Brian Martens, Fire Chief

LAST WEEK
Dick Griffith was our only guest last week as he was here for his club’s peach sales. President Susan Van Deren announced that we now have a new post office box here in Windsor. It is Number 23. Susan also said she would be visiting the clubs that have donated to the tornado relief effort to personally thank them for their assistance.

PROGRAM

The program for the day was presented by Chief Brian Martens of the Windsor- Severance Fire Protection District. Brian showed a video of the tornado of May 22 and its aftermath. He said that Mike Nelson of Channel 7 in Denver told him the storm had wind speeds of up to 165 and was up to ¾ mile wide.

Assessments after the storm showed that there were 102 homes rendered uninhabitable. 154 homes required some repair and 340 showed no structural damage. These were designated with red, yellow and green markings or signs respectively. The immediate storm response was handled from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the basement of the Fire Station. Martens said that in spite of what the storm did to the community, we got lucky. The time of day and the fact that it was the last day of school meant that many children were still inside and protected when the storm hit. Martens said it was also unusual that there were no fires as many of the trees that were uprooted broke gas lines when they fell. There was a police commander training program in town at the time and the participants were enjoying a round of golf at Pelican Lakes when the storm hit.

Martens credits Terry Walker for having everything in place on computers in the EOC.
Some of the things that went occurred included;
800 MHz radio system went down. Emergency responders had to use Simplex (car to car) system.
75 police officers responded within 45 minutes; many from surrounding communities.
Two fire chiefs arrived within hours
National Guard was here the first day.
A “Level 3” Team from Jefferson County was sent in.

Other issues that need to be addressed included portable power for street lights, need for a utility rep in the EOC, and power for a common fueling station.. Martens still gets emotional when he talks about the storm and the amazing response that the citizens of Windsor showed.

QUIZ: Answer to last week’s question: Dalton Trumbo was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “Johnny Got His Gun”. Next question: A Pepperdine graduate and coach is the model for the bronze Olympic torso that stands in front of the Los Angeles Coliseum unveiled prior to the opening of the 1984 Summer Games. Who is this person?

Mark Ludy, Author/Illustrator

Mark Ludy of Loodles was our speaker for the day. Ludy told us how a trip to Bulgaria when he was 18 years old made a huge difference in his life. He told how he was so taken and moved by a little girl in an orphanage who clung to him during his visit there. Ludy has been an artist most of his life. In 1998 he got the idea to wrote and illustrate his first book called “The Farmer". He was ready to give up the project and trash it when his grandfather asked him what the farmer would do.

His second book was “The Grump” known only to a deaf mute girl as the man with the upside down smile. He did most of his writing in coffee shops around Boulder and then realized his dream to open a coffee shop that catered to people who want to create something. Ludy says he loves living in this community and that his heartbeat for the future is to facilitate and encourage others. He says, “If you have not love, everything else is worthless.”

Ludy’s latest book is a series of illustrations with no written text, but the illustrations have dozens of subplots. The name of the book is “The Flower Man”.

Guests: We had two guests last week, Rev. Rex Chambers and Mark Linnell. Both are former Rotarians and interested in joining our club.

President Susan Van Deren told us that the food bank perishables was being handled by others so we will concentrate our efforts on planting trees next spring. Karen Kunz has taken over the Senior Cake Day and announced that the next cake day will be September 10.

Quiz: Roberto Clemente was the last major league player to hit an inside the park, grand slam, walk off home run.

Next Question: Dalton Trumbo who was born in Montrose and grew up in Grand Junction won a Pulitzer Prize for a book that was later made into a movie. Can you name it?

ROTARY INFORMATION:

Susan Van Deren told us of some of the Fellowship Groups Rotary has. For a complete list, go to: http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Fellowship/
GlobalNetworkingGroups/Pages/ridefault.aspx

Some of the more unusual ones listed include:

License Plate Collecting

Petanque (that should be a trivia question)

Heart Surgery Survivors

Egyptology

Poultry Industry

There are many more. Check them out at the URL above.

Michael Rothmiller, Author

PROGRAM:
Michael Rothmiller presented the program last week. Rothmiller has a lengthy and varied resume. He is an author, screen writer, was an executive for Sony, and has served on various boards and committees including some for US Presidents.

