Museum guide gives students A+ tour

Ron Green of Bothell frequently gives tours of the Bothell Museum to school groups.

At yesterday's Bothell Historical Society meeting, Jeanette Backstrom told attendees that Green could be a bigger draw than the museum itself.

A class from the Puget Sound Academy in Kirkland was listening to Green and Backstrom during a tour last week when Green, as a way of introduction, explained that he was born in Bothell in 1916.

"I told them that if they paid attention during math class, they could figure out how old I am," he said. "Then I had to explain that I was born in December so I wasn't quite the 87 they came up with."

Although the Bothell Museum is filled with marvelous century-old artifacts from the Eastside, nothing got the same reaction.

"Ron was the 'Oh, wow!' part of the tour," Backstrom said.

It was a gas!: Logging contests and firefighter challenges may have a new contender on sports television: the annual Natural Gas Rodeo.

Seriously! The rodeo tests skills such as meter setting, hand digging, pipe cutting and service installation.

For the first time, Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy sent two teams — 1100 Degrees Fahrenheit and Ignition Source — to the national event in Illinois Saturday and Sunday. Team members included PSE employees, union workers and contract workers.

Clipper Edwards, Chris Friend, Mark Bowling, Bruce Voutour and Troy Chopin on the 1100 Degrees Fahrenheit team finished 13th overall.

The Ignition Source members, Terry Linville, Frank Near, Keith Miller, Cody Dale and Melvin Lasenby, finished 21st but won the consolation contest — an aluminum-meter toss.

Power lunch: Linda Hendrickson of Kirkland knows how to lunch. Go with media, politico and retail powerhouses and have them pick up the check. It's all for a good cause.

Hendrickson is the executive director of Communities in Schools of Washington, which provides tutors, mentors and sometimes health care and after-school programs for children in need. She's encouraging people to take part in the group's Second Annual Lunch with a Leader Online Auction (www.lunchwithaleader.com) .

Local celebs up for auction include Jim Sinegal, CEO and founder of Costco; Enrique Cerna of KCTS-TV, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith; and Seattle Seahawks broadcaster Brian Davis.

Actor James Cromwell ("Babe") and singer Reba McEntire, along with a host of executives and stars, also are available. Eleven school districts in Washington have local Communities in Schools organizations, including Renton and Issaquah.

Honored: Bellevue resident John "Jack" Creighton Jr. and his wife, Jan, were recently in Columbus, Ohio, where the former CEO of Weyerhaeuser and United Airlines was named 2003 Outstanding Alumnus at Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law. He graduated in 1957.

Creighton frequently speaks to incoming law students at the university about leadership. Creighton has often been praised for his professional work. For instance, he refused to accept a salary as CEO of UAL when he led the company through tough union negotiations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But one thing rarely noted happened in 1998. He and Jan personally donated $20,000 to the Archaeological Conservancy to purchase a 1.6-acre site along the Columbia River in Portland. The land is believed to have been the site of an Indian village visited by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

Other stars: Former Eastsider Katie Thielke trailed along with the paparazzi in Savannah, Ga., on Friday.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were spotted there shopping and dining. Thielke called her family in Issaquah and reassured her mother that she would not act like a crass autograph hound — with at least half the famous couple.

"If we find her, I'll just say, "hello," but if it's Ben — it's a whole other story," Katie Thielke said.

By the way, earlier this year the celebrity couple purchased land on Hampton Island — near Savannah.

Sherry Grineland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com