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8/ 11, 14, 15 & 16------CHARLOTTE-SHELBURNE ROTARY CLUB, HANDS TO HONDURAS-TELA PROJECT,   

 CONVERSATIONS WITH KAY -----VCAM, CHANNEL 15 , COMCAST       

AIRS,  MONDAYS AT 8 PM,   THURSDAYS AT 8 AM ; FRIDAYS  AT 5 AM AND SATURDAYS AT 5:30 PM

Charlotte Shelburne Rotary

Wednesday, August 6, 2014, 7:30 a.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room

President Richard Fox led the group in the pledge and Kris Engstrom gave her usual apt devotional.

When everyone was “sated” with their delicious breakfast (“sated” was Richard’s word of the day!), he introduced our guests, guest speaker Julie Moore, Past District Governor Clint Reichart, and David Gladstone.

Coming events:

Wednesday, Aug. 13 – Committee meetings (and Richard will have task assignments for each committee to tackle).

Thursday, Aug. 14 – board meeting at Trinity at 7:30

Saturday, Aug. 16 – Shelburne Day – we still need volunteers to help with the Rotary food and information tent. There will be a sign-up sheet next week.

Wednesday, Aug. 20 – Surprise presentation – and discussion of the new budget.

Friday, Aug. 22 – serving at Charlotte Senior Center barbecue.

Wednesday, Sept. 17 – District Governor Bruce Pacht of Lebanon, NH, will come for his official visit – and he comes bearing gifts!

AND MARK YOUR CALENDAR. Our speaker on Sept. 1 will be Frank Bryant from UVM, an always fascinating speaker whose great grasp of US history illuminates the events of today – in a humorous and witty way. This is a great meeting to invite anyone who has expressed interest in Rotary to attend as your guests.

Announcements:

Linda Gilbert encouraged everyone to plan to attend the Latin Dance Salsa Party at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms on Friday, Sept. 5. This is the fourth year for the Latin Dance Party, and celebrates CSR’s connection with Honduras, raising funds for the Hands to Honduras Tela project including the new neonatal intensive care unit and the women’s health clinic. Tickets are $30 and available from the Flynn, or Linda.

Michael Clapp gave a report on the Frog Bit Harvesting project which began last week. Kris Engstrom, Denny and Barbara Bowen, Howard and Barbara Seaver, and Doris Sage helped with the eradication of the invasive species. The work isn’t done, and more Rotary volunteers would be welcome to help. We are committed for 72 hours of volunteering.

Michael also said  that work on the Hinesburg Garden Shed will probably continue on Aug. 23 or Aug. 30 – he’ll know the date by next week and will have a sign up sheet.

He reminded the club of the project from last year cutting buckthorn on the Shelburne Nature Trail. The pile of buckthorn we cut is still waiting to be chipped and he will contact Shelburne Public Works about getting a better chipper to get the job done.

Sam Feitleberg reported on the Veterans’ Memorial. The project is going very well and they are currently selling memorial bricks that can be purchased and engraved in honor of friends and relatives who were in the military. Sam has order forms for you to sign up and purchase a brick.

Sergeant at Arms

Evan Webster issued a challenge to everyone making a happy fine donation: based on the embarrassment of those who had mistakenly thought the flowers on the tables were from Kris Engstrom (as if Kris would ever produce such sad and droopy centerpieces). His challenge – pay a fine if you made that mistake.

Joan Lenes – blamed her hearing aid malfunction for mis-hearing Dave’s promise to teach salsa dancing at the Latin Dance Party

Linda Barker – Dragon Boat Races on Sunday

Bob Sanders – for missing some meetings – and appreciating John Dupee’s joke

Sam Feitleberg – happy

Terrell Titus – a scoot fine – a warm hug from Clint, our special guest – attending the Dragon Boat event

John Beal – has a new puppy – explored the south western corner of Quebec along Highway 202, right across the border from Rouses Point and Mooers Corners where there are vineyards with tastings, interesting restaurants and lovely scenery. Highly recommended.

John Dupee – apologies for not knowing if the flowers were from Kris

Denny Bowen – celebrating their 53rd anniversary

Ed Cafferty – also celebrating an anniversary

Richard Fox – congratulations to Dennis on his retirement – Josephine’s first sentence: “I book.”

David Gladstone – a special award to his daughter

Lara Keenan – fun attending a Champlain College Makers Faire workshop

Carol Obuchowski – volunteering at the Dragon Boat event – daughter’s birthday

Dennis Webster – retired

Mikey (with Gary Marcotte) – a trip to Maine and the ocean

Roz Graham – seconding John Beal’s enthusiasm for the cross border visit to Quebec on Highway 202 – it’s also the route to an excellent chrome maintenance company in Ormstown if you have need of such an obscure service.

Kris Engstrom – a clue to know that she didn’t do the floral centerpieces – the rule is that they should not be so tall as they prevent people from seeing across the table.

Dave Jonah – missed a meeting – made a trip to Montreal to watch his team play basketball.

Linda Gilbert – Dragon Boat volunteer – praise for Linda Barker who handled the finances for the Dragon Boat event all day.

Lucky draws:

Julie Moore drew Ed Cafferty’s number – but he chose the wrong ticket and missed the $142 pot.

Mikey drew Carol Obuchowski’s number and she won a ticket to the Latin Dance Party

Phosphorus in Lake Champlain

Julie Moore of Stone Environmental in Montpelier gave a well-illustrated and documented talk about the causes, impact, implications and campaign for control of phosphorus in Lake Champlain. The lake drains 8,234 square miles of the Champlain basin, the greatest portion of it in Vermont. 200,000 people depend on the lake for their drinking water. Phosphorus is currently in the news, since it was high levels of phosphorus in Lake Erie that were thought to be responsible for the high rate of algae blooms which created toxins that made the water dangerous to drink.

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Julie’s charts and graphs showed that the highest concentrations of phosphorus are found in St. Albans Bay and the southern end of the lake, and are low in Shelburne Bay. Phosphorus is washed into the lake when rain erodes fields, when stream banks fail, from unpaved roads, parking lots and wastewater treatment facilities, although this has become much less of a problem since phosphates were banned in detergents and wastewater treatment techniques were improved. Other strategies that help are plantings on stream banks to reduce erosion, rain gardens and better run-off management on highways.

The biggest threat to the lake is the increasing amount of rain fall which results in more erosion and raises phosphorus in the lake. It is estimated that 817 metric tons of phosphorus go into the lake each year. The carrying capacity of the body of water is 533 and of that Vermont’s share would be 345 metric tons.

Cost of possible measures to reduce runoff are estimated to be $150 million a year for the next ten years. Currently $10 million to $15 million is being spent annually through state and federal programs.

Julie said that solving the problem will need more technical know how, political will, financial wherewithal and dependable long-term funding mechanisms.

Reported by Rosalyn Graham