Rothmiller’s books include “Old Dog’s Guide for Pups” and “My Hero. He has received letters from Queen Elizabeth’s staff saying she read and enjoyed the “Old Dogs” He has also received a letter from Laura Bush voicing the same sentiment. His book, “My Hero” has hit the NY Times Best Seller List and is endorsed by every living former president. It is a collection of essays and letters from children ages 6 through 18 of service people serving in the Middle East. He said the proceeds from the book are donated to the Armed Forces YMCA.

Rothmiller showed a series of slides and told stories about some of the people he has met and some of the experiences he has had over the years. These have included Arnold Schwarzenegger, President Bill Clinton, Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, Charlton Heston, Cheryl Teigs and others.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND GUESTS:

Bill Braydon of the Ft. Collins Foothills Club was a visiting Rotarian. We also met Rev. Rex Chambers who is the new pastor at St. Albans Episcopal Church in Windsor. Chambers has been a Rotarian in Summit County and is interested in transferring his membership to our club.

President Susan Van Deren announced that we have received a check for $757 from the Golden Rotary Club to be put towards tornado relief. Bryon McAvoy announced that the committee considering how best to use the money came up with two projects, The first, and more immediate need is to refill the frozen meat stores at the Weld County Food Bank here in Windsor. The second is to establish a tree replacement program for the homeowners displaced by the tornado. The club voted to purchase the frozen meats immediately, and put together a tree replacement program for approximately 100 homes for next spring as many of the houses are still unlivable and have no means of taking care of trees at this time,

Our newest member, JaNelle Wamsley, gave a mini-profile of herself. She is a native of Ft, Lupton and works for the New Frontier Bank. She is also a licensed realtor and competes in triathlons in the summer.

Quiz: The Pittsburgh Pirates were originally known as the Pittsburgh Alleghenies. In the late 1800’s the league they were playing in fell apart, and the National League was created. In the process, the Philadelphia club failed to protect a star shortstop and Pittsburgh signed him as a player. Philadelphia cried that they had been “pirated”. The name stuck and in the early 1900’s, the club changed its name officially. An interesting sidelight: Pittsburgh is the only City I know of where all of its professional sports teams have the same color scheme…black and gold.

Next Question: Who was the last person to hit an inside the park, walk-off, grand slam home run in professional baseball?

Larimer County Hospice

Guests last week included:
Betty Sue Allen, mother of Susan Van Deren
Sol Alsina, former Rotary Exchange Student from Buenos Aries, and Marisa Ryber, stepdaughter of Ron Clark. Both of these ladies were guests of Ron’s.

Ralph Moore was elected as our President Elect. He will be installed as president in June of next year.

PROGRAM:

Our program for the day was supplied by a guest from last week, Gail Neben. Gail is new member of the Ft. Collins Downtown Club and is the director of marketing for Larimer County Hospice which is in its 30^th year. It provides hospice care in the Loveland-Ft. Collins area. Neben said they are largely funded through Medicare and Medicaid, private insurance and donations. No one is turned away. Neben said that hospice is there to provide honor, dignity, peace and to surround the person with love as their life comes to an end.

Neben said that although more than 50% of all patients stay in their homes during hospice care, there is a wing of McKee Hospital with seven beds that serve the purpose also. She said they give comfort care only and do not provide palliative care. Patients in hospice last an average of 30 days longer than those not using hospice care. Each patient is assigned a care team which may include one or more of the following: Registered nurse, medical director, Certified Nurses Aides, social workers/councilors, chaplains, music therapist, massage therapist, trained volunteers, and grief counselors for the families. She commented that the chaplains do not preach, but walk the spiritual path with the patient.

Those who stay in hospice care for six months are required to be reviewed to see if hospice is still needed. Neben said that in addition to their normal funding, they hold four fund raisers per year and some people leave money in their wills or buy insurance policies naming hospice as beneficiary. Also, families and friends of patients can buy memorial “leafs” or memorial bricks.

Tornado relief: We were pleased to have a representative of the Loveland Rotary Club stop by to give us a check for $5000 for the tornado relief fund.

Quiz: Herbert Hoover was the first American President to have a telephone on his desk in the oval office. Next question: How did the Pittsburgh Pirates get their name?