Sublime, indeed, with Connie Coleman-Lacadie and Linda Disney greeting all with Winefest information, Steve Enquist taking Paul Harris money, Debbie McVicker selling raffle tickets, Bob Zawilski taking photos, Donn Irwin leading us in the Pledge, and Philip Lindholm delivering a great invocation. Whew! What a start!

There are only two seasons: Winter, and Baseball   (Bill Veeck)

Guests:
Lua Pritchard introduced Cheryl Lee, former Rotarian elsewhere and the new Executive Director of the Korean Women’s Association.
Carl Bronkema introduced Tori Murphy, Gayle Selden introduced Kamarie Wilson, and Scott Casebolt introduced himself in the absence of the vacationing Jim Sharp: all guests who were about to become Lakewood Rotarians.
Angela Connelly brought Jessica Langley (a friend not seen since college!) from Coffee Oasis
Philip Lindholm introduced Nick Moore from Terry Wise and Associates.
And perhaps it was Angela who introduced Brie Cooper, about to become a Rotarian in a week.
Visiting Rotarians:
Jim Merritt, Tacoma 8
Erin Chanfrau, currently directing INCORRUPTIBLE at the Lakewood Playhouse, Clover Park Rotary
Zooming: Carole Wier, Ralph Johnson, David Swindale, Jim Rooks.

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.    George Will

MARY HITS A TRIPLE!!!!
Three new members in one day! The Puffin pass started first: now pay attention:
Linda Ripley handed off to Mark Silva to Scott Casebolt, then Philip Lindholm parted with his puffin and it went to Tori Murphy by way of who knows who, while Scott passed his to Kamarie Wilson, who “begrudgingly” passed it back to Scott. Got that? The ol’ hidden Puffin trick, played to perfection.
After Mary’s words of wisdom and induction ceremony, we heard from the new Puffins:
Scott Casebolt spent 33 years with Tacoma Fire (medic, hazmat, etc., and volunteered in New York on 9/11), then became Fire Chief in Tangent, Oregon for 5 years, and is now on the South Sound 911 Board, a faculty member at Pierce and now recently elected as one of our fire commissioners. Married 44 years with two daughters. And he is a virtuoso on the bagpipes.
Kamarie Wilson is the manager at Home Street Bank in Lakewood, is a member of Steilacoom Kiwanis and the Lakewood and the Steilacoom Public Safety Advisory Boards, and has three boys: sons age 13 & 8, and her husband of 19 years.
Tori Murphy spent six years in the military as an MP (where she met her MP husband), then went to college to earn degrees in psychology and criminal justice. She is a certified hostage negotiator and works for Veterans Security Service as an account representative (which is where former members Christian and Ryan were from, and Christian still is from).
Welcome!!! It should be noted that the only sponsor on the floor was Gayle Selden, which explained how substitute sponsors Carl Bronkema and Greg Horn were given pictures of the real sponsors to display in front of them so no one would be confused. As if the Puffin pass didn’t confuse everyone enough. (Veronica Bronkema and Jim Sharp were the missing ones.)

The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.   Bob Uecker

Announcements:
Winefest is April 27, and approaching fast. Mary Marlin displayed the expensive and beautiful necklace donated by Sean at Diamond Designs Unlimited. Ticket sales began the day at 192: getting closer, but a ways to go. Next Friday is the new and very real deadline. Jan Gee is still searching for volunteers for the night of April 27. Still could use some auction items, and the raffle is coming due: $5000 prize.

Rob Erb asked for a vote on $2000 from the Military Appreciation Committee for scholarships for the Lewis-McChord Family Scholarship Fund. Zero “no” votes were recorded.

April 20: Earth Day. We are scheduled to help at Owens Beach for cleanup, 9-12.

Family Fines or whatever we call them to make them seem more palatable that “fines”:
Hank Kerns spent two weeks in Antigua and other places that my hearing aids selectively didn’t pick up. But part of it was with a host family from Hank’s year as an exchange student!! $100
Bill Potter proclaimed that “every day when Sue’s still there is the best day of my life,” and then produced $100 to commemorate 30 years of marriage. (Yes, Sue reads our bulletin…..)
Gary Barton visited his brother in Denver and skied a couple double black diamonds and lived to tell the tale. $50
Barlow Buescher traveled to Texas to see Charlene Miseli (former member) and husband Jay, in order to see the full eclipse. $40
Bob Martin took a break from physical ailments to relax in Puerta Vallarta where he “dried out”. Meaning from the rainfall, we expect, not the other drying out. $50
Rob Erb was recognized for 47 years of marriage previously, and rounded it up to $50

A big thanks to all of Lakewood Rotary for the $3000 donated to the Lakewood Baseball Club this year. They have given out about 50 scholarships so those kids could play this year. That and an increase in many costs have made our donation critical to this season even happening.  And on that subject, I am coaching again after a couple years on the sidelines, working with my granddaughter and 12 other 4-5-6 year olds in T-ball. Sometimes I feel like the Dodgers’ manager trying to talk to Ohtani through his interpreter when I speak with the 4-year old. Their diction is not so great…The other day, we were working on running the bases. Not really HOW to run the bases, but WHERE they are. Despite my erudite instruction, there remained some difficulty in understanding the general direction of first base. So I took the player who was having the most difficulty, and using my best coaching technique, instructed this player to follow another player who seemed to know where first was: “Follow him, he’ll show you the right way”. Then the two of them took off for parts unknown, somewhere between 1^st and 2^nd before veering into right field. At least the second kid was following my instruction perfectly.

I hit a grand slam off Ron Herbel and when his manager Herman Franks came out to get him, he was bringing Herbel's suitcase.   Bob Uecker  (Ron Herbel played 9 years in the Major Leagues, before becoming President of Lakewood Rotary in 1984. Bob Uecker hit exactly one grand slam in his career.)

Program:
Angela Connelly was demoralized many years ago when it became clear how many homeless teens were out there. Coffee Oasis started 27 years ago to fill this need. Our speaker, Mike Parejo, transitioned from a career as a church pastor to Coffee Oasis, in Tacoma at South 14^th and Tacoma Avenue. Their mission: Restore community through compassionate youth programs and coffee business. They are the only agency providing housing services for teens. There are 200 to 300 homeless teens in Pierce County (hard to know because of the “couch surfing”). 20% report being trafficked and 33% have been victims of violence. The coffee business provides opportunities for the youth, as well as raising money for their care. They have a 12-bed shelter. Their drop-in centers serve 20-30 youths per day. There are 6 locations, but only one in Tacoma. Since 2013, they have helped 549 achieve permanent housing. In 2023 alone, 87 achieved housing, 144 accessed housing through Coffee Oasis, and they had 3232 bed nights last year. The kids can only stay a maximum of 150 days, so the clock ticks in getting them on their feet and on their way. Want to get involved? Go to thecoffeeoasis.com/get-involved. They are currently renovating a new housing project for 16 to 20 year old women (who can stay there a maximum of 2 years), and there is a May 8 fundraiser specifically for this. On October 2, their major fundraiser will take place at Historic 1625 Tacoma Place. Last year, they raised $300,000. Go to: thecoffeeoasis.com/coffeecorks.
April 26: Angela Connelly, Rose Stevens and you (?) will be leaving from Rotary for a private tour of the facility. Go with them!

And lastly: Scott Casebolt started his membership off right with the winning ticket, #8902. But he only got it sort-of right: he pulled a white chip worth $5.00, not $662.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
While here in Lakewood joy reigns supreme, as Mary said “over and out”!
(However, in Mudville, mighty Casey did, in fact, strike out….”)

 

Guests:  Gayle Selden introduced a guest whose last name was Wilson and her Mom (and Rick’s wife) Sharon Selden.  PM recognized Greg and Victoria Whitman.   Jim Weinand introduced his wife Jenny. John Lowney honored his wife, Pam Lowney.

Zoomers were welcomed by PM and she acknowledged our usual dignitaries: PDG Greg Horn, DGN Tony Camoroda, and AG Bill Potter.   If you were never in the military, we will explain these abbreviations for you:  Past District Governor (PDG); District Governor Nominee (DGN), who takes office as DG in July of 2025 is DGN Tony; and AG is Assistant Governor.

Sunshine: Wendy had no bad news for us, which is good news. She said the memorial for LT GEN William “Bill” Harrison, our first mayor, will be held on April 6^th as this is written, but that was yesterday as this will be published on Sunday, so sorry if you missed it. Bill was a great leader and did a wonderful job as our first mayor of the new City of Lakewood.  LT GEN means lieutenant general, which is a three-star general, outranking Major General, which is a two-star general.  The American military is so logical! 

Hilarious Skit:   At that point in the meeting, the trio of Anne Enquist, Stephanie Wilcox and Ron Irwin presented a brief skit to remind us to sign up for the Dinner and a Movie—a Rotary Auction item that costs a mere $85 per person.  It is scheduled for July 21 at the AMC for the movie Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.   The 4:00 p.m. movie will be followed by a dinner with burgers and the like at Tacoma Country and Golf Club. The three thespians did a nice job recreating a 1954 hypothetical event at some mythical high school, complete with Anne’s poodle skirt, Stephanie’s really red lipstick and Ron Irwin, who I swear was wearing his old Elvis wig! It was “neato mosquito” as Anne so aptly put it.  Don’t miss this retro gala. Sign up now on the website or send a check to John Lowney.

Membership Growth is Critical:  Did you know?  Next week the plan is to induct new members Scott Casebolt and Brianna Cooper.  Insiders, including the Lakewood Key investigative reporter, know that Scott was recently elected to a fire commissioner position at West Pierce Fire & Rescue.  Scott is a retired Tacoma Fire officer and served for many years as an elected fire commissioner at another Pierce County fire district.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: PM announced a correction about the two Major Projects.  The H-Barn project is set at $50,000 and the Nourish project is for $100,000. PM said she, the board, and the committees learned a lot about ways to improve communications to the club members about our major project plans and proposals.  Next time the process will include two weeks’ notice to the club about any major projects to be submitted, followed by a vote.  PM said the goal will be greater transparency.  She said this new process should be memorialized in the bylaws of the club.

NEW LAKEWOOD KEY FEATURE: THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

In an effort to increase transparency in Lakewood Rotary, as to what our leadership is doing for the good of the club and the community, we at the Lakewood Key are establishing what we hope will be a regular, recurring feature of the weekly LR newsletter.   Well, maybe irregular, as in whenever the Prez feels like including a message.  It will be a column written by the current President as a message to members (sort of a Fireside Chat, a la Franklin D. Roosevelt) on a matter of her/his choice.  We propose to call it The Bully Pulpit, an oblique reference to another President—Teddy Roosevelt.  I know, I know, the Bulletin is already full of Bull!

THE BULLY PULPIT:
As your current President, I wanted to say a few words about the Major Projects that the Lakewood Rotary Club has recently approved for the use of your money and the funds we raise through our various fundraising efforts. As noted above, we voted recently to move forward with two major project efforts to fund worthy initiatives in our city.  Yes, $150,000 ($50,000 for H Barn, $100,000 for Nourish), is a lot of money and of course it is more than we can expect to raise in one year, despite our most valiant efforts. However, to clarify what we plan to do, both of these projects will be paid for over multiple years.  I believe the first payment to the H-Barn project will not be due and payable until at least two years from now.  Thus, spreading the contribution of $150,000 over three or four years is well within our usual capabilities. As noted above, the board is committed to a more formalized process in the future for presenting plans for funding major projects. As your current President, I have approved this message and hope to submit many future columns for publication in the Bully Pulpit!  Maybe you will all lobby to have my likeness placed upon Mount Rushmore.   (Greg made me put that in here as a late April Fool’s joke.) 

Paul Harris Awards:  Stephen Enquist came forward to award three Paul Harrises as follows:
Don Daniels, his fourth PH award, Rob Erb, #7 and Jim Weinand, #8!  Congratulations and thanks from the RI Foundation.

Birthdays and Anniversaries:  Greg Rediske announced this month’s birthdays and both wedding and Rotary anniversaries.  Just the highlights:  Of the seven birthday boys and girls, the only one in attendance was Donn Irwin, aged 75 this month.  As a reward, Greg forced Donn to tell a bit about himself.  Donn was at a loss to relate his greatest accomplishments, but we can assure you that he is way too humble. Donn grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but then the family moved to Lakewood, but it was in California.  Anyway, this former Tacoma 8 member eventually found where he really belongs—Lakewood, WA.   As for Rotary anniversaries, one notable was Chris Kimball with 23 years counting his time at Tacoma 8.  Bob Cammarano, another Tacoma 8 alum,  had the most marital years with 69.  Was there a Rotary 8 theme here or what?  Greg also mentioned that LR member Morris Northcutt has a new album out so get it on the internet.

District Conference:  Last week to sign up for District Conference at Semiahmoo on May 3-4.  There may still be rooms left.  They have 223 attendees so far.

Earth Day:  Earth Day will be celebrated on April 20^th with a beach cleanup at Owen Beach at Point Defiance Park.

WINE AND BEER FESTIVAL:  PM called upon Linda Disney to report on the big event to be held April 27^th.at McGavick.  Linda said as of this morning we had only sold 165 tickets, but John Lowney and others said that number increased today.  We need at least 300 attendees.  Deadline to sign up is April 12^th so let’s get with it!  How else can we fund our major projects, Community Concerns Committee donations, scholarships and international service projects?  Zoomer Bill Potter gave a quick report on the major projects. 

Community Concerns Committee:  Jan Gee stepped up to ask our approval for a grant of $2500 to the organization known as Grave Concerns.   This group pledges to place gravestones identifying those interred at the Fort Steilacoom Park cemetery.  Yes, there is a small one there not far from the dog park in the middle of FS Park. These are graves of patients who died while at the historic Western State Hospital; many of these graves have not been previously marked or identified in any way. Unanimous approval of course.

Rotary on Tap:  Mark Herr announced that the next Rotary on Tap event will be on Thursday,  April 11^th at the Adriatic Restaurant, which is located at Oakbrook Golf and Country Club.

Reminder:   the World Affairs Seminar 2024 is held from June 22 to June 28 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. This is one experience that IS open to the children and grandchildren of Lakewood Rotarians so see if you have someone to nominate.  Ask John Lowney if you want to know what his grandchildren experienced, as at least two of them have attended in the past.

RYLA:  Leanna Albrecht is accepting applications for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and she could use some help to review applications.  

Cookie Jar:   Troy Wilcox put $50 in the cookie jar for his and Stephanie’s 24^th wedding anniversary and because next week Steph has a birthday. Gayle Selden said that our exchange student—Amelia—and her parents really enjoyed a trip to the Washington Coast to view the wonders of Olympic National Park.  Ruby Beach never disappoints. But Amelia especially enjoyed the Town of Forks with all of its Twilight fame and memorabilia.  We think Gayle put something in the jar for that.  Gayle also said Amelia is finished at the Wilcox home and will be staying next with the Murthas.  Barb Spriggs announced that she is moving to West Richland to be near family, but she pledged to Zoom in to LR meetings occasionally. 

THE PROGRAM:  Greg Horn introduced our speakers, Serena Rotondo and Nathan Johnson. It was noted that Serena is actually a “graduate” of our LR Next Step program as she was mentored by Anne and Stephen Enquist some 6-7 years ago.  Nathan comes to West Pierce after having served as the Emergency Management Manager for the City of Yakima. Nathan first answered the question:  “What is Emergency Management?”  He described the term as a framework to deal with disasters.  It involves community partnerships and collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions.  The Emergency Management team at West Pierce develops and maintains plans such as a Continuity of Operations Plan to ensure that fire and EMS operations can continue as effectively as possible in spite of a local or regional disaster.  He explained that West Pierce is a member of an Emergency Management Coalition, that also includes the cities of Lakewood, University Place and the Town of Steilacoom.  Pierce County Emergency Management Department is of course also connected in there somehow. 

The Coalition fosters Emergency Shelter Plans and trains staff so that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is adequately staffed during an emergency.  An EOC is like a remote command center with good communications equipment, but the EOC is only operational during an actual emergency or disaster. 

Serena Rotondo said the Coalition was formed in 2020 by the above-named member agencies.  There is an interlocal agreement between the agencies.  The Coalition gets grants to finance the program, presumably from the federal and/or state governments.  The parties to the ILA train together often, as they need to know each others’ participants to make things work smoothly in a disaster scenario.   (We know these disasters happen.  The East Coast of the U.S. had a wake-up call with a 4.8 earthquake just a day or two ago, so they dodged a bullet, as there were few if any damaged buildings or injuries.)

Nathan and Serena urged us to peruse the Coalition’s website. See www.westpierceemergency.org.  They also discussed the Fort Steilacoom Park brush fire that occurred last summer, because that led to emergency alerts that some of us received on our cell phones by text.  The Coalition uses alerts and warnings like that and it even includes evacuations as needed.  In the FS Park fire unified command was established as soon as the size and scope of the fire became known.  Later, a multi-agency after-action review was conducted to go over what worked and what could be improved upon.  They explained the concept of “Code Red”, which some of us signed up for, as that enables the text alert feature in the event of a significant emergency.

Finally, they explained the various evacuation levels, which are more or less uniform throughout the U.S.  Level 1 means “be prepared” in case the emergency escalates; Level 2 means “be ready” and Level 3 means GO NOW.  During the Caldor Fire near South Lake Tahoe, we know personally that an event can be upgraded from Level 2 to Level 3 on very short notice! As usual, Rotarians had some incisive comments and questions.

The Drawing:  With 10 white chips and 1 red chip it was not surprising to see Dwight Williams winning $5 instead of $619.

As the meeting closed, Bob Peterson gave $25 just to show appreciation for all of his good friends in Lakewood Rotary.

When walking into the meeting Mary Marlin gave me this quote by Benjamin Franklin:  “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”  Well said Ben.

The New York Times’ Spelling Bee is a good morning ritual==  a word game to keep your mind active and engaged to start the day.  Today the pangram (where you have to use all 7 letters)  was “logophile”.  I had to look it up.  It means a “lover of words.”  Guess I must be a logophile.  I love a lot of words. The more the better.
 

Back to Mary’s agenda. Prez thanked us for joining our family, then asked Steve Saalfeld to lead a salute to our flag. Chris Kimball followed with a heartfelt “Rotary Moment”.

Mary introduced the Zoomers, from far and near, for showing up and went on to thank those that made the meeting possible: Scott Buser overseeing the Paul Harris desk, Mark Edgecomb at the $2.00 table along with acting as Sgt. at Arms. And we never forget the “Dream Team”: Scott Baird, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa…all led by Rob Erb. What would we do without them?

The president recognized the Puffins and asked them to stand. However, not many were present.

Mark Edgecomb was the Cookie Jar tender, as treasurer John was nowhere to be found. Walt Richardson (photographer) and I (author) were acknowledged as the twosome who are responsible for this bulletin.

Guests of Rotarians included Chris Kimball’s wife, Vicki. Gayle Selden introduced Kamarie Wilson who is a VP and branch manager at Homestreet Bank. Our two speakers of the day introduced their wives: Greg Rediske: Sharon and John Magnuson: Bonnie.

We did have one Visiting Rotarian. I do believe Jim Merritt, from Tacoma Eight, should join our club, as we see him frequently. How about it Jim?

President Mary acknowledged PDG Greg Horn, DGN Tony Camoroda and AG Bill Potter.

I was next on the agenda to give a report on the Sunshine. Joe “Strongman” Quinn recently had shoulder surgery. I sent Joe a “happy” note and a great deal of sympathy, as I had shoulder surgery about 15 years ago. When I took a place at the table today Eric Warn revealed he’d had skin cancer surgery this past week.

The announcements came “hard and fast” and I’m sure I didn’t get all of the details. Rose Stevens asked for our vote to give $2,500 to partner up with Tacoma South Rotary to build two educational training centers in Nepal. The “ask” passed. Rose reminded us of our earlier help to a village in Nepal (toilets and a cardiac center).

Where was the first Lakewood Rotary meeting held? (Answer: The Lakewood Terrace Restaurant. Today, the building is occupied by the Lakewood History Museum. The Terrace was THE place to take someone you want to impress or have a romantic tete-a-tete with a special someone. The moment you entered you heard the piano bar, played by an expert who knew all the cocktail lounge standards.

President Mary filled in for Leanna Albrecht. Leanna is accepting applications for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. She would like another Rotarian or two from our club to help review applications.

Mary then reminded us of the District Conference in Semiahmoo on May 3 & 4. The resort has released a block of rooms at a cost of $219. She also encouraged us to add Earth Day (April 20) to our calendars. Be sure to sign up to help at Owens Beach for a beach clean-up.

Connie Coleman-Lacadie and Gayle Selden came to the “mic” to rev-up our efforts toward the Wine & Beer Festival, being held at the McGavick Center on April 27^th. This is our one and only fund-raiser for the year. As of today, they have approximately 100 people signed up, but to reach our goal we will need 300-350! They explained how to use the QR code at each table to purchase your tickets. The deadline is April 12^th.

Bill Potter, Major Projects head, shared that the committee chose The H-Barn Project for our club to raise funds for, but did explain that Clover Park Rotary selected Nourish.

Recently, you have learned about the first Lakewood Rotary Major Project, the Easter Pancake Breakfast, started in 1961. A most interesting donation was made in 1978. The club donated $5,000 towards a piece of equipment used by the fire department, called the Jaws of Life, which is used in extracting people from damaged cars. And, soon after that our club supported the fire department again by purchasing their first rescue vehicle. Do you have any idea what the cost of this was? $42,000. Lakewood Rotary was stepping up with some serious community support money.

Mother Mary proceeded to gather a few more payments to the Cookie Jar. The ones I most remember are: $100 from Tony Camoroda for a recent trip to Sugarland, Texas. Tony claimed it was strictly a business trip and that no fun ensued. However, the $100 he gave is for the birth of a new grandson. Even more memorable, Chris Kimball may be off to driving school for racing his car 110+ mph. At least the Cookie Jar is $100 richer, thanks to Chris!

The best “Bull Writers” of Lakewood Rotary, John Magnuson and Greg Rediske, were the speakers today. (Does anyone think I will ever measure up???). I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare, Charles Dickens or James Joyce from these two, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Greg stepped up to the microphone with the words, “When I was a child I disliked ‘weddings and funerals’. As he grew up, Greg explained that it became important “to write things down” so when a wedding or a funeral came about he could pull out these writings and have a speech already written for the occasion.

Greg went on to say the writings must be a memoir, a story, not merely a litany of facts. Greg talked about his dad, Jim and his father-in-law, Russ Klauser. He told us that Russ made a real effort to write to his mother, Nora, during the war. Nora had saved the letters, so Russ’ thoughts were at-ready…likely for Nora’s funeral and for Russ’ funeral as well.

(Above: Mike McGowan pinning a Paul Harris Foundation award on his mentor, Russ Klauser)

Greg revealed that there are self-publishing resources available such as www.lulu.com and Storyworth. For the timid writer, these resources can help guide one through laborious efforts to get your words “on that blank piece of paper in front of you.”

Then it was John’s turn. He immediately pulled out a weighty tome…yes, that he had written! John revealed that the book’s 400 pages is enough to scare anyone. A wisecrack from Walt Richardson in the audience, “Is it in large type?”

John said he’d been a writer for a very long time and had published four children’s books, yet John’s wife, Bonnie revealed to me on the side that she had to push John to finish this very book as a birthday gift to her. Bonnie and your audience today, John, are everso happy you did finish “the tome”.

Thanks, you guys. I’ve always admired both of you and now I have a turn to write with you. What a treat!

*Please look for more Lakewood Rotary historical tidbits each time I write this bulletin. Wendy McGowan
 

            Making the meeting have all its parts in the right spots included Connie Coleman-Lacadi at the Paul Harris desk, the Dream Team of Scott Baird, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roark, Rick Selden, James Osundwa and, last but certainly not least, Rob Erb. Leon Titus manned the $2.00 table and acted as Sgt at Arms. Bob Zawilski ran the camera, Paula Olson wrote the bulletin and John Lowney guarded the Cookie Jar. We had a couple of Puffins in attendance.

            There were only a couple of guests: our speaker Dan Wirth from the farm club and Megan. Welcome to you both. Zoomers were acknowledged, including Ann and Steve Enquist in San Francisco. Royalty in attendance was PDG Greg Horn, DGN Tony Camoroda, and AG Bill Potter. What did Mommy spider say to baby spider? “You spend too much time on the web.” Wendy McGowan had no Sunshine Report except that her back is still acting up.

            Turning to announcements, Bob Zawilski reminded everyone about Break Bag delivery on Monday, March 25^th at 9:05 am. Yes, that’s the correct time. If you get there at 9:00 am, you will be horrified to witness Bob shamelessly pawing through the donuts to pick out his favorites. You will never unsee that. Several people raised their hands to say they were planning to help. Bob really needs bag counters, you know, folks that say “one, two, three etc.” Anyone can do that.

            Next Friday is the last meeting of the month and Pot Roast Day. Yahoo! Also Little Food Pantry Day so bring food/cash to donate. Especially needed are small jars of peanut butter – not Costco size jars and containers with pop tops for folks who don’t have can openers. Steve Enquist had a Paul Harris to present but because he was in San Francisco, he asked Mary to do it and Mary asked Greg to do it and Greg can’t say no, so he did it. The generous recipient was Chris Kimball with his sixth Paul Harris or his five plus. He got a nice pin with a ruby in it. Very well done, Mr. Kimball!

            Why is Mother’s Day before Father’s Day? So the kids can spend all their Christmas money on mom.

            April 20^th is a day that will be of more and less importance depending on relationship. It’s Mary’s dad’s birthday and Hitler’s birthday. Much most important however, is it’s Earth Day. Come one and all to Owens Beach for clean-up. Take your baths at home as the water is still cold. Connie proclaimed the coming of our big fundraising event, the Wine and Beer Festival. So far a pathetic 73 tickets have been purchased and many, many more of them need to be bought before April 12^th to ensure there is enough food. Some very cool auction items are available, especially if people turn them in so they can be purchased. Let’s get with it, members, and turn in those procurement sheets! My mom superpower is being the only person in the house who can see an empty toilet paper roll.

            Next in the agenda was Pres Mary’s favorite part of any meeting, donations to her Cookie Jar. Someone announced that Veronica Bronkema was having a birthday and Pres Mom Mary told Carl to get his wallet out to honor his wife. In response, Carl said that he donated for his own birthday and then had the audacity to say, “ok, I’ll pay XX for her birthday.” [The actual number has been deleted for Veronica’s privacy.] After much prodding, Leon Titus admitted that he helped his wife get a new Cadillac for which he donated $100, although the value was truly priceless. [See, Carl, that’s how to donate for your wife.] Mark Herr announced that he is running for a legislative office for the 28^th District with April 12^th as his campaign kick off. Rob Erb had taken a couple of short trips so he paid $20. Ann and Steve Enquist wanted to ensure that we honored Gary Fulton as a champion blood donor – 28 gallons!! No, not all at once but that is truly impressive, Gary! Greg Horn gave $28 in appreciation. Twenty eight gallons equals 224 pints and 10 days of bloodletting.  

            Bob Peterson celebrated his great grandson’s sixth or seventh birthday and his wedding anniversary of 62 years. A friend asked me if she should have a baby after 40. I said no, 40 babies are enough. A bunch of people went to Sun River, like Greg and Mary, John Lowney, Ann and Steve Enquist and arguments broke out about who was giving what for which. Dave Swindale turned 63 years old and rounded up his donation to $65.

