Two Meetings in One

Greetings from Capt. Don here in sunny South Palm Beach, Florida. Thanks to Jim Lowell and Dan Dalquist I am able to upload two meetings. One was a report from the Visioning Conference and the other is from our regular meeting.

Visioning Project, February 20, 2011

Attendance = 18

Our facilitators were from the Houghton Rotary Club: Bill Mussleman, Eldon Johnson and Bob Sharkey. Our own Rich Schaefer coordinated the event.

We were asked a question: What is Rotary? Our answers included Service, Fun, Fellowship, and “What ever you want it to be”. This was followed by explaining our Club was to think 5 yrs ahead. We use the process to define goals that will be built by consensus.

Rotary International expects each Club to improve it’s Continuity of Leadership by providing long term goals for each Club Pres to work towards, improve our consistency of programming and to build by solidarity in purpose. We were asked to be bold, suspend our practical side, think outside the box, dream big, and leave our individual baggage outside the room.

A description of our Club Board committees could include Administration, Public Relations, Membership, Service Projects and Foundation.

The visioning process started with each Rotarian transporting themselves to the year 2016. Our instructions were to write a description of the CLK Club’s activities and membership; as if our club was receiving a prestigious international award. We had 10 categories to complete and 30 minutes to write our ideas.

Each of the 10 items was discussed and ideas collected from the group and written on flip-charts. Ideas came from every one!

Each Rotarian was given 29 Blue dots. Once all the ideas were documented on the flip charts, we placed the blue dots by the ideas each felt were the best in that category. When the first round was completed, our facilitators kept the top 3 ideas for each category and deleted the rest. We voted a second time with red dots. Once that round was completed, the surviving ideas became our goals. I did not have time or opportunity to write them down so they will be reported at a future date.

At this point, we appointed a Club Vision Coordinator whose task is to compile the charts and prepare to present to the Club. That person is Rich Schaefer. We also appointed a committee of 3 to prepare a vision statement or “elevator speech” for our Club based upon the information gathered tonight.

Our next steps are to have a meeting to present the information to the club (within 6 weeks or sooner). President Tim needs to assemble a President’s Development committee (consisting of several Past Presidents and the current President) to meet and coordinate the Planning. We also need to identify a club Visioning Champion.

All the above steps are designed to continue the Visioning process and use the data to further develop our Club.

I thought the event was well done. Eldon, Bob and Bill did a good job keeping us on track. The ideas and thoughts were good. Comments were supportive and creative. And..we had fun.

February 23 Regular Meeting:

Attendance: 15 members, no guests.

Tim Baroni presided over happy dollars and announcements, including the Reverend Peter’s announcement that his son and daughter-in-law have given birth to a son, presumably a future champion cyclist and cross country skier.

Tim then conducted some business including thanking all those who participated in the Visioning exercise last week and the announcement that the Visioning process will move into the analysis and organization phase with results to be brought to the Club for consideration.

In addition Tim discussed the upcoming spaghetti dinner (March 11), announcing that all club members will be responsible for (and will be billed for) 8 tickets. Tickets were distributed for member sale. The spaghetti dinner fund-raiser will be at Irish Times from 4pm to 8pm. All members are expected to be there to help and to also contribute a dessert to the meal.

The program was by Kevin Store who talked about The “Perfect Storm” of physician recruitment. He noted that recruitment of medical professionals into the area has a bit effect on the quality of our medical institutions and the local economy. He also described the health care professionals as in short supply due to training bottlenecks – specifically residency programs.

The Perfect Storm is caused by 3 items: Retiring physicians, the residency bottleneck and an increasing patient load, leading to a shortage of professionals. Current needs at Portage Health are in the areas of Orthopedic surgery, OB/GYN, Family Medicine and Internal Medicine. It did not appear that Kevin was successful in recruiting any of the attendees into any of these areas.

(Kevin making a salient point during his presentation of the Perfect Storm.)

Regular Meeting, January 26, 2011

Attendance today including guest Linda Lowell, 16.

No Phil today. We did have two wayward Rotarians return – Andy Murtagh and Jim Lowry! Welcome Back! Also no pictures because my camera attachment is back in Copper Harbor on my desk.,

A variety of Happy dollars & announcements: Capt don Kilpela paid his $3 to announce he was leaving for 3 months. Pastor Peter paid $1 to announce there were no Canadian Teams in the Super Bowl.

Program: Jim Lowell gave an interesting presentation on the game of darts. He described the dartboard components. The main body is sisal fibers assembled on end to permit easy return of the fibers once a dart is removed. The rings are removable to permit the board to be rotated when certain areas are worn.

