The View, 2/12/15 – Our Adopt-A-Highway Program

Next Week: A presentation from the Mendocino Community Foundation!

Prez John Cottle opened today’s meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

This Thought for the Day was shared by John Porter: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” –Teddy Roosevelt

John P shared a Thought for the Day.

Happy Dollars:

• Ray is happy for a memorable Charter Night. Yes, it was!
• Pete is happy to report on the success of Cornelia’s Black & White Ball, the fundraiser she organized for the Mendocino Art Center.
  

  Happy Pete.

  

  Jeffry’s happy too.

• Jeffry: ditto on Pete’s comment.
• John P. is happy his elbow is feeling better.
• John C. also happy for Black & White Ball. And for Dean and Bruce doing clean-up of Rotary Park, inclusive of tree limbing.
• Matt is happy he got a new pony tail. 🙂
• Guenter is happy to send Charter Night photos to anyone who wants them. (Heather will also post them to The View.)
• Donna happy to celebrate husband’s birthday.
• Other happy celebrations: Cornelia’s husband’s birthday, and the birthdays of Roger’s wife and Matt’s wife. Jeffry too!

Sunshine Report:
Jerry’s back home, feeling better and getting his strength back. Hopefully he’ll be back in attendance in two or three weeks.
Wilma is getting stronger, should join us again soon. Joe too!

Announcements:

• John C announced that Casino Night is three weeks from this Saturday, on March 7! Every Club member needs to sell at least 2 tickets to the event, and donate a raffle prize or bottle of wine worth at least $25. More volunteers are needed for the event!! Advertising starts in the local papers today, and will run for another 3 weeks. All raffle prizes should be delivered to Pete, and all proceeds from ticket sales go to Gary. If you need more tickets to sell, there are extras available at the Mendosa’s Hardware store.
• The Club’s Board meeting will be next Monday at Mendo Hotel, noon, 2/16/15. Last week’s meeting was postponed due to the power outage.
• International Committee will meet today after our regular meeting.
  

  Donna shares news about youth activities.

• Donna: as youth services director, she provided this update: The dictionaries were delivered to our local 3rd graders, and there are a few extras to sell for $20 — let Donna know if you want one! She’ll bring them next week. Also, the high school students’ scholarship applications will be coming in in March, with interviews in April. Stay tuned!
• 

  Dean shows off our new and improved Membership Directory!

  Dean showed a hard copy of our new Membership Directory. Let him know if you want to buy a hard copy ($12-15) — he’ll take orders next week. If any editing of your profile is needed, let him and/or Bruce know asap! The Directory looks great, and includes our updated bylaws and full profiles of our members. Lots of interesting details in there!  Check it out.

• Magnetic Rotary pins are in — $5 each. No more holes punched in your nice clothes! See Dean if you’d like to purchase one.

John P, master of ceremonies for today’s program.

Today’s Program
John P asked several Finemaster questions related to roads, both globally and in the US, ancient and modern. After the Finemaster session, we watched the training video for our Adopt-A-Highway project. He’ll ask for sign-ups for our first clean-up session for our stretch of road from Big River Bridge to Lansing Street.

From the CalTrans training video:

The acronym “CREW PLANS” will tell you what you need to do.

Contact CalTrans at least 5 days before you work, but no more than 1 month, to notify them of your plans.
Review safety procedures before beginning work at designated area.
Evaluate weather conditions, and don’t work when dark, rainy or foggy.
Wear your safety gear. Hard hats, gloves, vests, safety glasses, long pants and boots.

Park in a safe place, at least 6′ from the lane of traffic.
Look out for danger and look out for each other. Always work facing oncoming traffic.
Alert CA Highway Patrol immediately (by calling 9-1-1) if an extremely dangerous object is found.
Never risk injury. Do not work within 6 feet of the traffic flow. Do not go in front of guardrails, etc.
Stack your bags at the roadside in a safe location where CalTrans can pick them up.

The “bag it, move it or leave it” sheet will tell you what to do with unusual, sharp or unidentifiable items. A safety officer must be present at every work day.

In early March we’ll have a meeting to plan our first workday (after Casino Night). You’ll need to bring your own gloves, and all other equipment will be provided.

The Rotary logo is featured on our Adopt-A-Highway safety vests.

Raffle drawing winners: Harold and John C. had the winning tickets, though neither drew the joker. The pot is at $79 and growing.