            Our program came next with Scott Baird introducing our speaker, Dan Wirth, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of South Puget Sound and Olympics. His topic was Increased Disaster Responses as Impacted by Climate Crisis. Dan got his BA at Fort Lewis College and his Master of Arts in Intercultural Youth and Family Development at the University of Montana. Dan’s career includes a stint as a counselor, a couple of years in the Peace Corp, Regional Disaster Officer for the Kentucky region. Dan coordinated disaster relief through Hurricanes Maria and Harvey, disasters in Florence, North Carolina, Flint Michigan, and wild fires in Oregon.
           
            Dan’s presentation was a sobering education on the effect of climate change on the world. There has been a six times increase in major disasters since the 1980s costing billions of dollars. In the past five years, the number of major disasters has doubled. In 2023 alone, disasters cost $28 billion. The number of acres burned by fires has more than doubled.

The Red Cross has about five major lines of business including blood collection for which we can sign up on line. The Red Cross also delivers emergency messages to active military from their families, disaster relief, CPR, life guard, babysitting and first aid training. In the U.S., disaster relief primarily consists of helping people after a house fire. Last year there were 60,000 across the country and 1,200 in the Pacific Northwest, 180 in Pierce County. The Red Cross gives immediate financial assistance and also free fire alarms. It is also involved internationally, for example with distribution of the measles vaccine.

The increase in disasters has caused the Red Cross to reassess its priorities as the toll of these disasters falls more heavily on communities already dealing with issues. Forty percent of Americans do not have the financial resources to absorb an unexpected expense in the amount of $400. The disasters that force people from their homes are much harder for people who depend on social services for survival. For example, currently about 3,400 people are still in shelters in Hawaii from the last fire, down from a high of 5,500. The Red Cross makes contact with the family or individual every two days.  Last year was the ninth straight year with double digit disasters. Dan stated that his statistics come from various reputable government sites. Closer to home, there were two wildfires in Lakewood in 2023. The fires are occurring in places that have never seen fires, such as the Olympic Peninsula, Spokane and Oregon.

In response, in 2022 the Red Cross started a five year campaign to raise $1.2 billion to help vulnerable communities. That money will be distributed to the U. S. Disaster Relief Fund in the amount of $800 million, international aid in the amount of $100 million, and sustainability in the amount of $260 million. The Red Cross has expanded its staff to 89 persons working on forging partnerships in 27 cities across the country to form a network of local entities ready to respond to disasters. They are also working on enhancing shelter case work with a digital app for new client management systems as well as partnership with International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

The organization is significantly reducing its brick and mortar buildings and upgrading them into more sustainable buildings. As an example of ways to be more efficient and cost effective, they saw that an ice machine used to cool and store blood cost $2,000 a month because water coursed through it to cool the ice. The team found a better ice machine at a much reduced cost. The University Place office lights dim with the amount of light outside.

In response to member questions, 10% of donations go to administration and 90% go to client services. Thank you, Dan for a very interesting and informative presentation.

You know you’re a mom when  . . .
you have a secret stash of candy that not even your spouse gets to see.
            all you want for your birthday is for people to stop getting a new glass every time they need a drink.
            the first thing you say when you walk into a room is, “What’s that smell?”

Calendar of Events
Tuesday, March 26 at 5:00 pm at TCGC - Board Meeting
Friday, March 29 at noon at TCGC - with Tiffany Speir, Lakewood Long Range Planning Manager - ALSO today is Little Free Pantry Friday! All donations are appreciated, but if you are shopping, we're in need of peanut butter!
Friday, April 5 at noon - Club Meeting at TCGC - with Mari Leavitt, Washington State Representative, 28th District
Friday, April 12 at noon - Club Meeting at TCGC - Mike Pajeo with the Coffee Oasis
Saturday, April 27 at 5:30 p.m. - Lakewood Rotary Wine and Beer Festival, McGavick Center, Lakewood. Come and Love the Wine You're With.
Tickets are available online here or pay by check to Lakewood Rotary, c/o Treasurer John Lowney, PO Box 99786, Lakewood, WA 98496. $125
https://fundraiser.bid/LakewoodRotaryWineandBeerFestival
 

Set-up crew for the week was Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa and Rob Erb. Photographer was Walt Richardson and the Bulletin Writer is Gayle Selden. Jan Gee was standing in for John Lowney who was headed to the canal to rest after heading up the SunRiver ski/non-ski trip.
President MH then asked the room—Who was just in Sun Valley? No one raised their hand. Realizing her mistake that she was dreaming of skiing in Sun Valley, she corrected herself to SunRiver. She asked everyone who had been on the recent trip to SunRiver. She asked those members to raise their right hand and then reach into their pockets for a $20. We learned it was the best day of skiing Mary had seen and that she was the women’s Ping Pong champion. Joe Quinn paid $50 for the great time. We then learned when Zoomers were introduced that Joe performed a rap song in honor of son Eric’s Birthday that was written with the help of Chat GPT. Sadly, the rap song was not performed for the rest of the membership.  Click here if curiosity gets the better of you. XXXXXXXXXX
We met our guests who joined us today including Becky Wiggins from Battlefield Addictions and Jason Scales from LASA. Visiting Rotarians introduced by Jan Gee included Mic McDaniel from Tacoma South Rotary and Mary Minx from Puyallup South Hill Rotary. 
Barlow Buescher introduced our Norwegian exchange student, Amelia Babazada. Amelia is in her last couple months of her exchange year. If you want to get to know her better, time is running out! She is playing tennis for Lakes this semester so Gayle will update with some times to cheer her on. Contact Amelia via call or text 253-951-4410.
Barlow Buescher provided the sunshine report and let us know that Wendy McGowan was under the weather. He also let us know the memorial for General Bill Harrison is April 6^th. Locatoin will be announced next week. He then invited Rick to share some words about Gordon Quick.
Rick Selden thanked Greg Rediske for the written words he had shared on Gordy. Gordy was a Rotarian for 53 years. As Lakewood Rotary President in 1987-88, he inducted the first women member of Lakewood Rotary. In 1993-94 he led District 5020 as Governor.  Gordy had a saying “Lead, Follow or Get out the hell of the Way.” Gordy was awarded Rotary’s Citation for Meritorious Service in 2009. (Note: this is a BIG deal. There are 528 Rotary districts around the world.  Each district is only allowed one nomination per year, and a maximum of 100 Citations are awarded by Rotary International from that group each year).   With wife Juanita they traveled to six different countries for 13 Rotary projects. The University of Nebraska recognized Gordon in 1999 for his impact on students as a teacher, principal and as school superintendent. Even at age 90+, Gordy would show up to rake soil at the pavilion or any other project that occurred. Each summer, the current club president was always gifted a zucchini out of Gordy’s garden. He loved to share those. Juanita and family are going to take Gordy’s ashes back to Nebraska for internment. When she returns from Nevada in the spring there will be a gathering to celebrate his memory.
Rick reminded us that a great way to honor the life of our lost Rotarians is a donation to the Lakewood Community Foundation. There are envelopes on the table as you enter Rotary for checks. Alternately, you can head to the web and donate at https://lakewoodfoundation.org/donate. Tom Sadler, who passed recently, helped start this fund. On the program from Tom’s service was a quote from Henry Van, “To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind—this is choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for.”
Jan Gee introduced Jason Scales from LASA. Jason talked about the hygiene center that is opening. It contains three washers and dryers, two showers and 2 computer stations. It will be a support not only for the unhoused but for those who might not have as easy access to those amenities if they are sharing an apartment with multiple families. This hygiene center will help maintain employment and give those who use the facility a foundation to be a strong part of the community. The club is giving $7,500 towards the hygiene center’s operating costs.  We are all invited to LASA’s Friendraising Breakfast on April 17^th at 7:30 a.m. (No surprise - it will be at Clover Park Technical College in the McGavick Center.) Jan Gee will present a BIG FAKE CHECK to Jason at the event in honor of our support. Tickets to the event are free but a monetary ask will be made at the breakfast. Reserve your space here: https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/42713183-4182-4b44-a837-b7a432e3c285
Mary Minsk from Puyallup South Hill Rotary invited is all to their corn hole tourney May 3^rd and 4^th. All levels of corn hole players are invited. Check out www.southhillrotary.org for all the ways you can participate. Sponsors get their own corn hole board. Winning teams get bragging rights.
Bill Potter spoke on behalf of the major projects committee and thanked everyone for participating in the temperature check last week of the three projects the committee was researching. He didn’t further elaborate, but I attained some insider information that the Nourish food bank in Lakewood gained 22 1^st place votes and 9 2^nd place votes; the Outdoor Gym got 20 1^st place projects and 14 second place votes and the H barn got 9 1^st place votes and 18 2^nd place votes. The committee also recognizes that all members did not get to participate in the poll, but it is not a binding vote.
Our speaker got stuck on the other side of Snoqualmie pass today so the Wine and Beer Fest became the topic of discussion. PMH asked me to start us off by talking about live auction items but sometimes when asked to extemporaneously speak a person may absolutely go in a completely different direction. This person may also have very little recollection of what she said. So, instead of a recollection this is more of what should have been said.
The Wine and Beer Fest is April 27^th. It is our primary fundraiser for the club. This event invites our friends and community members to come together.  How we make money at the event is through ticket sales, through wine sales, raffle ticket sales, selling. live auction items, selling online silent items, with a raise the paddle and with sponsors to the event.
All members of the club are part of the fundraising committee. So, help us find sponsors—or be one yourself; provide or source an auction item, fill up a table with your friends and help get out the word of our event and the items in it.
We have a website you can find either by going to lakewoodrotary.com and pressing the blue button that says wine and beer fest or by directly using this link https://fundraiser.bid/LakewoodRotaryWineandBeerFestival.
Here you can buy tickets to the event via credit card, peruse the live auction catalog as it gets built and check out the online items available which includes our group event Dinner and a Movie and the Kayak Poker Run. (Those items are available to purchase now!) These items are located under the auction tab. There is also sponsor information on the site and those can be purchased there as well. If you do not want to pay credit card fees for your tickets or sponsorship you can bring a check to the Friday meeting and turn it to the smiling face at the desk.
Co-Chair Connie Coleman-Lacade let us know that a new live auction item of a week in Tuscany, Italy will be available. The movie for this year’s Dinner and a Movie will be Grease, with a fun hamburger dinner at the Country club afterward. She also encouraged us to get together with each other to work on live auction items.
Jason Whalen thanked our sponsors that have come in so far. . .Waste Connections, Amazon, Connelly Law, Dickson Frolich Phillips Burgess. Other sponsors include Ed Selden Carpet One, Heritage Bank and Phil and Judy Eng. Sponsor revenue helps cover the costs associated with the event.
Jason let us know we have some elevated wineries coming including Structure, Dahlman, Dossier and Gard. He is pushing our wine fest even to former Seahawk Sydney Rice.
Don Daniels reminded us that we all have raffle tickets to sell. Ask your friends and enemies for a small donation of $25 to the Rotary club and give them an opportunity to win $5,000. We have 5 weeks of sales left. Don wants to see your tickets in the next 2 weeks. Additional tickets will be sold the night of the Winefest, the drawing will take place there. This raffle puts another $10K into our budget and into the community for next year.
Jan Gee handed out sign ups to volunteer for the event. She says everyone works and whatever Jan says goes! So, sign up or she will hunt you down!
President Horn then busted out the cookie jar. She thanked Scott Buser for $100 for a going to spring training trip. A bearded Don Anderson told a story about a Pierce Transit Bus and his Lakewood City Council life colliding. Apparently, a Pierce Transit short bus did not yield to his vehicle that was moving through a roundabout in Lakewood. He also went to Hawaii and contributed $100.
Puffin Elyse Ryan paid $40 in honor of her daughter’s fourth birthday. That was some generosity! I wonder how much Joe Quinn would owe for son Eric’s recent Birthday using the same multiplicity.
Angela Connelly paid $100 in appreciation of a trip to Austin, Texas she took with her husband Jack Connelly, Rose Stevens, President Mary, Steve O’Ban and wife ?? and Duke Paulson.  Duke is  from the Tacoma Rescue Mission. The visit to Community First Village gave her hope for the chronic homeless.
Bob Peterson paid $50 for appreciation for 20+ years of being here. . .and by here he meant Lakewood Rotary.  He told about how much each Friday’s meeting means to him.
Leanna Albretch paid $50 in honor of guest Betsey’s organization Battlefield Addiction. She said it was an outstanding organization. We learned there is a walk for recovery on May 11^th you can sign up and learn more a www.battlefieldaddiction.com/run
John Magnussen let us know that the Zoomers raised $500 to support Winefest while the meeting was happening.
Peter Marsh drew white, and the raffle grew larger.
So we have six weeks to get our tickets, gather our friends and enjoy Lakewood Rotary’s Wine Fest.
 

Tom George introduced his guest who is obviously a spy for the planet NUNU. Not only did they both refuse to yield his name, they ran screaming from the building, stole PP Chris Kimball’s Cadillac and were last seen in Mukilteo. So, if you don’t like being memorialized in this manner – speak up and make certain the scribe gets the correct info. By the way, there is no such thing as the Planet NUNU. No, seriously. Wendy McGowan gave an update on Persifockelese Nueschwanding who is being cared for at The NUNU Orthopedic Hospital. See?

PM welcomed Zoomers Carole, Ralph, Ole and Shiru. She acknowledged the furniture moving club of Scott, Rob, James, Rick, Wynn and Terry.

Birthday People Waving Their Arms About
Chris Kimball noted Birthdays and Anniversaries: Ralph and Wendy Lockhart took first prize for 58 years of marriage, Ole, masquerading as PP John Magnuson, won the years in Rotary Trophy for his 48 years of membership. The many, many birthday celebrants came to the front of the room and – wait for it – waved their arms in time to the dulcet tones of a slide whistle. See top picture. And you thought the stories about the planet NUNU were hard to believe! No kidding – waved their…. Well, never mind.

It was announced that PP Tom Sadler’s memorial is March 10^th, 2:00 PM at Canterwood in Gig Harbor. Lt. General Bill Harrison’s memorial is April 6^th at City Hall. A transfer of the Puffin was made by Chris to Phillip.

Major projects committee
 Substitute Chair PP Rick Selden, gave the report on the three choices to be considered. I kept hearing about how long they worked on these possible selections but for some reason, unexplained, we had to urgently vote on them today!? Hmmm? The committee gets to consider them for a long time, but the membership only has a few minutes to consider the suggestions and vote? Where is the urgency in case a member has questions or if someone couldn’t be at the meeting? The presentations were cursory and one-sided at best, with nothing given to me to include in the bulletin as background. I must say, we can do better. Don’t take this as a complaint but it is certainly an observation and do not edit this out!

The three projects are to support the development of a Nourish Pierce County Grocery Store at the corner of Lakewood Drive and Steilacoom Boulevard. Rotary commitment is estimated to be $100,000. Whereas urgency was expressed it may take as much as two years to do this project. The second one to consider is H Barn at Fort Steilacoom. Again, this is a project with many future steps necessary – mostly by the city – but Lakewood Rotary needs to vote to commit $100,000 today.

The third project is an outdoor fitness facility that would be a public private partnership and built at Ft. Steilacoom Park. I didn’t hear a dollar number for this. There was a slick video showing a finished project being used by people resembling PP Greg Rediske in his gym shorts!

PP Rose Stevens showed a video of a sanitary toilet project in Nepal. I am unsure if that is something we participated in, because once more, the report was inaudible.

The Program
Linda Disney introduced author and historian, Dennis Fowler. His books include The Lincoln Guy, Lincoln Raw, Turn, Lincoln, The Dead, and Lincoln’s Angel. Mr. Fowler began by explaining that his approach with a person like Abraham Lincoln is to turn a historical approach into historical fiction. His reasoning, he posits, is to fill in the blanks of an otherwise vapid narrative. He related that outcomes are the same, but the emotion and feelings appear, humanizing the story. Reading some of Lincoln’s Angel it is easy to see his point. The heartache that Abe Lincoln and his wife Mary faced with the sickness of their two sons, the death of one, and Mrs. Lincoln illness, has been written about endlessly, but not with Fowler’s approach. Lincoln’s reliance on Nurse Rebecca Pomeroy is a story of inspiration but not of Lincoln, per se. Army Nurse Pomeroy helped Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln through their darkest hours, during the Civil War. Abe had to deal with a sick and dying family while at the same time, guide the United States through the bloodiest of conflicts. He learned to lean on Nurse Pomeroy as did Mrs. Lincoln even though Nurse Pomeroy had lost her husband to disease and one of her children. She was indomitable and Lincoln declared her, “The most remarkable woman I have known.”

Well-captured and written by our guest today, D. L. Fowler. I wasn’t all that impressed with his presentation. I came home and read a couple of chapters and changed my mind.  His story of Rebecca Pomeroy and her remarkable ministrations for one of America’s most important presidents is a fitting parable for today:

International Women’s Day

Thank you, women in Lakewood Rotary. You make this a better Rotary Club.

Who Reads This Stuff?

Ole

Calendar of Events
Thursday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m. - Rotary on Tap at Burs, 6151 Steilacoom Blvd., Lakewood RSVP Here
Friday, March 15 at noon - Club Meeting at TCGC with Hunter Abell, President, Washington State Bar Association
Friday, March 22 at noon at TCGC with Dan Wirth, Executive Director of the American Red Cross, So. Puget Sound and Olympics
Tuesday, March 26 at 5:00 pm at TCGC - Board Meeting 
Friday, March 29 at noon at TCGC - with Tiffany Speir, Lakewood Long Range Planning Manager
Saturday, April 27 at 5:30 p.m. - Lakewood Rotary Wine and Beer Festival, McGavick Center, Lakewood. Come and Love the Wine You're With. 
Tickets are available online here or pay by check to Lakewood Rotary, c/o Treasurer John Lowney, PO Box 99786, Lakewood, WA 98496. $125/each 
 

The basics:
Rob Erb led the group in the pledge while Tom George gave us a well thought-out and poignant “thought for the day” or, as they used to say, “invocation”.
Dick Ferrell was at the Paul Harris table while Debbie McVicker was at the two-dollar table (I didn’t see Debbie when I bought my losing raffle ticket as Rick Selden was there taking my money at the time – thanks for stepping in to help Rick). Debbie somehow magically appeared at some point and was also the Sgt at Arms and visiting Rotarians person.
The PM’s family Dream Team set us up and tore us down – Scott Baird, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke and Rick Selden. All led by the esteemed Rob Erb.

PM had all of the Puffins that were in attendance give a wave.
Walt Richardson took photos. Donn Irwin tried to write everything down and present it in a readable format (good luck with that – thank God for EIC’s).
Debbie McVicker was the Cookie Jar tender (busy lady today) along with John Lowney (wait, John wasn’t there so how could he…...never mind, Mr. Rediske came to the rescue once again and assisted Debbie V with the $$).

Random happenings around the world on this this date – March 1 – please see below.

1565 - Portuguese soldier Estácio de Sá founds the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1642 - Georgeana (York) in Maine becomes the 1st incorporated American city.

Somewhere in all of this Scott Adams from Clover Park Rotary (CPR) was called forth to herald the news that CPR is having a fund raiser – called the “Invitational” – and encouraged all of us to come and have fun. The “do-ins” will happen March 8^th from 5:30PM to 9:45PM at the McGavick Center. They will have a raise the paddle for Nourish of Pierce County.  Easy registration on their website cloverparkrotary.org.  Let’s get a couple of Lakewood Rotary tables going. Guests of Rotarians: Rob Erb introduced his brother, Paige. Carl Bronkema introduced Christine Tomlinson (hope I got that right), Angela Connelly introduced what I heard as Bree Cooper, Donn Irwin introduced Dr. Mike Jones (former vet for Ivan the Gorilla and the Point Defiance Zoo as well as Past President of Rotary 8) and Wayne Thronson - retired owner of Tournament Services and former boss of John Magnuson aka Ole. Mark Silva and Linda Ripley were introduced as “guests” but would momentarily become Rotarians.
Visiting Rotarians from Clover Park Rotary were the aforementioned Scott Adams as well as Hallie McCurdy.
Then there was the “Sunshine” Report by Wendy McGowan. Gordy Quick is still in the hospital in Las Vegas. Helen Mazoff fell and cracked a vertebra – don’t know if more than one.

1792  - Presidential Succession Act passed
1815 – Napoleon arrives in Cannes, France after escaping exile on Elba and heads for Paris to start the “Hundred Days” rule.

PM welcomed the Zoomers: Ralph Johnson, Mark Blanchard (was it really him or did AI take over his computer again?), Chuck Hellar from Florida and Carole Wier from Minnesota.

Next up, PM called Mark Silva and Linda Ripley to stand in front of us and be inducted into Rotary International and in particular, the Rotary Club of Lakewood WA! The two of them and the rest of us listened as PM went through the initiation process, reminding us all what it means to be a Rotarian and reminding the newbies that there was a bill inside their info packets for this year’s dues – a very important part of the induction process!!

Each new member was given a few minutes to talk about themselves and that is all the time they took. Mark said that Rotary fascinates him and that he has dealt with Rotaract a lot. Linda offered that she will be going to Yellowstone to act as a volunteer until the college students arrive for the summer. Mark was sponsored by Clint Johnson while Linda’s sponsor is Mary Marlin.

Sally Saunders passed the Puffin to Linda who will evidently rotate weeks with Mark. Both of them need to brush up on the care and feeding of puffins.

1869 - US Postage stamps showing scenes issued for 1st time. These pictorials showed a post horse and rider, a locomotive, a shield, an eagle and a ship, the Adriatic.
1872 - Yellowstone becomes the world's first National Park

PM mentioned that the District Conference in Semiahmoo is filling up and that all of the “cheap” rooms in the main building are sold out. More expensive rooms are still available and there are other hotels in the area to stay at.
Mary then called Jan Gee (Community Concerns) to the front so that she could get approval on a grant to LASA (Homeless Prevention) for supplies to support the homeless. The ask was for $7,500. A motion was given, then a second and vote taken. The motion was passed and the grant money was approved.

1875 - US Congress passes Civil Rights Act; invalidated by Supreme Ct, 1883
1893- Tesla publicly demonstrates radio – transmitting electromagnetic energy without wires.
1909 - 1st US university school of nursing established, University of Minnesota

Rotary on Tap was touted - it will be held at Burs on 3/14.

Carl Bronkema was called up to introduce our speaker – Retired Lt. General Keith Dayton:
Keith W. Dayton (born March 7, 1949) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army who currently serves as the director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Dayton served as the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel-Palestinian Authority in Tel Aviv, Israel from December 2005 to October 2010. He has also served as the Director of the Iraq Survey Group, as a senior member of the Joint Staff, and as U.S. Defense Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia.

The topic: Israel/Hamas Update
The good General led off his update with the not unexpected news that this was not going to be an uplifting presentation.
Getting right to the foundation of the matter General Dayton noted that the Dome of the Rock is where it all starts and ends. (Writers note: The site is a major – if not THE - religious site for Islam, Jews and Christians. If you don’t know much about it or perhaps have forgotten, maybe you could take a few minutes and refresh your memory on the significance of the place. It really helps to try and understand what is happening).

The presentation covered the general state of affairs since October 7^th 2023. We are on day 146 (as well as how we got here, going back to biblical times).

Lt. General Dayton covered a massive amount of information, both political and religious, as well as some of the current statistics. Here are some of the highlights:
Israel says that 60% of the aid is being taken by Hamas and that Hamas has approximately 450 miles of sophisticated tunnels complete with Wi-Fi, offices  and bathrooms.  (Prior to October 7, Israel had estimated only 150 miles of tunnels).
 
The current situation as to who owns or has the rights to what in the geographical area all started post WWI with the 1917 British Balfour Declaration. (The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. Wikipedia)

General Dayton then gave a brief bulletin point/highlighted history of events including the Oslo Accord/Agreements in 1993 and 1995. These set the stage for Palestinian authority which allowed for limited Palestinian authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli settlements on the West Bank are larger there due to the presence of the Israeli military.

Hamas was founded in 1987 and Israel initially supported them but that lasted only about two years. Hamas has a sophisticated army of 24 battalions and a very serious religious fervor. Their goal is to eliminate Jews and Christians. They have a mantra of: First we kill those that go to church on Saturday (Jews) and then we kill those that go to church on Sunday (Christians)0. (Our speaker mentioned this twice during his presentation – I think he was trying to make a point).

Netanyahu is NOT popular in Israel and is only still in power now due to this war.
Public opinion is that Gaza should be controlled by Hamas and the solution to the problem is violence not negotiations.

Our speaker outlined possible solutions such as a multinational kind of police force led by possibly the US, Israel goes back to where they were in 2006 or even Oct 7 of 2023.

Israel’s stance is that “we got nowhere else to go” while Hamas’s take is that Israel is an illegal occupier of “our land” so this is a holy war and Allah is behind us.

The General did a marvelous job of giving us an “insider’s” look at this huge problem and making it as easy as possible to try to understand all of this. He stayed until 1:50 ?? and answered questions, of which there were many.

1932 – Lindberg’s 20-month-old baby kidnapped
1936 - Boulder (Hoover) Dam fully completed
1941 – Captain America comic book character makes his debut
1953 - KTNT (now KSTW) TV channel 11 in Tacoma-Seattle, WA (IND) begins

PM finally stopped the Q&A and did the raffle – three of them. Two for Rotary shirts.  Dwight Williams won one shirt and visitor Wayne Thronson won the another.
Then the big money drawing happened, and Dwight won that one as well. White chip = $5.00.
PM rang the bell and we were done.






1953 - KTNT (now KSTW) TV channel 11 in Tacoma-Seattle, WA (IND) begins
1961 – President John F Kennedy establishes the Peace Corp
1969 - After 88 weeks, the Beatles' album "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" drops off the charts
1974 - Watergate grand jury indicts 7 presidential aides
2020 – Washington State announces what is believed to be the second death from the coronavirus while New York state announced its first confirmed case.

If you were born on March 1, you share a birthday with some interesting folks:
1732 - William Cushing, 2nd Chief Justice of the United States, born in Scituate, Massachusetts Bay, British America (d. 1810)
1810 – Frederic Chopin born in the Dutchy of Warsaw
1904 – Big Band leader Glenn Miller born in Iowa
Dinah Shore, Harry Belafonte, Roger Daltrey (The Who), David Niven, Ron Howard (Opie) and Justin Bieber were also all born March 1.
 

