Regular Meeting, January 27, 2010

(With spring training almost upon us, I thought it might be nice to remind everyone that the "boys of summer" are heading south...besides, I am in Chicago without my Rotary pictures. The pitcher is young Rick Portcello throwing the first pitch of the 2009 season to a member of the NY Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.)

Twenty Rotarians were present and Mike Agin, Exec Director of Little Brothers, who was our program guest for the meeting.

After Happy Dollars and fines were paid, President Jim introduced Mike Agin for the program.

Mike began by thanking CLK Rotary for sponsoring his daughter, Hannah, as an exchange student. Hannah spent 1 yr in Poland. She is now attending school In Iowa and making the effort to keep her Polish language skills current.

Mike focused upon the Firewood Program operated by Little Brothers. This program provides split firewood for 81 seniors in the 2 county area. Little Brothers gets volunteer help from Michigan Tech fraternities, church groups, Rockhurst University in Kansas, and a group from Traverse City MI. The volunteers cut, split, stack and help deliver the firewood to needy clients.

Firewood is either purchased by Little Brothers or donated. This year, Camp Kitwen in Painesdale was closed leaving several hundred cords of firewood. The prison system donated 100 cords to Little Brothers. With help from local contractors, the 100 cords was moved to the 2 lots Little Brothers uses for cutting & storage.

This is a big undertaking. The senior citizens cannot afford gas/oil/ electric heat so the firewood helps to keep their expenses down while keeping the house warm. To accomplish this enormous task, Little Brothers maintains an inventory of 12 chainsaws, 3 hydraulic splitters, 15 splitting mauls and a variety of other tools.

After Mike fielded several questions from members, President Jim presented him with a check from CLK Rotary as a donation from our club.

Regular Meerting, January 20, 2009

(Brian Tiura, our guest speaker, is cahirman of the Copper Dog Sled Race in March.)

We walked into the meeting room to see round tables. A nice change!

Eighteen Rotarians and 1 guest attended this meeting. The guest, Brian Tiura, is the chairperson of the Copper Dog 150 sled dog race.
Brian gave the Club a briefing on the plans for the Copper Dog 150. The event is scheduled for Friday march 12 – Sunday March 14. This is the same weekend as the Great Bear Chase. Calumet –Laurium will be very busy that weekend.

Mushers (drivers of the dog sled) driving 10-dog sleds will leave Calumet Friday evening and race up to Phoenix and then to Gay. After a 5 hour rest stop at Gay, sled teams head north to Copper Harbor where they will spend Saturday evening. Sunday morning the racers head back to Calumet to finish on the snow covered streets!

Racers who want a shorter course for teams with 6 dogs will find a race from Calumet to Hancock and back.

The race route will use existing snowmobile trails. Organizers are working with the trail groups to warn snowmobiles to keep away from the trails for that weekend. Brian suggested Rotarians look at the www.copperdog 150.com web site for more details including a route map. He did say the Race needs volunteers – both skilled and unskilled. So…if we have Rotarians who want to help with the race, please go to the web site mentioned above to register as a volunteer.

(Brian answers a question.)

A question was asked about prize money- first prize for the Pro division is $3500 with the top 10 finishers all receiving some sort of payout. Brian clarified that registration fees are paying the prize money while donations and contributions from the local community are staying here – not being used for prize money.

This was a very interesting program delivered by a highly energetic individual with a ton of enthusiasm.

Prior to the program, the members had a brief discussion about supporting the Haiti relief process by either buying a Shelter box (est cost $1000) or partnering with the Hancock & Houghton clubs to buy shelter boxes. The matter was directed to the board.



(After his presentation, Brian receives the coveted Rotary mug from Jim.)

60th Anniversary Luncheon, January 13, 2010

(At left is a small display from our "scrapbopok" that wasn't kept up to date. The charter members were listed.)

Welcome to the 60^th Birthday of CLK Rotary!

Today we met in the main dining room of the Irish Times due to 34 members & guests attending the meeting. Guests included Bob Sharkey-Ass’t Dist Gov., Lorraine Zeigler, Donna Cole and Ethan Johnson-Hancock Rotary, Randy & Gail Roberts , Marilyn Murtagh, Betty Kilpela, Joy Liljegren, Linda Lowell and Frank Fiala. What a crew!

(Below left: Patsy cuts the birthday cake. Below right: Andy and Kevin celebrate their Paul Harris Fellowships.)














