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July 2017
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Thor Ryan Chief Security Officer, SOA Department of Health and Social Services

As the Chief Security Officer for the Department of Health and Social Services within the State of Alaska, Thor Ryan has a job that is vitally important to the citizens of the state. The job comes with a host of interesting yet challenging events especially with the need for heightened cybersecurity measures in dealing with HIPPA data.

Thor has been with the State of Alaska for almost 20 years. He has held various roles in both DHSS and the Department of Administration. In his current role as the CSO, he and his team are charged with establishing, implementing, monitoring

security policies and implementing standards and procedures in support of those policies;

Coordinating risk assessment activities

Coordinating training and awareness activities

Working with business and IT entities in DHSS to ensure proper controls are planned and implemented in information systems

Breach investigations

Coordinating the activities of the DHSS incident response team (IRT) and coordinating with other state entities

Working with management and entities outside DHSS

Coordinating improvements to the DHSS ISMS based on the results of management reviews, audits, and incident response analysis.

AIR Adopt-a-Road Cleanup #2 on July 22nd

Community Service Project – Adopt-A-Road Litter Control Clean Up

What: Anchorage International Rotary Club has entered into an agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage to Adopt-A-Road. We are doing 3 Litter Clean-Up events a year, and our second Clean-Up this year is scheduled for Saturday July 22nd.

We need your help!

We would like a minimum of 15-20 people to
help, and everyone is welcome. Rotarians, Family, Friends, Kids,
Prospective Rotarians.

When: Saturday July 22nd – Starting at 10 AM

Where: Wisconsin Street in West Anchorage – Between Spenard Road and West Northern Lights Boulevard. Map

We will meet at Balto Seppala Park – 3360
Wisconsin Street, 99517

All are welcome - sign-up at our club meetings or just show up!

"My Rotary, Your Rotary, and Our Rotary"

Posted on Jul 14, 2017

Please join us for this Fridays meeting as we welcome our 2017-18 5010 District Governor Harry Kieling for a presentation to our club. Harry will share his thoughts on Rotary and give us a bit of a preview of the coming Rotary year.

Harry Kieling is the Owner and Sole Proprietor of Far North Flyers, LLC, an Anchorage, Alaska based flight instruction and education company. Harry has spent a career in aviation, flying over 50 years and having flown 70 types of aircraft, including F-100s in Vietnam.

He has also been combat ready in the F-111, A-7D, OV-10, and O-2 aircraft. He spent 10 years flying the A-10, including two years in Alaska. During His last Air Force assignment he flew C-12s throughout remote Alaska. He has been an A-10 fighter squadron commander and an Air Force wing commander.

After leaving the Air Force, Harry instructed in the aviation program at the University of Alaska Anchorage and flew Part 135 Air Taxi. He holds ATP, MEI, CFI, CFII certifications. He flies his own Cessna 185 on amphibious floats, wheels/skis and floats. He is a past commander of the Elmendorf Civil Air Patrol squadron.

Harry previously served as Anchorage City Manager, FEMA Regional Response and Recovery Division Director, and as the Alaska Regional Director of the Office of Aviation Services for the Department of the Interior.

Harry served as the initial and primary point of contact for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in DOI from 2006-2012 and developed policy and procedures for UAS operations and integration in DOI. He graduated from the US Army Raven A Unmanned Aircraft Basic Operator Course in November of 2009.

Harry is an active member of the Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club having served as Club President and now District Governor. He is a founding member of the Alaska Civil Military Aviation Council (ACMAC). He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Alaskan Aviation Safety Foundation and hosts a weekly television show on aviation safety (“Hangar Flying”), which is broadcast throughout Alaska.

25th Alaska Flag Day Celebration

Posted on Jul 09, 2017

On Sunday, July 9th 2017, our club sponsored the 25th annual Alaska Flag Day celebration. Alaska Child and Family hosts this annual event celebrating Alaska's state flag, which was designed by Benny Benson, an Alaska Child and Family alumnus, in 1927.

Several AIR families attended the event, which was held at The Jesse Lee Campus.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to sponsor, support, and attend events for important community services through AIR!

From our July 7th Meeting

Posted on Jul 10, 2017

Bob Roses who is the Director from the Alaska Military Youth Academy joined us and spoke about the difference the program is making in kids lives who are learning respect and how to succeed as adults. Kids who are 16-18 primarily from the road system in Alaska are going through an intense educational program and coming out of the programs passing their GED's at a tremendous rate due to the training and education they are getting.

