Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
August 27, 2012

It was a beautiful day.  It was almost a shame to be inside with the sun out so bright. It was easy to wonder whether our President, Nancy Dean, who is known to dabble in meteorological prognostication, had conjured up such day for us to enjoy.  It was with this brilliant summer backdrop that the ninth meeting of the 2012-2013 year was opened by President Dean. Our own multiple Paul Harris Fellow and President-elect Ziggy Ziegenfuss led us in the honor of making our pledge to the Stars & Stripes. Not allowing the solemn moment to linger, Dan Heinen feigned a stumble, mumbling something about a Presidential stool being in the way, before sharing a heartening invocation.

While there were no student guests announced at the meeting this week, being that this was their first day of school, but we were all happy to learn they helped defend our club's honor at the annual youth exchange rafting trip the past weekend in Willow Creek.  Doug & Cindy of Arcata Rotary graciously invited our team to their home near the river, which was much appreciated by all who were involved.

We had guest Rotarian Liana Simpson from Old Town Rotary visiting and sharing lunch with us this week, and Gregg Gardiner brought back guest Steve Jackson from Western Web.

As sunny days are typically in abundance this time of year, it should come as no surprise how the cornucopia overflowed with birthdays and anniversaries this week.  Adding to this abundance, since next week is dark (no meeting) due to Labor Day, we also added those from the first week of September to our list of acknowledgements. So, for birthdays we had Ron Pierre on August 27th, Jill MacDonald and Tim Gallagher on the 29th, and then in September we have Bill McAuley on the 1st, Tim Foster and Tom McMurray on the 2nd, Kim Bauridel on the 6th, and Carolyn Crnich on the 9th.

Anniversaries are always pleasant to announce.  First, we had Aaron Tilch and his charming wife Jennifer celebrating their day on August 28, Ziggy Ziegenfuss and his better half Ruth enjoying their day on August 29th.  Next, in September we have Mike Cunningham and his lovely bride Sally sharing their 10th anniversary on September 1st, Dave Tyson and spouse Patti on the 8th, and Ron Pierre celebration his marriage to Jan on August 9th.

Finally, after several weeks without any membership anniversaries, we had five of them this time around.  Diane Cipperly celebrates her 5th year as a Rotarian,  Brad Gibson has reached his 1st anniversary with the club, Matthew Owen has hit the six year milestone, Russ Harris can proudly claim his 11th year, and Susie Smelser is now a 2 year member.

Announcements, Announcements, let's all hear it for Announcement!

President Nancy Dean got us all up to speed on Gustavo and Santiago who have been bike riding round trip from Argentina to Alaska, and back.  The have called their 30 month adventure ECOVUELTA, which has involved them conveying a green message through lectures to schools, businesses and institutions.  They encourage individuals, especially children to "realize their dreams".  There experiences via photo, video and blog can be shared and viewed via their website at http://www.ecovuelta.com.ar.   While they were here last weekend they were met by President Dean as evidenced by a photo of her and the guys -- the t-shirt they gave her was so big (or was it that she was so small?) it nearly covered her!

Bruce Rupp announced that October is Vocational Service Month, and that an award would be presented to the Rotarian who best exemplified the Four Way Test and the Rotary Code of Conduct in their vocational life and has made a contribution to the vocational development in the Club or community -- nomination forms were available on the tables, but nominations can also be sent to any board member.

Gregg Gardiner, who is co-chair with Steve Justus of our Honor Flight efforts that have raised over $168,000, announced that Honor Flight is expanding its reach to cover Korean War veterans.  The South Korean government is sponsoring a "Revisit Korea" program that will cover all hotel costs for the 5 day and 6 night visit, and this includes 50% of the air fare for the vet, plus 30% of the air fare for any accompanying care giver.  This is a great expansion of the Honor Flight  program that recognizes the effort and sacrifice of our veterans.  We all extend a hearty WELL DONE to Gregg and Steve on their efforts on behalf of our club!

