Last Friday, our Rotary Exchange Student from France, Alex Rialet, told us what he'd been up to over the previous week. He had dinner with Sunriser Maggie Kraft, and he attended his first Arcata Sunrise Rotary Board Meeting. He did some cooking with his host family, the Baciagaluppis, in preparation for this week's Welcome Barbecue. He also attended a bonfire with other Exchange Students.
Announcements
Do you know of a high school student who would do a great job representing our country and our Club? If so, let him or her know that on Tuesday, October 1st, our Club and the Arcata Noon Rotary will host a Rotary Exchange Student Information Night at Arcata High School. It's a no-pressure, informative meeting to let prospective Exchangers know the ins and outs of spending a year abroad.
We're going to resume loading those Backpacks For Kids following our meeting on Friday, October 4th. The program helps provide weekend nutrition for low-income students on the days that the school breakfast and lunch programs don't operate. You can sign up to help on that day or another Friday in October by clicking on this link: BACKPACKS OCTOBER. Once you're there, you can also sign up to pick up the food at Food For People, or to deliver the backpacks to Arcata Elementary and Trillium School.
During the weekend of October 12th and 13th, our Club will be making a difference by heading up a SWOT (Serving With Our Talents) Team of volunteers who will be working at the Boys and Girls Club in Eureka. The final list of activities is still being determined, but we should have the agenda soon. Our partners in this project are the Rotary Clubs of Arcata (the Nooners), Southwest Eureka, and Old Town Eureka. President Jessica said that the initial planning meeting was very exciting, with a great "dream list" of potential improvements.
Maggie Kraft said thank you to all who chipped in to help defray the costs for the family that hosted her during her Peace Corps stint in Botswana. Her
Craft Talk: Ed Christians
Jessica introduced one of our newer members, Ed Christians, saying that he had approached her just two weeks after he became a Sunriser, saying that he was ready to give his Craft Talk. And last Friday, we were ready for him!
He told us that the "Story of Ed" could be summed up by this diagram:
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| The Ed of the Story |
- Ed started with the "I", which stands for Iowa, where he was born and lived for eight years.
- "M" stands for Michigan, "where I lived the second half of my youth". The family lived in Traverse City for a while, then moved to Cadillac. He said that he remembers that there was a lot of snow in the winters.
- The "K" stands for Kettering /GMI, where Ed did his undergraduate studies. He said that the private university turned out brilliant engineers who "didn't quite make the muster as human beings".
- Ed attended Purdue University (that's the "P") to earn his Masters Degree. He also served as a Teaching Assistant, and learned that Purdue University can be anagrammed into "Undue Perversity".
- AMD recruited Ed and lured him to Austin, Texas, which covers the "A" on our game board. Ed lived in Austin for 19 years, working for AMD as a Systems Engineer and later as a Section Manager. He showed a picture of him after he completed the Keep Austin Weird 5k run. He said that the race stations were unusual. At the first stop, you could have either water or chablis, the second featured pizza, and the third had ice cream.
- Ed worked for an AMD spin-off called Legerity (that's your "L"). This was Ed's opportunity to become a manager.
- The first "S" stands for SCUBA. Ed discovered a real passion for diving, and he became a divemaster and instructor "in fairly short order". He taught until about four months ago, when he came to Humboldt County. He learned again that he really enjoys teaching.
- Ed's wife Beth is represented by the "B" in the diagram. He met the "love of my life" while he was in Austin. He showed photos of their wedding, and of both of them diving.
- The "E" is for Ed's last (so far) educational stop - St. Edwards University in Austin. It was there that Ed earned his MBA in Information Systems.
- For the eight years prior to his move to our community, Ed worked for University Federal Credit Union. (I'll let you figure out which letter is associated with this position.) There, he was the Senior Manager of Information Technology.
- Over his career and his spiritual life, Ed has become passionate about Leadership, the "L" in his grid. He enjoys mentoring others and teaching. Helping to raise up others raises Ed up as well.
- The second "S" stands for Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Austin. Ed was a member of the church for 19 years, and he served on the Church Council. He said that the group "blindsided" him by naming him Council President.
