Rotary Club of Eureka, California

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
September 23, 2013

Pledge and Invocation

Our club bell is back and it rang out loudly at the hand of President Ziggy. (Moral to the story: never trust a stolen bell to the bartender.) Brian Papstein led the pledge of allegiance and Gary Todoroff the prayer. Gary suggested that the apostle Paul might have had Rotarians in mind when he wrote, “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith” (II Thessalonians 1: 11).

Student Guest
Dan, our Rotary exchange student from Russia, came forward to address us briefly. 

Visiting Rotarians

None.

Guests of Rotarians

Greg Gardiner brought a trio of guests: Kitty Podarak, Russ Geritt and Arnold Klein. 

Greg’s wife, Kathy Cloney-Gardiner, introduced her guest, Dr. Tish Nielsen.

Announcements
Sign Smith Foundation grants are open to applications for capital improvement projects, according to past President Carlton Nielsen.

Recognitions

Kathy Cloney-Gardiner “finally” showed up and received her Rotary T-shirt from President Ziggy.

Tim Foster was fined for being in Bend Oregon riding his mountain bike rather than at Rotary; his excuse, he bought a house at Bend and has been spending a lot of time there. His house purchase earned him a Rotary T-shirt.

Ken Stoddard got fined $50 for being a Red Sox fan.

Cruising over the finish line in Race #15

Stacy Lane became a legend (and televised at that!), cheering on Oracle’s yacht to two wins in Sunday’s America’s Cup challenge in San Francisco.

Rick Littlefield and wife got recognition over the weekend for their membership in the Redwood Art association. Rick’s wife Betty generously donated money to help Redwood Art Association buy a new building.

Brian Papstein stood tall and admitted to rooting for the Giants, the A’s and Raiders, because he has those three teams’ games on his radio stations. That was warrant for a $50 fine.

Gary Todoroff is going to Swaziland in January to work for a few weeks in their communications department spelling for someone who is going to have a baby (he’s not going to be the midwife). That earned him a $50 fine.

Greg Gardiner says that we will soon revise our by-laws to bring us into conformity to the Rotary Constitution. He promised it would be an exciting time and there will be no recognitions, but there will be a speaker.

Jay Bahner was recognized by President Ziggy of being a great prognosticator, but admitted to not doing well last weekend. The week before, however he admitted he was a big winner. He got a fine for the previous week’s good fortune.

Finally, Pastor Matt Messner received free recognition on behalf of his congregation and all they did for Winship Middle School clean up. Our club and especially Principal Kathy clapped with enthusiasm and appreciation.

Raffle winners were Jack Macdonald and Jim Davis.

Program
Speaker of the day was Yana Valachovic from the University of California (UC) Cooperative extension program in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. This program is one hundred years old this year. The Humboldt County Farm Bureau had a lot to do with founding the UC Cooperative extension in our county along with land grants resulting from the Morril Act, Hatch Act and Smith-Lever Act over a hundred years ago. She mentioned that timber has always been our biggest producer, but things change. For examples, not only has timber declined but also, at one time potatoes were a big crop in Humboldt, but not today.  We continue to have agricultural industries like cattle, sheep, and orchard fruits like apples, pears, and other crops (smoked and not) growing strong in the north coast.

Yana showed a number of agricultural pictures from the turn of the century (1900 not 2000), reminding us that the agricultural base is still the foundation of our local economy. She pointed out that Humboldt had been a big population center about 100 years ago. In fact, Humboldt was number one in the state in dairy production and highly ranked in many other agricultural products about a century ago. So the Humboldt County Farm Bureau was formed in 1913. It was the second in nation.

4-H was founded in Ohio in 1902. The basic philosophy is hands-on practice and learn-by-doing. The first 4-H clubs in California were founded in Arcata, Ferndale and Fortuna. Along with 4-H came the concept of early youth agricultural education. Today groups like Farm Bureau and 4-H do a lot of research for local agricultural practices. Leadership development and community development are their major thrusts. Poultry is the most popular agricultural area in 4-H today. Through 4-H and other organizations her office currently sustains twelve after school programs.

From the 1930’s-2010 Humboldt County has not grown like other counties in the north state. Why not? No interstate through our county and a desire to resist growth. This can be viewed as good or bad depending on your business and political persuasions.

The Eureka office of the Farm Bureau is currently located at 5630 S. Broadway in the County of Humboldt Agricultural Center. 

Yana closed with a quote that affirmed the “best crops” are the boys and girls who are the future farmers and thus the foundation of America’s agriculture.

If you know of someone who would make a good Rotarian bring him or her around, said President Ziggy in closing.

Respectfully Submitted,
Dan Price