SPOKES VOL. LXVI NO. 7 August 27, 2019
We were greeted by Kevin Schooley and Barry Winkel
President Odland opened the meeting with “America the Beautiful” and Art Ayers provided the invocation including sending our thoughts to Bill Roberts and Bob Copping as they recover.
Guests:
Our Guests this morning included prospective member Kaileigh Eddy; Jim Sullivan, the president of the Saugatuck Rotary Club, former mayor Bob Burr, and Nick Culp and Mick Middaugh from Entergy.
Spotlights:
Jim Sullivan serves on the District 6360 Foundation committee. He urged our support for the district foundation raffle and thanked us for both our support and our use of the foundation in the past.
Sue Duval gave us an update on our song project: The votes are in and we will be keeping 38 of our songs, 7 are questionable and 33 will likely be eliminated. We will move to 22 programs rather than the 25 we have now and will try and have special programs for holiday seasons.
We are looking at an updated recording system to replace the CD system and player we use now.
Next week our program will present some songs for our consideration, sung by the West Michigan Mercenary Choir – members of the Men’s West Michigan Chorus – a group of barbershop quartet singers.
Announcements:
- After our September 3rd meeting (next week) there will be a “Lessons Learned” meeting to discuss ways to improve our two pancake breakfasts. All are invited to attend and share your ideas.
- Blessings in a Backpack will be starting soon. More info to follow.
- Haven Harvest is scheduled for Saturday October 19
- November 21st is our Chamber ABO at the Moose Lodge with the Moose.
- December 10th is our Holiday Party at the Yacht Club
- December 17th is the Open Door Dinner at the Methodist Church
- December 21st is our day to do the Salvation Army Bell Ringing
- There is a Performance Series event this weekend.
- SHAES will be holding a pancake breakfast this Sunday at the Fire Hall
- Bob Brickman was pleased to announce that the Rotary Foundation was awarded the highest rating for international charities and that Polio Plus announced that another country was added to the polio free list this year, leaving only Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only countries with polio cases.
Songs
Our first song today was voted off our song list.“Daisy Bell” and it’s “bicycle built for two will remain on the list until we get the revisions done.Its loss was much bemoaned by Tom Noverr who works at Rock and Road Bicycle Shop.Our second song, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” will stay on the list as a reminder of how hard we work, especially when Dinah blows here horn.We finished with a great Rotary song, “Sing! Everyone Sing!”.
50/50
John Hamilton was excited to have a chance to win big bucks, but then drew the unlucky “7”.Tom Renner did win $2 in our second drawing.
Fines:
- Lots of Anniversaries this week:
- Bob and Gail Brickman – 60 years
- Art and Cindy Bolt – 57 years
- Tom and Karen Ruesink – 56 years
- Nick and Nancy Tuit – 53 years and son’s 48th birthday
- Mark and LaRae Odland – 48 years
- Dan Thompson is pleased that his son is returning from a deployment in the middle east
- Tom Renner was at the community picnic this past weekend and noticed a couple of Rotarians hanging out in the Kiwanis tent.
- Jerry Gruber thanked Kevin Schooley for volunteering to clean the cooking utensils after the pancake breakfast.
- Kevin Schooley is happy but looking for some help.
- Dene Hadden noted that he is happily retired
- There were numerous shout outs for both the “Blue” and the “Green” as college football begins this week.
- Tom Fleming reminded everyone that B1G begins today for gas discounts if you have a Fuel Rewards card.
Bob Brickman introduced Nick Culp and Mick Midaugh to talk about the Palisades shutdown
Nick began by talking about the history of the Palisades plant and its safety and production record since 1971 and especially over the last 10 years.
Because the cost of producing electricity at gas fired plants is so low (about half that of a nuclear plant) and is expected to stay low, Entergy is getting out of the business of selling power. As a result the Palisades plant will be shut down in May of 2022. The plant will be sold to Holtec, a company that specializes in decommissioning and cleaning up nuclear plants.
Once decommissioning begins, it is expected to take ten to fifteen years to complete. If a solution to the stored nuclear waste is reached, the property would be available for future development.
Next summer a citizen’s advisory panel will be assembled, based on recommendation put together by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency that will help determine the programs Holtec and Entergy will need to implement to facilitate the closing and developing plans for retraining employees.
Of the 600 workers at the plant, about 300 will be retained by Holtec. Another 150 or so will be eligible for retirement when the plant closes. Many of those were offered a bonus to remain on board until then. Of the remaining employees, each will meet individually with the HR staff and develop a plan for their future, including transfer to other facilities or placement with other businesses in the area or retraining. The Greater South Haven Area Community Foundation will likely have a role in the transition of workers, local governments and school districts as the plant closes.
Bob Brickman thanked Mick and Nick for their program and presented them with our speaker’s pens.
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
Next week’s program: Dene Hadden and Paul Hemmeter will present members of the West Michigan Men’s Chorus – the Mercenary Chorus.
Greeters: Ross Woodhams and Larry Wittkop
Editarian: Dene Hadden