BBRC Reveille

• BBRC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER • VOL 22, NO 32, MARCH 2, 2010 •

IN THIS ISSUE
"Making Green vs. Preserving Green: the Landmark Debate Surrounding Alaska's Proposed Pebble Mine," Cary Kopczynski and Alex Rule | Opener | BBRC Retreat, March 19-20 | Preserve Planet Earth: Spring Highway Clean-Up | Student of the Month: Kristen Bechtold | Special Newcomers' Club Event: Bowling at the Lucky Strike | Computers for the World — Antigua | A Lesson About the Bellevue 5K | Web Fun

THIS WEEK

"Bellevue Police Update," Linda Pillo, Bellevue Police Chief [Martinka]

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." ~ Native American Proverb

“Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?” ~ Groucho Marx

Opener

President Margie Burnett called the meeting to order bright and early at 7:20 am. Matt DeJulio gave the Invocation, and Christine Addison introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.

Everybody sang Happy Birthday to Frank Young, who told us he was celebrating his 69th birthday. Way to go, Frank!

TOP

Annual BBRC Retreat, March 19-20

Chuck Kimbrough encouraged us all to sign up for the BBRC Annual Retreat, to be held at the Inn at Port Hadlock on March 19-20. Jonathan Koshar won a free dinner at the Retreat when his name was drawn from those who had signed up early. Another name will be drawn next week.

Click here to sign up for the Retreat.

TOP

Preserve Planet Earth: Spring Highway Clean-Up

A Highway Clean-Up Work Party is scheduled for Saturday, March 27. We will meet at the Wilburton Park-and-Ride, located just south of downtown Bellevue at 720 114th Ave SE, at 8:30 am.

Please bring gloves and warm clothing, and wear shoes that you don't mind getting muddy. Helmets and orange vests will be provided.

Family and friends over age 13 are encouraged to participate in this project, which should take less than 2 hours. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Scharnhorst.

TOP

Student of the Month: Kristen Bechtold

Ryan Scharnhorst introduced the Student of the Month, Kristen Bechtold, a senior at Sammamish High School. Kristen was accompanied by her father and mother, Ed and Babette Bechtold, her sister, and her school counselor, Erica Mullin.

Kristen has a 3.95 GPA and has already been accepted to Western Washington University and the Pratt Institute. She has been involved in the Link Crew Program, the Bellevue Arts Fair, the Totem Reach Peer Tutoring Program and Amnesty International. She is also the Sammamish High School Yearbook Editor in Chief.

TOP

Instead of meeting at Jitters this month, the Newcomers' Club will hold a new member bowling mixer at Lucky Strike on Tuesday, March 9th, from 6:00-8:00 pm. Come for fellowship and fun! Bowling skill is not required. Wendi Fischer challenges everyone to a "style" contest.

Cost will be approximately $10-$15 per person, including shoe rental (final cost depends on how many attend).

RSVP to Wendi to say you will be coming.

TOP

Computers for the World — Antigua

Tamara "Tamika" Dean spoke to us about her recent trip to Antigua for Computers for the World, along with John Martinka and Steve Lingenbrink.

Tamara said it was very touching to see the looks on the kids' faces as our team set up computers in their schools. She also told us how pleased the kids were to receive dictionaries from our team, as they were unable to complete their homework assignments without them.

TOP

A Lesson About the Bellevue 5K

Elena Howell and her third grade class (Jane Kuechle, Wendi Fischer, Chris Addison, Paul Chapman, David Bolson, Andrew Face, Katherine De Stephano, and John DeWater played various roles) filed in to promote the Bellevue 5K in an original and fun way.

The Bellevue 5K will be held on April 25 at Crossroads Park, and "Miss Elena" started out by showing a video of the Bellevue 5K field trip, then asking the class if they had any questions. Several students asked silly questions about the 5K and were often rapped on the knuckles with Miss Elena's ruler for getting out of line. Paul Chapman was sent to the corner wearing a dunce cap, which was very becoming to him.

By the time they were done with the skit, we all had our marching orders:

Form a team of 10 members.
Register our teams at active.com (click yellow button in upper right area of page that says "Create Your Team")
Volunteer to help out with the Bellevue 5K; contact Tim Johnstone.

Click on photos for larger images.

TOP

BBRC Women On the Town

Eight women Rotarians from the BBRC enjoyed dinner together at the Palomino in downtown Bellevue, Saturday, February 27th. Several went on to enjoy "Lost in Yonkers," playing at the Village Theatre in Issaquah.

PIctured below (L-R): Colleen Turner, Ann Norman, Desiree Yuzawa, Lynne Gauthier, Joellen Monson, Jenny Andrews, Jane Kuechle, Aisha Kabani
Photo courtesy of Jane Kuechle

Colleen Turner, Ann Norman, Desiree Yuzawa, Lynne Gauthier, Joellen Monson, Jenny Andrews, Jane Kuechle, Aisha Kabani

TOP

FRIDAY's PROGRAM

"Making Green vs. Preserving Green: the Landmark Debate Surrounding Alaska's Proposed Pebble Mine," Cary Kopczynski and Alex Rule

Bob Holert introduced our speakers, Cary Kopczynski and Alex Rule, who spoke about "Making Green vs. Preserving Green: the Landmark Debate Surrounding Alaska's Proposed Pebble Mine."

Cary began his presentation by commenting about the extent to which mankind is contributing to the destruction of the planet. He spoke about a massive swirling pool of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas, located in the North Pacific Gyre, 1000 miles off the coast of California. He then talked about the toxic pollution making the fish inedible in the Owyhee River in Southeastern Oregon and Priest Lake in Northern Idaho. Getting closer to home, he mentioned an article that appeared in the Seattle Times on January 20, 2010: "Pacific's Rising Acid Levels Threatening Marine Life."

Cary is clearly against Alaska's proposed Pebble Mine Project, which is spearheaded by Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., a Canadian company. It is an extremely large (3.6 million acres) and controversial copper, gold, and molybdenum open pit mine proposed for development within one of Alaska's Crown Jewel watersheds draining into Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska. The Bristol Bay watershed lies within the region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. This is an area that encompasses the headwaters of some very important salmon spawning streams that feed the Kvichak, Nushagak, and Mulchatna Rivers. These streams include the legendary waters of Upper Talarik Creek and the Koktuli Rivers.

The waters within Bristol Bay are home to Alaska¹s largest sustainable, commercial, sockeye salmon fishery, and Cary believes that it will be destroyed if the Pebble Mine project comes to fruition. Cary is skeptical that new technologies can mitigate the environmental damage. Cary showed a graphic photo of a former open pit mine in Butte, Montana, that contains 1,000 feet of toxic water, and he vehemently believes that it would be irresponsible to allow this to happen in Alaska.

Alex Rule followed Cary, first thanking his mom for his passion to preserve Planet Earth. For five summers during his childhood, Alex's mom took her three boys in a VW van on 10-week adventures. These treks included drives along the coast of Maine, down the St. Lawrence River, through the Canadian Maritime Provinces, and also the national parks of North America. Alex marveled at the medieval walled city in Quebec City and the tides at the Bay of Fundy.

On July 1, Alex will once again chair BBRC's Preserve Planet Earth Committee.

TOP

Web Fun

Laughing Baby