March 5, 2012 Spokesman
President Brandon Honcoop called the March 5, 2012 Kirkland Rotary Club meeting to order at 6:30PM. He thanked Rick Rekdal for greeting and Dave Aubry for scribing. Gary Bruner led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Our Inspirational Moment was given by Jim Goins, who stated that everything he knows about inspiration he learned from Ernie Norehad sp[?]. On a more inspirational note, Jim gave us a great recitation, in verse, no less, of all that Rotary does locally, and world-wide to better the human condition.
Introductions:
D.V. Hurst introduced Jessica Lund, our new Student of the Month from Lake Washington High School. She has applied to nine different colleges and universities.
Elizabeth Rusnak introduced our ‘outgoing’ Student of the Month, who will be speaking in a few minutes.
Chuck Brockway introduced Carl Behnke [sp], a potential new member, and Lyle Cortledge [sp?], a visiting Rotarian from Billings, Montana, a place with worse weather than here.
Makaylaa introduced a woman from Key Bank [?] whose name I failed to get, who is much younger than most of us, yet is fearlessly considering our club.
Neil Johnson, the COO at Evergreen Hospital is visiting again.Announcements:
Dave DeBois reminded us about Rotary First Harvest this Saturday. Meet at 8AM at the Houghton Park and Ride.
Steve Shinstrom solicited signups for Scribes and Greeters – sheets are on the tables.
Brian Tucker solicited contributions for Friends of Scouting – fliers are on the tables for the Troop we sponsor.
Chuck Brockway announced that Miracle League will be starting soon. He has also spoken recently with Mekonnen who is recovering from a lingering flu-like illness, and who hopes to be back soon.
It was announced that a rumor had been circulating that Steve Brown, a former member, had had a heart attack. It is not true and he has in fact joined a noon club in Pennsylvania. He says he misses us, although probably not your humble scribe, and wishes everyone well.
Pat Dye encouraged everyone to come to the District Conference at Coeur D’Alene Resort. We can register on District 5030’s website.
Sigi Schmid, the Sounders Coach will be speaking at the March 19 meeting. Heavy attendance is expected, and sign-ups are needed so room size and meal counts can be provided for. Space is limited.
There will be a Rotary section and a get-together at the ‘Ten Grands’ performance in May.
Riley Blackner from Lake Washington High School, our outgoing Student of the Month, spoke. He is graduating in June, and diplomatically avowed that he has had a great time at our meetings for the past month, getting to know various members, learning about college, business, and our love of community. He spoke of his varied interests – sports, friends, and academics. He has applied to seven colleges and universities, and has had acceptances from three so far. The rest have not yet replied, so he is currently batting a thousand. He wants to go to Cal tech and study engineering – he and his father spent Father’s Day solving differential equations.
Chuck Brockway did Happy Dollars – several people seemed glad that UW backed into the regular-season Pac-12 Basketball Championship.
Patty Sims introduced our speaker, who is also her brother Steve. In addition to being an RN, he is also a CPR instructor and Chief of his local Fire District near Yakima. Unfortunately, his home was ground-zero for the Niles slide in 2009 and he lost his house and most of his possessions, as did several other residents of the area. It was a very slow-moving slide so I do not believe there were any casualties. It moved for several hours the first day and then stopped, so there was hope that property damage would be relatively minor. It began to move again the next morning, destroying homes, businesses, the highway, and rerouting the river. Unfortunately, most losses were not covered by insurance. There was considerable community help, and people are rebuilding.
There is about $2,200 in the ‘pot’. Our speaker drew his sister Patty’s ticket [nepotism?], but alas, she did not draw the joker.
Respectfully submitted
David Aubry
Acting Scribe.