Dart boards run $30-$60 with a set of darts priced at $40. Jim’s darts were 90% tungsten which is 2X heavier than brass. They weighed 26 grams. Darts weigh between 20 and 50 grams. Players can buy the weight that works best for them. The tungsten darts are also thinner than the brass. Thinner dart barrels permit closer groupings yielding higher scores.

Jim explained three dart games: 301, 501 and cricket. I cannot go into detail on the rules and strategy other than to suggest Rotarians call Jim and set up a game date. You will need to supply the appropriate beveridge.

Jim stated he enjoys the game and the mental math. Players need to be working to determine what scores they need to bring the score down ( that’s right – down) to zero.

Thanks Jim!

Reminder :

Ø Feb 15 at 5pm Visioning Project – All CLK Rotarians need to attend. Irish Times Feb 15 at 5pm <> Rich Schaefer is the contact person.

March 11 – CLK Rotary Spaghetti dinner

HELP NEEDED!! Your blog needs another author to share the load with Capt Don and myself. We would like to rotate the responsibility quarter. Contact Dan Dalquist ddalquist@gmail.com or 370-2206

Regular Meeting, January 19, 2011

Attendance = 22, including guests Meg Pachmayer-WUPPDR, Eldon Johnson-Pres-Houghton Rotary, Tom Liljigren-CLK Rotary Alumni, and Betty Kilpela

Reminders:

Ø Feb 15 at 5pm Visioning Project – All CLK Rotarians need to attend. Irish Times Feb 15 at 5pm <> Rich Schaefer is the contact person.

Ø March 11 – CLK Rotary Spaghetti dinner

President Eldon Johnson – Houghton Rotary club thanked our club for participating in the CHOICES program. The local Rotary Clubs have provided CHOICES training to over 1000 students! Eldon announced the CHOICES program will be modified somewhat for the next year including gaining support from Bill Gates.

Tim Baroni asked the Club for happy Dollars – a few were collected. Not many announcements this week!

Program: Scott See introduced Meg Pachmayer from WUPPDR. Meg is a planner who has been working on the US 41 Scenic Byway project. This is a project centered upon US 41 from Hancock to Copper Harbor as a Scenic Byway. The project has been defined to include the entire Keweenaw Peninsula.

Partner groups include Houghton and Keweenaw Counties, the Keweenaw Historical County Society, MDOT, the Keweenaw National Historical Park, and others.

The Commission is working to provide common marketing through Website with logo, a 5 year master plan, signage, viewing areas and determined methods of financing improvements. For example: Brockway Mountain Drive has been identified as an area that needs work improving the overlooks area, pullouts on the road for viewing, repairs to the rock walls, interpretive signs, and land acquisition.

The designation as an American Byway includes the Keweenaw in national advertising (only 150 sites in the US have this designation). The hope is more people will come to visit and explore by car, motorcycle, and bicycle.

HELP NEEDED NOW!! Your blog needs another author to share the load with Capt Don and myself. We would like to rotate the responsibility quarter. Contact Dan Dalquist ddalquist@gmail.com or 370-2206

Business Meeting, January 5, 2011

Members present totaled 17 and included the captain who was not pictured.

The festivities got underway with a lusty rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Laura, our January birthday lady.

The Treasurer's Report featuring our bank balances at $8,380.78 was read by Sandy and accepted unanimously.

Our December attendance was 59% and deemed "better." Having perfect attendance in December were Kathy, Jim Lowell, Tom Tikkanen, Sandy, Richard, Peter, Joe, and Chuck. The mention of Chuck's name drew a hearty applause and laughter and he promptly donated a few happy dollars in thanks for the special recognition.

Choices Report: Calumet High School is next up for the Choices program on January 13.

Scholarships: On track.

Visioning Program: With more than 70% acceptance, Richard Schaefer expects a great outcome. He asked for numerous items such as easel pads, pens, etc. to assist in the prigram and members donated or promised top donate most of them,. The program takes place on February 15 with set up at 4 p.m. and the actual program at 5 p.m. Te Irish Times is the venue and there will be no Wednesday meeting that week.

Foundation 5 x 5 Clubs: Any reports both clubs on track.


Upcoming programs:

January 12: Quincy Smelter with Scott See

January 19: Copper Country National Scenic Byway designations with WUPPDR

January 26: "Darts" with Jim Lowell

Finally, criteria for our Signature Projects will be developed after our Visioning Seminar.



(Ooops, no ladies at this table. Ouch.)

