The Rotary Club of Eureka Burl September 29, 2014

It was Confucius Day, or so we were told. Lunch was egg rolls, fried rice, lo mein, pot stickers, and Chinese chicken salad. There were fortune cookies on the table. The fortunes said things like “is good idea to give to Rotary” and “You will come into some money. Give it to Polio Plus.” Former Marine Bill Tuttle led the pledge of allegiance. Bill McAuley gave the invocation. Wayne Wilson is having an operation in San Francisco next week.

We add a new member

We went immediately to introducing new members. Susan Tissot joined the Club. She is the fund-raiser for Humboldt Botanical Gardens. Tom Schallert introduced her and Will Kay gave the past president’s admonition. From there we went to the Annual Membership Meeting.

Jay Reed

Jay Reed noted the problems we had with dues collection last year, and this year we will mail the invoices rather than e-mail them. Last year we had a deficit of $4,000. 80 members participated in last year’s event at the Ingomar. We had $8,000 in revenue.

Greg Seiler

Greg Seiler talked about the results of the recent member survey. Members felt we needed more education. 90 % of them were involved in community service projects, dispelling the notion that we were a checkbook club. They wanted to see more fellowship, and more craft talks.

Gregg Gardiner went over our membership goals for the year. We have 8-10% attrition every year. This year we started out with 124 members, and we are now at 134. His goal is to reach 150 members. If we achieve that goal we can restore funding to Backpacks for Kids and reduce dues to $400. Our big projects this year are remodeling the Boys and Girls Club, Cleaning up the Serenity Inn and assembling a playground there, and putting 3 redwood benches in Rotary Grove. Our club has $700,000 in the Sign Smith fund, an additional 60,000 in the Rotary Endowment Fund, and we have recently added the Harvey Harper Scholarship fund and the Scott Guild Memorial Fund. We are rolling in money.

Lucky winer

No one drew the joker and won the pot of $90. It was noted that last week’s winner of $310 gave the money to the Boys and Girls Club.

Dr. Kim Bauriedel introduced our speaker, Doctor Donald Baird health officer from the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. He spoke of the growing problem of parents refusing to get their children vaccinated.

Dr. Baird

The resistance is based on fears that the shots cause autism. A study done twenty years ago and since discredited is still widely believed. Young people have not been exposed to childhood diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough, diptheria and polio. Once the population falls below a certain threshold of immunity there is a chance that those diseases could resurface in epidemic form. It’s a good idea to get your vaccinations renewed every five years. Flu vaccine is 50% effective. Hepatis B shots are a good idea. Watch the NPR special on Vaccines for more information and wash your hands.

confused

Gregg ended our session by quoting Confucius, who was born in 1541 BC. “Confucius say, never trust quotes you read on internet”
Typed with rubber gloves and a surgical mask by Hank Ingham

The Rotary Club of Eureka Burl September 22, 2014

Menu: Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, salad bar, and flan for dessert.

A man holding a basket full of paper slips greeted attending Rotarians and told them to draw a number. The tables had corresponding numbers. You were supposed to sit at the table whose number you had drawn. That way, each member would make new friends. I give it a week. Ex-Jar Heads John Burger, Pat Folkins, and Gregg Gardiner stood together as the speakers played “Halls of Montezuma” which is either a song about Eucalyptus flavored cough drops from South America, or the Marine Corps theme song. We did the pledge and then John Gierek gave the invocation. He asked us to pray for Wayne Wilson, who is in SF being treated for a brain aneurysm and for John Petrusha, a former Rotarian who passed away last week.

President Gregg announced that the first two Change the World Canisters had been turned in and counted. Jay Bahner’s had $350 and Gregg’s had a measly $157. Mindy Bussman reminded us that Backpacks for Kids would be starting up again October 2nd. Bag packers are needed. Rick Littlefield was fined for having abandoned the wine he won in last week’s raffle. Pat Folkins saved it for him. Now it’s a $25 bottle of wine. Mike Martin just returned from England where he spent 28 days digging for treasure. He found a 3800-year old bronze ax head and a gold coin minted by Henry VII worth $2,000. Dale Warmuth had been in New Zealand where, he claimed he “had just been helping that sheep over the fence”. Baaaad joke. $100. The sergeant at arms Steve Lafferty announced that we can now pay our recognitions with a credit card. Wendy Purnell finally got her blue badge. She joined the club in 2008. She said she’d waited so long because blue clashed with her outfits. Our esteemed leader called our attention to the Fellowship hour this Friday from 5 to 6 pm at the Ingomar Club Pool. It’s a chance to meet new friends if the numbered tables didn’t work for you. Bring a parka. Then it was time for a drawing. The aforementioned Wendy Purnell won a bottle of Rotary wine. Then calamity of all calamities, and interloper from another club drew the joker and won $310. It was Dennis Reinholtzen, now poster boy for Rotary Make Ups.