Welcome to our new President for the 2017-18 Rotary year!

Ben Schulman presided over his first official meeting in fine form!

Our Outbound Exchange Student

We got the chance to learn a little more about our excited outbound Exchange Student Ellen. She let us know about her family, hobbies and excitement about the food she is interested in trying while gone on exchange. We truly wish her the best and trust she will represent us well.

Good luck to Ellen on her outbound exchange and we look forward to hearing about all those adventures when she returns.

Changing of the Guard 2017

Posted on Jun 29, 2017

Another Changing of the Guard has been successfully completed. Thank you to all that joined us at the Greenhouse at the Alaska Zoo on Wednesday evening, June 28, 2017, to celebrate Bruce Erickson’s successful year and the ushering in of Ben Schulman’s year as President of our club.

Many smiles - good food - great company. Outgoing President Bruce presented tokens of appreciation to his board and handed the reins over to incoming President Ben with a new gavel to replace the one that was lost a couple of months ago.

Ben in return presented Bruce with all the recognition for a presidential year well done. Both the board members and incoming President Ben were serenated by “Elvis” in appreciation for their efforts, thanks to Bruce’s wise purchase during the Foundation Auction back in February.

The honor of Rotarian of the club, selected by all the past presidents, went to Bob Huston this year. Thank you Bob for everything you are always doing for Rotary and for our club!

Successful Midnight Sun Putters Golf Tournament

Posted on Jun 23, 2017

The 16^th Annual Midnight Putters Golf tournament, put on by the Anchorage International Rotary club as a fundraiser for the President Elect, lived up to its name and went on past midnight.

Birthday boy and outgoing club President Bruce Erickson was an honored guest and a cake was enjoyed at the 3^rd hole. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

From Our June 23rd meeting:

Sandra Wicks from Anchorage East Rotary Club was our speaker on June 23rd. She presented on the distribution of water filters in rural Mexico, outside of Puerto Vallarta, using district grant funds.

The water filter is basically a gravity filter attached to a bucket. The Sawyer .1 filter, takes out sediment and 99.9% of organisms, but does not filter out heavy metals. The filters cost around $50 each, but purchased in bulk brings the price down. A new filter cleans about 12 to 19 gallons per hour. The photo tour made us feel like we were there. Thank you Sandra.

WhoAmI - Steve Strait

The Who Am I presentation for the AI Rotary meeting was long-time member and past president Steve Strait. We learned that Steve moved to Alaska in 1956 with his family. They built their first house on the wrong lot off Abbott Loop, which was way out in the woods back then.

Steve attended the University of Idaho for a degree in broadcasting. He even admitted to being Trygve's roommate briefly. Steve set out on a short holiday to Australia then New Zealand and ended up meeting his wife and staying for many years. They moved to Kotzebue to set up rural radio stations. He has two kids born in Alaska who now live in New Zealand, whom he visits in February each year. Steve currently works in rural Alaska media, operating two radio stations.

One more Paul Harris award

In Jan Ingram's last official duty as Foundation Co-Chair for AI Rotary last Friday, she presented past president Al Biss with his Paul Harris +3 pin.

Thank you Al for supporting Rotary Foundation and congratulations on this achievement.

From our June 16th meeting:

Beth Rose introduced our main speaker David Ramseur, whose new book “Melting the Ice Curtain” is being published this month. David is a visiting scholar in Public Policy with the Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA.

David led us through a bit Alaska and Russian history and the special relationship these northern areas have always shared, especially through their native people. Nome has been a special contact point between Russia and the US, particularly during WWII and again more recently during the citizen diplomacy efforts in the late 1980’s & 90’s to bring the native populations from the two countries closer together again. Much of that effort has faded, primarily due to economic disparity between the countries. Efforts are being made to maintain the connection, much of it through scientific research, but also through individual groups here and there.

Thank you David for sharing this important information with us. We hope these past efforts will be remembered and help us continue to keep the connection alive.

President Bruce is back!

President Bruce has returned from the Rotary International conference in Atlanta and by all accounts had a great time. Bruce and his wife Becky (also in attendance at the meeting) were sporting very snazzy t-shirts from a 3 KM walk/run that both participated in.

