Welcome and Opening of Meeting - President Colleen Coons
- John Pennypacker and Jack Rosenberg jointly presented the thought for the day, explaining that the celebration of Hanukkah would begin at sundown that evening. Jack read a Hanukkah blessing in Hebrew, and John shared the same prayer in English: "Blessed are you, Our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy through your commandments, and commands us to light the Hanukkah lights."
- Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- President Colleen thanked the following individuals:
- Diane Ware for serving as greeter and handling check-in
- Chuck Flint for handling the raffle
- Jack Rosenberg and John Pennypacker for providing the thought for the day
- Warren Williamson for leading the Pledge
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms, and Don LaBarge who would be gathering Happy Bucks donations in a Salvation Army Red Kettle
- Ed Koeneman was thanked for serving as Chief Technology Officer
Introduction of Guests
- Frank Rosenberg introduced his daughter, Danielle, who was celebrating her birthday
- Exchange student Olivia was introduced and given the opportunity to promote the sale of homemade Swedish cookies at our December 14 meeting to raise funds she needs to afford the Youth Exchange train tour of the USA at the end of her school year.
- Visiting Rotarian - and Olivia's current host mother - Carla Rowe-Malcolm was introduced and she suggested members bring lots of cash to the December 14 meeting.
- Member Bob Jensen was welcomed at our in-person meeting since he usually attends our meetings via Zoom.
- Member Joan Reimann was welcomed back from her extended stay in cooler country.
- Tim Troy, Carla Krcmarik, and Wayne General, members who can rarely attend our in-person meetings, were all welcomed.
Annual Meeting
President Colleen turned the floor over to President-Elect Logan Harper who announced that the nominating committee, consisting of himself, Polly Cady, Ray Smith and Kayla Mudge, were presenting the following slate of future club leaders needing to be elected at this annual club meeting:
President-Elect Kayla Mudge
to serve as President Elect July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025
and serve as President July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026
Secretary, Deb Koeneman
to serve as Secretary July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026
Director, Polo Santiago
Director, Warren Williamson
to serve as Directors July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026
President Colleen made a motion to elect the slate as presented. Her motion was seconded by John Pennypacker. The motion passed unanimously.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
After explaining that the small pot would be $50, the large pot was $1,390 and there were only fifteen cards left in the deck, Chuck asked Ted Williams to draw the winning raffle ticket. It turned out that it was a ticket belonging to Pam Cohen who was not present. Chuck asked Ted to shuffle the cards and draw a card on Pam's behalf. The card drawn was the Ace of Clubs making Pam the winner of both the large and small pot. December 14 the Ace of Clubs Raffle will start over with a full deck of new cards including one joker.
Happy Bucks - Don LaBarge - Collecting for Salvation Army
- Ron Thompson contributed - he was happy not to have to walk around collecting money.
- Harry Grossman was happy to say his red shoes do exist as he contributed $5, saying the Cardinals had now won their fifth game this season.
- Shelly Romine was just happy.
- Gina Schroeder contributed saying it would be birthday weekend at the Schroeder household.
- Deb Koeneman was just happy.
- Frank Rosenberg was happy to have Danielle with him.
- John Reimann was happy to be back in Arizona.
- Bob Jensen was happy to be attending in person.
- Jim McGown was happy that he, along with Ed Koeneman and Dan Coons picked up the wheelchairs purchased at auction.
- Jack Rosenberg was happy to have rang the bell with John Benedict on Sunday.
- Dick Myren contributed his usual $2 - happy he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.
- Ed Koeneman contributed saying Jim McGown was the "king of public auctions, having purchased some high quality wheelchairs in excellent condition for $5 each. He thanked Colleen for loaning Dan to help transport the wheelchairs. Ed was also happy the Pittsburgh Steelers had a good day.
- Warren Williamson told a story about our former undertaker, Jack Rosenberg, whose motto - while still in the business - was "I'll be the last to let you down." One time a widow who had recently lost her husband was disappointed that her husband had been prepared for burial in a black suit. She was very disappointed he was not in a blue suit. When she went back the next day, he was in blue and she asked how much additional she needed to pay for their extra effort. Jack said it wasn't that much trouble and there would be no charge. What he didn't explain was that, coincidentally, another widow had asked that her husband, who had been prepared for burial in a blue suit, be dressed in a black suit. The two men were almost identical in size. It was simple to just switch the heads.
- John Pennypacker contributed saying Jeanie had been ringing his bell for quite a while.
- Tom Yuzer contributed but made no comment.
- Colleen Coons was happy Shelly Romine had volunteered to do the shopping for the McKinney Vento students' wish lists. She was happy to report that Justin Hart who participated in the recent McKinney Vento presentation had given $1,000 to support the shopping for our students. He has already committed money for next year as well. He loves what we are doing but has no time at the present to be a Rotarian.
Special Gift for the Ladies in the Room
John Pennypacker said he had spent the past week entertaining an Army buddy. While he was in town, they celebrated his buddy's mother's 102nd birthday. John said there were many in the room who would have a hard time keeping up with that 102-year-old. He donated $102 for the McKinney Vento Holiday wish list shopping in her honor. He went on to announce he had a few gifts he wanted help distributing. He had "Women in Rotary" pins for all the women in the room who did not already have one.
Announcements
- Our honorary member Daniel Becker who is the sponsoring teacher of the Interact Club at Westwood High School has successfully revived the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) tax credit giving opportunity through Mesa Public Schools which can benefit the Interact Club at Westwood and possibly decrease some of the support our Rotary Club offers to support the Interact club member activities. Donations of $200 for individuals or $400 for married couples filing jointly will qualify for State of Arizona income tax credit. We will try to find out if there is a link where the donations can be made on line. The image below is from a receipt of a donation that was successfully made in person:
Program - Dr. Wayne General - Competency, Restoration & Insanity
CLICK HERE to view the slides Wayne used during his presentation. You are strongly encouraged to do so. The history of how rulings have evolved in the areas of criminal behavior and competency to stand trial is interesting and this writer does not feel adequate to "get it right" in the reporting on Wayne's program.
Wayne serves as an expert witness in court cases where competency is an issue and he has evaluated the accused. In one case, he received 28,000 pages of records to review.
He said there are three criteria
- Factual knowledge
- Rational understanding
- Ability to assist in their own defense.
All three are required to be "competent." IQ is not related to competency. Many are psychotic, but competent to be tried. The issue of competency can be raised by the defense, prosecution or the judge.
Some statistics that were interesting:
- On a daily basis approximately 350 arrests are made in Maricopa County
- Approximately 180 (out of 2450) competency evaluations are ordered each week.
- Two evaluators are appointed for each person
- If there is a disagreement, a third evaluator is appointed.
- If competent - proceed to trial
- If incompetent - proceed to restoration, which is of 15 to 21 months duration for felonies and 6 to 8 months for misdemeanors.
A competency evaluation consists of fifteen questions (listed in Wayne's presentation slides) plus a thorough social history, mental status examination and review of medical records if available.
Paul Harris Recognition
Our club's Foundation Chair - who promotes charitable support of The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund and Polio Plus - recognized Wayne General's giving. Wayne invited one of his favorite Rotary friends, Lola McClane to participate in the presentation. Wayne received his Paul Harris plus six recognition pin representing $7,000 in support of TRF.