Several members contributed Happy Dollars.

The Irish Times did a great job serving a roast beef luncheon.

After lunch, Amy Roberts-our Rotary Foundation Chair, presented several Paul Harris Fellow awards. The recipients were Andy Murtagh (his second award) and Kevin Store. Andy presented his award to Marilyn Murtagh. Amy Roberts received her Paul Harris from her participation in the Hancock Club’s (her prior club) Top 5 Club. Amy presented her award to her Mother-in-law Gail Niemela Roberts. All three new Paul Harris recipients received a round of applause.

(Above: Gail Roberts, and Marilyn and Andy Murtaugh pose with Amy Roberts.)

Our next activity was a group singing of Happy Birthday to CLK Rotary followed by cutting of the birthday cake.

(Left: Kevin being congratulated by Amy Roberts while Andy looks on.)

President Jim gave the floor to Donna Cole – Hancock Rotary. Donna presented a Rotary banner to CLK Rotary from the Rotary club of Kilarney Ireland – very appropriate as CLK meets in the Irish Times.

Joe Enrietti, who joined CLK Rotary in 1973, took the floor. Joe described the process used to nominate new members when he joined. At that time, any member could “blackball” a nominee. This effectively blocked the nominee from becoming a Rotary member. The process included placing a black ball into a container. The black ball was the veto.

Joe also described several of the Club’s meeting places . We understand the first meeting place for CLK Rotary was what is now the Irish Times! The Club also met at the Red Garter (burned down years ago) and the Miscowabik Club.

We look forward to another successful 60 yrs of service to our Community and the world through Rotary.

(Jim displays the club banner from Kilarney, Ireland. Very appropriate.)

(Below: Marilyn Murtaugh accepts her fellowship from Andy.)

Business Meeting, January 6, 2010

(President Jim congratulates Jim Corless of the Keweenaw National Historic Park on being elected a member of the CLK Rotary Club. The members add their congratulations and welcome as well.)

The meeting was attended by 18 members – if you count Jim Corless, who was inducted during the meeting and Don Kilpela, who arrived late due to mechanical challenges with his car.

Jim Corless was welcomed into the Club. Jim is Superintendent of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. He followed the induction with a short introduction. During his career he has been posted at a number of National Parks> Though he has had previous contact with Rotary, until today he has not been a member. He has a comfortable Victorian home in Laurium and is pleased to be a part of our community.


Upcoming program schedule

Jan. 13 – Birthday Party

Jan. 20 – Copper Dog 150 – Tom Tikkanen et al

Jan. 27 – Little Brothers – Mike Aten

Members are invited to give programs.

Attendance for December was 60%, a nice improvement. We can do better. In that regard, the following members had perfect attendance in December: Patsy, Dan, Joe, Jim, Andy, Phil, Tom Tikkanen, and Peter. Counting today's new member, Jim Corless, the CLK Rotary has 29 members. New member roster Emailed today.

Lahti/Keweenaw County-No Kid Without a Christmas: CLK Rotary donated $1,020.00. The gifts were sorted by An dy, Amy, Jim, Tom Scanlan, Dick, and Tom Liljigren.

Choices program

a. Lake Linden's Choice programs were completed Dec. 1.

b. Presentation at CLK will be scheduled for late January

c. Still need presenters.

Board Meetings – 3^rd Tuesday of month 4pm at Range Bank Conference Room. Next meeting Jan. 19. 2010.

The 60^th birthday of CLK Rotary will be on Jan. 13. Jim Lowell will get an Email out to all members soliciting attendance information so Patsy can finalize plans.

No one won the Raffle so the prize will accrue to the next winner.

See you next week.

Regular Meeting, December 30, 2009

(Our speaker was President Jim with a presentation on the Rotary International Foundation.)




Our last Rotary Meeting of the Year.

We had one guest, Jim Wollan, from Washburn, Wisconsin, a former resident of Calumet and Lake Linden. A total of 18 Rotarians including our guest were present.

President Lowell called the meeting to order. After lunch, several members donated Happy Dollars. Moreover, some members were fined a dollar for not signing in as they arrived (see picture below).

Our program was presented by President Jim as a DVD show about various functions that are funded and sponsored by the Rotary International Foundation (RIF), projects such as Polio Plus, the massive effort to eradicate the polio virus throughout the world. The more we learn about RIF and it many projects, the more impressed we become.