They met many great folks and we may even see some of them in Alaska at some time. Next years convention will be in Toronto and the year after that in Hawaii!

Another commendation for last year

Kevin Fimon stepped up to accept an additional commendation for our club for meeting all of its goals for the Polio plus campaign during Kevin's year as President.

A Special Rotarian of the Month!

President Bruce presented a special Rotarian of the month to Greg O’Keefe for everything that he has done for our club over the years. Bruce wanted to bestow the honor before Greg moves to Oregon, which will happen as soon as the house sells. We will miss you Greg! Please stay in touch!

The Greek Dinner!

Bob Huston lived up to his words from last weeks meeting and invited all members to a Greek dinner at his house for $100 per person, half of which will go to club administration and the other half into the guests Paul Harris plus an additional 100 points toward their Paul Harris, a win-win for anyone that attends. A signup sheet was going around. Check with Bob if you missed it, there may still be some room left.

While Bob was at it, he presented President Bruce with some additional souvenirs, which included a Rotary club flag from Greece and being Knighted?

Midnight Putters Golf Tournament this Friday!

Posted on May 11, 2017

It's here, the 16th Annual Land of the MIDNIGHT PUTTERS Golf Tournament will take place this Friday, June 23, 2017 at the Anchorage Golf Course. This is a major fund-raising event for our Club's Community, International and Youth Services programs for President Elect Debra Mason's presidential year 2018-19.

Registration and check-in are at 7 pm and a shotgun start happens at 8 pm. For more information see the program and registration form posted on the Anchorage International Rotary Club website or contact Debra Mason at 250-1160.

Invite your friends, much fun will be had. See everyone there.

Time for Changing-of-the-Guard!

Another great Rotary year is nearing its end and what a year it has been! Help us celebrate Bruce Erickson’s year and usher in Ben Schulman as he steps up as our incoming President for 2017-18.

Join us for the Anchorage International Rotary Club Changing of the Guard event to be held at the Alaska Zoo on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 6 PM, $40 per person ($20 for kids) includes Zoo Admission and Dinner. Come join the FUN! This will be the last meeting for June, no meeting on Friday, June 30^th.

From our June 9th meeting

Thank you Michael Duxbury for a very informative and action packed presentation on the Opioid epidemic in Alaska. Thank you also for all your hard work, dedication and enthusiasm to keep all of your fellow Alaskans safe from the drug predators that are trying to harm all of us.

Mike brought along Mocha, an Alaska State Troopers K-9 rookie that in just one month on the job has identified illicit substances that lead to more than ten seizures of money and substances for the statewide drug enforcement unit. Mocha’s handler gave us a brief demonstration of his training tools and then had Mocha find an object that he had previously hidden in the room. Very impressive!

We heard about the severity of the problem in Alaska and why fentanyl (a very powerful synthetic opioid) is such a big problem and it takes only trace amounts to cause death.

Everyone at the meeting received a packet to help safely dispose of old medication in our home. Those who stayed after the meeting also received training and a Narcan kit that included instruction and naloxone nose spray to help save the life of someone who may have overdosed. Those that have been saved using these kits have become some of the best advocates against opioid use within their communities.

Thank you Mike and we’ll help pass on the information.

Other meeting news:

President Elect Ben Schulman presided over his second meeting while President Bruce was heading to Atlanta for the Rotary International Conference, and it looks like Ben is ready to take on the coming Rotary year.

Joe Zimmermann’s guest, Delana Wesen, is one of six Alaskan graduating seniors chosen to attend the Naval academy this year. Delana has been the Interact president for the past four years at West High School and gave us a quick update of her clubs accomplishments, which included raising funds for a shelter box and supporting the protection of elephants.

Jan Ingram, with help from sergant at arms Trygve, auctioned off two Denali sightseeing flight tickets from K2 aviation that their radio station KLEF had received. Jonathan Tarrant was the lucky high bidder.

Both Bob Huston and Penny May have returned from Greece. Penny auctioned off a nice package of items from the trip, including a bottle of Raki, which is apparently served after dinner in Greece. The package also included a Tshirt that proclaimed that “Raki! Is the answer, but I don’t remember the question!” Bob promised a Greek dinner package that will be auctioned off at next week’s meeting.

Penny also reminded everyone that Chuck’s celebration of life will be held on Saturday, June 17, at 2 pm at her house. We hope the sun will shine on all the memories.