Finally it was announced that District 51's Youth Exchange Program, which includes Franco and Larissa, among others, had a great time supporting us on the raft trip, and there apparently a lot of good photos of that event taken, but alas, Eric Bergel had a camera malfunction, so instead of photos of the trip, we got a group photo of all the exchange students of District 5130. Being young and energetic, it seems that all the exchange students were fast friends within 5 minutes of meeting each other at the time of that photo.  

President Dean gave well deserved recognition to Jeff Leonard, Ted Loring and 

Eric Bergel for all their efforts as the Youth Exchange Committee.

There were some additional recognitions made that should be mentioned. 

President Dean mentioned that Dan Heinen is now a fully certified Scuba Instructor.  We learned that he planned on taking this training down in the Santa Cruz area, but logistics of taking the program down there was problematic.  But, luckily HSU has recently gotten licensing to provide that training up here, and Dan was in the first batch to get that certification locally. He duly was given a Presidential Rain Stick in recognition.

Pat Folkins also announced that his grandson has his picture in the local papers, as his team had advanced in Little League tournaments to the point that they traveled to Watsonville for a regional playoff game.  While they unfortunately lost that game, we all gave him and his grandson applause for how well they did do. The added bonus for Pat was that 35 members of his extended family also went down for the tournament, so they all got to spend great family time together.

Finally we heard from Neil Carnum, who has been absent these last 6-7 month, largely due to his efforts to open a new office for GHD out of the county.  However, some of that time also involved a trip to Manila for two months.  Clearly Neil has been working and traveling, and he got a well-deserved rain stick from President Dean.

Nancy then introduced our speaker for the day -- Bob Higgons, who aside from being a Realtor and contractor, is the Government Relations Coordinator for the Humboldt Association of Realtors, and who mainly came to provide an update on the General Plan for land development in Humboldt County.  Bob indicated that the reason he was there was that he had been tagged while riding a bike in Old Town by our own Matthew Owen, and his lovely wife, Supervisor Virginia Bass.  Bob wondered, tongue in cheek, whether he should venture out on his bike in Old Town again!

Bob first gave us a brief history of the Humboldt Association of Realtors. It was founded up here in 1922, and was formerly known as the Board of Realtors. At inception it had 22 members. Now, under its new name, the Humboldt Association of Realtors, it boasts 318 members and 105 affiliates.  For years they have proudly been giving out scholarships, and now they give out about $25,000 per year in scholarships, in amounts of $100 to $500 per year,  to local students of real estate and real estate related courses at CR and HSU. 

Humboldt Association of Realtors is also engaged in other community projects.  For example, they host an annual Public Housing Forum, which tackles topics like expansion in the housing market, affordable housing, and the like.  They also provide a range of educational classes which are open to Realtors and the public.

Perhaps the one service the Humboldt Association of Realtors is best known for is its Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which provides an online forum for Realtors to post listings of properties that are available. This online searchable database, that uses a standardized information format, is a great tool for anyone interested in or associated with real estate in the county and beyond.  This can be found at www.humrealtors.com.

Bob then spend a fair amount of time sharing some information about Humboldt County real estate and the General Plan.   He shared that at the height of the real estate market in 2006 the median price point for houses in the county was $349,500, which also meant that housing was really only affordable to about 10% of the local population.  By contrast, as of June 2012 the median housing price had dropped to $239,350, and affordability had risen to the point that 34% of the local population could afford housing.  Part of that affordability, he explained was directly related to low interest rates that had dropped to the 3% range.  Higgons thought that the last 6-12 months has seen a stabilizing of the real estate market, but in counterpoint to that, he said that in reaction to the housing crisis and lax regulatory oversight, appraisals were now every conservative.

Finally Bob gave us some information around the General Plan for Humboldt County land use. The General Plan is a substantive and broad ranging document that costs about $2 million to $3 million to produce, and is broadly about land use throughout the county, and it encompasses "zoning", housing, commercial use, wet land protection, and more.  As Realtor, and as one concerned about housing, Bob pointed to statistics he feels we should all be concerned about. The county Building Department, he noted,  recorded 445 single family housing starts in 1990, 307 single family housing starts in 2005, 137 single family housing starts in 2011, and as of July 2012 only 43 new single family housing starts. This is a trend we should all find troubling.

