Rotary Club of Bellingham Tattler - MARCH 18, 2024
Tattler Reporter: Tim Farris
Tattler Editor: Catherine Riordan
Photographer: Del VandeKerk, Aaron Booker, Doug Cole and Sandee Lindhout
Roland Trenouth
"My Smoke Jumping Experiences"
Opening Welcome:
President Doug welcomed us to an almost full house – some 50 members and guests. Guests included Curtis Dye, Gail Haines, Laura Singletary, Donna Trenouth, Pete Kirkman, Tim Krell and more.
Doug then joined the Rotary Brass and we had no less than four trombones offering a patriotic tribute to open our meeting
Guests:
Felicity Dye brought our 2024-2025 Outgoing Exchange Student, Dawnlynn Chadwick. She is going to Mexico.
Del VandeKerk introduced Pete Kirkman
Marty Haines brought his wife Gail
Ward Naf introduced Brent Lundstrom with NCyTE and Laura Singletary, from the prosecutors office
Aaron Booker brought friend Laura Montonye
Monty McAllister brought his wife Donna
Visiting Rotarians from Bellingham Bay Rotary, President Tim Krell and Curtis Dye
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Bob Diehl Remembrance
We were asked to remind members that Bob Diehl's outdoor service of remembrance for him will be held Saturday, March 23 at 1:00pm at the Whatcom Rowing Association Boathouse at Bloedel Donovan Park, 2202 Electric Ave. Reception following. Dress for the elements and please carpool, if possible.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Whatcom Rowing Association (PO Box 1163, Bellingham, WA 98227) or Whatcom Community Sailing (805 Dupont St. #8, Bellingham, WA 98225).
No Food Next Week
At next week’s meeting, March 25, no food will be available (Spring Break). You are welcome to bring your own.
Whatcom Community College Food Pantry Rotary Food Project March 29
There will be an all-Rotary and the Interact Club from Squalicum High School food drive March 29th at 3:00 p.m. at the Syre Student Center. Come at 3pm to drop off food and get in the publicity photo. If you are unable to participate on the 29th, please bring your food to our Rotary meeting, March 25th. We are very excited to be able to show both our community support and our Rotary Service Above Self values.
RCOB Past Presidents Luncheon April 1
On Monday, April 1st our meeting will honor our RCOB Past Presidents. It will be held in the David Syre Theater on the WCC campus. Please plan to come celebrate. Partners are encouraged to attend as well. Sign ups are active on our website.
Play about RBG at Mount Baker Theatre April 20
Catherine Riordan, on behalf of the Social Committee, announced a block of seats is being held at the Mount Baker Theatre ticket office for RCOB members who wish to attend this widely heralded play. If you don't already have a ticket and want to go, call the ticket office to buy a ticket, mentioning your RCOB affiliation. There will be two options for a pre-event gathering, one of which is the BBay Fundraiser.
Bellingham Bay Fundraiser Invitation April 20
Tim Krell, President of Bellingham Bay Rotary, invited us to their annual “Grapes and Gourmet” event. It is scheduled for April 20th.
Meal Packing by RCOB May 4
Marty Haines reminded us that we are still looking for volunteers for the annual meal-packing project, 8:30-12:30 in the Assumption Gym. Last year, we packed 37,000 meals with 106 volunteers, including Rotaract members, family members, and other clubs’ volunteers as well. Please consider donating to purchase the food and registering as a packer so Marty and Roland can complete arrangements for the event.
Doug encouraged us to sign up to walk with the Rotary Float in the Memorial Day Parade. It is scheduled for Saturday May 25th. We have a Rotary float, which we escort over the mile-long parade. If you start conditioning now, you will be in shape to even run laps around the float as it careens down the route. You can go to the website and sign-up now. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
District Conference - May 4, 2024
The format for the Conference is family inclusive and the same day as our Meal Packing Event. President Doug is looking for members to register to go down with him later in the day, after the Meal Packing Event. Other options to participate include Friday, May 3rd for Bowling and a meet and greet and Sunday May 5th for a service project at Camp Korey.
Three new members turned in their red badges for blue ones. Bill Day, Bob Kuenzel and George Halsell.
WCC Cyber Security Program
Brent Lundstrom, Director of Whatcom Community College’s Cybersecurity program provided an overview of the program – noting that the State of Washington currently needs some 15,000 trained cyber security technicians and that WCC has been nationally recognized for its program. He touted an event to be held on April 24th
Mystery Photo: Tom Grinstad
Board Briefs – March 14, 2024
We received a resignation from Lisa Saar, and it was approved with great regret. Her personal and professional commitments have increasingly demanded her time and attention. She and her husband now live in Seattle.
