Preliminaries

President Phil rang the bell at 7:30 AM with the precise timing of an Italian train departing Venice for Rome. Phil then proceeded to inform the assembled passengers that the first Memorial Day was created to honor the people who served in the Civil War. It was not until 1912 that the first Indianapolis 500 was run. Those of you with a Southern heritage will know that this is also the weekend for the Coco-Cola 600 from Charlotte, North Carolina.

A moment of silence to honor US service men and women was led by Larry May, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Chuck Kimbrough needed his specs to interpret the names of many visiting Rotarians, including eight from the Duvall Rotary Club, Judy Clibborn from Mercer Island, Bill Pacer from Seattle 4, and Dean Cummings from Newport/Priest River, in town to board an Alaska cruise for his 40th anniversary. It is believed that his wife was also in attendance and might be joining Dean on the cruise. Guests included Pam Fehrman, Jeff Anderton, Timothy O’Brien, Joe Cast, and Norma Widerker.

Chuck reminded all the guests that they “are always welcome at the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club.”

Recognition: Jenny Andrews & the BBRC

Jenny Andrews received special recognition for the completion of her studies at the District 5030 Rotary Academy. It appears to have been a rather rigorous year, with only 15 graduates from a starting class of 60. Congratulations, Jenny!

Conductor Phil than assured members that the BBRC was on the right track by exhibiting the Presidential Citation received from District Governor Don Gregory for the 2007-2008 Rotary year. Congratulations, BBRC!

District Conference Report

John Martinka reported that the District 5030 Conference, held in the Tri-cities last weekend, was well attended by BBRCers, with nine making the four-hour drive to renew old Rotary friendships, make new ones, hear great speeches, get pumped about Rotary, and learn a lot. John also reported that the Conference dis-organizers achieved their goals in spades, as most attendees left feeling that the conference was definitely disorganized.

This will be in sharp contrast to the 2009 District Conference being organized by our own Wayne McCaulley. Traces of the BBRC DNA were evident in Wayne’s presentation promoting next year’s conference in Victoria, BC. More information on the 2009 conference in available here.

New Member: Joe Castleberry

Conductor Phil slowed the meeting at this point to allow a new member to join the passenger list. Dr. Joe Castleberry was introduced by his sponsor, Jim Owens. Jim explained that Joe grew up in Alabama, later attending Princeton University (New Jersey) to earn a Master of Divinity degree. It was then on to Columbia University (New York) for a Doctorate of Education.

Joe is an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God, the sponsoring denomination of Northwest University in Kirkland (Washington), where he is the President and Seahawks landlord. Joe has written and spoken globally on a variety of subjects and has many publications to his credit, including The Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Joe was warmly welcomed into membership, as his wife Kathleen pinned him with a new Rotary pin and the BBRC Express resumed its journey.

Computer Recycling at the District Assembly

From 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, this Saturday, May 31, at the District Assembly, Computers for the World (C4W) will be collecting old computer equipment, working or not, for rerfurbishment. They are taking most peripherals too, and will be in the main parking lot at BCC. There will be a few Rotary banners to catch everyone’s attention.

By recycling your old computer equipment, you are keeping computers out of the landfills, and C4W can provide computers to people in need.

Fees:

• All computers, working or not, accepted for free. A tax deductible receipt provided for all donations. All hard drive data securely erased.

• Keyboards, mice, power cables and small speakers are accepted for free.

• $10.00 for all monitors.

• $5.00 for all printers and scanners under 15 pounds; 35 cents per pound after 15 pounds.

Not Accepted:

• Televisions

• Cardboard or Styrofoam

• VCR’s, microwaves, stereo equipment or any other household appliances.

Contact Andy McDonald if you have questions. Click here for a flyer with this information.

Day of Community Service: Jubilee 2008

Chuck Kimbrough introduced the club to a Day of Community Service called Jubilee 2008, to be held on Saturday, August 16th, in the greater Seattle area, with over 40 churches participating in home and school improvement projects.

Surprise on June 13

Newly minted graduate Jenny Andrews announced that she has a surprise for the June 13th meeting. Jenny encouraged all members to be sure to attend the session.

Rotating the Wheels on June 27

Roger Allington announced details for the Annual Rotating the Wheels dinner, set for Friday, June 27, at Maggiano's Little Italy, in Bellevue. The theme for this event is "Vacation in Italy," so dress is casual!

A social hour will begin at 6:00 pm, with dinner at 7:00, and music provided by the BBRC Rock Band. There will also be a special guest musician!

Cost per person is $50.00 and will include a Maggiano's Italian Dinner served family style at each table. There will be sufficient variety for every taste!

Online sign-up will be available very soon, and an email will be sent out when it is ready. Deadline for sign-up is June 19!