It’s easy to think what we could do with extra money. . .a trip, the latest gadget. . .but time that is a little more difficult.
President Mary Horn rand the bell for the meeting at 12:30ish. She invited Mark Blanchard to lead us in the Flag Salute and asked Paula Olson for the Rotary Moment. She introduced the famous set up crew, the table crew with Walt as the photographer and Gayle as the bulletin writer. Mary then asked us what made this day special. Immediately, Greg Rediske raised his hand just like the all-knowing Rotary person he is. Unfortunately, he couldn’t speak with a mouth full of lunch. So, President Horn let us know that this day was the 119^th Birthday of Rotary. The very first meeting was held in Chicago when Paul Harris asked some business leaders to take an hour to share time together.
Guests at the meeting included Maloo Kaden, introduced by Anne Enquist. Maloo is a Lakewood YMCA Pickleball enthusiast (and water aerobics and tennis and kayaking) and is looking for some new community service opportunities. Donn Irwin introduced a Past President of Tacoma 8 and his wife Don Dolman. Rick Selden introduced Linda Ripley who had her information meeting that morning. We thank them for sharing this hour with us. A good use of time of we agree.
Zoomers were welcomed and Puffins recognized. David Swindale offered up a dog on zoom as an auction item.
Wendy McGowen and Dave Coleman shared memorials for two very special men that were lost this past week. Wendy shared about Lieutenant General William Harrison reading the well written statement from the City of Lakewood. https://cityoflakewood.us/lakewood-mourns-the-loss-of-retired-army-lieutenant-general-ltg-william-bill-harrison/ Bill was 90 years old and spent many of those years in service of others. He helped create, shape and lead the City of Lakewood. You could find Bill at all community fundraisers and events. I often witnessed him sitting in the audience at the Lakewood Playhouse. Bill never let his crippled body stop him from moving. Bill attended the Wednesday meeting of Clover Park Rotary preceding his death. His services are expected to be in April.
Dave Coleman shared the loss of one of our own, Tom Sadler. Dave and Greg Rediske had headed out to Gig Harbor Wednesday morning to take Tom out for lunch. When they arrived, they learned that Tom had passed that morning. Tom had been living in an adult family home to have more care for Parkinson’s. He recently celebrated his 80^th Birthday. Dave read the Suburban Times article written by Greg Rediske: Lakewood Community Foundation Fund Loses a Friend – The Suburban Times (thesubtimes.com). Tom was a Lakewood Rotary President who brought a lot of fun to the meetings. He was known to wear lighted glasses while fining members. Tom also had arguably one of the most fun boats to ride during the floating board meeting (you also didn’t know if you’d be in a power boat or a sailboat as he was fond of both). We all had fun while he was captain as he always had a Pepsi in his hand. Tom was a Lakewood community catalyst of his own—in addition to his Rotary service he was a Past President of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, helped found Lakewood Women in Business, and helped create the Lakewood Community Foundation. Tom’s service will be held Sunday, March 10^th at 2pm at the Canterwood Golf Course.
Gayle Selden reported she ran into Jayne Shannon on the way into the meeting. Jayne just found out that she has lung cancer. It is unrelated to her previous cancer. After losing Ed to cancer last year, the Shannon family has had more than their fair share of cancer. Please keep Jayne in your healing thoughts. She is looking forward to celebrating her granddaughter’s wedding in Kentucky this September and told Gayle there was no way she was missing it!
Mary Horn announced the upcoming Wine and Beer Festival April 27^th. Connie and Linda had auction forms to hand out to those who had ideas for procurement. Live Auction items are a priority. There is the availability to sell smaller items online. Make sure to invite your friends to come and join us. We will be tasting wine, selling the wine tasted, having an elevated dinner. You can get your tickets here: Lakewood Rotary Wine and Beer Festival 2024 (auctria.com)
At the event we’ll have wine sales, hanging flower basket sales (think Mother’s Day gifts), a live auction and a raise the paddle. This plus the sales of our Raffle tickets (Have you sold all yours—might be a good idea to take an hour this week and sell them!). Help fund our Rotary projects for next year by inviting friends, business associates and community members to join us April 27^th.
Jan Gee, Chair of the Community Concerns Committee presented Linda Disney, representing STEP with a $1,500 check from Lakewood Rotary for the diaper bank.
The Lakewood Multicultural Coalition has a couple tickets left for their gala. Come join Mary Moss in celebrating our community. Lakewood Multicultural Coalition (lmcc-lakewood.org)
Also, our friends at Clover Park Rotary are hosting Clover Park Rotary Invitational (CPRI)  on March 8^th. Tickets for this fun event are here https://registrations.dacdb.com/Register/index.cfm?EventID=77721238&NoCaptcha Don’t forget pocket cash for your side bets!
Mary got very excited to jump into  a lot of time for the cookie jar. Kris Kaufman gave some money for the 80^th Birthday of his first wife, who is still living. It was an odd statement and clarification was needed and we learned his first wife was an arranged marriage. His second he said he arranged. And now we just want more of the story. Is there a third wife? Who arranged the marriage? Was Kris a part of a cult? Hopefully Kris will be a program soon.
Veronica Bronkema paid to recognize Carl’s 60^th Birthday and a trip to the Bahamas. Veronica brought Mary a bag of gifts. Carl brought back Covid. Thankfully, he didn’t gift that to Mary.
Bill Potter honored his mother-in-law with cookie bucks for her 90^th Birthday and a trip to Tucson. He then immediately offended the women in the room talking about attending a party of women of Rotary age. It was a joke that fell short. Jan Gee said she was taking Bill to a back room with the other swinging singles. I think Jan had the swinging of arms in mind for Bill but one never does know.
Mark Blanchard introduced Joesph Walsh, the  new Artistic Director of the Lakewood Playhouse. Mark listed a long list of productions Joe has overseen in his career. From Boston to the UK to Wintergarden, Florida he crafted his director skills and management of the theatre and had to deal with a fair bit of misuse/ misunderstanding of his name.
Joe brought his effervescent energy to our meeting. He talked about his move to the Lakewood Playhouse came in a lot of ways because of the beautiful views surrounding the area. A visit to Steilacoom, the views of the mountains, the weather. But it was the moment he walked into the Lakewood Playhouse theatre that made him feel at home.
Joe had ready Rotary’s mission and tied them all together with the mission of the Lakewood Playhouse. To build community, to provide service to others, to provide connections and to provide a sense of belonging are some of the goals of the theatre. Joe has been working to collaborate with other organizations like the Tacoma Youth Symphony to enhance the theatre and youths experience by bringing youth musicians into productions. Other collaborations with Lakewold Gardens and area businesses are also in the works.
Theater has evolved over time and is continuing to evolve since Covid. It is a unique experience where a group of people sit in a dark room and listen to a story. It’s an intersection of meaningful connections that build community and provide a place of belonging. The whole room was in awe of the presence of Joe and ready to build and support the Lakewood Playhouse.
The Giver is the current production showing and Joe invited us all to see the show for free as a friend of Joe this weekend. I am finishing this bulletin after watching members of the Swinging Singles have the best seat stage side. It was an absolute wonderful production. Let’s get all those seats at Lakewood Playhouse full of Lakewood Rotarians and friends. It is a community gem. I will attest it’s a very good way to spend any extra moments you may have.
For the raffle Joe Quinn pulled white for $5.
Enjoy your extra day this week and make those moments count.
Gayle
Side note: If you’d like to read up on Rotary news and find out about Rotarian generosity for people devastated in Turkey by a most  powerful earthquake in almost a century or Champions of Impact or Empowering Women in the Workplace, go to this link:
https://msgfocus.rotary.org/q/12H2XtZxUUWpuIwaHMsW1Z6I/wv
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, February 27 at 5:30 pm - Board Meeting at TCGC
Friday, March 1 at noon at TCGC -  with Keith Dayton, Gen. (ret), Senior Advisor to Ukraine 2018-2019, Director, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies 2019-2021
Friday, March 8 at noon at TCGC -  with DL Fowler, author, known as the Lincoln Guy
Thursday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m. - Save the date! Rotary on Tap, location TBA
Friday, March 15 at noon - Club Meeting at TCGC  - with Hunter Abell, President, Washington State Bar Association
Friday, March 15 at 6:00 pm – Lakewood Multicultural Center Gala $75 for dinner. Contact Mary  Moss for details.
Saturday, April 27^th at 5:30 pm – Second Annual Lakewood Rotary Wine and Beer Festival and Auction at McGavick Center.

 

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Ole the Swede and his brother were walking in the park one day when a passing seagull dropped you-know-what all over Ole’s head. Ole’s brother was appalled and immediately offered to run to get some toilet paper in the nearby restroom. Ole simply shook his head, and said, “Von’t do no good. By the time you get back, dat bird vill be four miles away!”

Ole or no Ole, the meeting started at the usual time with the usual president (Queen Mary) calling upon Chris Kimball for the Pledge to the Flag, and Yorleny Clapper gave the thought for the day. This was after Mary substituted “We Are Family” with the official Rotary anthem. Didn’t sound like it should be a Rotary anthem, but it was, I guess. And here I thought our Rotary anthem was “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”.  I stand corrected.

Connie Coleman-Lacadie took in the Paul Harris money, right next to the collection of men’s clothing for Springbrook (Rose Stevens) and just before Barb Spriggs who was getting $2.00 for a raffle ticket. Setting up today: Wynn, Terry, Rick, James, and David Swindale. (My initial typing omitted the comma between Rick and James, which would be an entirely different Super Freak kind of thing.) Walt Richardson provided great camera work. Mary Marlin brought Linda ?? (and I hope I got the Linda part right. Stupid hearing aids…), while Becky Newton (also our speaker) was visiting from Clover Park Rotary, where she is the reigning Past-President. Ralph Johnson was our sole Zoomer after Carole dropped off, not counting Mark Blanchard’s computer which was signed on without him (he came in person). Tony Camoroda, Bill Potter, Greg Horn and Tom George were at PETS, while President-elect Carl Bronkema was absent from same due to a nasty COVID-19 setback. 

Wendy McGowan announced the death of former Lakewood Rotarian, John Forkenbrock. John was 83, and was a member from 2015 to 2022, and was the former chair of the Sunshine Committee. John had quite a few health issues these last few years, but a brain tumor was the final straw. No service information yet.

Ole was taking Geometry 101 for the third time. The teacher was more than anxious for him to pass the class and gave him just 3 problems. The first two were a challenge, Ole thought, but the third! He was overjoyed. He knew the answer! It was so obvious! Geometry wasn’t so hard after all!

(insert triangle picture)
Paul Harris: Congratulations to Dave Betz, and of course the Paul Harris Foundation, for Dave’s qualifying for and receiving his 5^th Paul Harris Award. It was given to him, of course, by Steve Enquist. President Mary asked/requested/ordered anyone with an idea for an auction item to turn it into Connie, Hank Kerns, or Mary. This is for the coming Love the Wine You’re With event.

With little fanfare, Mary announced the five events of the day: Flag of Canada Day, International Childhood Cancer Day, Singles Awareness Day, Susan B Anthony Day, and her favorite, National Gumdrop Day. Because I couldn’t read my own writing, I had to look up one of them, and discovered that these were all YESTERDAY’S         proclamations. In reality, February 16 was National Caregiver’s Day, No One Eats Alone Day, National Do a Grouch a Favor Day, National Almond Day, and National Tartar Sauce Day. (Just another example of your Bulletin writers going the extra mile to bring truth to the masses.)

Sven offered to help Ole put on his new siding. With their nail aprons and hammers, they began pounding away and were making good progress. Sven noticed Ole would sometimes take out a nail, look at it, and throw it away. Sven asked, “Hey, Ole, dem nails don’t grow on trees! Vhy are you trowing some avay?” Ole responded, “Vell, some of dese nails ain’t no good. Da head is on da wrong end.” Sven’s eyes went wide and he replied, “Ole, you dope! Dem nails is obviously fer da odder side of da house!!!”

Fines/Gifts/Whatever we’re calling them now:
Bob Zawilski: 33 days at sea from LA to Hawaii to French Polynesia to LA. His fondest memory? “Getting off the ship”. They did visit the Maui devastation and made darned sure they got their money’s worth with the free booze on board. $100
Rick Selden had to steady himself after being exposed to the new landlubber Zawilski’s swaying motion but managed to brag on Ed Selden Floor Covering’s 65^th anniversary. Rick was 13 when his dad went for it in an area called Lakewood without much else going on. All these years later, Gayle now runs the show and proved its success by producing $100, to match Ricks’ $100.
Jan Gee went to Arizona to see her sisters and get some sun. She saw her sisters, but rain was the order of most days. Laughlin was profitable, however so…..$20.
Rose Stevens went to Austin, Texas with a delegation that included Angela Connelly and Mary Horn. They visited the 80-acre site there built to help combat the homeless crisis in Austin. The average age of the residents is 55, average age of death, 60. Homelessness is a hard life. Steve O’Ban will be giving a program on this in a few weeks. I think Rose offered up $60, while Mary promised to match it. Maybe.
Jim Sharp is finally an empty nester. Even better, his two grandkids are signed up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library! I assume Jim continued his amazing streak of generosity.

Program:
Past President and Mayor of Lakewood Jason Whalen introduced Becky Newton, a Northwest native who has been serving as the Economic Development Manager in Lakewood. There are about 4700 business operating here, about 2800 located in the city limits. About 31,000 people are employed by businesses/entities in Lakewood, about 300 less than pre-Covid. Taxable retail sales in 2018: $10M.  In 2023: $14M. Lakewood is getting stronger at attracting business activity. The City has built a website (https://buildyourbetterhere.com/) which serves to market Lakewood’s business-friendly stance. She mentioned some key areas of development:
A 400 unit housing development downtown; a 245 unit multifamily, rent restricted development at Lakewood Station and 50 Townhomes, along with Springhills Suites; Woodbrook Business Park, with hundreds of thousands of square feet; development in the International District totaling 258,000 square feet; a 76 unit apartment complex in Springbook along with 135,000 feet of warehouse space and development of the gravel pit; multiple changes to Tillicum; and an $800 million building project at Western State Hospital (a new 350 bed hospital, administration building).

The City is exploring how to fix the “missing middle” housing problem. JBLM has a $15B impact locally. The poverty rate here is down, to 12.7%, with our median age dropping slightly to just under 36. Questions included the Classy Chassis closing (plans to get permitting after the fire have yet to be received); the dearth of grocery store variety (wishing and hoping); and what to do about the over-saturation of group homes in Lakewood (200 or so; concerns about adequate care being offered for seniors in all these facilities).
In closing, Becky promoted the very fun event coming from Clover Park Rotary on March 18^th at the McGavick Center: CPRI (Clover Park Invitational). Tickets are $140 (includes dinner), with opportunities for $50 to $1000 prizes, and a guaranteed good time. Register at:
https://dacdb.com/calendar/event.cfm?EventID=77721238&calclubID=61
Also: their golf tournament is scheduled for August 10.

And with that: Ron Irwin managed to have the winning ticket of #8838. Sadly (for Ron), it was only worth $5 (ironically, the same amount that the fine named for him is), not $300+. Better luck next time.

A bar customer asked the bartender if he wanted to hear a Swede joke. The bartender pointed to a large man at the end of the bar and said, ``He's Swedish.'' Then the bartender pointed to a burly policeman near the door and repeated, ``He's Swedish.'' The bartender finished, ``Now think about whether you want to tell that joke, because I'm Swedish, too.''
The customer replied, ``I guess I won't tell that joke after all. I'd have to explain it three times.''

(Insert Swedish swing pic here)

A Swedish Swing

But wait! There’s more!
Don’t forget to remember the District Conference on May 2, 3 and 4 in Semiahmoo, at the resort near Blaine, Washington. Fabulous place, great entertainment and speakers set up. And it’s only a car ride away! While Canada can be fun, I recently ran into a story in the Lakewood Key about the trip to Victoria in 2006:
I picked up Bob and Marilyn Zawilski at 5 am, only to discover that I was missing a headlight. Not good, given my difficulty with seeing much of anything in the dark. Of course, I didn’t reveal this detail of diminished vision until we were on our way. We then picked up Joel and Donna Feldman, and Florence Covey and were off. It was a driving rainstorm (did I mention it was 5 a.m.??), with one headlight and not too fun. But doable. Then, about Silverdale, the rain changed to a blinding snowstorm, and the road was soon covered with the white stuff. This didn’t bother those in the back so much, as they were happily engaged in conversation. But I could see that co-pilot Bob Z was not quite as comfortable. Perhaps it was hitting those little lane dividers a few times that prompted him to say that he was available to spell me behind the wheel if I was tired. Of course, I wasn’t tired. I just couldn’t see. But why let that stand in the way of a beautiful morning drive!  We emerged from the storm unscathed entering the banana belt known as Sequim. There, an observant State Patrolman noticed our one-eyed car, made a U-turn, and pulled us over. Fortunately, he was just making sure we knew we were one headlight short of a matched set, and we managed to get to the ferry on time. But then…..about half way to Victoria, the swells became rather large and the boat movement became quite severe. Then the ship’s captain made a rapid turn, which was certainly different from previous trips. Definitely different. As the turn reached about 60 degrees, the ferry was hit with whatever, causing it to jolt severely. All the chairs in the ferry moved 6’ or more towards the opposite side from where we were, followed by luggage sliding swiftly along, accompanied by some pointed shrieks. I don’t think they were shrieks of delight. At least mine wasn’t. But no lifeboats, no injuries, no one fell overboard, and we made it. We learned a valuable lesson, however: Never should the Rotary President, President-elect and the upcoming President-elect travel together like that, inviting a catastrophic leadership void in Lakewood Rotary.
 

John gave the general a fine introduction, noting all of the foreign military campaigns in which he was involved.  General Brunson graduated from Hampton University and earned several advanced degrees too, not to mention his time at the National War College. General Brunson is married to Kristen Brunson, and I believe John said they have two children.  (Slow down John, willya, I am about the same age as our President and former President.)

THE PROGRAM:

You may have expected our Speaker to give us a detailed report on what is happening lately at JBLM.  Instead, he took a different tack.  But first, he showed his sense of humor and demonstrated that a modern general in the U.S. Army can have a ton of charisma!  His first comment:  “All I have in my pocket is Chapstick.”  He also said we should get a copy of the Lincoln poem, as it embodied the love for America that Rotarians seem to have, in that it was aspirational.  Lincoln showed he had hope, during some of the darkest days of the American experiment with democracy.
            General Brunson showed he is well aware of Lakewood Rotary initiatives, when he made reference to the Dolly Parton book program and how great it is that the program places books in the homes of young children.

Although General Brunson’s talk did highlight many facts about JBLM and his role as commander of one of the (only) four corps in the U.S. Army, as he kept speaking he returned often to this theme:   The U.S. military member, their families, and all those connected to JBLM truly appreciate their connection to the community, and that community’s support of them and their mission—to preserve our freedom and national security.  That was basically his theme.  You might liken it to a certain insurance jingle:   “Like a good neighbor, JBLM is there!”  In his remarks, General Brunson stressed repeatedly that, as a personal matter—and he speaks for many—he really appreciates groups like Rotary and other community members who are there in many ways for the people of JBLM, the largest joint base in the nation, which hosts not only I Corps but also the USAF’s 62^nd Airlift Wing.

Oh, sure, he did talk about the concept of integrated deterrence and said, “We go where we are needed.”  He mentioned that this corps deals in a military sense with four treaties—those between the U.S. and Japan, Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines.  JBLM also touches upon or deals directly with 16 municipalities in this region, so good relations exist there too.  He noted that only 30% of the military members reside on the base, so the other 70% really do need  the surrounding cities and Pierce County (and Thurston County too, for sure) to provide housing and community connection to that 70%.  General Brunson “our biggest job” is to take care of our families connected to JBLM.  But he stressed that the surrounding communities are so important to handle those chores.  He said again:  “Don’t stop doing what you are doing.  We really appreciate it.”

He said there are 40,000 military in his corps’ command.  But there are a lot more people affected when you consider families and contractors.  I think he said there are more like 160,000 persons under the JBLM and corps umbrella.  Again, he said, “They all need you.”  With that thought resonating around the room, General Brunson had to take his leave without taking questions.  I am sure you wanted to ask, for example, why do call a three-star general “Lieutenant General”, when a two-star general is referred to as “Major General”.  It defies logic but that is the U.S. military for you.

I also had a comment and request for him.  Did you know that three times a day, JBLM plays loud recordings of patriotic music for all of us to hear:  At exactly 7:00 a.m. you can hear Reveille, at 4:30 it is the National Anthem (the Star Spangled Banner) and at 10:00 p.m. they play Taps.  I wanted to request that they get a new recording of Taps, because it is pretty bad.  Maybe they could ask LR Rotarian Morris Northcutt to record a simple trumpet version, which would knock your socks off.  Seriously, though, it is sure to make you feel patriotic when you hear those tunes blasting from across the street (I-5).  So, as he said, keep doing what you are doing!

We felt like ending this bull right there, like we usually do after the Program summary, but that darn PM switched things around again!

In no particular order, PM recognized all those who helped in this mishmash of a meeting:

Linda Disney staffed the RI Foundation desk, where she collected $420.
 
The Sergeant at Arms was Mark Edgecomb, who also manned the raffle table.

The Family Dream Team (SetupComm) consists of Scott Baird, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa and Chief Rob Erb.

The Puffins were forced to stand up by PM.  The photographer today was Walt Richardson and Joe Quinn wrote this tome.  PM also recognized Zoomers Ralph Johnson, Carole Wier, John Magnuson and Debbie McVicker.

Guests were introduced, including Jenny Weinand, wife of Jim Weinand.  Liz Irwin, spouse of Ron Irwin, rose up and told a quick story of how she and Ron met.  Suffice it to say that Ron was so persistent in his pursuit of Liz that you might call him The Stalker.  Joel Vranna introduced David Gregg, a retired USAF member who probably has time on his hands.

Gael Whalen was called forward to trade her red badge in for a blue one.  Oh, yes, and to pay $5.Speaking of funds, Greg Rediske was minding  the cookie jar.  David Swindale offered up a fine of $20 just for showing up here instead of on Zoom from Hawaii.  Tom George donated $40 for his 41^st wedding anniversary, saying he was saving a dollar for next year!

At some point, Wendy McGowan gave the Sunshine Report.  Gordy Quick is undergoing chemo for prostate cancer and is in the hospital.  Call him.  Charles Alexander, a former Clover Park School District Superintendent and LR Rotarian passed away, but no service yet announced.  Condolences to Mary Moss whose daughter passed away recently; no service is planned.

Our meeting started as set out above, but we now heard from Tony Camoroda – the District Governor Nominee—and from Bill Potter, our Assistant Governor for local clubs.  Tony said the 18 Pierce County clubs met recently and shared ideas.  Change is coming, such as renaming PETS, which has always been the acronym of the President-Elects Training Seminar.  So now it is going to be called PELT!?  Seriously.  I guess that stands for President-Elects Leadership Training.  He also said RI is planning to settle on one permanent “logo”, which I thought we called the motto, which is changed every year by the incoming RI President.  I guess that confuses strangers so a permanent motto is in order.  How about “Service Above Self?”  Tony also mentioned the Rotary Magazine, which is published monthly and could be used to educate the public about Rotary.  How about bringing a copy (after you have read it cover to cover, of course) to a meeting and giving to our guests or even the Speaker.

Bill Potter spoke about the value of inter-club events like the Tacoma Rainiers game with tailgate party last year.  He called for a show of hands for an Imagine Monet event at the Tacoma Armory (like the recent Van Gogh event) and a lot of hands went up. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Jason Whalen led off the announcements about the April 27 Wine and Beer Festival.  Be there from 5:30 to 10:00 pm at the McGavick.  The goal is 350 guests. The live auction  will only consist of 10-12 “experiences” so come up with ideas.  Jason said he and Gael would again donate the visit to Seabrook.  But we need sponsors too, as $30,000 in sponsorships would help a lot with the overhead.  Connie Coleman-Lacadie and Hank Kerns then came forward to explain the Buy it Now button during the online auction.  Not really an auction in the conventional sense, this button enables you to buy tickets for items like the popular Dinner and a Movie that the Enquists have championed several times.   See the web site for the auction.   There will also again be a charcuterie; I believe the Partners have led that effort in the past.

Rose Stevens came forward to tell us about the mobile clinic project in the vicinity of Kherson, Ukraine. This idea saves lives!  Rose also said the Springbrook Connections needs men’s clothing, particularly in the large sizes.  Wow, that is perfect for all of us slightly overweight LR men. 

Eric Warn said last call for the February 17^th Lakewood Lions Crab Feed   Call now.

PM said something about a LR flower sale for flowers to be delivered on May 10^th in time for Mother’s Day.  She also asked who might be willing to do a local beach cleanup—a family opportunity.  April 22^nd is Earth Day.  Marisa Terry, a student who we sponsored for education in Scotland, is a part of South Sound Surfrider, which apparently does this once a month.

Mary Moss mentioned the Lakewood Multicultural Coalition (LMCC), which is sponsoring a music/dance/dessert dash event on March 15^th at the McGavick, would love to see us there. Contact Mary—the President/CEO of the LMCC—at 253 984-6405.

Near the end of our time together, PM called for breakout sessions at each table to brainstorm for ideas about procurement for the April 27^th Lakewood Rotary Wine and Beer Festival.  Our table came up with a repeat offering of the American Lake Boat Tour.  We already have the boat and captain in Joel Vranna.  Last year that sold twice, raising $5000.  One member also suggested an outing to Top Golf near Renton,  This could be a Buy it Now button item; groups of six can rent a space there for an hour or more to play games and share food and drink. Send your ideas to Connie Coleman-Lacadie.

The raffle was won by Dwight Williams for a lofty $5.

CORRECTION:  Apparently, the bulletin Editor/Publisher Greg Horn wishes to include the correct phone number for Gordy Quick who would love to hear from you.  The right number is (702) 544-2798.  I think it was Mark Edgecomb who said, “Reportedly, Dr. Smith really appreciated your thoughtful calls, but you have the wrong number!”   PM made sure that husband Greg paid a fine for that.
 

I took a seat between two of my favorite Rotarians: one I’ve known since he was 15-years-old: John Lowney. The other is a newer friend, but surely one fine gentleman: Bob Martin.

Right off, the president acknowledged that the outline for today’s meeting was to be a bit cockeyed, as our speaker was planning “a fast getaway”. However, the president insisted that Philip Lindholm give the invocation.  Brand new Rotarian from Puyallup South Hill Rotary Dean Romero-Mewharter led us in the flag salute.

Peter Marsh then snatched the mike and introduced Hugh Weber who was first on the agenda, not last as usual. He is President of Business Operations for the Seattle Sounders. Peter said that Hugh graduated from Bellarmine Prep, followed by University of Puget Sound. He said that Mr. Weber had run sports teams, across the country, for more than 27 years. He has four grown children.


Wikipedia: Longacres in Renton
After several years of losses due to increasing gambling and entertainment competition, the property was sold to Boeing in 1990. Boeing allowed the track to operate for two more years after the sale until the end of the 1992 season; the company demolished its structures in 1995. Boeing eventually built a new headquarters for its Commercial Airplanes division on the property along with a customer-training center; however, the company vacated the property and sold it in 2021 to Unico Partners. Seattle Sounders FC, in partnership with Unico, plans to renovate the site for use as a training facility; it is projected to open in January 2024.

Hugh enlightened us with a plethora of sports facts. At this time, he is involved in the $2 billion development of a sports center in the Renton area. The focus of the center will be soccer as it is a worldwide, growing sport. It is the one sport played in many, many countries, unlike football, baseball or basketball. Soccer has moved from a local, family-oriented, sport to one that is now being run by “big corporate”.

The new center will host the 26^th World Cup in 2026 and Seattle will be one of the host cities. The event will become another legacy to Seattle and surrounding communities as did the 1962 World’s Fair “Gateway to the Future”. The center’s focus and field is initially aimed at sports (large enough for football), but it is being planned as a future music venue as well. Sports training has begun at designated sites around the Pacific Northwest.

Hugh went on to speak about revenue, saying ticket sales reap the greatest reward, being the number one contributor to the bottom line.

Mr. Weber then touched upon a subject that got everyone’s attention: Pay Equity.  It is a very hot topic today with players like female Megan Rapino and male Lionel Messi in the forefront of the soccer world.

The club members gave a raucous applause, enjoying the fact-filled half hour and would like Hugh Weber to return during or after the upcoming 2026 World Cup event.

Mother Mary called on Bob Martin to give the “Rotary Moment”. Bob’s words set the tone for the entire meeting (thus, my references to Winnie the Pooh). He spoke, not of his life and career in municipal government, but of his recent kidney surgery where the doctors removed “a plug” from his kidney about the size of a wine cork. But, what is more revealing, Bob spoke of his love of Rotary, enumerating a long list of members of our club who contacted him during his recovery. His words: “Rotarians are Something Special.” Thanks Bob.

