Meeting Notes, October 22
Coverage of the club's annual visit by the District Governor of Rotary District 5020.
Meeting called to order by President Sheri Hodson.
Special guests:
Tim Plante introduced a colleague from St. Clare Hospital – Mason Hudson -- who is the hospital's director of human resources.
George Lin from Taipei, who took the time to attend our meeting on his last day before returning home.
District Governor – Michael Procter from Canada
Assistant District Governor Greg Horn, from the Lakewood Rotary Club.
Don Daniels, also from Lakewood.
Sunshine report:
Marilee Johnson reported that Choi Halladay’s son is doing better; that Pam Trobaugh had surgery – please keep her in your prayers; and that Judi Maier’s 68-foot wooden yacht was devastated by a 28 foot swell in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the 2 men serving as crew for the movement had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. Neither Judi nor husband Tom Wie was aboard at the time.
Upcoming events and/or commitments for our club:
November 5 – A food repack day at EFN will take the place of the lunch meeting at Carr’s. If you want to participate and weren’t able to sign up, contact Ellie Carr and let her know if you want a box lunch for $10.00.
Bonnie Boyle reported that attendance for last month was 83%. Great job!
Randy Black is planning a new member orientation and a fireside. Watch for details.
Choi Halladay received his blue badge.
Asst. DG Greg Horn of Lakewood Rotary updated the club about the new Rotary sign which will be placed on the 100th street entrance to Lakewood. The sign will list both clubs and their meeting places.
Everyone took a moment to greet fellow Rotarians with the slogan “I’m Proud to be a Rotarian”.
By all pulling together, we can accomplish a lot, as Teresa Nye and her dog Wilson know well.
President Sheri convinced our visiting District Governor Michael Procter to be this week's "Two Truther". He shared with us that he has a sister who 15 minutes younger than he, and that he used to own and fly light airplanes, which he was trained to do with a subsidy from the Canadian government. His lie was that he still drives a small sports car. He then went on to explain that for many years, he had raced sports cars, including racing in a Lotus, but now he drives a mini-van. [ed. note: I once went to a yoga class, and was taught how to sit in a Lotus position. I would not want to try to race a car while sitting in one of those].
Memorable fines and stories (with Heidi Wachter)
Because Ed Trobaugh was in Vancouver, WA, accompanying wife Pam during her foot surgery, substitute finemaster duties were ably handled by Heidi Wachter, assisted by Judge Grant Blinn and Choi Halladay.
[ed. note: Normally Judge Grant Blinn presides in his courtroom, and the City Attorney complies with HIS directives. But at Rotary, Grant was cast in the role of bailiff, and performed flawlessly.]
Tom McClellan and Alice Peeples paid the appropriate fines for their birthdays.
Georgene Mellom spent 6 weeks traveling in Europe, and contributed $150.00 to complete her next Paul Harris.
Dave Cotant tried to take advantage of the substitute finemaster by wiggling off the hook with a $5.00 confession, but ultimately he paid $50.00 for a recent trip to Dubai and South Africa.
Charlie Maxwell took a 40-foot motor home to Pennsylvania to the annual car show where they bought 5 cars for the LeMay Foundation, all more than 90 years old. $100.00 to Paul Harris – payment promised with a Wachter.
Choi Halladay – ran the Victoria, BC marathon in 3:47, and then went to Billings, Montana to visit his son who was in the hospital. Fortunately his son is doing better. [ed. note: for those not familiar with running a marathon, 3:47 is a very impressive time, especially for men of a certain age, not that this qualification necessarily applies to Choi. Your editor's personal record is 4:15, so a sub-4 race is a big deal. A marathon is 26.2 miles, and the saying is that when you get to 20 miles, you're halfway done].
Those with no Pins - $2.00 each. You know who you are, and since you know that, you can take advantage of the announcement about the Rotary Store included in this eBulletin.
Today’s speaker: Greg Horn, assistant district governor (of Area 12), introduced District Governor Michael Procter.
Michael is from the Rotary Club of Qualicum Beach, on Vancouver Island. Michael served in the automobile industry for many years, and also raced production class sports cars. While living in Peace River, Alberta, he got involved in local politics, eventually becoming mayor of Peace River. That led to an honourary [Canadian spelling] membership from 1986-98 in the Rotary Club of Peace River, and then to a full membership in 1998 once he left office. [ed. note: Title 4.060 of the Rotary International By-Laws forbids clubs from inducting as regular members anyone holding elective office, although members who are elected or appointed to public office for a specified period may continue as such members in their existing classifications].
Michael described what it is like being DG of the 4th largest Rotary District in the world, with 88 clubs. Other districts around the world get broken up for being too large, but 5020's response is that we like things as they are, thank you very much.
Other clubs are doing new and innovative things regarding web sites and public relations, and we were advised to look around and see the others' good ideas to make use of them.
Clubs should also feel empowered to adjust membership types and attendance requirements as is appropriate to keep Rotary alive and growing. 7 years ago, RI had 1.2 million members, and it has 1.2 million members today. But over that time, it has also gained and lost another 1.2 million members. We need to find ways to make Rotary relevant and important to new members.
Raffle:
Tom Faubion was absenting himself due to a nasty cold, and so Bryan Christensen handled setup duties as well as the raffle. Visiting Rotarian Don Daniels had his ticket drawn, but failed to draw an ace. Don got a wrinkled $5 bill as a consolation prize.
And so the pot grows. [ed. note: That's gambling terminology, and not a reference to any medicinal or recreational herbs, in case the City Attorney and substitute finemaster is wondering.]