The CLK Rotary Club has given $30,000 to the Foundation over the years. Presently, we have two 5x5 teams. A 5x5 Team is comprised of five members who pledge to donate $1000 over a 5-year period and at the end of each year one of the five members will be selected to receive a Paul Harris Fellowship. This year, our two teams will each award a fellowship at our 60th birthday party luncheon on January 13, 2010.

Way to go, CLK Rotary!


(A not so subtle reminder to SIGN IN before the meeting begins.)

Regular Meeting, December 23, 2009

(Guest speakers Zak Tervo and Holly Crouch)

A small but lively group today!

We welcomed Holly Crouch and her daughter Hailey and friend Craig Koskela as guests as well as Zak Tervo. Both Holly and Zak were the Club’s Scholarship recipients and were present to tell the Club about their experiences.

Pastor Pete helped open the meeting by introducing himself as Pastor Grinch. Several Happy Dollars were collected in a Festive manner.

Zak Tervo is attending Diesel Mechanics school in Chicago. He is doing well. Grades are good and he is enthusiastically learning his trade. He has completed his 6th course and is currently enjoying an electronics course. Zak is scheduled to complete his schooling by July, however is looking at the possibility of accelerating the program and finishing in March. He has a job upon graduation. Zak is focused. He announced he expects to earn his Master Mechanics license within 4 yrs of completing school. This certification will require Zak to continue his certification exams and get work experience. It was great to see his excitement.

Holly Crouch is attending Finlandia University pursuing a degree in Graphic Design. Holly has completed her 1st semester and is pursuing a 4 yr Bachelors degree. Her curriculum is exposing her to a variety of people including students and faculty from the Lower Peninsula and other countries. Her favorite course so far has been a drawing class. Holly’s graduation plans are abstract since she has 7 more semesters to complete.

She has already been exposed to a variety of artistic media including fabrics,, computer design and ceramics.

Amy Roberts gave a brief report on the Foundation including plans to present two Paul Harris Fellowships on Jan 13 2010.

Dan Dalquist reminded the Club that the 60th birthday party is January 13, 2010. The celebration will be held at our regular meeting date, time, and location. It would be great to have ALL our members present at this special meeting. As part of the discussion regarding the 60th party, Joe Enrietti announced he joined the Club in 1973. He is our member with the most Seniority.



(Since heavy snow in the Harbor prevented our getting a photograph of this year's luminaries, here is a picture, taken last year, of the moving CLK Rotary tribute to the 73 men, women and children who lost their lives in the Italian Hall disaster on December 24, 1913.)


See you next week, same time, same place, the last meeting of 2009. We'd love to see you.

Meetings of Dec 9 and 16, 2009

(Kilpela missed Rotary Wednesday. Said he tried to plow on but didn't have all-wheel drive.)

December 9, 2009 Meeting:

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.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 Manito-Wish in Wisconsin. Students experience a variety of leadership development skills including a variety of team-building 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.

December 16, 2009 Meeting:

We had a Full House at this meeting! Twenty Two Rotarians and guests enjoyed a good lunch and program. Guests included Dave & Linda Grahek (we ALL thought they had left last week!) and Pam Grill – Main Street Calumet Board member.

Tom and Sue Scanlan were welcomed back home.

Announcements included Andy Murtagh modeling his Canadian Air Force hockey jersey.

Pam Grill reported on the accomplishments and status of the Calumet Main Street organization. Main St is an organization that is administered in Michigan by MSHDA. Main Street states it has the formula for creating a viable and functioning downtown for a community. She gave several examples of downtowns that have been recovered and are providing economic growth – including Calumet.

Several key points include comparing our Keweenaw National Historical Park (KNHP) to other national landmarks such as Harper’s Ferry, Lowell Massachusets and Valley Forge! We do have many things to be proud of in Calumet, Laurium, and Keweenaw.

The Main Street organization was started in 1980 and now numbers over 2000 communities. Calumet was selected as a Main Street community in 2003. The focus is on the historic district of Calumet with efforts to improve economic gains, renovate properties, sponsor events, and other activities. For example, from June 2005 through May 2008, Calumet Main St attracted 9 new businesses resulting in 45 new jobs.

CLK Rotary made a three-year commitment of money to help Main Street get on it’s feet in the early years. As then, Main Street needs help with it’s funding. Support can be provided by becoming a Main Street member, by volunteering for various committees or events, or by making a contribution directly to Main Street.

See you next week.