In his position with the Humboldt Association of Realtors, Bob and his group have a number of critiques about the General Plan, most notably the following: (1) with hundreds of new regulation, this plan greatly adds to the hurdles anyone interested in development must overcome, (2) these regulations and restrictions discourage job growth and growth of the local economy, (3) this plan sets aside large swaths of usable land into wet land protection, (4) the restrictions on the use of river bed gravel hampers development and increases costs, (5) the plan design encourages cottage industry and discourages significant industry growth, (6) the new "impact fees" called for greatly increases the cost of land development, (7) restrictions on new homes, new businesses, and new industry sets us on the wrong path, and (8) the call for greater high density housing within established incorporated areas, and restrictions for development outside these areas is troubling for the long-term health of our economy.  Clearly criticisms of the General Plan presents a number of compelling and thought-provoking circumstance that have potential long-term consequences for our community, and these are certainly items we should carefully consider.

Higgons then closed with a short Q&A session. One question was how many people have been laid off by the county Building Department, to which Bob responded, essentially none. Another question asked about what the percentage of new home buyers were coming from out of the area, to which he responded, about 25%. Finally it was asked whether Cutten was being targeted for higher density in it's housing, which Bob did not have the answer to.

The Rotary Club was very grateful to hear from Bob and had him sign a book for our library project.  Nancy then closed the meeting, reminding us once again that next week was dark.

Presented in Rotary Service by Bruce Smith

 

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

August 20, 2012

The 8^th meeting of the Rotary year began without incident.  Lots of interesting things could have happened, like the bell exploding, or Nancy being attacked by seagulls like in the movie “Birds”, but instead the bell rang and we all stood up for the flag salute, led by Ray Wickel, who joined the club in 1967 and promptly went to Arizona for the winter.  The invocation was given by Craig Hansen.  He reminded us to be thankful for the roof over our heads, the food in our bellies, and the cash in our pockets.  Millions are not as fortunate.   

Student Guests

The Rotary exchange students were introduced: Franco Calleja from Chile and Bibiana Fabri from Italy.   

Birthdays and Anniversaries 

J. Warren Hockaday and new member David Wells celebrated birthdays this week.  Carlton Nielsen, Bill McAuley and Richard Borough had wedding anniversaries this week.   

Announcements

Saturday September 1st Lost Coast Rotaract  is sponsoring a Softball Tournament. In honor of the late Mike Depew Lost Coast Rotaract has established an Art Student Scholarship.  Donations are being accepted.  Tuesday August 28 Ferndale Rotary is having a fund-raiser:  Oysters, Barbeque and Steak $20 a person.  Greg Seiler asked the club to share its ideas on the Annual Raffle with him and Christian Hill.  Bruce Rupp invited people to the vocational committee meeting on August 21 to discuss career day and Lemonade Day.  Raffle tickets were drawn and Steve Beckman and Don Smullin were the lucky winners.   

Program

Our program was then introduced by Eric Bergel.  Our Rotary Exchange students for 2011-12 have returned and wanted to share their thoughts on their year abroad.  

First up was Imogene Carson, who spent a year in Kolbu Norway.  She had a great year which included rock climbing and cross country skiing.  She visited Gjovik and Tromso.  

She said that she had learned to become more appreciative, that we are all the same world wide, and that her year had been a journey of self-discovery.  

Next up was Mitch Mastroni, who went to northern Italy near Milan.  He spent time in Busto Arsizio and Legnano.  He said the hardest part was when he first arrived and knew only 20 words in Italian.  At school he studied classics and linguistics and was in a class with 20 girls and one boy.   

His Rotary club had trips organized every month, so he went to Rome, Venice, and Cremona.  His lessons learned:  “You can’t expand your comfort zone from  inside, it is important to be self-aware, and it is easier to judge than understand.”  It was the best year of his life.  

Our final exchange student was Jasmine Schatz, who went to Modica, Sicily.  She said that there were lots of ruins, and was impressed by Mount Etna.  “Small streets, small cars, small people”.  She stayed with one family the entire year.  The food was delicious, even the French fry pizza. 