Our speaker was Paula Patton, Times-Standard publisher and member of our Rotary club. The Times-Standard is the only newspaper covering Northern California. It has a rich history dating back to 1854, it had local family ownership up until 1967 after that it passed through two or three more acquisitions until 1996 when it was purchased by Dean Singleton of Media News. In 2013 it became part of the Digital First Media when its owner the Media News group merged with 21st Century Media. It’s currently for sale “for the right price”. Paula told us what’s going on at the Time-Standard today and how they’re dealing with the new digital world. She presented a peppy video and then gave us some statistics. 20% of her revenue comes from subscribers, 25% from inserts, 25% on line and 30% from local display advertisers. Their website had 950,000 page views last month. The paper has 72 employees not counting paper boys, who are independent contractors. The paper uses 815 tons of newsprint a year. They have a new layout that is assembled at a hub in Chico. There have been some changes. Paid subscribers have ceased to be a focus. They no longer deliver a paper to Crescent City. Craig’s list caused the demise of classified ads. They took the news content out of the Tri-City Weekly. Other than that, things are just fine.
In a last-minute surge of new membership, Gregg had Jay Reed introduce new member Anthony Stubbs who works for Jay’s accounting firm Alfs and Evans.
Gamely submitted by Hank Ingham

Rotary Club of Eureka Burl September 15, 2014

Lunch Menu: Salad bar, pork chops, meatloaf, gravy mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, applesauce, rolls, and dessert. Called to order by President Gregg Gardiner at 12:26pm
President Gardiner informed us that today is the 200th anniversary of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. He talked about the significance & history of our national anthem and then we all sang the song together, led by Gregg’s guest, Christine. We actually sounded pretty good thanks to Christine who kept us pretty much on key. Carlton Nielsen led the Invocation. VISITING ROTARIANS: Jim M. and Praj White both from Arcata Sunrise. GUESTS OF ROTARIANS: Bruce Rupp introduced Hawley Butterfield, Ted Loring introduced Eli Savage our soon to be outbound exchange student, Don Leonard introduced his eldest son, Scott Leonard. Jeff Leonard brought Kim Bergel. FOUNDATION MINUTE: Dr. Bauriedel talked about what $100 can buy you. A new pair of shoes, a nice dinner out for 2 people or a new stove for a family that can last for many years. Rotarians that contribute $100 a year to the Rotary Foundation are considered sustaining members once they have contributed that amount annually for 10 years they become a Paul Harris Fellow. Of course everybody is urged to contribute more than that if they can. He asked us to remember that as little as $100 a year can change lives, it can make a difference. If you want to know more about the Foundation there is a seminar coming up on October 4th at the Fortuna Monday Club. A Registration form will be coming soon. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Dr. Bauriedel announced that a former Rotary Club of Eureka member, Mac Gardner recently passed away. He was a 20-year member of our club and very involved. He was the former Council Executive for the Redwood Area Council Boy Scouts of America. Funeral Services will be held at the Eureka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Dolbeer St at 11am on Wednesday September 17th 2014. President Gardiner announced the names of the four new members of the Board of Directors… Steven Lafferty, Dale Warmuth, Nathan Nilsen and Mindy Bussman. Congratulations to all. SPENGLER-HOWARD RAFFLE: Rick Littlefield won a bottle of Riverbend Cellars wine. Stacy Lane drew from the deck of cards for the joker and a pot of $280.00 however, no joker. The pot will now go to $300 next week. GUEST SPEAKER INTRODUCTION BY: Matthew Owen. Matthew told us that over 50% of arrests in Humboldt County are alcohol related, it was illegal to drink alcohol 81 years ago. Tobacco kills more than 5 million people a year and takes 10 years off a person’s life. Prescription painkillers are responsible for 15,000 deaths due to overdoses a year. These are all legal, regulated, controlled and taxed businesses. Humboldt County has a 4 Billion dollar industry that is untaxed, unregulated and uncontrolled. Our panel is here to talk and answer your questions about the Marijuana industry. GUEST SPEAKERS: Sheriff Mike Downey- he’s been working in marijuana eradication for over 30 years and has come to the realization that this is a free country. People should be allowed to make decisions about things like marijuana use as long as they are not a burden on the state, county, etc. He is not pro or against the legalization of marijuana but knows that what we are doing now isn’t working. There isn’t the manpower to enforce the laws. We either need to legalize or fully fund enforcement. Kevin Jodrey, Director of Wonderland Nursery in Garberville a medical marijuana facility feels that marijuana has made many medical advances and needs to be available to help people medically but it needs regulation. Natalynne Delapp, Executive Director of Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) in Arcata – Unregulated marijuana grows are currently impacting our Federal and Private lands, our wildlife and water. Something needs to change. Maggie Fleming- Incoming Humboldt County District Attorney – As a prosecuting attorney for 25 years she is definitely seeing a big impact to our environment from unregulated marijuana grows. Our regulations and enforcement has to deal with land and water use issues. Richard Marks- Organizer for California Cannabis, Elected Harbor Commissioner, and member of the Northcoast Rail Authority Director. His job at California Cannabis is to help draft an ordinance for legitimate cannabis growers in Humboldt County that will create a powerful unified voice and create sustainable and fair cultivation regulations. Luke Bruner- Treasurer and Director at Wonderland Nursery believes that Humboldt County has an opportunity to provide leadership for the rest of California. Questions and Answers included discussion on many topics including… (Sheriff Downey) difficulties and costs with enforcing laws now include the rough Humboldt County terrain and the need to employ helicopters which are extremely expensive to run. (Dan Price) There are many dangers of marijuana use it degrades IQ especially of youth, can cause Bipolar disease and Schizophrenia by those who use it chronically. He agrees that what we are doing is not working. (Kitty Poterack)- as a Pediatrician she applauds this panel. We need to move marijuana into the light of day so serious conversations can happen about the problems with use. (Bob Morse) How will legalization improve our ability to enforce marijuana grows that are downgrading the environment? (Sheriff Downey) It may help deter those coming here for profit only. Make it not as profitable for them. (Luke Bruner) Legalization will make marijuana growers a part of the business community meaning that they will join Rotary, need attorneys, accountants, etc. (Maggie Fleming) Oakland instituted an 18% sales tax on marijuana sales. (Sheriff Downey) One big problem is that Federal Law trumps State and County law. It is unlikely that the Federal Government will ever legalize marijuana use, as there are too many states in the middle of the US that will never vote that in. Right now they are not enforcing the law in those States that have legalized marijuana but they do have the legal ability to do that.

