Business Meeting, October 8, 2010

(Our two October birthday boys, Dick & Jim.)

Attendance = 21, including guests Dave & Linda Grahek who will soon be heading south. Also, todays school representative was Karyn King, Elementary School Principal of the CLK School system.

We haven't seen Andy for a while. Hmmmm.

Announcements: CLK Rotary Highway Cleanup rescheduled for Saturday October 09 at 0900. Meet at the corner of Pine St and US 41 on the north side of Calumet. Phil: please put this on your schedule!

Birthdays this month: Jim Lowell on Oct 1 and Richard Schaefer on Oct 11. The Club enthusiastically sang them Happy Birthday!

Treasurer's Report: Sandy Huuki gave the financial report. Current balance in the bank = $11,680.66.

Upcoming programs: October 13, Bone Marrow Registry; Oct 20, open; Oct 27, open. Please send President Tim your suggestions for programs.

Attendance report: September attendance = 67%. Thanks to all. Perfect Attendance for September: Patsi, Dan, Steve D, Joel, Sandy, Kathy, Don K, Jim Lowell and Scott.

President Tim announced the following: 1) The Oct 02 Highway pickup was cancelled due to lack of supplies and is rescheduled to Sat Oct 09 at 0900. 2) Salvation Army Bell Ringing is set for Fri Dec 03 from 10 am to 8 pm at Pat’s IGA in Calumet. Sign up sheet will be sent around each week. Need 2 person teams for 1 hour shifts. 3) Nov 10 is a special Rotary meeting in Green Bay with the Rotary International president. This is an opportunity that you will get rarely so check with Tim for more details if you can attend. 4) Board meeting will be the 3^rd Tuesday of each month at the Range Bank conference room.

Committee Reports:

a: Education/Choices/Scholarship: Jim Lowell is looking for CLK Rotary members who can serve as Choices mentors. Jim can conduct the necessary training. Contact Jim if you can help.

b: Spaghetti Dinner: Kevin Store – event date is Friday March 11.

C: Visioning: Rich Schaefer – Tentative date of Feb 01 from 5pm – 9pm at the Irish times. This event will need 70% of the Club members to attend. It is crucial for us to participate to help our Club plan for the next 5 yrs. Put Feb 01 2011 on your calendar.

D: Foundation – Amy not present

E: Italian Hall Illuminary – Jeff Primeau not present

Drawing was help and won by our president.

See you next week.

Regular Meeting, September 29, 2010

(Guest speaker, John Griffith, of the Northwoods Conservancy)

Attendance = 23, including guests Dave & Linda Grahek and John Griffith of the Northwood’s Conservancy

Welcome: Mike Steber – Middle School Principal CLK Schools

Announcements: CLK Rotary Highway Cleanup Saturday Oct 02 at 0900. Meet at the corner of Pine St and US 41 on the north side of Calumet.

Amy Roberts is ready to submit the Rotary Shirt order - $26 per shirt. Last Call to order a shirt! Contact Amy at SNB in Calumet, 337-5983.

Program: John Griffith introduced the Northwoods Conservancy and its role in preserving land and lakeshore in the Keweenaw. The NWC has protected over 2 miles of Lake Superior shoreline and several thousand acres of woodland and marsh. The land generally is multiuse and available for recreation and some for hunting.

Conglomerate Falls is the current project. This waterfall and surrounding land are accessed from S Farmers Block Road off the 5 mile point road. The seller is asking for $115,000. NWC needs to raise $30,000 as the down payment with the balance being financed. The deadline for the deal is Oct 01, 2010. If you have passed the deadline, contribute anyway and they will see that it is made part of the grant. For donation purposes, the NWC is a 501-C-3 corporatrion.

The Conglomerate Falls parcel includes a 15-year-old, 1-room cabin that will be available for rent. Estimated cost will be $500 per week. During hunting season, cabin renters will be able to hunt on the property.

Additionally, the cabin needs several things including installation of a composting toilet, general maintenance of the cabin, and construction of benches. Morover, NWC needs trail work as well. Is this a type of project CLK Rotary wants to adopt? Feedback should be directed to our Board members and officers.