She took trips to Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Venice.  She made lots of friends.  Don Smullin then asked her if she ever encountered the Mafia.  She gestured to two swarthy men in black suits who picked Don up and dragged him out of the room.  There were no more questions.

Cheerfully submitted by Hank Ingham.

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
August 13, 2012

The seventh meeting of the year was opened in a timely fashion by our diminutive President, Nancy Dean, with a resounding ring of the bell.  We were led in our salute and pledge to the flag by past President (2002-2003) Hank Pierson, who is a well-noted Paul Harris Fellow.  With catcalls of humor from the audience, John Gierek responded with a call for solemnity and then proceeded to give a short, thoughtful and inspiring invocation.

While there were no student guests announced at the meeting, but the school year quickly approaching, it was noted that new exchange students Franco from Chile and Larissa from Germany would be arriving any day now.  We should note that both Franco and Larissa have declared they want to step up and  assist in defending our honor against the SW Rotary Club of Eureka at the white water rafting event this Saturday.  Let's all give them a cheer -- HURRAH!

We had several interesting visiting Rotarians. First we had Gary Bosley from Castro Valley in the South Bay of San Francisco, and our well-known Jim Seiler from Fortuna.   

Most interestingly, we were introduced to Gary Hayes, hails from far-off and exotic Bangkok, Thailand, by our own distinguished Matt Messner.  As Director of the Think Small Foundation, Gary Hays and his wife with great heart and courage provide young children with a drug free, exploitation free environment, with a good dose of  leadership development training and spiritual support & guidance.

Aside from the visiting Rotarians and guest speaker, we only had two other guests.  Greg Gardiner introduced us all to Steven Jackson,  who is associated with Western Web.  

Eric Bergel introduced us to Leroy Zerlang, with Zerlang-Zerlang and the Golden Rule Project.

As with most meetings, there were a number of  birthdays mentioned. Dave Dillon had his name day on the 13th, Rick Littlefield had his annual renewal day on the 14th,  Gary Todoroff is definitely getting older on the 15th, while Fred Whitmire celebrates his day on the 17th.

Wedding anniversaries had a number of interesting results. We were all amazed and happy to applaud  Dave Dillon's 62nd year of bliss with his lovely wife Carol on August 13th.  We also learned that Fred Whitmire and his better half Carolyn celebrate their love on the 15th.  Kim Bauriedel, who's bacheloring it  this week, will meet up with his bride Sile in Siberia to belatedly celebrate their wedding anniversary which is on the 16th.  Walt Shimasaki's 55th anniversary with his wife Jean on the 17th was also greatly cheered for it's longevity.  We had a pair of 39 year anniversaries to note, with Ken Stodder and his wife Kay on the 17th, and Paul Brisso and his wife Melissa on the 18th.  Rounding out the anniversaries, we had Dick Nash who celebrates his anniversary with wife Jeanne on the 19th.

While we did not have any membership anniversaries this week.

Before bringing up our guest speaker there were a series of announcements that were made.  Christian Hill mentioned that he and Greg Seiler will be stopping at all the tables over the next few month to gather "Best Practices" we may all collectively remember in the lead-up to our February 2013 Fundraiser.   I for one was please to hear that we will definitely be making it through the Mayan Calendar end of times day of Dec. 21, 2012, so I'm looking forward to them visiting my table and  helping them both come up with a good list of fund raising ideas.  While the deadline for signing up had already passed, President Dean reported that Mindy Bussman still accept sign-ups up through the end of Monday the 13th  for the BBQ and horse racing at the county fair on Wednesday, August 15th.  Post time for the horse racing was still expected to be 1:30pm.  

President Dean also reminding us that it was not too late to sign-up for the Trinity River white water rafting this weekend, Saturday, August 18th.  Let's have a good turn out and show SW Rotary how to get wet!

President Dean also re-announced that Lost Coast Rotaract is sponsoring a Softball Tournament on Sept. 1, and we need some players.  In addition she reminded us that the Foundation Dinner North is being held at the River Lodge in Fortuna on Saturday, October 13th.  Finally, President Dean reported that the Ferndale Rotary is having a fund raiser on Tuesday, August 28th -- this would be an Oysters & BBQ Steak dinner for $20 per person.

