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Program for Friday January 31, 2003

Dr. Edward Epstein, Rotary Peace Scholar

Door Duty: Erle Brown and Stan Teaderman

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Program for Friday February 7, 2003

02/07/03 Paul Camacho, "IRS Criminal Investigations"

Door Duty: Tom Butt and Dan Tanita

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Program of January 24, 2003

Chuck Lewis - Pacific Gas and Electric Co

Prez Dave introduced Chuck Lewis representing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and his program, "When the Lights Go Out", describing problems and strategies for dealing with severe winter storms. Dave noted that in addition to his ability to do a quick substitution for his PG&E colleagues, Chuck was "all Cal" having received his Ba in Political Science, a Ma in Public Policy and a Jd all from UCB. Chuck was also a platoon commander in Vietnam receiving the Silver Star, three Bronze Stars and four Purple Hearts. Chuck has been a Council member and Mayor in El Cerrito and sits on the boards of Rubicon and the Bay Trail Commission. He currently resides on his "farm" in Hercules.

Chuck began his program with a short digression into the status of the PG&E bankruptcy. He noted that the company, under the direction of the CPUC lost $8.0B through the systematic process of buying electric power "high and selling low", a traditional formula for bankruptcy. He said that the bankruptcy reorganization plan had come together more slowly than anticipated, but was on track with the creation of four separate operating entities. He expected the company to emerge from bankruptcy during the summer and to be 8.0% under the jurisdiction of the CPUC with the rest of operations under the jurisdiction of FURC (Federal Utility Regulatory Commission).

Chuck showed us a "telephone pole*" fuse that is tripped when a power line failure interrupts electrical service. The 30" long device goes off like a gun and collapses away from the live wire, extending to double its operating length. Line crews go looking for these extended service interrupters as the primary method of locating the area where there is a line break. Lewis prefers calling the power poles telephone poles* in the hope that the phone company will then have to fix them. He said that power interruption, especially when phone poles are snapped is a consequence of telephone and cable service. Power lines are made of aluminum and easily snap when the inevitable large tree slices through them on its way to terra firma. However the larger phone lines and cable lines also attached to the pole are re-enforced with 3/8" steel cable. The cable is strong and transfers the tree weight to the pole, usually snapping them. As many as four poles at a time can be snapped this way, significantly lengthening and complicating the power restoration process.

The next most important factor is PG&E's receipt of two phone calls from the same line service unit. As powerless customers phone in and identify themselves with their account number, they simultaneously identify their power line section, which is coded into their account number. When two customers on the same section report a power outage, PG&E immediately writes a service ticket for their local dispatch yard to find the line break. Chuck said things get complicated in a big storm when this process happens tens of thousands of times.

The last important part of the process is the PG&E phone call to each customer who originally reported their power out. The call tells the customer that power has been restored. It is important because if that customer doesn't have power, it means the PG&E line crews haven't found all the line breaks and have to look for them again. Multiple breaks in individual line service units are what take days to fix.

Members asked why PG&E continues to use an old fashioned fuse to cut line power instead of a circuit breaker type switch that would be a lot easier to reset. Lewis said it is a safety issue because of the danger of interrupted power feeding back into the lines and being "stepped up" by the transformers as it heads back toward the generating units which could cause great harm to line workers and permanent damage to generating and transmission units.

Check out a Slide show of the Annual Reno Train Trip
www.richmondcarotary.org/reno2003/default.htm
Best viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer

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Last Week
President (& Birthday Boy) David Brown rang the bell and asked Janet Brown to lead the members in the Pledge of Allegiance. In the spirit of the playoffs and the Super Bowl, Dave had two thoughts for the day:
1."Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.", Joe Theismann.
2."Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings." George Will

Guests:
Dr. Herb introduced his Father-In-Law and fishing buddy, Reyes Licea.

