Regular Meeting, September 23, 2009

A couple of years ago, I was slated to be president and Dan Dalquist was to be my vice president. At one of our luncheons, I explained this arrangement to my wife, who was a guest, and she said, "Well, there you go: Dumb and Dumber," Thanks Betty.

Well, folks, Dumb and Dumber have teamed up again: we are jointly producing the CLK Rotary Blog. Dan will write the words and I will take the pictures and put it on line. Than at some point, Dan will take over the whole operation. To mark the occasion, there is a new format for the Blog. We hope you enjoy it.

(Below is a picture of our speaker guests: Sgt Philips of the CLK ROTC Cadets, Rochelle Miller, Junior at CLK High School and Katie Miller, Junior at Lake Linden Hubbell high school.)

President Jim Lowell called the meeting to order and introduced Sgt Frank Philips – CLK ROTC and Linda Grahek (Dave was out of town) . Sgt Philips was accompanied by two ROTC Cadets: Rochelle Miller – Junior at CLK High School and Katie Miller – Junior at Lake Linden Hubbell high school. Jim then read the names of two prospective members: Scott See and Keith Stenger.

The fall Highway pickup date will be determined at the monthly board meeting – most likely early October.

After our meal and Happy Dollars, from 5 Rotarians, Sgt Philips took the floor. He explained the CLK ROTC program had nominated students for the annual RYLA training every years for the past 12 yrs. CLK Rotary sponsors this program at $250 per student per year.

RYLA students attend a weekend Leadership training program at Camp Manitowish in Wisconsin. Students experience a variety of leadership development skills including a variety of teambuilding games and a high ropes course!

The girls described their experience as “Amazing!”. Both have been asked to return next year as instructors at RYLA. Katie and Rochelle said they use the leadership skills in their daily activities with ROTC.

CLK Rotary should be proud of our continued sponsorship of such a worthy program.

(President Jim presents the highly valued CLK Rotary mugs to the young ROTC ladies.)

Regular Meeting, September 16, 2009

(CCISD Superintendent Dennis Harbour accepts the coveted CLK Rotary mug as a gift for his interesting and compelling presentation.)


Attending the meeting were 13 members and 3 guests. Guests were Dave & Linda Grahek from Breckenridge Rotary and Dennis Harbour, Superintendent of the Copper Country Intermediate School District.

1. President Jim announced that due to the press of his business, Ole van Goor has tendered his resignation to the club. It was accepted with deep regrets and the hope that in the future as time permits, Ole will re-join the club.

2. Jim noted that three members have signed up for the training session to become mentors to students in the Calumet and Lake Linden high schools; they at Tom Scanlan, Tom Tikkanen, and Kevin Store. Thank you, gentlemen. There is still time for others to sign on to this important mentoring task. If interested, call Jim Lowell ASAP.

3. In terms of the all-important membership committee, Jim decided that there would be no specific committee assigned; rather, he said, we are all responsible of the growth and survival of this club and any ideas for increasing and retaining members are welcome.

4. Finally, he announced that "category" programs are welcome. If any member wants to talk about his Rotary category, please see Jim.

After lunch, our speaker, Dennis Harbour, was introduced. Though much was discussed about the need for state action on a budget, his primary message was explaining the difficulty school districts have in setting their budgets. For example, the school district budgets must be set by the beginning of their fiscal year, July 1. Unfortunately, the state budget must be set by the state's fiscal year beginning October 1. It doesn't take rocket science to realize that school districts are budgeting blindfolded, with only guesswork for what the state will contribute to their undertaking.

Compounding this problem, Harbour said, was the absolute fact that no further cuts in program can be expected, cuts as little as 5% were to Harbour unachievable.

The solution should expenses exceed revenues? The districts will operate at their basic minimum until the money runs out and then simply close the school. As Draconian as this sounds, it is a real possibility according the Harbour.

The entire program was interesting and thought-provoking. We need an angel of some sorts (an improved economy or auto business) to appear on the horizon. Good Luck!!

Business Meeting, September 2, 2009

(Having taken no pictures, I decided to put up some old ones from the film archive. Here's the CLK Hockey Team of 2009)


This was one of the rare meetings at which no guests were present. There were 16 members in attendance and a good deal of business was discussed:

1. President Jim reminded everyone to update their personal data for the club archive. This is important and is used by the district when calculating benefits, etc.

2. Treasurer Joel announced that there was a total of $9,341.18 in our checking/savings accounts.

(Two pictures from one of our annual fund-raising dinners held at the Miscowaubik Club.)


3. July attendance was 51% and August 59%. We can do better!

4. In January, 2010, the CLK Rotary Club will be 60 years old. President Jim is looking for ideas to mark the celebration of this event. Patricia was elected chairman and she will need committee members to assist her to plan the action. Come with ideas.

5. Tammies Chairman Dan announced that the club made a net profit very close to $2,000 and he reminded everyone that just a slightly better effort next year will produce an enormous increase since all the expenses will remain the same. The results of the ticket sales were: Keweenaw, 50; Calumet/Laurium, 48; Southside, 36, and the winners were Da Valley, 54. Kilpela was awarded 12 golf balls for his efforts in sales. He expects that will get him through 9 holes easily.
6. Jim asked if there is anyone interested in being a mentor and speaking to a couple of 9th grade classes at Calumet and Lake Linden. If interested, you will receive some training and a power point demonstration to use. See President Jim.

(The ribbon cutting at the new Rotary Clock.)


7. In addition, if the club is interested in the "visionary" project, the Houghton club's Elden Johnson is the point man on the project. This is a program whereby a facilitator will conduct a meeting to seek and develop visionary goals for our club.

Finally, we were reminded that the board of directors meets the third Tuesday of each month.