While many Rotarians might not have known the connection between Rotary and the Boy Scouts of America, Dean shared with us that on August 21, 1912, Arthur Rose Eldred, of Troop 1 in Oceanside, New York, became the first Eagle Scout. That means that this next Tuesday, August 21, 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of that event. In honor of that, Nancy called on all Eagle Scouts in the room to stand and be recognized. We had three Eagle Scouts present from our Rotary club:  Kim Bauriedel, Aaron Tilch and Paul Brisso.   

Our own Rotarian, Susie Smelser, the local Scout Executive, then stood and gave us some history on the connection between Rotary and the Boy Scouts of America, and the parallels between our own Four-way Test and the Scout Oath, Law & Motto. Moreover, Rotary Clubs in the USA charter (sponsor) nearly 1400 Scouting units (Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, and Venturing Crews), serving more than 50,000 youth members.  Of note, there are no Scouting units in Humboldt County that are sponsored by a local Rotary club -- this is something we need to look into.

As we all know, one of the activities that leads to a Blue Badge is the Craft Talk. This week we heard from Stacy Lane. Her family first moved up to Humboldt County in the 1960s, so her local roots go back to before she was born.  Throughout her life Stacy has had a passion for learning. In fact one of her first connections to our Rotary club was through a college scholarship we awarded her with.  Her desire to learn shows up many ways.  She's a voracious reader, but she likes the real thing, shunning the newer electronic readers like Kindle.  Her desire to learn led to an AA at College of the Redwoods, then to a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Sacramento State, and then an MBA in International Business. She even studied law for a while at McGeorge School of Law in SAcramento.  In her career she had the opportunity to pursue even more training and education as she progressed up the ladder getting licenses and various certifications in the insurance industry.  Stacy was a Regional Sales Manager in Northern and Central California in the Insurance industry, and eventually became a manager for the insurance giant, AIG. Stacy describes herself as being an active volunteer, with a history of "getting involved".  She is justifiably proud for being a deputy director involved in the effort to pass Proposition 213.  She is currently the Executive Director of the North Coast Schools Insurance Group, which is a not-for-profit joint powers authority serving the medical and property/casualty insurance needs of local schools.  Finally, on a personal level, Stacy loves to travel, having been to 28 countries around the world (especially Ireland), she's current engaged, has no kids but would like to have some, and she loves Old English Roses and basketball.  Stacy -- we are lucky to have you as one of our own!

Finally came the time for our speaker.  We were introduced to Robin Meiggs, HSU Head Women's Rowing Coach by Chris Freeman. While we quickly learned that she was the coach that led the HSU women to their first ever NCAA Division II National Rowing Championship in 2012, and that she won a second consecutive NCAA Division II Rowing Coach of the Year Award, it was the story of her  20 year quest that was the most inspiring.  Educationally she started out with a Bachelor's Degree in Broadcast Journalism, but after spending 4 years of rowing as a student at HSU followed by some time in Hawaii rowing outriggers, she recognized what her passion and interests were. She next pursed a Masters in Exercise Physiology and then came back to HSU where she signed on as a Volunteer Coach in 1991, eventually becoming an Assistant Coach in 1992.  Back in those days the rowing team didn't really have any decent facilities available, so they essentially set up equipment storage in condemned buildings along the waterfront in Eureka.  Then as the building became completely unusable and were torn down, they would move on to another building.  By 1999, having pretty much exhausted all the old building, they actually had to lock-up and store their equipment at a dirt field.   

Throughout this time she spent 10 years developing her skills as an Assistant Coaching, then becoming an interim Head Coach in 1995, and by 2003 as the permanent Head Coach she led the HSU women to their first title.  As the team improved and moved up the regional ladder, they eventually qualified as NCAA Division II team.  Robin's passion in describing how the teams trained, how she developed the rowing program at HSU, how races were experienced by her team, supplemented with hundreds of photos on the screen, kept everyone in the club silent and mesmerized.  The way she described her team taking on and ultimately beating seven time champ Western Washington University was a great story that all enjoyed listening to, and whom all seriously applauded when she completed her tale.