Regular Meeting, December 29, 2010

(Here's a picture of most of those attending this, the last meeting of 2010.)


Attending this meeting were 15 members. President Tim announced that there was to be no prepared program so he suggested we just eat and socialize. Before we ate, however, many members came prepared to extract some coins from Dan Dalquist for the blatantly self-promoting article in the Daily Mining Gazette (sorry, Dan, I couldn't resist): one came suggesting an apt amount to atone; another brought the article in case there was any disagreement. But Dan, good fellow that he is, had his $40 Happy Dollars ready in hand to add to our treasury. Here is a copy of the feature story iu case you missed it.

HANGING UP HIS SKIS

December 24, 2010 - By Kurt Hauglie DMG Writer

RIPLEY?- Part of Dan Dalquist's regimen for getting ready to go on ski patrol duty in the service's building at Mont Ripley Ski Hill is putting on a brace for the missing anterior cruciate ligament in his right leg.

Dalquist, who damaged his knee during one of his ski patrol duties, said the brace is the only thing that keeps him on skis.

"The alternative is not skiing," he said. "That would be unacceptable."

Dalquist, who graduated from Houghton High School and Michigan Technological University, will be retiring as an active ski patrol member after 40 years at the end of the current season in March or April. He'll continue to be an instructor for the rescue service, however.

In January 1971, when he was an 18-year-old student at Tech, the 58-year-old Dalquist said he began his career as a member of the Mont Ripley Ski Patrol.

"It seemed interesting," he said. "I just stuck with it."

When he started at the ski hill, Dalquist said it was much less developed than it is now. There were only a few rope tows rather the T-bar and chairlifts there now. There were many more trees, also, which were eventually cut down to make room for more ski runs.

When he started in the ski patrol, Dalquist, who was already a skier, said part of the training was learning Red Cross emergency care, but it was a bit different than it is now.

"CPR didn't exist," he said.

Dalquist said his ski patrol career didn't get off to a very auspicious start.

"I failed my first first-aid exam," he said.

He passed the exam the next year, however, Dalquist said, and ironically, he became a teacher of the first aid course.

Other training included rescue skiing techniques and learning to use the rescue sled, Dalquist said. Much of those techniques are still taught to new members.

As a trainer, Dalquist said he instructs members on chairlift rescues.

"That's been my area of expertise since 1972," he said.

Training for local ski patrol members is based on methods created by the National Ski Patrol, Dalquist said, but they can be adapted for local needs.

"The local patrols are autonomous," he said.

Dalquist said in the 40 years he's been in the ski patrol, many things have stayed the same, but some things have changed.

"One of the things that have changed over the years is the emphasis on interacting with our (injured or rescued) guests," he said.

Making a personal connection with the people they help is part of each rescue, now, Dalquist said.

Mont Ripley is a steep and fast ski hill, Dalquist said, and that leads to some very serious accidents.

"We've had some tremendous speed-related incidences," he said.

There were no jumps on the hill 12 years ago, but there are some now, Dalquist said.

"That has consequences," he said.

Many people use the jumps, some of whom really shouldn't, but Dalquist said there's no way to stop inexperienced skiers from using them.

"You really can't," he said. "You can make suggestions."

The emphasis now is on "extreme" skiing, including spinning in the air, Dalquist said, but he leaves that to younger skiers.

"I don't do that," he said.

Dalquist said one incident on Mont Ripley actually involved a ski patrol member, who got injured in a part of the hill not used for skiing. The rescue squad, which he wasn't a part of that particular time, sent to help the ski patrol member, became disoriented and rather than taking him downhill to M-26, took the much more difficult uphill route.

That incident provided a valuable lesson for ski patrol members.

"It's something we still work with and bring up in training, to go downhill," he said.

During his ski patrol career, Dalquist said equipment, including boots and skis, have changed tremendously. The skis he uses now are shorter than when he started, and they have a parabolic curve on the edges which make turning much quicker. It took him an entire ski season to learn to use the new skis.

Besides working at Mont Ripley, Dalquist said he also worked at Cliffs Ridge in 1977, and Mount Holly near Flint for the 1979-80 ski season. He returned to Mont Ripley in 1980, and has been there since.

Over the 40 years he's been in ski patrol, Dalquist said he's earned some awards and appointments, including national runner-up as a Silver Merit Star Outstanding Instructor, the national Distinguished Service Award, national, regional and local Certificates of Appreciation and others. He's also been a leader or advisor in many areas for the Mont Ripley ski patrol.

Dalquist said the national ski patrol appointment is something for which he's particularly proud.