Now, down to business! President Mary introduced the Rotarians that made today’s meeting possible: Debbie McVicker worked the Paul Harris desk, Leon Titus oversaw the $2.00 table, the Dream Team (Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa, Rob Erb, and Scott Baird) worked diligently. Scott also served as the greeter today and for that he finished the list of duties to earn his “blue badge”. Walt Richardson operated his trusty camera and “yours truly” scribbled away to gather all the tidbits for this bulletin.

I noticed a handful of Zoomers: Carole Wier, John Magnuson, Shiru Osundwa, and Scott Buser. Our Puffin cadre stood to applause and Mary Marlin introduced her guest, Linda Griffin.

Shelby Bell, Suzanne Johnson and Dean Romero-Mewharder were introduced as Visiting Rotarians from Puyallup South Hill Rotary.

Mother Mary called me to the microphone to give the Sunshine Report. I informed everyone that a service for Charles Alexander had yet to be announced and that there would be no memorial for Mary Moss’ daughter, but, as Eeyore said, “A little consideration for others, makes all the difference”. Greg Rediske handed me a typed note about our longtime member, Gordy Quick. Here is what it said, “Gordy has been in the hospital since yesterday and is getting a shunt put in today at 1:00 p.m. His liver has been affected by the chemo, and bile has stopped flowing. The shunt will hopefully “send it to the right place”. He may be out of the hospital tomorrow. The chemo has slowed the cancer. The doctors discovered a hole in one hip, that may or may not be contributing to Gordy’s severe back pain. He still enjoys phone calls, so please do so.”  702-5454-2798.

Greg Rediske, best secretary bar-none, announced partner anniversaries and Rotary anniversaries, yet most fun of the day was Joe Quinn’s “sing-a-long” game. Joe’s great voice belted out bits of popular rock n’ roll songs and those members with February birthdays who had been called to the podium, one by one had to “sing” the next phase of the song. Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, or Bob Dylan they “ain’t!”

Some Cookie Jar Collections:
Joe Quinn: $20 for son, Eric, actually showing up for the meeting.
Eric Quinn: $60 for “a working vacation” in Vegas.
Mary Marlin: $50 for her birthday (she did acknowledge she’s not 50).
Greg Rediske: $30 for some CDs (Phillip Lindholm gave Greg some CDs of his band but wouldn’t accept any money, so Greg made a contribution to Lakewood Rotary).
Debbie McVicker: for the wrongful spelling of Amelia’s name (our exchange student) name on Lakeside Stroll’s magazine cover.
Greg Horn: $50 for “the H___ of it!”

Raffle Drawing: $250 in the pot. Linda Disney drew a white chip.

“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.” Winnie the Pooh.

A personal aside: About 20 years ago, I visited my youngest daughter, Megan, in London where she was living and working for C.S. First^t Boston (a bank). During the day, while Megan was working, I toured London by myself. One day I wandered into the Victoria and Albert Museum. A young woman came up to me and asked if she could assist me in any way. She asked what I’d like to see. I said, “Art”. She said, “Follow me.” On our way to a floor or two above the main entrance, she asked if I knew anything about “Winnie the Pooh”. She was taken aback at my obvious enthusiasm, but pleased to take me the the original drawings of E.H. Shepard when I revealed they were my favorite characters as a child. She led me to a room, asked me to sit down, then she began bringing out the most wonderful drawings, one after another, after another. I left the V and A feeling that “Today is my new favorite day.”

Upcoming events
February 3^rd: Caring for Kids “Happy Hearts Auction
February 17^th: Lakewood Lions Crab Feed
April 27^th; Lakewood Rotary “Beer and Wine Festival and Flower Sale
 

Since January is one of those months that kicks off a new year, it’s good to resolve to celebrate something every single day. You’ve already missed a few good ones  like National Squirrel Appreciation Day and National Hugging Day on January 21^st. You also missed National Beer Can Appreciation Day on January 24^th and National Opposite Day on January 25^th.

            PM had the Puffins stand to be recognized and they are a fine looking bunch of new members. Guests included Asa Horn, Linda Goodwin, Jennie Weinand, Mark Silva, Bri Cooper, Ellen Mazoff, Kris Quinn and Exchange Student Amelia. John Lowney introduced his daughter Shelly Mills and her husband, Vern Mills. Amelia gave us a nice little report on her first semester here in her adopted country and all seems to be going well for her. Sally Saunders took her next step in ascending to Rotary royalty by being awarded her blue badge right after she coughed up $5.00. Wendy McGowan reported that Bob Martin is back!

            Barb Spriggs talked about joining the Next Step Mentorship program with the tutelage of Steve and Ann Enquist who have put together notebooks with fancy tabs (Steve’s contribution). These notebooks give a complete run down on how to be a mentor to a high school student preparing for college applications. Noting that some applicants were light on community service, Barb is working with a Harrison Prep counselor to start the first Interact Club at the school. Any young person between the ages of 12 and 18 years can be a member with the intent to focus on community service. This is pretty exciting and we’re anxious to hear how it goes and what the membership can do to support it.

            By the time you read this, you’ll have missed the celebrations for Friday, January 26^th and there were some special ones: National Spouses Day, National Peanut Brittle Day, National Fun at Work Day, National Big Wig Day, and National Green Juice Day. Too bad PM didn’t tell us.

            PM reminded us that Bob Lordahl’s memorial was at 2:00 pm at the Little Church on the Prairie after the meeting. Ray George’s memorial is on January 27^th at 11:00 am at Sunset Bible Church. Also passing was Charles Alexander, a past Clover Park Superintendent and Rotarian but his service has not been announced. Anne Enquist talked a bit about the Speaker Program Committee and urged us all to help with getting speakers by making the connection between the committee and a proposed speaker. Give any ideas for speakers to a committee member. On February 9^th, we are having Lt. General Brunson who runs JBLM speak. Be sure and come to a very interesting and special presentation.

            Steve Enquist brought up Don Anderson to award him a Paul Harris Major Donor, having contributed an amazing $10,000 to the Paul Harris Foundation. Don got a nice crystal thing and two pins. Joe Quinn reminded everyone to take the Youth Protection test. Some people, like Greg Rediske didn’t have to watch the 30 minute video before the test and still get 100%. PM reported that she did it too but wouldn’t disclose her score, only that she passed. PM asked AG Bill Potter to give his announcement and he really didn’t have much to say. Has he ever had much to say? I don’t know, but keep reading and you’ll find out what he came up with later in the meeting.

            John Lowney talked about the upcoming World Affairs Seminer in Waukosha, Wisconsin between June 22 and 28^th. The topic is  Democracy and Governance: Evolving Global Perspectives. Any high school junior or senior is eligible to apply. Priority will be given to a child or grandchild of a Lakewood Rotarian. We pay all expenses. Early Bird registrations end the end of February and saves us a couple of dollars so get those applications to John for the committee’s consideration. Eric Warn said that if we want to keep him out of WSH, we’d better sign up for the Lion’s Club Crab Feed on February 17^th. Tickets on line.

            If I had gotten my act together sooner, you could have celebrated National Chocolate Cake Day, National Seed Swap Day and National Fruitcake Toss Day on January 27^th. Sorry but I don’t go near the computer on Saturdays.

            PM’s favorite time of the meeting finally came – Cookie Jar donations. Jim Weinand was first up giving some cash for a two  month long vaca in Hawaii. Steve Saalfield reported that his daughter was in Italy having a great time and he’ll kick in some cash as a proud but jealous dad. Barlow Buescher forgot to bring food for the Little Pantry so he’ll contribute $50. Steve said the  need out there was great. He refills them every week or more often and they are empty. Scott Buser kicked in a whopping $50 to fill those pantries! Gayle Selden shared a memory recalled by sitting next to Asa Horn. She remembered as a young girl attending a Rotary meeting with her dad when her grandfather was president. It was a special time for her and look how she turned out! Donna Phillips reported for Andy that they went to Mazatlan with Andy’s tennis group and they stayed an extra week. The group is now setting up tennis matches in Japan. We all sang Happy Birthday to Donna and Andy will cover both reasons to donate.

            AG Bill Potter finally remembered something to say – his birthday. According to him, it was not reported at the birthday meeting and he wanted everyone to know  a) he had a birthday, b) it was a good one, and c) he has great kids who celebrated with him so he donated $100. PM announced that the District Conference is being held at Semiahmoo in May 2 – 4^th  this year. It has a lot of fun stuff to do, like salsa making, wine tasting, golf tournament, mixology class and indoor and outdoor games. Book early because this one is gonna fill up.

            And then came the program. Steve Mazoff introduced Sally Saunders, surviving spouse of Larry Saunders, a former Lakewood Police Chief. Steve told the story about both Sally and Larry were military brats and met in Okinawa. As a married couple, they traveled all over the world. Larry retired from the military in 1998 but returned to do a tour of duty in Iraq. Sally is a member of the Lions Club and now an official Rotarian. She is an RN and a great diagnostician She has been very involved in the Lakewood community since she and Larry moved here many years ago. They helped bring back to life the Springbrook Gardens, Partners for Parks and the H Barn, Habitat for Humanity to name a few.
           
            Sally spoke about how to prepare for the sudden unexpected death of a loved one and she spoke from experience. Larry passed away suddenly even though he had physicals every year giving him high grades for health. Sally thought her life in the military had prepared her for this possibility and spoke of the Doomsday List, a list of what you should have to be ready for this experience. Sally said it’s so much easier to have this kind of information in advance.

            Sally shared what she called her mistakes, what she didn’t do right. She and Larry shared both personal and business bank accounts so the bank was helpful to her. But the credit card company was something entirely different.  She called the credit card company to find out what bills were due and how much they were on their joint credit card account. She started crying under the stress and the credit card person asked her if she was okay. Sally said her husband had just died and she was upset. Since Larry was the primary account holder, the credit card person said all the accounts are now shut down. Sally couldn’t have any information from them or any access to them. Nothing Sally said weakened their resolve to help her have any information about the account. Sally called her daughter who called management and a high ranking officer in the company called Sally and sorted it all out.

            Sally went back to discussing the Doomsday List which is a list of persons to contact, any accounts, like bank, investment, or savings, and passwords, a very important item for computer access to accounts. Since Larry was in the military, Sally was assigned a person who helped her walk through everything she had to do. Don’t forget to ask about that service if a deceased loved one was in the military. Sally said to discuss in advance how you want your funeral or memorial services, buried or cremated, what to do with the ashes, where and how to be buried. She got together with their children and they put Larry in three different spots that were meaningful to him and the family.

            Because Larry was a public figure, various organizations helped her organize his service so that she really didn’t have to do much. Her daughter worked with them in Sally’s stead. Sally said she knew she was fortunate to have people around her to do this as she would have found it hard to deal with.

            She talked about different assets, like cars. Are they in both of your names so you can take over without having to go to probate to take ownership? Be sure and have a will and consider a trust to avoid probate. The Social Security office in Puyallup is much better than the Tacoma one so go there if you have to deal with Social Security. Have a better filing system than Larry kept. It was one time she yelled at him as she tried to find a document that was not where it was supposed to be.

            When it was time for questions, you all know what happened. Half of the lawyer in the room stood up to put in their $.02. Veterans do have special rights so check to see what your loved one might have. Attach a document that distributes personal items to your will that you can change easier than your will. Keep the Doomsday List current. And beware of scammers. Have a family password so that if a scammer calls and says a loved one needs help or pretends to be a loved one, ask about the password. If the person can’t say it, you know it’s a scam.

            Thank you, Sally, for a difficult and always important topic and for sharing your experience of dealing with Larry’s sudden passing. We all miss him still.

            Looking ahead this week, you’ve still got time to  honor National Gift of the Ladybug Day, National Blueberry Pancake Day and National Kazoo Day on the 28^th. January 29^th, you’ve got National Bubble Wrap Day, National Puzzle Day, and National Corn Chip Day. But here’s the most important of all: National Plan for Vacation Day on Tuesday, January 30^th. Do it!!! And the last day of the month, you’ve got National Hot Chocolate Day, National Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, and National Backward Day. I wanna hear about all your celebrations!!

            You know who won the raffle. Okay, it’s the one that wins it about 85% of the time. Frankly, there’s not much point in buying a raffle ticket as this person always wins. Now the kicker is she doesn’t always get the pot. Sometimes like Friday, she gets the white token and $5.00. Yep, I’m talking about Mary Marlin. And you can’t say it was rigged this time as Asa was the ticket picker outer and he couldn’t be bought.

Upcoming Events:

Friday, February 2 at noon - Club meeting at TCGC - with Hugh Weber, Seattle Sounders

Friday, February 2 at 5:30 pm - Canterwood Golf Club 14th Annual Star Awards presented by the Gig Harbor Rotary Clubs. $65 Register here.

Caring for Kids  Happy Hearts Auction – February 3rd

Friday, February 9 at noon - Club meeting at TCGC - with Lt. General Xavier T. Brunson, Commanding General, I Corps JBLM

Thursday, February 8 at 5:30 pm - Rotary on Tap  - Save the date and watch for the details.
Lions Crab Feed – February 17^th



           
 

Paste the rest of the story here

Mary thanked those who made the meeting happen, which included new member of the set-up crew, Scott Baird. Walt Richardson was the photo documentarian with some backup form Phil Eng, and Gayle Selden the written documentarian. John Lowney was the King collector of funds.
Our lone visiting Rotarian from Tacoma Sunrise was Ashley Taulbee, our speaker.
Mary asked all current Board members or Committee members to stand, and she thanked them for their hard work and reminded us a lot happens behind the scenes to make Rotary go. Right now, some bylaw reviews are happening and soon we’ll have a meeting where committees will report their work.
Barlow announced that the Little Free Pantries could use some food so please be generous next week (money and food accepted). Mary and Greg stocked last week, and they had ladies waiting for the bread and other items that were placed in the pantry. The Pantry on Steilacoom Blvd near the old Albertsons/new Safeway in front of Pierce College housing is often in shambles. He asked for volunteers to stop by and make sure it’s clean and debris-free. Jim Sharp immediately volunteered for the task. But if you are near stop by and make sure it looks good.
Don Daniels reminded us about the raffle tickets we were selling to our friends who would love to donate to Lakewood Rotary. $25 gives you the opportunity to get $5,000. The raffle will be drawn at the Lakewood Rotary Wine Festival April 27th. Don needs some help collecting money and handing out tickets at the meeting. Please contact him at 253-370-0583 or ddaniels6@comcast.net.
Don also reminded all that Lakewood Rotary Garments were available to purchase and were being blown out for $35 each. Limited Sizes available. See him and get your merch on. Once we sell this batch, we can work on getting some more.
John Lowney then offered up $5 to hear the sunshine report. And sadly, there was a lot. Bob Lordahl’s service will be Friday, Jan 26^th at the Little Church on the Prairie at 2:00 p.m. Former member Ray George passed away and his memorial is Jan 27^th at Sunset Bible Church. Wendy had cards for us to sign to send to the family as Ray was a long-time giver to Lakewood Rotary and the community. Former member and past Clover Park School District Superintendent Charles Alexander passed away at age 91 on January 4^th, services are yet to be scheduled. Mary Moss lost her daughter to a heart attack. Mary’s heart is broken, and we are encouraged to surround her in love.
On a better note, Bob Martin’s kidney surgery went well, and he is home recovering. Rick Selden also had minor knee surgery and is doing well—he missed the meeting because he was not allowed to shower until Saturday. He certainly puts others before himself, thank goodness.
President Mary Horn then put Gayle Selden in the hot seat for a very cold trip to Dallas, Texas. Sharing of her success in wrapping her friend’s hose bibs to prepare for the freeze. Thankfully no power grid loss occurred this winter.
Gayle also reminded everyone that exchange student Amelia is staying at Troy and Stephanie Wilcox’s. She just tried snowboarding for the first time with Clayton DeNault and loved it. Amelia loves to thrift shop, grocery shop and eat spicey foods. A recent trip to Gateway to India and a four-star entree order was not hot enough for Amelia. Text her at 253-951-4410 and get a visit in! Time is running short!
Don Daniels paid a fine for Lisa’s gambling prowess in Reno. Don enjoys going along for the ride with her. Lisa’s success was not revealed but Don paid $20 for Reno so it must’ve been something good.
Sally Saunders reminded us to buy tickets for the Lions Crab Feed February 17^th. Crab (or Chicken), a band and dancing await. Please buy your tickets right away as they need to have caterer numbers real soon. Lakewood First Lions Club - Lions e-Clubhouse will give you directions to pay. There are always a couple tables of Rotarians in attendance.
Other community events include Steilacoom Kiwanis Wine Festival (the club who helped us with our event) on January 26^th, The Caring for Kids Auction on February 2^nd, The Gig Harbor Rotary Clubs Star Awards on February 2^nd, Clover Park Rotary’s Capri Event March 8^th and The Lakewood Multicultural Coalition Gala on March 15^th.
This is often referred to as Auction season. You can dress up and head to the McGavick center for an event every weekend! We have so many great organizations doing amazing things. Please support our friends in other service clubs by attending their events. It’s a good community builder and then they have no chance to say no when you ask them to our Wine Festival in April! This scribe is particularly fond of the Multicultural Coalition Gala as our own Mary Moss created the group and started this event. It would be a great way to surround her in love by filling all those seats around her.
Jason Whalen was asked to elaborate on the Wine Festival for the Steilacoom Kiwanis (which he will be attending) and decided to fess up about daughter Alison’s commitment to Boise State University. Alison earned a 4-year full ride scholarship where she will be able to continue running in Division 1! Jason was shamed when he offered $20, as he is saving four years of out-of-state tuition which is well north of 100K. He upped to $50.  (Let’s see.  $50 divided by $100,000 = .0005%.  What a deal!)
Yorleny Clapper wanted to thank Ron Banner and the Clover Park Schools for introducing an after school Spanish speaking program in the district.
Jan Gee paid $20 for a visit to Ithica, NY (to visit grandkids??) in which her return trip took 16 hours due to inclement weather.
Barlow paid a fine in honor of the program and told us of a foster dog that has now found his forever home with he and Karen.
Chris Kimball paid a fine to celebrate his new 200 hp Yamaha V-Max motorcycle that can go 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, with a top speed of 170 mph. Valuable time saver when trying to race to get a milkshake or that extra sugary Frappuccino at Starbucks.
Rose Stevens introduced our speaker Ashley Taulbee, Chief Philanthropist Officer from the Human Society of Tacoma – Pierce County. Ashley began her speech by thanking Bob Zawilski for serving on the Humane Society board for many years. She then asked how many pet owners were in the meeting most hands were raised in affirmation.
The Humane Society of Pierce County was started in 1888 after a logger was found picking on a bear. (Actually, he was kicking it in downtown Tacoma.)That bear and another were fostered and cared for and soon a larger shelter for animals was born. The Pierce County Humane society is an open-admission shelter which means they can accept animals in from the public. It is the largest animal shelter in the state and is not affiliated with another organization or national group. 
The Humaen Society does adoptions, reunites pets and owners, provides low cost spay and neuter, vaccine clinics and has a pet food and supply pantry for community members who need help. It has a volunteer network of foster volunteers to house animals until they find their new home.
Did you find a dog and it looks lost? Here are some suggestions of what to do.  First tell the dog to go home and follow it to see if they make it there. Use Facebook to post found pets—there are groups called Lost pets or neighborhood groups that may help you find the owner quickly. Scans for microchips can be completed at veterinarian office or Petco or PetSmart. You can file a lost pet report with the Humane Society.  On the website you can create an appointment to drop off the pet if it is unclaimed. Usually, a pet is not far away from its home so starting in your neighborhood is the best way to help as it saves shelter space for animals without homes.
They are working on programs to help with what they call neighborhood cats to get them spayed or neutered. If you see a cat with a clipped ear—it has been fixed. Left ear clipped indicates it is a male, right ear clipped a female because females are always right. Just like Bob Barker they are working to control the pet population any way they can.  ?????????
Soon the Humane Society will be starting a capital campaign to replace the shelter. They are hoping for sunshine to hit the kennels. They hope that potty and sleeping areas will be separated. They want the shelter to be a less stressful environment for the animals. And that the shelter will be more inspiring for their workers and volunteers. They also would appreciate a building that isn’t half a century old.
The Humane Society houses dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs and recently took in 250 rabbits in one day. All dog breeds are welcome and cared for. They do help the community with euthanasia for low cost too but it’s just for animals, so my father is safe. Make sure to ask Barlow if you want to hear a joke about his neighbor’s cat.

Hank drew white and missed out on the $250 pot.
 

They selected a bunch of people from The White Pages of the telephone directory. They sent them a one-page questionnaire asking that question. They included a SASE for responses – all very high-tech. I’ve included a summary of their responses to the question of why people thought I had not become a better person. Here are the results:

1. Who?                                       25 replies
2. You must be joking!                19 replies
3. (Scoffing sound)                      15 replies
4. No longer at this address        129 replies
5. Who gives a rip!?                    3896 replies

Total                4084

I decided to not become a better person in 2024. So far no one has noticed; except our cat.

Why Are We Here…?

President Mary began the meeting interrupting a stimulating conversation between Dave, Ralph, Carole and Ole on Zoom. To summarize: It is colder where Carole is in Minnesota, Dave has weather in the 70’s on Oahu, Ralph is keeping his ponies warm and Ole is wondering about his cat. That conversation precluded listening to the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Family Dream Team up-set the meeting facilities. They are: Tom George, James Oswunda, Rob Erb, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke and Rick Selden. You can recognize those gentlemen because they wear their Varsity Letter Sweaters to the meetings. The Junior Varsity consists of Bob X at the $2 table, photographer Walt Richardson, Cookie Jar John Lowney and scribe – Ole aka John Magnuson. President Mary is so polite to mention VIPs Bill Potter, Tony Camoroda and Greg Horn. For your entertainment you can choose whom of those folks are PDG, DGN and AG – here’s a clue: all three have PP’d here and there. She also recognized our wonderful Puffins. Here’s an important question for the day: Who are more important – the VIP’s or the Puffins? Show of hands here – Oh Wow - that is much closer than I thought it would be.

Getting’ Down to Bidniss….
Wendy McGowan gave a Sunshine Report with information that PP Bob Lordahl’s memorial service will be Friday, January 26^th at 2:00, Little Church on the Prairie. Rick Selden gave a nice eulogy for longtime member, Ray George. Ray was that quiet man who sat right over there and always showed up to work on anything and everything. His memorial is Saturday, January 27^th, 11:00 AM, Sunset Bible Church. Wendy also reported that Bob Martin’s kidney surgery went well. I always wonder about that phrase “went well.” Imagine if you put a comma between the words, how it would change the meaning. As in “It went, …well, somewhere.” Never mind.

President Mary inducted new member, Phillip Lindholm. Chaplain Captain of the Air National Guard, Dr. Lindholm has an impressive resume. Several Master’s degrees in the world’s religions, a PhD and a cat that cares! Check out Dr. Lindholm on Ted Talks. The only other Captain Chaplain I know of was the fictional character, Captain Chaplain Tappman in Catch 22. He was played by Anthony Perkins. He was an Anabaptist Minister, but everyone called him Padre; which he wasn’t. Welcome Phillip.

PP Chris Kimball counted the birthdays, wedding anniversaries and club anniversaries amongst the membership. Using his Texas Instruments 4 Function, portable handheld calculator he totaled an amazing number. A number to which we should all aspire. A number we should bet on when we gamble tonight at the casino. A number numerologists long for. Yes, fellow Rotarians, Chris Kimball totaled all the years of marriage, years of Rotary membership and age in years – and that number is SIX! Wait, that couldn’t be right! It must be more than six, it should be more like one thousand five hundred and two or three. Anyway, this month’s grand prize winners in the various categories are:  Jim Bisceglia – 50 years of club membership, Ralph Johnson – 96 years young, and Phil and Judy Eng – 39 years of absolute wedded bliss!

Paul Harris Dropped By…

Steve Enquist had the enviable job of awarding T. Roarke his 6^th Paul Harris; Tyler his 4^th and Mary Marlin her 3^rd along with PP Potter’s 3^rd. Congratulation to all.

Secretary of Everything Greg Rediske clarified a $2,000 donation to The Lakewood Baseball Club. The recipient, Jonathon Garcia, announced that former Husky football head coach, Kalen DeBoer would be the new coach of Lakewood Baseball. Seriously!? Just kidding, it will be Pete Carroll. Eric Warn contributed to LBC also.

Honey Jar a little slim….

Steve and Ellen Mazoff were in Florida visiting family: I think I heard $50. Steve Enquist may have donated something as well. We had technical issues along the way, so please excuse me if these nuggets of news prove inaccurate. We do the best we can and I believe it was James who came to the rescue. Keep in mind, none of this makes me a better person!

 Jason Whalen was once more elected by fellow city council members as Mayor and Mary Moss as Deputy Mayor. I didn’t get a count of their donations to the Cookie Jar. Eric Warn was named Volunteer of the Year at the Lakewood YMCA. I noticed John Lowney was not in tears, so I assume the donations were adequate at least. John and Pam’s cat is named Missy.

A Speaker Near and Dear to our Hearts: Strong Heart; Sharp Brain

Greg Horn introduced Joe Piscatella, President and Founder of The Institute for Fitness and Health. A friend to many in Lakewood, Joe’s career as an author, speaker and expert in heart health and longevity began quite by accident. He suffered a heart attack at the young age of 32 resulting in bypass surgery. He was fit, young, successful, had a young family and in disbelief of what his doctor told him.

It has been 46 years and 18 books authored since that bypass. Joe has spoken to audiences totaling more than 2 million people. He concludes that all aspects of life affect our heart health. That includes where we live, our lifestyle, our attitudes, diet, exercise, our sleep, and the stress we deal with. Joe related data that should concern everyone. The USA is beset with obesity and diabetes and high blood pressure – all lead to heart disease and stroke.  Count yourself lucky if you don’t suffer from those ailments as you age.

One in one million people die of AIDS. One in ten thousand die of murder. One in five thousand die of traffic related accidents. But, one in three die of heart related disease. Alzheimer’s has become the sixth leading cause of death. Longevity is declining at a time when it should be increasing: Women – 81.2 years, Men – 76.4 years. Chronic loneliness is the equivalent to smoking 17 cigarettes per day. Boy, John Prine nailed it in his song, “When I Get to Heaven.” I quote: “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna have a cocktail, Vodka and Ginger Ale and smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long.” Well, John ain’t with us any longer after suffering from cancer and a stroke!

Joe told us to read about Blue Zones, places where people regularly live to 100 years and beyond: Sardinia, Loma Linda, California, Okinawa, and Greece. Follow their lifestyle and diet choices. And finally, walking is always best. But if you can’t walk, stand and balance on a Bosa Ball while you pass a smaller ball left and right. Be sure and have someone film that so we can enjoy it.

A huge thanks to Joe Piscatella: first for his longevity so he can share his wisdom and second, thanks for the visit.

Terry Roarke came in second in the raffle drawing, winning $5 that he will spend on his cat.

Who Reads This Stuff?
Ole

 

According to recent research, while as many as 45 percent of Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent are successful in achieving their goals.  But that dismal record probably won’t stop people from making resolutions anytime soon—after all, we’ve had about 4,000 years of practice.

So, evidently we make your resolutions and open ourselves up to eminent failure…..

GO DAWGS!!!!

President Mary (PM) rang her lunch bell at 12:29 and the meeting began.
Chris Kimball was called upon to give us a “Rotary Moment” as well as an invocation-both of which he accomplished.  His “Moment” lasted about that long as he ran down his entire life in about 45 seconds so I didn’t get most it but, I can report that Chris is highly educated and has led a successful life.  Oh, and he loves to play his drums!

Your scribe for the day, Donnnnnn Irwin, led the collective in the Pledge.

