Rotary Club of Eureka, California

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

August 19, 2013

Lunch Menu: salad bar, rice pilaf, sweet and sour pork, fried chicken tenders, mojos, assorted vegetables, rolls, bread pudding.

Called to order by President Ziggy at 12:30pm

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bob Palmrose.

The Invocation was led by Greg Williston.

Visiting Rotarians

Retired Judge Mike Brown

Guests of Rotarians

Greg Williston introduced his wife, Laura Williston

Birthdays

Barbara Horvitz

Anniversaries

Richard & Vivien Borough, Dick & Jeanne Nash, Carlton & Michelle Nielsen.

Announcements

Lisa Slack announced that the Timber Heritage Museum and Clarke Museum’s 3rd Annual joint Fundraiser, ‘Salmon, Oysters, Ales & Rails w/ Speeder Rides’ is this Saturday, August 24th from 11:30 to 4:30pm next to the Samoa Cookhouse. (Speeder rides will run from 9am to 4pm).  There will be live music, vendor booths and tours of the Samoa Shops. Tickets are $20 and are available at the Roundhouse located below the Samoa Cookhouse.

Gregg Gardiner announced that the Winship project is moving along.  School opens Monday.  Team Challenge has 25 volunteers at Winship today (Monday) painting, etc.  SWAP has 12 people out working on the project.  Saturday is the last big workday.  There are 78 windows left to paint, 40 doors, 48 door trims.  Faith Center will be bringing a big crowd of people to help.  Renner Petroleum donated a bunch of 55 gallon barrels for trash cans that need to be painted blue and gold.  A driver is needed for a small dump truck, a person is needed to run errands, pick up lunch, etc.  Gregg is begging for all volunteers who can help to come help. Gregg recognized Jack Rieke for his immense contributions to the project including all of the paint, landscaping materials, expertise, etc. Gregg reported that to date almost $400,000 in materials and time have been donated to the project.  Congressman Huffman will be flying to Eureka from Washington, D.C. on Monday to attend the grand reopening and ribbon cutting on Monday at 2:30pm. Gregg asked all Rotarians to consider attending the grand reopening on Monday following the Rotary meeting.

Ashley Diehl from Lost Coast Rotaract talked about upcoming fundraisers that Rotaract has planned.  In October the Spirit and Spirits Event including a Haunted Ghost tour of Old Town, Eureka. In March bowl for Kid’s Sake is coming up, In the Spring of 2014 a Softball Tournament will be held.  They are actively working on community projects - helping Jefferson School and beautification of highway 101 and beach cleanups.  Their goal this year is to raise $2,000 to go towards Youth Advocacy.  The money will be donated to CASA, Northcoast Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Backpacks for Kids.

Greg Williston introduced our new exchange Student from Russia, Dan.  He spoke to the club and announced that America is a very different country from Russia.  He said he doesn’t speak English very well yet but he is eager to learn.  He is happy to be here.

Recognitions

Bob Morse was fined $50 for attending a seminar and not gambling very much at the casino.

Bruce Smith was fined $50 for traveling all summer.  He offered to increase the fine to $100.  President Ziggy countered with $150 and a Rotary t-shirt. 

Greg Williston was fined $51.  $50 for doing such a great job chairing the Eureka Chamber of Commerce mixer the other night where he introduced Dan Heinen and $1 for forgetting to mention that Dan was a member of the Rotary Club of Eureka. That omission forced Ziggy to spend $1 of his own money to get up and explain to the crowd what a dud Greg was for forgetting to mention the Rotary Club of Eureka connection.

Ziggy pleaded with all Rotarians to please pay their dues and threatened to make 5am phone calls to those that didn’t pay.

Spengler Raffle

$10 to Carol Rische and $10 to Ray Wickel.

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker was introduced by Matt Owen.  Hank Seeman with the County of Humboldt discussed the possible purchase of the McKay Tract from Green Diamond.

Hank is from Humboldt County. He attended Eureka City Schools and was a member of Key Club and was involved with Kiwanis through that.  He didn’t have a lot of contact with Rotary in high school except meeting Rotary exchange students who excelled in soccer, a sport he liked to play.  He laughingly said he had mixed feelings about Rotary as their exchange students raised the competition level.

He works for the Public Works Department.  Public Works is responsible for County roads (1,200 miles) and bridges (165), motor pool, heavy equipment garage, County airport system (6); prepares engineered plans and specifications; inspects construction projects; manages County properties and right-of-ways; prepares environmental documents; obtains regulatory permits; administers solid waste franchises and facilities; maintains County levee systems (3); and administers County parks (10), review planning submittals for subdivisions. They are directed by the Board of Supervisors.

Green Diamond is interested in selling 1,000 acres of land southwest of Eureka. They contacted Trust for Public Lands (TPL) who specializes in helping to facilitate these types of purchases.  TPL is raising funds for this purchase from the State and Federal Government.  They have already secured two $1,000,000 grants and hope to have the third grant secured in November for $4.5 million dollars. The 1,000 acres begins north of Myrtle Ave., wraps around Redwood Acres, East of Cutten to around the Rhine Creek area.  It goes past Winship Middle School all the way to the Ridgewood Heights area.

There’s a potential 2nd phase of 67 acres that would wrap around Ridgewood Heights to Sequoia Park. 

The benefits would include convenient, accessible recreation such as horseback riding and hiking for residents, education for school children, attraction to tourists, etc. Statistically property values tend to increase for homes located close to community owned forests.

Public Works is looking at the costs to maintain and run a community forest including security patrols versus potential income from timber harvests, etc. Arcata has been very generous about sharing information regarding their experiences in managing a community forest. 

Public Works is communicating with the City of Eureka on this project as the land is outside of the city limits but very close to those limits, so they want to include the city on decisions. They are exploring options like a back road through the forest to help offset traffic problems for Eureka/Cutten. They hope to make a decision by the end of December 2013 on the purchase. 

Questions and answers followed.

Meeting Adjourned: 1:30pm

Respectfully submitted, 

Alicia Cox