Successful Paint the Town Saturday!

Posted on Jun 03, 2017

Thank you to everyone from the Anchorage International Rotary Club and the Russian Jack Rotary Club in helping NeighborWorks Alaska completing another great improvement project and making a homeowner very happy on Saturday as part of Paint the Town.

What a difference some Paint can make. Look at all the proud and happy faces. Thank you all for helping out!

From our June 2nd meeting:

Thank you to Jim MacKenzie for a very enthusiastic and informative presentation about NeighborWorks Alaska. Their core values include stable housing, for thriving families and strong communities.

We learned that the organization was formed around a kitchen table by locals in the early 1980’s. The group was primarily interested in improving the city’s neighborhoods, in particularly Spenard for starters. Today they have evolved into a statewide support group for affordable housing options, with the goal that everyone has a place to call home.

NeighborWorks Alaska creates opportunities for those without homes and teach classes on renting homes, on buying a home and educating new homeowners on the responsibilities of long term home ownership.

Paint the Town is one of their flagship hands on projects, that helps homeowners in need with sprucing up their home and lifting their whole neighborhood. Thank you Jim for letting us know how all the hard work pays off.

Rotarian for the Month of June - Jay Tung Jr

Having been a member of our club for only 3 years, Jay has contributed in countless ways, particularly in his role as our Sargent of Arms, which he is particularly good at and it looks like he will continue on as for the next rotary year.

For this distinguished honor, Jay received the coveted insulated rotary bag, the rotary coin with the four way test, a gift card to Barns and Noble and some genuine Kona coffee. Thank you, for all you do Jay!

From our May 19th meeting:

Thank you Dustin Morris with the Alaska branch of the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association for giving us a very interactive presentation for a Healthier Alaska.

We can all take small simple steps to create a long healthy life. 80% of all causes of cardiovascular diseases are preventable. Recognize the basic signs of a possible heart attack and take action if you notice any of them in yourself or others.

Check your blood pressure regularly. Learn FAST to recognize a stroke, a leading cause for disability in the US because stroke victims do not seek help fast enough.

Learn Hands only CPR – Push Hard & Fast in the Center of the Chest to the beat of "Staying Alive". Have someone call 911, have someone check for an AED. Perform chest compressions until help arrives, it works and saves lives. Tim Ellis volunteered to demonstrate on Dustin’s helper “Annie”.

Look for the location of an AED anytime you enter a public facility and be prepared.

WhoAmI - Trygve Erickson

Trygve Erickson, the third “volunteer” for a WhoAmI presentation this year, presented a professional presentation to us that was exactly 3 minutes long! We learned that he is an Alaska original, his father worked for the FAA and his mother for the Anchorage school district and they lived right downtown Anchorage.

Tryg’s early passions were skiing and flying and he took his first flying lessons when he was 13 and had a private license by the time he was 17. He attended college in Washington State and was getting ready to attend Law School when he got a job at the Captain Cook hotel as a desk clerk to make extra money. He worked up to reservation manager and enjoyed the job so much he stayed for five years.

Tryg then worked for Motorola for 31 years in sales and communication, which served him well in 2004 when the MOA asked him to become Director of Communications. He is currently working for his third mayor and it looks like they are going to keep him on.

Rotary has always been part of Tryg’s life. His father was a long time Rotarian and Tryg has had 43 years of perfect attendance himself; has held every office in our club except for secretary and was president for Rotary year 1983-84. He is married to his wife Kim, a former president of our club (2001-02), and has five kids (including “bonus” kids).

and 4 more PH+ awards

Jan Ingram presented 4 additional PH+ awards at the meeting, to Kevin Fimon, Al Biss, Neil Harper and President Bruce Erickson. Thank you all for supporting Rotary!

Happy $

Special guest at our meeting, Col Suellyn Wright Novak the current President and Executive Director of the Alaska Veterans Museum will retire at the end of 2017 and is looking for someone to step up to the position. Anyone who is interested or knows someone that would be good for the position, please let her know ASAP so she can start training.

Debra Mason was happy that her choir was able to perform at this Fridays citizenship ceremony and also reminded everyone about the golf tournament in June.

Fred Barlow was proud to report that 154 engineering students graduated from the school of engineering at UAA this year.

Dick Boysen invited everyone who will be in town over the Memorial Day weekend to join his singing group plus former members of the Band of the North to the ceremonies that will be held at JBER.