MEETING ADJOURNED: 1:30pm
Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox

Rotary Club of Eureka Burl September 8, 2014

Lunch was breaded veal cutlets, mashed potatoes, noodles, and gravy. The dessert was Apple cobbler. The music was a recording by the Marine Corps Marching band. John Burger led the pledge. Dan Heinen gave the invocation asked us to keep Wayne Wilson and Al Crnch in our prayers. He announced the passing of Lorraine Steele, widow of former Rotary President Kelton Steele. She was 101.

Lisa Poirot, our exchange
Student from Belgium

Jeff Leonard introduced our exchange student from Belgium, Lisa Poirot. She’s working on her English and would like to be included in something you’re doing. Former member Craig Perrone re-joined our Club. We had saved his badge. Brad Curtis, anchor at News Channel 3, was introduced as a guest by J. Warren Hockaday. J had a birthday and to celebrate it, he raked leaves. Don’t they have an app for that?

Dr. Welton

Dr. Ted Welton also had a birthday. He was 93. He celebrated by going to his granddaughter’s wedding. Brian Papstein was also on the birthday list. He objected to the recognition so President Gregg made everyone who wasn’t wearing his rotary pin put five bucks on the table. Nice going, Brian. Dr. Kim Bauriedel celebrated his “birthday” by attending a wedding and a funeral. He pointed out that a person has only one birthday. All the rest are anniversaries of that one day. Happy Anniversary, Kim.

Jill MacDonald had a birthday
e-i-e-i-o

Jill MacDonald went to a family party for her b-day.

Steve McHaney

Steve McHaney admitted to missing a month of meetings while he was in Guam. He did bring back a rotary banner from Tumon Bay. Gregg congratulated

Jay Bahner

Jay Bahner for being the first Rotarian to return his Rotary International coin bank full of money. Second place is still open. Dr. Kim Bauriedel then presented the Rotary Minute.


