Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
June 30, 2014

The meal: meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, salad bar and dessert.

The pledge went by so fast that I missed who led it. The invocation was given by Dr. O’Brian of St. Joe’s who said he was used to doing it.

Ziggy Ziegenfuss, our outgoing president, had his engineer’s cap and engineer’s outfit on for the debunking.

Gregg Gardiner announced that members wishing to sign up for a committee should make their preferences known, or they would be unilaterally assigned.

Hank Ingham was called on to present his usual power point presentation insulting and belittling the President of the club and calling his tenure a train wreck. No insult was spared. It was the cleverest thing anyone had ever seen.

Next was the ceremonial throwing away of the rosters, followed by Nancy Dean presenting Ziggy with a model train.

Then the crowd was invited outside, where someone had parked a cement truck and garbage truck. An ambulance sat waiting. Dave Dillon talked about admitting Ziggy into the Past Presidents club. He said they took a vote, and 73% abstained.

Carlton Nielsen took the mic and made a comment that everyone wanted a piece of Ziggy, so he was going to put him in handcuffs and attach chains to his wrists, and then have the two trucks put him apart. Cooler heads intervened and the two trucks left, but not before the garbage truck hoisted up a garbage can full of unanswered correspondence from Ziggy’s rotary year. When they left we discovered a trolley parked behind them.

Ziggy posed for pictures and then drove everyone around the parking lot. Let’s all do this again soon.

Submitted by Hank Ingham

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
June 23, 2014

Today’s menu: beef stew over rice, deep fried cod over scalloped potatoes, paper over rock, rock over scissors, scissors over paper.  Dessert was chocolate cake. 

Greg Bowen led the pledge.  Dan Heinen gave the invocation.  He asked us to include Wayne Wilson and Paula Patton in our prayers. 

Matthew Owen introduced his daughter Molly who had just returned from a year of Rotary exchange in Thailand.  She had lots of fun, learned a little Thai, and had to leave quickly when the military staged a coup. 

Gregg Gardiner introduced new member Jerry Reece, former owner of McDonalds in Eureka, who is now in the cruise business. 

PP Tom Schallert encouraged participation in Rotary events. 

Ziggy then tried to rid himself of his remaining t-shirts.  Sue Bosch got one for her 58^th anniversary.  Joan Davies got one for visiting the Dominican Republic.  Ray Wickel got one for driving up from Arizona.  Gary Todoroff got one for going to Swaziland.  Kurt Barthel got one for consulting.  He had about 24 shirts left over that will probably end up in a dumpster, so if you see a homeless person in a blue Rotary T-shirt, don’t mistake him for a Paul Harris Fellow.

Our speakers were –Sequoia Park Zoo General Manager Gretchen Ziegler and Foundation President Chuck Dominic who talked to us about their Watershed Heroes project.  It will include their new displays for River Otters, Salmon and Bald Eagles.  The grand opening is July 26^th.  They have some new exhibits: Bush dogs ,a gray parrot, and Yaks.  Their future master plans include adding a redwood canopy walkway. They will also get some additional animals like wolverines, Tamarinds, and kudzu. 

The zoo is now the oldest operating zoo in California.  It’s also one of the smallest accredited zoos.  It’s owned by the City of Eureka.  The city budget for the zoo is $900,000.  Additional revenue comes from the admission fees, snack bar, gift shop and the Sequoia Park Foundation.  They have two fundraisers:  Zootini on August 14^th, and Brew at The Zoo.  Some money comes from ransoming small children who wander away from their parents.  Unclaimed children are fed to the Bush dogs.  (disclaimer:  Bush Dog is not a political statement).  Thank you for reading this far.  You can go now.

Respectfully submitted,

Hank Ingham