PM regaled us with a cute Christmas story that occurred at her and Greg’s home over the holidays.  Seems as though our President is still a little kid at heart.  She bought 36 miniature “sticky” and “stretchy” toy dinosaurs for her grandsons for Christmas.  Turns out these dinosaurs where perfect for tossing at each other so an immense dinosaur war sprang up. During the ensuing battle it was discovered that said dinosaur toys would stick to ceiling.  Take a wild guess as to where the dinosaurs ended up.  Family Christmas lore in the making!!

Visiting Rotarians – none joined us today, but we did have a visitor.  Greg Horn introduced Rob LaChance who is a Steilacoom resident and was using the park.  He happened to ask “What are you doing in there?” and presto, he’s having lunch with us and finding out what Rotary is all about.  Great stuff!!

PM recognized the meeting’s indentured servants…. I mean elite: Steve Enquist at the Foundation table ($885.00 today!!), Double D, Dashing and Dynamic PP Don Daniels took care of our fund-raising raffle tickets.  John Lowney (JLo) took our money as we walked in and Phlashy Phil Eng photographed stuff.

The set-up crew (AKA The Dream Team) Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke and the unstoppable Rick Selden, under Rob Erb’s culpable, er, capable guidance had their work cut out for them today as we met in a location we have heretofore never met at.  Huge kudos to Stephanie Wilcox (how in the world did Troy manage to catch that lady?) and Amelia Badazada for setting up the tables and chairs!!
 
Speaking of kudos, many of them need to go to Dick Ferrell for the wonderful spread he provided for lunch. Let’s keep that guy around.

No Zoomers due to the location of today’s meeting.  PM had the Puffins in attendance wave and then she recognized PDG Greg Horn, DGN Tony Camoroda and AG Bill Potter

GO DAWGS!!!
 
Famous folks January 5^th Birthdays: George Reeves (Superman), Bradley Cooper (Actor), King Gilette (Razor blade guy), Walter Mondale (Politician), Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton (both actors) and Matthew Irwin (son of Key writer).

PM called on Mark Edgecomb to come forward on behalf of the Community Concerns Committee.  PP Mark dutifully did so and, after giving a brief explanation of what Claire’s Closet is and does, he delivered an ask for approval for the club to donate $2,000 to said charity.  A motion was stated, a second was given and all voted yea to approve the money.

Phil Eng grabbed the mic and announced that a former club member, Dr. Jim Early’s wife, Lila, passed away.  He also mentioned that we have a member we never see – Jerry Willams.  I looked Jerry up in the club directory and found that he joined the club in 1989.  I don’t recall ever meeting him, but he must be a great guy since he was born on April 21^st – 2 days different than my birthday.  According to the directory he still lists Lakewood as his home address.

Lakewood Rotarian Bob Lodahl passed away.  A Celebration of Life Memorial Service and Reception following for Bob will be held on Friday, January 26th at 2pm at The Little Church on the Prairie
6310 Motor Avenue S.W, Lakewood, WA. 98499.

1531 – Pope Clement VII tells King Henry VIII he can’t remarry (oh, oh…. trouble starts here!).
1914 – Henry Ford raises his workers’ wages from $2.40 to $5.00/hr.
Rotary on Tap in 2024.  Please join us on Thursday, January 11, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at Foley's Sports Bar, Meadow Brook Golf Course, 7108 Lakewood Rd W.  Entrance is at the back of the building. (Read more about this event below).

Phil also paid into PM’s Cookie Jar for buying some big boy toys – I believe a motor home was mentioned.

Famous folks January Deaths: Calvin Coolidge, Amelia Earhart, George Washington Carver, Rogers Hornsby, Pistol Pete Maravich and Sonny Bono.

1920 – The New York Yankees bought some guy named Babe Ruth
1933 – The Golden Gate Bridge started coming out of the ground.

Mark Blanchard stood up to brag about the fact that he gets to go to the Huskies College Football Playoff Championship game in Houston Monday.  I have no idea what that might have cost him but, evidently, he had enough money left over to contribute to the Cookie Jar.  Sally Saunders paid some money for her daughter coming home.  Donna Phillips forked over some bucks to announce that the Steilacoom Kiwanians are having their Wine Tasting event on January 26^th at the McGavick Center.  Tickets are $85 per person.

AG and PP Bill Potter asked for a motion for the club to approve giving $2,000 to the Youth and Sports Committee.  A motion was given as was a second and all voted yea.  Motion passed.
PP Don Daniels (the same guy mentioned at the beginning of this missive) asked for two assistants to help with the raffle tickets.  Please contact Don if you are willing to help him (and the club) out.  253-370-0583.

1961- The Beatles perform with Paul McCartney on bass for the first time.

PM introduced our program for the day: Love the Wine You’re With.
Linda Disney aka Rose Spritzer took over from there and did a great job as a solo performer in presenting the program.
The first thing Linda did was to introduce a cast of characters (Mary and Greg Horn, Tony Camoroda, Mary Marlin and Barb Spriggs) with made up names that had something to do with wine. A fun start to the program.

Linda let all of us know that the Club’s big fund-raising event this year will be the Lakewood Rotary Club Wine & Beer Festival and the theme is Love the Wine You’re With.  The big event will take place on April 27^th at the McGavick Center.

Ms. Disney covered the various teams that have been developed in order to make this event work and encouraged us to sign on to whichever team we felt we could contribute to the most.
The volunteer coordinator will be Jan Gee.  Rick Selden and Jan Gee will take care of logistics while Troy Wilcox will handle stage setup.  Gayle Selden is handling ticket sales and encouraged us all to pre load our credit cards.  Leanna Albrecht will lead the Print Team.  Stephanie Wilcox will be heading up the Charcuterie/Dessert Team.  PP Jason Whalen and PP/AG Bill Potter will co-host the event.

Linda made sure to let the Puffins know that they will be involved with the event.
The committee is looking for a Procurement Chairperson, Stephanie Wilcox reminded the group that if they are handling the desserts a Food Handlers Permit will be necessary.
The Raise the Paddle beneficiary will be…. unknown at this time.

Anne Enquist stated that the movie for the Dinner and a Movie hasn’t been nailed down as yet.
Thank you, Linda, for stepping up to the plate and giving the club an overall perspective of this year’s major fund raiser.

Bill Potter was asked to report on the Major Projects committee. Bill let us know that the committee appreciates the input/feedback from the club and that whatever we do, the committee will be sure that Lakewood Rotary is recognized for it.

1963 – The Broadway play “Camelot” starring Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet   closes after 873 performances.
1972 – President Nixon launched the Space Shuttle program

Cookie Jar fines:
Rick Selden reported that he chatted with Gordy Quick, and that Gordy is doing fine but things are terminal for him.  Gordy sends his thanks to all of us and says that we are his family.  He is mostly in a wheel chair and in some pain. He is still taking phone calls.  702-544-2798.

James Osundwa paid up for going to Kenya over the holidays.  The family had a wonderful time and even went on a safari!  James and his wife Shiru brought back gifts for PM – a beautiful Maasai necklace and scarf.

PM encouraged us to sell our raffle tickets to people other that ourselves and PP Don Daniels thanked those that have written checks, but, suggested that perhaps we could ask people to “donate” $25 to Lakewood Rotary and, in turn, get a chance to win big money.

Phil Eng let us know that his wife, Judy, had hip replacement surgery.

As there was no raffle today, PM adjourned the meeting.

There was a group clean up following the meeting and it seemed like everyone pitched in to get the tables and chairs put away.

Rotary on Tap info:
Happy 2024! It's time for the first Rotary on Tap in 2024. Please join us on Thursday, January 11, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at Foley's Sports Bar, Meadow Brook Golf Course, 7108 Lakewood Rd W. Entrance is at the back of the building. 

It's going to be so much fun!  In addition to finding and enjoying your favorite beverage, Bogey Burgers are on special for $4.  Now that's a super deal.  Plus, there's a full menu to choose from and if you just want a drink, that's okay too.  Rotary on Tap is a great way to meet your Rotary friends in a casual setting.  It's also a great time to invite someone new to join us and learn about the Lakewood Rotary Club. 

RSVPs are appreciated. Please let me know that you will be there, and how many are in your party, by replying to this message or at phileng@live.com.  Or you can call or text Phil at 206-650-5570 

If Thursday rolls around, and you find out you can suddenly join us, please do.  RSVPs are helpful for planning purposes, but you are always welcome. 

Next week, January 12 - Club meetings return to TGCC. Speaker Joe Piscatella, author of "Strong Heart, Sharp Brain".  He is a nationally recognized speaker.  I’ve heard Joe speak several times and he is always insightful and interesting – plus he’s got some good advice.

Spoiler alert:  Joe is President of the Institute for Fitness and Health.  He is one of the leading experts in the country on lifestyle habits and health.  TIME magazine calls him “a force for healthy change.”  You won’t want to miss him next Friday.

Happy New Year everyone, again…. the first Key of 2024 is now done!
 

Rotarian Guests: Laurie Cameron (Poulsbo Rotary); Jim Merritt (Tacoma 8 Rotary), Gunda Meissner (Assistant Governor Area #110 / Gig Harbor Midday Rotary); Linda Kaye Briggs (District Governor Nominee Designate / Tacoma 8 Rotary).  A royal gathering indeed for Queen Mary!

Guests: Vicki Kimball, Rhondi Johnson, Pam Lowney, Sharon Rediske, Kris Quinn, Cindy Barton, past member/board member Leanna Christian, past member/past Youth Exchange Officer Gina Benesh, Greg Horn’s friend Marshall Dawson, and Mary Hammar and her daughter Taryn.

Math lovers:  What's St. Nicholas's favorite measurement in the metric system? A. The Santameter!

Joel Vranna took over from here, stumbling a bit as he relayed the important information that three Tom & Jerrys are the equivalent of 30 Coors Lights.  Even three Tom and Jerrys to the wind, he gave a moving Paul Harris presentation to Mary Hammar, Bob Hammar’s one millionth Paul Harris (or close to that anyway).

Wendy McGowan reported on Gordon Quick, with the invitation to send him a card or call him at 702-544-2798, while he continues his cancer treatments in their Las Vegas home.
Greg Horn announced newest granddaughter, “Elara”, whose birth prevented President Mary from attending her own board meeting last month. Greg joked (?) that his son used AI to come up with the name.

English majors: What do you call Santa’s helpers? A: Subordinate Clauses.

And then it happened.  The Annual Roast of the esteemed president of Lakewood Rotary.  The Puffins lamented that there was no dirt; that Mary was a goody-two-shoes, benevolent, and great. Then they proceeded to call into question that assessment.  Perhaps they exaggerated.  But the fun included fines from all, which was going to Caring for Kids.

Congratulations to the sponsors of this large batch of Puffins, who were charged $20 for their efforts to make our club bigger and better: Jason Whalen (2), Anne Enquist, Bob Zawilski, Andy Phillips, Yorleny Clapper, Chris Kimball (2), Jan Gee (2), Carl Bronkema, Angela Connelly, Mary Horn, Scott Buser, Steve Enquist.

Then, anyone living on the lake, with a view of the lake or near any lake was charged $5.  If you were ex-military, $5.00.  Or $10 if you were a “double-dipper” in retirement.

Movie lovers: What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa? A: A rebel without a Claus.

TO TELL THE TRUTH: The TV show started in 1956 when Mary Horn was just a youngster and ran on and off again until 2022.  And now, it was on again in 2023. The show sponsor was Rotary Fines, “the proven way to shrink that too-fat wallet.”  The panel of judges included Scott Baird, Cat Frederickson, Andrew Boitano and Gael Whalen.  Their job was to ascertain who was the real Mary Horn.  Three imposters and the real Mary were seated together, prepared to answer questions from the judges.

But first, we viewed a travelogue of Mary’s beginnings way back when to the tune of “Mary why did you treat me so wrong”: no one knew for sure when that “beginning” was, because the stone tablets were broken and lost to posterity.  She spent time as a farm girl in Ellensburg, and also lived in Brothel. Yes, Brothel, they reported. Or was it Bothell?  She met Greg at a boat race on the Sammamish Slough.  Later, she moved to Miami, where Greg came sjhopping for a new race boat.  The rest, as they say, is history: 3 sons, and literally countless grandchildren (but that’s another story for another time).

Question: I understand the ideal man must have certain qualities, what are they?
            #4: (the real Mary) He must ski
            #1: (a disguised Kris Kauffman) He must have meat on his bones
            #2: (a disguised Tyler Parker) I like a man with a song in his heart
            #3: (a disguised Sally Saunders, frankly, the most believable of the 3 non-Marys) I like a man with a drink his hand.

Question: Is it true you moved to a brothel in your formative years?
            #2: Actually, I moved to Bothel.  Boring.  But I did learn there that I like a man with song in his heart, which helped me become the “Entertaining Queen of Lakewood”
            #3: I never worked in a brothel. Too much work, not enough drinking

Question: What was the family business that influenced you so much?
            #2: We raised chickens and pigs. Smelling pig crap and chicken poop 24 hours a day will make you love a man with a song in his heart.
            #3: That stink made me start stealing booze from my dad’s liquor cabinet.
            #1: Nothing like a farm to attract a man with meat on his bones.

Question: What is your attraction to blue speedos (previously modeled in an old picture of Greg)
            #3: What you see….well, not everyone looks good in a speedo.

Question: What did you think of Greg, driving all the way to Florida to find you?
            #2: I remember thinking that Ted Bundy drove a VW from Tacoma to Florida looking for women, and that didn’t work so well.  But Greg had a BIG boat, so I was willing to take a chance.

Question: What kind of perfume did you use to attract Greg?
            #1: First, you fumigate your clothes in two-stroke outboard engine exhaust; then, add a little grease on the wrists and bit of Scotch behind the ears.  If that didn’t work, a little swampy lake water under my arms did the trick.

Question: What can you tell us about the years travelling in the RV selling your skis?
            #2: One night, Greg came back to the RV sooner than I expected.   The springs were squeaking and the RV was rocking! Without knocking, Greg came in to find me dancing in a skimpy bikini singing “We are Family!” at the top of my lungs. That was a night.

Question: After a long day of work, what do you like to wear after coming home to relax?
            #3: A big smile.  And a drink.

The panel made their choices: Scott Baird picked #2 (Tyler); Cat picked #3 (Sally), Andrew picked #1 (Kris), Gael picked #3 also.  Then, the REAL Mary Horn stood up, to the surprise of all!  Sadly, the rules established that if no one got the real Mary, Mary would be subject to a $1,000 fine.

To finish off the debacle, the Puffins had everyone look under their chairs for an envelope, which had some candy and some instructions requiring a fine payment.  Mary (the real one) thanked the Puffins, sort of, and then announced the winner of a bottle of wine in the raffle, Laurie Cameron, while Barlow Buescher won $5.00 for the good fortune of pulling a white chip.

Another Roast in the books!  Well done, all.  Especially the bartenders: Joe Quinn, Rick Selden, Gayle Selden, John Lowney.  And special thanks to our Head Puffin, the esteemed and battle-tested Mark Blanchard!

Remember: no meeting December 22 or December 29.  If you show up at the Club, you will be all alone.  January 5: the meeting will be at the Pavilion in Ft. Steilacoom Park.

And finally, because these have a declining shelf life:
Cleaners: What is Santa Claus' laundry detergent of choice?  A: Yule-Tide.  

Bankers: What do you call a bankrupt Santa?  A: Saint Nickel-less.

Punk Rockers: What's Santa's favorite song by the Ramones?  A: Blitzen-krieg Bop.  

Teachers: What do you say to Santa when he's taking attendance at school? A: Present.

Health Insurers:  What do you call Kris Kringle when he goes on his wife’s health insurance?  A: A dependent Claus

Gardeners: Why does Santa have 3 gardens? A: So he can ho-ho-ho.

Fire fighters: What do you get if Santa goes down the chimney when a fire is lit?  A: Crisp Kringle.

Psychiatrists: What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?  A: Claustrophobic.

NEEDED!! Baseball coaches for T-ball and coach-pitch.  Lakewood Baseball Club will be opening registration on January 1.  Experience (especially in T-ball) is a bonus, not a necessity. There will be mass practices at first, with plenty of hands-on teaching for the kids.  Practice planning is also available.  What we need is adults, ages 18-90, men and women, ready to have SO much fun “organizing” our young baseballers.  This is about a 4-month commitment, but you don’t have to be present week in and week out.  Your vacation can still work just fine!  Grab a friend if you like for a tandem coaching experience.  Please consider volunteering.  Contact Greg Rediske, 253-307-3494, or gnsrediske@msn.com.             
 

Guests of Rotarians included spouses Mary Herr (Mark) and Aaron Frederickson (Cat, our Program Speaker today). Visiting Rotarian Jim Merritt of Tacoma 8 was again with us.  Zoomers included Carole Wier, John Magnuson and David Swindale.  Dignitaries with us:  PDG Greg Horn and AG Bill Potter.
            Sunshine Report:  Wendy McGowan let us know that someone has kidney surgery in his near future—I think it is Bob Martin.
            Paul Harris pin:   Steve Enquist rose to present Mark Edgecomb with a pin sporting two rubies (or is it rubys….or maybe rubles) to recognize Mark’s eighth Paul Harris award.             Special fundraiser.  Greg Rediske stepped to the podium to announce the 30-30 program of the Lakewood Community Foundation (LCF).  In honor of their 30 successful years in building the endowment of the foundation, Greg and their board are asking for $30.  (See more from Greg below about LR generosity.) Greg briefly reviewed the LCF’s history.  Started in 1993 by LR Rotarians and Clover Park Rotarian (primarily Tom Faubion) the foundation grew its endowment funds gradually.  By 2005 they had amassed $150,000 but by 2023 now the fund is up to $1.2 million.   Like any endowment, they only spend the interest annually, but these days that is getting substantial. They gave grants of $37,000 in the last year to many organizations we are familiar with, covering many diverse Lakewood needs.  Many of the donations come in the form of memorials or through wills and other estate planning.  Some LR Rotarians will recall Dave Covey and his reaction to fines levied by past presidents. Dave created the My-T-Fine Club when Dennis Shade was President (around 1991 or so right Greg) but in his typical style he would offer “$17.95.”  In memory of Dave Covey, past member of LR, Gina Benesh, just provided a check to the LCF in the amount of $117.95.  Nice memorial, Gina.
    Which reminds the Scribe of one nice trick Dave Covey employed when he was a Bulletin Writer:  he tried to list in the Lakewood Key as many members as possible, placing each name in boldface.  So that explains what you have seen above and below.  Dave’s goal was inclusive—every member should see their name in this bull.  That means we are all active in Rotary.
     Announcements:   PMH thanked those who helped with candy packing for the Saturday parade, especially the Partners, but also Mark Herr, Joel Vranna, and Amelia, our Exchange student. The parade, by the way, took place on Saturday starting at 4:00 p.m. near the Park Lodge School and proceeded down Gravelly Lake Drive SW to Main Street and on to City Hall (in a driving rain!).
     Bill Potter said the bike delivery will be Saturday, December 16th, starting at 11:00 am at the old Mattress Ranch store on the corner of Steilacoom Blvd. SW and Lakewood Drive. 
    PMH reminded us that there are no Rotary meetings on December 22nd and 29th, to allow us to recover (and Mary too) from the Tom and Jerry party and Presidential Roast on next Friday, December 15th.  The January 5th meeting will be at the Pavilion in the Park, not at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club.   Legislator Mari Leavitt will be our Speaker and Dick Ferrell will be the Chef with a supporting cast of sous-chefs (or sour chefs, under-chefs, and vice-chefs).
    PMH reminded us of tonight’s (well last night’s now)  Christmas Party, aka Mingle and Jingle, sponsored by the Partners, so see below about the festive event.
     Several Cookie Jar donations were made, but it got pretty rambunctious so apologies to anyone that we either miss or inadvertently insult below!   Steve and Ellen Mazoff in absentia gave a thoughtful gift of $95 in honor of Bob Peterson who turned that ripe old age recently.  Linda Disney and Paula Olson came forward to bear gifts (like the Magi) to the lord and master, PMH. Both of them just returned from separate European trips in search of the best Christmas market.  Linda enjoyed Berlin, whilst Paula covered Heidelberg, parts of Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria.  Linda gave some Christmas bells to PMH, who quickly demonstrated that they were very hard to ring!   But Paula stole the show.  In Salzburg, Paula picked up some chocolate balls that (I swear) she referred to as Mozart balls.  Things went downhill from there!  Maybe she also gifted PMH with a little cuckoo clock and a Swiss chocolate bar, but most members just could not clear their minds of the image of Mozart’s balls being provided to our dear President!   After all, he died about 200 years ago. Later it was noted that Paula gave $30 to Mr. Lowney earlier, $10 for each country and Linda threw in $20 even though she only went to one.
     After things settled down, Gayle Selden announced that we are doing Break Bags distribution this coming Monday starting at 9:05 a.m.  Show up on time to the bus barn area off Lakewood Drive over by the Lakewood Police station. Gayle seemed a bit flustered, so she admitted she was distracted by the image of the presentation of the Amadeus chocolate balls.
    To change the pace, PMH announced that the Board meets next Friday at 11:30 am at the usual place. 
    The Cookie Jar continued to grow, though, as Donna and Andy Phillips paid at least $50 for their trip to Japan.  Maybe they each gave $50.   Carl Bronkema added $20 for a wedding anniversary.  Peter Marsh donated $50 for celebrating “Marshmas” with the whole family in Washington, D.C. for the tenth consecutive year.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
            Leanna Albrecht introduced Tate Bloom, our December Student of the Month.  Tate is a senior at Clover Park HS.  He is a strong leader, who is in his fourth year in JROTC, where he currently serves as Commander.  Tate is also a member of the school’s Leaders of Change.  This six-week leadership program partners with Communities in Schools to prepare students for success in their senior year and beyond.  These students work on leadership development, while working to improve their social, emotional, and interpersonal communications.  They create a proposal for change and present that to community members, friends, and families at the end of the six-week program.
            Tate, who also serves as a student rep for the school’s site council, is a member of the cross-country team.   He spoke in detail about the many ways that CPHS has helped him throughout high school to develop as a young man.  He thanked many, including the school principal Rene McCord, the Boy Scouts of America (Eagle Scout) and the LDS Church.
TODAY’S PROGRAM:
          Donna Phillips introduced our Speaker for today, Cat Frederickson, also known as the Lady Longshoreman.   In her 19th year at the port, Cat is a fourth-generation longshoreman.  Initially, Cat said simply, “As longshoremen, we load and unload ships.”  But then she elaborated quite a bit, explaining the highs and lows of a difficult and challenging job.  She said with her experience, she gets to play many different roles on the crew, including Supervisor.  As she put it, “I love telling the guys what to do.”   (Maybe I am slightly misquoting her here, but an audible “Oooh” was heard from the assembled Rotarians.)
            Cat described the various equipment used at the port, including the huge cranes and straddle carriers.  While a lot of the work involves loading and unloading huge containers onto ships, there are some unusual tasks.  One of those is moving the “cowtainers”, which apparently are containers used to transport live cows.  It sounds like working on the huge equipment might be quite stressful, with the operators often having to sit in awkward positions.  In the case of the cowtainers, Cat said two operators cover an eight-hour shift, with one coming in at “half time” to spell the other operator due to these stressful working conditions. 
            Cat described getting up (by crane it seems) on top of stacks of containers stacked about 9-10 containers high.  When one considers the height of one container, that means about 90 feet off the ground.  The crew member has to look between the containers to see how and exactly where to affix the cables or ropes used to move them.  A bit challenging, especially if there is a coating of ice on top of the pile.  Yes, this could be dangerous at times.
            Cat described the entry and growth of women in the profession.  She acknowledged that upper body strength, or the lack thereof, can sometimes present challenges to the lady longshoremen, but she showed one or more pictures of several lady longshoremen on the crew, so women are definitely working there.  She described the longshoremen’s union as “the great equalizer.” When asked how long it takes to unload one ship, Cat said they can unload 30 containers per hour per crew.  She showed one photo of a ship being unloaded by four crews operating simultaneously!   Another good program by one of our own members.
            Raffle drawing:  As in recent days, PMH had three tickets pulled.  Jacob Cuthbertson and Rick Selden won some clothing items from the Don Daniels Rotary clothing store, but that was overshadowed by Dwight Williams who grabbed the red chip for $303!
            After the meeting, Greg Rediske sent in this note about the 30-30 effort:  “Greg Rediske, Anne Enquist, and Nicole Hancock and the entire board of the Lakewood Community Foundation Fund thank our Rotary Club for their generosity.  Again. With all the asks out there this time of the year,, our members responded with $710 to our $30 for 30 years celebration. That’s $710 that will continue to serve Lakewood forever.  Thank you one and all!
            THE POST-MEETING GALA:  
About 75 Rotarians and guests showed up at the Rotary Christmas Party at the club on Friday night.  Billed as the Mingle and Jingle party, the event was a smashing success with a lot of mingling and jingling, dancing, Christmas songs and a fabulous dinner.    One of the hits of the night (for me, anyway) was the Swinging Singles (SS) table, where about 7 or 8 lady members assembled.  Somehow, DGN Tony Camoroda infiltrated the SS so I kept calling it the “harem table”.  Assigned photographer Bob Zawilski ran over and got some pictures so I hope he sent those to the Editor, Paula Olson.  We did notice that some of the married women sneaked over and enjoyed this “most fun” table.   (We caught you over there, Penny Rooks, much to the chagrin of Jim Rooks—just kidding Jim)  The SS table included, if memory serves, Jan Gee, Paula Olson, Linda Disney, Barb Spriggs, Mary Marlin, Wendy McGowan and Mary Moss. Editor’s Note: Tony Camoroda was more than welcome at the SS table since he is a single too.
            But the Rotary weekend was not quite over.  On Saturday, December 9th, the Lakewood Christmas Parade featured John Lowney’s bright red Thunderbird convertible.  1956, right John? Pam Lowney, Rose Stevens and Troy Wilcox accompanied the parade in a driving rain.  Apologies to anyone else who marched, as I am relying on three photos I saw on Facebook.
            What a weekend.  Suffice it to say that Lakewood Rotarians are busy and involved in Lakewood life.  I counted 50 Lakewood Rotarians, past and present, who volunteered or were recognized in this bull in boldface, er bullface.  Only one bullface per person to make it easier for me to count.  If your name is not listed either you were not there or you had better volunteer for something, quick!  If I boldfaced your name more than once, my error, but you do a lot.
 

But, kind as always, Mary introduced and thanked the members of the Dream Team: Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden and Rob Erb.

Rotary Foundation Giving:
Bud Montgomery hauled in the Greenleafs at the Paul Harris desk…$1,910.00 to be exact!  Mark Edgecomb was Sgt. at Arms and manned the $2.00 Table.  J-Lo, as John Lowney is so fondly called, tended the Cookie Jar.  The president then invited the Puffins to stand and be recognized.  As many stood, Mary declared, “Amazing,” as she is so proud of our newest members (that may change after the upcoming “Roast”).  The honorable amongst us, PDG Greg Horn, DGN Tony Camoroda and AG Bill Potter, were noted.  The prez neglected to call on me for a Sunshine report, but thank goodness all is well in Lakewood Rotary-Land.

Major Projects update:
A gaggle of announcements followed. Bill Potter, Major Projects Captain, spoke of the 45 bikes that were recently assembled and will be given to area kids in need on December 16.  Bill went on to educate us on how the Major Projects work is initiated.  The club itself starts many of the projects we are involved in, such as Ft. Steilacoom’s multi-year project several years ago, which I remember (and as Bill explained) that my husband, Mike, spearheaded with several other dedicated Lakewood Rotarians.  By the 15^th of this month, members Kim Prentice, John Caulfield, and Mark Edgecomb will be launching a new, multi-year project.


