Durango High Noon Rotary Club

August 22, 2002

"Waste no tears over the grief's of yesterday." -- Euripides

[In honour of todays program]

After a highly marginal lunch, our President opened the meeting, we invocated and pledged.

Guests:

The usual summer plethora of guests! Scott Mathis treated his wife Joy to lunch. Ken Walker of Ardmore OK finally bought lunch for his wife Debbie. New member Jan Measles splurged on lunch for son Travis. New member-to-be Terry Price was cheered on by daughter Hilary. Visiting familiar faces included Cathy Crum (Past President), Kevin Bruce and Margaret Landrum (both Daybreak club), and Jim Reser (that other Rotary Club). Trooper Mike sucked up to his CHP boss David Ganevsky. Visiting Rotarians included Ruth and Jim Jaelesin (he's a Past District Governor in Illinois), the Curirie family from Brawley CA Rotary, and Jessie Farmwalt from Pagosa. She is our Assistant District Governor and presented our club with a banner bearing this years new RI theme "Sow the Seeds of Love."

Breaking News:

Jim Reser announced the evening Club has acquired 80 recent desktop computers to be sold to deserving folks for $50 each. Bob "Boxer Short" Chaput thanked the 37 individual Club members who contributed $2,800 to provide more than 700 boxer shorts and 400 Tees to the worn out firefighters. Tom Galbraith updated us on Joe Brown's grand sailing adventure -- he is back in Texas and has sold his new catamaran (there must be more to this story! Program Chair!). Joy and Scott Mathis have been married 30 years, and Bob Volger for 56 years. No, that's his birthday, also celebrated by much younger Jeannie Wheeldon.

Terry Price became our newest High Noon Rotarian. He is a lawyer and owns a beautiful llama ranch on CR 220. He follows a long legacy of Rotary, beginning with his grandfather who chartered a Rotary Club in the 1930's. We look forward to learning more about him!

You may recall the Len Goebel - Trooper Mike brouhaha last week. It continued today with Len awarding the good Trooper with his very own Krispee Kreme hat! We had three jackpot losers so the pile continues to grow.

Program: The riveting Duke and Butch Fire Show:

Butch Knowlton and Sheriff Duke Shirard presented our terrific program and they were welcomed with a thunderous standing applause. [No surprise Duke is the 85% man in a three-way election!] They provided an overview of the 24-day fire, the climatic Vallecito moment, and the outlook going forward.

For Duke, the immediate challenge was evacuating the afflicted residents. He scrambled every available County vehicle, including the prisoner van. Then he discovered the need to constantly return the residents to retrieve medicines, pets, and spoiling refrigerated foods. During the Vallecito evacuation, cars inched bumper to bumper for six hours seeking safety. Then with the people secured, the Sheriff and all Emergency people returned to rescue 260 horses initially left behind. For Butch, the task was coordinating both fire fighting efforts and the relief process. He immediately thanked the community for its help in what he described as "the worst burn conditions" ever witnessed by the professional folks.

The most horrendous day was June 18th with the fire erupting into the north Vallecito area. By 3:00 PM the blaze, fueled by less than seven percent humidity, gained momentum and moved swiftly towards the homes north of Virginia's. Suddenly, at 4:00 PM the intense fire collapsed into itself forming three tornado-like vortexes. These huge swirling infernos rapidly sucked the ground-level oxygen into itself, fluming 22,000 ft into the sky. The severe updraft sounded like "two dozen roaring Lions". Birds caught in the vortex fell to the ground, burned to death. A flock of geese, frantically flapping their wings towards safety, actually were sucked backwards towards the vortex (they finally escaped). On the ground, this intense plume yanked full grown Ponderosa pine trees, the diameter of a truck tire, straight up out of the ground and twenty-five feet into the air before crashing back to earth.

Butch is absolutely convinced this stunning vortex, by sucking the air away from the north valley residential community, this amazing freak of nature, saved many homes from total destruction. We know all this because the ferocious vortex was captured on video, shared with us by Duke and Butch. The video is being sold by the SO to benefit their Benevolence Association at $15.00 -- 80% of the 1,000 copies have already found homes.

Looking forward, both Duke and Butch are anxiously watching the skies for rain. The prospects for serious flooding with mud, ash, debris and rocks remain "fearsome". Thus far the rains have been "localized" but an area-wide rain of just one inch would be devastating. Butch pointed out that in normal non-burn times, a rain would generate 80% water runoff and 20% floating debris. Now the ratios are reversed. A deputy sheriff living just below Lemon was inundated with 125,000 cubic yards of mud within hours following a light rain. The anxious Sheriff wondered aloud " how do you save a house in the path of a mudslide -- much less save a person caught up inside it". Stunning program, superb public servants!

Next week: 8/29 Our Rotary Amphitheater dedication at the Rec Center. Box lunches by Dick's South City Market, guaranteed to be an upgrade from today's lunch.

Following week: 9/6: The Honorable District Governor Chuck Tutor.

Quick biography on Governor Tutor: Recently retired after teaching at Western State College in Gunnison CO for 26 years. Professor of Technology and for 9 years Department Chair of Art and Technology. Joined Rotary Club of Gunnison in 1986, served in all club positions including President in 1997-98, and sparked the annual production of the Fourth of July Fireworks Show for a decade. His Club received the Presidential Citation during his tenure. He is active in other community projects, including Boy Scouts and church, as well as professional organizations. Married to JoAnn for 45 years, three boys and the usual grandkids. You will be quizzed later.

Respectfully submitted, Yours in Rotary, etc. etc.

Spencer, Cub-Sub