Several questions were directed to John Griffith. John ended his presentation asking for members to consider donating to the Conglomerate Falls campaign. AT that point, Rotarian Sue Dana started the ball rolling with a donation followed by a number of Rotary members. Good gesture of support team!

(At meeting's end, Jim and John shake over a good deal apparently)

(The CLK Rotary club was honored to host District Governor Steve Selvick.)


Attendance = 25 including guests Steve Selvick our District Governor (District 6220), Dave & Linda Grahek, Assistant District Governor Bob Sharkey, and Marie Buche, President Houghton Rotary.

Announcements: Highway Pickup will be Saturday October 02. Meet at corner of Pine St and US 41 on the north side of Calumet at 0900. Phil passed around a signup sheet. This project needs lots of hands so please check your schedule and help.

A multitude of fines and Happy Dollars were collected. Thanks to all who participated.

Program: District Governor Steve Selvick talked about Rotary International motto of ”Buildling Communities and Bridging Continents”. His view was children are the key! Steve reported Rotary has had a focus on children since the start and youth are now our 5th Ave of Service.

Steve talked about the Family of Rotary and Rotarians need to balance family + work + Community + the world + Rotary. Our focus upon Service Above Self as the Rotary motto helps separate Rotary from other civic clubs. We have an amazing variety of local, regional, national, and international on-going projects to support.

Steve, supports emphatically the local clubs of his District 6220 and will help them attain the goals that they themselves set. This is a bottom up district administration that focuses on the individual clubs and their goals. All we have to do is ask for help when we need it. As a club, we need to complete the Visioning program. Keep what is working for and discard what is not and then replace discarded ones with new projects.
Steve reviewed in detail a variety of District 6220 programs including the ETTA project, Power Flour, and SAMP (Surplus medical supplies).

At the conclusion of his talk, Steve awarded a well-deserved Rotary Mug to Past President Jim Lowell for his past and continuing work on all the projects of the CLK Rotary Club. We can think of no one more deserving.

A very good meeting with a great program!




(District Governor Steve Selvick with Jim Lowell, Tim Baroni, and Bob Sharkey.)

Regular Meetings of 9/8 and 9/15

(President Tim poses with Janice Vivian, our new member.)

Meeting of September 8:

Attendance = 23 including guests Dave & Linda Grahek

A warm welcome to new member, Janice Vivian; Janice is the manager of Garden View Assisted Living and Memory Care, of Calumet.

After enjoying the meal, club members paid their Happy Dollars for various announcements and events.

Amy Roberts reminded the members she is collecting Rotary Polo Shirt orders. Estimated price is $28

Jim Lowell asked the membership for a laptop to be donated to the club. The computer is needed by the club's treasurer to track and report our finances.

CHOICES presenters are needed for this fall. If any CLK Club members are interested – please contact Jim Lowell. More presenters make the task much easier.

Program: Dan Dalquist gave a presentation on Investing and our Economy. Basic message was that our economy has the ability to heal itself. Dan said that, "One, we have been in bad economic situations before and two, we are definitely seeing signs of recovery." Thanks for the upbeat and interesting program, Dan.

Meeting of September 14:

Attendance: 22 including guests Dave & Linda Grahek and Assistant District Governor, Bob Sharkey.

Inasmuch as President Tim was not available, Vice President Kathy Johnson presided. Good Job, Kathy!

George Twardzik attended the meeting representing Public Schools of CLK. Welcome George.

Several Happy Dollars & Announcements: A Reminder to all CLK Rotarians that our District Governor, Steve Selvick, will be addressing our next meeting, September 22. We need a full house!

ADG Bob Sharkey reported on his experiences at the RYLA program. He mentioned being in a group with a member of the CLK ROTC contingent and how impressed he was of her abilities.

A reminder of the District Meeting Planning Committee which will hold it’s first meeting on Thursday 9/16 at 5:30 at the KBC. Additional participation from CLK will be appreciated.

Scott See announced that in a voting contest for specific funding. the Keweenaw National Historic Park was the No. 1 park in Michigan.

VP Kathy read a Thank You note from a senior citizen group. They appreciated the Tamburitzan tickets and the CLK Rotary support of the performance.

