March 4

With the sounding of the bell today, King Lion Paul ushered the month of March - "In Like A Lion" It was sad to see how few Lions there were in attendance to witness this. Paul announced a Board Meeting for March 6 - Noon at the Elks. The main discussion will focus on the disposition of our funds to the Grays Harbor Foundation. (Important meeting)

The tune of the fortnight - China Town - was correctly guessed by Lions Roger Smith and George Reay. They were the only two who took the time to guess. For the past several months the response to the contest has been very sparse, therefore, the new - appropriately named - tune will be the last. Over the period that we have had this contest on our web site, we have used 137 different tunes. Although the sound quality may not have been the best, they were always recognizable if one knew the song.

Having no further business, Lion Jack Shrauger introduced our speaker for today - Mike Folkers. Mike is the Finance

Director for the City of Hoquiam. However today Mike was not wearing his "fiduciary fedora" but rather his "history hat" as his program was about the Civil War.

Mike is the consummate Civil War buff and has visited most of the battlefields and other geographic locations (he passed his personal photos around) that were notable during the war. (He plans to visit all of these areas as time permits)

His presentation today was an overview on the politics, generals, tactics, and (as Mike is in the financial field) the economics that effected the outcome of the war. He noted, with some wonderment, how the South being woefully underfinanced, out numbered with troops, and confined geographically, stayed in the fight as long as they did.

Mike concluded his very interesting presentation by stating that he has been asked to provide a program for us toward the end of this month. The ensuing program will pertain to the City of Hoquiam's finances.

da Pot - Dave Wayman was the name that was drawn for the attendance pot. As Dave was not here - and for several weeks the pot has not been claimed - the next drawing will be a whopper.

Not much attendance today, but Paul called the meeting to order anyway. Zone meeting as central park this thursday. Call Paul if interested. City of Hoquiam would like Lions to help out at Easter egg hunt Mar. 20 at 5:30.Call Paul if you wish to help.

White cane days May 2 & 3. Al will put banners on canes. Possible board meeting Thursday Paul will call.

Students of the Month for February:

Amanda Berndt daughter of Mike Berndt. Involved in volleyball, track and field, National Honor Society, and Foodball. Favorite subject - English. Community - Special Olympic track and field volunteer, relay for life, blood donor. Hobbies - exercising and reading. Wants to attend Central Wash. University. Major in pre-med and philosophy. Uniqueness - has an inner sense of responsibility and maturity that only has been enhanced due to fathers accident.

William Law son of Peter and Julie Law. Activities - football and wrestling (4 years). subject - global issues. Community - helped with freestyle programs. Hobbies - sports, fishing. Wants to go to GHC major in business while doing internship to become an electrician.

Program - Return of Eye-Care-We-Care. showed slides of recent trip to Philippines. Now has a big bus to operate out of and now can go to other islands. This is one of our projects that we support.

The Ides of March has passed, however it appears that many Lions are not taking a chance that some remnants of the foreboding warning may be lingering. The attendance today was - in a word - LOUSY! As for our singing - same word. (Do you see a pattern forming here?)

We were informed of the passing of Past President (and Mr. Rain Derby) Bob Smiley. A moment of silent prayer was observed with the unanimous acknowledgement that he will be truly missed. Go with God, Lion Bob.

Lion Secretary Jerry announced that there will be a very important - Lions committee as a whole - meeting April 1, 2008. We are to discuss our Board's recent vote to give the Grays Harbor Community Foundation $10000 and discuss further donations to them. It is very necessary that ALL members attend!.....King Lion Paul announced that the City Parks Department has asked the Lions for some assistance with the Community Easter Eggs hunt for kids. There were several volunteers, however the more the merrier. The event will be at Olympic Stadium, Thursday March 20th starting at 5:30 PM. Let's show them a really big Hoquiam Lions turnout. (for those of you who have never participated - it's a must see.)

The final tune in the "Name That Tune" contest was appropriately - The Party's Over. There were two guesses (neither are Lions) Russ Hansen from Morris, PA and Stan Johannes from Valley Road, Hoquiam. To paraphrase Lewis Carroll, "The time has come" the Tunemeister says, "To try some other thing - to perk the spirits in our Club - and give us cause to sing."

Program - Today's program was presented by three Hoquiam Lions. Tracey Sandstrom, Principal at Emerson School and Assessment Coordinator for the Hoquiam School District, Shannon Webster, Assistant Superintendent/Finance Director and

Curriculum Coordinator for the Hoquiam School District, and Wes Harris, Principal at Washington School.

Their presentation today pertained to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The WASL is a standardized educational assessment system that is also used as a high school graduation examination in Washington State. The WASL assessment consists of examinations over four subjects (reading, mathematics, science, and writing) with four different types of questions (multiple-choice, short-answer, essay, and problem solving).

After explaining the Government mandates with regard to passing the exam, they passed out four - 10th grade level - test questions and asked us to take the test. This writer flunked miserably. ( Oh well....As I recall, I had fun in the 10th grade.) Their presentation was very informative.

Lion Prez Paul Dean opened the meeting on time and in proper form. The singing was as atrocious as usual.

City Finance Director Mike Folgers gave a lengthy Power Point Presentation that explained where the City’s tax money came from and how it was spent. This was a very informative program that held everyone’s attention.