Robin's story was impressive and inspiring.  The commitment and passion she has displayed in pursuing and developing herself and the HSU women's rowing team was awesome. The Rotary Club was impressed and moved by the story of  Robin's journey.

Presented in Rotary Service by Bruce Smith

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
August 6, 2012

The sixth meeting of the year was opened by our illustrious President, Nancy Dean, with her ascension to the podium and her ring of the bell. Her height at the podium suggested some manner of portable assist, but we felt it unseemly to investigate and document the matter more fully. Richard Whitaker, a Paul Harris Fellow, led us in the pledge to the flag, while Eric Bergel shared the invocation with us.

There were no student guests announced this time around, but with summer quickly closing, it was noted that new exchange students Franco and Larissa would be arriving soon.

As for guests, Lisa Stack introduced her daughter Erica Slack and her friend from school Emily Buck, both of whom are JV cheerleaders in football and basketball,  rallying the Loggers of  Eureka High School this fall.  Rick Littlefield introduced guest Barbara Groom from the Lost Coast Brewery, while Justin Golik invited Steven Pepper, who is with Humboldt Maritime Logistics and Omni International.

Several  birthdays were noted on Monday. First we had the properly seated front table birthday boys of  Kurt Barthel (8/2) and Pat Folkins (8/8), who graciously accepted our acknowledgments.  And then we had the firebrand Steve Justus, who in response to his fine of $10 for not sitting up front, put up a spirited defense and call to all freedom lovers that "sitting where he wants" was his God given right -- which promptly resulted in our beloved new President fining him $10 more.

While we did not have any membership anniversaries this week, we had a very nice group of wedding anniversaries to note.  Chuck Edward and wife Jennifer had their anniversary on the 7th.  Christine Witt, who declared "Every anniversary is special", had her anniversary with hubby Michael on the 8th.  Our illustrious Sgt. at Arms - Chair, Anthony Antonville, enjoyed his anniversary with bride Anne on the 9th.  We were all happy to learn that Greg Williston and his lovely wife Laura celebrated their 27th anniversary on the 10th.  Matthew Owen, who was in DC this week, celebrates his anniversary with wife Supervisor Virginia Bass this Sunday on the 12th.  Finally, of special note, we learned that Pat Folkins celebrated his 53rd year of bliss with his lovely Sheila on the 6th.

Mindy Bussman gave us the final announcement, with sign-up sheets on the tables, on the BBQ and Horseracing at the county fair on August 15th.  Contact Mindy Bussman by this Friday August 10th if you are interested in going.  You can send her an email at: mbussman@gpins.com or call her at (707)442-2971. Post time for the racing is at 1:30pm.  

Mindy also reminded us of the whitewater rafting trip coming up on August 18th.  We are calling on all water cannons and other water warfare tools.  The gauntlet has been thrown down by the SW Eureka Rotary chapter, and our honor demands a good turnout.  Be prepared to get wet and have a lots of fun!!

President Dean also announced that Lost Coast Rotaract is sponsoring a Softball Tournament on Sept. 1, and we need some players.  In addition she reminded us that the Foundation Dinner North is being held at the River Lodge in Fortuna on Saturday, October 13th.  Finally, Dean shared a warm thank you sent to us by District Governor Michael Juric, who visited the previous week -- "Thank you for what you are doing to strengthen the community, locally and internationally.  I'm in awe of the leadership your club provides and look forward to working together to build a stronger district! Yours in Rotary Service, Michael"

With the Olympic season upon us, President Dean shared that many Rotarians have participated and supported these games for decades. One she mentioned in particular was one Bob Izon, who in 1958 ran the mile in world-record time in the under-16 category, becoming the English schools champion.  Bob's story as a founding member of the Hereford Wye Valley Rotary Club in England, as an Olympic torch bearer, and as one who has remained active despite Parkinson's was moving and inspiring.

