9 November Program
9 November Program
Two Perspectives on the Environment
Gene Wooster
representing
The Ceasefire Project
Lt. Colonel Alan Solter &
Major Aisha Bakkar
representing
Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point
Gene is owner/operator of Mobile East Marine. He served for four years with the U.S. Army. Gene is a keen sportsman enjoying fishing, hunting and boating. No stranger to ORC’s tarpon tournament Gene took first place in the 2008 and 2005 competitions and was first mate for Phil Ambler when Phil won in 2002. Gene, wife Carrie and daughter Amber and son James live in Whortonsville. In addition Gene and Carrie were awarded the Bill Mason Award.
And more on the local environment…
The Neuse River was profiled in the “Currents” Section of the Wall Street Journal 3 November. Retired Marine Officer Rick Dove patrols regional waterways from a four-seat Cessna armed with cameras, binoculars and GPS devices. His goal: to observe piles of manure and to crackdown on farmers in the hope of removing waste from waterways.
Mr. Dove retired from the Marine Corps after 24 years and obtained his commercial fisherman’s license. With his son, he started a crabbing and fishing operation and opened a seafood shop in Havelock…His fishing career came to an end in 1991 when millions of fish mysteriously turned up dead in the Neuse. The cause is still debated.
Two years later, he answered a local newspaper ad for a group that ultimately became part of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Working by boat, he was supposed to troll North Carolina rivers looking for potential polluters. But he says “I couldn’t figure out where the pollution was coming from.” So he hired a plane. He assembled an “air force,” as he calls it, of volunteer pilots to search for piles of manure. His photographs and observations became the basis of lawsuits against the hog industry…
Currently Mr. Dove is patrolling the Chesapeake Bay. He works with a Wyoming-based aviation organization called LightHawk that maintains a network of volunteer pilots to assist in environmental protection.
ORC Important Dates…
12 December: Luby’s Breakfast
21 December: Christmas Celebration/Partner’s Night and Toys for Tots project
Veteran’s Day Reflections…
Especially poignant is Veteran’s Day this year given the events at Ft. Hood. To reflect on this tragedy in a rational framework is daunting.
Out of the Ashes – The USS New York
Built with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center in her bow, The USS New York was commissioned in New York City on Nov. 7, 2009. The ship arrived on Nov. 2. The public may visit the ship before she leaves on Nov. 12, 2009.
“It is an honor to be associated with the ship…”Commanding Officer F. Curt Jones said. “ I have members of my crew that joined the Navy as a direct result of 9/11. I have crew members that have lost family members on 9/11. I have met numerous people as a result of being associated with the ship that lost family, friends so we know that the steel that is part of the ship represents in some fashion those people. It represents loss but for us it also represents hope and we keep both of those things close to us”, he added. (www.ussnewyork.com)
The Fall of the Berlin Wall 9 November 1989 A uniformed service member reminiscing…As a USAF service member stationed in Berlin, we gathered up bottles of champagne, stuffed them in backpacks and off we were to the wall. We just got off our shift and in disbelief, a group of us had to see it for ourselves. We all chipped off pieces of the wall that night as a memento to prove it really happened. We saw Tom Brokaw needing some translation assistance (I think he was trying to get information out of a gentleman who had way too much to drink), we stepped in since we were German linguists and became part of his broadcast. He signed our 20 Mark bills with appreciation of our assistance. It is a night I will never, never, never forget. — Kelly Pitt Kabiri, Arlington, Va. (www.msnbc.msn.com)
