April 20, 2022
Reporter: Kelly Buck
Wednesday’s meeting:
Harmony Ayers-Friedlander, Deputy Commissioner
Tompkins County Department of Mental Health
Hybrid Meeting at Coltivare and on Zoom
WELCOME & TRADITIONS
President Catrina opened the meeting with the Four-Way Test recited in unison.
Harlin McEwen said that he would be stepping in as our speaker today because the acting IPD Chief could not make it. And since he would be talking about FirstNet which is an AT&T system, he invited Matt Tripp, the local AT&T store manager, as his guest.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bob Gravani asked for more helpers for the highway clean-up event this Saturday in recognition of Earth Day. Meet at the Triphammer Tops at 9:00 AM for about two hours. (See the end of the newsletter for the results and a photo!)- Mary Kane asked Rotarians to complete the online survey by this weekend. Sixty-four members have already responded!
- TST BOCES will be our featured speaker for the May 4th Rotary meeting. “All About Career & Technical Education at TST BOCES—Current and Future” will be presented by a team of four including Cindy Walter, Jeff Podolak, Brian VanGorder, and Chelsea Blovat. The team will relay how our Rotary Scholarship positively impacts programming at BOCES.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Steve Johnson remarked that our club has spent a considerable amount of time on fundraising, so with that in mind, delivered a joke about fundraising involving three men who all died and arrived at the Pearly Gates—a doctor, a lawyer, and a Rotarian!
LAST WEEK’S PRESENTATION
Harlin McEwen stepped in to be our speaker today since the acting Ithaca Police Department chief could not make it at the last minute.Harlin started his outstanding career in law enforcement with the Waverly, NY police department in the 1950s. He worked his way up the ladder, eventually becoming the police chief of Cayuga Heights in 1972. In 1985, he was appointed deputy commissioner of the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services under then-Governor Mario Cuomo. He was invited back to Ithaca by then-Mayor John Gutenberg to run the Ithaca Police Department.
Now retired, Harlin is still involved in promoting public safety. In 2012, Congress passed a bill to establish a national public safety broadband network called FirstNet. Harlin was named chairman of the committee to develop the system in November 2012. FirstNet is one of the four nationwide cellular providers, along with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. It was funded with federal funds, not taxpayer dollars, for about $7.2 billion.
Proposals were sought in 2016 and eventually FirstNet partnered with AT&T to create America’s first public safety network; it now has over 3 million connections across the country. The network with its equipment is significantly more powerful than average cell service, allowing first responders to be in touch with dispatch, hospitals, and each other over great distances. These connections can be the difference between life and death. As of now, nearly all emergency responders in the US have moved to the FirstNet system.
Harlin is also working with Brian Wilbur and others on ESChat, which allows public safety personnel to speak on the county radio system using their personal or agency cell phones. This new network will soon be available to many organizations, including Drug & Alcohol Council, Salvation Army, County Mental Health, and more.
*** Did you miss this meeting or another and want to view the recording? Rotarian Paul Martin has created a YouTube private channel for our meeting recordings (beginning with the 02-23-22 meeting). Check it out here.
HAPPY DOLLARS
Angela Sullivan: the detox project is finally moving ahead after being approved in 2017- Nate Lyman: for a new grandson
- Mary Berens: for a nice pay raise from Social Security at age 70
- Brad Carruth: for a lovely trip to Savannah, Hilton Head, Florida, and Texas
- Loretta Goss: for a nicely framed Four-Way Test given to her by a Sunrise Rotarian; originally donated by Barbara Thuesen, Loretta presented it to our club
- Serenna McCloud: for her solo practitioner anniversary on April 22, 2022
- Kelly Buck: for finally undertaking some post-COVID travel, including an upcoming business trip to Las Vegas!
President Catrina rang the bell, and there was time for some fellowship before exiting.
THANK YOU ROTARIANS
Newsletter Reporter: Kelly Buck
Photographer: Mike Brown
Newsletter Editor: Loralyn Light
Set-Up Crew: Brad Carruth, Harlin McEwen, Steve Johnson
Set-Up Zoom: Brett Bossard, Catrina VanAtta, Mike Brown
Club Service Facilitator: June Losurdo
From Bob Gravani re: Saturday’s Highway Cleanup
Thank you! Thank you! Thank You! for volunteering to help us clean up the highway on Saturday. Mary-Lynn, John Barradas, and I were concerned when signups were really lagging and then, all of a sudden, lots of folks volunteered. The turnout was fantastic (28 workers), and it was the largest group that we’ve had in quite some time! In addition to Ithaca noon club Rotarians, we had several Ithaca Sunrise Rotarians and Cornell Rotaractors, our friends from Zero Waste Ithaca, and a few other friends join us. Jeff True did a great job of making sure everyone was well supplied (and hydrated) by continuously driving the route, and Heidi was our equipment/personnel manager at our home base. Special thanks to Mary-Lynn and John for facilitating this project. The weather was good, and it appeared that everyone had fun, in addition to removing lots of trash (39 bags) from the highway. Thanks again and enjoy the photo that John took of the group! Great Job team!