By: Priya Jhingan Welcome Mr. Can-Do Sandhu kicked off today’s meeting by asking everyone to rise. Luckily, nobody rose until Lucky said so, thereby legitimizing the fact that this year’s President might actually have some power after all. He introduced our greeter of the day, Mike Gunning, who maintains his good spirits and helpful nature through 20 years of Rotary, 50 years of marriage, 3 sons, 7 grandchildren, and 36 years as a business owner. In his thought of the day, Mike introduced 7 tips for a healthy life: (1) eat only the good stuff, (2) there is value in active rest, (3) play time is more productive than you think, (4) socialization is good for the brain, (5) consistent sleep is crucial, (6) integrate physical movement into your brain-training activities, and, most importantly, (7) try to learn something new, every single day. Then, given the hundred-plus degree weather outside, he left us with an additional tip (8) stay cool and drink plenty of fluids. After the pledge, Don and Herm led us into “God Bless America”. Break As a first-time scribe, I was lucky enough to sit with our guest, Interim San Ramon Chief of Police Dan Pratt, as well as a support group of fellow scribes Dr. Bill, Mr. Gary Sloan, and Scotsman Pat Paterson, who all threatened to kick me out of the club if I missed a single fact in my notes. During our short break, Dan Pratt engaged us in a conversation about grenades and military weapons, while Gary made sure the Chief understood that I was a troublemaker as another ploy to have me kicked out. Updates Marie and Lucky provided an update on the auction, and it looks like items have started to roll in. We still need more, however, and have about 2-3 weeks to get them in. Marie and Glen educated us on how the auction items make it into the system, via a form and Herman’s seal of approval. We also need to continue raising awareness for the auction, particularly at the Danville and Sycamore Valley clubs. Lucky is personally paying $1,000 to anyone who volunteers to attend those meetings. The above may or may not be true, but someone at our club did, in fact, receive $1,000 today. Dennis Harvey presented Hollywood A-lister Gary Sloan with the huge sum of money as appreciation for his annual dedication to our auction and his hospital’s donation of $10k. It turns out that Gary has been featured in a promotional video on our Facebook page, which Lucky played for us on mute since no one wanted to actually hear Gary speak. Celebrity Sloan may not be at our next meeting since he plans to escape to Vegas to gamble away the money. Good News It was Collete Lay’s birthday, but she was not around to collect her $40 (perhaps she was also in Vegas celebrating?). Also, Garth is back in town, and his wife, Michele, had a birthday on August 13. Garth had made it out to the Boulder Rotary in Colorado, which he stated was very technologically advanced. Now empty nesters, Garth and Michele have decided to combat their loneliness by adopting Lucky Sandhu. On other news, Dr. Bill has been invited by the San Ramon Library to be a speaker for the “Celebrate San Ramon” lecture on Wednesday, September 6 at 6pm. He would like us all to come. Also, it was reported that Geoff Johnson is doing very well and is being pursued by a cougar 25-30 years his senior. Our club hikes are starting again, with the first one taking place in Alamo. It’ll be a 4-mile moderate hike meandering around 5 creeks, and everyone is invited, except dogs and people with bad attitudes. Program Before handing the mic to our guest, Chief of Police Dan Pratt, Lucky tried to ask if he can get out of legal trouble by mentioning he’s friends with the Chief. The Chief politely declined to answer, and instead began the program by delving into a holistic and informative crime, security, and operational update on our city of San Ramon. San Ramon PD update: San Ramon has the second lowest crime rate per capita in California, largely due to our great police officers and residents. In 2007, the City Council started its own police department, which had previously been contracted out by Contra Costa County. Over the last 10 years, the SRPD has worked hard to improve a little each day, and now it has an entirely new fleet of cars and motorcycles (to help chase down criminals like Lucky faster than ever). In particular, Chief Pratt pointed out that the SRPD has formed 4 kinds of partnerships since 2007, which are: Partnership with the school district - Officers, called “School Research Officers” or SROs, are assigned to every school to assist with traffic problems and any other issues that come up. Partnership with the fire district - In the past, 911 calls would be routed to Contra Costa County, and then transferred to the SRPD. However, SRPD has partnered with the fire district to piggyback off their existing dispatch center to more efficiently handle police-related activities and emergency calls. In fact, the SRPD saved 2 lives by getting the individuals to medical treatment quickly. Partnership with neighboring cities - San Ramon used to have its own SWAT team, but has now partnered resources with Walnut Creek, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill to make sure that our SWAT members, who are not needed that often, can continue to maintain a high level of training and activity by offering support to neighboring cities. Partnership with various aspects of the community - Crime prevention is based mostly on what the community reports, and neighbors need to speak up and contact the police if something doesn’t look or seem right. As such, the SRPD has integrated with social media (Facebook, Twitter, instagram) and NextDoor to send alerts, respond to concerns, and be an active and helpful member of the community in general.
Chief Pratt also included some crime prevention tips, specifically for San Ramon residents. Since crimes in this city are mostly property-related, it’s a good idea to not leave valuables in your vehicle in plain view. Also, someone visiting from out of town may be watching, so try to put your valuables in the trunk before you get to your final destination. If you’re interested in learning more about crime prevention and the police, SRPD offers a Citizen’s Police Academy that happens twice a year, 4 nights a week. More information can be obtained at http://www.ci.san-ramon.ca.us/police/academy.htm. On a final note, Chief Pratt mentioned that the City Center will be completed around this time next year, and 3 more officers have been hired by the department in anticipation of increased traffic and resource requirements. Rotary Moment Lucky hailed the Chief by presenting the SRPD’s core values, which are very much shared with our own values at Rotary. These values are professionalism, responsiveness, integrity, safety, and service. Raffle Today, both the greeter’s gift and the marble pick went to Mr. Jay Tontz, who was heard shouting to the world, “I’ve never had my hand in one of these before.” He was clearly excited. He received a bottle of wine, and then pulled out a shiny blue marble, which he proceeded to put in his mouth, eat, and digest. At this point, Lucky adjourned the meeting. |