By: Gary Sloan
Former President Chris Gallagher (AKA –Viking) called the San Ramon Rotary Club meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. Lunch consisted of a low calorie stuffed baked potato and salad (not our usual faire). Mr. Gallagher noted current President Kathy Gailey decided to “be somewhere else” on her last Rotary meeting day leaving the rest of us stuck with a former President doing the honors.
Fortunately, we had a stellar Greeter, Dennis Harvey, who shared his thought for the day: “Be a friend to someone new”. He extolled the virtues of developing new friendships with perfect strangers and encouraged us to go back to our work places and develop new friends. Following a rousing pledge to the flag and a rendition of God Bless America led by Don Jones, Mr. Harvey shared that he had been in real estate for 30 years, married to Sharon for 52 years (boy, did he get lucky) and has a son and daughter both doing well. He has 2 grand children. Dennis recently returned from Cooperstown where he witnessed his grandson hit a Grand slam homerun in a baseball tournament.
Visiting Rotarians included Don Berman from Fremont who is considering joining our club. Other introductions included Mike Prilutsky son, Max who is attending Cal High.
At 12:30 p.m. the meeting resumed since Garth showed up. After interrupting Lucky’s texting, a serious announcement was made regarding the tragedy of Mark Hornstra’s son who was in an accident resulting in multiple injuries. It was reported that his son is out of surgery and into ICU at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The family requests no flowers at this time but our hearts and prayers are with Mark’s family,
Recognitions
Guy Greco celebrated 50 years of marital bliss spending time in Carmel where he remembered that his original honeymoon was held. During dinner, strangers sent glasses of Champagne to his table to celebrate indicating just how cheap Guy can be. He shared the old adage that “bankers do with interest” but we suspected that this reflected a reference to his long marriage as well
Garth was reminded that he will be celebrating 32 years of marriage and he thought they might be having dinner at Basil Leaf Café but as in everything else, he would have to check with Michelle.
Chris Gallagher shared that his wife objected to the last Crow’s Call where accolades for Nina, Gary and Barbara were thrown about for there work on the demotion dinner but no mention of the host with the most, the Gallagher’s, who hosted the dinner at their lovely home. Chris insisted that someone has to be fined, so Kathy Gailey was fined in absentia.
Some members of the club were unaware of the year-end Rotary awards bestowed upon selected members:
Red Badge Rotarian: John Milich
Hall of Fame Recipient: Chris Gayler
Hammer Award: Marv Remmich
Lifeline Award: Gary Sloan
Rotarian of the Year: Ana Dominquez
Gary Sloan and Barry Toby were recognized for having survived a vacation together with their wives in France where they toured Normandy including Omaha Beach, Gieverny, St. Michel and Honfleur. Wonderful trip. Chris Gallagher recalled his trip with the Toby’s featuring his having to haul around the Toby suitcases filled with refrigerator magnets.
Marv Remmich introduced our speaker, Allan Shields, Chief of Police for Danville. Officer Shields has been with the Sherriff Department for 18 years, lives in Danville and will be replacing Steve Simpkins this year. Officer Shields shared that crime rates were at their lowest rates since the 1980. At its height, over 800 crimes were committed in Danville but today they are lower than 400. Personal crimes (violent) have been steady through the years but property crimes have declined due to great community interaction, new police programs and social media.
A town approved Camera Project has had a considerable impact. It takes pictures of automobiles coming into the town and out of the town enabling police to track vehicles that have been reported as committing crimes or have a record of criminal behavior. More importantly, the increased interaction of citizens reporting crimes or suspicious behavior has resulted in extremely effective police response. Home cameras and public cameras have also contributed.
Officer Shields indicated that over 25,000 police service calls came in last year and the use of social media has created greater awareness of crime in our community. He praised that 34 volunteers supplementing the 30 member police force.
Other topics covered through the question and answer period included an update on the Costco thefts using DNA to determine the culprits. He also addressed the relatively limited gang activity in the region suggesting that some middle school kids vandalism should be addressed through interacting and rehabilitating identified children to keep them on the right path.
The drug use in the community is a major concern with a sharp increase in opiate use and overdose situations. The Police School Program in the High Schools and the placement of a Marriage and Family Counselor does help address this and other problems facing our teens. It takes a unique personality to be an officer at the school in that it entails empathy, role model and educational ability elements.
A free trade zone that has active cameras near the police station was developed to insure Craig’s list exchanges as well as child custody exchanges. The Danville police also offer a Citizen’s Academy providing a broad curriculum for interested citizens.
The presentation was concluded reminding the club that the police protect people, property AND citizen rights.
Next week’s Greeter is Dr. Bill Harlan.
Next meeting will the Lucky Sandhu’s first meeting as President. Everyone is encouraged to attend. There will be surprises.
Also, please remember to go see Geoff Johnson at Tiffany Gardens in Livermore. Call first. He would enjoy the company.
The Greeters Gift was won by this scribe, a comfortable robe from the Wheel Chair foundation and a blue marble was drawn by Mike Priluctsky’s son missing out on a $250 pot.
Respectfully submitted,
Gary Sloan, Scribe