What can Rotary do with one donation of $100? It can buy school supplies for 15 children in Costa Rica. Donate today. Gregg pulled the Spengler-Howard raffle tickets and no one won the cash so the pot is up to $280.

Arnold King

The subject of our presenter was the Tibet Rotaract Project – Arnold King is a local history teacher and is currently the membership chair for Lost Coast Rotaract. In 2010 he worked and taught for a vocational training institute for relocated nomads in the Tibetan city of Yushu, in China's Qinghai Province. During his time there the region experienced a devastating earthquake that destroyed over 70% of the buildings and killed over 3,000 people. It required the city to be almost completely rebuilt. It wasn’t easy. The area is at an altitude of over 10,500 feet and relief crews had to acclimate themselves before reaching the city. He came back to Humboldt and, with the help of H.S.U.'s Geography Department, Lost Coast Rotaract and the Rotary Club of Eureka, was able to raise thousands of dollars to help the vocational training center continue its operations in providing gainful opportunities and capacity building for at risk populations in this remote, high altitude trading hub. They have sewing classes, motorcycle repair, welding and other training. They don’t need any donations right now. They are waiting for the school to be rebuilt so that they can continue classes.

Brian Papstein: Warning: object may be bigger than it appears.

Submitted by Hank Ingham

Rotary Club of Eureka Burl August 25, 2014

Lunch Menu: Salad bar, sweet potatoes, ham, turkey/dressing, carrots, rolls, dessert. Called to order by President Gregg Gardiner at 12:30pm.The Pledge of Allegiance was led by former US Marine Corp Captain, Bruce Rupp. The Invocation was led by Steven Justus. Wayne Wilson is back in the hospital and not receiving visitors. Steve Beckman is back in Granada but doing better.

VISITING ROTARIANS: Liana Simpson- Old Town, Jeff Pauli- Old Town (Bert Campton fined President Gregg $25 for mispronouncing Liana’s name as Lisa. Then, President Gregg fined Bert Campton $25 for mispronouncing Liana’s name as Lisa when he fined President Gregg. Neither side would budge on the fine. They tried to get the club to vote but most members abstained.) GUESTS OF ROTARIANS: Ted Loring brought Scott Loring, Carlton brought Rachel Burns from Redwood Teen Challenge, Mike Cunningham brought his son-in-law Andre who is moving back to Eureka, Tom Schallert brought Susan Tissot the Executive Director of the Humboldt Botanical Gardens, Dick Storre introduced his wife, Debbie. STUDENT GUESTS: Our new exchange student Lisa from Belgium has arrived. Today was her first day of school so she won’t be joining us until the next meeting. Lisa still needs a 3rd host family for her stay with the club. FOUNDATION MINUTE: Mike Cunningham provided today’s meeting filling in for Keith Crossley who hurt his back. Rotary Foundation began over 100 years ago with a donation of $26.50 from Rotary International President, Arch C. Klumph. Mike pointed out that money alone could not accomplish the many things the Foundation does. It also takes service from the many committed Rotarians who live throughout the world. BIRTHDAYS: J Hockaday, Jill McDonald, Steven McHaney, David Wells, Ted Welton ANNIVERSARIES: Russ Harris he was already recognized last week so President Gregg let him sit back down unscathed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Tom McMurray said that Redwood Teen Challenge is holding an annual dinner/fundraiser at the Arcata Community Center on Sept. 9th at 6pm. Tickets are $25 and tables for 8 are available. President Gregg reminded the club that Redwood Teen Challenge has contributed a lot to the Winship Project and will be contributing a lot to the Boys and Girls Club project. President Gregg updated us on the Boys and Girls Club project… The new roof will be put on next week. The painting has been finished to remove all lead-based paints… things are moving forward. Sign Smith applications are due October 1st. Applications are on line. Grants generally run in the $30 to $35,000 range. If you know of a non-profit that has a project that fits, encourage them to apply. It’s time to vote on the Board of Director’s for next year. Ballots were passed out. Carlton reported on the Rotary Exchange Student rafting trip. He BBQ’d for 115 kids, parents, etc. on Saturday night. It was a great event. Russ Harris provided all of the salmon for the BBQ. Bruce Rupp, sporting a t-Shirt promoting KEET TV was asked to stand up by President Gregg and tell us what that’s all about. Bruce invited everyone to join KEET TV. It costs as little as $5 a month. KEET has to raise $800,000 or they will no longer be on the North Coast. If you enjoy watching KEET please join. President Gregg held up spare change canisters that have the message, Spare Change to Change the World with the Rotary emblem. Rotarians are all asked to take one and bring it back filled up. Then you can get a new one to fill again. We are committed to contribute $120 perm member this year to the Foundation. If you want to put the canisters out at your business you can get extra ones to do that with. RECOGNITIONS: President Gregg asked all Directors of the Boys and Girls Club to stand. The board has committed funds that more than match Rotary’s contribution to the renovation project as part of their commitment to Boys and Girls Club. Dale Warmuth and ? stood up in recognition of their commitment to the Boys and Girl’s Club. Wendy Purnell was asked to stand. Wendy recently took an out of town trip with members of her golf team to compete against 20+ teams. Wendy’s team took 1st place. Her first place cost her a $25 donation to the club. Anyone that has traveled overseas this summer was asked to stand. Up went Dennis Hunter who went on a cruise of the Mediterranean including his favorite, Italy. Cost him $25. Dale Warmuth went to New Zealand for a fine of $100, Tom McMurray went to Norway because his daughter got married. He made the mistake of telling the club that he only had to pay for the dress and flowers. His in laws picked up the rest of the costs. That cost him $100. ROTARIAN OF THE MONTH: Steve Lafferty received a framed certificate from President Gregg thanking him for his consistent, hard work in setting up the club each week, keeping attendance tabs and emailing each Rotarian each week. SPENGLER-HOWARD RAFFLE: A bottle of Riverbend Cellars wine was won by Scott Loring. Bruce Rupp drew from the deck of cards for the joker with no success. The pot now stands at $230.