Above:  Bill Potter giving us a Major Projects update

International Projects:
Rose Stevens asked us to approve a grant request for $5,000 for water tanks to be installed in Nepal.  The vote passed unanimously.

Local happenings:
Friday was the last day to sign up for “Mingle & Jingle,” our club Christmas Party and Dinner, being held at the Tacoma Country & Golf Club on December 8^th at 5:30 p.m.

December 9^th is Lakewood’s Christmas Parade of Lights.  Our own Dolly Parton “standee” will be present in John Lowney’s red, hot car.  Please meet at Park Lodge well before 4:00 p.m. and line up in front of the marching band if you’d like to participate.  Mother Mary encourages us to bring the small children in our families.

Gayle Selden announced that she recently escorted our exchange student, Amelia, to her new home of Troy and Stephanie Wilcox.

Upcoming meetings are as follows:
*No meeting to be held on December 22^nd and 29^th.
*The January 5^th meeting will be at the Pavilion at Ft. Steilacoom Park. Dick Ferrell will be cooking.  He would like a few volunteers.  Please bring your friends.

On to the Cookie Jar Payments:
Rob Erb fessed up with a $20 bill, not for the recent trip to Texas, but for the armadillo he hit on the road.  Proudly, Bob Peterson acknowledged that he will be turning 95 years old on December 4.  I believe Bob generously filled the Cookie Jar with $95.00 crisp ones!  

Steve Saalfeld paid up, as he has taken a new position at Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.  Even though you helped fill the Cookie Jar, congratulations, Steve.


Above: Steve Saalfeld ready to conquer a new career

Tyler Parker told a tale about a newly-purchased RV/motorhome and a trip he and a friend made, in very bad weather, to Las Vegas.  As he elaborated, we discover his friend is a boxer, a “bout” fanatic, a “brawler”…the jargon went on and on.  The reason for the trip was to see a boxing match.  As it turned out, it was a knock-out.  Tyler forked over $91.00 (all he had left after purchasing $9 worth of raffle tickets).


Above: Tyler Parker talking about his new motorhome adventure

Traveling salesman Don Daniels introduced the upcoming Fall Raffle.  He told us a new way to sell tickets without really selling.  Approach a friend and ask, "How would you like to make a donation to my Rotary Club?  An added bonus is that you will get a chance to win $5,000 with every $25 you donate.  $100 gets you four chances, and your money goes to a great local cause right here in Lakewood."  See, no selling involved, all you have to do is give an opportunity to donate.  It is hoped that every Lakewood Rotarian will help people donate $250 to the cause.


Above: Don Daniels teaching us a new way to "sell" Fall Raffle tickets, no selling involved.

A Teacher of the Month was honored from the Clover Park School District.  XX teaches 9th graders at CPHS


Above:  Rachel Parks, teacher of the  month from Clover Park High School                                                     

30-30 Giving next week: 
The Lakewood Community Foundation Fund was started in 1993 by Lakewood Rotary and Clover Park Rotary to fund needs exclusively in Lakewood. The endowed fund is now over $1.3 million, the fund is distributing over $37,000 every year, and it is now the 30th anniversary of the beginning.  To commemorate the 30th anniversary, we’ll be asking if anyone wants to donate $30 to honor the achievement.  This will be asked at all the local service clubs as well.  So if you want….

Friday's programme:
The highlight of today’s meeting was a presentation, not by a guest speaker, but by our own Mary Horn, about DACdb. This acronym has been tossed about since I joined Lakewood Rotary two-and-a-half years ago.  I actually figured out the db all by myself…data base, but the “DAC” has eluded me.  Today I discovered “DAC” stands for DISTRICT (as in District 5020) AND CLUB (as in Lakewood, or any other local Rotary club.) Got it?

Now that is settled, on to what the president told us about DACdb.  Simply, it is a computer system, a very powerful tool, that is easier to use than previous attempts at connecting all Rotary clubs and members.
I kind of think of it as a “roster”, but Mary demonstrated that it is much more than a listing of members and members’ contact info.  For example, you can make your own changes within the system should you need.  You can view other clubs’ activities.  You can view things you and other members are assigned to (for example, what dates you are responsible for duties at our check-in desk).  You can access member’s anniversaries and birthdays.  Not only can we, as members, view such data, but the District can see the same data.

And it’s a great communication tool.  If we are not talking to each other in person, we are usually communicating by phone, text or e-mail.  A couple of taps on your mobile device is all it takes.  No more misdialing phone numbers!

Personally, I love paper.  All kinds of paper.  I love my Lakewood Rotary Member Roster.  You know, that little binder with the white plastic cover.  I love it so much that I have two of them: my own, which is new and shiny, and an old, well-used one that belonged to Mike.  His not only has one edition of roster pages, but is stuffed with 5 or 6 years of roster pages. The pages are wrinkled and the cover is cracked and bent.  But, I still use it, no mattered how battered it looks.  I’m thrilled that Secretary Rediske has promised a brand new roster coming sometime soon.

Not only do I love my Rotary roster, I actually loved the telephone book.  You know, the big, fat one with white pages in the front that listed all the people in your town and their phone numbers, and with yellow pages (The Yellow Pages) in the back where you could find a plumber, a barber, some place to get good Chinese food, or someone to fix your TV. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.  Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a telephone like the one I used in my parents’ home when I was in high school.  You know, it was black and had a hand-held part where you talked into one end and had the other end to your ear, so you could hear what your “boyfriend” was whispering at the other end.  It was connected with a curly cord to a box-like part, that had a dial where you stuck your finger in and turned one number at a time to call “the boyfriend”.

Oh, well.  Long-gone.  Now, I’m dealing, begrudgingly, with this thing called an iPhone and an acronym called “DACdb”.

The “big, bad wolf” is in the room!  But, I digress.

Finally, the weekly drawing.


Above, J-Lo (John Lowney) drawing a white chip for a five-r.

Wendy    
 

A handsome and healthy flock of Puffins stood when Pres Mary asked and politely snickered when she mentioned World Kindness Day while pathetically asking for kindness on December 15^th. That ship sailed some time ago, Ms. Mary. There were many guests in attendance including a prospective member, Rick Olsen as well as Jennie Weinand, Carolyn and Don Swanson, several others whose names escaped me. Rotarian dignitaries included District Youth Protection Officer (YPO) from Tacoma 8 Becky Fontaine and our own YPO Joe Quinn’s boss as well as DGN Tony Camoroda and PDG Greg Horn. Zoomers included our dear Carole Weir and some guy in Hawaii reporting weather in the low 80’s. No one cares, Dave! Wendy McGowan had no Health and Wellness to report.
           
            PDG Greg Horn gave a quick Rotary minute. Before he began, President and Wife Mary noted that he is also the Vice Governor standing in for Caleb Summerfelt if he is unable to serve. Is that like being Prince Harry if something happened to Prince William? Anyway, Greg’s minute was actually quite interesting. He told us about Rotary Fellowships, which are mini Rotary groups focusing on a specific interest. He told us  how much he has enjoyed being a part of some of them. Like the Beer fellowship. There are over 100 different groups and you can find them at https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/more-fellowships. Thanks, Greg. I’m going to check them out.

            Carolyn Swanson from Parkland Spanaway Rotary pitched their event on December 2^nd – the Ball Drop at Le May Collections at Marymount. Golf balls are available for purchase at www.psrotaryclub.org for $20 each or 6 for $100. Golf Balls will be numbered and dropped from a cherry picker onto a makeshift green. Closet to the pin wins! There will prizes for the top 3 balls. This fundraiser benefits a farm project in Kenya. Rotarian Del Livingston will be helping the village of Sango in Kisumu to develop a farm business to keep locals employed and pay tuition for students. He is hoping to have 250 students re-enrolled in school in the first year of his project. Of course, food and drink are involved. Sounds like a lot of fun.

            Steve Enquist honored Gael Whalen with her first Paul Harris and presented her with a bunch of stuff, like a cool certificate, a pin and a Christmas tree ornament. Rose Stevens announced a global grant that will establish an emergency mobile clinic in Ukraine.  Hopefully it will be up and running within 60 days. Makes me proud to be a Rotarian. Connie Coleman-Lacadie announced that Cindy Schaarschmidt, the Director of International Education at Pierce College is looking for host families for international students. Talk to Connie for more information.

            More announcements included the December 8^th Mingle and Jingle Christmas dinner put on by the Partners on December 8^th at the TG&CC. The Lakewood Christmas Parade is the next day and if the 20 page application (yep, the Mayor is a lawyer) is accepted, LR will have a collection of fancy cars all decked out in festive paraphernalia rolling along throwing out little bags of candy assembled by the Partners. The bags will also include how to sign up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. If you wanna help put those bags together, join the Partners at Burr’s on  December 4^th at 3:00 pm.

            There will be no meeting the Friday after Thanksgiving and no meeting December 22^nd and 29^th. Then on January 5^th, the meeting will be at the Fort Steilacoom Pavilion by the playground with Dick Ferrell doing the cooking. He could use some help so don’t hesitate to volunteer. Now, we’ve been hearing about these freaking purple recycling bins to benefit Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation and Pres Mary’s obsessive competition with the Kiwanis for the most bins purchased. It’s been extended to the end of November, 2023 so you have more time to sign up. When Mary asked for a show of hands for those who have gotten one of these gems, many hands went up. You could feel the frustration in Mary that she didn’t have all of those names down and maybe we weren’t losing to the Kiwanis by so much. Please let Mary know if you’ve gotten a bin so she like she has a chance to beat the Kiwanis.

            Tony Camoroda announced that, at the last training conference he attended, he learned we were in second place for the largest number of new members as of November 1, 2023. We are behind Gig Harbor who welcomed 12 new members, we are at seven with a couple more in the process, and on our heels and about to overtake us is Tacoma South with six new ones and three coming on. Tony presented Mary with a commemorative mug for tea or coffee with her cookies.

            Speaking of cookies, Mary drug up PP Jason Whalen to brag about his speedy daughters. The oldest one was second in the New York Marathon and the third overall in the state championships in Pasco. Another one was 11^th in the entire field and ran her personal best at the Bosie, Idaho Regionals. Jason challenged mom Gael to which parent was the most proud of their daughters and they finally agreed on $50 of pride. Anne and Steve Enquist are back from two plus weeks in Japan. Turns out Steve is talented in flower arrangements and Anne has a future as a samurai warrior. Steve almost came home a different man when a sumo wrestler almost landed in Steve’s lap during a demonstration.  The Enquists dropped $60 to buy blankets.

            Turning to the program and all kidding aside, Pres Mary asked who was going to introduce Joe. Someone said, “how’s Herrreeee’s Joe!” That worked. We all know Joe. Joe Quinn to those who aren’t too sure. Joe is our YPO and he was prepared to do some training for this motely crew of members. He promised not to bore us or lecture to us. He lectured at Tacoma South and a couple of members got into an argument with one member leaving the club. He asked how many of us had done the Youth Protection Class and about half had. Others had no clue what he was talking about and he encouraged all of us to get online, fill out the paperwork, watch the video, take the test, and be certified to work safely with young people. Joe will send out the link of the training as soon as it’s available.
We all had a handout of several scenarios of real interactions involving a Rotarian and either a young person or an adult in compromising situations. Joe picked four and we discussed those. The first one dealt with a Rotary meeting where a member started to tell a risqué joke in front of a student who was to be honored as “Student of the Month.” Members responded appropriately about how to deal with this, such as intervene, tell  him to stop. The second scenario was a member making comments about the physical appearance of a young girl walking by a Rotary booth at an event. The booth was designed to attract new members. This one generated a longer discussion. Suggestions included tell him those comments were inappropriate and to stop. Assuming the girl heard, someone should go up to her and apologize on behalf of Rotary and explain that isn’t what we stand for. Another member advised that someone should take the member aside and explain why his conduct was inappropriate. Another said that the offending person should be kicked out of the booth. Becky Fontaine stated that each of these examples call for follow up with the offending parties and to tell the club’s YPO if any involved a minor.

Joe said that in the second example, the girl told her school principal and the principal went to the club president. The offending member was an Interact coordinator and was subsequently removed. Joe reiterated that if any of us deal with minors on any kind of a regular basis, we must take the youth protection training.

The third example involved a Rotary member who liked to hug female members. Several of the women reported to the president that the hugging made them uncomfortable. Joe told the story of a woman who was in a position of authority in a fire department and who liked to hug people. When one fire fighter complained, she quit the department. Another member reminded us that different cultures feel differently about hugging and other such physical contact and we need to be aware of those differences. Becky reminded us women that we need to speak up immediately if we are uncomfortable about such conduct. There was hope that a chat with the hugger would help him realize that his conduct was unacceptable and to stop doing it.

The final example was a more extreme example than number three. There the offending member had made unwelcome sexual advances with sexually suggestive comments and persistently seeking to date female members. President Mary said this one would lead her to go up the line in Rotary to get advice on how to handle it, leading to Becky. Becky said that she doesn’t usually deal with adult to adult misconduct but only adult to youth. This example is much more complicated and has legal and liability overtones if not properly handled.

A discussion ensued about members who appear to misbehave but in fact are struggling with cognitive issues, making them unaware of their inappropriate conduct. While that doesn’t excuse the behavior, it challenges the person’s family and friends to surround him/her to stop it in its tracts. Both Becky and Joe reminded us that youth protection is not just for youths. It is for all of us. Prevent legal problems by treating each other with respect and kindness. Don’t hesitate to get RI advise and to notify RI about the offending person if he/she is kicked out of the club so that they don’t join another club unawares of his/her past. This happened when a Rotarian had an affair with a 17 year old. This was criminal conduct and no one who suspected did anything or notified anyone.

Thank you Becky and Joe for  the training. While we all think we behave appropriately, knowing what is acceptable and what is not is a helpful reminder for all of us.

Onto more fun stuff. Becky won the raffle, which had $225 or $250 depending on who you asked. She came away with $5.  Better luck next time, Becky.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Lakewood Rotarians and their families! I wish you full and happy tummies and peaceful, loving time with family and friends. And here are a couple of turkey jokes for the jokesters amongst us.

What did the large turkey say to the computer voice recognition? “Google, Google, Google.”

What’s a turkey’s least favorite song? “I’m all about that baste, about that baste, no giblets.”

What did the will turkey say to the hunter? Quack quack.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 21 - Board Meeting

November 24 - Day after Thanksgiving - NO MEETING

All of November - Competition extended! Get a purple recycle bin from Lemay Waste
Management supporting Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and help President Mother Mary (Lakewood Rotary) beat Dick Muri (Steilacoom Kiwanis). All proceeds go to Mary Bridge.

December 2 – Ball Drop with Parkland-Spanaway Rotary at LeMay Collection at Marymount
starting at 1:00 pm

December 4 - 3:00 p.m. at Burrs - Candy Work Party with the Partners. Help us get ready for the
Holiday Parade.

December 8 - Mingle & Jingle Party, 5:30 p.m. at TCGC. RSVP by November 21. 

December 9 - 4:30 p.m. Holiday Parade of Lights. Let President Mother Mary know that you
want to be part of the Lakewood Rotary float.

December 15 - Puffin Presidential Roast: Tom & Jerry are calling you.

December 22 – no meeting

December 29 – no  meeting

January 5 – meeting at Fort Steilacoom Pavilion at noon. Dick Ferrell is cooking and could use
some volunteer helpers
 

A handsome and healthy flock of Puffins stood when Pres Mary asked and politely snickered when she mentioned World Kindness Day while pathetically asking for kindness on December 15^th. That ship sailed some time ago, Ms. Mary. There were many guests in attendance including a prospective member, Rick Olsen as well as Jennie Weinand, Carolyn and Don Swanson, several others whose names escaped me. Rotarian dignitaries included District Youth Protection Officer (YPO) from Tacoma 8 Becky Fontaine and our own YPO Joe Quinn’s boss as well as DGN Tony Camoroda and PDG Greg Horn. Zoomers included our dear Carole Weir and some guy in Hawaii reporting weather in the low 80’s. No one cares, Dave! Wendy McGowan had no Health and Wellness to report.
           
            PDG Greg Horn gave a quick Rotary minute. Before he began, President and Wife Mary noted that he is also the Vice Governor standing in for Caleb Summerfelt if he is unable to serve. Is that like being Prince Harry if something happened to Prince William? Anyway, Greg’s minute was actually quite interesting. He told us about Rotary Fellowships, which are mini Rotary groups focusing on a specific interest. He told us  how much he has enjoyed being a part of some of them. Like the Beer fellowship. There are over 100 different groups and you can find them at https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/more-fellowships. Thanks, Greg. I’m going to check them out.

            Carolyn Swanson from Parkland Spanaway Rotary pitched their event on December 2^nd – the Ball Drop at Le May Collections at Marymount. Golf balls are available for purchase at www.psrotaryclub.org for $20 each or 6 for $100. Golf Balls will be numbered and dropped from a cherry picker onto a makeshift green. Closet to the pin wins! There will prizes for the top 3 balls. This fundraiser benefits a farm project in Kenya. Rotarian Del Livingston will be helping the village of Sango in Kisumu to develop a farm business to keep locals employed and pay tuition for students. He is hoping to have 250 students re-enrolled in school in the first year of his project. Of course, food and drink are involved. Sounds like a lot of fun.

            Steve Enquist honored Gael Whalen with her first Paul Harris and presented her with a bunch of stuff, like a cool certificate, a pin and a Christmas tree ornament. Rose Stevens announced a global grant that will establish an emergency mobile clinic in Ukraine.  Hopefully it will be up and running within 60 days. Makes me proud to be a Rotarian. Connie Coleman-Lacadie announced that Cindy Schaarschmidt, the Director of International Education at Pierce College is looking for host families for international students. Talk to Connie for more information.

            More announcements included the December 8^th Mingle and Jingle Christmas dinner put on by the Partners on December 8^th at the TG&CC. The Lakewood Christmas Parade is the next day and if the 20 page application (yep, the Mayor is a lawyer) is accepted, LR will have a collection of fancy cars all decked out in festive paraphernalia rolling along throwing out little bags of candy assembled by the Partners. The bags will also include how to sign up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. If you wanna help put those bags together, join the Partners at Burr’s on  December 4^th at 3:00 pm.

            There will be no meeting the Friday after Thanksgiving and no meeting December 22^nd and 29^th. Then on January 5^th, the meeting will be at the Fort Steilacoom Pavilion by the playground with Dick Ferrell doing the cooking. He could use some help so don’t hesitate to volunteer. Now, we’ve been hearing about these freaking purple recycling bins to benefit Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation and Pres Mary’s obsessive competition with the Kiwanis for the most bins purchased. It’s been extended to the end of November, 2023 so you have more time to sign up. When Mary asked for a show of hands for those who have gotten one of these gems, many hands went up. You could feel the frustration in Mary that she didn’t have all of those names down and maybe we weren’t losing to the Kiwanis by so much. Please let Mary know if you’ve gotten a bin so she like she has a chance to beat the Kiwanis.

            Tony Camoroda announced that, at the last training conference he attended, he learned we were in second place for the largest number of new members as of November 1, 2023. We are behind Gig Harbor who welcomed 12 new members, we are at seven with a couple more in the process, and on our heels and about to overtake us is Tacoma South with six new ones and three coming on. Tony presented Mary with a commemorative mug for tea or coffee with her cookies.

            Speaking of cookies, Mary drug up PP Jason Whalen to brag about his speedy daughters. The oldest one was second in the New York Marathon and the third overall in the state championships in Pasco. Another one was 11^th in the entire field and ran her personal best at the Bosie, Idaho Regionals. Jason challenged mom Gael to which parent was the most proud of their daughters and they finally agreed on $50 of pride. Anne and Steve Enquist are back from two plus weeks in Japan. Turns out Steve is talented in flower arrangements and Anne has a future as a samurai warrior. Steve almost came home a different man when a sumo wrestler almost landed in Steve’s lap during a demonstration.  The Enquists dropped $60 to buy blankets.

            Turning to the program and all kidding aside, Pres Mary asked who was going to introduce Joe. Someone said, “how’s Herrreeee’s Joe!” That worked. We all know Joe. Joe Quinn to those who aren’t too sure. Joe is our YPO and he was prepared to do some training for this motely crew of members. He promised not to bore us or lecture to us. He lectured at Tacoma South and a couple of members got into an argument with one member leaving the club. He asked how many of us had done the Youth Protection Class and about half had. Others had no clue what he was talking about and he encouraged all of us to get online, fill out the paperwork, watch the video, take the test, and be certified to work safely with young people. Joe will send out the link of the training as soon as it’s available.
We all had a handout of several scenarios of real interactions involving a Rotarian and either a young person or an adult in compromising situations. Joe picked four and we discussed those. The first one dealt with a Rotary meeting where a member started to tell a risqué joke in front of a student who was to be honored as “Student of the Month.” Members responded appropriately about how to deal with this, such as intervene, tell  him to stop. The second scenario was a member making comments about the physical appearance of a young girl walking by a Rotary booth at an event. The booth was designed to attract new members. This one generated a longer discussion. Suggestions included tell him those comments were inappropriate and to stop. Assuming the girl heard, someone should go up to her and apologize on behalf of Rotary and explain that isn’t what we stand for. Another member advised that someone should take the member aside and explain why his conduct was inappropriate. Another said that the offending person should be kicked out of the booth. Becky Fontaine stated that each of these examples call for follow up with the offending parties and to tell the club’s YPO if any involved a minor.

Joe said that in the second example, the girl told her school principal and the principal went to the club president. The offending member was an Interact coordinator and was subsequently removed. Joe reiterated that if any of us deal with minors on any kind of a regular basis, we must take the youth protection training.

The third example involved a Rotary member who liked to hug female members. Several of the women reported to the president that the hugging made them uncomfortable. Joe told the story of a woman who was in a position of authority in a fire department and who liked to hug people. When one fire fighter complained, she quit the department. Another member reminded us that different cultures feel differently about hugging and other such physical contact and we need to be aware of those differences. Becky reminded us women that we need to speak up immediately if we are uncomfortable about such conduct. There was hope that a chat with the hugger would help him realize that his conduct was unacceptable and to stop doing it.

The final example was a more extreme example than number three. There the offending member had made unwelcome sexual advances with sexually suggestive comments and persistently seeking to date female members. President Mary said this one would lead her to go up the line in Rotary to get advice on how to handle it, leading to Becky. Becky said that she doesn’t usually deal with adult to adult misconduct but only adult to youth. This example is much more complicated and has legal and liability overtones if not properly handled.

A discussion ensued about members who appear to misbehave but in fact are struggling with cognitive issues, making them unaware of their inappropriate conduct. While that doesn’t excuse the behavior, it challenges the person’s family and friends to surround him/her to stop it in its tracts. Both Becky and Joe reminded us that youth protection is not just for youths. It is for all of us. Prevent legal problems by treating each other with respect and kindness. Don’t hesitate to get RI advise and to notify RI about the offending person if he/she is kicked out of the club so that they don’t join another club unawares of his/her past. This happened when a Rotarian had an affair with a 17 year old. This was criminal conduct and no one who suspected did anything or notified anyone.

Thank you Becky and Joe for  the training. While we all think we behave appropriately, knowing what is acceptable and what is not is a helpful reminder for all of us.

Onto more fun stuff. Becky won the raffle, which had $225 or $250 depending on who you asked. She came away with $5.  Better luck next time, Becky.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Lakewood Rotarians and their families! I wish you full and happy tummies and peaceful, loving time with family and friends. And here are a couple of turkey jokes for the jokesters amongst us.

What did the large turkey say to the computer voice recognition? “Google, Google, Google.”

What’s a turkey’s least favorite song? “I’m all about that baste, about that baste, no giblets.”

What did the will turkey say to the hunter? Quack quack.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 21 - Board Meeting

November 24 - Day after Thanksgiving - NO MEETING

All of November - Competition extended! Get a purple recycle bin from Lemay Waste
Management supporting Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and help President Mother Mary (Lakewood Rotary) beat Dick Muri (Steilacoom Kiwanis). All proceeds go to Mary Bridge.

December 2 – Ball Drop with Parkland-Spanaway Rotary at LeMay Collection at Marymount
starting at 1:00 pm

December 4 - 3:00 p.m. at Burrs - Candy Work Party with the Partners. Help us get ready for the
Holiday Parade.

December 8 - Mingle & Jingle Party, 5:30 p.m. at TCGC. RSVP by November 21. 

December 9 - 4:30 p.m. Holiday Parade of Lights. Let President Mother Mary know that you
want to be part of the Lakewood Rotary float.

December 15 - Puffin Presidential Roast: Tom & Jerry are calling you.

December 22 – no meeting

December 29 – no  meeting

January 5 – meeting at Fort Steilacoom Pavilion at noon. Dick Ferrell is cooking and could use
some volunteer helpers
 

Greg Rediski added these thoughts: Dave was a "wild and crazy" Lakewood Rotarian for 40 years. He led the "Mighty Fine Liberation Front," to reduce the size of fines to a manageable $17.95. He rode many Courage Classics for Mary Bridge. He played a great shortstop in our Rotary softball games. He was master of the pie chart in highlighting progress on whatever project he was promoting. He could even make a decent Elvis. But mostly, Dave was a lovely person. Prayers to his family and friends. Dave is missed.

Keeping with Sclair’s admonition, the theme of this edition of Da Bull was going to be a glimpse of the publication’s inner workings. You may be familiar with slick organs like The News Tribune, The New York Times, The Sub-Times, etc.  But have you witnessed up close and personal a sweat shop such as The Key? Once you enter the newsroom, you’ll never forget the rancid smell of stale cigar smoke, sweat stained clothing, and cups of chlorogenic acid-based coffee eating its way through strewn paper cups.

Laboring reporters take on a mysterious pinkish hue in the florescent light. Then you realize, no, they really are pink. Their eyes, their overripe tomato shaded skin, their gums drooling over incisors. It is a magnificent sight, one must admit. “Dimosiografiko Megaleio” as the Greeks say – Journalistic Greatness!
Instead, we Will Remember Dave

The meeting opened with an invocation by Yorleny Clapper and pledge to the Flag by Linda Disney. Covey’s fellow Navigator PP Gary Fulton manned the Paul Harris Desk to the tune of $1440 expropriation – but for a good cause! Visitor introductions and raffle collections by Leon Titus. Leon sold David many vehicles over the years – each one a gem! Not many folks know Leon was named for Emperor Titus, the Benevolent Ruler of Rome. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

The Family Dream Team has been inducted into the “Duncan Cook Memorial Lakewood Rotary Meeting Set-up Committee Hall of Fame” also known as the DCLRMSCHF. Those honored include Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, PP Rick Selden, James Oswunda, Tom George and Rob Erb. Time will be set aside for autographs by the honorees at a future meeting. The Present Prolific Puffins were invited to stand and be acknowledged. Jim Bisceglia was heard to say, “My Goodness! Would you look at those Puffins. What an impressive group. Lakewood Rotary’s future is assured with this cadre of future leadership! Huzzah!”

A guest was introduced – now pay close attention, this is what happens when someone is introduced without making certain the scribe gets all the details. This is what I heard: “Phil Emdelkhorn from Iceland who is ATEP.” Wendy McGowan reported that PDG Gordon Quick is in Las Vegas. Further, Kris Kaufman was present after a heart procedure the other day! Several senior Rotarians were seen recording the name of his heart care specialist and erasing Veterinarian Max Flockerzie’s name. (Max was a Lakewood Rotarian from 1776 to 2000 – or thereabouts!)

PP Bob Zawilski took pictures, PP John Lowney took money, another fellow Navigator, PP Ole took notes. Steilacoom Mayor and Kiwanian Dick Muri was introduced. He wasn’t there but he was introduced. Zoomers were welcomed: Carole Wier, David Swindale, PP Joe and Eric Quinn and PP Ralph Lockhart. Purple recycling bins and Dolly Parton are all part of a nefarious plot to inhabit libraries with some competition for memberships and stuff. (The foregoing is an example of journalistic compaction – done whenever one can smoosh two topics of prose together into one. A very effective prose technique for prose thingys.)