With Olympics on our minds, and President Dean wanting to energetically inject some good old fashioned FUN into the meeting, she tossed out a woof ball to each table, challenging each table to toss the ball around the table to find the Gold Medal and Silver Medal winners at each table.  At our table, what started as soft looping tosses quickly escalated to woof missiles being tossed back and forth, and the room filled with "Ooohs" and "Ahhas".

This led to some recognitions being made before introducing our speaker.

We learned that Lisa Slack has a hidden passion for motorcycles. She shared that as a teenager she had first tried out motorcycles, unbeknownst to her parents.  Unable to quench this hidden passion, her rebellious biker spirit has re-emerged these last few years, and lately she has migrated from a low seat bike that allowed her feet to touch to  a more powerful cruising bike she absolutely loves.  We all thrilled and applauded her when we learned she's planning a 3100 mile touring trip by motorcycle next year in Europe.  Go Lisa, go!  This earned her a presidential rain stick from Dean.

Greg Gardiner then shared his trip from  SF and Atlanta that  then progressed to an island hopping tromp through the Caribbean, that included stops in Puerto Rico, the US & British Virgin Islands, and more.  He was particularly proud of his stop at the "Soggy Dollar" saloon which can only be reached by swimming to the island from your boat and then back again.  After a few drinks that swim back to the boat was not as easy, and definitely earned him the rain stick from President Dean.

Richard Whittaker received his latest Paul Harris Fellowship award.  As a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, this is not new ground for Richard. Way to go Richard!

The final recognition of the day went to Sue Bosch, who announced that she had just completed her 56th year at Humboldt Land Title Company.  She remembers starting there as a teenager.  We are all in awe Sue, good job! This resulted in the final rain stick of the day being awarded to Sue.

Next came the time for our speaker.  We were introduced to Jack Crider, CEO, Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District.  Jack started by sharing some of his history, which included his desire as a young man to go to school at HSU.  It was either that or Oregon State University in Corvalis.  For someone interested in becoming a fish biologist, both schools offered great programs.  From Jack's point of view the decision was pretty simple -- Humboldt State offered something OSU did not, lots of pretty girls. Unfortunately his parents decided, "We are not paying for out of state tuition", so OSU it was. Still, for all these years Jack has had a deep hankering to get back to Humboldt Bay area.

Jack's current role as the head of the Humboldt Bay Harbor is very broad in scope.  He outlined the rich assets the bay holds, from harbors at Woodley Island to Field's Landing, the various water trails in the area, our new rescue vessel and fire boat, the Shelter Cover fish cleaning station, and our place as the Oyster Capital of California.

Jack talked about the income shortfall the harbor faces, our need to maximize income for the harbor, and how at present we still rely on the tax base to subsidize the operating losses the harbor faces.  At present we have 28 open slips, 18 slow pay slips, 4 free or discounted slips, and over 50 confirmed applicants on the waiting lists.  The Marina Tenant Agreement Amendment is intended to address some of these financial issues, with the first reading of the draft scheduled for August 9th.

Jack discussed the new BMP (Boat Maintenance Protocols) that have been enacted across the state.  This requires facility improvements so boat owners have a place to properly maintain their boats in an environmentally sound fashion.

The scope of Jack's duties also include responsibilities on the King Salmon Dunes, the King Salmon channel entrance, the Water Trail Project in Samoa and the Arcata Marsh, projects for cleaning Pelicans oiled by fish waste in Shelter Cove, developing long-term sustainable dredging solutions for Humboldt Bay, and addressing climate change vulnerability projects such as fill and beach reconstruction.  One of the most important tasks is managing the Collaborative Fisheries Project, which largely deals with the Humboldt Bay Mariculture Industry (i.e. the Oyster Industry). With over 4000 certified acres, 325 sustainable acres, providing over 56 jobs that generate annual sales of $6 million, and provide $1.4 million in payroll, the long term viability of this industry is vital to the Humboldt Bay.

The Rotary Club was very grateful to hear from Jack, and his presentation generated a number of questions, ranging from a wave generation project to the status of an  east-west rail project.  The club had Jack sign an appropriate book for the library, "Project Seahorse".

Presented in Rotary Service by Bruce Smith