GUEST SPEAKER INTRODUCTION BY: Bruce Emad. College of the Redwoods (CR) President Kathy Smith started at CR in May of 2012, at a very dark time for CR. There were sanctions against the school, finances were horrible, etc. Today’s report will be very different. Kathy’s background was as President of Mendocino College for many years and prior to that worked for 11 years at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colo. She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Kansas and a master of business administration (MBA) at the University of New Mexico. She has been a CPA since 1978. GUEST SPEAKER: Kathy started off with a few statistics about Community Colleges. In total there are 112 community colleges in California with over 2 million students as opposed to 23 California State University colleges and 10 University of California colleges. She provided some interesting handouts with other statistics. Today College of the Redwoods has no sanctions. They have a mid-term report due in mid October. Assuming they pass that with no problems there will be no review required for 3 to 4 years. The recommended budget reserves are 5% of the annual budget. When Kathy arrived at CR their reserves were at 2%. Today those reserves total 5.3% and they expect to meet their goal of having reserves totaling 5.4% at the end of this year. Those achievements came at the cost of 33 people that she had to lay off and the hard hard work of existing employees who were committed to making CR succeed. There are a lot of reporting requirements that take a lot of time and her staff works hard to meet those requirements. They have built 3 new buildings… Science, Humanities, Administrative/Student support. Those buildings are being fully utilized. However, the old buildings on campus are sitting idle and are too expensive to retrofit because they are so old. However, the buildings need to be maintained to stay safe, which costs money. They can utilize the buildings for non-student activities. They did rent one to PG&E who will be expanding their rental needs this year. That has been a great experience. The PG&E employees also eat at the Cafeteria, which helps with sales at the Cafeteria. CR’s Mendocino Campus is being transferred to Mendocino College. It’s too far and too expensive to keep up. It doesn’t make sense. The Nursing classes are full with a waiting list of 200 students but there is no budget to increase and even if they did, she’s not sure there are jobs to support the additional students that would be coming out. Kathy invited all Rotarians to come to the 50th anniversary celebrations on October 4th from 4-6pm at College of the Redwoods. It will be a fun time. MEETING ADJOURNED: 1:30pm. Alicia Cox

Rotary Club of Eureka Burl August 18, 2014

Lunch Menu: Salad bar, scalloped potatoes, salmon, chicken cordon bleu, rolls, dessert

Called to order by President Gregg Gardiner at 12:30pm The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bob Palmrose The Invocation was led by Greg Williston VISITING ROTARIANS: Bill Morill- Southwest Rotary, Retired Judge Brown-Ferndale GUESTS OF ROTARIANS: Carlton introduced Bill Tuttle owner of the Chalet Restaurant new owner of the Cutten Inn; Lisa Slack introduced Cindy Beddington CEO of Redwood Acres Fairgrounds; Jeff Leonard introduced last year’s outbound exchange student to Sweden,

Ashley Bott back
from Sweden

Ashley Bott and her grandmother, Donna Fuller. BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays this week. President Gregg asked for a moment of silence in recognition of this momentous occasion. ANNIVERSARIES: Russ Harris is celebrating his 13th anniversary with Rotary,

Richard's 32nd Anniversary

Richard Borough is celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary. Carlton will be celebrating his 20th anniversary without his wife, cooking food for about 110 kids and their parents at the Rotary Youth Exchange event.



