The 5,223rd meeting of the rotary Club of Everett was held on Tuesday, October 17, 2017.  Greeting at the door were the unrelated Mitchell twins (Jeff and Jessica).  President Will McMahan called the meeting to order at 12:06, one minute later than the scheduled beginning.

 

The Thought of The Day was presented by Kelly Shepherd, who emphasized kindness as demonstrated by Service Above Self.

 

Introduction of Guests.  There were no visiting Rotarians for Russ Hermes to introduce.  We were, however, honored to have as our guests Mr. and Mrs. Brendan Robinson, the parents of one of the Students of the Month; Darcy Cooper from Cascade High School, a frequent visitor to The Club; Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Brusseau, the parents of one of the Students of the Month; Joe Alonzo, the CEO of Cocoon House; Jim Duke, a retired Navy Captain and a potential member of The Club; Ana Equihua, the mother of one of the Students of the Month; Judge Cindy Larsen, a potential member of The Club; Michael O'Meara, a collection attorney; Gina Mussemiller, of Chamuel Healing With Hope; and several other people whose names I missed.

 

Students of The Month.  The Students of the Month were:  Connor Robinson of Cascade High School, who after serving his church mission intends to become a neurosurgeon; Karla Equihua of Everett High School, who plans to attend UW Bothell and obtain a business degree; and Elias Brusseau, from Sequoia High School, who I believe said he had not yet made up his mind as to his future education.

 

Announcements.

 

1.         Judge Marybeth Dingledy announced that the Next Generation Committee had decided there would be no walk-a-thon this year, but instead there will be an ice cream social on November 29, 2017, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Everett Public Schools Community Resource Center, 3900 Broadway Avenue in Everett. 

 

2.         Lyle Ryan, as he is always, was looking for new members and suggested we needed someone who is in the boat service business, in the daycare business, from the economic alliance, and is a farmer.  Since Lyle has been known to have a pet pig, I think we should change his classification to farmer.

 

3.         Rich Anderson announced that his brother-in-law, Mark Nesse, is now at the Providence Pacific Campus rehabbing from a serious stroke.  Rich indicated that at this time Mark should not have any visitors but needed all our prayers.

 

4.         Courtney Hooks, our returned exchange student, on behalf of the Interact Club, asked for Halloween donations to UNICEF.

 

5.         Judge Janice Ellis announced that our exchange student, Claire, was going to be 17 on October 18, 2017.  After a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday," Claire was presented a gift and birthday cake was served to all.

 

Happy Dollars.  Randy Hanson was $200 happy to pitch his book on how to solve healthcare problems in the United States.  I suspect that Senator Bernie Sanders was a co-author.  Brian Hollingshead was happy to see his daughter, who is an administrative assistant to the speaker.  Tom Koenig paid to tell of an unsuccessful deer hunt in Eastern Washington, but then seeing a large deer in his back yard.  Russ Kimball thanked the Eckstroms for their generosity in contributing both their time and computers.  Jessica Mitchell was happy that she survived a bee sting.  Gary Cohn accompanied his father and uncle on an honor flight to Washington D.C. and enthusiastically explained what a great experience it had been.

 

Raffle.  The winners of the raffle, Michael Holcomb, Bob Beil, and another person who was out of my sight, won golf balls, wine, wine openers, a free lunch and, most importantly, Seahawk popcorn.

 

Program.  The speaker for the day was Lieutenant Governor, Cyrus Habib, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Iran before he was born.  He was born in Baltimore, but moved to the State of Washington when he was eight.  He grew up in east King County and graduated from Bellevue International School before attending Columbia University, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School.  After receiving his law degree, Lieutenant Governor Habib returned to Washington State to practice law at Perkins Coie in Seattle.  Before being elected as Lieutenant Governor, he represented east King County in the Washington State Senate.  Prior to that he served as a member of the House of Representatives.

Lieutenant Governor Habib has been fully blind since age eight.  He told the story that in the third grade his school would not allow him to play in the school yard during recess because they were afraid he would be injured.  His mother, who became a superior court judge, told the school that she would teach him to remember the layout of the school yard and that he would be able to play with the children at recess, which he did.  The lesson to be learned:  don't give up and don't let your disability prevent you from participating.  He also indicated that in the sixth grade his French teacher wanted his students to study maps to learn geographical areas in France, such as rivers and mountains.  The teacher learned Braille and gave the Lieutenant Governor Braille maps so that he could learn the same as the other students.  The lesson:  if there is a will, there is a way.

 

Lieutenant Governor Habib indicated that many people don't think the Lieutenant Governor has anything to do, but in fact: 

 

1.         He is President of the State Senate and, as presiding officer, is able to determine who wishes to be recognized as the next speaker, since each Senator has a touch screen which sends a message to the podium in Braille.

 

2.         He is acting Governor when the Governor is out of the State, which usually occurs approximately 60 days a year.

 

3.         He represents the Governor at events, both in the State and out of the State when the Governor is unable to attend.

 

4.         He has been working on economic development for the State, finding employment for disabled Veterans, raising funds to allow low-income young people to take advance placement exams to qualify for university grants and scholarships.

 

The Lieutenant Governor, who as he explained it, is a Rotarian on leave, emphasized how important he felt service clubs are to provide direct services to the needy, since government, both at the state and federal level, can't seem to get their act together.  He is unhappy that there seems to be developing an anti-movement, reduction of patriotism and mistrust, both for citizens and legislators.

The only question came from Russ Kimball, who although, like the Lieutenant Governor, supports college for many, indicated that he was having a hard time finding college graduates who were willing to crawl under houses to install ducting or to clean dirty furnaces.  The Lieutenant Governor agreed that we need people to work in the trades, but he feels strongly that any young person who wants to go to college should have the opportunity to do so.              

 

The Lieutenant Governor is an excellent, inspirational speaker who made this meeting one of our best.  President Will, after thanking the guests and the speaker, adjourned the meeting at 1:07, three minutes before the scheduled adjournment.