Feb 24, 2014


Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
February 24, 2014

Murl Harpham led the flag salute.  Tom McMurray Jr. gave the invocation.  He mentioned casually that Greg Pierson and he just returned from Jerusalem where he was almost arrested and he had to wear a skirt.  Apparently Greg set off the metal detector at the shrine of the Dome of the Rock with his mezuzah (and you have to have a pretty big mezuzah to do that!) and Tom was wearing shorts, so they gave him a skirt to wear.  He didn’t however, have to shave his legs. 



Our President-Elect, Gregg Gardiner, announced that next year’s Rotary Project would be the rehabilitation of the Boys and Girls Club. The building’s roof has failed, there’s lead paint peeling off the walls, and there are numerous ADA violations.  He said it would be the single biggest project ever undertaken by our District.  He has commitments of support from Old Town, Southwest & Rotary Sunrise Rotary Clubs. 



Rotary Fact: Did you know you could do Rotary Meeting make-ups online now?  It’s just like traffic school.  You can also attend a Board meeting or other Rotary meeting and then call or email Steve Lafferty to let him know what you’ve done. 



We have two new club members.  Gregg Gardiner introduced Paula Patton, Publisher of the Times-Standard.  Kim Bauriedel introduced Dr. David O’Brien, CEO of St. Joseph Hospital. Then Ziggy transitioned into recognitions. 



Greg Pierson received a T-shirt for the trip he and Tom made to Norway, Russia, and Israel. 



Pete Vallerga got a shirt for an award he and Dick Storre received for volunteer service to the Eureka Police Department. 



Jesse Klair was shirted for acquiring the Fortuna and Bayshore Mall McDonalds. 



Lisa Slack was dinged for her recent trip to Whistler B.C.



Ziggy then asked if there were any more nominations for Rotary President.  Hearing none, he took a vote and said that Jay Bahner would be the 2015-16 Rotary President. 



Hank Pierson received a standing ovation for contributing his fourth Paul Harris Fellowship.  Now he has as many gold medals as the US earned in this year’s winter Olympic games.





Program

Dr. Kim Bauriedel then reintroduced our speaker, and new Rotarian, Dr. David O’Brien.  Dr. O’Brien got his start as a general practitioner in Eureka where he worked with Dr. Kim.  Somewhere along the way he traded in his stethoscope for a tie and “went over to the dark side,” entering hospital administration.   Now he is President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Hospital.  The hospital is owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. They are a religious order that got its start in 1650 in France.  Their initial mission was to help the poor.  In 1912 they arrived in Eureka planning to do religious instruction.  During the 1918 flu pandemic they started a hospital and became nurses.   Now they have evolved into a 4 Billion dollar hospital system in 4 states. 



St. Joseph Hospital has 138 beds and 200 physicians.  Their daily census averages 78 critical care patients.  They get 40,000 emergency room visits a year.  Dr. O’Brien then talked about changes the health care.  Right now, the more a hospital does, the more they get paid, but he sees that in the future quality of care will be paramount.  They will be moving from acute care to community based preventive care.  The challenges he faces are physician recruitment and cost containment.  He thanked Bruce Emad for his role as Chairman on the Board of Directors.  Ziggy then told Dr. O’Brien he could count his presentation as a craft talk.  Then, not to be outdone, Ziggy whipped out his mezuzah and rang the bell with it. The crowd was impressed.  



Naughtily narrated by Hank Ingham

Feb 17, 2014

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
February 17, 2014

The club was dark in honor of the President's Day holiday.

Feb 10, 2014


Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
February 10, 2014

John Bartholomew led the salute to the flag.  John Gierek Jr, in a rare appearance, gave the invocation.  He asked for a moment of silence for Teresa Sims and Vern Cooney, two former Rotarians who had passed away recently.  

Sally Arnot came to the podium to introduce some members of the Art community who were our guests and also involved in the program.   

They were Roy Grieshaber, President of the Redwood Art Association, Libby Maynard of the Ink People, ceramic artist Cathy Pierson, Elizabeth Berrian, wire sculptor, Linda Wise, metal sculptor, Shawn Griggs, Ferndale gallery Owner, Kati Texas Ward member of the Ink People (and also head of the Rural Burl Mural Bureau and chair of the Kinetic Sculpture Race Board), and Michael Fields of Del Arte.  We’ll have more from them later.  

Our Russian Exchange Student Dan went to a wrestling tournament in Ukiah and came in 2nd in his weight class. очень хорошо is what I say.  

Ziggy awarded 4 new Blue Badges to Bruce Smith, Fred Van Vleck, Nick Bertel, and Steve Lafferty.  


John McBeth also got his blue badge – returned to him because he lost it.  Along with it came a $50 fine.  




