February 1

King Lion Al opened a "not much goin' on meeting" by recognizing the February Lions birthday's. Honorees are: Al Bruun, Paula Dean, Jerry McFeely, Bud Meservey, and Dave Wayman. As always, they were serenaded and heavily fined. [ Ed note: I have never understood the tradition of fining a person on their birthday? Getting older is punishment enough! ]

Larry Jones reported that 65 Lions and their guests attended the Crab Feed. For the first time in this writer's memory ( Which, by the way is not that good and getting worse.) that the DG and ZC and their spouses were in attendance. Larry thanked all of the Lions who helped cook the crab earlier in the day, and all of the Lions and their ladies for a very plentiful and delicious pot luck offering. The good food, wonderful camaraderie, and the fact that the Club broke even financially, made this outing a great one.

We - as a Club - discussed several suggestions with regard to our Fireworks sales this summer. This is one of our labor intensive projects and requires that we all contribute some time and effort to it's success. Of the many points covered none was more important than advertising - signs, flyers, etc........Acting upon the Rain Derby committee's suggestion that we partner with another Club / Service Organization, it was determined that the Aberdeen Lions Club would probably be the best fit. The RD committee will make arrangements to meet with the Aberdeen Lions board of directors and make them the proposition.

As so often happens, the scheduled program for this day didn't show, so we concluded the meeting.

We didn't have "SRO" attendance, however the member turnout was substantial. There were three guests: Hea Kim, Cindy Carrigan, and our good friend Bill Peak.~~~ Lion Jerry Schaefer announced plans for the Charter Night Dinner - March 10 - are progressing smoothly and the evening should be fun-filled. ( More info will be provided soon.) ~~~ Lion Paul Prichard announced the programs for the month of March. The first meeting in March will be held at the Polson Museum (the Elks will provide sack lunches) and John Larsen will be our guide for the "What's new at the Museum" tour. The second meeting will be a local wildlife photographer exhibiting his pictures and explaining the difficulty involved with capturing the images. The third meeting will be our own Dee Johnson presenting a Travelog - replete with pictures - on his recent trip above the Artic Circle. With all of our business concluded, we moved to the programs of the day.

The principal of HHS, Jamie Huizinga. introduced our January Students of the Month honorees. Prior to the formal introduction the students (both being on the School Golf team) gave us a golf lesson. The first club, demonstrated by Jacob, was the #1 Wood (Driver). (His technique was enlightening to this writer as it was completely contrary to my normal "Grip It and Rip It and Wonder where it went" style?) Next, Minna demonstrated the #7 Iron. Used for finesse approach shots. Here again I was properly informed. ( I have always called this "my happy club" as I can put a smile on any golf ball that I hit with it?) ~~ Upon completion of the golf lessons, the honorees were announced.

Jacob Carrigan

Jacob has a 3.586 GPA. He is a three year letterman in both Golf and Baseball and has All Academic Awards in both sports. He was the 2010 MVP in Golf

Jacob has taken several AP classes and was English student of the month March and April 2010. He has two years of Spanish, 4 years of Math, and 3 years of Science.

He has been accepted to Central Washington University where he plans to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice.

Jacob is the son of Cindy Carrigan

Minna Kim

Minna has been an honor roll member since her Freshman year. She is a past ASB member (Class President).

Minna is very active in FBLA and has held four different offices in that Club. She was a state finalist - top 10 - in the FBLA competition events; Business Ethics, Emerging Business Issues, Client Services, Impromptu Speaking, and Business Communication. She has been active in Youth and Government for 4 years and has held the offices of; Senator, member of the House of Representatives, Assistant Attorney General, and Committee Chair.

She has four year varsity letters in Swim and Dive and Golf. She also has a 3 year letter (2 years as Captain)

Minna has been a Band member for all 4 years at HHS and has received the award of Outstanding Band Member.

She plans to complete her Spanish courses in college, which will make her a trilingual speaker ( English, Korean, and Spanish)

Minna is the daughter of Hea and Bum Kim

Ray Pumphrey introduced our program for today - Glennis Stamon and Carrie Robson - two of the "movers and shakers" behind the scenes of the Grays Harbor E9-1-1 Communications.

The ladies prefaced their prime message for today by giving us a very complete overview of the 911 system - from it's inception in 1992 to date. As you can expect, there have been many bugs worked out and changes made to have the system that we have today. They are continually upgrading and streamlining the system to maintain the high level of life-saving communication that we have in our community.