Flying Rotarians Host Ignite Air Museum Tour

Posted by Phil Livingston on May 24, 2017

The International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians (IFFR) Alaska Section hosted the first "Student Vocational Tour" at the Anchorage Aviation Museum on May 17th.

The tour was a big hit for eight 5th & 6th grade elite students from ASD North Star Elementary School's Ignite program taught by Eben Stone. The goal of the program is to focus on future vocational options for the students. North Star School is one of the most diversified elementary schools in Alaska, Aviation could be an opportunity for these youngsters and is a major and critical industry in Alaska.

We had five young women and three young men in the group and the Flying Rotarians were very grateful for additional help from fellow Rotarians from several clubs. The students were divided into three groups that rotated through three interest centers and a tour of the museum.

Thank you's for helping out and making this event possible go out to AIR members John Spalding, Bo Brownfield, Lynn Johnson, Jay Tung, Chera Boom and Phil Livingston and his wife Diana. From the Anchorage Downtown club we had fellow IFFR members PDG Dick Sutliff and his wife Page Spencer, and Bill Odom.

From our May 12th meeting:

Ted Trueblood introduced the speakers for the day, engineers Tor Anderzen and Dave Gamez to continue the presentation on the Alaska Infrastructure report card that was started on the April 14^th meeting.

Tor gave us an update on Alaska’s Marine Highway System, which at 3500 miles along the states coastline rivals the total mileage of our paved road system, and serves 31 coastal communities. Tor also covered Ports and Harbors, and Solid Waste facilities, the latter of which includes 207 landfills around the state, only nine of which are class I.

Dave Gamez took over the presentation with his contribution to the report, Roads and Highways and Energy around the state. Thank you so very much to both gentlemen, for returning to finish presenting the Findings and Recommendations of all key points of the Alaska Infrastructure report card.

WhoAmI - Bill Pearson

PP Bill Pearson was on the spot to give his WhoAmI speech, which he did in great style by reminding us that life comes in stages. He gave us a quick tour of his earlier lives stages, being a wrestler in high school, going to college to become a lawyer and now being married to his wonderful wife and enjoying fatherhood with his two young sons.

Bill demonstrated what his current life “stage” revolves around by bringing up a bag that contained what he found in the back seat of his car, between his kids car seats, as he delivers the boys to daycare each morning.

Items included books that his boys entertain him with, a bag of crackers and a baby bottle for just in case, a red toy of questionable origin and a case full of music CD’s that Bill admitted to not having listened to since the Clinton administration.

4 more PH+

Jan Ingram presented 4 additional Paul Harris plus awards to Jeanette Wakefield, Chera Boom, Angie Rush, and Celeste Cohen. Congratulations all and thank you for your contributions.

A little Liquor, a little Wine

The Wakefields have returned from Greece and brought back several bottles of liquor and wine, which Greg auctioned off to high bidders Art Clark and Greg O’Keefe.

Plus a special small bottle for President Bruce.

Final Parent University at North Star Elementary for this School Year!

Posted on May 16, 2017

Another 12 computer systems were given away last Thursday to lucky families at North Star Elementary School Parent University.

Thank you President Bruce Erickson, President Elect Ben Schulman and Dodie Pruessner for helping pass out the systems and helping the happy families carry the systems to their cars. Thank you to Tim Trueblood and his computer group for refurbishing the systems and making this possible.

From our May 5th meeting:

Thank you to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center for presenting at the regular meeting of AI Rotary last Friday and bringing owls Fang and Galen was a treat for everyone.

We learned about owls, but also about the work Bird TLC does to help injured birds. Due to Dr Jim Scott's involvement with both the AI Rotary Club and the Bird Treatment and Learning Center (TLC), AI Rotary was an early and ongoing contributor to Bird TLC. President Bruce Erickson presented the Bird TLC Volunteers with a check to honor the late Dr Scott and support this wonderful program.

Galen (top) is the great horned owl, rescued in 1994. Fang (bottom) is the boreal owl rescued in 2006. They were both injured and unable to be released back into the wild; most injuries are a result of human interactions. Both birds are now ambassadors for their species and for Bird TLC.