Nancy Dean announced that Jay Bahner had thrown his hat into the ring for Rotary President 2015-16.  Final vote is in two weeks.  


Mike Cunningham then came up with his last few Christmas Party photos for $25.  The lucky recipients were Hank Pierson (2), Nick Bertel, Steve Beckman, and the ubiquitous Fred Van Vleck.  

John Gierek Jr. incurred Ziggy’s wrath by not attending meetings.  John was given one of Ziggy’s prize T-shirts (worth $150).  

Greg Williston gave a slide presentation on recent foreign exchange student Franco, who had sustained a serious head injury while skiing during his time here and spent a long time in recovery.  Greg and his family visited Franco and his family in Chile.  He was happy to report that Franco is 98% recovered and had passed the University Entrance Exam.  

Fred Sundquist, another rare attendee, was spotted in the back and recognized for being Chamber of Commerce Business Man of the Year.  We can’t wait for the foldout in the next chamber of commerce newsletter.  

Ziggy then drew tickets and Mike Martin and Keith Crossley each won 10 bucks. 

Program 
Sally Arnot then led off our program talking about The Humboldt Arts Council.  Homer Balbanis, HSU art professor, secured the initial funding from the State of California in 1965.  The council occupied various vacant buildings in Old Town.  Eventually the City of Eureka sold the Carnegie building to HAC for $1.  They raised $1.1 million to remodel it, and as they say, the rest is fund raising.  HAC started Arts Alive.  

Sally introduced Roy Grieshaber of the Redwood Art Association (RAA).  The RAA is a group of over 300 talented artists who stage monthly exhibits.  They were nomadic too, until they acquired a building on 7th and F streets in 2012. Their fundraisers include Art in the Garden, which mixes wine, flowers and plein air painters.  

Libby Maynard of the Ink People Center For the Arts came up next.  The Ink People started in 1979 when Libby and the late Brenda Tuxford decided they needed a place for their etching press.  They believe that everyone has a secret artist inside.  They have facilitated over 70 “community dream maker “projects, including the Discovery Museum and Redwood Curtain Theater.  They also run an after school program for at risk teens.  They are currently located in the Carson Block Building, but will be moving into the Jefferson Community Center.

Finally, Michael Fields of Del Arte spoke.  Del Arte or “clown school” as some call it, is expanding its summer Mad River Festival to 7 weeks.  He also represents The California State Summer School for the Arts.  This is a prestigious summer program held in Los Angeles for 60 talented students between 14 and 18 years old.  They will be accepting applications through February 28thwww.csss.com.

Cryptically crafted by Hank Ingham, (a member of the Ink People and Redwood Art Association)

Feb 9, 2014

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
February 3, 2014

Sgt. Matt Coleman, a member of the National Guard who had recently returned from Afghanistan, led the flag salute.  Craig Hansen gave the invocation, and returning Former exchange student Jamie Carroll asked us to send letters, thoughts and prayers to Teresa Sims.

Guests
Judge Brown from Fortuna was our only visiting Rotarian.

Interact students Grace and Jordan came to the podium to tell us about an upcoming fundraiser to support a trip. 

Announcements
Greg Seiler announced that the theme for this year’s Rotary Raffle would be “Bootlegger’s Ball II - Rotarian’s Revenge”.  It will be held May 5th at the Ingomar Club. 

Gregg Gardiner and Tom McMurray Jr. teamed up to introduce this years “Service Above Self” Award.  Larry Ratliff, vocational coordinator for Teen Challenge, received a Paul Harris Fellowship in his name.  He and his crew of 45 spent thousands of hours rehabilitating Winship Middle School’s grounds. Ratliff also does a jail ministry and works at the Rescue Mission.  Then it was time for “recognition.” 

Recognitions
Dennis Hunter was fined $100 for receiving a lifetime achievement award at the recent Eureka Chamber Dinner.  President Ziggy also had a photo of Dennis dressed in 49er Gear at the Seattle vs 49ers game. 

Murl Harpham was spotted in the audience attired in civilian clothes.  He retired two weeks ago and no longer packs a pistol.  Ziggy commended him on his 57 years on the force, and gave him an additional item of apparel, a Rotary T-shirt. 

Mike Cunningham had a box of framed photos from recent Rotary Christmas Parties. Sally Arnot, Burt Campton, John Bradley, Matt Owen and Tom Schallert retrieved their portraits -for a handling fee of $25. 

While they were picking them up Ziggy relieved Greg Williston of $50 for being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board. 

Finally, Tom McMurray was singled out for a planned trip to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  He said it was on the way from Oslo to Jerusalem and anyway he liked raw fish.  When Ziggy informed him that it was “Sochi” not “sushi”, Tom looked disappointed. 

