Noëmi's News
Swiss Exchange Student Noëmi Schönenberger enjoyed Arcata High School's recent Spring Break. She traveled to Sacramento and San Francisco with a friend from the tennis team. In Sacramento, they visited the State Capitol Building, and saw the Senate and the Assembly in session. Noëmi even had her picture taken with Assemblyman Wes Chesbro.
Welcome to New Member Angelo!
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| Janice, Angelo, and Joyce Hinrichs |
The newest Sunriser is Angelo Bacigaluppi, who is a Network Engineer with Nylex.net, a local computer networking firm. Janice Newman is Angelo's Sponsor.
Angelo has been married to Michelle for 12 years, and they have two children: 8-year old Diego and 5 year old Emma. Angelo was born in the Dominican Republic, and his interests include home brewing and computers. It's great to have you with us, Angelo!
Announcements
Visiting Rotarian (and Sunrise Spouse) Stan Elcock told us that we are all invited to the Arcata Noon Club's last social event of the Rotary Year - their annual Play Day at Moonstone Beach. The event will take place on Wednesday, June 20th. Details will follow ...
It's almost time for President-Elect George Cavinta to lose his hyphenation and take the reins of this unruly mob of Sunrisers. To that end, he will be seeking our input at the annual Fireside Meetings, to be held the first week of May. Please be sure to attend one of the get-togethers, and add your suggestions to the mix.
President Scott will host the first-ever "Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise Freshman Mixer". This event will take place at the Plaza Grill on Wednesday, May 23rd at the Plaza Grill. All new (and relatively new) Sunrisers are strongly encouraged to attend.
The Group Study Exchange Team from Turkey will be making its only appearance at a club meeting when they visit the Eureka Noon Club on June 11th.
And don't forget that the District Conference will be held in Fortuna on June 15 - 17. It's really close this year, which eliminates most excuses ...
Recognitions with George Jetson Orrin Plocher
(President Scott always gets those two mixed up. But tell the truth - have you ever seen them in the same room together?)
Kathy Fraser was Plocherated first. She is making great headway on her goal of visiting all of the National Parks. On a recent vacation, she and her husband Bill scratched six more off the list. They spent two weeks in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah, and the temperatures fluctuated wildly. One day it was snowing, and not long after, they were facing 90-degree heat. The highlight for Kathy was taking a horseback ride through "some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen". So far, she has 16 of the 58 National Parks under her belt. Kathy said that her next excursion will be to the north. Details to follow.
Joyce H. has the right kind of brother-in-law. By that, I mean, one who owns a condo in Maui. Joyce said that she traveled there recently, and had a "nice relaxing trip". Ahhhh.
Rob McBeth and his company O & M Industries recently won an award for excellence. They were noted for having one of the best "Merit Shops" in the industry. Congratulations!
Lori Breyer reported that she and her husband Dave had a serene time with their slightly-delayed anniversary celebration. The couple enjoyed a quiet house for the evening.
Robert and Brenna Goodman celebrated their anniversary with dinner. Bob said that this was not an anniversary associated with "a big round number", so they had a relatively quiet time as well.
Cam and Lisa Appleton recently returned from a trip to France and Spain that coincided with their 31st anniversary. Cam reported that they had a great time - they took their son Chris and met up with daughter Thea, who is teaching in Spain. It was Cam's first trip to Europe, and he was very impressed by the different cultures and the sense of history. It was "mind-blowing".
Orrin was asked to talk with Randy Mendosa about an unspecified topic. Orrin assumed that the topic was 4/20, since Randy had dealt with the unofficial celebration for many years when he was the Chief of the Arcata Police Department. However, the important thing we learned was that his daughter would be performing that weekend as part of the All-County Junior Honor Choir. (We had learned earlier in the meeting that Rotary Kid Brody Johnson would be part of the concert as a member of the Senior Honor Band.)
Program: The Klamath Agreement
Last Friday's guest speakers were S. Craig Tucker, Ph.D. and former Humboldt County Supervisor Jill Duffy. The two were on hand to discuss the impact of the agreements that will soon lead to the restoration of the Klamath River and its watershed.
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| Craig Tucker |
Jill began by noting that the agreements were sought as a way to counteract the problems that have arisen from the competition for the rights to use of this important waterway. These problems came to a very dramatic head in 2002, when 64,000 adult salmon were killed. That year, Jill was elected to the Board of Supervisors, and she began studying the issues and interests at play. In the process, she met Craig, and the two have been working to bring the stakeholders together ever since. Jill acknowledged current Supervisor Mark Lovelace, who was also in attendance on Friday. She said that Mark is continuing to work on the remaining issues.
Craig said that the goal in bringing the parties together was to create a community approach to restoring the Klamath Basin. The river was in poor health, with toxic algae bloom present. The crisis seemed to rotate from one stakeholder to the next - one year, the farmers would be in trouble, the next year, it would be someone else.
The plan that emerged focused on the dams along the Klamath. It became clear that removing the dams was a necessary part of the restoration process. It was also clear that it was only a part of the process.
The proposed dam removal did not meet much opposition - least of all from the dams' owner, PacifiCorp. The company realized that the dams did not generate much in the way of either power or revenue, and it faced a re-licensing requirement that would be prohibitively expensive. A major question remained - who would pay for the removal?
The settlement called for PacifiCorp to pay $200 million for removal, and the State of California could pay up to $250 million, but is likely to pay less. No federal funds are to be spent under the settlement plan.
Craig said that where things stand today is that PacifiCorp has begun amassing its share of the restoration costs by assessing a surcharge on its customers in California and Oregon. The Federal Agencies involved are performing an Environmental Review of the Agreements, and US Representative Mike Thompson and US Senator Jeff Merkley have introduced legislation to implement the agreements.
