Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
July 29, 2013
Lunch Menu: Salad bar, fresh fruit, beef stroganoff, egg noodles, chicken Kiev,
rolls, assorted desserts.
The meeting was called to order at 12:27pm
by Gregg Gardiner, standing in for President Ziggy, who is at the Gilroy Garlic
Festival.
The Pledge of Allegiance
was led by John McBeth.
The Invocation was led by
Bill McAuley.
Visiting Rotarians: Lee Cunningham of Cupertino Rotary Club was fined
for not standing up when visiting Rotarians were called.
Guests of Rotarians: Eric Bergel re-introduced Tonia our inbound Norwegian
exchange student from two years ago who is now attending college in San Jose. She was accompanied by her friend Eddie Clayton.
Kathleen Cloney-Gardiner
introduced her two guests; Sandy and Holly both teachers at Winship Middle
School.
Announcements: Acting President Gregg asked all veterans of the Korean War to stand
in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
armistice that ended the Korean War. Bob
Palmrose, Steve Beckman, and Dick Storre all received a round of applause.
Carlton Nielsen said that
host families are needed for our incoming exchange student Dan who is arriving
from Vladivostok Russia on August 12th. The Williston’s have generously offered to be
the first home family. He added that
Southwest and Old
Town are also looking for
host families.
Acting President Gregg
asked everyone who had purchased a pie from Mindy Bussman to raise their
hand. Only one person raised their hand,
so Acting President Gregg asked all other Rotarians to put $5 on the table. That
money will go to Backpacks for Kids.
Birthdays-
Hank Pierson, Murl Harpham, Kurt Bartel all this week.
Anniversaries: Burt and Susanne Campton are celebrating 37 “blissful” years,
according to Bert Campton. Craig Hansen and Lisa Hansen (who are currently in Europe it was noted).
George and Gail Owren are celebrating their 49th anniversary. Tom and Karen McMurray.
Cathy Cloney-Gardiner
reported on the progress at Winship over the weekend. A number of Rotarians and volunteers showed
up to help. A big thank you to all of
the many Rotarians who pitched in. They
made significant progress. Winship
teachers, Sandy and Holly also commented on the event saying that the amount of
help and donations they have received has left them speechless.
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| Congratulations, Dave! |
Acting President Gardiner
asked all Rotarians that had traveled outside of Humboldt County in the last 60
days to stand up. Over 30 Rotarians
stood. One by one each Rotarian detailed
their adventures which resulted in fines ranging from a $25 credit for one to a
$100 fine for Rotarian Dave Parris who had not only traveled but was recently married
and had a daughter get married- he received a triple fine. One table attempted to negotiate a group
discount as everybody at the table had stood up. The noble attempt failed and all received
fines.
The biggest fine of $200
was given to Gregg’s own wife Cathy for her recent visit to Cabos San Lucas as
well as winning the first 22nd District PTA Outstanding
Administrator Award.
Don Leonard then stood and
squealed on his neighbor, Lisa Slack, who, as he put it, had one of the most
interesting trips imaginable. Lisa
stood, threatening a personal visit to Don’s house in retaliation, and
enthralled her audience with details regarding her trip to England, tours of
Old Castles, and tour of Frankfurt, Germany and the surrounding countryside by
motorcycle. As Lisa put it, it was a
fun, interesting and scary trip. She
also attended two Rotary meetings, including one in Salzburg where she was the sole woman amongst
30+ gentlemen.
Spangler Raffle: Drawing 1: Nobody Claimed.
Drawing 2: Al Crnich won $10.
Guest Speaker: Steven Lafferty introduced our
guest speaker, Chief Ken Woods of the Humboldt Bay Fire District. He started off by telling us a little bit
about himself. He worked in the Bay area
in fire protection for 25 years prior to coming to Humboldt County in 2008 as
Chief of Humboldt No. 1 Fire Protection District. In 2011 He was made Joint Chief of Humboldt Fire
Protection District and the Eureka Fire Department. This consolidation had been discussed for
over 60 years but it finally happened in 2011.
This district covers over 53 miles and serves 60,000 people. There are 70 full time employees and 15
volunteers. They average 5,700 calls a
year. The majority of those calls are medical related. Public assistance calls can range from
helping somebody who has fallen out of bed and can’t get back in to a water
pipe that has broken and more. 
There are 5 stations in
the district that are staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are an all risk district meaning they
cover all calls. Including traffic
collisions, fines, medial response and of course fires. They have specialized trained teams to handle
special emergencies including a Hazardous Materials Team, Water Rescue team,
certified space rescue (rescuers that have to work within a small space to
rescue somebody).
The City of Eureka Fire
Department was formed in the 1800s and the Humboldt Bay Fire Department was
formed in the 1920s. This consolidation
has taken the best of both departments and combined them, significantly lowering
the overhead.
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| The district's motto is printed on the new truck |
The focus is on serving
their community. Examples of that are
their Gift Card Program which enables them to leave a VISA Gift Card with people who have been devastated by a house
fire so that they can get clothes, shelter, etc. overnight while waiting for
their insurance company to help. Another example was a young mother who was
locked out of her house while her two small children were inside. The firemen broke down the door to get in so
she could quickly get to her children. Then
they went to the hardware store, purchased a new deadbolt and came back and
installed it on her door.
They received a medical
call to Target where a woman who was traveling through Eureka with her husband
in their RV had a medical emergency. The
firemen took care of the woman, got her on the ambulance and to St. Joseph but they also
made sure the husband was able to get to the hospital as well. They helped him unhook his RV from his truck
and personally escorted him to the hospital.
It’s important to them
that they are responsive to the needs of the community in every way
possible. The discussion concluded with
a few questions and a gift from Matthew Owen and Virginia Bass in the form of
two bottles of wine. One from Riverbend
Cellars named Firehouse Red and another from Tillerman Winery appropriately
named Hook and Ladder.
The meeting was adjourned
at 1:17pm and we all took a field trip to the parking lot where we were wowed by
the brand new, $1.1 million dollar Tiller fire truck. This truck is so long it requires two drivers
at all times….one on the front of the truck and one on the rear.
Respectfully submitted,
Alicia Cox
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