The Rotary Club of Everett
Meeting of January 26, 2016
Tara Eckstrom and Katrina Koontz greeted Rotarians with smiles, as we arrived for the Club’s 5,136 meeting.
President Deborah Wright began the 28th meeting of her year with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Everyone was happy to see a returning Bob Leach, who offered the Thought of the Day, quoting Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe advised lawyers to be honest or to choose another occupation.
Walt Greenwood sang a great folksong, played the guitar and offered a few amazing yodels!
VP Jeff Cornish acknowledged today was a “normal” day, and then found encouragement with Rotarian fellowship. It’s the everyday things that make a normal day special. He also noted that we did not have visiting Rotarians today;
Kathy Webber introduced her guest, Mike McGinnis.
Jim Staniford questioned us about today’s National Holiday. Judi Edwards won - it’s National Spouse Day! We had a poll: Bob & Amy Beil married longest (70+ years); Mark & Kathy Nesse married the shortest (7 months). Jim wrapped it up by suggesting that we go home and tell our spouse the only regret we have in life is that we didn’t meet them sooner - ahhh romance! I gave it a try and received a chuckle saying you were 17…..
Announcements:
Dominican Republic Project’s next trip in June
Annual Fundraiser starts this week
Ski Fellowship to Stevens Pass February 19th
Cards for Bruce Timm and Buzz Miller
Happy Bucks / Birthday Bucks / Drawing
Jessica Mitchell: birthday $
PP Randy Hansen: asked “who is that?”, while looking at PP Andy Hall
PP Andy Hall: smiled and had a few comments for PP Randy
Mary Toews: had a good trip to Dominican Republic & appreciated fellow Rotarians
Lucky drawing winners were PDG Tom Rainville, PP Steve Juntwait and guest Mike McGinnis
PP Greg Tisdel introduced our program “BNSF Railway ”, presented by Courtney Wallace.
Courtney presented a comprehensive overview of Burlington Northern (BNSF), which has been operating for 160 years. BNSF is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, has 1,800 trains running on 32,500 miles of track, 36,000 employees (4,000 in WA State). Train cargo includes everything from A – Z! It’s more effective to move product via rail, than truck. BNSF is served by 40 ports and is a major WA State freight carrier, transporting 1.5m carloads annually in our state alone.
Courtney turned the program’s focus to “Freight Rail Safety in our Communities” with 3 points:
- Rail is the safest mode of land transportation
- Safety vision is to prevent accidents
- Broad Based risk reduction program
Prevention: inspections and conditions are the base for safety
- Bridges & tracks are routinely inspected
- Rail equipment is inspected for possible defections by a network detection device
Prevention: Operating Practices for “Key Trains”
- Speed regulations
- Special handling regulations
- Train can’t be left alone & is always monitored
Mitigation “Next Generation Tank Car”
- Right product in the right type of car
- Evolution of the rail industry’s tank car
- High standards for crude oil car
Incident Response: First responder Co-ordinaton
- Share transported shipment’s load information – what’s in the car?
- Pre-training first responders, employees & customer employees
- Mobilizing response team in the event of an incident
- USDOT first responder requirements effective July 2014
- Local training using a smart phone app
- Maintain secure, confidential information regarding train’s shipment – where? what?
- Response units throughout the USA
- BNSF will restore the site
The club had a variety of questions & comments. We learned a 1-mile train could be crude; trains do not have antifreeze, that’s why the engine must keep running in the holding yard. The engineer drives the train and the conductor is responsible for safety. Whew – we learned a lot about trains!
President Deb concluded our meeting, thanking everyone.
Today’s Aphorism: Passion will forever rule over reason. –Sainoq
Be a Gift to the World!
.png)
.JPG)