- The "C" stands for Coast Central Credit Union, the organization that brought Ed to the North Coast. He is their Vice President for Information Systems, and "I've loved it so far!" He thanked us for the beautiful weather we provided for his arrival.
- Finally, the "M" stands for McKinleyville, where Ed and Beth now live. They have a nice home on Holly Drive and Ed runs about three times a week, often on the Hammond Trail. Ed said that he is happy to be a Sunriser. And we're happy to have him.
Dewey Kiefer served as our Master Recognitionist last Friday. He asked Bryan Reeser about the CPA Conference he planned to attend. Bryan said that it was being held in a "small town in Nevada". Nothing to worry about, then ...
Dewey then asked Max Crow about his recent birthday. Max turned seven recently, and he had a great time. What did he want? Video games. What did he get? Underwear and socks? Nahh - he got video games!!
Carol Vander Meer talked about what Dewey described as "just another day at the office". Carol is the Executive Director for Friends of the Dunes, and her office is in the Stamp House in Manila. The area was the site for a manhunt earlier in the week, when law enforcement officers were searching for a man and woman who had allegedly used a crossbow to kill one person and injured another. Carol said that a SWAT team was deployed (not a SWOT team), and the suspects were taken into custody without further incident.
On a happier note, Jacqueline Debets and Rick Bend recently celebrated their 14th anniversary. Well, if driving to Oregon to pick up a load of hay can be called celebrating. Okay, there was a trip to Monterey involved, as well.
Jeff Stebbins and Rachel Chandler delayed celebrating their 16th anniversary. But they did have pizza at Arcata Pizza and Deli, and topped that with a visit to the Robert Goodman Wine Tasting Room.
Nobody went to Larrupin's for their anniversary - not even Karen and Steve Burgesser, whose 41st anniversary was on September 9th. They did do lunch that day, and they were planning to have their real celebration last Friday night. Maybe they did go to Larrupin's after all ...
Amy and Steve Bohner's 9th anniversary was on Monday, September 9th, but they got a jump on things by going to their favorite special restaurant, Folie Douce in Northtown Arcata.
Kathy Fraser is back in town after months in Reno. She spent her birthday driving back into town, and she and husband Bill celebrated her birthday and their return by going to (you guessed it) Larrupin's! They plan to exercise the Arcata Sunrise Birthday Month Option, traveling to Benbow soon.
The Impact of Marijuana Cultivation on Forests and Wildlife
Our guest speakers last Friday were Adam Cockrill and Jen Olson. Adam and Jen work for the California Department of Fish and Game, studying various marijuana cultivation sites on the North Coast. Adam said that the problems are "not cartels anymore, it's ubiquitous". The so-called "Green Rush" has devolved into a "Greed Rush" for the large growers of medical marijuana.
Adam compared Google Earth images from 2005 and 2012 in various locations that clearly show marked changes in the landscapes. He said that we can see these changes for ourselves using Google Earth's Historical Imagery feature. The sites that Adam and Jen showed us were the watershed of Redwood Creek in Southern Humboldt, Salmon Creek watershed in Southern Humboldt, Redwood Creek north of Orick, and Outlet Creek (a tributary of the Eel River in Mendocino County).
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| Adam Cockrill and Jen Olson with President Jessica |
There are multiple ways in which the forests and their wild inhabitants are being affected. Water is diverted from natural waterways during the growing season, which includes the time when dry weather creates lower flows. Many of these streams and creeks feed fish-bearing waters. When these spawning routes dry up prematurely, the fish population is negatively affected.
In addition, residential grows often fail to use "best practices" for creating access roads and ponds. Frequently this leads to problems with sediment, spent soil, and other pollutants (including pesticides and fertilizer) entering waterways. Even untreated sewage has been allowed to empty into nearby rivers and streams.
Jen and Adam argue that these practices are leading to the destruction of habitat for many species of wildlife, including salmon, amphibians, the Pacific fisher, and other small mammals. They plan to continue to study the issue, expanding their study areas to other residential grows.