The Board approved sponsoring 3 Facilitator’s for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), for a total of $180.00 and a request was be sent for a grant and approved from the RCOB Foundation. RYLA is May 9-12, 2024 in Hope BC and the club has budgeted one person age 18-30 to go for $425.00. We are hoping to send our Exchange Student, JV.
An idea for fundraising has been suggested by Paula McCandlis and she will present it to the membership March 25th. We have a budget goal of $7,000 to help fund club programs such as the Student Exchange Program.
Whatcom Community College scholarship application reviewers for the 2024-2025 academic year needed – requesting all Rotarians to help. Information has been sent to the Board and the Membership.
Rotary Friendship Exchange Opportunity with District 1911 in Hungary. Steve Ban has volunteered to head this. Steve said he would host but will need 1 more to host at least 2 people per house. Steve will be outgoing in October. He will make an announcement to the membership March 25th.
A limit of 8 people will arrive here August 25 to September 8, 2024.District 5050 will go to them from October 5 to October 19, 2024.The teams pay their own way, air, hotels, when needed, food, entrance to activities, etc. When they are home hosted breakfast is included. We would need to find hosts for 3-4 nights and the district needs two Canadian clubs and two American clubs to host inbound team.
The annual District Assembly will be held April 6, 2024 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University-Surrey BC. The club is required to pay for 5 attendees. Steve is unable to attend, and we encourage board members and committee chairman to attend. An announcement will be made to the membership 3/18.
Dennis Williams provided a book report on Timothy Egan’s book, “The Big Burn”. It tells the story of the first movement to preserve our national forests from logging. He also discussed the early formation of the forest service, the conflict with those that wanted to log the forest, and the “The Big Burn” - when 3,000 small fires merged into the largest fire in American history.
Rotary Moment
Felicity Dyeprovided us with a video showing
the sights and sounds of Cuba – from her recent trip.
Weekly Payment Reminder
VENMO:
@RCOB- Bellingham.
Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532.
CASH / CHECK:
Yes, we still take these and saving on fees is appreciated.
John Moffat introduced our speaker Roland Trenouth by noting he was born in Missoula, Montana. He attended medical school at the University of Colorado and did his cardiology training at the University of Oregon. Roland was a leader in getting the cardiology practice started in Bellingham and practiced here from 1975 to 2006. More relevant to the day’s topic, he was a smoke jumper in his earlier days.
It was a coincidence that Roland’s talk was on the same day as Dennis’ review of “The Big Burn”. Roland noted PNW history of large forest fires, even before the advent of smoke jumpers. Fires included “the Big Burn” which burned 3 million acres and killed 87 people in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. He also mentioned the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin (1871) and the Santiago Fire in California (1892).
To fight these fires, the forest service had to get men into the fire zone on horseback, over rugged roads. This could take days. Speed was needed to get firefighters into deeply forested areas to extinguish fires before they got out of control.
While the Russians first began testing the idea of smoke jumpers in 1934, the United States began working on the idea beginning in 1939. Since most men with parachute experience were engaged in World War II, early smoke jumpers were largely conscientious objectors.
Today, smoke jumpers consist mostly of college, often forestry, students from all over the United States.
Training is seven weeks long, including two hours a day of physical exercise and training on how to jump and fight fires. Trainees typically do six practice jumps.
Today, there are smoke jumper bases in Missoula, Montana, Fairbanks, Yellowstone, McCall, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California.
Roland noted that the nation has modified its views about fighting fires – recognizing that forest fires are a way the ecosystem restores itself. Over the past ten years, forest fires have been growing larger in size – now burning some 10 million acres each year – and costing some $3 billion a year to fight and putting a serious drain on the forest service budget.
In jumping, they use a static line and jump anywhere from 800” to 1,400’ above ground. Small meadows are proffered but occasionally they jump into treed areas. The aircraft is typically flying from 90 to 120 mph.
Closing:
To close the meeting, Doug let us know that David Blair won the lottery and thanked all those who helped make the meeting happen.
Guess Who?
New Member Blue Badge and Certificate presentation to Bill Day, Bob Kuenzel and George Halsell. Congratulations!
Dennis Williams Book Review
George & Melanie Halsell, John Dunne and Doug Cole
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
Book Review
