Weeds that are noxious, Celtic blessings that are a little edgy, and a frantically tap-dancing program coordinator.
Meeting Notes from March 17
Rotary Club of Clover Park weekly meeting
President Teresa Nye welcomed everyone, and wished us all a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. Jeannie Hill led us in the invocation, and even offered 2 Celtic “blessings”:
1. May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends.
2. May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He can't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so we'll know them by their limping.
Guests included Pete Leenhouts, the president-elect of the Rotary Club of East Jefferson County who was visiting our club to see how we do things, and Melody Meyer our guest speaker.
There was no new Sunshine Report information. But there was news of the next board meeting scheduled to take place March 19, 0730 via Zoom.
Future Programs
Mar. 24 Nichole Ayres, The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic
Mar. 31 Susan Warner, Lakewold Gardens
Apr. 7 Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County’s New Crisis Recovery Center
A proposed new member’s name was read to the club. Rise Windell (pronounced Risa) is a former Boeing employee, and now owns a photography studio in Lakewood. If any member knows of a reason to object to her membership, please notify President Teresa Nye or membership director Marie Barth.
President’s Minute
Teresa shared with the group that in her professional role as a title officer, she got to do a property sale signing with a husband and wife, both over 100 years old, with the husband in the hospital. Teresa was initially told that it was not possible, but she kept pressing until she got an approval. She had to do it in full medical gown and mask, reading the documents to them due to eyesight problems on the part of the signers. The point is that if you talk to the right people, there is always a way to get something accomplished.
Kerri Pedrick shared that students are happy to finally be coming back to in-school instruction, even though the restrictions are pretty tight. The effects of the learning loss and mental health stresses will be profound and long-lasting.
Fun And Fines
Ed Trobaugh was in attendance, and deftly managed to unmute his computer in record time. He started out by recognizing visiting Rotarian Pete Leenhouts, and encouraging Pete to feel like he was a part of our intimate group by mailing in a $5 contribution.
Noting the change in our club’s database information handling procedures, individual birthdays will not be recognized any more at weekly meetings. Instead, a summary of all birthdays and anniversaries will be recognized at the end of each month. But Ed did make a point to recognize the coincident birthdays of Judi Maier and Teresa Nye.
Ed then opened up to confessions, and Jim Hairston stepped forward (virtually) to note that he had arrived late to the meeting.
Bob Lawrence reported that his wife Judy had bought a new Mercedes SUV, and Bob was feeling covetous of her new car, even though he loves his old minivan. So he bought a new minivan.
This Week’s Program
Melody Meyer is the Community Outreach and Education Specialist for Pierce County Noxious Weed Control Board. She comes to this role after a 20-year career in medicine, and first worked for the County as a seasonal weed control specialist, while working toward a BS in environmental sustainability. She got elevated last year to the education specialist position.
Just as we were getting the introductions underway, Melody’s Zoom presence froze. After an awkward few moments, she dropped away completely from the meeting, which turned out later to have happened because her computer picked that moment to initiate installing updates.
So your scribe (and program coordinator) began wondering how to salvage the meeting, not knowing in that moment the exact status of the guest speaker’s particular computer malfunction. In a desperate ploy, your scribe turned to guest Rotarian Pete Leenhouts to tell us about his club.
Pete is a retired US Navy officer, and president-elect of the Rotary Club of East Jefferson County. Its members come from Chimacum, Port Hadlock, and Port Ludlow. Their club was chartered in 1982, the same year as our club, and it currently has 56 members. Their projects include building toilets in Togo in concert with 6 other clubs, and they have provided a tracked wheelchair for a local 6 year old child.
Pete tap-danced for just long enough to allow Melody’s computer to finish its updates and to rejoin our meeting, with deep apologies. She spoke about efforts to manage and control noxious weeds in our area, going all the way back to the founding of the territorial government. Noxious weeds are ones that are (1) invasive, (2) destructive, and (3) difficult to control. The State board decides which plants qualify, and puts them into categories:
Class A – Property owners are required to eradicate. Example: toxic tansy ragwort.
Class B – “Control” is required. Example: Scotch broom.
Class C – Control is recommended. Example: Himalayan blackberry.
Weed control exerts a big cost impact on area farms, and affects wildlife habitat. You can get more information about noxious weeds in our area at www.piercecountyweedboard.org.
Melody apologized for having her presentation cut short by the technical difficulties, and offered to send a PDF of her presentation slides to anyone who would like to see it. Email her at melody.meyer.agency@piercecountywa.gov.
And Finally…
While it was not specifically covered in Melody’s presentation, your scribe feels sure that the County would consider any vine which grows up into the clouds, and has a giant ogre up at the top of it to be a noxious and inappropriate plant for our county. So don’t accept any “magic beans”, and definitely don’t plant them.
Any relationship between this image and any particular club member, up to and including the finemaster, is purely coincidental.