Rotary Log for May 4, 2017
By Rich Greulich
Photos by Jim Rini
With only a few weeks left in his reign President James remains indefatigable. As we will see, he deftly led us through a jam-packed meeting. Lots of announcements, fines, new members and even a guest speaker.
The National Anthem was led by songstress Donna Lewallen. Greeter Beth Tuttle tested us in Four Ways. John Rice invoked the Lord’s blessing on our meal and meeting.
Apparently salt is a hot topic as we enjoyed several guests. They included Eleanore Palaszynski (hosted by Katherine Berger), Jessica Parker (Ramona Dow), Jeff Semprini (Justin Finn), Matt Randall (Craig Taylor), Tiffany George (Peter George), Irene Hall (Cindy Boyd), and Loran Sullivan (Moe Sullivan). Visiting Rotarians included David Dreyfus (Lawrence, Mass.) and Colleen Westcott (Nashua West).
Only two Rotarians celebrated their birthday this week. Mark Leonardi has been with us for 11 years. We are enjoying Andy Fleisher’s 28th year with the club.
President James reported on the disbursements approved by the Board of Directors, as follows (amount, source, recipient):
-$700, William Cash Fund, Kent LaPage gardening project at Portsmouth Middle School
-$3,500, Basic Needs, Seacoast Food Pantry
-$1,000, Basic Needs, Haven for drug prevention coloring books
-$2,000, Jeremy Alex Fund, Arts in Reach for summer camp scholarships
-$2,000, Troy Pappas, two $1,000 scholarships to Marshwood High School seniors
Announcements were plentiful. Lexie Leddy heralded the First Annual Jeremy Alex Chess Tournament. More than 60 seacoast youth were scheduled to participate the following day at Portsmouth Middle School.
Nominations are being solicited by the Vocational Awards Committee. Contact Leo Gagnon or Lexie Leddy.
Jim Rini asked for volunteers to assist in photographing our meetings.
Nancy Clayburgh reminded Rotarians to bring in their used clothes for donation at our meeting next week.
Be prepared, fellow Rotarians. There are three different opportunities for volunteering this coming Saturday, May 13. First, Nancy Clayburgh outlined our Hands On project of gardening at Portsmouth Middle School. Dave Underhill plugged the Race For Cure sponsored by the Seacoast Rotary Club at Strawbery Banke. Lastly, our own Interact Club will be cleaning up Wallis Sands Beach.
Two new members were inducted. Madeline Warren was sponsored by Aileen Dugan. Maddie is a recent UNH graduate. She works at a market research firm in Portsmouth. (By the way, your editor recruited Maddie for the Log writing staff. She’ll be coming on board in July.)
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Wayne Semprini was sponsored by Justin Finn. A native of Portsmouth, Wayne worked in the orthopedic sales business for 35 years. Welcome aboard, Maddie and Wayne!
We are blessed with many members whose hard work makes our club the success it is. So, when a member is singled out for special recognition, you know they’ve made an impact! Amid hearty applause, President James presented Susan Gold with a Distinguished Service Citation plaque. As Communications Committee Co-Chair, Susan has been revamping our website. She’s also improving our internal and external communications.
Were we visited by the new Neal Ouellett? A kinder, gentler FineMeister? At first it seemed that way. Neal indicted several Rotarians for their various peccadillos. But in nearly all cases he absolved them of their transgressions. Then, running more true to form, Neal assigned each of their fines to be paid by an innocent Rotarian. Someone who just happened to be sitting nearby.
Proving that even lawyers have hearts, Dan Hoefle generously donated his raffle winnings of $57 to the Jeremy Alex Fund. There was no match.
Dave Holden introduced our guest speaker. Patrick “Salty” Woodbrey of the N.H. Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) spoke to us regarding winter salt reduction.
Salt is used to make snow and ice-covered roads and walkways safe. New Hampshire was the first state to use salt to do so. And it serves good purposes. Road safety facilitates our work commute and other travel needs. It encourages cold weather tourism.
Unfortunately the use of salt also has negative effects. Vehicle corrosion is commonplace. Salt runoff onto adjacent land streams can destroy vegetation, kill fish and affect drinking water supplies.
The salt runoff problem was first identified by NHDES when the I-93 roadway was widened. The construction resulted in elevated chloride levels in four watershed areas. More pavement resulted in more salt runoff. Currently NH has 47 streams deleteriously affected by chloride.
A later NHDES report on the sources of salt use was revealing. Only 36% of salt was used on state and municipal roads. Fully 50% of salt use was attributable to parking lots! It turned out that liability concerns were causing private owners and their contractors to overuse salt.
In 2013 N.H. Limited Liability Protection legislation was enacted. This afforded private owners and their contractors the same liability protection enjoyed by ski resorts. Basically, skiing is deemed an inherently dangerous activity. Similarly, traveling on snow and ice covered roads and walkways are also inherently dangerous pursuits.
To qualify for this liability protection, owners and contractors must undergo training and be certified. The NHDES Green Snow Pro program is experiencing increased participation. The good news is that New Hampshire is at the forefront of understanding the salt issue and addressing it.
One takeaway for residential salt users is that salt is ineffective at temperatures lower than 15 degrees. That’s good to know. Especially when your spouse asks you to go out and sprinkle salt. And the Pats are about to mount their game-winning scoring drive!
Respectfully submitted, Richard Greulich