Reminder: Amy Roberts will be sending in the shirt order! Contact her now if you want one.

Program: A video of the ETTA project in Bolivia. A moving story told by Sara Houghton of Marquette. This project focuses on providing proper food (using the Power Flour program) to help the children become healthy. In addition, education and coaching skills for moms in such areas as job skills and providing micro-financing to help the moms get a business started as well as teaching skills to grow food.

As each center is developed, the local people are trained to maintain and continue the work. At that point, the ETTA project starts another center in a poverty-ridden section of the town. Partners in the project include Rotary District 6220 (our district) and Engineers Without Borders

District 6220 has a goal to provide $50,000 to the ETTA projects. Each Club in the District is encouraged to look at the ETTA project and make a decision about monetary support.

ADG Bob Sharkey fielded a variety of questions from the group.

(At the conclusion of the meeting, I took a picture of Phil as he gathered up the buttons and papers and bell to be put away until next week. Thanks, Phil, for taking care of business for the past many years.)

Business Meerting, September 1, 2010

Attending = 25 including guests Dave & Linda Grahek and Assistant District Governor Bob Sharkey.

(Left: a single Birthday in September, the Reverend, Mr. Peter Vorhes, on September 28. A lusty chorus of H.B. was sung and Peter coughed up the dollar.)

Attendance for August = 65%. Thanks to all! Perfect attendance for August: Dan, Joe, Sandy, Capt Don, Jim Lowell, Andy, Rich and Tom T.

A variety of Announcements made & Happy Dollars collected.

President Tim asked the Club for ideas regarding a Signature Project, something to which the CLK Rotary can attach its name. The idea is to start planning now. Suggestions should be sent to Tim or to any board member.

Tim asked for all members to consider a local dues increase, perhaps to $5.00 per quarter. Dues for District and National are $104 per year. This generated a discussion about tax deductibility of meals for CLK Rotarians. This is an issue that each Rotarian needs to discuss with her or his tax preparer.

(Left: Sgt. at Arms Philip with Sandy and Jim after the meeting.)

Financial Report: Treasurer Sandy announced the Club has $4,221.51 in Savings and $5,156.29 in Checking as of 8/31/10.

The 2010-2011 budget was distributed to the members attending. After discussion, the budget was passed.

Andy requested the Board consider contributing money to the Northwoods Conservancy to help with the purchase of land at the mouth of the Gratiot River. Andy also suggested that individual Rotarians and/or their businesses consider donating toward the purchase. Donations can be sent to: Northwoods, PO Box 124, Calumet, Michigan 49913. Information on the purchase can be found at www.northwoodsconservancy.org.

Here's an early reminder that our September 22 meeting will feature our District Governor, Steve Selvick. This is a meeting we need to have all of our members in attendance.

Finally, be reminded that our board meetings occur on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 4p.m. Meetings are held at the Range Bank conference room and all members are invited to
attend.


(Amy, Chairperson of the 5x5 clubs talking with Andy after the meeting.)

Regular Meeting, August 25, 2010

(Pictured below is Truman Obermeyer, our speaker, who spoke on the need and solution for a new Justice Center in Houghton)

Attendance: 24 members and guests.

Guests were Houghton County Sheriff Brian McLean, Truman Obermeyer, Houghton County Justice Center Committee, and Sherry Ala, representing the District Court. Also Heidi and Nelson Vitso, Rotarians from Ann Arbor MI. Heidi is Phil Smythe’s sister in law.

President Tim called the meeting to order and promptly paid his fines that were assessed last week. Specifically, he was fined for not wearing his Rotary shirt to the Tammies and not fulfilling the presidential duties of introducing them in the Theatre prior to the show.

A number of members paid Happy dollars for announcements. You had to be there to hear Sue Dana’s announcement about kilts!

Amy Roberts announced a vacancy in one of the 5x5 Foundation clubs. Any interested CLK Rotary member should contact Amy direct. A 5x5 club is consists of five Rotarians who pledge $50 per quarter or $200 per year for 5 years. Each year one of the 5 names is drawn and that member receives a Paul Harris Fellowship. Accordingly, at the end of the 5-year period, each member will have donated $1000 to the Foundation and each will have received a Paul Harris Fellowship. Our Club has two of the 5x5 clubs.