Duvall Rotary Club Auction

Carlos Aragon, former BBRC member, and now of Duvall, invited us all to the Third Annual Duvall Auction and Barbecue on Saturday, August 9, at Ward Roney's farm — a real farm, with flamingos, flip-flops and shorts (Duvall formal wear). The $20 admission charge will cover dinner and wine, but not your action with the bidding paddle.

One of the Duvall female members wanted to know where all the BBRC women members were, since Duvall has an overabundance of female members. A query was made if these ladies might be auction items and available for purchase by the BBRC. An answer was not immediately forthcoming, but they did show off a very nice 14 karat gold ring with a star sapphire.

BBRC Golf Tournament

Margie reminded us that Monday, July 28, is the date, Willows Run Eagle's Talon Course is the place, and 8:00 AM is the time for the shotgun start of the 2008 BBRC Golf Classic. She also gave out some bribes for golf trivia, which a couple of yet-to-be-identified members received. More bribes are available for the first two teams to turn in their golf registration forms.

Friday's Program
"Transportation Issues on the Eastside: is this a fight of East versus West?" Washington State Representatives Judy Clibborn & Deborah Eddy

Bob Holert introduced this dynamic pair of Washington State Representatives to inform the club of past Washington State transportation issues and the look going forward.

Judy Clibborn (klib-burn) is the former Mayor of Mercer Island and the current Transportation Chair in the Washington House of Representatives. She represents the 41st District. Deborah is the former Mayor of Kirkland and Vice Chair of the Technology, Energy and Communications Committee and a member of the Transportation Committee. She represents the 48th District.

Judy gave us an update of what has been happening with the transportation in the state, starting with the Memorial Highway on the Kitsap Peninsula, with a section of Highway 101 designated for veterans of the Korean and Viet Nam wars, and soon a section for Gulf War veterans. There is also a special gold star license plate for parents who have lost a child in the Iraq War.

The primary topic their talk was about local issues and not other current headaches such as the ferry system, snow removal on I-90, and the recent flooding of I-5 in the Centralia area.

First, they talked about the 520 floating bridge and I-405. Two years ago state voters approved a gas tax to provide payment for 400 state wide projects. Almost immediately cost overruns were experienced due to world wide demand for material, creating a two billion ($2,000,000,000) funding shortfall. Last year the shortfall was only $1.8 billion. ($1,800,000,000). This is due in part to not receiving matching funds from the federal government. It used to be we would receive 90 cents for every dollar we put up. Today it is more like 5 cents. To compound this shortfall we, as gas guzzling SUV drivers, are not driving as much, creating more shortfalls in revenue collected at the pump. So, less tax money, less federal money means more money from tolls. Guess what? There will be a toll on the 520 bridge, but not high enough to force you to drive over to I-90, which is expected to remain an un-tolled bridge. The toll is expected to be about the same as the Tacoma Narrows, which was right about $3.00 for the Gig Harbor Retreat weekend. The new 520 bridge will be six lanes, with the ability to be expanded. A major issue is how the increased traffic will be received on the Seattle side.

Deborah Eddy then looked at what is to be expected going forward. Regional co-operation is a definite necessity to solve the transportation problems in the Puget Sound region. This four county area has the greatest infrastructure gap in the country, measured as the difference between funding and need. It is purported to be $800 per person. The next city on the list is Dallas with a funding discrepancy of $400 per person. So, how can we make up this difference? There is the possibility of a public/private arrangement to have private companies build infrastructure and toll users. This has created some major problems from an economic and political standpoint in areas where it has been utilized. It is not a reasonable option for the Puget Sound region.

What the legislature must do is to be brutally honest with the citizens and tell them that the money is used up. We have to talk with Sound Transit and tell them that the focus on light rail is not realistic since we live in one of the most expensive places to build railroads in the world. More young people must get involved with the political system to help in government and the planning process. It is the responsibility of the citizens to make the right choices. Short-sighted action will not yield long-term solutions. Representative Eddy cited a book by Jared Diamond she read on a recent trip to Afghanistan, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. It is up to us to make it happen. We have the freedom to succeed and we also have the freedom to fail.

Question from the membership:

1) What about other forms of taxations such as gross weight or vehicle miles traveled?
Answer: Perhaps, but from a practical point of view, it is not expected to happen in the very near future.

(Editor’s Note: There was not much talk about I-405, but it seems to me, and I have only lived here 29 years, that it has been under constant construction for that entire length of time. Perhaps this is a topic for another meeting.)

President Phil brought the meeting to a gentle halt at its final destination at 8:30 AM by presenting the Representatives with certificates from Rotary First Harvest showing that 750 pounds of fresh produce, which will be delivered to local food banks on their behalf.

Web Fun

The Incredible Elephant Story
Courtesy of Wally Mahoney

[Get your hankies ready — another tearjerker.]

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.