We were also thrilled and honored to have Carol Scott in attendance at our meeting, the widow of former AI Rotarian Dr Jim Scott. Carol and Dr Scott were a team who made Bird TLC happen. Jan Ingram announced a Paul Harris Fellow in Carol's name, thanks to the generous donation of points by PDG and AI Rotary PP Ted Trueblood. Carol graciously accepted with wonderful words about what AI Rotary meant to her and Dr Scott.

AI Rotarian for May goes to Debra Mason

Congratulations to Debra Mason, awarded Rotarian of the month for our club for May by AI Rotary President Bruce Erickson.

Deb received the insulated Rotary tote bag, 4-way coin, a restaurant gift certificate, and other misc goodies.

The recognition is well-deserved for all Debra does to support Rotary on a club and district level, mostly behind the scenes. But not for long, as Debra is President Elect Elect for the AI Rotary club now! Go Debra!

Report from the 5010 District Conference in Sitka

Posted on May 04, 2017

Last weekend was the Rotary District 5010 Conference in Sitka, which 6 of our clubs members were able to attended. We celebrated the 100th year of the Rotary Foundation, 30 years of women in Rotary and the 150th Anniversary of the Transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States.

DG Michelle O’Brien had been planning for years and pulled off a great conference in Beautiful Sitka, Alaska. There were four days of fun, learning, camaraderie, great food, terrific speakers, dancing, a parade and capped off by a beautiful cruise on Sunday Morning. In addition all the Youth Exchange Students were there (it looks like the world is in good hands!!).

Representing our club were PP Kevin Fimon and his wife Karen, President Bruce Erickson and his wife Becky, PDG Ted Trueblood, PE Ben Schulman, Betty Cronin and Don, and not pictured Dodie Pruessner and our honorary club member and indespensible executive secretary Janine Becka. Incoming DGN Harry Kieling received the gavel from DG Michelle O'Brien and is ready to swing starting in July.

If you have not attended a district conference, it is a great experience where you can see all the good that Rotary does from first hand accounts, meet great people that love to have a good time, and learn more about what Rotary is all about. Plan to attend next year! The 2018 conference will be in Seward from May 17 - 20th, 2018. You don't want to miss it!

AIR Adopt-A-Road Cleanup Success!

Posted by Tim Ellis on Apr 29, 2017

Thank you to all that showed up on Saturday to help with our Adopt-A-Road cleanup. We had a great turnout on a beautiful day. The crew worked for about 1 1/2 hours and collected 8 - 10 bags of trash, which included some interesting finds like underwear, hypodermic needle, a half smoked joint, car parts and way too many cigarette butts! (Yuck)

A big thank you to the Anchorage International Rotarians that came out to help make Anchorage a cleaner place to live. Pictured above are Angie Rush, Shelda Duff, Oziel Villasenor, Penny May, Lynn Johnson, Heather & Jonathan Tarrant, Michael Duxbury, Tim Ellis and Jay Tung. Not in the photo are Jess Snider, Tim Trueblood, Jeff Promish, Karl Schroeder and Beth Rose.

The next Road Clean-Up will be scheduled for mid July, and we hope to include a Rotary Fellowship family picnic/Bar-B-Que to follow when we are done with the trash pickup. Hope to see you there.

Another Successful North Star Elementary Parent University!

Posted on Apr 27, 2017

Thank you to all that helped distribute rebuilt computers at North Star Elementary Parent University Computer Giveaway on Thursday evening! This evening included the 400th computer to be distributed from Tim Trueblood's team of computer guru's and the support from our club over the last decade.

Above Jerry Tabor with UAA is helping carry a machine out for a family, and Tim Ellis and Jessica and Leon also helped distribute computers. Thank you all!

Another Parents University will be held on the evening of May 11th, 2017 at North Star Elementary School. Everyone is welcome to help out. Contact Tim Trueblood if you have any questions.

From our April 28 meeting

A big thank you to APD K-9 unit officer Chris Nelson and his K-9 DOC who gave a wonderful presentation about the K-9 unit with the Anchorage Police Department.

A big thank you also to Greg O'Keefe for presiding over the meeting and many others that stepped in while our clubs current and elect officers went to the district conference in Sitka.

From our April 21st meeting:

Thank you so much to the UAA Debate Team for joining us again and presenting us with another great debate and topic.

Steve Johnson leads the UAA Debate Team and he considers them more than a team, they are a full-fledged Debate program. Beyond their own debate schedule, the program is active in hosting middle school and high school presentations and events around the state of Alaska. They help out with the State Middle School championship and also do presentation at the McLaughlin Youth Center.