Truman Obermeyer, a member of the Houghton County Justice Center Committee presented information about the current county jail and the proposed Justice Center. He showed a variety of photos of the jail, the “confidential” McDonald’s bench used when prisoners and attorney’s talk, the lack of appropriate facilities for segregating men and women as well as monitoring prisoner activities.

Most importantly, he pointed out that state & federal laws mandate requirements for jails and that the current facility is out of compliance.

(Below: Sherry Ala of the District Court with her Uncle Andy. Sherry is Marilyn's niece.)

Truman also showed pictures of the Sheriff Department's combined armory/evidence room/processing & training center/conference room that was in reality an old bedroom, one the sheriff actually lived in when he stayed in the jail. His last set of photos showed the 97^th district court room and office space. It was small, crowded and provided no separation between prisoners and visitors.

In short, the photos illustrating the poor facilities were pretty convincing evidence for the need for a new Justice Center in Houghton.

The second part of his presentation was a discussion of the proposed facility. It is hoped to build a new facility that will hold the Sheriff Dept and jail (140 beds) as well as the District Court. Locations are limited inasmuch as state law requires that the Sheriff Department and District Court be located in the County Seat. That eliminates all locations other than the city of Houghton. Another consideration is the cost of transporting prisoners to and from the court. It is a requirement that two officers must attend the transportation thereby creating an additional expense as well as making those officers unavailable for ordinary police work such as patrolling the streets.

The recommended location is the old Houghton High school lot which is immediately west of the current courthouse. Transport of prisoners is easy as the court will be in the same building. The old space in the Courthouse will be used for expansion by other departments. Moreover, the old jail would be used for much-needed storage.

Truman said that the needed millage request will be on the November ballot and that approving the millage will only increase the taxes on a $100,000-valued home by approximately $34 per year.

(The other evening, we captured a picture of the rising moon and Copper Harbor light casting their beam across the water.)

Regular Meeting, August 18, 2010

(CLK Schools Superintendent, Darryl Pearce, poses with our flag and banner after his interesting talk.)

Attendance at this weekly regular meeting was twenty-six including guests Dave & Linda Grahek and their granddaughter Chloe, Jerry Bowersox (Guest of Tom Tikkanen), and Darryl Pearce, Superintendent, CLK Schools.

President Tim called the meeting to order. Guest Jerry Bowersox gave a thorough description of the upcoming Highland Games.

Tamburitzans Report: total ticket sales were 566 with the Theater selling 360 and CLK Rotary selling 206. Our project budget had an overall sales goal of 600, so good job everyone! Our estimated net should be approx $2500. We do not have final costs from the printer, hotel, and Pizza Works.

In addition, Tom offered a big "Thank You" to all the Rotarians and others who hosted Tammies cast members at their homes on Saturday night. President Tim said his family really enjoyed meeting and talking with the performers who stayed with them.

Program: Darryl Pearce gave an update on several projects at the CLK schools. He thanked CLK Rotary for providing and conducting the CHOICES program and said he has received positive feedback on the program.

The schools staffs have been busy with building projects and updating technology. The roof replacement process is very close to complete. The contractor gave his crew the week off due to the extreme winds and rain. Darryl explained the bidding process and why no local contractors were able to bid. He did say the contractor hired some local workers and those from out of the area were housed at the AmericInn and spent money in the community.

The technology upgrades should be ready for the start of this school year. In addition to the high-tech white boards, each student grade 4- 12 will receive a “one-to-one” computing device. This device will replace textbooks, allow for easy updating, and reduce the demand for computer labs.

Energy: the CLK school buildings are receiving more efficient lighting and control systems. Installing auto on/off lights in bathrooms, controls that reduced the classroom light as daylight enters the room, and more efficient light fixtures will all help reduce the energy bills.

Darryl's presentation was followed by questions and answers and other comments from members.

President Tim announced that CLK School System will become a Rotary member.

(Last week, one of our guests was the distinguished Scott Dianda who is the Democratic candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives from our district.)