October 29 2018

The menu was Mexican food including rice beans tortillas chicken enchiladas, and cupcakes. Arny gave the invocation with his cute little daughter on his hip. Nick from the library said the Harry Potter celebration went well. 1000 people came, some in costume.  He’s going to make it an annual thing.

 

Klark Swan was designated Rotarian Of The Week. Ken Stodder couldn’t wait to talk about the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series.  He had on the complete outfit including the hat, a red sox jacket, and of course, red socks.  He was recognized for 100 dollars. 

 

There are four new directors for next year, Jerry Reese, Alicia Cox, George Owren, and Chuck Ellsworth.

 

Our speaker was President of HSU Lisa Rossbacher. She said 22% of their students graduate within 4 years.  That is an improvement.  She had to make 10 million dollars in cuts over the last 10 years, including football.  They are spending their reserve.  They may start up a nursing program in conjunction with CR.  She is retiring at the end of the year so she didn’t have much to say.

October 22, 2018

Dennis Hunter led us in the flag salute.  Pat Folkins gave the invocation. Lunch included fried cod, mashed potatoes, broccolini and chocolate cake. 

 

President Brad Mettam mentioned that polio was now confined to three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.  Don Leonard reminded everyone that Sign Smith Applications were due on the 31^st of October.  Carley said she could use volunteers for the Backpacks for kids stuffathon on Thursdays.  Report to Humboldt Moving and Storage. Rotarian of the week is Jennifer Budwig.

Our presenter was superintendent of Eureka City Schools Fred Von Vleck.

Rotarian of the week Jennifer Budwig

One of his biggest challenges is a policy which allows the student to go to his school of choice. Students normally assigned to Eureka High can instead choose Arcata or Freshwater.  This cuts the funding for EHS.  He also has a problem recruiting quality teachers and classified staff because there are not as many applicants .  Because of the the teacher shortage The students are two years behind normal by the time they get to 8^th grade. So to offset this they are building a new gymnasium at a cost of 20 million dollars.  Go Loggers!

October 15 2018

Menu: Ribs or fried fish, Potatoes with ham, dessert.  Greg Williston gave the invocation, noting that last Monday was Columbus Day, and also Indigenous People’s day, celebrating the few survivors of the “discovery” of the “New world” Most were enslaved, died of various diseases carried by their discoverers or were uprooted and forced to march to the deserts.  On some reservations children were taken to boarding schools because the authorities deemed their parents unfit.  There were hundreds of women and children massacred. To cap it all off, Columbus was really looking for the East Indies.  The first person to “discover” North America was Leif Erickson in 1000 AD. 

 

 Jay Warren Hockaday sent a nice note to the club thanking them for the Get Well Soon Card they had sent him.  Sue Bosch won an award from Kiwanis.  Phil Nicklas’s wife had a baby.  George Owren had a grandson on the EHS football team. Look Pad who is our exchange student from Thailand, not a new Apple Product, gave the club mementoes from her country.  A casually dressed newly retired Tom Schallert announced that the Blood Mobile they obtained with matching grants from Rotary had been shipped to Nigeria.  We inducted two new members but I didn’t get their names. 

 

 Our presenter was Barb Spangler our District Governor.  She spoke to this year’s theme “Be the Inspiration” and urged us to do what matters.  Some of the things her father taught her:  It’s nice to be nice, and” You can do it, Barbie baby”  That motivated her to become the first female sumo wrestler to compete in a tournament in Japan. ( just kidding)

Burl 10-1-2018

 

Menu: Chicken somewhere in a white sauce. mashed potatoes and gravy.  Bruce Rupp gave the invocation.  He asked us to remember John Winzler who is in the hospital recovering from surgery. 

 

Nancy Kay of the league of women voters introduced our program which was a debate between 7 of the 12 candidates for Eureka City mayor.  They were Susan Seamon, Heidi Messner, Michelle Constantine, Caroline Brooks, Leslie Castillano, Hailey Lamb, and Anthony Mantova.  Next week the other five candidates will be debating,  Statements by the candidates can be found in your voter’s handbook so I won’t get in to it here.  Dpn't forget to vote.

September 17 2018

The full lunch has gone up to $15.  This week it was beef hash or swiss chicken with spice cake for dessert.  President for now Brad Mettam called on Pat Folkins to lead the flag salute.  Lynn our newest Blue Badger gave the invocation.  J Warren Hockaday texted that he is now cancer free but still needs to regain his strength. Keith Crossley is still recovering from his stroke. John Winzler is in the hospital.

Brad's signature vest

Raffle tickets are available for the Foundation dinner Sat. 9/20. Patrick Cleary was named Rotarian of the week.  Pedals for Polio, a fund-raising bike ride from Ft. Bragg to Lakeport will be held October 2^nd.  $100 donation gets you a riding shirt made from polypropylene.

Our presenter for the day was Nick Wilczek, head of the Humboldt county Library.  He said, “every job is a service job”.  He used to be in the hospitality business.  His last job was at the Arcata branch library.  The Humboldt County has 24 branches and a bookmobile. Last year they circulated 984,000 books.  He had a quote:  Bad libraries build collections-good libraries build services, and great libraries build communities.  You can order books from the internet at Zip books for a dollar and return them to the library after you’ve re read them. If you have a library card you can go to overdrive.com and get e-books for your kindle.

September 10, 2018

Lunch menu was pork bolus or deep-fried cod accompanied by Mashed potatoes and salad bar. Carly Robbins gave the invocation. It was noted that J. Warren Hockaday was still undergoing treatment for his illness.  Keith Crossley is recovering from a stroke and is resting at home. Klark Swan reminded us of Foundation dinner North happening October 21^st.  Raffle tickets are available-$20 each or six for 100 dollars.

 

New Rotarian Nick Wilczek was introduced.  He is the new director of the Humboldt County Library. He wasn’t given a Red Badge. “he’ll just have to make his own” said President Brad Mettam.

 

Our presenter was William Wade, exchange student newly returned from a year in Belgium. He said “I left Belgium but Belgium will never leave me” His first host family were Muslims from Morocco. The country needed coal miners, so they asked the Moroccans to emigrate.  His favorite foods in country were couscous, Belgian fries, waffles, and chocolate. He visited every part of the country using cheap bus and train tickets. He attended local schools but found it difficult to understand the teachers because he spoke little French.  He had 12 different classes which rotated throughout the week.  He travelled to Paris, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Now he’s back and needs a full-time job so contact him if you know of one.

Meeting adjourned early.

August 27 2018

Today’s menu featured lasagna and barbequed ribs with salad bar and chocolate cake.

Carly Robbins called the meeting to order as president pro tem in the absence of Brad Mettam. Nathan Nilsen gave the invocation.  Then Red badger Anthony Stubbs was asked to give his craft talk.  He’s been a CPA for 12 years and has had his red badge for three of those years.  He has a great job and a wonderful family or vice versa.  Rick Littlefield commented on the Fire Relief Fund.  To raise funds someone had donated 6 Giants tickets for the game against the Padres on Wednesday September 26^th. Bidding was lack-luster and they went for $150.  Our Presenter was Kenny Spain from the Humboldt County Economic Development Division.  He talked about the Headwaters Fund and how it wasn’t raising as much money as it used to.  22 Million is designated for economic development.  For more information on meetings, come to the meetings.