Announcements
Past DG John G. (Jack) Pugh passed away January 18th. A memorial and celebration of his life will be held January 31st, 3:00 PM at Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church, 45 Knox Dr., Lafayette. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Rotary International Foundation c/o the Moraga Rotary Club, PO box 122, Moraga CA 94556 or your favorite charity. Find more information about Jack Pugh @ http://www.legacy.com/bayarea/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=742456

District 5160 will have its Conference, "Festival in Fairfield", in Fairfield April 24th-27th complete conference details can be found @ http://www.rotary5160.org./conference.htm.

The Rotary License Plate program has until March 15th to get 2,500 new sign-ups. You have more time if you thought about getting a Rotary License Plate but did not act. Prez. Dave reminded the members that a good reason to participate in the program is because our club gets 50% +/- of the fee collected by the State. More information is available @ http://www.ca-rotarylicenseplates.org.

Prez Dave encouraged the members to nominate qualified young people for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. The application deadline is March 31st. For more information contact Richard Flanders @ srednalf@pacbell.net or 925-469-9155.

Camp Venture has a new venue, the California Maritime Academy. We need a contact person form our club and possible volunteers to work with student teams as counselors. For more information contact John Bernardin @ jbernardin@msn.com.

Prez Dave asked the members if they noticed the almost empty box with a couple of cans in it by the badges? It's for the Canned Food Drive helping the Richmond food Pantry. Please remember to bring a couple of cans each week to help the Food Pantry, recognizing that many people in West County are hungry.

The RI Convention for 2003 will be held in Brisbane Australia
Registrants from our District are eligible for the Visa known as Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) provided they hold a US Passport. They can apply online or through a travel agent. To apply online have them visit: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/index.html.
Both a Passport and Visa are required, and you don't want to be "stopped at the gate" because a Visa has not been ordered early enough for travel to Australia.

Nominations for district governor are being accepted for the period 12/1/02 through 2/15/03. Please contact Bill Spaulding with any nominees at 925-938-0700.
The district conference will be held in Fairfield on 4/24-27/02. A Golf tournament will held concurrently

Coming Speakers
02/07/03 Paul Camacho, "IRS Criminal Investigations"

Recognitions
David K. reported that all is well with the members.
Joey Bags launched into recognitions asking Jim Young to explain his appearance on the 6 o'clock news.
Jim said it was true, as he was holding one of the golden shovels at the ground breaking for the new Cliff House, a $14.3MM he had been working on financing through Comerica Bank. He said the project is unique because it is on National Park Service land as it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The project will take 18 months but the restaurant will be closed no more than 8 weeks during the process. The new Cliff House is going to be spectacular and can be expected to continue as on of San Francisco's favorite rendezvous and watering holes for another 150 years.
Joey then recognized Loren's birthday; Prez & birthday boy Dave's birthday (celebrated with scotch and spice cake); George Egan's birthday and concluded with a grand finale, a rousing course of Happy Birthday, celebrating this day the birthdays of John Nichol and Don Miller. John acknowledged he was 80. Dr. Don was a little more coy.
David K announced his participation in the Super Bowl Sturgeon Derby and his intent to give his winning to the club for its good works. DK was then given much advice of dubious quality about the art and practice of "fish stretching".

Happy/Sad $$
Dr Herb had Happy Dollars for this grand kids in Los Osos.
Joanne Blum had Happy Dollars for her wonderful experience as the Grandmother in "The Nutcracker", performed in Santa Rosa. Paul Allen had Happy Dollars for his first daughter born 12/07, Olivia. Stoney had "Go Raiders" Happy Dollars.
Judy K. had Happy dollars for the Club's continuing support of the Ghana program. Dr. Dave had "Go Bears" Happy Dollars for their defeat of the University of Spoiled Children.
Ted Abreu had Sad Dollars because "his badge was bent".

Raffle
There was $480 at risk. Chuck picked Joe Thomas as the rafflee. Joe picked a white ball.

Prez. Dave rang the bell and adjourned the meeting.

Jim Young
Editor