PP Rick Selden won the drawing recently. He wasn’t present so he delegated his winningness to Steve Mazoff. Proving his generosity, Rick agreed to sharing his largesse with Steve. Of course, there were certain legal fees involved, processing costs, discounts, tattoos, pricing, etc. Steve walked out with $5. Not a bad day for a lawyer! Rick took home $694!

Important Dates

Greg Rediske noted birthdays, wedding anniversaries and club anniversaries. Perhaps Bob Cammarano won the age race at about 93. The Montgomerys may have won the wedding anniversary race with 54 years. The birthday folks were called to the front of the room to explain the significance of 1991, the Macarena, and Cheers. Your guess is as good as mine. Although I do think it is strange: the actor who played Chandler in Friends died this past week while at the same time the comedy series Cheers was reborn, and the World Wide Web has devolved into artificial intelligence. In my opinion, most of what is seen on TV and certainly from Congress, doesn’t amount to intelligence, artificial or otherwise!

A Rotary Minute

PP John Magnuson recounted a Rotary Minute in his life. It began in 1952 in Edmonds with a new Rotary Charter to which his father was a member. A Rotary Youth Month introduced John to the Four Way Test and community leaders. Then fast forward to 1975 when Fife-Milton chartered a club and then John moved to Lakewood thanks to the friendship of PP Paul Reeder. In about 48 years of Rotary the most important accomplishment John has witnessed is the International Baccalaureate Program in Clover Park Schools. The benefits will pay dividends over many years.

Rotary On Tap was touted by Linda Disney. El Toro is the place and 5:30 is the time and next Thursday is the day! PP Gayle Selden announced a Break-Bag delivery day November 13, 9:00 AM. No sign-up necessary, just show-up. By the time you read this, Woodstick will be in the history books. Many thanks to PP Chris Kimball, the once again organizer for this fun event benefitting Coffee Oasis.

Candy jar donations by PP Rose Stevens, PP Scott Buser, Bob Martin and Brandy Paxton enriched President Mary’s retirement fund! Rose was honored as a board member since 2011 of The Rose International Fund for Children (TRIFC), a non-profit that benefits disadvantaged people and people living with disabilities.

The Program

Jan Gee introduced member Brandy Paxton from Humana who is a purveyor of insurance services including health programs dealing with Medicare – the subject of the day. Brandy mentioned her family; husband Jason and 2 sons, one of whom turned 17. Brandy exhibited her generosity with a donation to Mary’s Sugar Bowl as well as mentioning being a Scout Leader. (That elevates her stature in my eyes as a former Boy Scout. I don’t really care if you don’t like that; I loved scouting! I didn’t mention it during my Rotary Minute, but my Scout Leader was Phil Smart; automobile dealer, Scout Leader and benefactor to Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, author of The Third Eight. He was a devoted Rotarian and Charter Member of Edmonds Rotary.)

I took almost two pages of notes about Medicare. Much of my note-taking involved abbreviations and acronyms. There’s Parts A, B, C and D. There’s HMO’s and PPO’s. There’s Tiers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. And if that isn’t enough to bring you to tears, there are Formularies, Deductibles, Co-pays, Supplemental Plans, Advantage Plans, Savings Plans and Medicaid. Of course, Brandy made it so straightforward and understandable as is possible. I did feel a little sorry for our members of Norwegian descent. Do you know why it is referred to as a Norwegian descent?

Editors-in-Chief Horn and Paula urge accuracy from Da Bull reporters. I hesitate to report what I wrote just in case my computer makes an error. Instead, go to www.medicare.gov , login and begin a fruitful search. Explore programs, eligibility, limits, coverage options, for both health and drug plans. Learn so much more. As a Medicare recipient for 18 years, I can vouch for its efficacy, but not necessarily ease of navigation.  Process simplicity is a bit of an oxymoron, but it is something you MUST learn.

Thank you, Brandy, for opening a window into the bewildering world of government health care.

Breaking News: Assistant Governor Bill Potter announces that the Bike Build will be Saturday November 18^th,  9:00 to 1:30. LeMay Pierce County Shop, 4107 192^nd St. East, Tacoma, 98446. Questions? Call Bill 253 732 9001.

Donnnn Irwin won $5 in the drawing. A pattern is developing here.
RIP Brother Dave.

Who Reads This Stuff?
Ole
 

Walt Richardson was on the camera whilst Donnnn Irwin scribbled stuff down for a later attempt at translating the scribbles into cohesive sentences (thank goodness for editors!!).
John Lowney was Cookie Jar Tender (fine collector) and was forced to contribute to said jar due to his stay in Cabo San Lucas – during a hurricane. John explained that he and his wife (Pam) consider their favorite place to be Cabo and they always go in October. I believe he said something about romance and other sentimental/gushy stuff that cause the Lowney’s to consider Cabo as their favorite place.

In 1904 the big news in NYC on Oct 27 was that the subway opened.

PMH asked the Puffins to stand up - four of them did. PMH also asked for guests of Rotarians to be introduced so Steve Mazoff stood to announce his wife, Ellen.

The “Zoomers” were then recognized – Carol Wier, Carl “Root Beer” Bronkema and John (Ole) Magnuson all had their smiley faces up on the screen.

Back in 1873 on this date, Joseph Glidden applied for a patent on his barbed wire design.

Gordy Quick and Greg Horn were recognized as Past District Governors while Tony Camoroda was acknowledged as District Governor Nominee (Ole, in case you don’t know what that is, it means that Tony is second in line as District Governor) and the always effervescent Assistant Governor, Bill Potter, was also recognized.

On October 27^th in 1795 there was an extremely important event that took place – Pickney’s Treaty between the United States and Spain was signed. The treaty established the southern border of the United Staes and gave us the right to navigate the Mississippi River.

Wendy McGowan was called upon to give the Sunshine report. Wendy reported that Gordy Quick was in Las Vegas for the season and that he was undergoing blood tests and transfusion down in the desert. Gordy says hello to everyone.
Wendy also reported that Tom Sadler is in a facility and that the address is 3512 38^th Ave NW, Gig Harbor WA 98335. Tom’s phone number is 253-820-3443. Tom’s wife, Sharon, said that Tom would welcome visitors but that a call should be placed to 253-313-5638 to make sure that he is available to be seen. (I believe that is the number for the facility that he is in, and they want to be sure that you don’t waste a trip to Gig Harbor to see him).

Steve Enquist stepped up the to mic to award Mark Edgecomb with his 7^th Paul Harris award.  I believe Jason Whalen earned one as well, but it could have been for Gael Whalen – not sure on that one. Steve also gave Tom George a replacement pin for one that he had received earlier that was broken.

Speaking of Tom George, he of the Youth Exchange program, Tom announced that he has worked with both the outbound students in the program and with some rebound (returning) students. He also previewed a new Youth Exchange Pin for District 5020.

Date line 10/27/1936 – Dupont announces “nylon”.

Announcements:

PMH plugged the Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation purple recycling bins program once again. PMH is very competitive and our club is way behind the Kiwanis club is Steilacoom – 33 to 20 - in buying the bins. They cost $200.00 a piece so she is looking for club members to pony up some bucks. (Otherwise, we may have to deal with the result of losing the competition…yikes!).

The World Affairs Seminar is coming up so get nominations in. This is a great opportunity for high school students to learn leadership skills.  They will spend a week in beautiful Wisconsin.

Jan Gee – Trunk or Treat needs volunteers for October 31. Call her.

Wood Stick is November 11^th at Clover Park HS and is supporting Oasis Coffee this year. Chris Kimball says he might need another couple of volunteers to help with parking cars.
Nourish of Pierce County is having a fund-raising auction on November 11^th. Contact AG Bill Potter for more information.

In 1960 on October 27^th Ben E. King recorded “Spanish Harlem’ and “Stand By Me” in NYC and in 2004 the Boston Red Sox won their first championship since 1918.

Community Concerns Committee Chair Jan Gee came forward to ask for motions, seconds, and votes for two grants – one for the LeMay Bike Build and the other for a Holiday Basket Ministry. Both grants were for $2,000. Both received motions, seconds and were passed. Once again, Lakewood Rotary gives back to the community!

PMH touted the new Lakewood Rotary edition of Stroll Magazine and mentioned that our own Steve Enquist got a two-page spread and Dwight Williams got a page as well.

Past President Jim Rooks came forward to announce nominations for our Board and officers. New Board members nominated were Linda Disney, Dwight Williams and Mark Herr. Greg Rediske was nominated for Secretary and John Lowney for Treasurer. Tom George was touted for President. There was a motion to accept the slate which was then seconded and approved. Congratulations to all and thank you in advance for your service to the club.

Cookie Jar Contributions:
Chris Kimball paid $20. for being in the top 20 in some car event that I didn’t get the name of. Thank you, Chris and congratulations.

PMH touted the Stroll magazine again and Steve Enquist paid $25.00.

PP Jim Rooks stood to let us know that PP Mark Edgecomb was inducted into the Simon Fraser Hall of Fame for his soccer prowess. Mark paid $40.  Was that Canadian $$?

Tony Camoroda paid some money to congratulate all of the new board members and to mention that Tom George is the first President Elect announced during his upcoming tenure as DG.

AG Bill Potter announced that the LeMay Bike Build will be November 19^th and that he is looking for some possible additional storage space.

Barb Spriggs introduced our speaker, Susanne Bacon.
Susanne Bacon is a bi-lingual, German-American author, journalist, and columnist
All of these colorful chapters in her life and a very positive, hope-inspired attitude influence her topics and her style of writing.

Susanne was born in Stuttgart, Germany, where she graduated with a double Master's degree in General and Comparative Science of Literature and in Linguistics from Stuttgart University.
She was a freelance journalist with a daily paper in her hometown, then with a trade magazine for which she would end up as the editor-in-chief for over a decade. During this time, she published two books of poetry and short stories in German.

Susanne immigrated to the U.S. in 2010, where she has been living with her husband in the South Puget Sound region in Washington State ever since.

In 2015, Susanne Bacon edited and translated her first, originally German novel, “Islands in the Storm”, a historical novel about the German occupation of the British Channel Islands in WW II. Immediately after its publication, she wrote and published her first American novel, “Delicate Dreams”, which would become the first in a series.

Her Suburban Times column “Home from Home”, comparing her former German life to her American experiences, turned into another book with the same title.
In 2021, Susanne created an spin-off from her Wycliff series, a romantic mystery based on the character of a military spouse.

Since 2015, Susanne Bacon has published twelve novels – the 13th is about to be published –, one book of short fiction, and one book of non-fiction; they can be found on Amazon. Her Suburban Times readers find her columns “Across the Fence” and “In the Book Nook with …” each and every Thursday and Friday on the internet.

You can also visit her website https://susannebaconauthor.com/ or her public author page on Facebook.

Susanne’s topic – How to Publish and be an Author.
Her presentation began with the notion that if you are going to write, you have to have a purpose. When she first started writing her purpose was to vent her emotions.

Her first job was as a freelance writer. Later she wrote trade manuals and advertorials. These jobs enabled her to build a network-personally and professionally.

In the United States she is not know as a journalist but as an author. She talked about different types of writing – as might be seen in the Suburban Times. Opinion pieces, editorial pieces, stories and announcements and critiques/entertainment reviews such as Past Rotary 8 President, Don Doman’s articles that show up in the Suburban Times.

She posed the question: How did I start out? Well, in 2017 the political climate was terrible, and angst was the disposition de jour so……she decided to just tell stories – until she ran out of them. Then she started her “Across the Fence” pieces.
She created a column to help authors market themselves.

Next year a new column will appear in the Suburban Times called “Lets Talk”. The purpose of which will be to stimulate conversation – civilly.
Susanne stated that through her writings she tries to inspire and that writing and publishing are easy to do. Just set aside 10 to 15 minutes to write every day.
Think about your message - what you want to say and how you want to deliver that message. Your delivery mechanism could be a novel, a poem, an essay and so on.

Susanne stated that the person who writes will be remembered.
She gave a couple of helpful hints: If you can’t come up with a first sentence then write a second one. If you can’t start with a beginning, then start in the middle or the end and work from there.
The helpful hint I liked the best was – you can’t edit a blank page so write something. (With that I will send this on to our publisher!).

The Foundation took in another $205 today!

Donnnnn Irwin won the raffle and drew a white chip worth $5.00.

Another Lakewood Rotary Club meeting adjourned.
Famous October 27^th birthdays: Theodore Roosevelt, Emily Post, Dylan Thomas, Nanette Fabray, Roy Lichtenstein, H.R. Halderman, John Cleese, Lee Greenwood and Donald Trump’s ex Marla Maples.
 

October 20^th is National Suspenders Day. I don’t own any suspenders—what a let down.
Tom George got our meeting started with the invocation which referenced the 4-Way Test—a nice two-for one by Tom.
Shout-outs were offered (but fortunately using “inside voices”) for the following folks who made today’s meeting possible: 
Paul Harris Desk: Joel Vranna, Linda Disney
Sgt at Arms/Visiting Rotarians/$2 table: Chuck Hellar
Setup Crew: Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa, Tom George, Rob Erb
A number of puffed-up Puffins were in attendance but they sat down before I got a good look at them, so take my word for it that they were a regal bunch bound to bear the torch for Rotary with dignity.
Rob introduced Dan Gibbon visiting our club today.
Our meeting was elevated by the presence of several Rotary dignitaries: DG Caleb Summerfelt (our speaker today), Chief of Staff Robin Summerfelt, PDG Greg Horn. DGN Tony Camoroda and AG Bill Potter.
Sunshine report: Wendy let us know that Rick Selden spent some time visiting Tom Sadler who is doing well.
Gayle Selden introduced Amelia, our Rotary exchange student from Norway who is particularly interested in joining your family for your next Costco run—but also other important American cultural experiences that don’t involve 50-gallon vats of mayonnaise.
Did you celebrate The International Day of the Air Traffic Controller on Friday? You’ll be happy to know most air traffic controllers didn’t either and reported to work, which was good news for those flying.
Rotary Moment: Folks may recall local student Marisa Terry who our club helped secure a scholarship from the District that helped fund her schooling in Belfast, Ireland. Marisa, and her father Mark, joined our meeting so she could share that she successfully completed her Master’s Degree at Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland. Marisa had a great time, learned a lot and only had some minor setbacks (no water or electricity in her university housing for a month kept things interesting). She’s on the job hunt now.
President Mary was doing a little poking around on Charity Navigator (a nonprofit that rates national charities on things like their impact, fiscal responsibility at transparency). She learned that Rotary has perfect 100% rating compared to a 97% rating for Kiwanis. While that would lead you to believe that Rotarians should win all head-to-head competitions with Kiwanis, the Steilacoom Club is currently leading our Mary Bridge purple Carts for Kids competition 33 to our 20. This writer made an impassioned plea (Luke Skywalker was referenced and I may have likened Kiwanis to a “curious marsupial cross of a koala and a kiwi fruit.” I’m not proud of it, but you’d be amazed what I’ll say to win a competition.) to fellow Rotarians to spread the word to folks in the Waste Connections service area to get a cart and says that “Lakewood Rotary” sent them.
President Mary’s honor hangs in the balance so my plea included a reminder that Lakewood has 60,000+ residents to less than 4000 in Steilacoom, so we have a distinct advantage and chance to make a big push in the final 11 days of competition. Rotarians are encouraged to spread the word and share the link: Carts for Kids - MultiCare Foundations  Our President’s honor thanks you.
Today is also National Chicken and Waffles Day. While I’m a fan of both chicken and waffles, I have yet to find the combination appealing. In my experience, once the chicken pecks the waffle a few times, I kind of lose my appetite.
Jan Gee asked the club to approve a $2,000 grant for the Toys for Kids program that provides funds to shop for needy families at Mary Bridge Children’s with medically fragile children. Motion was approved by all.
Speaker: Speaking of Bill Potter, he introduced District Governor Caleb Summerfelt whose presentation theme was “Can One Person Make a Difference?” I usually hate spoilers, but if you’re short on time and gotta run—the answer is YES.
Highlights of Caleb’s talk:
-He was always warned to avoid the DG’s presentation when he started out in Rotary. Suffice it to say that Caleb had a really entertaining presentation that included a bevy of videos from famous folks including Magic Johnson, Vanilla Ice, and Jerry Springer to name a few.
Author’s Note: I still hold a bit of a grudge against Vanilla Ice who was supposed to open for MC Hammer at a concert I attended back in high school. He cancelled at the last minute as he decided “Hammer should be opening for me.” I found his message today more inspiring than his no-show back in the early 90’s. While I can’t say he “flowed like a harpoon,” he did still look like a guy who could blow when he’s rolling in his 50s. 
Will he ever stop? I don’t know.
-Caleb has a hidden disability with his vision that made for a few unfortunate run-ins with inanimate objects. When the issue was finally diagnosed, he met Mariner Hall of Famer, Edgar Martinez doing therapy for the same condition.
-French Stewart on the power of words to hurt or empower: “Let words be your superpower…be positive human weather.”
-Jerry Springer: “Live your life such that you don’t end up on my show.” (Perhaps the best advice of the day)
-Though Caleb had a long interest in Rotary well before he was a member, he kept meeting folks who discouraged him from learning more or joining. It took a charismatic Jack Russell Terrier (channeling the spirit of Paul Harris?) to lead him to his first meeting in Europe.
-A reminder that as Rotarians we are walking billboards for Rotary—for better or worse (Let’s try better!)
-Finally, he reminded us that the Rotary District 5020 meeting is taking place in May 2024 at the Semiahmoo resort in Blaine, WA.
Friday was also Office Chocolate Day—like an idiot I was working from home that day lamenting the lack of chocolate in our house. Thankfully the cookies at our Rotary meeting saved my Friday.
Dwight Williams was the winner of the raffle and the loser of all money except $5.00. Better luck next time, Dwight!
LATE BREAKING NEWS: A Saturday report from John and Pam Lowney dealing with a hurricane in Cabo: “Made it thru the night fine. 3” rain and 75mph winds. Another 12” forecast with 110 mph winds and large ocean surges. We have been instructed to stay in our unit all day. Our unit is flooded. The ceiling leak has expanded so I have up on the buckets and water is blowing in under the doors. It looks like a day or two more of the same. We love an adventure!! Oh, but don’t forget we have a wonderful orange and tortilla breakfast in the fridge. LOL.” Stay well, dear friends, and Prez Mary’s cookie jar is waiting for your expression of gratitude on your safe return.
Upcoming Events:
Oct 20^th:  Harkness Furniture Tacoma South Rotary Putt Putt Golf event at 5pm
Oct 23^rd:  Claudia Thomas townhomes needs snacks and lunch for 12 college students. Contact Bill Potter or Ellie Wilson
Oct 24^th:  Lakewood Rotary board meeting with a 5pm social, 5:30pm meeting live and on Zoom on the regular link. Puffins are welcome.
Oct 31^st: Trunk or Treat—Contact Jan Gee if you’d like to volunteer
Nov 5^th:  WoodStick at Clover Park High School supporting Coffee Oasis this year. 5-6 volunteers needed. Contact Chris Kimball
Nov 11^th:  Nourish of Pierce County fund raiser (Bill Potter has some details if you’d like to know more)
 

Sunshine: Rick Selden visited past president Tom Sadler, who broke his neck in a fall, as if Parkinsons wasn’t enough to deal with. He’s doing well and as full of good humor as usual. Contact him at: 253-820-3443 (cell) to arrange a visit at 3512 38^th Ave NW Gig Harbor 98335.

Birthdays and Other Stuff:
Reames, Lowney and Stephan all had wedding anniversaries: 22, 24, and 53, respectively.
Member anniversaries (Lakewood years/total Rotary years)
Linda Disney 1/6
Andy Phillips 2/37
Chuck Hellar 10/46
Rose Stevens 13/13
Bob Zawilski 26/26
Birthdays: see if you can identify the member with the famous person sharing their birth date?
Rotarian:                                                        Famous Folks:
Angela Connelly                                             Kevin Kline
Mark Herr                                                       Robert Goddard (rocket scientist)
Mary Horn                                                      Minnie Pearl
Charlie Hyde                                                   Buster Keaton
Gordon Quick                                                 Joseph Goebbels
Barb Spriggs                                                   Bill Gates
Gael Whalen                                                   Jane Pauley

(Answer: Read from bottom of famous folks up (Pauley is Connelly, etc.))

Rotary on Tap was last night, October 12, at the Topside in Steilacoom. By all accounts, everyone had a blast. According to Mark Herr, it was nice to socialize with the “established members”. Euphemism for “old Rotarians”. Thanks to Linda Disney and Connie Coleman-Lacadie for again making this a great event. Next up: November 9, somewhere. Stay tuned.
The Tap evening this time raised money for Polio Plus, with a two for one match from the Gates Foundation. They raised $805 (before Gates). But wait! There’s more! Another $397 was raised at the Rotary meeting today! Which would be…7 + 5, carry the one, 9 + 1 +0, carry the one…$1202!!

Announcements:
--Steilacoom Kiwanis is beating us 26 purple bins to 17 purple bins.
--Little Free Pantry: Rose Stevens asked for volunteers to help. Thanks to Greg Horn, Jason Whalen, Scott Buser, Scott Baird, Veronica Bronkema, Angela Connelly.  Lakewood Rotarians in action.
--Barb Spriggs interviewed at Clover Park High for Next Step mentoring, and has two excellent students. She needs more Next Step mentors. They are looking at a possible Interact club there, too.
--October 20 is Tacoma South Rotary’s Harkness Putt-Putt, 5 pm.
--November 5 is Woodstick, this year at Clover Park High School. Chris Kimball needs a few volunteers still. This gathering of millions and millions of drummers (or slightly less) will benefit Coffee Oasis.
--November 11 Nourish fund raiser

Who put the cookie in the cookie jar? “Who me?” “Yes, you!”
--Barb Spriggs put $40 in the cookie jar for a three-day writer’s conference where she debuted her new children’s book about flying.
--Mark Herr gave $100 in thanks to West Pierce Fire for the training he and Jim Rooks completed for Community Emergency Response.
--Rick Selden stuffed $40 in for a great trip to Sunriver
--Jason Whalen recognized two daughters, the youngest turning 18 and running all over the place in cross country races, the oldest celebrating 4 years of marriage in Spain.
--Eric Quinn donated $40 for excessive Rotary meeting absences, sometimes due to “having a blast” with his 2- and 4-year-old kids.
--Phil Eng went cruising; he would have paid $50 but subtracted $10 because Judy got Covid.
--Writer Rediske ponied up $20, reluctantly, for a repeat visit to Sunriver.
--Angela Connelly spoke proudly of two of her many sons and thanked West Pierce Fire for putting out the fire in her house. $140!
--Jim Sharp got two plugs in the Cookie Jar parade, so volunteered $50 for the “free” publicity.

Program:
Tom George introduced Judge Indu Thomas, Thurston County Superior Court Judge. While standing together for a photo, the height-challenged Tom noted that people from India come in “different sizes”. The judge came here from India with her family when she was 5, 50 years ago. Prior to being appointed to the Superior Court, she was a Superior Court Commissioner for 14 years. The title for her remarks was “Navigating Change”. A particular change was the adjustment to Covid: the court closed down for 6 weeks. During that time, they had to quickly create a process for continuing their work virtually. This process continues for some things to this day. The bulk of her talk was in response to questions:
Joe Quinn: Do judges specialize? The answer was no, basically, though they rotate in 3-year increments between specialized courts.
Jim Bisceglia: Crime rate increases, what is the effect on the court? Judge Thomas said that pre-Covid, crime had been steadily decreasing, only to surge post-Covid. Violent crime is the most notable for the increase, backing up court cases to some degree.
Anne Enquist: Judge Thomas replied she is most proud of the many folks who give of their time in the justice system, notably jurors. Further, she was asked what she would do with a magic wand to change the system?  That would be that everyone could see inside the heart of others, not just their outward appearance. She referenced the movie SHALLOW HAL where the protagonist can indeed see inside the heart of people and their true feelings. Rules matter, but so does compassion.
Terry Roarke: The judge responded that she doesn’t have a major problem with long-term judges, though she noted the suggestion for judges to be appointed for one term, then run for a second, and then be done, has merit.
Illuminating, as almost all of Lakewood Rotary’s programs are. Thanks to all!

Drawing: Rick Selden had to take his daughter to the airport, and so left at 1 p.m. However, he purchased a raffle ticket, which was given to Steve Mazoff for safekeeping. When #3982 was called, it turns out that that was Rick’s number. Furthermore, it turns out Steve can see through Seagram’s blue bags and he pulled red!! $699!! Whoo-hoo!

Do you read ROTARY magazine? You all get it. It’s included in your dues.
This report came from Wenatchee, WA, home to some of the 7.2 million horses in the USA. At the Apple Blossom Festival, there is a float parade, including drill teams, bands and so forth. “So forth” included some horses. Prior to the event, the Rotary Club of Wenatchee sold tickets with each ticket entering a guess as to where on the parade route the first horse manure would land. The prize was $10,000. In the end, they netted $14,000 for student scholarships.

Lakewood Rotary is famous for our good humor. We need a fundraiser that highlights that fun! Ideas???

By the way, there is also an excellent article about the polio survivor story of Ina Pinkney, famed chef, and owner of Ina’s Kitchen.

And speaking of Chris Kimball’s Woodstick…..drum along with this!
CPAP Blues (a musical soliloquy by Chris Kimball)
It started with my snoring, I went to see the doc,
He said my oxygen was low, I said, man, what a crock!
You’re tryin’ to make more money by giving me a scare,
But as I spoke I fell asleep, while sitting in his chair!

So I woke up this morning, with a hose stuck to my head.
My wife she screamed and shouted, "there’s a monster in my bed!"
But then she started laughing, recalled my need to snooze,
This thing has ruined my love-life, I got them CPAP blues!

Chorus:
I got them CPAP blues, Oh yeah, those CPAP blues.
My body’s getting older, so I got to pay my dues,
I got them CPAP Blues.

I used to snore so loudly, it even shook the bed,
The racket filled the bedroom, enough to wake the dead.
Now I'm sleeping soundly, thanks to all that forced air,
But all those straps and velcro are messing up my hair.

The joy of sleepin's gone now, I gotta wear this mask.
I used to love to go to bed, now it's just another task.
Last night the restroom called my name, I headed for the door,
Forgot to disconnect and did a face plant on the floor.

(Chorus)

They say I'll soon get used to it, the plastic and the hose,
But I can't stand the feeling of that air shoved up my nose.
Today when I got up I really thought I's doin' great,
But then I checked my sleep score, it was only 88!

Guitar solo (Rock it, Ole!!)

So now I gotta clean it, and soak it once a week,
Every night's the same; I end up lookin' like a freak.
I sit here and I wonder as I look at all that gear,
Is it really worth it just to live an extra year?

I got them CPAP blues, Oh yeah, those CPAP blues.
Just wait 'til you get older, you may be in my shoes,
You'll have them add the water strap on the mask adjust the tension get more zits turn on the switch take a few deep breaths don't let it leak sleep on your back CPAP Blues.

Words of Wisdom for the Day:
All you need is love.
And a dog.
Well, OK…..and a beer.
But that’s it.
Really.
 