Gregg Gardiner returned to the podium to distribute United States Marine Corps Commander Awards to those who had gone the extra mile in helping Toys For Tots.  They included Nancy Dean, Dennis Hunter Patrick Cleary, Paula Patton, and, weighing in at a trim 200 pounds, wearing tan slacks and an oxford shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes, the handsome Hank Ingham-but enough about me.  Wait.  I didn’t win the raffle.  OK. Now I’m done.

Program
President Ziggy introduced our speaker for the day, Sergeant Matt Coleman of the National Guard.  He shared pictures of his recent tour in Afghanistan.  For his first three months he provided security for gravel Trucks.  He escorted them over a 20 mile stretch of what is called “The Heart Of Darkness in the Kandahar province.  Then he built bridges, sometimes using the same type of pontoon floats you see loaded on the back of trucks at our local Armory.  Some projects were completed in as little as 55 hours.  The main threat was the IED. They also experienced sandstorms that turned the sky black and stopped the whole convoy.   

He was thankful that he and his unit completed their tour unscathed, but felt guilty that so many others had not been as lucky.  He said that for some, it was hard to find jobs when they came back.  He knew some who suffered from PTSD.  When there were no more questions, the meeting was adjourned. 

Submitted by the natty Hank Ingham [note: raw fish is actually sashimi, but “sushi” is funnier.]

Feb 5, 2014



Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
February 3, 2014

Sgt. Matt Coleman, a member of the National Guard who had recently returned from Afghanistan, led the flag salute.  Craig Hansen gave the invocation, and returning Exchange student Jamie Carroll asked us to send letters, thoughts and prayers to Teresa Sims.

Guests
Judge Brown from Fortuna was our only visiting Rotarian.

Interact students Grace and Jordan came to the podium to tell us about an upcoming fundraiser to support a trip. 

Announcements
Greg Seiler announced that the theme for this year’s Rotary Raffle would be “Bootlegger’s Ball II - Rotarian’s Revenge”.  It will be held May 5th at the Ingomar Club. 

Gregg Gardiner and Tom McMurray Jr. teamed up to introduce this years “Service Above Self” Award.  Larry Ratliff, vocational coordinator for Teen Challenge, received a Paul Harris Fellowship in his name.  He and his crew of 45 spent thousands of hours rehabilitating Winship Middle School’s grounds. Ratliff also does a jail ministry and works at the Rescue Mission.  Then it was time for “recognition.” 

Recognitions
Dennis Hunter was fined $100 for receiving a lifetime achievement award at the recent Eureka Chamber Dinner.  President Ziggy also had a photo of Dennis dressed in 49er Gear at the Seattle vs 49ers game. 

Murl Harpham was spotted in the audience attired in civilian clothes.  He retired two weeks ago and no longer packs a pistol.  Ziggy commended him on his 57 years on the force, and gave him an additional item of apparel, a Rotary T-shirt. 

Mike Cunningham had a box of framed photos from recent Rotary Christmas Parties. Sally Arnot, Burt Campton, John Bradley, Matt Owen and Tom Schallert retrieved their portraits -for a handling fee of $25. 

While they were picking them up Ziggy relieved Greg Williston of $50 for being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board. 

Finally, Tom McMurray was singled out for a planned trip to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  He said it was on the way from Oslo to Jerusalem and anyway he liked raw fish.  When Ziggy informed him that it was “Sochi” not “sushi”, Tom looked disappointed. 

Gregg Gardiner returned to the podium to distribute United States Marine Corps Commander Awards to those who had gone the extra mile in helping Toys For Tots.  They included Nancy Dean, Dennis Hunter Patrick Cleary, Paula Patton, and, weighing in at a trim 200 pounds, wearing tan slacks and an oxford shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes, the handsome Hank Ingham-but enough about me.  Wait.  I didn’t win the raffle.  OK. Now I’m done.

Program
President Ziggy introduced our speaker for the day, Sergeant Matt Coleman of the National Guard.  He shared pictures of his recent tour in Afghanistan.  For his first three months he provided security for gravel Trucks.  He escorted them over a 20 mile stretch of what is called “The Heart Of Darkness in the Kandahar province.  Then he built bridges, sometimes using the same type of pontoon floats you see loaded on the back of trucks at our local Armory.  Some projects were completed in as little as 55 hours.  The main threat was the IED. They also experienced sandstorms that turned the sky black and stopped the whole convoy.    He was thankful that he and his unit completed their tour unscathed, but felt guilty that so many others had not been as lucky.  He said that for some, it was hard to find jobs when they came back.  He knew some who suffered from PTSD.   

When there were no more questions, the meeting was adjourned. 

Submitted by the natty Hank Ingham [note: raw fish is actually sashimi, but “sushi” is funnier.]