Soundings (10/2/2007)

Bucks in the Bay

---President Orphalee, dressed in the color purple to symbolize the Grape as in Grapes & Gourmet, stood up and celebrated her 14th meeting as our 3rd Woman President, and placed a few bucks in the can for the outstanding effort that the University of Washington did last Saturday with that California nemesis, USC (aka, University of Spoiled Children, or, the University of Second Choice); Dan Moore rose to the occasion, and related that his biggest remodel job has nearly been completed, and that the initial tab on the remodeling was a paltry $135,000---but with the five or six change orders, the tab has now risen to over $600,000 'and the beat goes on, and on, and on'!!; Chip Hilarides placed a few of those American Green Backs into the bucket, and with that, he has exonerated himself from a few missed meetings during the month of September; one of our favorite doctors, Ed Zech,  offered to fill our coffers so that he could mention something or another great about one of his offspring.  Also, being the 'care giver' he is, he suggested that all of us take a moment or two out of our day, and check on our blood pressure.  Ed was surprised when he did just that the other day at the local grocery store (Haggens, that is); Art Runestrand, our second oldest member (as to the year he was brought onto this planet), tossed in a few Yankee Buckaroos, to celebrate the 58 years' of marriage that he and Meredith Lee have had (and more years of the same for the future); Dean Brett opened his purse so that he could rightfully mention that he had just returned from an interesting trip and bike ride in about three European countries (for security purposes, we will not mention the name of those three!!?); Dick (the radio man) Stark was able to discuss on a positive note because of the money he threw into the receptacle, accolades regarding the Huskies and particularly, the tail gate parties that were evident because of the Freshman phenom, the new Husky Quarterback, Jake Locker; Phil (I think I lost my razor) Hageman, reduced the amount of money that was jingling around in his pocket, and because of that, he was able to mention that he had been with his company now for about 28 years, and he still does not know what a change order is, and that was particularly in reference to Dan Moore's admission (noted above, my friend!).  I do believe that that was about all of the admissions we can print!

Sergeant at Arms: with Ron Hardesty at the Podium

A few of our members were giving the opportunity to drop a dollar or two on the table, and they (in part) were such notables as Ed Zech, Art Runestrand, Chip Hilarides and others who have been mentioned in other editions of this fine weekly newspaper!  Then, came the big Whammy, when the Sgt. at Arms stated that he had done a bit of exploring on the Internet, and asked one table after another if they could estimate just how many HITS had been seen for a certain named few.  Those HITS were asked about Orphalee--171; Patti Imhoff--6; Bill Unrein---111;  Cy Lindberg---105; Barry Kramer---81; Alan Knudsen---1710; John Templeton---1800; Stan Dyer---3400; Stephanie Sadler---751 and the winner, G. Dennis Archer---233,000!  Now,  I do not know what all of this means; however, I think that I will now apply for a new Social Security Number and attempt to disappear in the woods.

Program:

Dean Kahn, Neighbors Editor for the Bellingham Herald, was our most informative speaker for the day, and he related something about himself as well as where he was born; where he attended school and the fact that he has been with the Herald in different capacities for more than 21 years.  Where does Dean acquire his stories?---Well, you name a source, and he will use that source to come up with an interesting article.  He also gets his ideas from his readings, current events, items that are in the news, topics that may be suggested by others---you name it, and Dean will manage to put together a most informative and interesting article. You will find that he puts together two columns per week, and I have found most of them quite interesting.

Raffle was won by Bob Newell, and we would encourage Bob to report that $28 on his IRS Report!!

Bill Geyer, at the end of the program, related that there had been a hitch in the permit process in getting the Food Bank building going, and he has asked all of us to sign a petition that will be presented at our meeting on 9 October, about that very subject.  Sounds as though our 'City Fathers' are at IT again.

Miscellaneous

Whenever I am given the opportunity to be the one day Editor of the SOUNDINGS, I try to add one item at the end about Rotary, and what I feel is important that we should know---so, here goes:

RI has a Foundation that has been in existence since about 1947.  Monies collected for that Foundation go for many world-wide projects such as Scholarships, Polio Plus, Hurricane Katrina, many worldwide tragedies such as the Tsunami that hit the Indonesian area of the world, Clean Water Projects, Literacy Projects throughout the world---and many more needs that are presented.  This Foundation receives most of its dollars through us when we contribute and become a Paul Harris Fellow or at least, a Paul Harris Sustaining member.  We have about 47 Paul Harris members in our Club, and about 67 PH Sustaining members---it is certainly worthwhile to get involved with this (tax exempt) donation, so please think about it.

Our own Club has a Foundation, and that Foundation was started about 6 years ago, and I think that John Templeton was the first to donate to that Foundation.  At the present time, our Club has about $70,000 in our Foundation, and as soon as it reaches $100,000 or more, we can commence donating to local needs,  and the money that would be donated would come from the interest created that is over and above the $100,000. Another good way to expend your dollars---hopefully, we will reach that $100,000 goal by the year ending December 31, 2008.  We need your help.

Respectfully submitted,
Stan Dyer