Gregg forgot Ken's Anniversary

 Ken Stodder notified President Gregg that his 41st anniversary had been forgotten amidst gasps from the audience and a profound apology from our President. ANNOUNCEMENTS: A new community service project is coming up soon. In partnership with Del Norte Rotary we will be cleaning up the Rotary Grove, comprised of 80 acres, located between Eureka and Crescent City. It needs to be weed wacked, a bench replaced, etc. Stay tuned for dates. Bill Morrill thanked the club for a grant recently made to him to help fund a series of shows being produced for the Clarke Museum. Board of directors meeting next Tuesday. Board of director nominations will be on Sept. 8th for the coming year. A list of eligible members will be emailed soon.Our president announced that today is National Bad Poetry Day and in celebration he wrote an astoundingly bad poem which generated boos from the crowd.

Forgot their Rotary Pins

RECOGNITIONS: Everyone without a Rotary pin, tie, etc. were asked to stand up. Christian Hill, Nathan Nielsen, George Owren, Tom McMurray, Carol Rische and Don Smullin all stood and were asked to confess why they were not wearing their pins despite a reminder last week from our president and a follow up email. All received a $5 fine except for Christian Hill who was fined $10 for claiming that his pin was left sitting on the windowsill to reflect light to keep bugs away and Don Smullin who was fined $20 for deleting President Gregg’s email without reading it. SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Ashley Bott gave us a presentation on her year in Sweden and what her experience was like. She definitely recommends this experience to anybody who is interested.

Dennis tries to barter his bottle.

SPENGLER-HOWARD RAFFLE: A bottle of Riverbend Cellars wine was won by Dennis Hunter.
Brad Mettam drew from the deck of cards for the joker and a pot of $180. However, he drew a 4 of diamonds. The pot is now at $200.

Gregg's card trick floors 'em

Jeff Leonard has come up with a new twist on the drawing that President Gregg will announce next week. GUEST SPEAKER INTRODUCTION BY: President Gregg Gardiner introduced Humboldt County Chief Administrative Officer, Phil Smith Hanes who is hear to talk to us about Measure Z.

The Z stands for ...

GUEST SPEAKER: Measure Z raises local money that will stay here in Humboldt County by putting a ½ cent tax on goods purchased in Humboldt County for the next 5 years. The measure was put on the ballot because $286 million dollars has been taken away in State revenue over the past 22 years, decreasing public safety and other essential services. If passed, this measure is expected to raise approximately $6 million annually.

The under-sheriff
fills in for Phil.

The Sheriff’s office is down 30 employees from where it used to be. Other services such as fire departments, rural ambulance services, 911 emergency response times, etc. would all benefit from the passing of this measure. The election will be on November 4, 2014. Fore more information about Measure Z go to http://www.humboldtgov.org/ MEETING ADJOURNED: 1:30 pm by President Gregg who announced that anyone with an August birthday who didn’t sit up front put $5 on the table. If you haven’t paid your dues, pay up. And lastly he left us with this thought… ‘taxes grow without rain’.

Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox

Rotary Burl August 11, 2014

Lunch Menu: Salad bar, fried shrimp, French fries, chicken pasta, mixed vegetables, rolls, dessert
Called to order by President Gregg Gardiner at 12:30pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Pat Folkins. The Invocation was led by Bruce Rupp, VISITING ROTARIANS: Liana Simpson from Old Town Rotary. GUESTS OF ROTARIANS: Bruce Rupp brought back Hawley Butterfield amidst cheers from the crowd.



First Lady Of Rotary

 Kathy Cloney-Gardiner introduced Chris Cox, Assistant Principal at Winship Middle School. Chuck Goodwin introduced Eureka City Council Member, Marian Brady.




