Meeting Notes, October 1

The Oct. 1 meeting of the Rotary Club of Clover Park was set up and prepared for by Sergeant at Arms David Cotant, with able assistants Tom Faubion and Bryan Christensen.  Sue Potter served as greeter, and it was great to have Sue back among us. 

The meeting was called to order by Vice President Joyce Loveday, since President Sheri is gone to Sin City on some sort of boondoggle, one which will assuredly be described at length upon her return.  Invocateur Tom McClellan offered a blessing upon the meeting which met with no objections (this time!). 

Special guests:

George Lin returned from Taipei and brought treats for everyone in the club.  For those who are newer to our club, George is a frequent visitor to and Honorary Member of our club.  He has business interests both in his home city of Taipei and in the Pacific Northwet, and has been doing makeups at our club for about 20 years.  George is the Vice President and director of Club Administration for the Rotary Club of Taipei Tienmou, in Rotary District 3520.  He is slated to become his club's president starting next summer, and has invited all Clover Park Rotarians to come to Taiwan and to visit his club. 

We also welcomed visiting Rotarian Ginger Peck from Tacoma South Rotary Club, and guest Lauren Adler from the office of WA 10th District Congressman Denny Heck.

And Ellie Carr's young beau Gavin was in attendance, shown here in the arms of Grandpa Alan Billingsley.  Gavin is expressing surprise at the revelations offered by his mother Ellie during "Two Truths And A Lie", as described below.  Seriously, can you believe it?  Alan seems unphased. 

Sunshine report: 

Joyce Loveday’s husband had surgery and Marilee’s grandson had his first chemo treatment.  Each of them is doing well.

Upcoming events and/or commitments for our club:

Report of Theater project  -Judi Maier and Marie Barth

The theater "fun-raiser" project was financially successful, and all who attended had a great time.  Thanks to all who contributed by attending, selling tickets and sponsorships, and worked on the committee.  A final financial report will be available soon. 

Judi Maier read a letter from student who receives money from our prior scholarship fund, and who will be starting her junior year at UW and plans to become an elementary school teacher.

Ginger Peck, from Tacoma South, announced her club's Indoor Golf Tournament which will be held at Harkness Furniture.  In addition to playing in the tournament, there are opportunities for advertising your business.  All members are invited to attend.  It was further noted that Ellie Carr and Alan Billingsley not only attended last year but also won. 

Bryan Christensen gave a 1-minute Foundation update.  The Foundation returned $146,000 for community grants.  These grants can be up to $3,500 and are used as matching money to cover small projects in local communities.

Alan Billingsley discussed the Heroes of the Hallways program at Southgate, also known as Watch DOGS (Dads Of Great Students).  They are looking for volunteers, and especially men, to spend one day in the school (7:30 – 2:30) sometime during the year to act as role models for the students by spending time reading with students, having lunch with them, etc.  Many of the students at our adopted school have few good role models in their lives, especially men, and this program is intended to remedy that.  If you are interested and weren’t at the meeting, please contact Alan to sign up for a day.

Helen McGovern was not in attendance, presumably with good reason, but she would want us all to remember this weekend's Hunger Walk/Run at Fort Steilacoom Park, on Sunday Oct. 5.  There are 5K and 10K distances for both the run and walk.  Entertainment, food, and family fun activities run from 1200-1600.  Visit this link to register to walk, or this one to volunteer.  And if you cannot participate, click here to make a donation to Emergency Food Network to help provide food for hungry children, adults, and seniors in Pierce County. 

Tom McClellan announced that the Bellarmine robotics team that presented to our club will make a presentation to the Southgate 3rd through 5th graders at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3.  If you want to attend, please sign in at the office first.

Two Truths And A Lie – Ellie Carr – revealed the truth that she has a large tattoo on her back – a surprise to Gavin and perhaps even a surprise to her dad!

Memorable fines and stories: 

Tom Faubion – Happy Anniversary – 43 happy years with Barbie.  $100.00 to cover anniversary and last week’s IOU.

Marilee Johnson – Missed the play to attend her 45th High School Class reunion.  She and everyone else who didn’t attend the play paid $5.00.

Tom McClellan –was dinged for $5.00 for each week (3, so far as Ed has been aware, which with Ed math was rounded up to $20, although the number may actually be higher) in which Tom included a "shaggy dog story" in the weekly eBulletin.  Tom's new puppy Libby, the subject of those "shaggy dog stories",  is thusly banished from further mention.  See her jail-house farewell photo below, as she gets sent "up the river", never to be spoken of again.  Supposedly. 

New member, Judge Grant Blinn failed to sign in twice, and missed last week’s meeting because he was in trial (not on trial) and attended a conference at Suncadia.  Then he just happened to mention that fellow Rotarian Heidi Wachter also attended the same conference, and we found out furthermore that Heidi's daughter won the costume contest at this conference for being an exemplary cowgirl.  Heidi paid $20.00, tendered in actual cash instead of an IOU, to the surprise of all present.

Today’s speaker:  Frank DiBiase is the Director of Environmental Health for the Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department.  He has worked in that office for 23 years, and a few months ago he ascended to the position of director. 

Frank's department oversees a wide variety of health related activities, including restaurant sanitation, wood stove smoke, toxic algae in lakes, vaccinations and communicable diseases, teenage pregnancy, school lunches, Asarco fallout, and whatever else comes over the transom.  Frank conveyed his own personal view about the proper role of a regulatory government agency, which he asserted is not just t inform people about the law and enforce it, but also to help support, advise, and serve the public to make complying with these requirements easier. 

Raffle: Tom McClellan had his ticket drawn, and once again demonstrated his prowess at NOT drawing the Ace.  And so the pot grows.