The team has just returned from the National University Debate Championships where they competed against 60+ other universities for 2 days of 8 preliminary rounds, and three of UAA’s Debate teams made it into the final top 32 team round on the third day. Steve is very proud of them to be up there with the top schools in the country.

For our meeting the debate topic was a recent controversial painting by one of UAA’s art professors, Thomas Chung, on display in the UAA Kimura Gallery that has gained some national attention through social media. The premise presented was “Should the painting be removed because of the controversial content it displays”? The four debate students, John Macy and Demry Mebane on the pro (remove painting) side and Robert Hockema and Cara Pierson on con (keep on display) side, all did a great job and presented excellent points that we all agreed with. It was not easy when we were asked at the end to indicate which side was more persuasive.

The UAA Debate Team being one of our favorite presenters we wanted to show them our continued support and President Bruce presented Steve Johnson with a check from our club.

Many happenings and happy $

Al Biss stepped in as SSgt at Arms for today’s meeting and made the rounds. PP Kevin Fimon was happy to have his wife Karen as his guest and to once again have survived tax season.President Bruce mentioned how quiet todays group was, so they must be very serious about something. Which lead Toni Holmes to respond that she was very happy to be “seriously” retired.

Tim Trueblood called attention to next week’s Parent University at North Star Elementary School and invited anyone who would like to join and help out. This is the 10^th year of providing computers through this event and the 400^th machine will be given away next week. Tim also gave a shout out to the Dell Computer company for providing 24 beautiful refurbished monitors to his project because it was more cost effective for Dell to donate them to the project than to send them back to the factory.

President Elect-Elect Debra Mason will miss the 5010 Rotary District Conference in Sitka next week because she is heading for a competition with her singing quartet. We wish her all the best.

Tim Ellis reminded us of the Adopt-A-Road cleanup on Saturday April 29^th on Wisconsin Street. Everyone will meetup at the Seppela Park. Signup is on-line and more information is in our weekly news letter.

We were very happy to see Penny May back in Alaska and attending our meeting. She is happy to be back and adjusting to life without Chuck. She just knows that there is something very special in her future; she just doesn’t quite know what it is yet.

Angie Rush announced that the Clair House dinner will be provided by our club Friday afternoon.

Michael Duxbury is back from traveling for both business and pleasure which included some Maple syrup in the northeast corner of the US.

All of Karl Schroeder's “Girls” (his bees) will be arriving on Saturday and he was very happy at the prospect.

Boyd Morgenthaler was happy to announce that 10 - $1500 scholarships were presented to deserving candidates from the King Courier Center this past week from the Anchorage International Rotary Club Memorial Scholarship committee. Plus the Anchorage School District has awarded our club with the Scholarship Provider Award.

Bob Huston announced that he had registration/sponsorship forms for this year’s 16^th Annual Land of the Midnight Putters Golf Tournament, which will take place on Friday June 23^rd, 2017.

From our April 14th meeting:

Thank you to Ted Trueblood for introducing the 2017 Report Card for Alaska's Infrastructure. The Alaska Section for the American Society of Civil Engineers completed this important project to ensure Alaska's leaders have the best information about the conditions of Alaska's infrastructure. Alaska received an overall grade of C-.

The three presenters for the Alaska Infrastructure report included Dan Nichols, in addition to Greg Kinney and Tor Anderzen. We learned that the National Grade for the USA overall is a D+ in a report recently released for 2017, updated every 4 years. The biggest highlight of the Alaska report came from Dan in pointing out the big difference in water and wastewater systems for urban versus rural Alaska. Tor enlightened us on high hazard potential of dams and the need for emergency action plans for those dams that could have catastrophic consequences if they fail.

Thank you to Greg, Tor, and Dan for presenting on Alaska's Infrastructure report card. We heard about our bridges, dams, airports, aviation, marine highways, and water/wastewater. We didn't get all the way through the 9 categories of the report due to time, but they encouraged us to visit http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/alaska/ for more information.

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30	31	01	02	03	04	05

July 2017
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
25	26	27	28	29	30	01
02	03	04	05	06	07	08
09	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	01	02	03	04	05

July 2017
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
25	26	27	28	29	30	01
02	03	04	05	06	07	08
09	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	01	02	03	04	05