Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
August 3, 2015
Lunch
Menu: Salad bar, chicken nuggets, roast beef, gravy, mashed potatoes,
green beans, rolls, dessert.
Called
to order by President Jay Bahner at 12:30pm.
The
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ken Stoddard. The invocation was led by Greg
Williston.
Traveling
Rotarians, Baron Manfred and Baroness Ingra were visiting from Washington.
Rick
Littlefield introduced Stephen Prokop, Superintendent of Redwood National and
State Parks (also our program today). Steve
Justus introduced Eric from Sweden who is married to Steve’s Finn “daughter”. Gregg Gardiner introduced John McManus from
the Serenity Inn, Kurt White General Manager of Bayshore Mall, and Gregg’s
daughter Kate. Jerry Reece introduced
his son-in-law, Bill. Pat Folkins
introduced Rick’s wife and his grandson Eric. Dr. Kim Bauriedel introduced his
wife Sile. Christian Hill introduced his
son Jack Hill. Jay Reed introduced his
daughter Evangelina. Jason Eads
introduced his mother Janet Eads, his wife Stacey and their daughters Hannah,
Olivia and Helen. Mindy Bussman
introduced her best friend’s daughter, Kylie and her son, Nate who she rented
for the bring your son or daughter to Rotary day. Carlton introduced his sons.
Kurt
Barthel, Pat Folkins, David Hull’s wife Crystal and Steve Justus are all
celebrating birthdays. Steve noted that
today is his youngest grandaughter’s 1st birthday and insisted on
being fined. After spinning $25 on the Rotary Wheel, President Jay turned that
into a $50 fine by having Ken Stoddard ask a double or nothing question, “How
many noses does a slug have?” (Slugs have a total of FOUR noses.) The Cartel gave Steve a thumbs
down for having the incorrect answer and Steve increased the total fine to $150
in recognition of his granddaughter.
A
special anniversary, Ken Stoddard celebrated his 43rd year in Rotary
on August 1st. Anniversaries
included George and Gail Owren- 51 years, Pat and Sheila Folkins- 55 years,
Craig and Lisa Hansen, Tom and Karin McMurray, Greg and Mary Sparks, and Susan
and Brian Tissot. Pat Folkins volunteered to sing the Rotary wheel in honor of
his 55th anniversary and landed on the $15. Double or nothing question… What is a group
of bears called? (A group of bears is a SLOTH.)
Gonged for $30.
President Jay reminded everybody to wear a Hawaiian shirt next Monday. In fact he reminded us 3 times during the
meeting so it sounds like it would definitely be in your best interest to wear
a Hawaiian shirt Monday. August 27th is cook your own steak Coast
Guard Night at the Elks Lodge. President
Jay still needs more people to sign up.
PP Gregg Gardiner asked Jaison Chand, John McManus and Kurt White to come
to the front of the room. Gregg noted
that Bayshore Mall was doing some remodeling last year and contacted him about
possible groups that could use things like benches, trash cans, planters and a
large playground structure. Eureka City
Schools and the Boys and Girl’s Club both received a number of items and Serenity
Inn received the playground structure.
John McManus is the Executive Director of the Drug and Rehabilitation
Program at the Serenity Inn, which provides low-income transitional
housing. Before the donation of the
playground structure the kids were playing in the parking lot when he first
arrived. He noted that for kids who have
already gone through so much in their lives it’s nice to let them be kids. As a thank you to Bayshore Mall, John gave
Kurt White a beautiful framed thank you letter and provided the Rotary Club of
Eureka with a photo of the kids playing on the new structure. Jaison Chand headed up the construction of
the playground and said that Del Biaggio and DCI Construction donated the help
of a carpenter to assist and a number of the residents at Serenity Inn
volunteered their time to make it happen. Serenity Inn is still in need of a
commercial BBQ, benches and picnic tables if anybody knows of items that are
available. In honor of Kurt White’s
donation PP Gardiner said that the Rotary Club of Eureka had made a substantial
donation to the Rotary Foundation in his name.
Elan Firpo was brought into the club by her sponsor, Jaison Chand. PP Nancy Dean gave the PP address.
A Rotary coin was won by Jack MacDonald and Jason Eads. Pat Folkins drew from the deck of cards for
the joker and a pot of $210 but received a consolation egg timer instead.
Rick Littlefield introduced our guest speaker Stephen Prokop,
Superintendent of Redwood National and State Parks as well as being Rick’s son’s
boss. Stephen has a BS in Marketing and
came to Redwood National and State Parks in 2013. His wife Christine is a nurse at Sutter Coast
Hospital in Crescent City where they reside.
Stephen said that Redwood National and State Parks is one of the few
partnerships between national and state parks in the United States. The park runs from Orick to Crescent
City. It was formed in 1994 because
visitors were confused about which part of the park was Federal vs State and
because it helped with the overhead expenses as so many costs were being
duplicated. Jedediah Smith, Del Norte
Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek are all encompassed by the National
Park. It was originally established in
1968 and the economic impacts to Humboldt County are significant. It is estimated that 79 million dollars is
added to the economy each year from the parks and 700 jobs are created. 1.3
million visitors come each year and this is a low estimate. Congress recently allotted 6 million to
acquire 6 acres in Orick. which will make this park the largest old growth
Redwood forest in the world. This new addition will include a $10 million
dollar visitor center that will be built at the site of the old Orick Mill. This
is intended to be a grand entrance to the park for visitors. The Save the Redwood League is financing the
entire visitor center and John Muir's grandson is slated to be the guest
speaker at the grand opening ceremony in 2016. Congress has voted additional
money to hire youth for the centennial event there will be Kayak tours, a
reintroduction of the California Condor, etc.
Other noteworthy things at the park include the work they are doing with
the Yurok Tribe at the mouth of the Klamath. The National Parks owns 1,200
acres there are they are working with the tribe to protect the culturally
sensitive sites. The Park is also working with Cal Trans on the Last Chance
Grade bypass. The committee is currently looking at 7 possible alternative
routes. The Park has an active social network including Facebook, Instagram and
YouTube that he encourages everybody to visit.
His priorities include improving the volunteer program, improving ADA
access, and dealing with the sudden Oak Death disease, which has affected some
Oak trees in the park.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30pm.
Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox
Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox
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