ARMS.  These types of loans are okay if homes appreciate by 20% a year but in a more normal market some homeowners have difficulty making the payments.  This comes as no surprise to lenders but the "sub prime" lenders are heading for the door.  Only 7% of mortgages in Whatcom County are variable rate and only a small percent of them fail.  He talked about how unique Bellingham is because of the US/Canada border and 2.3 million people living north of the border.  The Olympics will not affect the local real estate market in a major way.  Our local economy is enjoying low unemployment but we have twice the residential inventory today because real estate developers rushed to get building permits.  This inventory will be absorbed in the next 12-18 months.  There is affordable housing out there but rents are going up fast so now is probably a good time to buy.  He noted that Ken Imus and Trillium are visionaries who see the market several years down the road. 

 

DRAWING:  No winner.

 

Editor this week:  David Engels