Highlights of August 8 Meeting

Pam Cohen opened the meeting asking Lucinda General to offer the invocation, with excerpts from Dr. Jane Goodall's Prayer for World Peace: 

Prayer for World Peace
We pray that we may grow
in our understanding of the nature of all living beings
and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with
generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may value each and every human being
for who he is, for who she is,
reaching to the spirit that is within,
knowing the power of each individual to change the world.
We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us,
and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.
 - Dr. Jane Goodall, excerpt from Prayer for World Peace

 

John Pennypacker led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Wendell Jones led everyone present in singing even though Ray Smith was present because Ray was about to celebrate his 73rd birthday.  The first song led by Wendell was Happy Birthday to Ray, followed by "When You're Happy and You Know It..."

 

Don LaBarge introduced his guest, Danny Lovelace who showed up at 11:30 at Don's shop - just in time to be invited to lunch at Rotary.  John Pennypacker introduced District Governor David Simmer.  One of our DG's initiatives this year is a plan to increase member participation and dollars donated to The Rotary Foundation through motivating clubs to improve the numbers of their members who utilize Rotary Direct to make their support of TRF systematic and effortless.  To support this initiative, John Pennypacker and Allan Cady have committed to shave their heads if 100% of Mesa West Members sign up for Rotary Direct.  DG David explained that there is competition in categories of small clubs and larger clubs to see which club can get the highest percentage of Rotary Direct Giving as well as the highest number of Rotary Direct donors.  There will be six $2,000 grant checks to support service projects awarded to clubs excelling in this competition.  CLICK HERE to download a form to sign up for Rotary Direct.   Ed Koeneman again introduced Greg Bouslog from the YMCA who was visiting for the second week and already has a membership application in progress.  Frank Rosenberg introduced his guest, Alex Hajdys, who is interning in his office this summer.

 

The purpose of the weekly attendance drawing is to remind members that "it pays to attend Rotary."  Three badge numbers of Rotarians who were not present were drawn at the August 8 meeting, so the $5 will roll over and double the amount to $10 that will be won by the lucky member whose badge number is drawn on August 15.  Chuck Flint announced that the winner of the weekly drawing would have a chance to draw the ace of clubs and receive $334.  DG David Simmer was the winner of the smaller weekly winnings, which he immediately returned to the club.  His luck did not hold out. The card he  drew from the deck was the queen of diamonds.

 

Ray Smith served as Sgt at Arms.  Lucinda contributed telling about a quick trip she had taken where she flew to California for the chartering of a new Rotary Club- the largest new club ever chartered in Rotary.  (See a separate article in this newsletter for details.)  Lucinda was seated on the stage until it was time for her to help pin 221 people.  It was very respectful, and colorful with most of the new Rotarians wearing colorful Indian Saris.  Don LaBarge announced that he is recovering from his recent surgery.  He still has some limitations.  He is not supposed to lift more than fifteen pounds.  He contributed $10 telling about how he and Chris celebrated their 42nd anniversary.  They stayed at the Wigwam.  Chris wanted to spend one day in Wickenburg, where they enjoyed museum tours and ice cream then went back to the Wigwam for dinner and enjoyed a $250 dinner.  DG David Simmer said it was great to be at the club, and was envious of our President who has already had two weeks off only five weeks into the year.  DG's don't get time off during their year.  Ed Koeneman contributed on behalf of his wife, Debbie, to thank Chuck for their new house and for the fact that the sale of their old house was in process of closing.  Ed also reminded members that there were only 133 days left until the next Star Wars movie.  Frank Rosenberg contributed.  His daughter, Danielle, was a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Taiwan.  He recently visited there with her.  On the Tuesday night before returning home, they attended a Rotary Club meeting of a club that was founded by Danielle's host club.  Chris Krueger was happy to have recently visited one of her favorite places - Bisbee, Arizona.  However, while there, there was an extreme hail storm causing hail damage to her car.  Wendell Jones contributed because he was happy he was not as old as Ray.  Pam Cohen announced that she was signing up for Rotary Direct as a thank-you to John Pennypacker for his friendship and the fact that he had arranged for her to get a new bed for her home that did not cost anything.  Ron Thompson contributed wondering if him signing up for Rotary Direct would motivate John to help him out as they need a bed at their house.

 

Ed Koeneman was the auctioneer for two items.  The first was from his and Debbie's trip to Hamburg for the Rotary International Convention.  Lucinda won that bag with her $40 bid.  The second bag was from Frank Rosenberg's trip to Taiwan with his daughter.  It contained edibles and fancies.  Chris Krueger won that bag with her $30 bid.  

 

 

Program
Chris Krueger introduced our speaker, Bill Richardson, who is an expert witness, a veteran of the US Marines, a former police officer with the cities of Mesa and Casa Grande and has served on the DEA Task Force.  He has also been an Arizona Republic newspaper reporter.

 

To begin his presentation, Richardson pointed out the documents that were available on the tables which contained some pretty stunning information about the crisis that is looming in public safety if the status quo is allowed to continue.  Public discussions rarely involve the matters most needing attention.   There seems to be more effort to have quality community engagement images than to take a real look at how victims of crimes are treated.

 

He stated that we need to get past the show, ask hard questions, and get answers to those hard questions.

 

Among the things he discussed were things that are needed to improve outcomes.  The public needs the facts.  For instance, in Tempe, only 9% of sexual assault cases are solved because "victims do not cooperate."  Many crimes are not reported.  For instance, Don LaBarge told of a theft of a $650 machine.  When he attempted to report, he was told they would not dispatch an officer if the value was under $1,000.  Don did not take the time to fill out the on-line report.  Both Don and Bill suspect this is a typical response.  

 

Fire and paramedic personnel respond to 911 calls with the closest available resource regardless of municipal boundaries.  Law enforcement officers do not respond across jurisdictional lines.  In fact, they do not have a good information-sharing data system.  So there could be thieves who understand the value under $1,000 dispatch rule.  They would make sure they operate with multiple small thefts in a few municipalities pretty much assured they will not be tracked down.  

 

Public bashing of the image of police officers impacts the number of quality young people considering law enforcement as a career.  Underfunded retirement funds and doubts about whether support for an officer who made an unpopular but necessary judgment call may influence length of time in career for good officers.    There are probably many other factors negatively influencing the talent pool of officers willing to serve in the future.  When Richardson was hired, there were 800 applicants seeking less than 20 open positions.  That is no longer the case.  In fact, he was aware of one local community where there were 800 authorized positions with only 700 of those positions filled.  That sort of thing influences dispatch decisions like Don LaBarge experienced.

 

The primary goals of law enforcement are to prevent, catch, and incarcerate.  Networking needs to happen to realize any real improvement in having success in all three areas.  Until the public is aware of this issue, and pushes for collaboration and cooperation, little will happen to change.  Police are not and cannot be responsible for being everything to everyone.  They are responsible for keeping the streets safe.  With shrinking resources, manpower, and too many unreported and unsolved crimes, some very serious discussions need to happen so that important decisions can be made and enacted.

 

Being informed is a first step.  With knowledge comes responsibility.  This problem impacts everyone.  Civil and productive discourse needs to happen.