Wendy McGowan rose to tell us about a Rotary Moment.  She held up a copy of the Rotarian magazine and said another club was using PM’s “We are Family” theme.  All of the lawyers in the room pounded the table, threatening a trademark infringement suit.  How dare they steal that brand?  Wendy also gave us her Sunshine Report, saying the only matter to report was that Gordy Quick is back today with us. Gordy paid $20 for the privilege of being welcomed back. Wendy also mentioned that she and her husband Mike loved what they learned from Youth Exchange students and urged us to consider hosting as our present YE student needs a host for the second leg of her stay with us.  ‘

PM thanked all the LR Rotarians who made this meeting possible, such as Chuck Hellar who collected $645 at the Paul Harris desk and the setup crew of Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa, Tom George and Rob Erb, their fearless leader.

PM made all the Puffins stand up and so Kris Kaufman used that opportunity to mention that Dan the Puffin made him go so some “dam event,” which I think was somewhere up in Canada. Kris seemed eager to pass on the Puffin, but PM educated him, by stating that he is stuck with it until we induct another new member.  Kris immediately left the meeting to start recruiting!  No, just kidding.

PM said Bob Zawilski is our photog today and Joe Quinn is scribe, while Treasurer John Lowney is tending the cookie jar.   PM recognized a few Zoomer members and asked for any Visiting Rotarians.  Dave Harkness of Tacoma South Rotary and Heidi Wachter (the Lakewood City Attorney) of the Clover Park Club were recognized as VRs.

There were no Guests of Rotarians today, but PM did recognize the usual dignitaries in attendance.  Of special note, Past District Governor Gordy Quick was back with us and said he has started his chemotherapy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  There were a ton of these, so listen up!

Wendy Wachter from Clover Park Rotary announced that on October 7^th, this weekend CP Rotary and helpers are working at the Phillips Road Wildlife Area.  There will be over 100 people working so if you see this before tomorrow (unlikely) you should show up.

October 10^th is mental health today, so maybe that ties in with today’s program.  See below.

Rotary on Tap will be at the Topside in Steilacoom on Thursday, October 12^th so let Anne Enquist know you will be there.  Profits all go to Pints for Polio.

For the whole month of October the battle continues between LR and the Steilacoom Kiwanis Club for the most purple recycling bins sold to aid the Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation..  PM says the two teams are currently tied at 17 each.  For $200 a cart you can help PM win and help a good cause.  Anyone in the Lemay Waste Management service area is eligible.

Dave Harkness rose with a $100 gift certificate to give us, but only because he wanted to push us to (again!) attend the Tacoma South Rotary’s Putt Putt Golf tourney to be held on October 20^th.   He said their Raise the Paddle this year will be for 100 Service Dogs for 100 Vets.  Did you know that 20 veterans per day commit suicide in this country?  Service dogs have been proven to help with mental health issues. Dave said they raised $77,000 last year on this fundraiser.  Not bad for a Rotary club with only 15 members!!   This is their 27^th year for the event.

October 31 is the Trunk or Treat event so see Jan Gee if you want to volunteer.

November 5^th is Woodstick and Chris Kimball could use some more volunteers (at least 5 or 6) for traffic control, parking and the like.  The event will be at Clover Park High School, and is being done to benefit Coffee Oasis, which many Lakewood Rotarians support.

November 11^th is the Nourish of Pierce County Fundraiser.  See Bill Potter.

OUR PROGRAM:

City Manager John Caulfield introduced today’s speaker, Charles Southerland, of Western State Hospital.  Based on his past job experience, we can see that Charles has vast experience in mental health and worked in corrections prior to that.  He is a US Army veteran as well. John stressed that Western State is a good community partner with the City of Lakewood and is a large employer here as well.

Mr. Southerland explained that Western State Hospital has been divided into two distinct centers—one is the forensic side (criminal justice system) and the other is his bailiwick—the civil side of the hospital.  But the reality he said, is that the vast majority of the patients being admitted now are on the forensic side.  After a time, some of those patients are moved to the civil side. 

Most of his talk was about the grand plans to build a new 350-bed forensic hospital, on the grounds, after the demolition of several existing Western State buildings.  Demolition will proceed in 2024 and they estimate completion between 2027 and 2029. 

In recent months, Mr. Southerland has said it has been his task to move out 180 patients from the building they call 21 – South, as demolition is slated to begin soon.  He discussed in detail the problems of delay in getting patients into the hospital, as there have been news reports of (criminal defendant) patients waiting at least one year before being admitted for their evaluation of readiness to stand trial. (This is not a ‘criminal insanity’ determination, but merely asking if they are competent to stand trial and understand the nature of the charges against them.)  He said the system is backed up for various reasons but it sounded as though one cause was the loss of those 180 beds on the civil side.  Essentially, the hospital is full, with all beds spoken for.

The hospital is also subject to a federal court order in the Trueblood case, mandating that they reduce the delay down to 7 to 14 days!  They have gotten it down to 6-8 weeks he said but are still getting fined by the court.

Due to recent legislation, some funds have been made available for the state to purchase added beds. For example, they gained 100-150 beds by buying the Olympic Heritage Behavior Health Center, which is in King County.   When they add the Maple Lane Campus and the Brockman Campus they will have 64 additional beds. 

Some tough but necessary questions were asked by LR Rotarians in the Q and A.  It was noted that Lakewood (and specifically Oakbrook) has an inordinate number of adult family homes and someone asked if that was an overflow or release from Western State. At that point City Manager Caulfield rose to note that the permitting of adult family homes is a DSHS activity not a Western State jurisdictional issue. The City has raised this issue, John said, over and over again with State legislators and other state officials. Unquestionably, Lakewood has more than its fair share of adult family homes.  Mr. Southerland did say that they try to relocate departing patients back to their home of origin, if possible, so they can be near their families or relatives.

Very informative program.

DRAWING:  Jacob Cuthbertson drew the winning ticket but it was not for $655.  The odds continue to improve.

Upcoming Events:
 
October 1-31 - Get your purple recycling bin from Lemay Waste Management and support Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.
October 12 - Rotary on Tap, Topside, 215 Wilkes Street, Steilacoom. RSVP to Steve and Anne Enquist.  Join us at 5:30 for appetizers and drinks, and stay for dinner if you like. We'll pass the hat to raise donations and awareness for World Polio Day. Make a contribution today at this link.
October 17 - Board Meeting
October 20 - Harkness Furniture 27th Tacoma South Rotary Putt Putt Golf starting at 5:00 pm.
October 24 - World Polio Day.
October 31 - Trunk or Treat - See Jan Gee for details and to volunteer.
 

Pres. Mary had the Puffins stand to be acknowledged and what a stately group they are. There were no visitors but one guest: Jennie Weinand, wife of Jim Weinand. Several dignitaries were in attendance including Greg Horn, Tony Camoroda, and Bill Potter. There was a poster board on the table leading into the meeting room for all to sign good wishes for Gordy Quick who is out of the hospital and resting at home. Wendy McGowan gave the Wellness report, telling us that Anne Enquist’s sister passed away and Jan Gee had shoulder surgery. We send our love and condolences to Anne and her family and a big “Get Well Fast” to Jan.

            We learned of a change in the board when Dave Swindale leaves for an extended trip ending in Hawaii to care for his mom.  Linda Disney will take his spot on the Board of Directors. PDG Greg Horn swore Linda in and there was an official passing of the Rotary baton. President Mary presented Dave with a certificate of appreciation. Dave put $50 in the Cookie Jar for all the meetings he’ll miss until he returns in person. That would make a couple of bucks a meeting, Dave. Hhmmm.

            In the announcement section, Gayle Selden gave us an update on exchange student Amelia Babazadz. She’s going to Homecoming by way of a promposal on TikTok.  She also wants to shop at Good Will. Apparently, that’s the latest fun time on TikTok (sorry Nordstrom!). Gayle encouraged us to connect with Amelia to do something fun, although frankly I can’t think of a funner time than bin-diving at Good Will. Her number is in the book and she needs a new host family by the end of October until the end of February 2024. Gayle also told us that our 2011 – 2012 exchange student, Patricia Franko got married and had a little girl, Nora. They live in Mikohaza, Hungary.

            Kris Kauffman had an exciting moment when he exchanged his red badge for a blue one and paid $5.00 for the honor. Prez Mary stated that our RI President, Gordon McInally is really promoting October 10^th as Mental Health Day, prompted primarily because of his brother’s struggle. Anne Enquist announced Rotary on Tap event on October 12^th at Steilacoom’s Top Side Tavern. Anne thanked Andy and Donna Phillips who know the owner and were able to convince him to let us rowdy Rotarians take over the upstairs section of the place and without charging a group fee. Address is 215 Wilkes, but RSVP with Anne or Steve Enquist so they know who is coming. The theme is Pints for Polio.
           
            Don Daniels announced that he’s ending his term on the Planning Advisory Board at the end of the year. ????????  and that will leave four seats open. He encouraged us to apply for the positions and would love to see a few Rotarians help with community planning. Starting salary is low and the expectation that it will get better is non-existent but don’t let that deter you. Money isn’t everything, you know. October 20^th is fun time at Tacoma South Rotary’s Putt Putt Golf.  Social hour starts at 5:00 p.m. Mary assured us all that it really was fun so sign up and go.  How????????????  Bill Potter had so many details of the Novemberr11th Nourish fundraiser in his head that all he could really say is that it will be awesome.

            Shedding a little more light on the inner demons of our President, Mary complained that Lakewood Rotary is falling one purple bin behind the Kiwanas in the race to buy the most purple recycle bins from LeMay Waste Management. Yes, it’s sad to say she really is this competitive. Spend $200, buy a bin and get a $299 tax deduction to benefit Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation. Mary perked up a bit when she saw how many people have already bought the bins that weren’t on her list. “Maybe we’re ahead,” she breathed. Send her your name if you’ve bought one to ease Mary’s blood pressure in her desire to beat the Kiwanas. Joe Quinn announced that he had a Fulton to celebrate his trip to California. An argument erupted over how much a Fulton was worth. Some said $50 and some said $100. We did establish that a Greenleaf is $20 and a Franklin is $100 and an Irwin is $5, but what the heck is a Fulton worth? Not even Gary Fulton himself could bring a consensus. Leon Titus celebrated his 44^th wedding anniversary in July and then spent two weeks in the south of France and then some time in Palm Springs and something about Chuck Hellar, which all added up to $100. So, was that one Fulton or two Fultons?
           
            When Greg Horn said he had something to say, Mary immediately started biting her nails. This apparently would be an uncensored statement. But not to worry. Greg announced it was National Drink Beer Day! After doing a little research, Greg was one day off. National Beer Drink Day is September 28^th, not the 29^th. Speaking of national days, it was also National Strawberry Cream Pie Day, National North Carolina Day, and National Good Neighborhood Day. Cat Frederickson dropped $10 in the Cookie Jar to celebrate her youngest’s 10^th birthday and Linda Disney honored Barb Spriggs and Mary Marlin for attending her first golf tournament.

            Lakewood City Manager John Caulfield, decked out in one of the best-looking blazers ever, introduced our speaker, Lakewood Police Chief Patrick Smith. Chief Smith has a truly impressive law enforcement career, spending 28 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, rising in the ranks from a patrol officer to Commander. He is a veteran of the U. S. Marine Corp and comes to Lakewood from about four years as Chief of Police of Birmingham, Alabama. He started with the City of Lakewood on March 1, 2023. Chief Smith’s experience and training (resume?????????????? is so vast that we are incredibly lucky to have him.

            The first words he spoke told us the most important thing we need to know about him: “Just call me Patrick.” He observed that he first thought the big crowd was to hear his presentation but then he learned about the pot roast lunch, he knew we had our priorities straight. The  next thing Chief Smith did was recognize our Fire Chief Jim Sharp and described him as an awesome partner that the chief sincerely appreciated.

            Chief Smith described how he approaches his job by analyzing the last 24 hours of crime every morning. He looks at what happened, where, and how many times. He considers the problem areas, citizen complaints and calls for service. He went on to give us statistical information about the second quarter of 2023. Calls for service went up about 11% from 2021 and 2022. He reminded us that the officers really have a heart to do what is right for the community and it’s citizens. To that end, arrests were up about 23.4%. Crimes against persons were up about 1%, property crimes down about 10.4%.

            The biggest problem facing Lakewood from Chief Smith’s perspective is the inability to pursue suspects in stolen cars because of the state law prohibiting that. There are about six cars stolen every day at the Town Center. Then the stolen cars are stashed in a neighborhood where after a while, people are used to seeing the car. Theves then steal another car and use both of them to burglarize three to four homes. If you own a Kia or Hyundai, get an Apple airtag for tracking where your car is. While they things might not stop your car from being stolen, at least it can be located with the air tag.  Steering wheel locks are also highly recommended for those two brands of cars..

            In Lakewood, the number of shots fired cases are down; collisions are down; traffic stops are up. Chief Smith believes firmly that his daily crime analysis allows him to move officers around to areas where there is more crime. Unfortunately, homicides are up. In 2022, there was a total of five homicides. This year currently there are five homicides, however, four of the five homicides were resolved in six hours and the fifth one took a little longer because the suspect fled. Some sex crimes are up, such as those involving domestic violence and date rape but burglary and larceny are down. Overall, crime is down about 5.3% in Lakewood as of the second quarter of the year.

            Chief Smith applauded the Mayor and the City Manager for starting a group of other representatives from similar cities to deal with the issue of public safety in Olympia. Getting 36 license readers to track stolen cars coming into Lakewood is also a huge help facilitated by the Mayor and City Manager. Over 3,000 stolen cars come in Lakewood from Tacoma. ????????????????

He stated that he is able to recruit officers from other cities and towns because of the support of the citizens in Lakewood. Lakewood is down six officers and more with those on sick leave or planning retirement. But he has a full-time recruiter and 42 people in the pipeline to be hired.

            Addressing juvenile crime, Chief Smith said that is a different animal altogether. It is up over 200% because officers can’t interview juvenile suspects without a lawyer. When a juvenile gets a lawyer, often they will not provide any information, or it is too late to be of value to the police. Kids as young as 12 years steal cars because they learn how to do it on TikTok.

            Thank you, Chief Smith, for this informative presentation. His desire for us to be safe and to feel safe is working thanks to his leadership of the department. He failed to answer one important question: When is he joining Lakewood Rotary?

            Chief Smith pulled a winning ticket from the tumbler and a riot ensued when it turned out to be Fire Chief Jim Sharp’s ticket as a possible set up. Chief Sharpe’s high hopes for the $638 in the pot were dashed when he pulled a white chip for $5.

Upcoming Events:

October 10^th – Mental Health Day
October 12^th at 5:30 p.m. – Rotary on Tap. Topside Tavern at Steilacoom. RSVP with Steve or Anne Enquist.  253-?????????
October 20^th at 5:00 p.m. – Harkness Furniture, 27^th & South Tacoma Way - Rotary Putt Putt Golf event.  sigm up how?????
October 24^th – World Polio Day
October 31^st – Trunk or Treat. See Jan Gee for details and need for volunteers ???????????????
November 5^th – Woodstick at Clover Park High School supporting Coffee Oasis.  Thanks to EM Chris Kimball. He needs 5 – 6 volunteers so contact him for more information.  Please bring ear protection.
November 11^th – Nourish of Pierce County Fundraiser. Bill Potter will have details.

            Greg add photo of Selden & Kauffman
 

Punster Carl acknowledged: Veronica Bronkema was only a whiskey maker, but Carl loved her still.

Chris Kimball was summoned to give the invocation. Then Rob Erb was asked to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. President Mary thanked everyone for joining our Rotary Family, then going on to those that make our every meeting possible: Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa and Rob Erb. The president also welcomed the Zoomers.

Lakewood Police Chief, Patrick Smith, announced, “A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it!”

Mother Mary let us know that Walt Richardson, a true professional, was taking the photographs you see here and that Wendy “Wordsmith” McGowan would be writing this very epistle. John Lowney tended “the Cookie Jar”, Chuck Hellar gathered up the contributions to the Paul Harris Foundation, and Barlow Buescher manned the $2.00 table.

Two fish swimming in Clover Creek swam into a brick wall. Mary “The Marlin” turned to her swimming partner and said, “Dam!”

Today’s guests were honored: Jim Weinand introduced his wife, Jennie and Cat Frederickson acquainted us with her friends James and Auntie Laura. A visiting Rotarian, Rod Koon was welcomed as our guest speaker and then Mary honored our District VIPs: PDG Gordy Quick and Greg Horn, DGE Bill McGregor,  DGN Tony Camoroda and AG Bill Potter.

Returning from a recent medical seminar held on an Alaskan island, Dr. Peter Marsh noted, “I thought I saw an eye doctor, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.”

The Puffins were then summoned to the podium. There was a gaggle of them today. Mary announced that she is handing over a duty to the group. Apparently, it came up at a recent board meeting that it is important that each time a Rotarian speaks during a meeting it is necessary that the speaker use a microphone. Members have complained that often times it is difficult to hear what is being said.

John Lowney offered a good idea to the board members: Why not have the Puffins assume this task? It will accomplish a couple of things: not only will everyone be able to hear the speaker, but the Puffins will become familiar with the membership. The Puffin will now hand the mic to the member who wishes to speak; the Puffin will make sure the mic is on and say to the member he is handing it to: “The mic is on” as he or she hands the mic to the speaker. No more fumbling with the mic or testing it out to see if it is on or not. The Puffins will now spread out, taking his or her seat so that the entire dining room is covered by Puffins.

Nice idea, John! Just remember: No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery!

When President Mary called on me for The Sunshine Report I was unhappy to tell the membership that longtime Rotarian, Gordy Quick, has been diagnosed with cancer. Gordy is at home, while his doctors continue to run further tests. Gordy’s wife, Juanita, encourages us to call Gordy as Rotary has always been such an important part of Gordy’s life. I also updated the members present that Dave Covey is moving in with his daughter, Angie. You can find Dave’s address on dacDB, should you like to send a note.

The president then asked if there were any announcements. Jan Gee updated us on a community event being held on Halloween called Trunks or Treat. Participating volunteers will be on hand with their car trunks filled with candy at the Community Center next to the Baptist Church for young Lakewood Trick or Treaters. Rotary will be on hand hoping to sign up “the very littlest ones” to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Barlow Buescher and Greg Rediske reminded us that the coming year is the 30^th Anniversary of the Lakewood Community Foundation and asked us to vote to continue to budget anything over $2,000 in the coming year. This past year we donated $37,000.

Last, but not least, on President Mary’s agenda: Cookie Jar Contributions. Chris Kimball forked over a tidy amount (which I didn’t get) for receiving Best Import Award and 1^st Place Peoples Choice Award for his “hot” motorcycle. Mark Blanchard offered $117.00 for his September 18^th anniversary. Mark noted that Greg and Mary Horn need to follow suit.

Mark Edgecomb fessed up that he and Nicole just returned from London. They visited The Lakes District, as well. While in London Mark returned to Herrods (where he worked many years ago) and picked up a little something for Prez Mary: Butter Biscuits with Strawberry and Crème filling. Yum! Mark paid dearly, but I didn’t get the amount.

Seeing that I sat next to Mark at lunch where he regaled me with his adventures in London, one of which was a “dip” in the River Thames. Really? Now, Mark, if you were in Paris and jumped in the river you’d be in Seine.

Enough silly puns. We next had one of the most interesting programs I’ve heard in quite sometime. Rod Koon, from the Port of Tacoma, was born in Tacoma, attended Bellarmine Prep and went on to graduate from Stanford University. He is a member of Sunrise Rotary and handles their website and public imagery. Rod plays acoustic and electric guitar with a classic rock band and is a devout Beatles fan with a personalized license plate “LetItBe.” He was a regular at EFN repacking food but when COVID hit, he gathered a couple of fellow musicians and played music on his front yard on Saturday afternoons, accepting donations for EFN. Rod started at the Port of Tacoma in 1983 and held positions in communications, marketing and community relations. He retired in October 2021 as the Senior Communications Manager. He then authored a book about the Port of Tacoma available for purchase. Thus he can recite from memory an encyclopedia of facts and figures about the Port from its inception until today. Rod and Charlie Hyde (a long time Lakewood Rotary member for the newbies) played tennis 50+ years ago and hadn’t seen each other in about 50 years until this meeting.

I was enthralled with the zillions of details Rod conveyed through his discourse and the magnificent photos he presented (many of which were taken in the late 1800s and early 1900s). I captured some I share here.

Pierce County voters approved formation of the Port of Tacoma on November 5, 1918, 110 years ago. The first Port Commission comprised of a banker, a longshore official and a fruit and dairy farmer. The port started with 240 acres of land in the Tacoma Tide Flats and today boasts about half of the 5,000 acres which comprises the tide flats. Various operations now employ more than 42,000 people and produces about $3 billion in labor income. Rod showed a video clip that featured the old overhead conveyor system of moving pallets of product out of the warehouse, making a 90 degree turn over to the ship, and lowered under the docks. People manually unloaded the pallets and put them on the ship. It took thousands of manhours to load a ship. I  noticed no hard hats on those people unloading the pallets.

The first vessel to call at the port was the Edmone on March 25, 1921 to pick up lumber to take to Japan. Today, the port is one of the fourth largest container gateways in the United States and a major gateway for trade with Asia and Alaska. New cranes recently installed are taller than Godzilla and just second in height to the Space Needle.

Rod told a great story about a truck driver in the 1950’s delivering his truck for of product to be unloaded off his truck and put on the ship. He saw how inefficient this was and started to think that maybe a better idea was to just load the truck onto the ship. Then he thought why not just the trailer of the truck. That led to his idea of making a separate container on the truck that could be loaded onto the ship. He developed this idea and revolutionized shipping with containers that hold anything and everything that is loaded onto a ship for delivery elsewhere.

If anyone missed this great presentation, go to https://www.portoftacoma.com and click on the history link for a wonderful compilation of the last 100 years and a peek into the future. Thank you, Rod, for this vivid mental image you provided us. We hope you return.

Upcoming Events

October 12 - Rotary on Tap will recognize World Polio Day. Save the date. Details to come.
October 17 - Board Meeting
October 20 - Tacoma South Rotary Club's Annual Mini-Golf Tournament
 

So happy belated “Ides of September” to my fellow Lakewood Rotarians.

President Mary (PM) rung the dinner bell at promptly 12:30 p.m. as Sister Sledge reminded us once again that “We are Family.”  The pledge was led by Rick Selden and Eric Warn did today’s invocation.

Many Rotarians were celebrated for making today’s meeting possible including our regular setup crew (Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden, James Osundwa, Tom George, Troy Wilcox and Rob Erb).  Not all of them were present, but we could feel the helpful spirits of those not with us readying out souls for Rotary-readiness.

Thanks to Bud Montgomery who tended the Paul Harris desk which brought in an impressive $1,200 at today’s meeting.  Leon Titus was our Sgt. at Arms and $2 Desk Specialist, and Walt Richardson was our photographer.  John Lowney tended the cookie jar for PM.

Speaking of cookie jars, I’m pleased to announce that the much-ballyhooed cookie jar made its first appearance at today’s meeting.  It is glorious and President Mary revealed she’ll hand out candies to those who contribute (and it was the GOOD stuff).  

Photo below: PM’s beloved cookie jar

She called on none other than Greg Horn to make the first contribution to the brand-new jar.  Greg made a donation to celebrate 47 years of marriage to Mary and made it an even $50 in gratitude for Mary putting up with him for all those years (and to make a plug for National Talk like a Pirate Day coming up September 19—Avast!).


Ever the competitor, President Mary one-upped him and doubled Greg’s contribution.  Gayle Selden also threw some cash in the jar both to celebrate her birthday and call attention to an earlier description of her father as “one of the old guys” at today’s meeting.

John Lowney – were there any other donations??

Today’s visitors were Mike England from Vashon Island Rotary sporting a very purple UW Hawaiian polo shirt that had our resident Huskies barking.  Your Bulletin Writer had the privilege of introducing Steve Rudolf, Director of Enrollment Management at Charles Wright Academy—a job I held a few years back.  Mr. Rudolf is proof that they have raised their standards at the school considerably since I worked there.

Plentiful puffins were present at today’s meeting prompting our president to praise our recruiting prowess. Dare  I say we’re more puffin-y than ever?  Puffin-ful?  Puffin-deli-icious?

Rotary VIPs were recognized including PDG Greg Horn, FDG (Future District Governor) Tony Camoroda and even AG Bill Potter who was not in the room, but still warranted a mention.

Sunshine: Wendy McGowan reported that Gordy Quick is current at Madigan.  Please feel free to reach out to Gordy to check in on him.

Publisher’s note: Saturday Morning PM (President Mary) received a phone call from Gordy.  He is back home awaiting some test results.  Please feel free to give him a call.
     
A great many birthdays and anniversaries were recognized by Greg Rediske though his efforts were nearly thwarted by President Mary who hauled the mic from the podium.  After a brief (imagined) struggle, she yielded the floor and mic to Greg who regaled us with a plethora of birthday puns:

Tony Camoroda, born in Fresno, was stumped by, “What is an elf’s favorite birthday cake?”  The answer - shortcake.
Gayle Selden, who was born in now defunct Lakewood Memorial Hospital, was asked to identify which music balloons most fear.  The answer - Pop.
Dave Coleman, born in Oakland, CA mused that a ghost’s favorite cake might be “boo-berry”.  Close but not close enough.  He learned the answer was “I scream” cake.
And Bob Zawilski, born in Wilkes-Barrie, Pennsylvania, was asked how do pickles celebrate their birthdays?   The answer - by “relishing” them.

September Wedding anniversaries:
Patrick Aravena to Alicia - 4 years
Heather Burgess to Christopher – 30 years
Kris Peterson to Rosemary – 30 years
Walt Richardson to Tanya – 31 years
Mark Blanchard to Joan – 47 years
Mary Horn to Greg – 47 long years
Greg Horn to Mary – 47 great years
Scott Buser to Kathy – 48 years
Wynn Hoffman to Margie – 55 years
Rick Selden to Sharon - 55 years
Sam Hunter to Sybil – 66 years!

September Rotary Membership Anniversaries:
Mark Herr – 1 year
Bob Martin – 2 years + X years in other clubs
Leanna Albrecht – 5 years
Eric Quinn – 9 years
Walt Richardson – 39 years

President Mary reminded the club that the next board meeting will be held at TC&GC 5:00 p.m. social hour, 5:30 p.m. meeting starts on Tuesday, September 19.  Members are encouraged to RSVP,  and Puffins are reminded that attending a board meeting is on their checklist.

Our speaker today was none other than Mayor of Lakewood, Jason Whalen and his wife Gael. They shared stories of their trip to visit Gimhae, Korea, one of Lakewood’s sister cities.

Some key takeaways:
-Lakewood’s first sister city (Okinawa, Japan) was adopted in January of 2002 and the second in 2006 was Bowang, Phillipines.
-Gimhae is the most recent addition to Lakewood’s collection of sister cities.
-In spite of Jason and Gael’s many pictures of the plentiful food and alcohol they consumed on their trip, these trips are not the boondoggle one might think (and city reps had to pay for the transportation costs of their spouses).
-City of Lakewood reps were invited to attend the Gaia Festival.
-The Sister City program is run on a non-profit basis, so no city funds go toward these trips.  They provide an important opportunity for cultural exchange, exploration of best practices and the opportunity to eat, drink, eat, eat, drink (booze) and eat (Oh, and drink more booze).

No word on whether Mayor Whalen has taken any inspiration from the story of King Suro and the other Korean royalty who allegedly hatched from eggs before taking their thrones.  This writer suspects rising from the depths of American Lake with nothing but a loin cloth and a briefcase full of fine wines would be a more likely origin story for our past president.

Upcoming Events
September 23 - Join NOURISH and the Clover Park Rotary to package 50,000 meals. Two shifts are available. Register here.
October 20 - Tacoma South Rotary Club's Annual Mini-Golf Tournament at Harkness Furniture