Home | About Our Club | Who's Who  | For Members  |  Calendar  | Bulletin  |  District 5130 | Rotary Int'l |

"Where No Man has Gone Before":
Environmental Risk Assessments

President King Louie I paused, closed his eyes, said a quick prayer that what happened to the former President yesterday would not happen to him, and then called the meeting to order at precisely 12:30.

was led by: Ken Prouty

The rather negative Rotary Moment was led by: Gary Lucas...something about “eagles”? Er, uh, maybe it was egos? Whateverrrr....

Our two visiting dignitaries:

From the north came Immediate Past District Governor Teri Clark. And out of the west came District Governor Elect Bruce "herbman" Campbell.

Debbie Zaft from the Downtown Club sitting at the same table with the dignitaries was also introduced.

Ed “almost a member again” Burr was introduced as Ginny Pitts’ son...?

President Louie called upon Harry “in your pocket” Rubins, who talked about the August 10th Polo for Polio event at the Luther Burbank Center to raise funds for Polio Plus. Contact Harry for further details. (At least he ought to know!) Harry has done wonders with his work for The Foundation and, of course, Polio Plus. Bravo, Harry!

Jeff Ray was called upon to talk about the Snoopy Ice Show. The date is December 11, this year. He has only about 15 tickets left. He needs a check to reserve your seats. Better contact him soon!

Also, the Golf Tournament is scheduled for August....Jeff promises not to do any heart attacks this year. The date of the golf event is August 8th. This is a social event with a BBQ. You don’t have to play golf. It ought to be a blast, as it has always been! Further details are available from Jeff.

Kudos to the Debunking Team:
Masterfully led by Chief of Staff, Brian "he who never cooks" Herndon, and fabulously
executed by his *Captains:

Thank you all for your participation in making this one of our more memorable
Presidential send-offs!

Fines

Brian got beat up about the honey-do's that he has been shining on (landscaping out front and the pricey outdoor kitchen). He, of course, has his own priorities, 6 of which are cylinders for the plane in which he and his co-pilot narrowly escaped, auguring in....Uh, maybe it was because he needed 6 new cylinders!!!

John Meislahn (with son in tow) for being the New Crab Feed Chair (announcement not a fine).

Gary Bayless for son Jacob's ascension to the Grand Jury (and then further as the leader of the jury).

Marvelous Marv for $100 (Marv “Moneybags” Hyman is such a cool guy. He streams into town, charms everyone he speaks with, pays an unfair amount of money just to help his new restaurant tenant (Tex-Tai? Mex-High? who knows?), make money so that he can pay some taxes for the revenue he receives. Boy! Ain’t that capitalism in action?

Raffle

Lisa Greenfield won the wine and donated it to the Crab Feed.

Brian got to dip for the "elusive" marble, but apparently didn't have the right dipstick.

As the half hour was whisking by, Presidential King Louie I called upon Roger Olson who, after some cooperative fumbling with a strange video output device, presented us with a well-produced video showing the Pacific Coast Air Museum Air Show, which takes place at the Sonoma County Airport each year. Last year about 20,000 people attended. The video was quite good and showed clearly all of the reasons why one should attend this event every year. Rotary was also well represented at The Wings Over Wine Country Air Show as well as in the video.

This year’s Air Show will take place August 23rd and 24th, at the Sonoma County Airport. This is a terrific show for a paltry entrance fee, and speaking of fees, the money that Rotary has donated to PCAM has been used to bring over 700 children to see this spectacular presentation of old and new air power. All are encouraged to attend this event, so if you haven’t been out to enjoy one, make this the year that you do! Thank you Roger!

Then.....

The Program

At this point King Louie I introduced our guest speaker, who is one of our own members, Bob Harris...but first a little background on Bob. Bob started out as a child....But seriously folks...

Robert S. Harris, who is the president of his own company; Harris & Lee Environmental, has over thirty years experience in environmental analytical chemistry and toxicology. His knowledge of biology, chemistry, and environmental tests and procedures would astound most of us mortals, if we actually cared about such things, but fortunately for us this is what enables Bob to delve to the molecular level, if necessary, to reliably identify contaminants and ascertain those costly risks to life and limb that surround us. In fact, being an original trekkie, Bob was actually one of the very first to go where no man before has gone before, on a molecular level of course.

As a laboratory manager for the University of California and as an environmental laboratory owner and businessman, Mr. Harris developed methodologies for environmental analysis, including the now-standard assays for polychlorinated biphenyls in water, soils, and oils, and aren’t we all glad about that!

In the early 1990s, he directed, and assisted in the direction and development of potable water and the environmental policies and procedures for the Mexican government's equivalent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Unfortunately, for this he was not paid a lot of pesos, but I have seen quite a number of those blankets and ceramic items around his house. As a successful businessman in the environmental testing field, Mr. Harris has efficiently negotiated the maze of regulations covering hazardous materials/wastes and developed considerable expertise in electronic data management. He has frequently served as an experienced and qualified expert witness. He also knows a lot more about computers and gas barbecues than I do, and for that alone, I am proud to call him friend. OK, now for the really important stuff.

Bob first did a short craft talk since his last one was when he joined our club in 1986. At that time he owned an environmental laboratory, Multi-Tech Laboratories, Inc. Much to the dismay of his lovely wife Sandy, he sold that business in 1987 (for an embarrassingly large amount of money) to an unsuspecting eastern US company with whom he worked for 5 years. In 1992, he commenced his current business, Harris & Lee Environmental Sciences. This business provides environmental consulting to real estate property developers, banks and insurance companies, and also attorneys for litigation support and expert testimony.

Bob then provided a short discussion of how environmental risk assessments are performed. Bob explained that for some compounds, such as Dibromochloropropane (DBCP) the analytical detection limit is 0.01 parts per billion; the same units as one second in 3,200 years. Bob explained that the reason for such low detection limits has to do with the biologic activity of DBCP and similar compounds. The computer modeling programs used by toxicologists was discussed briefly. Bob made an attempt to explain how the risk assessment process is used in real world situations.

Following Bob’s talk, King Louie I commented that when environmental people approach his company with complaints he always states that he was out of the country at the time!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh! Uh...Meeting adjourned!

Your Bulletin Reporter: Bob “Rasputin” Harris*

*with passages and irreverence by your editor....this is what happens when there is no alternate bulletin writer J

Oh, and did I forget to mention who is going to get fined big time next week?

*He looks sort of like this now....		Your Most  Irreverent Bulletin Editor: Jim Valinoti

* * * * *

Changes or comments?

Contact Jim Valinoti at valinoti@sonic.net or (707) 829-2300.

Bulletin Archives