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By: Tom Port
Opening: The “African Queen” was in high spirits as she called the well attended meeting to order. “John F .Germ is R. I. President and his theme is ‘Rotary Serving Humanity’’.
Patriotic Song: Don Jones led us in “God Bless America”.
New Members: In accord with club tradition Harry Michaels and Mike Prilutsky were greeted by all members present. We all know Mike as he had been an active member is years past. Mike said he felt it was “time to come home”. Harry Michaels is new to Rotary. He is a former school psychologist and also worked as a juvenile probation officer. He has lived right in Crow Canyon on St. George Road for the past 12 years.
Interact Club: Swetha Sankar reported on the Interact Club’s many activities. The Community Food Drive needs drivers Saturday AM to assist in picking up bags of food. Contact Colette Lay if you can help. They are also involved with “Boods for Africa” and a Prison Literature Project. Donations are appreciated, but only text books are acceptable for the prison project.
Student of The Month: Colette Lay introduced Sarah Stanford, Principal of Cal. High who named Basil Rizwan as “Student of the Month”. Basil has shown outstanding leadership as President of the Muslim Student Organization. He has also led in developing a clean water project for Pakistan, Project Aqua”, that has raised over $70,000. Basil is learning to code and plans to duty computer science. If that is not enough he also designing websites.
Unsung Heroes: We have 4 nominations already but more are needed. March 3 is the deadline for nominations. The program will be held March 27.
Shadow Day: March 9. 17 students have shown an interest. Club members are being contacted who may have an area of expertise they can share with the students.
Young Professionals: The Young Professionals are planning an event for April 1 at the Round House at Bishop Ranch. Tickets: $25.00. check out ypeastbay.com.
District Conference: March 24 – 26. The conference is nearly sold out, but tickets may still be available.
Main Event: Lt. Denton Carlson of the San Ramon Police Department held an open discussion regarding police issues in the valley. Lt. Carlson has been in law enforcement for 18 years and worked his way up from Patrol Officer to Detective and to Lieutenant. He came to SRPD from the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department. He also commands the Regional SWAT TEAM and directs the Office of Emergency Management.
Lt. Carlson explained that social media has become increasingly important as a way for the PD to increase engagement with the community, especially as law enforcement generally has been battered down in recent years. He says although violent crime in San Ramon is way down, in fact about one third of the 2007 level, residents often feel it has increased as there is increased public awareness of crime generally. That said, he feels Prop 47 has made their job harder.
Red light runners are a serious problem especially for pedestrians. An officer is regularly assigned to each of the elementary schools to protect students as they get out of school. However, the Department has limited resources. Normally 8 officers plus a supervisor. Some have suggested cameras, but San Ramon has numerous access points so a very large number of cameras would be required. Also, the data they would collect would be enormous. One strategy that has proved effective in deterring robberies is the rotating of unused squad cars in parking lots, especially those where banks are located.
Raffle: Mike Gunning won the Greeter’s gift. He also won a chance at the Progressive, but drew a blue ball.
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Ray Giles did the honors as greeter in place of Edgardo who was on the schedule. Ray’s “Thought for the Day” was: “Whether you think you can succeed or whether you think you can’t succeed you will be right in either case.”
Happy Hour: Don’t miss Happy Hour at Firehouse 37 on March 2 at 6:00pm