"National appointment is not something you can apply for or request," he said. "You must be recommended by your peers."

Although he'll be retiring as an active ski patrol member in spring, Dalquist said he'll stay on as an instructor, maybe for as many as 10 more years.

Besides the memories of the experiences he's had during his career in ski patrol, Dalquist said the people he's met and worked with are very important to him.

"The friendships over the years are awesome," he said.

Thanks for the money, Dan. It is a great story and was great career on skis. We'll see y'all next year.

(Dan Dalquist and his daughter, Kari Bangtson, who was our featured speaker.)

Attendance today was 19 including guests Tori Roose, our scholarship recipient, and Kari Dalquist Bangtson our speaker.

At the outset of the meeting, Tori gave the members an update on her progress that was deemed very significant. It is gratifying to see the contribution we make to these scholarship student bear fruit.

After luncheon and some happy dollars we were treated to a video presentation of Kari Bangtson's biking tour of Scandinavia with her friend, April, to study alternative sources of energy and to assess the carbon footprint of four countries, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. She was able to accomplish this with the aid of a grant from "Funds for Teachers," and organization that funds teacher projects with the goal of getting people excited about teaching and also in keeping them as teachers once they are in the profession.

The entire land portion of the study was accomplished by Kari and her friend on their bicycles, bicycles complete with their panniers loaded with tents and all their supplies.

They began in Iceland where geo-thermal and hydroelectric energy was studied and observed. Te beauty of geo-thermal is the fact that the supported infrastructure is hardly affected: "Drill a hole and there it is and when you're finished, move on the another hole." Simple.

In Sweden, they concentrated on observing the massive organization supporting recycling of waste and deriving energy savings through that process. In this manner, one's carbon footprint is greatly reduced if almost nil.

In Denmark they studied Wind and solar energy and in Norway energy through ocean wave technology.

Key to all these systems, they learned, was fourfold: First, one must produce the renewable energy; second, one must have access to an energy grid; third, one must be able to enter the grid; and fourth, it must be shown to have a stable and sustainable price (and I suppose profit) level.

They finished their trip in the cycling capital of the world, Amsterdam, Holland. Kari showed a video of one of Amsterdam's bike parking garage, a four-story parking garage with literally thousands of bicycles parked side by side.

With the beautiful video shots of the Scandanavian countryside, Kari and April had to keep reminding the viewers with a disclaimer, "It's only partially about the bike."

All in all, it was a wonderful presentation and daddy Dalquist was mighty proud of his daughter from Colorado.

Regular Meeting, December 15, 2010

Attendance, 24, including guests Linda Lowell and Bob Sharkey.

President Tim started the meeting by asking for Rotary members to help with setting out and lighting the Italian Hall Luminaries and picking them up. Set up is Dec 24 at 1pm and Takedown is Christmas Day at 11 am. Estimated time is 1 hour for each. Please contact Jeff Primeau at jeff@opusweb.com. This is a project our Club has helped with funding and manpower.

Jim Lowell and Andy Murtagh reported 5 Rotarians and 1 spouse lent a hand to the Keweenaw County Sheriff on Tuesday in organizing the toys for the No Kid Without A Christmas program. Thanks to all who helped.

Program: The CLK High School Business Professional Associatiuon – sent a team to our meeting. The students: Meagan Yeo, Hannah Gregorich, Selena Stromer and George Gruver, are preparing for the Regional BPA Competition in January. This event places students from other UP high schools in various types of competitions. Winners will continue to the State competition with the potential to attend the national competition in Washington DC.

A Financial Analyst team from the CLK School BPA placed 3rd in the nation last year!
This team is focusing upon Presentation management. They delivered a power-point program on intern programs. Each of the 4 students spoke. We learned that intern programs may be available at the high school and collegiate levels. High schools programs are limited to CTE programs such as nursing. College or university programs might be domestic or international.
Several questions and comments were directed to the students after their presentation. The Club felt the students had performed well and wished them luck with their competition.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES:

ÿ Friday Dec 24, 1:00 pm at the Italian Hall memorial for the installation and lighting of the luminaries.

ÿ Saturday Dec 25, 11:00 am at the Italian Hall memorial to pick up the luminaries.

ÿ Tuesday Feb 15, CLK Rotary Club Visioning project, 5 p.m. at the Irish Times. We need and expect all members to attend. <> Rich Schaefer is the contact person.

Your blog needs another author to share the load with Capt Don and myself. Would be great to rotate the responsibility every month or quarter. Contact Dan Dalquist ddalquist@gmail.com or 370-2206