Volume XII, Issue 25: January 25, 2013

FABULOUS FOUNDATION FRIDAY!!

LET'S HEAR FROM FA!
Last Friday was the last day of finals at Arcata High School, and our Exchange Student from Thailand, Fa Sillapajarn, was happy. Not just because the tests would be over - but she would be leaving later that day for the District 5130 Youth Exchange Ski Trip. It was to be her first time on the slopes! Can't wait to hear about that. Fa did say that her US History final was hard, but I'm sure she did well.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
If your calendar doesn't show you as busy on Wednesday, February 27th, pencil or key it in right now. Go ahead. Yes, we'll wait ... Okay - you'll be attending the Club's Charter Night 2013. It's our 21st birthday, so we'll be old enough to drink. You'll be at the Arcata Playhouse, and you will receive more details within minutes ... er, soon ...

Howard Stauffer told us that the Cambodia Academy at Mongkol Borei is growing, and we are the lead international partner to support that effort. We will work with other Rotary Clubs, including a new host club in Cambodia, to fund the $75,000 expansion program.

The Superheroes Fundraiser is just over a month away, and Susan Jansson reminded us that we are each on a team of three or four Sunrisers, and each team is being asked to locate two silent auction items (valued between $125 and $400) and two raffle prizes (up to $125). Of course we still need to sell tables and individual tickets. Fortunately, the process is simple - once you know someone wants to attend, you just need to send contact information via an e-mail to Craig Newman. Craig will then send the ticket(s) and an invoice.

Craig told us that Charter Member Dick Giacolini recently passed away. Dick stepped away from his involvement with our Club several years ago, but he was very active in our early years. Craig reminded us that Dick's personal history with polio made our involvement in the Polio Plus program that much richer.

Kahuna Kavinta told us that a new Club has been formed in our District: the Rotary Club of Glen Ellen-Kenwood. If you're in the area, the group will have a Charter Cocktail Celebration on Saturday, February 16th, at Wolf House in Glen Ellen. The new Club's regular meetings will take place Wednesday evenings at 5:30, also at the Wolf House.

The Mighty Kahuna also said that if you haven't completed the Rotary Multi-District Survey yet, please CLICK HERE to do so by February 1st. The survey will help the Presidents-Elect who will be gathering at the Far West PETS this spring (including our own Barbara Browning).

SPECIAL DAY(S)
We got an idea of at least the beginning of Howard and Rebecca Stauffer's anniversary celebration (they were scheduled to dine at Brio the following morning), and we will hear more about how the festivities progressed soon.

However, Angelo Baciagaluppi was the sole birthday honoree last Friday. He said that he had spent his special day (January 19th) "at home all day with a sick child". His wife Michelle has been very busy studying for her CPA final. (Angelo says, "I blame Jackson and Eklund.") When pressed, though, Angelo admitted that he did enjoy a nice sushi dinner the night before his birthday.

THE FABULOUS FOUNDATION FRIDAY AUCTION!!
Auctioneer Bob Johnson noted that there was something of a Valentine's Day theme to many of the prizes in the most recent auction. Remember, all of the proceeds go to support the Rotary Foundation, supporting programs both local and international.

Julie Vaissade-Elcock donated a romantic package that included candles, music, and even river rock. Susan Jansson will make good use of that as the winning bidder! 

Amy Bohner was thinking along the same lines, as she put together a "Date Night" Basket, which contained flowers, wine, gift cards, and other items. The high bid was provided by Bryan Plumley.

Two packages, each containing baklava and coconut cookies were donated by Brandi Easter. One was snapped up by Angelo Baciagaluppi, and the other by Ian Schatz.

Orrin Plocher contributed a lovely necklace to the auction. Unfortunately, I didn't catch who provided the winning bid. However, Your Editor is always willing to update the Sunrise Spirit when we provide misinformation, incomplete information, or (as in this case) no information at all. Watch this space for possible updates.

Two packages of crabs and wine were offered by Travis Schneider, with immediate delivery for instant gratification. Susan Jansson and Julie Vaissade-Elcock each availed themselves of that offer.

Terri Clark is world-renowned as a connoisseur of martinis, and so she provided a treasure chest of martini makin's. Visitor (and former Sunriser President) Gregg Foster walked away with that prize.

Dick Johnson brought a "Bird Watcher's Delight" package, including a bird feeder, seed, wine, and chocolate. Winning bidder Terri Clark will soon be gazing out the window at her new friends.

Thanks to all who participated in this month's auction.

Volume XII, Issue 24: January 18, 2013

YOUTH EXCHANGE

Eliot Clausen

Last Friday, Eliot Clausen visited our Club. Eliot was our Outbound Exchange Student to France during the 2008-2009 Rotary Year.  He told us that he is attending UC Berkeley, majoring in French, and that he plans to be living in France next year.