Kathryn Smith

  Jay Reed introduced Anthony Stubbs, CPA at Aalfs Evans & Company. FOUNDATION MINUTE: Keith Crossley told us we were this close to eradicating polio. When Rotary started down this path 125 countries still had polio. Today only 3 countries still experience polio… Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Help is needed now more than ever. Dr. Kim Bauriedel added… eradicating polio from the last 3 countries is very expensive. These last 3 countries are hard to gain access to and that is the reason it costs so much.



Mike Martin Paul Harris Fellow

 Mike Martin was asked to come to the podium where he received a long past due pin and medal for his contributions to the Paul Harris Foundation. Mike received a standing ovation from the crowd. BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: Dave Dillon’s birthday and anniversary are on the same day, 08/13/14. President Gregg fined Dave for missing last week’s meeting when District Governor Kevin visited. On top of that he missed it to go to a music festival. Dave defended himself as it was an anniversary trip but he still had to pay a fine of $5.76. He generously upped his fine to $10. Other birthdays this week include Rick Littlefield, Kitty Poterack and Pat Folkins.
RECOGNITIONS: Past President Hank Pierson was led into the room by Sheriff Mike Downey in handcuffs.



Hank Pierson in cuffs

  His crime? Missing President Gregg’s first meeting and every meeting since then. Prosecuting Attorney Arnie Klein questioned Hank at length and ultimately pronounced him free to go. However, President Gregg wasn’t letting him off that easily… A super fine of $100 was imposed on Past President Hank because of the egregious



Gregg and his attorney

 nature of his crime. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Kathy Smith passed on an announcement from Lee Cunningham that there is an internship available from the Women in Transportation Initiative that pays $14 or $15/hr. The internship has an emphasis on public relations for women in construction. Call Lee if you are interested in knowing more. SPENGLER-HOWARD RAFFLE: A bottle of Riverbend Cellars wine was won by Steven Lafferty. Russ Harris drew from the deck of cards for the joker and a pot of $150. However, he drew a 4 of clubs so the pot goes up $20 for next week’s drawing. GUEST

City Manager Greg Sparks

SPEAKER INTRODUCTION BY: Gregg Gardiner. Greg Sparks was appointed Eureka City Manager on May 1st. He is from West Des Moines Iowa, and is a former Rotarian. GUEST SPEAKER: Greg Sparks grew up in Newton Iowa. He is celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary this year with his wife, Mary who is a nurse. She is currently waiting for her nursing license to arrive in the mail before she can start her job search. Greg has a Masters in Public Administration and interned at the City of Reno in 1978, 36 years ago. He’s stayed in this field ever since. He said there are many challenges in Eureka. There has been and continues to be a lot of turnover in some key positions. The Director of Community Development position has been empty for awhile but they expect to announce the new director soon. They are recruiting for a new Finance Director. There are openings in police and fire.

Assistant City Manager Mike Knight is taking early retirement in September and there are a few long time employees who will be taking early retirement in September with the California PERS early retirement offer. With those long-time employees goes a lot of institutional knowledge. Greg’s focus is on providing strong customer service and innovation. The city belongs to an “Alliance Consortium.” This consortium is committed to sharing ideas, etc. They are committed to succeeding through innovation, finding solutions to problems creatively. When he arrived there was a $4 million dollar imbalance between revenue and expenditures and although they have balanced the budget it came at the price of reducing services they didn’t want to reduce. Measure Q, on the ballot to continue the ½ cent sales tax will generate approximately $4.1 million dollars annually. The economy has improved but these dollars are still vital to city services.

Keith Crossley showing how
much respect he has for Gregg

 Police and Fire services need to have money increased so that there are adequate services. Greg’s goal of customer service came from the continuing complaints he has heard about the lack of customer service at the city.

He said this will change one person at a time. He is holding Department Heads accountable and has asked city council members, etc. that if they hear complaints to let him know so that he can sit down one on one with the person(s) to try to resolve the issue. He wants to hear about problems as they happen, not 6 months down the road when it is too late to fix the problem. The rest of the time was devoted to questions and answers including topics like the Homelessness Task Force and the need for more housing and mental health services and funding from the State and Federal level to help. MEETING ADJOURNED: 1:30pm by President Gregg who reminded us this year’s primary goal is membership and asked us all to invite somebody to Rotary. He in fact invited City Manager Greg Sparks to become a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Eureka. He suggested that everybody wear their Rotary pin to the meeting next week.

Respectfully submitted, Alicia Cox