President Jenny called the meeting to order by dinging the Rotary Bell and belting out, “Good morning, Bellevue Breakfast Rotarians!” in a booming voice enhanced by the spectacular sound system of the Glendale Country Club. Once our hearing recovered, she introduced Chris Monger to read from John Wooten and lead the invocation.
President-Elect Margie Burnett introduced the visiting Rotarians and guests. Visiting Rotarians had the opportunity to answer the question: "How would you spend seven hundred billion dollars?"
Members face the wrath of the Spider Monkey if they do not respond to the RSVP for the October 10th meeting featuring Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire. You are requested to give your “Yes” or “No” to Sayoko Kuwahara by 11:59 PM on Monday, October 6th, 2008. Guests of members must also be listed.
We also have an RSVP posted on the club’s website for the Red Dress Anniversary Dinner, Friday evening, November 7th, 2008. Remember, you are not officially signed up until you have paid onine with your credit card or until Sayoko receives your check. Deadline for sign-up AND payment is November 3. Click here to RSVP.
John Martinka showed a video of the Antigua CFW project that went as well as the video. Steve Lingenbrink and John proved to be major “stars” of this very well produced student video.
The students from Newport High Schools Cisco computer lab and their instructor, Jeff Mason, were lauded for the role they played in the success of the project. There is the potential to revisit Antigua next year with additional computers, plus dictionaries. Please contact Steve or John if you are interested.
Margie Burnett reminded members about the Rotary Family Fest this Saturday, October 4th, at 11:00 a.m. (volunteers 9:00 a.m.). This event is co-sponsored by BBRC’s Community Service Committee and the WA State DSHS at Woodridge Elementary School, 12619 SE 20th Pl, Bellevue.
Volunteers: Please email Margie Burnett with your name and names of any other volunteers you are bringing. Spouses, adult children (17 and over) and friends of BBRC members are all welcome.
SAA David Bolson is missing in action and Paul Chapman stood in as “Sergeant at Arms Liite.”
Frank Young tried to give up a hundred, but Paul only accepted a twenty. Steve Goldfarb was cited for appearing in “425 Magazine,” but the fine is reduced by half because he was wearing a Rotary pin. The S@A-Lite did not fine for lack of Rotary pins, since he was not wearing one himself.
It was noted that Steve Vincent was promoted to Senior Vice President of the Puget Sound Bank and accused of sending abusive emails, all for ten dollars. Oh, David, how we miss you! The S@A budget will surely go into default if this condition is not addressed shortly. (Editor’s Question: How can the Beavers upset USC and no dollars are exchanged?)
Twenty-five pounds for twenty-five dollars. “This is a good deal,” reported Ron Healy, who admitted that he has not seen the inside of a QFC for the past ten years, or since they went to bar code scanning, whichever occurred first. So, place your order, and green grocer Ron will make the delivery on October 22nd.
Scott Sadler provided us with a great picture of a track hoe and the dignitaries with the golden shovels that participated in the YMCA’s Coal Creek facility on September 9th. This was all possible since the BBRC put the capital campaign over the top with a $50,000 pledge that was matched 100%, allowing the club to be recognized at the $100,000 level.
Friday Program:
"The Consumer Man is Looking Out for You!" Herb Weisbaum
KOMO 4 TV personality and one of America's top consumer experts, Herb Weisbaum was introduced by Erniey Hayden, who explained that Herb has been active in consumer affairs for the past 25 years in the Seattle area, with consumer alerts on KOMO TV and radio earning national recognition and numerous awards for his efforts to protect you and me from the fraud and scams. His Emmy award-winning reports have exposed everything from quack medications to bogus investments. Herb has been "looking out" for people around here for more than 25 years.
Herb explained that he is, by nature, not a morning person, and in spite of being invited for a free breakfast at a golf course, he neither plays golf nor eats breakfast. But, encouragement from fellow KOMO staffer, Jenni Hogan, convinced him to attend. She even provided his opening statement: “G'day, Mates!”
It became apparent to BBRC members that Herb fulfills an increasingly important role in today’s society by arming consumers with information that will become their primary defense in an online world. It is now easier than it ever has been to run scams and bilk people, with little fear of arrest or prosecution. Law enforcement agencies do not have the resources to investigate “low value” cases under $250,000. We are pretty much on our own.
We sense Herb’s feeling of frustration as he admits this is a pretty good time for the con artists of the world to ply their trade, and these guys look at this as their “day job.” It is a full-time activity that can be run from anywhere in the world. One of the common features is to ask us to wire funds to Canada or some other country, to allow receipt of even greater amounts of “free” capital. Once that wire is sent your funds are gone, and you are on your own.
Herb advises that the use of a debit card is dangerous and provides no regress if your debit card number and pin are captured. He cites an example of Puyallup Arco customers whose debit card information was “skimmed” using add-on readers, or an internal device. A year later, over the 4th of July and Labor Day weekends their bank accounts were drained of $750,000 from ATM’s in California. The average account was taken for $700 to $900. Herb advised that to use your credit card is a safer and more prudent decision.
Internet-based fraud is on the rise. Over 71 million computers have been infected and can act as remote transmitting sites for the scammers. We learn that it is very necessary to keep our anti-virus and worm protection programs paid up and active. Herb also advises that you no longer have to visit remote pornographic web sites to catch bugs, since even the mainstream sites have the ability to infect our PCs.. It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine the difference between the real and fake appeals that we are exposed to on a daily basis.
The lesson over, we learned to curb our greed and keep our firewalls strong.
To learn more about Herb and his consumer protection efforts visit: www.consumerman.com.
Herb also has a passion for animals, as we were invited to participate in Fido Fest on October 4th at University Village.
President Jenny presented Herb with a lapel pin to signify that a contribution has been made to RotaCare on his behalf.
Gone Fishin'?
Courtesy of Wally Mahoney
Saturday morning I got up early, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.
The wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad throughout the day.
I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, "The weather out there is terrible."
My loving wife of 20 years replied, "Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that mess?"
I still don't know to this day if she was joking, but I've stopped fishing.