This year's Inbound Exchanger, Fa Sillapajarn from Thailand, reported that she attended the recent basketball game between friendly rivals Arcata High and McKinleyville. (AHS won.) Fa told us that it was "very fun". Later, her host mother cooked Thai food. Fa said that it was "American style", but still quite good.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
A date has been set for Charter Night 2013! Mark Wednesday, February 27th on your calendar. We will meet once again at the Arcata Playhouse to celebrate. More details will follow.

Ceva Courtemanche has posters available for the upcoming Superheroes Spring Fundraiser. She noted that the superhero featured is none other than the Mighty Kahuna Kavinta! She also said that she needs help getting additional items for the Live Auction. We are hoping that Sunrisers will be able to come up with some fresh ideas for this part of the event, so please do a little brainstorming.

SPECIAL DAYS
In a major break with tradition, Kathy and Bill Fraser did not celebrate their anniversary at Benbow! The couple was exhausted after celebrating their Granddaughter's birthday and other holiday travels. They were in Reno, in Medford, and other places too numerous to mention. So they had a nice dinner at Larrupin's to celebrate their 42nd anniversary. Congratulations!

January 13th was Scott Heller's 50th birthday. To commemorate the milestone, he and his intended Robin Meiggs toured the Wine Country. The birthday dinner was in Healdsburg, with frequent stops for vino over the weekend.

RECOGNITIONS WITH LAURA!
Last week's recognition-fest was brought to us by Laura Montagna. Her first target was Dawn Elsbree, who was a driving force behind the TedX Eureka event held in December. (If I heard correctly, which is a crap-shoot at best, Laura was another organizer.) The next TedX event will be a live stream of a TedX conference to be held in Long Beach on February 27th. For more information on TedX and the upcoming event, visit the TedX Eureka Facebook page.

Cody with Ceva

A photo of Craig and Janice Newman and Shelley and Dick Johnson flashed on the screen. The group had traveled to Fortuna on New Year's Day to join the Fortuna Sunrise Rotary's Day One Walk to Eradicate Polio. Many Sunrisers agreed that we should be there in force on January 1, 2014. Mark your calendar!

Laura found the photo at right. It shows  Ceva Courtemanche with Cody Killingsworth. Ceva said that it was taken at a wedding about a year ago.

Each Christmas, Karen Burgesser's sister gives her siblings a themed stocking. This year, the theme was the alphabet ... which led to a photo with some Zig-Zag papers. Not that we know what those are used for ...

ABC TALKS ABOUT AAI
Our Guest Speaker last week was Anne Bown-Crawford, the Director of the Arcata Arts Institute. ABC, as she is affectionately known, has been teaching in public schools for 40 years, and she serves on a state task force on arts in education.

ABC (Anne Bown-Crawford)

The Arcata Arts Institute (AAI) is a "school within a school" at Arcata High. Its students can focus on the performing arts or visual arts. The program was originally grant-funded, but it is now supported by Northern Humboldt High School District, fundraising, and donations. It now serves as a blueprint for arts education. AAI works with HSU's credentialing department, assisting future arts teachers with curriculum development.

ABC feels that it is important to compensate artists for their efforts. One of the ways AAI accomplishes this is through Community Supported Art (CSA). Tweaking the model of Community Supported Agriculture, CSA sells "shares" to arts supporters. This year, AAI will sell 20 shares at $300 each. The purchasers will receive works from nine artists at various stages in their careers. The shares are delivered in custom-made wooden crates, which are themselves works of art. Each shareholder will receive three deliveries, between February and June.

This Friday, AAI is presenting Family Arts Night. The event will take place at the AHS Multipurpose Room from 5 to 8 pm. All are encouraged to attend. For more information about this event, to sign up for a CSA Share, or to learn more about AAI, click here to visit the AAI website.

Volume XII, Issue 23: January 11, 2013

A MOMENT WITH FA
Fa Sillapajarn, our Club's Rotary Exchange Student from Thailand, told us that she enjoyed her Christmas in America last month. In the morning Fa opened present with the Swensons (her host family), and followed that with a trip to the ocean. She said that it was "beautiful - but cold!"

SUPERHEROES!
When Kahuna Kavinta (a.k.a. President George) showed a slide with the title "Superheroes", most of us thought he was referring to the members of the Spring Fundraiser Committee, who were listed on the slide. While they certainly qualify, "Superheroes" is actually the theme of this year's event - specifically classic Marvel superheroes. Our goal is to host a fun-raiser in addition to being a fund-raiser.

The fundraiser will be held on March 9th at the Arcata Community Center, it's an all-hands event. The first order of business is ticket sales - tables for 8 are available for $600, and individual tickets are $75 each. Also, please be thinking about what you plan to contribute to the silent auction and the raffle.

