Meeting Notes, May 11, 2016
Posted by Tom McClellan
on May 12, 2016
The one where there was no recorder.
Upcoming Events
May 13 - Rotary Club board meeting, 7:30 AM, Carr's Restaurant.
May 18 - Greater Lakes Anniversary Fundraiser
June 15 - Installation Banquet, 6:00 PM, Tacoma Golf & Country Club
June 17 - Rotary Club board meeting, 7:30 AM, Carr's Restaurant.
Aug 6-8 - Courage Classic
Upcoming Meetings:
May 18 – Speaker: LPD Investigator Sean Conlin, Lakewood Police Gang Unit
Note taker: Sheri Hodson
Invocation: Alice Peeples
Greeter: TBD
May 25 – Speaker: John Caulfield, State of the City of Lakewood
Note taker: Bonnie Kern
Invocation: Tom McClellan
Greeter: TBD
June 1 – Speaker: TBA
Note taker: Bonnie Kern
Invocation: Fred Willis
Greeter: TBD
Notes were supposed to be taken by Heidi Wachter, who was absent
Notes were actually taken by Tom McClellan
who felt like he therefore had license to make up random stuff, so read carefully
The meeting apparently started on time, and someone led the invocation. Someone else led the flag salute. And under President Joyce’s leadership, we all recited the 4-Way Test.
Guests were introduced, including Bonnie Boyle’s friend Paulina Adams, young Master Gavin Carr, Bill and Melinda Gates, and our guest speaker Jordan Rash (see below).
Tom McClellan announced our future programs:
05/18/2016 – LPD Investigator Sean Conlin, Lakewood Police Gang Unit
05/25/2016 – John Caulfield, State of the City of Lakewood
06/01/2016 – Governor Jay Inslee, or singer Elton John, or TBA (one of those)
Sunshine Report – Karen George shared word that Charlie Maxwell asks that we keep his wife Kathie in our prayers as she struggles with some difficult health issues. And former member Kurt Graff is reportedly doing well after cancer treatments.
Tom McClellan shared a batch of thank you notes from 3rd graders at Four Heroes Elementary School. Our club had donated $400 to fund a field trip for all 120 of them to travel to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge last month. A representative sample is shown here. The kids evidently really liked looking at the animals through the bonoculares.
Bob Lawrence made an announcement about the upcoming Lakewood Arts Fest, the exact details of which were not recorded. It apparently had to do with Michelangelo’s “David” coming to Lakewood, on loan from La Galleria dell’Accademia di Bell Arti di Firenze.
It was around this time in the meeting that the realization dawned that there was no recorder actually present, and that some things ought to actually get written down in the interest of "presumably" better accuracy.
President Joyce reminded everyone about the upcoming Courage Classic bike ride event, August 6-8. Helen McGovern-Pilant is orchestrating our club’s volunteer effort in support of that event, and a sign-up sheet was passed around again. New this year for the bicycle riders will be a pass through the still-steaming crater of Mt. Saint Helens.
Fun And Fines
General Ed Trobaugh was assisted by John Unfred, who will be mentioned again below.
Ed went on and on and on about Jim Hairston’s lost name badge, roping in Bob Lawrence for a rat, and attempting to rope in Tom Faubion in some way, which Tom deftly dodged, all the while not actually standing up. $2 for Jim.
Charlie Maxwell was called out for being on TV, again. Evidently Charlie is now caught up in the endless cycle of TV reruns for having once appeared on the Fox Business Channel show “Strange Inheritance” about the Lemay Museum and Harold Lemay’s vast car collection. Even though it was a rerun, Charlie still kicked in $25, plus another $2 later for not signing in.
John Munn was the subject of a Suburban Times article about the Lakewood Playhouse’s upcoming 50th Anniversary celebration, and the associated celebrity roast of John himself (on his 50th birthday) as part of that celebration. John happily contributed $50.
Bonnie Boyle and Paulina Adams have now finally moved into their new house out in Seabeck. But they both made the 1-hour trek “into town” to attend the Rotary Club meeting, and to attend to approximately 8 other errands. They are still getting used to all of the house’s systems, including a sprinkler system that comes on in the middle of the night, a backup generator they did not know about which kicked on when the power went out, and a rooftop helipad which Coast Guard rescue crews occasionally land on, stopping by for coffee and scones. Bonnie asks if any members have a good recipe for scones.
Sydna Koontz acknowledged flying 3000 miles to get to the meeting (from her other home in Maui where she has spent the past few weeks). And boy are her arms tired! She settled for $50.
Assistant Chief of Police John Unfred was invited to share with us a bit about the recent shooting and subsequent arrest that happened in Lakewood. This is actually good foreshadowing for next week's program on the Lakewood Police Department's gang unit. Evidently a pair of aspiring miscreants engaged in a drive-by shooting near the entrance to Ward's Lake Park, while unwisely under the view of a LPD sergeant who observed all of the events from within an unmarked car. The sergeant gave chase, which lasted about a block before the two geniuses wrecked their car, and then they tried to flee on foot. That too was a bad idea, because the sergeant caught them both promptly, and now they face multiple charges. See the News Tribune story. Go sergeants!!
Today’s Program
Jordan Rash is the conservation director for Forterra, covering the South Puget Sound and southern half of the Olympic Peninsula. Formerly known as the Cascades Land Conservancy, Forterra works to help facilitate conservation easements to keep land in a farm or forested state. It is the largest organization among land trusts in Washington. See www.forterra.org.
In 27 years, they have already conserved 236,000 acres. The goal over the next 100 years is to preserve 85% of existing farm and forest land.
A conservation easement limits the rights of future property owners to develop the land for other stated purposes. Forterra deals with landowners who want to preserve the land but who also want to get the full value of their investment in the land back out of it. Forterra uses grants and donations to buy the conservation easements. Sellers can thus get full market value upon sale, part from the conservation easement, and part from the reduced sale price to a new owner who is required to keep the land in the restricted usage.
Raffle
The pot has grown to a ginormous amount, in excess of $1000. 21 cards remain in the deck, of which 3 are aces. The winning ticket was held by Carr’s server Lexi, who unfortunately did not have the luck needed to draw an ace. So the pot grows.
