May 6, 2008

  After acknowledging the return of another of our "snow-birds" to his summer nesting grounds - Lion Lee Stage - was serenaded (and fined) together with Lions Dee Johnson and Harold Schmidtke as May birthday Lions.

  King Lion Paul reminded us of the May 17 Central Park Lions charter night party at the Grays Harbor CC, and the May 22-24 annual MD19 convention at Yakima......Lion Ray Pumphrey thanked all of the Lions who turned out, and announced that we had received approximately $1400 in donations from White Cane Days this past week-end. It was moved and seconded that our Club match this amount as we have in the past.  The "Aye" vote was unanimous.

  Having no further business, Lion George Powers introduced our speaker for today - Jim Coates, Director of the GH/Pacific County food distribution center located in Hoquiam.

  This local center distributes over one million pounds of food to approximately 40 programs in Grays Harbor, Pacific, Mason, Thurston, Wahkiakum, and Lewis Counties. They also conduct a program with the Department of Fisheries that results in about 200,000 pounds of salmon filets for food banks statewide, distributed through Northwest Harvest.

  Jim spoke of the numerous emergency feeding stations that were set up after the December storm to serve people who had become isolated for various reasons. These stations were made possible by efforts from local governments, local logging and contract businesses,  volunteer agencies, and many friends and neighbors. ( This speaks well for the citizens of the great Pacific Northwest - When the going gets tough, the tough get going.)

  Jim announced that there will a benefit golf tournament on May 28 at the GH Country Club to raise money for the food program. The entry fee is $50.  Jim responded to many questions and thanked the Club for inviting him to speak. He also announced his upcoming retirement and asked that his successor - Kyla Houchens - be accorded the same wonderful cooperation that he has received during his tenure.

Rich Brown's name was drawn for the attendance pot, however Rich is still at his winter headquarters in Arizona. The pot continues to grow.

May 13, 2008

  King Lion Paul presided over a "not much goin' on" meeting today. We had just enough Lions paying for lunch to meet our guaranteed number to the Elks. (I guess that's better than usual, as we fail to meet the guarantee more often than not?)

  Couple of announcements : The Aberdeen Lions 68th charter night celebration is scheduled for June 2 at the Aberdeen Elks. 5:30 PM social hour and entertainment - 6:30 PM prime rib dinner........Lion Jack Strom gave us the final report on White Cane sales - $1431. As we voted to match this amount - we remitted $2892 to the Lions sight foundation. Lion George Powers collected $253 from his annual pub-crawl White Cane sales. (George paid for his cab ride home out of his own pocket)

  Having no further business - and the scheduled program failed to show up - we just " BS'ed."  Many "sea stories" (which stands for Grade A bull) were told by various Lions regarding certain experiences while serving in the military. Also, what bull-session would be complete without Lion Rudy expounding about Croatia. Actually, we had a really fun meeting. Perhaps we can do this again soon.

   The fun ended by Lion Ken Johnson winning the - carried-over several times - attendance pot. ( This writer was counting on winning in order to put gas in my truck.)

May 20, 2008

 Yet another meeting without too much happening. There were several announcements: Aberdeen Lions Charter Night dinner on June 2 at the Aberdeen Elks. Start time 5:30 PM......Queets-Clearwater Lions Charter Night dinner at the Windjammer Restaurant in Pacific Beach. Start time 5:30 PM.......And a reminder of our Club's Installation dinner on June 5 at the Hoquiam Elks. Start time 5:30 PM.

  Jerry Schaefer reported that he and Nola, Pete and Sally Hegg, Steve and Arlene Mihovilich, and Larry Jones represented our Club at the Central Park Charter Night dinner. A good time was had by all.

  King Lion Paul introduced Terry Pickett, a school counselor at HHS, who introduced our April Students of the Month. The honorees are:

 For our luncheon speaker today, King Lion Paul reported on his most recent trip - to the Philippine Islands - with his church's medical mission 

  He said that this was only a 9 member team as their mission was primarily to check visual acuity. In the 10 days they were in country, they saw 125+ patients per day and dispensed 1100 pairs of refurbished (donated) glasses. Many of the pairs of eyeglasses were donated by Lions Clubs around the US.  He also provided us with a very informative slide show that showcased the people and the living conditions in the Philippines.

  This medical mission trip was the 11th that Paul has had the privilege to have been a member..  He is leaving May 30 on yet another medical mission trip to Bosnia.

  The winner of the attendance pot was not in attendance - Ray Pumphrey.

NOTE: Our program next week will be Stan Pinnick in his role as Port Commissioner.

May 27, 2008

  King Lion Paul was called away on an emergency so Lion Secty Jerry filled in at the helm. Jerry called upon Lion JoAnn Frazer who announced a pot-luck luncheon for Lion Helge to celebrate his 97th birthday. The luncheon will be held at the Hoquiam Methodist Church, June 9, 2008, at 12:00 Noon. He then recapped all of the upcoming Lions events around the Zone (as reported in lest week's Nozey Lion.)  There was one glaring error of omission,  the Queets-Clearwater Lions Charter dinner is on June 7, 2008.  Further, the start times for all of the Lions functions announced last week is 6:00 PM.  (there, the Editor's goofs have been corrected)

  The program committee for the month of June consists of  Pete Hegg, Larry Jones, and Ed Rosi.

  Having no further business - and as announced last week - Lion George Powers introduced Port Commissioner, Stan Pinnick. Stan has been on the Port Commission for 5 years and has become quite admired for his ability and forthrightness.

  His presentation today was to make us aware of the new projects in which the Port is either now engaged or soon will be. He further mentioned projects - "on the drawing boards" - that the Port is considering that have yet to be "nailed-down". They include; a port-of-entry for an Asian automobile manufacturer, a ship/barge loading facility at the Rayonier dock in Hoquiam for a local wood chip manufacturer, and a commuter airline between Hoquiam and Portland.

  Stan then proceeded to give us a detailed report on all of the Port properties that have been around for a while. Included in his report was praise for the new (high end) condominiums at Westport and the yacht basin to serve the condo owners. The one gloomy report was that he golf course a Westport appears to be dead.

  Closing on a high note, Stan reported that the Port's $1.4 million deficit is NO MORE, and is now making a little money.

Once again Ken Johnson's name was drawn for the attendance pot. Sadly KJ was not in attendance.

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