SPECIAL DAYS
On January 2nd, Rebecca and Abe Crow celebrated their anniversary. According to past issues of the Sunrise Spirit and my dubious calculating ability, it was their 10th. The festivities included wine tasting in Calistoga and a remote for their car.

The Club met on Lynda Moore's birthday - January 4th. Lynda was nursing a cold, so she took the opportunity to sleep in. The next day was Randy Mendosa's birthday, but he was also suffering from a viral malaise, so the celebrations were subdued.

At least it was Bryan Plumley who got the worst of it ... maybe. His kids wished him a happy 45th birthday, then his son cheerfully announced, "That's halfway to dead!"

DIVEMASTER SCOTT ON HIS HONDURAN ADVENTURE

In the fall, Past President Scott Heller made good on a promise to himself - that he would take the time following his Presidential Year to become a Divemaster. The process would take three months, but he would be "Showing Rotary" throughout his trip, courtesy of his then-new tattoo of the Rotary Wheel on his leg (see the June 22nd Sunrise Spirit for a photo).

Last Friday, Scott told us that when he arrived in Roatan, a Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras, he was renting a place on the island's West End. It was a happenin' place, with parties every day, all day. Fun? Yes, but not conducive to the hard work and long days required for the program. So he packed up and moved north to get away from the festivities; now he was living just a short walk from the dive shop (Reefgliders Dive Center). 

Scott's training program was actually an internship. He worked six weeks as an unpaid worker at the dive shop, and when he wasn't there, he was out on dives or studying. The program was grueling - Scott said that he had thought that he was in shape, but he soon found that "in shape" is a relative term. He added training swims to his already busy daily routine.

Scott said that all the hard work was definitely worthwhile. As he said in his "Sun Blog and Roatanning", "[Diving] ... is the most challenging and rewarding effort a body can make. It is, at the same time, both thrilling and calming. The creatures and textures are unlike any you have encountered on land. and the colors are indescribable and uncapturable on film." Be sure to check out Scott's Blog for more information and for some fantastic photos.

Volume XII, Issue 22: January 4, 2013

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Howard Stauffer noted that recent research has found that there is a single stem cell that causes cancer. That discovery and other information about stem cell research will be presented by Dr. Amy Sprowles of Humboldt State  on Saturday, January 12th. The program will begin at 7 pm at the Westhaven Center for the Arts in Trinidad.

The countdown has begun! Our Spring Fundraiser will be held on March 9th, which is a mere eight weeks away. The Event Committee's kickoff meeting will take place at 5 pm this Thursday at the Firehouse. All are welcome to attend.

Kahuna Kavinta, aka "President George", reminded us that our brand-spankin' new 2013 calendars should contain the following information:

• January 11 - Past President Scott Heller is slated to tell us of his recent adventure in Honduras, where he earned his divemaster certification (and became engaged). 
• January 18 - Our Guest Speaker will be Anne Bown-Crawford, who heads up the Arcata Arts Institute at Arcata High School. She will be discussing Community-Supported Art.
• January 25 - Fabulous Foundation Friday! Bring your checkbooks!
• January 25 through 27 - The District 5130 Youth Exchange Ski Trip to Mt Shasta
• And our Charter Night will take place sometime in February ... date to be announced

George then led us down Short-Term Memory Lane, recapping our Club's accomplishments in the Year (to Date) of the Kahuna:

• We welcomed our Inbound Exchange Student from Thailand, Fa Sillapajarn and sent Colin Swenson Outbound to Trieste, Italy
• We partnered with the Arcata Rotary for a well-attended Welcome Party for Fa and her Noon Club counterpart, Luca Vass from Hungary
• District Governor Michael Juric paid us a visit
• We sponsored a square for Pastels on the Plaza, a fundraiser for Northcoast Children's' Services
• We hosted the annual Arcata Sunrise Rotary Cross-Country Championships
• Ron Sharp led us through another successful Taste of the Holidays
• We enjoyed an HSU Jacks Basketball Game, courtesy of Dan Collen and the Fellowship Committee
• The Foster Youth Community was treated to a fantastic Holiday Dinner, prepared and served by Sunrisers
• We once again hosted the Annual Jerry Paul Classic Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament (#45!)
• And through our Financial Assistance Committee, the Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise supported the Arcata Arts Institute, helped fund the Orick School trip to Washington, DC, and helped keep the Homework Hotline on the air at KEET-TV

SPECIAL DAYS
Over our hiatus, the Kahuna turned the big Five-O (which is probably the most appropriate age for a law-enforcement official). He celebrated with family and close friends at Merryman's Beach House.

