A Vancouver couple has been in the news this month after hustling to Haiti to help earthquake victims.
Dr. Joe and Linda Markee got a bit of help themselves from another couple that shows up in the news from time to time.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama just wrote another check to the Markees’ nonprofit aid group. This is the second year the First Couple has made a $2,000 contribution to the Haiti Foundation of Hope.
“We were grateful, but we were not expecting it,” Joe said before the Markees took off on a relief mission organized by Portland-based Medical Teams International. Joe is a retired physician and Linda is a nurse.
This donation from the Obamas was more of a pleasant surprise, rather than the “Is this a real check?” sort of surprise the couple got when Linda Markee found last year’s envelope in her mailbox.
That’s when the Markees’ son-in-law Larry Moore called the accountant’s office listed on the check to confirm its authenticity; so did an executive at a local bank.
Since that first check arrived from the Obamas, “We kept them appraised of what we’ve been doing,” said Moore, chairman of the foundation board. “We didn’t solicit anything.”
(People can donate to the Markees’ project at haitifoundationofhope.org or any local branch of Chase Bank).
The White House will remain on their mailing list, said Joe.
Cheering section
A small-time Vancouver traffic stop wound up sparking a discussion of big league sports philosophy last week.
It followed San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum’s appearance in Clark County District Court. Lincecum, a pitcher who stands to become one of the best players in baseball, paid a $513 fine to settle a drug paraphernalia infraction; marijuana was found in his car when he got a speeding ticket along Interstate 5 in Hazel Dell.
Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News columnist, wondered why Lincecum was accompanied by Giants owner Bill Neukom.
A team official said Neukom was in the courtroom “to provide moral support.”
But owners get in trouble when they single out a player for way-too-special treatment, Purdy wrote.
“Do you think Neukom now will be going to the Dominican Republic when top minor league prospect Angel Villalona comes to trial charged in a nightclub slaying?
“Villalona could surely use some moral support, too.”
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