Their message addressed the type(s) of telephone systems that people have in their residences and some of the drawbacks of each. 1) The "hard-wired" phone - phones that plug into jacks and transmission is over wires - is the most reliable in nearly all emergencies. This system doesn't shut down 99% of the time during a power outage. Further, it provides name, address, and callback number to the 911 operator. 2) Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - a phone system that uses ones Internet connection for transmission - is susceptible to power outages that renders the phone useless. Further, not all VoIP systems provide the necessary address and callback information that the 911 operators need. They advise that you contact your VoIP provider to determine how a 911 call is handled by their system. 3) Cellular phones are a convenience and an important public safety tool. They can however create a challenge for public safety and emergency responders. All 9-1-1 calls made on them may not provide the 9-1-1 operator your phone number and approximate location. Weak signals due to distance from your providers cell towers may not go through or can be too weak. There are 3 important things that cell users should remember: 1) Be aware of your surroundings when making 9-1-1 call. (Landmarks, cross streets, mileposts, etc) 2) Memorize your cell phone number so it can be readily given to the 9-1-1 operator when asked. 3) Stay connected, do not hang up until told to do so. If you do get disconnected, call the operator back immediately.

A very enlightening program indeed. [ Ed note - We were invited to visit the 9-1-1 call center. Perhaps we can have a "field trip" luncheon in the future.]

Once again we had to meet in the bar area at the Elks Club. And once again, the bar was closed. (talk about not catching a break?) With exception of a few requests that require Board action, we had no other business and proceeded to the program for today.

Ray Pumphrey introduced Lonnie Howell, Building Official for the City of Hoquiam. It has been the policy of the City of Hoquiam to keep it's citizens informed of the "goin's on" in the City - every Department and Office included - on an annual basis.

Today Lonnie brought us up to date with regard to the Building Department's trials and tribulations over the past year. He, very knowledgeably, address everything from derelict buildings to new businesses on the tax rolls. Further he mentioned some new businesses that are considering moving into or starting-up in Hoquiam. He did however, shy away from stating when Rite Aide will open as they are in litigation due to the builder's glaring mistake on the proper elevation of the new structure.

Lion Bud Meservey came in late and was fined. This was the first time that he has been at a meeting this month and he was fined as this is his birthday month. All of the laughter and gotchas subsided as Bud - being an old resourceful banker - won the attendance pot and got all of his money back...with interest!

This was the last meeting for the month of February and once again there was really no business to address. We did have a guest - whom we hope will join our Club - Bill Peak. Everyone knows Bill and none would deny that his personality and community spirit is a perfect fit for our Club. Let's make him feel welcome.

The attendance sheet for the Charter Party on March 10 was circulated again in hopes that attendance at the function will be outstanding. ~~~ King Lion Al announced a Board Meeting set for March 24 at the Elks "round table". ~~~ A G3 Zone Meeting is scheduled for March 16, 2011 - 12:00 (noon) - At Duffy's in Aberdeen. The tentative agenda will will address several Zone projects. Let's plan to have good representation from our Club.

Lion David Irwin facilitated our program for this day. He introduced Thomas A. Brown as our speaker. Tom is a partner in the law firm of Brown, Lewis,

Janhunen, and Spencer ( One of the oldest continuous law firms in Southwest Washington)

Tom and his wife Beverly have three children and three grandchildren. Tom grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, NB in 1970. Upon graduation he became a staff lawyer for the U.S.Goverment's Legal Services Program. From 1970 until 1972 he worked in Omaha, NE and Tacoma, WA. In 1972 he left Government service and moved to Aberdeen to join with Bob Charette in their private law firm. In 1980, their law firm merged with firm that he's with now.

Tom is very active in various Law Associations (both WA and NE) and has chaired several as well. Aside from his practice, he is involved heavily in Community activities. (Former president and drive chairman for the Untied Way, member of the Board of the Goldberg family charitable foundation, Youth and Government, and several other benevolences) He also writes a monthly column in the magazine Senior Sunset Times. The article - titled "de minimus" - loosely translates to "with respect to trifles" (or, don't sweat the small stuff)

Tom's program today dealt with, I guess you could say, the law for the little guy. He covered many legal issues with which the majority of the people might be faced. In the part of his presentation dealing with the necessity of having adequate insurance, Ken Johnson perked right up and reached for his business cards.