On New Year's Eve, Cam Appleton turned the big Six-O. He said that it was a relatively quiet night, as I'm sure his birthday usually is. The family dined on Crab Vermouth, and Cam stayed up 'til midnight. But he said that the big celebration will take place on or about the 15th of January, which is his wife Lisa's birthday.

Ron Sharp's birthday also took place on December 31th. If there was an "O" involved, he didn't let on. He did acknowledge that he had a rockin' birthday - his band, Cadillac Ranch, played to a full house at Blue Lake's Logger Bar. Bob Johnson was there, and he led a dancing train to the street! Ron said, "It was one of the funnest birthdays I've ever had!"

RECOGNITION

Jeane & Julie

Laura Montagna hosted our recognition-fest last Friday, which had a journalistic theme. She presented front-page stories featuring various Sunrisers, beginning with Jeff Munther. He was pictured in the Idaho Press-Tribune under the headline, "A Dream Come True". He admitted that he was either at home or in Nome [Note to self: Write more clearly at future meetings]. Wherever he was living the dream, it involved golf.

The Daily Express featured a photo of two young girls, who turned out to be Julie Vaissade-Elcock and her sister Jeane. The photo is reproduced here, courtesy of the Daily Express (and Facebook).


Surprisingly, Matt Babich was the subject of an article in Il Giornale. No one was more astonished than the editors of that newspaper. Matt told us that his New Year's celebration included an enormous bottle of champagne and a horse. His words of wisdom to us? "Don't drink champagne then ride on the Hammond Trail."

UNDER THE WIRE: 
THE ADOPTION OF ALEXANDER RICHARD PLOCHER
Last Friday's Feature Presentation was provided by Sunriser Orrin Plocher, who told us of the two-year "Russian Adoption Journey" that began in December 2010. A foreign adoption is a challenging undertaking, under the best of circumstances, but the Plocher family adventure featured a twist that no one anticipated.

Orrin started by telling us about Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian attorney and auditor for the UK-based investment firm Hermitage Capital Management. The company's founder William Browder was a supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin, he was kicked out of Russia in 2005 as a "threat to national security". Soon, the firm's assets were seized by the government, which claimed that it had underpaid taxes totaling approximately $230 million.

As the company's lawyer, Magnitsky had investigated the charges levied against Hermitage Capital, and he found that materials confiscated during the asset seizures had been given by the police to organized criminals. The documents taken were used by the criminals to take over three of Heritage Capital's Russian companies. Magnitsky's investigation implicated the police, the judiciary, tax officials, bankers, and the Russian Mafia.

In apparent response to his charges, Magnitsky was accused of collusion with Hermitage Capital regarding the alleged tax fraud, and imprisoned at the Butyrka Prison in Moscow in November 2008. While being held in prison without trial, he became ill, but received only minimal care, which proved inadequate. After being held for 11 months, Magnitsky died.

His prison diary told a bleak tale of harsh interrogations and attempts to coerce Magnitsky to testify against Hermitage. His refusals led to beatings and his relocation to increasingly dangerous sections of the prison, and he was denied medical treatment for his failing health.

The incident received international attention. The European Parliament called for banning Russian officials believed to be involved from entering the European Union, and for freezing their assets. Canada resolved to deny visas to those individuals, and it also froze their assets held in that country. In late 2012, the Magnitsky Bill was passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Obama on December 14, 2012. This legislation also sought to punish those identified as responsible for Magnitsky's death.

Russian officials saw these actions, particularly the Magnitsky Bill, as attempts to interfere with their internal governance. Russian President Putin said that the act "of course poisons our relationship" with the U.S.  In response, on December 28th, Putin signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, which would take effect January 1, 2013.

Fortunately, Orrin and his wife Cristina were happily unaware of the rapidly approachingbut unannounced deadline. They had traveled to Russia in August and September 2012 for an initial visit with Alexander and to begin the formal adoption process.The couple returned to Russia in November to once again visit Alexander and to be in court for the adoption hearings, which lasted three days.

Their third and final visit took place in December. The goals for this trip were to

• Visit Alex
• Photograph him for his passport/visa
• Acquire court decree
• Acquire new birth certificate
• Acquire adoption certificate
• Local registration of birth certificate and adoption certificate
• Acquire Russian passport for Alex
• Acquire US Visa for Alex
• Registration of Alex with Russian Federation Embassy (SF)

Alex is taking calls already?

Orrin said that he and Cristina did not understand why the adoption officials were rushing the family through the process. He said that there were times when he was feeling under the weather and hoping to take a day off, but the officials were insistent that the process continue. The Plochers did not find out the reason for the rush until they were about to leave the country.

Alexander made it safely to Humboldt County, where he is acclimating to live as a Plocher. We hope that our newest Rotary Kid will be able to attend one of our Club's meetings soon.